4 months since my last post, that’s just inexcusable. I suppose I haven’t been focusing much on my game development after the WiggiWorld contest, though I got 75% of the way through a contest for the JayIsGames contest and then couldn’t make the final stretch. It’s a shame, because I think the game had some potential; perhaps I’ll finish it one day.

Sometime early this year I want to redesign this site and get back into game development, I’m thinking about going back and working in XNA again though, now that the new version is out. Man, I’m so finicky, I can’t stay put. Anyway, I want to go back to my AI experiments; I was thinking of doing a side scrolling dungeon game that played itself (partially based on some of Squidi’s ideas), but the more I thought about it the more ambitious that sounded, too ambitious for an early experiment. So I think I’ll try to create my sheep/wolf/shepherd ecosystem experiment again.

I don’t think I’ve talked about it here before, but it’s pretty much just a simulation of sheep (flock together, find and eat grass), wolves (chase and eat sheep), and the shepherd (protect sheep from wolves). I started it a while ago in XNA and hit problems with the sprite architecture, but I might give it another go. I still haven’t actually decided whether I want to do this in Flash or XNA.

Anyway, happy new year everybody, and hopefully you’ll be seeing more from me on this site in the coming year.

There were a bunch of good entries that got submitted in the last week or so, some of which took the prime places in the final standings. I’m a bit disappointed in some of the results, but I can see that my game had a few problems that probably cost it a place.

I agree with most of the decisions made by the judges, though I didn’t really think Wiggi Fire Mission deserved sixth place, definitely not above Galactic Mediator which took seventh. I also thought Wiggi Walk was a bit too simple to be so high in the standings, but it was well made and showed the values they were looking for, though I still think most of the entries were a bit heavy handed in that area.

Oh well, onward and upward! I am waiting to find out whether blogging the progress of my game is legal in the JayIsGames contest, if so I’ll have the prototype of my first entry done in the next few days. I’m making sure not too aim too high when it comes to the graphics this time, and the hard bits for the physics are already worked out so I’m feeling quite confident.

I’ve started adding a few blogs by Flash developers who are doing some interesting things: fellow Melbournian Michael Battle seems to share my fascination with automated agents and emergent gameplay, and Martin at Grapefrukt.com who is also big on prototyping gameplay elements. Hey guys!

In retrospect I should have pushed the values they wanted a bit more; at the very least I should have put some ‘Did you know…’ type things between the levels to provide a bit more education. To tell the truth, I find that most of the entries are shoving the values down the kid’s throats, but I don’t know if my entry being more subtle will gain me any points.

I also think I should have gone with something more simple, especially as this was my first flash game; it seems that the games that are simpler and more polished are leading the way, such as Veggie-Matic and Wiggi Dance Academy.

The JayIsGames 4th Casual Game contest has started now as well, the theme is Ball Physics; I’ve had a couple of ideas, but haven’t really got started on prototyping anything yet. I’m hoping to do so tonight. Unfortunately the rules of the contest specify that the game can’t have been published anywhere else on the web, so I won’t be able to document the process very thoroughly, though perhaps I’ll do so anyway and just publish it after the contest is complete.

I started with the basic idea that you can consume circles which are larger than you, and are damaged by those larger than you. Here’s my first draft, use the arrow keys to move.

You probably noticed that this by itself is not particularly fun; you quickly become either quite large or quite small, and that’s pretty much the end of the game. (I didn’t bother putting in win/lose conditions for the prototype, but you can imagine what they would be)

So, what’s the next step? Well, let’s test out my list of ingredients. We’ve obviously hit the first mark: the game is quite simple. Too simple at the moment. Let’s take it a bit further then, and add a sense of progression (and competition, since we’ll have a measurement now to compare against our friends).

