Switching continued December 6, 2006
Posted by Jesse in : Game Development , add a commentAfter writing yesterday that I was considering switching my development platform back to Windows from Linux, I discussed the idea with some friends and colleagues. Basically, the conclusion I’ve come to is that I don’t have any compelling reasons not to make the switch, but several good reasons to do so.
So, last night I began the process of moving everything over. This isn’t a terribly complicated process, as I was already setup for dual booting, so I just needed to make the necessary files available to Windows. I found a really neat program that lets Windows access ext3 file systems, and that made things really simple. (Since this specific machine works as my dev system, game system, and DVR/entertainment system, I have alot of files. It was almost 83 gigabytes of data. Ouch! TV shows take up alot of space.)
Tonight I need to setup my Subversion repositories and install all of the software libraries I’m using. Then I can get back to work. I’m really excited.
Switching to Linux (and back?) December 5, 2006
Posted by Jesse in : Game Development , 2 commentsAbout two months ago, I converted my development machine into a Linux box. A few of my friends have told me repeatedly how much they love theirs, so I was really curious. Additionally, I was having a problem with my Windows installation, so it seemed like a perfect time to give Linux a shot.
I installed Ubuntu Linux, and most things have been really nice. I love apt-get and Synaptic. (Tools for easily installing programs with all of their required dependancies.) If something isn’t in the apt-get repositories for me to snag, I can generally grab an installation package or source code archive from a website and getting things installed is only a few keystrokes away. For most programs that I’m used to having around, there are free versions available that are almost as good at the originals, and in some cases, the free versions are even better.
But there are two important things that I’m not sure if I can live without.
Games
By looking at some of the past entries in this blog, it should be really obvious that I love video games. And there just really aren’t that many games that are built natively for Linux, so I’m stuck trying to play games in wine. (Wine is a program that can attempt to run programs created for Windows.) Sometimes wine works great. I’ve gotten World of Warcraft running at almost exactly the same speed as it was in Windows. But most of the time, it doesn’t even come close to working. Most games crash out with incredibly useless error messages. A handful will run but can’t seem to get any input from the mouse or keyboard. Or they have no sound, or put out static. I have a huge list of indie games that I’ve wanted to try out, but I couldn’t because they wouldn’t run in wine.
Visual Studio
I’ve tried KDevelop, Anjuta, Eclipse, and a bunch of unmemorable products, and nothing comes anywhere near Visual C++. The projects are almost always built around a makefile that you manage yourself instead of working through the IDE, and the debuggers aren’t nearly as nice. Lately I’ve spent almost as much time fighting my tools as I have developing new features. It’s really a pain.
So I’m not sure what to do. I’m really, really happy with my Linux box, but I don’t see anyway not to just go back to using Windows most of the time.
Getting back to work December 4, 2006
Posted by Jesse in : Game Development , 2 commentsIt’s been a little over three months since I’ve written any game reviews or updated the blog here. That’s far too long of a gap.
During that time, I’ve changed day jobs, which has been a somewhat stressful process, and it has left me little interest in spending my nights and weekends working on game development. But things are settling down now, and I’m getting back into the swing of things.
Unfortunately, the Annie project has completely fallen apart. Back before the job change, the artist who was working on the project became too busy starting his own company to work on the game anymore. The idea may be revisited in the future, but for now, the game is on hold.
I have a new game concept, and I’m actively developing a gameplay prototype of it. I’m hoping to have that distributed for feedback within the next week or two, and if that goes well, I’ll start turning it into a real product. I’ll post some news about that as soon as possible.
Recent Developments August 31, 2006
Posted by Jesse in : Game Development , add a commentI added a few affiliate links in the games section. The plan is to put up games that I found to be worthy of immediate purchase, so if you see something there, I’m giving it my highest recommendation, even if I haven’t had time to write a review. I’m not really looking to turn TPN into a games portal or anything, so if I start making more money than it costs me to keep the site up I’ll see about lowering my commission percentages.
Microsoft released the beta version of XNA yesterday. Development on TPN games had pretty much stopped since the announcement, because I feel that the xbox 360 (and more specifically the xbox live arcade) would be the perfect platform for my games. Now this means I get to go back to work. I’m extremely excited.
Current TPN Projects:
The Annie Game.
