No News is Good News... Right?

Hi all! How has life been treating you in the approximately seven days intervening between my last blog post? My week has been pretty relaxing, actually. Since my last #1GAM game, Plitka, was released a bit earlier in the month, I have actually had a few days to not think about making a game for the first time in several weeks. Weird.

Consequently, this week I don't have too much to report in the realm of game development. I committed myself to a weekly blog post, though, so here is: this week's post!

 

Hur hur

But seriously folks, how about an anecdote of advice you might be able to make some use of?

I learned something over the course of the release of my last two games, Plitka (available here and here) and Cargo (available here). Even though I feel like both of these games are superior in virtually every way to my first game, Torso Ninja (available here), neither of my two most recent games have achieved anywhere near the number of plays as my first game. Mostly, I think this is attributable to the more eye-grabbing title ("Torso Ninja" is kinda worth a double take). It just goes to show, even little, free games need some level of marketing in order to be played by any real audience.

I leave you now with a bit of information on my upcoming #1GAM game for March. Though it is currently still in a conceptual state, my plan is to make it a browser based game (I believe more people will be inclined to play it if they don't have to download it). Stay tuned for more info!

Later!

Plitka Released!

Hellooooooooo, Internet! You may have noticed that I was a bit late with this week's dev blog, but that's just because development on my current game is already complete! Today, I'm excited to announce the release of my third #1GAM game, Plitka! You can play it for yourself on Game Jolt, as well as on Itch.io!

Game Jolt link: http://gamejolt.com/games/plitka/127947
Itch.io link: https://hellamagellan.itch.io/plitka

Plitka is a puzzling parade of color and strategy! In this game, you, the player, must manipulate your way through waves of plitkas (colorful, gem-like tiles) that fall from the sky and fill up your game board! Move the plitkas left, right, up, and down, and try to match four or more horizontally or vertically to clear them and score points! The plitkas will keep coming, slowly at first, but much faster as time goes on! Survive as long as possible and go for the high score!

This was an interesting game for me to make, and I put a LOT more effort into the resources (music and graphics, primarily) than I usually do. Plitka is a pretty simple and straightforward game, but I'm very pleased with how it turned out, both functionally and aesthetically. :) I made use of a font called Kremlin by Vic Fieger.

That about does it! :) I would love to hear any and all comments you all have regarding Plitka, my other games, or anything else, really. If you play Plitka, I hope you have some fun with it!

See you around!

Dev Blog #6: Plitka Powers

Hey, everyone! I'm back again, this time with a little bit of information regarding my upcoming #1GAM game, Plitka! I've completed most of the necessary artwork and implemented a lot of the basic gameplay already, so look for a release much sooner in the month than my previous #1GAM offerings.

There are five different colors of plitka available (blue, red, green, cyan, and yellow). You must match up four blocks of identical colors, either horizontally or vertically, to clear them, thus earning points and keeping you in the game. Here are a few select screenshots from the in-progress version:

Plitkas fall from the sky, and you manipulate them with your
highlight arrow.

 

You use the highlight arrow to move the plitkas left and right.
A second arrow for moving them up and down will be in the final version.

As you can see, it can get out of hand...

Plitka is actually based on a game that I made when I was younger (also called Plitka), with
much simpler gameplay. That game was one of the first I ever completed to the point of it being genuinely "playable." Unfortunately, the original Plitka was lost when my old laptop gave up the ghost. This new version is something of a tribute to that earlier idea of mine.

The rest of the game should come together pretty quickly. Keep a look out for the release!

See you next time!

Dev Blog #5: Announcing Plitka!

Hi everyone! This has been a pretty busy week for me, but I did manage to find time to squeeze in a bit of game dev, and I'm pleased to announce the fruit of my efforts and my third #1GAM game, Plitka!

Current logo of Plitka!

Plitka (плитка, roughly Russian for 'tile') is planned as a straightforward puzzle game in the vein of Tetris. Individual tiles (called plitkas) fall from the sky, in groups or alone. You, the player, will control them by moving them up, down, left, and right as they fall, trying to match up four or more when they "settle" at the bottom and become immovable. If four or more are matched, they are cleared and disappear. As time goes on, the rate of plitka spawns and the speed of falling increases. You score points for clears, and the game ends whenever the game board overfills at the top.


I'm making this game in Python, using the Pygame API. Some basic progress has been made already, and, hopefully, next week will be less busy and I can make some serious progress. The main design goals I have for Plitka are to be A.) smaller and easier to make than my previous game, Cargo, and B.) smoother to control than either of my previous games.

That about does it for this week folks! As always, any comments are welcome. See you later!