Blogs - xantgames

[This blog is part of a challenge I gave myself. I'm trying to build a puzzle game in just a week. The game has to be complete and ready to publish, with google play integration (leaderboards at least) and supported with ads.]

Just when you think you're done, a million bugs start staring at you.
That's what happened yesterday.

First the ranking feature had a few issues and caused crashes, text would disappear or look weird, sound wouldn't turn off
and there were occasions where two instances of the game were running at the same time. That caused some odd behavior too.

But all in all, I managed to fix most of them and the game is now published.
You can get it here: Linked Jewels

It was a fun little project. I'll take a two weeks break now and then I'm back at making new levels for Farm Tractor Racing.

Thanks for reading and playing my games.
Cheers!

[This blog is part of a challenge I gave myself. I'm trying to build a puzzle game in just a week. The game has to be complete and ready to publish, with google play integration (leaderboards at least) and supported with ads.]

This is it!
Last day, so I'll have to publish whatever I have.
fortunately I think I made it. I started working as soon as I came back from my daily job and continued through the night.
And it paid off.

I found and bought a tune, done the credits scene and integrated google play services.
I added a leaderboard and created 8 achievements.
I also made an icon, integrated a banner and interstitials and prepared graphics for the google play listing.

As things went smoothly I implemented a neat little feature in the main menu.
User's ranking gets pulled from google play once in a while and displayed just below the credits button.

So all in all, I think that's it. It just needs a little more testing and then I can publish it.

If you've been wandering if it's possible to make a puzzle game in just a week. Sure, it is.
Would I be able to do it without any prior resources? Probably not. It would take longer.
Although you have to take into account that I've not been able to work on this game for more than a few hours a day.
I have a daily job I go to so I don't have much time at my disposal. But weekends can be productive.

I'll post the link to google play when it's published.
Have a good day!

[This blog is part of a challenge I gave myself. I'm trying to build a puzzle game in just a week. The game has to be complete and ready to publish, with google play integration (leaderboards at least) and supported with ads.]

Getting close!
I dedicated my time to find appropriate sounds. I used some I had lying around on my hard drive and searched for more with public domain license.
I also spent around 2 hours listening to a bunch of tunes and I still haven't decided which one to buy.

It doesn't seem like much, but it is something. I'll have to step it up a bit on day 6.

Left to do:
- music
- credits
- google play integration
- ad integration
- graphics for google play listing
- icon
- (maybe a video)

[This blog is part of a challenge I gave myself. I'm trying to build a puzzle game in just a week. The game has to be complete and ready to publish, with google play integration (leaderboards at least) and supported with ads.]

Day 4 over!
Not much time left now. I'm a little concerned as I haven't started producing sounds yet nor did look for some suitable music.
But I managed to make all the necessary dialogs and game hints. So that's a huge bonus as the game is already playable.
I also added a quick option to turn the sound off or on. No other settings for now as I don't really see the need to have any.
Oh, and the main menu is done of course.

Left to do:
- sounds effects and music
- credits
- google play integration
- ad integration
- graphics for google play listing
- icon
- (maybe a video)

[This blog is part of a challenge I gave myself. I'm trying to build a puzzle game in just a week. The game has to be complete and ready to publish, with google play integration (leaderboards at least) and supported with ads.]

Day 3 was a little slow. To many distractions resulted in not much work done. I managed to fix a few bugs and started working on the main menu.
Game play seems to work as intended, scores are floating and levels increasing ;).
There are also a few animations which look OK. The graphics are not the best, but that's not what I'm aiming here for.

So 4 days left and I'll have to step it up. Unfortunately it's Monday and there's my daily job taking my time.

TODO:
- more special items
- dialogs for pause, quit, exit...
- tutorial dialogs (hints)
- sounds effects and music
- main menu
- settings
- credits
- google play integration
- ad integration
- more special effects
- graphics for google play listing
- (maybe a video)

[This blog is part of a challenge I gave myself. I'm trying to build a puzzle game in just a week. The game has to be complete and ready to publish, with google play integration (leaderboards at least) and supported with ads.]