An action puzzler similar to The Adventures of Lolo or Professor Fizzwizzle. I currently have a playable prototype (complete with programmer art). My first order of business will be to port it over to XNA. (I was originally referring to the protagonist as Annie, though I think that’s likely to change. Until I come up with a new concept I’ll just refer to the game as Annie.)
The Mummy Project.
This game will be more of an action game than a puzzler. You control a mummy and have to guard a tomb against treasure hunters looking to rob the tomb. Meanwhile, you need to find magical objects in the tomb to give to a wizard who has promised to restore you to life. It’s still just in the planning stages, though I think I should be able to use alot of code from Annie, since they’ll both be 2D games viewed from the same perspective.
Review: TalisMania August 14, 2006
Posted by Jesse in : Game Reviews , add a commentGame: TalisMania
Developer: Popcap Games
Version: This is a review of the trial version of the game.
Recommendation: Try the demo
A week or so ago, I saw a message on the indiegamer forums that Popcap had just released a new game. That is always great news for me to hear, because I love a bunch of Popcap games. (Dynomite, Zuma, and Heavy Weapon being my favorites.) And since I had some time to kill while setting up my new development machine, I happily snagged the demo and got to playing. (I played in story mode.)
My first impression is that the graphics are great. I really love the way the characters look during the “cutscenes” between levels. But then, if there’s one thing Popcap is known for, it’s great looking, well polished games. Honestly, I wish their artists would do the graphics for my games.
In the story, King Midas has turned everything around him to gold, and he’s feeling remorseful. He’d now like to use his new power to benefit others. Luckily he has a staff of talented builders, and if you raise the necessary money, they’ll create buildings for the people.
Gameplay:
On the game board are two (or more) energy points, and you need to connect them by rotating them and the connector pieces that make up the rest of the game board. The connections can be made of bronze, silver, or gold. The more tiles you use in the chain to make a connection, the better your next round will be. And at the end of each level, if you’ve used enough silver and gold, you’ll get a bonus and your workers will create some especially nice buildings. As you progress to more difficult levels, you’ll have to worry about special tiles, with mythical creatures such as Medusa or minotaurs showing up. If you don’t use them as part of your chain, they’ll make life harder on you by wreaking havoc on your game board.
Between levels you’ll sometimes get to play a bonus round, where a Greek god or goddess will challenge you. If you win the challenge, you’ll win a special statue for the villagers.
What I liked:
As I said, the graphics are great. The sound is also perfect. I also enjoyed the gameplay mechanics, especially when the mythical creature tiles started coming into play.
What I disliked:
Since there’s no time limit, you can take as long as you like to try to find a perfect chain and always get a great score. This leads to a lack of difficulty since I can just win by trial and error. Guys in the indiegamer forum brought this up, and apparently that’s exactly what the Hero game mode is for. Unfortunately my time limit ran out before I thought to give that mode a try. Maybe that mode shouldn’t be locked away, or should be unlocked sooner.
Games it reminded me of:
The idea of connecting end points reminded me of games like Pipe Dream, although obviously the gameplay mechanic is quite a bit different. It also has similarities with another game I’ve played lately, called ConFuse Box.
Recommendations:
If you’re a fan of puzzle games, especially brain teasers that reward you for pouring over the board to come up with a perfect plan, this game could definitely be for you. Grab the demo and give it a go.
New development machine August 2, 2006
Posted by Jesse in : Uncategorized , add a commentA couple of weeks ago, I ordered my new development computer. (And lets be honest, it’s my new gaming computer too.)
A few years back, when I built the computer I’ve been using, it was far cheaper to buy individual components and build it yourself. Now, I added everything up, and the price difference was minimal. So I ordered a new machine from I Buy Power.
Here’s the info, for anybody curious:
Coolermaster Ammo 533 case w/420W Power Supply
Athlon-64 3500+ CPU
eVGA SLI PCIE Motherboard (133-K8-NF41)
1024 MB DDR-400 PC3200 Crucial Value RAM
Nvidia Geforce 7300GS 256MB Video Card
250 GB Serial-ATA Hard Drive
Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW
I’d like to say that everything was perfect when it arrived, but that’s not the case. Apparently the motherboard is finicky when it comes to the type of memory you use, and one of the 512 MB sticks was unhappy. Neither the bios memory test nor memtest showed any errors, but things would mysteriously fail. For example, when installing the updates for Windows XP, every fifteenth (or so) update would just report “failed.”
