Tic-Tac-25 Released!

Hello hello! I've returned to the blog after a short hiatus to bring you my tenth (TENTH D:) #1GAM game, Tic-Tac-25! That's right, after untold delays caused by yours truly, I've finally got this game out! Check it out!

The slightly-blown-up logo!

This game is an Itch.io exclusive! Play it here: https://hellamagellan.itch.io/tic-tac-25

Tic-Tac-25 is an expanded version of the classic game Tic-Tac-Toe (or Noughts & Crosses) that features a 5X5 board, but still only takes 3-in-a-row to win! It allows for four players (the shapes X, O, Square, and Triangle), with all non-human players being controlled by a very simple AI. It works in both desktop and mobile browsers (though you may have issues with certain browsers/screen sizes).

This game was mostly meant as an experiment for me to learn how to make an HTML5 game using HaeFlixel. I learned a lot, but I still have some ways to go.

If anyone reading tries the game, let me know what you think in the comments here, or on itch.io. Particularly, if you have any problems displaying or running the game, I'd like to know the details, along with your device and browser info. This information will help me improve the quality of cross-platform web games I make in the future :)

Thanks for reading and playing! See you again!

Still Here!

Hey! I'm super late this time, but here's my super short blog post for this week! Nothing even worth reading about, really :P

I've been busy with things like school and work lately, and I've also been slacking in my gamedev work, so it has taken me a while to get around to this post. I still gotta put out this week's post though! This isn't a dev blog simply because there has been no major visible change to my next #1GAM game, Tic-Tac-25, since last week. I have implemented winning and losing conditions, though, and done some work on getting it working for mobile platforms!

To close out, I have a cool recommendation for my readers who would like to get started with HaxeFlixel: The book Discover HaxeFlixel by Leonardo Cavaletti. I got the ebook when I contributed to the recent HaxeFlixel IndieGoGo fundraiser, and it is very informative! Highly recommended.

A very good book!

 That about does it for this week! Next week I'll have yet more to show!

Dev Blog #21: Announcing Tic-Tac-25!

Hey! Erik here, back again to bring you an announcement! My #1GAM game for September has been chosen! Let me introduce you all to: Tic-Tac-25!

That's a lot!

Tic-Tac-25 is a simple re-imagining of Tic-Tac-Toe (Noughts and Crosses, to some) as a four-player game on a 25X25 board. Each player takes a turn putting their symbol in one of the empty squares. The first player to line up three either up/down, across, or diagonally, wins.

The symbols available are X's, O's, Triangles, and Squares (wonder where I came up with those, huh? ;P ). The big takeaway with the rules is that 3-in-a-row (not the 5-in-a-row that the board size might suggest) is needed to win. This keeps the game highly tactical, and helps minimize stalemates.

Tic-Tac-25 is a very simple game, and for good reason. I will be experimenting a lot with how I create this game. Primarily, my goal is to make it an HTML5 browser game that is also playable on mobile, and to implement up to 4-player local multiplayer. Wish me luck! :)

That about does it. I'll leave you with a few more screens, as a preview:

See you in a week, Internet!

Another Week, Another Post!

Hello, folks! I realize I'm a day late with this blog post, but this has been a pretty slow week for game dev for me, so I don't have too much to say here. I still gotta keep that once-a-week-at-least streak alive though, so here's some words! Fresh, tasty words.... D:<

Anyway, enough of that. Since the release of my last #1GAM game, Chroma Road, I've been focusing mostly on brainstorming ideas for my next project. I have decided to challenge myself for the remainder of my #1GAM experience and disallow any further "twitch" (reflex-based) games. I have made far too many of these, I realize, and I am becoming a poorer and poorer judge of the difficulty of my own games. As such, all my #1GAM games from this month on will not be reflex-based! Whoopee! :D

As for this month's game in particular, I have a few personal goals. The first is that I want to make another browser-based game. I haven't done this since March with Keyro: Arena Lockdown (which I was roundly unsatisfied with), and, what with the ease of developing for the Flash or HTML5 targets in HaxeFlixel, I have no excuse not to. Being browser-based definitely has an effect on the number of players a game gets (so many more people become engaged when the game automatically loads up for them). Secondly, I hope to find some way to incorporate scalable vector graphics (SVGs) into the game with HaxeFlixel. As best I understand, this could potentially be done with OpenFL, which HaxeFlixel is built upon, but it will take some digging. I have recently become interested in vector art, and the scalability of it seems very enticing, hence my desire to incorporate it into my games. If anyone out there has some info that could help me out (or stop me from barking up the wrong tree, if need be), I would be greatly appreciative :)

My next game will be technically experimental for me, so my intention is to keep it simple. One other thing I want this game to support is local multiplayer. I have a few ideas, and some should be ready for sharing come next week!

That about does it. See you in seven days, or thereabout! :D