Day 2 is over. And it's the weekend so I had a lot more time for development. First day didn't look so good and I started to doubt myself. Yesterday I made quite good progress, but there's still a lot to be done.

I'm not far away from having some real screenshots.

Things I've done already:
- basic jewels
- game mechanics (although it's still full of bugs)
- animation for swiping and a few special effects
- progress bar (levels) and score handler

TODO:
- special items (bombs etc..)
- a bonus item meter (another progress bar)
- fix bugs in game logic
- dialogs for pause, quit, exit...
- tutorial dialogs (hints)
- sounds effects and music
- main menu
- settings
- credits
- google play integration
- ad integration
- more special effects
- graphics for google play listing
- (maybe a video)

[This blog is part of a challenge I gave myself. I'm trying to build a puzzle game in just a week. The game has to be complete and ready to publish, with google play integration (leaderboards at least) and supported with ads.]

First day is over so let's go over what's been done and what still needs to be done.

What has been done:
- Created a new project (obviously)
- Implemented the main activity and scene management (took most of the code from my previous projects)
- created base objects for jewels
- drawn a mockup of the game scene in gimp

TODO:
- Derived objects for jewels and specials
- Score handler
- Progress bar for levels and possibly for bonuses
- swipe and consume animations
- main game logic
- dialogs for pause, quit, exit...
- tutorial dialogs (hints)
- sounds effects and music
- main menu
- settings
- credits
- google play integration
- ad integration
- (a bunch of things I can't remember right now)

Off to day 2.

Here's what I just decided. As you may know, I've been working on Farm Tractor Racing for the last 6 months or so. The game is now released on Google Play and I added 4 new stages after.

To clear my mind a bit I decided to try something else. A sprint project. A puzzle game made in just a week. I'll try to use some of the mechanics I already made in some of my previous games, make use of some of the art I didn't use before or make new one where needed. The game should be complete as in ready to be published. With google play integration and supported with ads.

I'll start tomorrow and post updates of my progress.
Wish me luck :)

If you've been following me on twitter, facebook or maybe even G+, then you may have noticed I recently released a new game on the google play store.

It's something I've been working on for the last five months or so. I didn't make anything from scratch though as I've been able to reuse a lot of code from my previous project Run 'em over.
But I managed to make a simple level editor in the process which I didn't have before. You can imagine it was a real pain making levels for Run 'em over so that was something on my priority list.

After that, things went much more smoothly, but I still had to make a bunch of different objects.
I also spent quite a bit of time optimizing things to make the game play as fluid as possible.

The game itself is almost a tipical 2D racing game. You have the farmer (I call him Sawyer) and you drive a tractor. The upgrades include engine, transmissions, the size of your fuel tank, tires, suspensions and safety. That last one decreases the chances of Sawyer falling off the tractor on bumpy roads and high jumps.

The game has 35 stages in 5 different locations at the moment and I'm planning to add some more soon.

I've also made a trailer for the game which you can check on youtube.

Here's the full description on the store:
Welcome to the farm lands where tractors rule the streets.
Meet Sawyer. A true farmer, tractor enthusiast and stuntman.
Race the bumpy roads, smash through crates, barrels and many other obstacles.
Upgrade your tractor, improve your results and compare them with your friends.
Perform stunts to get air time bonuses, but take care of Sawyer as he may fly off the tractor.

Try to beat your own best time by racing against a ghost tractor!
Share photos of injuries and Sawyer in awkward situations with your friends.

Features:
* 35 levels in 5 different locations
* Easy first levels, progressive difficulty and stage length.
* Upgradable tractors include transmissions, engine, tires, suspension, fuel and safety
* Banjo music! Yes, really.
* Stunts and injuries
* 4 super powered tractors
* Share you results with an awesome screenshot!
* Achievements and hidden content!