Roblog

Image by Tom Martinez Jr.

My team and I have decided to promote the Jumping Bean prototype to full-on game status!  We’ve started an eight week production to create a full iPhone game based on the constant jumping theme of Jumping Bean.

We’re starting with the simple concept of Super Mario Bros. with the jump button on auto-rapid fire.  The game will feature designed (i.e. not procedural like the original prototype) levels with playful graphics and a classic platformer feel with the auto-jumping twist.

Iteration #1:

The first iteration of this concept exists here and includes a level based directly on Super Mario Bros. level 1-1.

The comments for this iteration included:

• Need some enemies
• The jumping feels floaty under ceilings
• The control feels a little too precise, giving the player little to master in regards to the platforming
• We’ll need more complex levels, including moving platforms
• Could get a sense of depth by adding parallaxing

Some of this feedback was implemented in iteration #2.

Iteration #2:

The second iteration (found here) is actually starting to feel like a game and is almost as good in quality of many of the free games on the iPhone, which means anything we add from here on we can charge for ; ).  We added some simple enemies, adjusted the feeling of the jumps, and added to the game a concept Tom drew up for our lovable amigo.

Some of our feedback at this point:

• It’s time to start thinking about the game’s color palette
• Should think about having a way to get rid of enemies
• More variety in the enemies would be good
• Restarting the whole level every time the player makes a mistake is probably a little harsh

I’m feeling really good about the progress on this one (of course we have Unity3D to thank for that) and the type of game we are shaping up to make.  It will be exciting to see how it progresses over the next eight weeks!

~R

Currently playing: Super Mario Bros., Jumping Bean

Capsule Defense

I present to you: Capsule Defense

To Play:

• Move the turret by moving the mouse left and right.
• Fire by pressing the mouse button.
• Go here to try it out.
• Come back and add a comment on this page telling me what you think.

About the Process:

This week’s prototype comes from the mind of my little brother . . . though it doesn’t nearly do the original concept justice.

My Brother’s Concept: Let’s make a tower defense game like Plant vs. Zombies where you get to build your own weapons from parts you earn each level.

What Actually Happened: I only managed to get done with a single gun and a mindless capsule target.  So today, before writing this post, I added a little swivel and a Mindless Capsule Target instantiator and made a sort of Missile Command clone.  Yay!

You might have detected a discrepancy between concept and result.  That would be from not putting enough time into it to do the concept justice. C’est la vie.  Perhaps another week we’ll get a more fleshed out version.

~R

Currently playing: The Beatles Rock Band

I’m buckling down on the design for the iPhone version of Safari Sketch.  (If you haven’t played it yet, please check it out here!)  We want to support the Association of Zoos and Aquariums as much as we can with Safari Sketch, so I’m trying to get the iPhone version out as soon as possible.  Right now I’m looking at date of submission to Apple around the end of the month.  Much to do!

Tonight the task was to decide which of the features from the original I would keep, which I wouldn’t and what, if any, would be the new iPhone-specific features.  The following is the list as it stands right now.  If you’ve got an opinion or a suggestion so far, speak up now or . . . well you know the rest ; )

Feature List:

– Basic gameplay remains the same match-3 mechanic we all know and love.  Right now that part is running super smoothly on the iPhone and I’m very happy with the performance.

– I’ve decided to keep all the powerups, including the erasers that I originally thought I would do without.  If I took them out, I’d still want to reward the player for matching five.  Since the eraser is a good powerup for that, I just left it.

– After much self-debate, I’ve decided to keep the journals.  Tom‘s art is just too good to be left out.

– I’m going to strip the game down to a single game mode.  It will basically play like the old Relaxed mode, but with the art-unlocking aspect from the Safari mode.

– The main menu will be removed in favor of a jump-into-the-game approach.  Once the game loads it will immediately start the last level the user didn’t complete instead of forcing the user to go through two or three menus to get to the game.

– The pause menu will now contain the journal viewing option and the profile management menu.

– Some iPhone specific features I want to add:

• Toggle the option to ignore calls while playing
• Toggle the option to allow iPod playback while playing
• Set the big animal pictures as wallpapers for the iPhone

So all in all the iPhone version will retain much of the original Safari Sketch, streamlining it into a single relaxed game type and going directly to the action.  I think this will suit the iPhone user well, as it will allow them to pick up and play quickly and for short bouts.

~R

Currently playing: Jumping Bean, Rock Band, Prince of Persia

I will be posting weekly game prototypes soon.  The purpose of these prototypes is twofold: 1) to quickly try out gameplay ideas in an effort to find something cool that people will enjoy playing and 2) to practice and improve my game development skills.

The idea comes from my time at the Game Developer’s Conference last spring.  I attended the Indie Developer Track and in many of the sessions the successful developers talked about how much rapid prototyping they did.  The guys who put together World of Goo found the idea within a prototype called Tower of Goo that they put together in a graduate course.  The goal of the course was to put together a new prototype each week of the class.  Crayon Physics Deluxe came from a prototype called Crayon Physics that turned out to be an extremely popular prototype on its developer’s page.  The developer decided on his own to put together monthly prototypes (inspired, I believe, by the aforementioned graduate class idea).  There were several other examples of developers who did regular rapid prototyping “discovering” successful game ideas, making me realize that one of the advantages that independent developers have is their flexibility and freedom to blow through dozens or hundreds of ideas quickly.

With all that said, I’ve started my own weekly prototyping schedule.  I will be posting my results each week for all to try out and comment on.  Some will be fun, some not, and hopefully one gem of a concept will surface that really shines for people.

~R

Currently Playing: The Beatles Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5