Eventually I found a reproducable test so that I could identify the problem. When running the Firefox installer, the first thing it does is unpacks compressed data. During that unpacking stage, sometimes I’d get an error “CRC failed.” When I took out the bad stick of RAM, the errors went away, and when put it back in, the problems returned. I bet that’s the first time Firefox has ever been used as a memory diagnostic tool. 
To their credit, as soon as I told I Buy Power about the problem, they immediately said they’d exchange it for a new stick, no questions asked. However, when it came in yesterday, I ran into even more problems than before. Windows started doing some very wonky things, so I tested it, and both the bios memory test and memtest both give errors almost immediately. Thinking that it was another finicky motherboard problem, I brought the new stick to work with me, and put it into another computer with a known solid motherboard. I got the same errors.
There is an upside. In my research on the motherboard, I discovered a few settings I could play with, and managed to get the original “bad” RAM to work correctly. I ran my Firefox tests, and then played World of Warcraft for a half hour. I left the computer on overnight running tests, and everything is super stable.
Despite the trouble I’ve gone through, I’d still recommend I Buy Power. I can’t blame them for the finicky motherboard, and faulty hardware just happens sometimes. Their customer service has been awesome so far. I’m really happy with my machine.
Now if I could only get some work done.
Review: Pizza Frenzy July 17, 2006
Posted by Jesse in : Game Reviews , add a commentGame: Pizza Frenzy
Developer: Sprout Games
Version: This is a review of the full version of the game. (Speed mode.)
Recommendation: Try the demo
Back in college I worked as a pizza delivery guy. It was a fun job. You get to drive around all night, listening to music in the car, and deliver pizzas. And people are (almost) always happy to see you coming. I felt like Santa Claus. In Pizza Frenzy, you are in charge of the delivery crew for Stromboli Pizza, which is trying to revitalize the world’s interest in good pizza.
The gameplay is reletively simple, and if you’ve played games like Diner Dash then you’ll pick this up pretty quickly. You see a map which shows houses, pizza stores, and a police station. When you get a call for a pizza, you have to click on the order, then click on the appropriate pizza store. A little while later, a tip will appear at the house that placed the order, and you need to click on it to pick it up. The faster you take the order, the bigger tip you’ll receive.
The combo system in the game gives you extra points as well as upgrades. If you deliver five of the same type of pizza in a row, you get a frenzy. (Levels are Pizza Frenzy, Double Frenzy, Triple Frenzy, Super Frenzy, Mega Frenzy, and Ultra Frenzy.) As you score frenzies, you’ll be able to take multiple orders of the same type at once, though you’ll never be able to pick up order of different types at the same time.
You also need to watch out for a few different special customers. There are crooks, prank callers, and graffiti artists that you need to report to the police. If you deliver a pizza to them, you’ll be penalized. There are movie stars who give good tips, but are impatient. The gossips will get everyone to change their orders to the same thing so you get easy combos. Clowns will convince everyone to switch to a new pizza at random. Monks will meditate and slow time. Bankers will help you collect your tips.
Between towns, you’ll get the chance to score extra points in a bonus round. You’ll be shown a pizza, and you have to drop toppings on a new pizza to try to match it. You’ve got a time limit, so hurry!
What I liked:
The graphics are nice and clean. In other games of this type, I’ve had trouble distinguishing between background items, and things I needed to click on. There were no such problems here. The music was fun, and the voices and sound effects were well done. I liked the different types of customers, both helpers and hindrances. I really like the user interface.
What I disliked:
Click ambiguity. Sometimes when I go to click on an order or a tip, it’ll hit a different nearby item instead. It’s not a big problem, but you need to be careful where you click, and on some of the harder levels, you need to move really fast. The only other thing that bothered me is that it felt so similar at first to other games I’ve played before. The special customers help to differentiate it, and there were two other game modes that I didn’t get a chance to play. The developers are clearly very talented, and I really look forward to checking out their previous games and anything else they come up with, though.
Games it reminded me of:
I felt it had alot in common with games like Betty’s Beer Bar, Diner Dash, and Mystic Inn. If they’re all considered in the same game genre, then Pizza Frenzy is definitely my favorite of them.
Recommendations:
I probably wouldn’t have registered, but my wife had a blast playing it. I ended up playing it for several hours too, so the purchase was definitely worth it. Pizza Frenzy is a very well made fun game. So I’d really recommend giving the demo a try. The only problem is that you might get hungry for pizza. Don’t play it if you’re on a diet!
