Link: /BrainTrainingUpdate01

Well the bad news is that I've kind of missed my target of Launching a brain training game but I have managed to write a brain training prototype 'game' that works.

Only the puzzles were completely random so there was no guarantee that they could be solved!

So I have persevered and after working through a random problem solver that would cycle through all the permutations possible to generator a solution. Which was very slow on occasion (10+ seconds).

Well in theory there could be up to or over 100 elements in a puzzle (worst case or best case if you like hard puzzles) and they could be linked together in 4 possible ways well that's 4 to the power of 100, combinations which is a lot really.

Now due to the type of puzzle that I'm using I was able to write a much simpler step by step solver that would use a heuristic to test each of the links and try the first one that kept the solution on track!

NB this is a depth first search.

Better still it works and it's blisteringly fast (relative to the random breadth first search).

Now I divided this aspect of the problem of generating a solvable puzzle from the actual games puzzle, which meant I could focus on the problem and not get distracted by the puzzle games code and it worked!

Well I'm going to complete this game and launch it, but should I delay launch until all the puzzles are done ( I have though of a few variations and alternatives ) or launch the game as a beta and work on it until a full release version is ready?

Link: /BrainTrainingGame

I'm going to write a 'Quick' brain training game and release it this week so I had best use the Keep It Simple Stupid approach and get on with it.

Project: 'Brain Trainning v0.1'

Started: 14:22 24th Feb 2010
Finishes: 23:59 28th Feb 2010

Development Language: BlitzMax

Just re-iterating my statement from the iThink blog stream...

Update the Brain Training Game now has a basic design, I tend to design the core game concept then build up from that, unfortunatly I also hit issues when pesky details cause changes or major road blocks I did not think through...

Think of building a bridge and desinging great arches only to get stuck with the fiddly bits like road/rail/power lines and joining both sides.

Or 'The devils in the details!':Anon.
Anyway I've designed the core, now I just need write it!

Link: /GameDesign01

Well the review of my progress and problems with Cupids Quota has led me to do some research (web browsing) into better Design Patterns or Architecture for games, and it looks like the Model View Controller design pattern would be an ideal choice for simplifying my games, especially when it is explained as clearly as this:

Game programming with patterns: Model View Controller

And I also bumped into this inspiring link from the creators of World of Goo an amazing Indie game, to remind myself that the World of Goo was not built in a day...

Check out this trailer of the classic indie game World of Goo!

Link: /whodidit

As a budding games designer and developer, I'm watching the games news and review sites and occasionally I find myself going wow that sounds cool and wanting to know more about the game from the developers perspective.

Unfortunatly unlike Hollywood films where the main talent used to create the film, the actors and directors are easily found the actually talent behind your favourite game is much harder to find!

OK you have the big hitters who do have "DigiWood" like presences and are household names, but I think even the big names tend to be more like designers/directors than Actors or developers.

Take Moleyneux or Mayamoto for example...

Now take a typical Casual game, they appear on portals so try this:

1. Visit iWin.com,
2. Check out there Mah-Jongg games
3. Find a game titled Mah-Jongg Challenge
4. Can you find out who made it?

No pity that because I made that game, that's right it's my first game on a portal but if you were impressed with the game and would like to know more about it and who made it how hard would that be?

So next time you play a game you like, see if you can find out who designed it and who programmed it..

Link: /cupidmissedthetarget

Well Cupid's Quota has not made the cut for this years valentines day.

Quick Development Postmortem,

What went right...

The use of simple but cute character graphics from previous project, worked well giving the game a Cute and simple look.

Re-cycling of framework and screen configuration from earlier game allowed me to quickly pull together good looking intro/loading and main menu screens!

Utilisation of Rigs' collision detection system allowed me to increase the play area to larger than screen size.

Re-use of Advancing Wall of Doom code to quickly get the look of the characters in the game and the basic gameplay working!

What went wrong...

The scope of the game especially initally was way to big for the time frame, OK I was not going for an MMO but I wanted loads of levels and settings, NPC interaction with each other and scenery.

Considering that the basic concept was derived from a much simpler game type the scope was just getting bigger and bigger!

There were a few teathing troubles converting the old collision system with the new mainly due to the learning curve and the changes needed to use a different style of mechanism to handle collisions.

Using an old framework also meant I had a lot of features that would need to be filled or cut from the design.

The initial idea of having large resolutions supported did use up a few days to play with the system and the new VirtualResolution commands in BlitzMax, as opposed to going with the standard 'Casual' resolutions of 800x600 and 1024x768!

I still belive that if the average Steam user or Unity player has a desktop resolution of 1280 x 800 then why not allow for it.

As an indie game developer I'm competing with lots of flash browser based games, so why not take advanteage of the the biggest resolution I can!

So a selectable resolution system took up a good chunck of my time.

But the main culprit had to be the lack of scope, instead of starting with small and solid set of game concepts and building up, I was constantly daydreaming and drawing a bigger and better game.

Note to self: the fuzzy dream game in your head is always going to be amazing, but let's face it you really should set small incremental goals or "Everest can only be climbed one step at a time".

But the biggest problem was the time spent working on graphics, combined with my fuzzy dreamscape of a scope and building the game graphics, tweaking, reworking and drawing the game when I should have just used basic blocks and have the gameplay working!

I still think I could have a great game in Cupids Quota, and I plan on working through it systematically and releasing it when it's ready but the gameplay and game concept needs a lot more refinement and playtesting to make the game the best it can be!

So now I have two games about 50% done, they have the basic gameplay elements in there but I think what they lack is depth, character and polish!