I am doing something different with the last two episodes of Dozen Days of Words. Instead of using FlexSDK to create the last two episodes, I am switching to HTML 5 and JavaScript. To make this transition a bit easier on me, episode 11 is going to be a ported version of my Java CircleWord game. I am sure that some of you are going to consider this cheating, but really CircleWord is a must-have word game and I have already written it so writing it again doesn't make that much sense. That said, porting the game actually took a bit longer than I thought it would so I didn't have the time for the enhancements that I was planning. The final game in the series will be written from scratch.
Once Dozen Days of Words is done, the next series of Game in a Day challenges will have to be started. Right now I am leaning towards Dozen Days of Tiles as this would allow for a variation of Sudoku as well as Mahjong and Dominoes. These are three games that I really want to develop and I think it would be possible to break the elements of these games down into a set of other games allowing me to build up to these games. These are fairly common games so there is no money in trying and develop commercial versions of any of these, so the Dozen Days project would be a perfect fit for them. The next series will obviously be HTML 5.
Showing posts with label Dozen Days. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dozen Days. Show all posts
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Is Trivia Trivial?
The enhanced version of history bomb has been posted on Blazing Games. My rant on efficient programming will continue next week, this week I am going to talk a bit about trivia as the game just releases is a type of trivia game.
On the surface, trivia games seem to be something that is easy to create. As someone who has written a fair number of them, some for third parties, my knowledge of the subject is fairly high. Programming a trivia game is in fact very simple. The game logic for a trivia game is in fact trivial to write. The server-side database/score handling and the user interface were what took up the vast majority of time. This makes sense when you think about it as ultimately trivia is just a variation of the simplest of all computer games. That game being the pick-a-number game. The difference is that the numbers are answers and random numbers are used to scramble the potential answers. There is one thing that makes the trivia games on my site different from the third-party games that I have written. For the third-party games I wrote, I didn't have to come up with questions.
Coming up with the questions for a trivia game may sound simple but it is a fairly time-consuming process. First you need to come up with a subject that you think that the people playing the game will be interested in that you also have some knowledge of. Next you have to come up with a question. This would be similar to writing a question for a test, except the question has to fit a particular format. In Trivia Bomb it was a simple multiple-choice question. History Bomb, on the other hand, is a sorted list. I will say that multiple-choice is much easier to come up with questions as one only needs to make sure his or her answer is correct then come up with wrong answers. Sure, it is time consuming, but it is very flexible. Lists requires finding something that has a distinct order to it. Then verifying that order. In some cases, this meant not only researching the subject, but then having to do additional research on each item on the list.
The bright side, though, is that the extended version of History Bomb has no time limit for its development. When the game-in-a-day pressure is removed, researching questions was much more enjoyable though probably even more time consuming. What trivia-question-writers probably don't want you to know is that just diving into a subject to verify facts often leads to much further exploration of a topic. I suppose there is the obvious "looking for other potential questions" excuse.
While coming up with questions is not hard work, it is time consuming work. Still, when creating a trivia game, it is probably best to remember that the questions are going to have to be created (unless you do the low-life thing and steal questions from other people). When I play a trivia game in the future, I am going to remember that each question probably took far longer to create then I will ever spend answering it.
On the surface, trivia games seem to be something that is easy to create. As someone who has written a fair number of them, some for third parties, my knowledge of the subject is fairly high. Programming a trivia game is in fact very simple. The game logic for a trivia game is in fact trivial to write. The server-side database/score handling and the user interface were what took up the vast majority of time. This makes sense when you think about it as ultimately trivia is just a variation of the simplest of all computer games. That game being the pick-a-number game. The difference is that the numbers are answers and random numbers are used to scramble the potential answers. There is one thing that makes the trivia games on my site different from the third-party games that I have written. For the third-party games I wrote, I didn't have to come up with questions.
Coming up with the questions for a trivia game may sound simple but it is a fairly time-consuming process. First you need to come up with a subject that you think that the people playing the game will be interested in that you also have some knowledge of. Next you have to come up with a question. This would be similar to writing a question for a test, except the question has to fit a particular format. In Trivia Bomb it was a simple multiple-choice question. History Bomb, on the other hand, is a sorted list. I will say that multiple-choice is much easier to come up with questions as one only needs to make sure his or her answer is correct then come up with wrong answers. Sure, it is time consuming, but it is very flexible. Lists requires finding something that has a distinct order to it. Then verifying that order. In some cases, this meant not only researching the subject, but then having to do additional research on each item on the list.
The bright side, though, is that the extended version of History Bomb has no time limit for its development. When the game-in-a-day pressure is removed, researching questions was much more enjoyable though probably even more time consuming. What trivia-question-writers probably don't want you to know is that just diving into a subject to verify facts often leads to much further exploration of a topic. I suppose there is the obvious "looking for other potential questions" excuse.
