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!

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

Chroma Road Released!

Hey hey hey! I'm back today, and super excited to announce the release of my ninth #1GAM game, Chroma Road! Thats right, after all this time, you can finally play it! :D

The title screen

​
Play it on Gamejolt: http://gamejolt.com/games/chroma-road/184631
or Itch.io: https://hellamagellan.itch.io/chroma-road

Welcome to Chroma Road, where speed and reflexes are king, and color coordination is the name of the game! Chroma Road is a tough-as-nails, fast-paced color-puzzle/endless-runner hybrid where you must match colors with gates in order to proceed. Use the Z, X, and C keys to change to any primary color (red, green, and blue), and combine them to form secondary colors! Think fast and stay sharp as you pass through the gates, gaining score and staying alive along the way. Keep going to get a high score and ace the best time!

Chroma Road is a major first for me: Its my first game made using the HaxeFlixel framework. This is pretty important, since this is going to be my development methodology going forward. I'll even use HaxeFlixel to develop commercial games pretty soon, hopefully (more on that o come, though).
 
Anyhow, I've made 9 games so far! Woohoo! This has been a crazy year of development, but I'm on track to finish the #1GAM challenge in November. Here's hoping!

If you play Chroma Road and enjoy it (or not), please let me know here in the comments on the respective game pages. I love me some feedback! :D

See you all next time!

Dev Blog #20: Short Update on Chroma Road

Hey, y'all! I don't have too much time to whip this post up, so I'm gonna just leave you with a few of my recent screens and a short commentary. Chroma Road is coming along swimmingly thus far! Check out these images :)

Here's the first screen. Notice the UI enhancements at the top,
particularly the timer.

The number in the top left is a score counter. You gain 1 point
for getting through a gate.

When you die, this is what you see. The screen keeps scrolling, by the way.

As I said, so far, so good. The music I'm making for the game is nearing completion, and as soon as I finish the main menu (a feature I am notorious for leaving til the last minute), only polish will remain! I'm aiming for August 30th as a release date, currently.

See you later everyone!!!

Dev Blog #19: Chroma Road Progress Report

Aloha! How is everyone today? I'm pretty good, myself. In case anyone missed it on my twitter (or, I should say, since you probably missed it) I'll mention here that I've decided that my weekly blog posts will come on Mondays from now on, instead of over the weekend like before. That's when I've been getting around to it lately, anyway :P

Anyway, hello again, and welcome to the 19th edition of my dev blog posts! This week I have some fun and exciting news regarding my upcoming #1GAM game, Chroma Road! What's more, I have screenshots! Whoopee! Read on :)

First and foremost, I have running, lane switching, and color changing all implemented in the game. Chroma Road is a 3-lane endless runner/color puzzle game, so these are the main things the player can do. Here's a sampling:

The background scrolls by, and the player runs forward automatically.

Press Z, X, or C to change color, and try to correspond them to the gates.

You can activate more than one color at a time to turn to a secondary color!

 
So far so good with the game! The scrolling gates are just images for now, but in the final game they'll be obstacles that are impassable unless you are the correct color. Also soon to be added: a timer, a score tracker, incremental difficulty, and improved graphics :)

Also, I've been using this game as an excuse to learn to use the HaxeFlixel framework. It has been going well so far. HaxeFlixel has a bit of a different approach to what I am accustomed to with game development APIs, in that its approach is sort of to have everything packaged and available if you choose to use it. HaxeFlixel has a learning curve, especially if you haven't got any experience with Flash ActionScript, but it is well worth the effort of learning. I'm hoping to be able to contribute somewhat to the project in the future, once my Haxe chops have improved.

Quick screen of my IDE, FlashDevelop. Check out that sick color coordination :0

(By the way, if you want to support HaxeFlixel, they currently have an IndieGoGo campaign going on right now. Support them if you can!)

That should do for today :) Hopefully I've given you something to look forward to when my game comes out later this month! See you soon!