Review: DROD: King Dugan’s Dungeon July 7, 2006
Posted by Jesse in : Game Reviews , add a commentGame: DROD: King Dugan’s Dungeon
Developer: Caravel Games
Version: This is a review of the full version of the game.
I’m having a little difficulty classifying this game. Certainly, DROD (Deadly Rooms of Death) is a puzzle game. But when I’m waist deep in enemies that are out for my blood, and I’m swinging my sword around like a maniac, it definitely feels more like an action game.
You play as Beethro Budkin, and you’ve been sent by King Dugan to clean all of the vermin out of his dungeon “so that the prisoners can receive their torture in a clean and safe environment.” (Quote from The Story of Beethro.) Your only weapon in this mission is your sturdy sword. (You’ll run across some invisibility and mimic potions, but since they are room specific and you can’t carry them with you, you’d better get used to swinging that sword around.)
DROD is completely turn based. You take an action, then all of the enemies get an action. It looks like it all happens at once, but if there’s an enemy standing near you, you can turn to stab him before he gets a chance to get you. The actions you can take are: Move one square by using the number pad arrows, turn 45 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise with the Q or W keys, or do nothing by pressing 5 on the number pad. Two more buttons are also important. If you press R you’ll restart the current level, and Backspace will undo your last move. It’s pretty simple, though from other games I’ve played I’m used to having my movement keys under my left hand, so sometimes I’ll get confused and turn when I meant to move diagonally and get myself killed.
Fighting the enemies is pretty straightforward. Move or turn so that your sword, which is always in front of you, is sticking into the square an enemy is in, and they die. Since you get to move first, and an enemy will never willingly walk into your sword, there is a good amount of strategy to discover. When I first started playing, I’d try to get all of the enemies into a straight line, and then rush forward through them all. If an enemy ever snuck around behind me or came at me from the side, I was toast. Now I’m dancing around like Errol Flynn.
But the game’s not just about combat. In fact, while killing all of the monsters is your main goal, you’re going to spend a significant amount of your time hitting switches to open doors, or trying to find your way across a room where the floor crumbles under your feet while leaving yourself a patch back out.
What I liked:
As you might have guessed, I really like the combat mechanism. I also like the puzzles. Sometimes they’re tricky enough that I’m ready to pull my hair out. But that just makes it all that more rewarding when I finally solve it. The music is really nice. Good enough in fact that there was a strong demand for a CD Soundtrack which you can order from the Caravel website. That’s pretty cool if you ask me.
What I disliked:
I really dislike the image of Beethro at the top left of the interface. And it’s not just that he’s ugly, which is true, but it’s that I don’t like that drawing very much. (That’s the only bit of art I didn’t care for, though.) I’d like to see a little bit more in the way of in game tutorials. I enjoyed discovering the joys of combat on my own (which is why I didn’t give much strategy above) but there are some things that I’d like a bit more info on. For example, even after a couple of levels of fighting rooms full of wraithwings, I’m still not sure about how they act. Sometimes I’ll be totally exposed and about to die and they’ll run away, and other times I’m toast. (I’m sure they follow some rules, I just don’t fully understand them yet.)
Games it reminded me of:
The combat (at first) feels slightly like The Legend of Zelda, with the way your sword is always out in front of you, but once I got better at it, the combat feels more like a turn based role playing game mixed with chess. There are puzzle aspects that are sort of like other games, but when you add in the mimic potions, I don’t think I’ve played anything quite like it before.
Recommendations:
I played the demo all the way through and then quite gladly bought the full version. I’ll most likely grab the next DROD game (Journey to the Rooted Hold) as well when I finish all of the King Dugan’s Dungeon levels. I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes puzzles and a little strategy in their combat. Plus the demo is nice and long. There’s no reason not to at least give it a try.
Review: Fruity Garden July 3, 2006
Posted by Jesse in : Game Reviews , add a commentGame: Fruity Garden
Developer: BondarchukV
Version: This is a review of the demo version of the game.
Fruity Garden is a cute game. You play the part of Anna Maria, whose Granny has given her a Fruity Garden of her very own to take care of.