While coming up with questions is not hard work, it is time consuming work. Still, when creating a trivia game, it is probably best to remember that the questions are going to have to be created (unless you do the low-life thing and steal questions from other people). When I play a trivia game in the future, I am going to remember that each question probably took far longer to create then I will ever spend answering it.
Friday, January 29, 2010
History Bombs a couple days early
It has been a while. My plans were to continue posting every week or so, but things are busy here so I kind of kept forgetting. Things may continue to stay busy based on how well a proposal I am working on goes but I will try my best to post at least a short article every other week if not every week. To make up for my delay, here is a sneak preview of February's game. http://blazinggames.com/table/dozenDays/words/historyBomb.php.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
You can't get more open than space but watch out for the BSoDs
It has been quite a while since I last posted. I meant to post last week when Crystal Skull was released on Blazing Games, but I forgot. If you missed the release, you can get to it through the archive page or by going to http://blazinggames.com/table/dozenDays/words/crystalSkull.php to see the game. I am going to be updating Blazing Games weekly again, using open source releases and articles as filler, though will be releasing my One of those Weeks source/articles at least once a month even if I have better material ready to post. The open source release of episode 35, where you get to fight BSoDs in space, is the release for this week.
Next week I hope to have the final build of Dungeon Romp 3D. A bunch of new features have been added, though the sound effects don't quite seem to be working right. If I can find the problem there, it will be my next release. As I have talked about before, multiple releases of games, adding features with each new release, is something that I plan on doing. If there is a particular game on Blazing Games that you would like to see overhauled, feel free to let me know and I will consider it.
Next week I hope to have the final build of Dungeon Romp 3D. A bunch of new features have been added, though the sound effects don't quite seem to be working right. If I can find the problem there, it will be my next release. As I have talked about before, multiple releases of games, adding features with each new release, is something that I plan on doing. If there is a particular game on Blazing Games that you would like to see overhauled, feel free to let me know and I will consider it.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Trivia Bomb Sneak Preview
Over the long weekend (in Canada, at least) I managed to finish my Trivia Bomb game so today I posted a sneak preview at http://blazinggames.com/table/dozenDays/words/triviaBomb.php so readers can see the game early. It took me longer to finish this game than I anticipated with a final time of almost 20 hours. I actually like the game so may do additional episodes in the future, possibly adding more features.
In Android news, my entry is in a releasable state though I may add more game play modes before the deadline. I have some really neat ideas fore some of the game modes but finding the time to implement them is the key factor. For my first Android project I think it turned out good but prize winning is unlikely.
In Android news, my entry is in a releasable state though I may add more game play modes before the deadline. I have some really neat ideas fore some of the game modes but finding the time to implement them is the key factor. For my first Android project I think it turned out good but prize winning is unlikely.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Crossword officially released
I have released the final version of crossword. The game is very flexible so I may create additional puzzles once I return to a weekly release schedule in September. The next episode of Dozen Days of Words is going to be a trivia game with a game-show like theme to it.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Crossword sneak preview posted
While I still have some fine tuning to do, the hint mode is not using the correct colors yet, and the final data for the game are not ready yet, a sneak preview of my crossword game is located at http://blazinggames.com/table/dozenDays/words/crossword.php for those of you who want to see it early. By the end of tonight (or this weekend if more than 12 hours of development time is needed) the final version that will appear next week will be ready.
My Android development is proving to be quite interesting and I have learned quite a bit about the Android operating system. While I doubt that my game has any chance of placing in the Google contest, I plan on entering it anyway if it is finished in time. I plan on also releasing the game on my site once the contest is over as well as porting the game to Flash for my website.
My Android development is proving to be quite interesting and I have learned quite a bit about the Android operating system. While I doubt that my game has any chance of placing in the Google contest, I plan on entering it anyway if it is finished in time. I plan on also releasing the game on my site once the contest is over as well as porting the game to Flash for my website.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Word Slide Official
The Word Slide game has now officially been posted. Bigger news, at least for those of you who are interested in RPGs, is the next game that will be posted July 3rd. My Dungeon Romp game is going from 2D to 3D. Of course, it is just a beta but I think it is fairly stable. I am sure a lot of you noticed that again I am going 3 weeks between releases, but this time it is Google's fault :-). Their second android application contest is starting and I am considering entering something into the contest so want to actually have some time to properly develop my android game. Sadly, their rules forbid releasing the applications that are being entered into the contest until after the contest is over so my game will not be released until after the contest is over if I actually finish it and enter it into the contest. I know my chance of winning anything is very low, but I think it may still be worthwhile to enter.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
The Final Fantasy IV after-effect
I probably should have posted the sneak preview to Dozen Days of Words episode 6 on Thursday, but I was busy playing Final Fantasy IV: The After Years on my Wii. While I would not call myself a big Final Fantasy fan, the game has been eating up my evenings. Now that I have finished the main quest and the first optional quest, I am finished until the next downloadable chapter is released. So I have gotten around to posting a sneak preview of Word Slide which is located at http://blazinggames.com/table/dozenDays/words/wordSlide.php . This game will not have an offical link to it until friday, but if you cut and paste the above URL into your browser address bar then you can play the game early.