The simple addition of a size value gives this game some more meaning, and a reason for playing. I took a note from Katamari’s book and did a quick and nasty pull back in scale when you get to a certain size; this doesn’t work especially well when you have no real life objects to scale it against, but it means that the score could go up indefinitely if you played well enough. I could probably clean this game up in it’s current state and release it as a nice little diversionary game. (Needs better physics, better zoom effect, maybe some effects when the balls hit each other)

What would push this game (I think) from a nice diversion to something more popular? Another ingredient, style. Katamari has style, if you were just a ball rolling around picking up random shapes (like in the tutorial) you would get bored very quickly, but given the quirky style, different environments and fantastic music, the game becomes a hit. (And hey, they’re about to release the 4th installment and are barely changing the gameplay, so that shows you how far style can go)

I’m not going to continue to develop this game, because it’s actually been done before. Check out Cosmic Crush. (I’d forgotten about this game when I came up with the idea originally) If I was going to continue though, I’d need to think of something unique, it would need to suit the setting, and (for me) it would need to be easy to draw. So…

That’ll do. Maybe a little too much like Spore to be completely unique, but oh well. (This is a very quick and rough example, but it already gives you a better sense of scale changing and makes it more interesting to play)

Stay tuned for my next gameplay idea, which I’m hoping will turn out a bit more fun!

This is where prototyping is going to come in useful. I’ve decided that for any gameplay ideas I have, I’m going to whip up something quickly that gives me a chance to see how it will play before I start creating graphics, menus, etc., which will save me a large amount of time if it turns out that, no, that idea actually sucks.

This isn’t always a useful step, of course; if the main draw of your game is the style in which you’re doing it, then stock standard gameplay may do the trick, in which case you pretty much know that it’s fun already. If you’re bringing something new into the gameplay in any way, however, prototyping the base gameplay before getting into the more time consuming stages of development is definitely wise.

I’m going to be putting together some prototypes for some simple game ideas over the next couple of days, and I think it’ll be interesting to see whether they turn out to be fun, tedious or in between.

So here we go.

Simplicity

I think this has to be number one; the simplest concepts are the easiest for players to grasp, and are often the most addictive as there are no complex rules to learn or stories to follow. It’s obvious what you have to do and it’s just a matter of doing it well enough or for long enough to accomplish your goal.

This is not a hard and fast rule, of course, but there should still always be a clear goal and a clear method of achieving it; if the player is confused about what to do they’re just going to stop playing.

Examples: Red, Double Jeu

Competition

I’m not talking about competing simultaneously against other players; games like that are often popular, but are usually more complicated than the average game and therefore only appeal to certain types of gamers. No, I’m talking about the tried and true form of video game competition : high scores.

High scores level the playing field for all players involved, eliminating the variables of network lag, out of game collaboration and griefers. Sure, a badly programmed game may lead to hacks and cheats, and this is not ideal, but it doesn’t necessarily destroy the game: it just shifts the competitive focus away from the gameplay itself and into the meta-game: who can exploit the game to give themselves the highest score. No one has an advantage.

Achievements also fall under this category. Although personal achievements have been around nearly as long as high scores (”I’ve killed the dragon in level 14, have you?”), it’s only been recently that they’ve become recognised within the game itself, and therefore have become a more solid form of competing. The ability to compare with others and list your achievements in your profile or website like trophies means they are tangible, and can be thrown in the face of your opponents.

Both of these go towards making a casual game that will get played over and over.

Examples: Triangles, Kongregate achievements

Progression

Progression within a game can range from the simplest form, such as your high score getting higher and higher as you play, to more complex progression such as levelling up and increased abilities as you survive longer in the game. Incrementally giving the player something to work towards can keep the player interested, and using these rewards to slightly change the flow or balance of the game can keep the player from becoming bored with the base gameplay.

Money based games also take advantage of this: you can unlock new abilities or tools as you gain enough money to afford them. It’s also a metaphor that everybody understands so it doesn’t complicate things as much as other methods might.

Examples: The Last Stand, Tower Defense, Bowmaster Prelude

Powerups

A temporary feeling of power can give the player the boost he needs to keep interested, just as a temporary feeling of helplessness can boost the excitement felt when they survive through it. Having these occur randomly (or at least appear randomly, allowing the player to avoid it if they can) helps to keep the gameplay from becoming stagnant and repetitive; the possibility that the tide could turn based on when and where a powerup appears can be quite powerful.

