Well apparently when I chose GoDaddy for my hosting service I was making a mistake. When I saw in there hosting plans that I could host unlimited website I was sold. Apparently that means you can host one and another one you have to allow advertisements in, and allow it to load at rediculously low speeds. I need to change my hosting, got any reccomendations? All I need is hosting where I can host two domains from the same account, and if possible support interesting things like PHP and whatnot. Im not to sure where to go to, so let me know what you reccomend.
So WTF are you doing anyway?!?
Linx0r started off essentialy as my humble return to game development. I previously got employed with a game development company and slowly began to learn that if its not my games I dont enjoy it. It had KILLED my favorite hobby for me, taking out all the fun. Not only that but if you worked full time as a game developer, you dont really want to go home and code anymore do you? I had taken a few months off making games so I could try and gain enjoyment for it again.
Once I got that itch, I had to scratch it. My girlfriend had been playing away on her cellphone enjoying her nice little puzzle game. I figured, if I am going to make a game, why not atleast make one I know SOMEONE with play [rolleyes].
Development on the game began. It was intended to be a classic remake of this timeless puzzle game, and it still is... sorta. While developing it I began to notice,I didn't really enjoy this game alot. Its fun, dont get me wrong, its just not really for me. I began fantasizing about what I could do to make this better, how with so many changes it would begin to mold into something that I would want to play. If I did this though it would ruin the whole reason the project started, to provide that original version that people have come to love. Hence, the term "mode" came into the games vocabulary.
Arcade mode is the classic approach at this particular style of puzzle game. The formula works, why should I change that? If your firmilar with this style game, you know you wont be disappointed.
Two blocks fall together, rotate them and move them around the board so that four or more of the same color blocks are touching. Clear enough blocks, advance in level. See who can get the farthest, or who has the highest score. You have played this, its a classic.
Advanced mode is, um, er..... well im not going to tell you what Advanced mode IS, but I can tell you what it will be (lost ya yet?). Advanced mode will be MY version of this game. Theres so many elements I just find to be plain old and boring, Dont get me wrong, time has shown how popular it can be, but with my experience in gaming, I need something else. This will be my representation of this classic game. What I hope to accomplish with this is update this game so it can stand tall amongst all of the newer games out there, and try and provide a new challenge into this old time tested formula of gameplay.
Where things stand
I have set two milestones for this game. I am currently on Milestone one. It consists of:
- Finish linx0r homepage
- Complete menu navigations
- Complete Arcade Mode
The website obviously needs to change hosts, I cant believe how misleading the hosting plans are with GoDaddy.... I need to capture some videos/screenshots and start filling in the content. There has to be a nice presentation where people can go to get ahold of the demo. This is important because in order to get people to want to spend there money on this, they have to believe what they are buying is a professionally handeled product. That they arent wasting their money, and what they are buying is a quality product. The website will be where most of the people will first see the project, so I have to make sure that this is very nice before I consider it finished.
The menu system is in place. There is some nice graphical effects like some really cool menu transitions and button movements. My design requires that I place a few more menus in between the title screen and its appropriate action. Some of these include adding in a menu that asks the user if they are sure they want to quit when they click on the "Quit" button from the main menu. There is also a color scheme I have made for the game. Each button has a color and the menu that shows upon clicking it will follow the same color scheme. It works pretty well consider it follows the colors of the puzzle peices ingame.
To complete arcade mode there is a few details that need to be implimented. Right now if you were to fire up the game you can actially play it. The peices fall, the user can move/rotate them. When they place the board clears (ty raydawg for the algorithm, was a brain teaser for meh). The game is essentially there. What needs to be implimented now is the level and the score. The most dificult part of this is creating a font library to use with DirectX9. Raymond Jacobs of EDIGames has been nice enough to provide me with a copy of the library used in his upcoming project Malathedra, what I need to do is modify it to fit with my project, essentially changing how everything draws to the screen.
State o' things
If there was ever a lesson I learned from all my past experiences with trying to run a project it would simply be this: "Don't tell people what you are going to make, tell them what you have just done". I dont want to provide you with false expectations and I dont want to give you release dates I cant keep. I will mostly be hush hush on things to come, and I will focus more on what I am currently doing, and how things are evolving into the finished product.
Im also really into feedback so if at anytime you would like to make a suggestion for the game/product/myself PLEASE feel very free to let me know. The reason I pay for this blog is so that I can reach people, and they can help myself and my projects go.
if(myself != artist)
buyArt(Wallet->GetCash(),myself->Brokness());
I really need to freshen up this game. Seeing as this is my first attempt at breaking into the industry I will be funding it out of my pocket. I would like to keep things as cheap as possible. I plan on selling the game for a low ammount and im not making the next Halo so I have to keep the buget low if I intend on turning a profit. So far for the domains/hosting/journal I have spent roughtly $50.00. The current target price I float around in my head is $9.99 so I would already have to sell 5 copies. That might not seem like alot to you but I have to take into account the worst case senario that I dont actuially sell any copies. I have allocated myself a $100.00 budget to completly overhaul the art for this game. I am hoping to find someone whos new to the biz, who has the talent, but needs the experience. Im not looking to drop $1000.00 on art (which some people over at Pixelopolis expect to make) so if you have artist skills feel free to head over to my post on the Help Wanted forums and let me know.
return 0;
In closing, I hope you know who I am, what im doing, and where im going. Questions/Comments? Let me know! Until next time, thanks for your interest in what I have to do. I have already gotten over 100 hits on the website and 150 on the journal within the first 24 hours. I know that www.BesomeGames.com isnt alot, and its not intended to be, so thanks for reading what I have to say, and I hope you stick around until I can provide some more information on the projects homepage. I hope you enjoy watching my company, and my games grow. I put alot of effort into showing you all, I hope its not in vain :).