Now, back to Final Fantasy and my thoughts. The biggest problem I have with console role-playing games is that there are way too many encounters. In fact, saying that there is way to many encounters is probably a gross understatement. The game is episodal which is kind of a neat idea as instead of paying for the whole game, you only pay for the episodes that you want to play through so if you can't stand a particular character then you can skip their story. Of course, each of the chapters is a separate purchase though 300 points is relatively cheap. Because the game is episodal, most of the chapters are not initially available though will be released over the summer. This is kind of annoying as I have to wait until more chapters are released before continuing the game but is also kind of good as I would still be playing the game if all the chapters were available right now. Spreading the game out over a few months will keep the gameplay more interesting as you probably won't get sick of the game before you finish a chapter or two but would if you played through 8 chapters at once.
Now, back to Final Fantasy and my thoughts. The biggest problem I have with console role-playing games is that there are way too many encounters. In fact, saying that there is way to many encounters is probably a gross understatement. The game is episodal which is kind of a neat idea as instead of paying for the whole game, you only pay for the episodes that you want to play through so if you can't stand a particular character then you can skip their story. Of course, each of the chapters is a separate purchase though 300 points is relatively cheap. Because the game is episodal, most of the chapters are not initially available though will be released over the summer. This is kind of annoying as I have to wait until more chapters are released before continuing the game but is also kind of good as I would still be playing the game if all the chapters were available right now. Spreading the game out over a few months will keep the gameplay more interesting as you probably won't get sick of the game before you finish a chapter or two but would if you played through 8 chapters at once.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Official Word Shift
The word shift game is now officially released on the Blazing Games site. As readers of this blog have had the link for a week this is not that big of news. The sixth episode of Dozen Days of Words has also been finished. I have set the official release date for June 12th so that I have a bit of time to get ahead of schedule again. That said, I will probably provide an early link to the game in a couple of weeks. The seventh episode has been started, but there are a couple of other games that I am also working on so those of you who are getting sick of word games may get a nice role-playing game shortly, though I am not putting an official release date on anything unless it is done (or at least close enough to done that it is releasable).
Friday, May 15, 2009
Sneak Preview of Word Shift
My Word Shift game was finished earlier this week, so I am posting a sneak preview of the game early. While the game is posted on the Blazing Games site, none of the Blazing Games links have been enabled so the only way to see the game until May 22nd is to go to http://blazinggames.com/table/dozenDays/words/wordShift.php by typing in the url (or using copy and paste if you are lazy).
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Is Forever Delayed or Never?
Dozen Days of Words episode 5 is in a functional state though is not finished. I could probably finish the game for release next week if necessary but with my nephew in town I decided that an extra week before the official release date was a good idea. If I do finish it early I may post the game a week early and link to it from here so readers get a week of early access to the game. I'll let you know my decision next week.
The big news today (well, last night if you want to get technical about it) is the fact that 3D Realms is closing it's doors. They are the company that is developing Duke Nukem Forever, which will now probably never see the light of day. While Take 2 still holds the publishing rights, they are not funding the game. It is still possible that another company will purchase the rights to the game from 3D Realms but with existing distribution rights, this is less likely. Most likely the game is dead. When you think about it, the fact that the game was so long in development made it unlikely that it would live up to the hype. Even though a lot of the delay was probably caused by the game developers continually playing catch-up with the rest of the industry, too many people figure that such a long development time must mean that the game should be really good. These unrealistic expectations means that no matter how good the game was it would never be good enough.
I suppose it is also possible that the opposite would happen and that the majority of people expect the game to be bad. While the game being better than expected could be good, if nobody bothers to try the game because they expect it to be junk then you still end up losing. Either way, DNF was in a pretty bad spot.
The big news today (well, last night if you want to get technical about it) is the fact that 3D Realms is closing it's doors. They are the company that is developing Duke Nukem Forever, which will now probably never see the light of day. While Take 2 still holds the publishing rights, they are not funding the game. It is still possible that another company will purchase the rights to the game from 3D Realms but with existing distribution rights, this is less likely. Most likely the game is dead. When you think about it, the fact that the game was so long in development made it unlikely that it would live up to the hype. Even though a lot of the delay was probably caused by the game developers continually playing catch-up with the rest of the industry, too many people figure that such a long development time must mean that the game should be really good. These unrealistic expectations means that no matter how good the game was it would never be good enough.