The gameplay is pretty simple. You start out with one fruit tree, and all you have to do is wait for fruit to grow and become ripe (it will shake when it’s ripe) and then you click on it. If you don’t get to them in time, fruit will fall from the tree. If a piece of fruit hits the ground, a caterpillar will start climbing the tree. This will cost you points, so it’s best not to let the fruit hit the ground. As you progress, you will get additional trees to take care of, and birds will start swooping down to take your fruit away. If you move your mouse cursor over them, you can shoot at them with a slingshot. A direct hit will turn them away, and they’ll drop any fruit they picked up. Sometimes when you click a ripe fruit or shoot a bird, you will get a bonus, which is either extra points or powerups. They’ll bounce around the screen, and you just have to click on them to collect them.
What I liked:
The graphics are bright and cute. I can definitely see them appealing to a younger audience. (Which I assume is the target.) The music is also well made, and I imagine a younger audience would be drawn to it. There’s a simple in-game tutorial system, where a fullscreen dialog pops up and you are given advice or instructions. Fruity Garden should be good for developing a child’s hand-eye coordination.
What I disliked:
The difficulty ramps up rather quickly. I was only through a dozen or so levels, and I was having difficulty pulling out perfect scores, and I’m an experienced adult gamer. I imagine that would mean it would be quite difficult for a younger child to succeed at all. (Note: Since my original draft of this review, the developer has posted a comment on the Indiegamer Forums that he will take a look at the easy mode difficulty level. Once taken care of, that will help the game alot, in my opinion.)
Games it reminded me of:
The first game that comes to mind is the carnival classic game of Whac-A-Mole. Take a hammer, and smack every single mechanical animal that dares to stick his head up. Also, there’s an element of Duck Hunt going on when the birds start trying to steal the fruit. (That gives me an idea. Replace the mouse targeting with Duck Hunt style mechanics, and I could easily see this game doing well in a kids arcade or a bowling alley.)
Recommendations:
If you’re an adult gamer, it seems pretty obvious that this game isn’t for you. However, if you’ve got a young child who would like play video games with you, I this is worth a try. There’s a 40 minute trial demo, and that should be enough to see if your child is interested.
Review: Professor Fizzwizzle June 29, 2006
Posted by Jesse in : Game Reviews , add a commentGame: Professor Fizzwizzle
Developer: Grubby Games
Version: This is a review of the full version of the game.
The brilliant Professor Fizzwizzle is having a very bad day. The once friendly robots that he created have turned against him, and he’s a long way from his laboratory, where he needs to be to repair things. He needs your help!
At it’s heart, Fizzwizzle is puzzle game. (It’s also really fun to say. Try it. Fizzwizzle, Fizzwizzle.) There are some levels in which it feels like a platformer, where you’re running as fast as you can with a Rage-Bot or two breathing down your neck, but for the most part you’ll spend your time trying to find the key to the puzzle that will let you reach the next level.
The tools you have to work with are boxes and barrels you can push around, magnets which will stick to anything metal, a freeze gun, and some other handy gadgets. In your way (in addition to the Rage-Bots) are locked gates, sand that will prevent you from pushing boxes, icy floors which can leave you stranded or send you flying, and the ever-present danger of falling to your doom.
What I liked:
This game has alot going for it. The graphics and sound are great and fit perfectly. I never once found myself pulled out of the game saying, “This just doesn’t belong here.” The puzzles are challenging, but the guys at Grubby Games did a great job with the difficulty progression. If you happen to get stuck, there’s a feature to show the solution. It can definitely come in handy.
It’s also loaded with extra little features. There are cavemen and animals frozen in blocks of ice, which don’t add to the gameplay at all, but they certainly amused my wife. When she stopped by to ask about them, I let the professor idle and he just started breakdancing! The game was registered and we were playing through the levels together immediately. When you finish the included levels, you can go to the Grubby Games website and download a bunch of user submitted levels. Or you can use the included level editor to create your own levels.
It’s pretty clear to me why this game won GameTunnel’s Casual Game of the Year award, as well as being a finalist in last years IGF competition.
What I disliked:
I know I just wrote that I liked the ability to see the solution, but it’s also something I didn’t like. I wish I could have disabled it so there was no temptation to cheat. I have absolutely no willpower. I guess that’s not really much of a complaint.
Games it reminded me of:
The game has some elements of Sokoban, though the game I immediately though of was The Adventures of Lolo on the NES. Especially when you get the freeze gun. If only Lolo could ride on barrels or accidently freeze himself in a block of ice!
Recommendations:
If you like puzzle games, buying this game is a no brainer. But even if they aren’t usually your favorite, I really recommend at least downloading the demo and giving it a whirl. I really loved this game. (And so did my wife.)