Examples: Crimsonland

Style

I left this until last because without any of the others, your game won’t be popular no matter how stylish you can be, but implementing your game with style can push you over the top from an interesting diversion to an internet phenomenon. (Lately this has meant including zombies in your game, but hopefully we’re all getting over that)

Of course, if you’ve got a few of the other elements then your game can still be very successful, but sloppy graphics and poor animation can be a killer. If you’re not an artist, either use simple graphics that don’t need a lot of artistic skill to create, or collaborate with somebody who has the necessary skills. (I tend to try for the former option, though I am guilty of trying to create graphics beyond my capabilities)

Examples: Fancy Pants Adventures

Additional Points

These elements aren’t necessary, but they can often help your game become popular:

• Physics
• Blood and Gore
• Ninjas

So those are the main ones. If you include each of these 5 elements (and maybe some of the bonus elements) and launch it into the casual game market, I can almost guarantee you will get a hit. Of course, that’s much easier said than done. My next game will be aiming to do just that, so we’ll see how I go; I will be blogging it every step of the way, so that those who come after me can benefit from my experience.

I’m mostly happy with the way it turned out, though like most projects I kind of just wanted to get it done at the end and rushed to finish it. I probably could have polished it up a bit more and added a few more features, but you’ve got to draw the line and those last few things would have dragged out too long.This is my first flash game and my first submission to Newgrounds, so it was an interesting experience. Newgrounds is a pretty well made site (though their forums kinda suck, no subscriptions or editing posts?), and it was kinda fun watching the votes pile up as soon as it went up there, the site is very heavily trafficked. (Though submitting it right before I went to bed probably wasn’t a wise decision, I was kept up all night with thoughts of voting and flash ideas hammering through my head)

So, here’s hoping I win some money from this contest, it would be a pretty good achievement to get some cash for my first flash game. I have some ideas for a couple of new games, but before starting on them I’m going to wait for the announcement of the new JayIsGames contest, which has a $2500 cash prize. I’ll have 2 months for development, and I’m going to try to blog the steps more thoroughly this time.

We had my family over for dinner last weekend, and whilst we were eating my 12 year old sister Priscilla decided she wanted some more Coke. By way of asking she poked Dad and spelt it out for him:

“Hey Dad. C-O-K-E.”

Dad picked up the bottle from the table, but before handing it to her asked:

“Where are you manners? P-L…”

Priscilla: “Zed”

I noticed another example of this influence last Christmas at my in-laws, when Anna’s nieces and nephews (there are 9 of them) were playing chasey (or tiggy, or tag, whatever it’s called where you’re from). Now, when I used to play chasey as a kid, there would be an object that was ‘Barley’, or if you felt like sitting out of the game temporarily you would declare it yourself: “You can’t get me, I’m Barley”. I have no idea where the term came from, but it was never anything else.

What do you think kid’s say nowadays, with the influence of video games on their life from day one?

“You can’t get me, I’m on Pause”

I’ve made some good progress on the game I’m working on for the WiggiWorld contest, if I get time to work on it over the weekend I may even get it finished, although finding some non-copyrighted sound effects may take a bit of time. I’ve been putting up my latest versions, so if you want to check out what I’m doing you might be lucky and find my latest test version there. Keep in mind a lot of the graphics are still place holders and there are still a few bugs to work out.

I’m really enjoying working in Flash and I’m kind of anxious to finish this game so I get working on some other ideas. It’s quite possible that Kurodust Fighter may eventually see the light of day in Flash rather than XNA…

Game programming would be so much easier if it weren’t for all the damned maths. What frustrates me is I’ve dealt with this exact same problem before, but my brain’s just not in the right place to think about it, no matter how hard I might try.

I’ve moved away from my Tower Defense style game for the moment to try to put together an entry for a contest I found on the NewGrounds BBS, it’s pretty much a derivation of Joust, but with some kiddy graphics and a bit of educational value (which are requirements for the contest). My brain is having difficult working through simple bounding box collisions at the moment though, so I’m not working on it any more tonight.

Sorry, I should say the collisions part isn’t what I’m having difficulty with, because MovieClip.hitTest does that for me, it’s what to do with each object after a collision is detected. I pretty much just want to do a projection and move the character so it’s not overlapping the level object anymore, but that’s complicated by the fact that what I’m actually doing the detection against are sub-clips of each object, so the different co-ordinate systems come into play.

It’s probably not actually that difficult a problem, but I’ve been wrestling with it all evening trying to get my head around it, and I’m just not there. (This is why I failed my Maths course at Uni the first time)