I suppose it is also possible that the opposite would happen and that the majority of people expect the game to be bad. While the game being better than expected could be good, if nobody bothers to try the game because they expect it to be junk then you still end up losing. Either way, DNF was in a pretty bad spot.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Growing Words
I was planning on having a sneak preview of this release last week but I ended up taking the Easter long weekend off for a much needed recharge. I do hope to have a sneak preview of the next Dozen Days of Words game if it is in a playable state early enough. Growing Words is a semi-original game were you have a list of words that you have to build and a board containing some letters. Each turn you can move a letter. If you fail to form a word with your move, new letters sprout up. The number of new letters is dependent on the difficulty level.
I really like this game and wish that I had a lot more time to add a bunch of new features and play modes. For that reason, I am going to develop a deluxe version of this game. This development is kind of unique as it is the test project for a non-browser platform that I am experimenting with. While this means that many of the people who visit my site will not be able to play the deluxe version when it is done, it is always possible that I will port the deluxe version to other platforms if the experiment proves successful. More details on this when I am close to being done, assuming the project ever gets that far along.
I really like this game and wish that I had a lot more time to add a bunch of new features and play modes. For that reason, I am going to develop a deluxe version of this game. This development is kind of unique as it is the test project for a non-browser platform that I am experimenting with. While this means that many of the people who visit my site will not be able to play the deluxe version when it is done, it is always possible that I will port the deluxe version to other platforms if the experiment proves successful. More details on this when I am close to being done, assuming the project ever gets that far along.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Hanging things up
Episode 3 of Dozen Days of Words is finally released. While this game is a fairly traditional game and was easily finished in under 16 hours, finding those hours to work on the game was a lot bigger challenge than I anticipated. The next episode, Growing Words, will hopefully be put together a lot smoother than the previous episode.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Still sick but Dozen Days of Words episode 3 is done
Episode 3 is finally finished, though my cold still lingers. Normally I recover very quickly from colds but this one does not want to let up. Perhaps it is a sign that I am getting old. Perhaps the diet I am currently on is taking more out of me than I realized. Perhaps I happened to have caught a very strong strain of whatever it is that infected me. This means that I didn't get as much work done as I wanted to. That said, the planning and skeleton for episode 4 has been completed. The fourth episode is a semi-original game and as such means that the results are not predictable but the idea seems like it should be fun so hopefully the results will be a fun game.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Sick
It turns out that my decision to delay Episode 3 was the correct one. Last night other obligations showed up. To make matters worse, I had a sore throat which as I feared turned into a full-blown cold. By cold I really mean that I really am cold and just hope all my shivering actually is burning off calories. Not much work on Episode 3 is going to be done today but if the weekend finds me feeling better then you can be sure that a large block of time will be devoted to both Episode 3 and Episode 4.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Delay confirmed.
While a lot of progress was made on Dozen Days of Words episode 3 today, and if I work on it in the evenings before the initial release date it is likely that it could be finished on time, I have decided that I will officially delay the game a week. While I do intend to try and still get the game done before Friday, it will not be released until April 3rd no matter when it is finished. The fourth episode will start development immediately after the third episode is finished. It is tentatively scheduled for release on April 17th and will hopefully not be delayed.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Falling behind schedule
A funeral occupied a good chunk of my day and progress on the third episode of Dozen Days of Words is not as far along as I would like. I plan on hopefully finishing the game tomorrow, assuming nothing comes up. I do hope that I will not have to delay next week's game but if worst comes to worst then I may do so.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
February plans
After examining the calendar trying to figure out what exactly my plans are, I realized that my current release plans means that I do not have to worry about starting on Episode 3 of Dozen Days of Words until the end of the month. The third episode of Dozen Days of Words will not be released until the end of March due to some special plans that I have for the first thirteen days of March. While I will not go into details about what exactly I had planned to do, in case I am forced to change my plans, I will say that it will involve thirteen days worth of releases.
Work on next week's release is well underway. The next version of Thirteen Spikes Unlimited has a skin feature for which I have developed a rather interesting theme. I kind of want to have more than one new skin for the game but don't think that I will for version 0.4. With that said, there is always version 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 so by the time this project is finished next year (remember I am only releasing builds on Friday the 13th) there should be a variety of skins.
Work on next week's release is well underway. The next version of Thirteen Spikes Unlimited has a skin feature for which I have developed a rather interesting theme. I kind of want to have more than one new skin for the game but don't think that I will for version 0.4. With that said, there is always version 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 so by the time this project is finished next year (remember I am only releasing builds on Friday the 13th) there should be a variety of skins.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Alphabet Points 1.0.1
The bugs that I found after posting Alphabet Points bothered me a bit too much so I spent about half an hour or so finding and fixing them and have posted the 1.0.1 version of Alphabet Points. If anybody else noticed the bugs, they never bothered to email me a bug report.
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