domingo, 23 de octubre de 2011

Development Day 101: This is My Last Chance to Talk


Hello. I don't know where to start...
I've been busy all these days because I'll be going on a long trip to Europe, I'll be going from Oct 25 to Nov 16. Which is like three weeks.
The bad thing is that I won't be taking my laptop to the trip.
Why? Because we're not staying on a hotel more than two nights, we'll be traveling across France, Spain and Portugal; and being carriyng a laptop in my backpack would be very exhausting since we'll be walking for countless hours in order to meet the places and stuff.
So that means, no Development Day updates... For a month -_-
But I'll try to write a post each week about my tour and some ideas for the game as well.
I hope you understand. It is an important trip for me and my family (yes, we're going together) and carrying a heavy laptop all day may screw some of our plans.
I'll be taking the Traveling Buni Project, which is to take a printed Buni from the comic series around the world.
And again, I'm really sorry, I hope you understand :/

lunes, 17 de octubre de 2011

Development Day 96: I Need Your Vote!

Hello again. Thanks for comming :)
I couldn't do much today because I've been busy... I'm going to Europe! :D
Yep! I'm going for 3 weeks, but don't worry, I'll be able to work on the game as usually :)

Oh, yes. I did little changes, like:

Flais can now be killed with the Tamarind power-up. If you shoot them they throw up a black smoke particle.




I don't know if it is a good idea to keep the Flai's deaths like that...

And talking about smoke, when a Tamarind bullet touches a block it will get destroyed and will leave a bit of dust...



Uh, yes, that's the dust.

I changed the spikes. In fact, I made two models:


I can't decide which model should I use...
The one at the left combines with the kind of art from the background, while the one at the right is more notable for the player.
Please, I need your vote, COMMENT BELOW!

I also changed something little from the background, it is unfinished, so I don't have a snapshot at the moment.

Oh! Jonathan Leek made new levels! He will send them to me this night. I can't wait :)


Well, thanks for reading another post of the Development of Ooni. I hope you liked it because I stayed up late to do it >:(

sábado, 15 de octubre de 2011

Development Day 95: I'm Sure You Will Get It On Your Hands


I'm sorry, really sorry.
As I just said on one of my previous posts, I am a student. And as a student it's my obligation to study and get ready for exams.
I had five exams this week. So I was not able to work on the development of the game or post something for the Dev Blog.
I also stayed past night at Eduardo's (my matey) house. I didn't take my laptop, so that means no development for today :/
I'm staying one more night, so I took the decision to write a Blog post from my iPod and send it to the Dev Blog and IndieDB. Because it's been like four days since my last post, and I feel bad and irresponsible because of that :(

I won't waste more of your time making you read more of my regrets, so I want to discuss about the game's platforms.

The main release for the game is and definitely going to be iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch). I'm not in to this, but I know that there's a war between iOS and Android users. So, the next aimed platform of Ooni will be the Android.

But why iOS is going first?
I don't have anything against Android, I just don't have one. I own an iPod Touch and an iPad, so those are a good start to see that the first version of the game works properly at both small and big screens of portable devices.
I'm looking forward to buy an Android phone for myself to personally make sure that the game runs properly on it. I'll try to buy the Xperia Play; it runs both Xperia Play and Android apps. So that means I'll be able to make Ooni XperiaPlayABLE thanks to YoYoGames's Game Maker Studio's amazing magic!

It will be cool that people from both smartphone religions could have Ooni on their hands. But let's be realistic, not everyone owns a smart phone, and I really want people to know Ooni.
The good thing is that YoYo Games is also offering an HTML5 exportation system, which lets you play games inside a web browser without the need of a flash plugin.
This means that Ooni will be able to be played on your web browser. NO MATTER IF YOU OWN WINDOWS, MAC OR EVEN LINUX!! :D

But putting the game simply on a website with a safe engine for payments will be hard to develop. Not impossible, but hard.
Making it not safe puts your credit cards in the risk of getting hacked, or me in the risk of getting loads of demands :S
The website may come, but definitely not soon.

But where can I find a web store platform? Maybe I could take a look to social networks!
Yes, Facebook is filled with lots of games where you pay to expand your inventory or coins or whatever; for example the famous Farm Ville or They Need To Be Fed, a game made on Game Maker. This leaves me complete sure that I'll be able to make Ooni affordable on Facebook! Good news!
Oh, I'm also looking forward to publish it for Google+ users :)
The price? Oh, it will be between $2 and $3, and you'll be able to play with it forever at any computer as soon you get logged into your Facebook or Google+ account :)

Now, there are people that would like to have the full experience of the game on the big screen that the computer offers today. Yes, full screen.
I'm aiming Steam, Mac App Store and Desura for that; they are awesome platforms for gamers that will publish any indie game like Ooni as soon as it is fun :)
The price will be between $3 and $5, and like the other ones, you'll be able to play it forever as soon as you get logged into your Steam, Apple or Desura account :D
Of course, they won't accept the game unless the game gets no bugs. So, as my job indicates, I'll delete those bugs and make your purchase worth. Leave it to me ;)

So, let's see, Ooni will be able for...

· iPhone
· iPad
· iPod Touch
· Android
· Xperia Play
· Steam
· Desura
· Facebook
· Google+
· And probably more...

So there's no excuse. If you are reading this, it means that you CAN buy Ooni :)

So thanks for reading such long post. I'm really interested in your opinions and recommendations, really. So, please leave a comment below :)

Oh, I see no pictures in here, so here's a picture of my dog! :D

lunes, 10 de octubre de 2011

Development Day 90: Yes, I went Bananas

I didn't do a lot today since its Monday. Anyhow, I added significative stuff to the game!

The Banana


Did I say what does this little boneless curved fruit does? I don't remember, so I'm going to say it anyways...

The Banana gives the player the ability of Invincibility (it rhymes!). This makes the player unable to be hurt by an enemy or Flai.



Like any other Fruit, the Banana glows and turns Ooni into the Fruit's main color.




As you can see on the screenshots above the player can walk across any kind of enemy without getting killed.

Oh! It also works on spikes!
But remember that the ability will only last 10 seconds, use them wisely!


Tamarind Bullets

The usernamed noTformaT on the IndieDB community said to me:
- "Background has more detail than the game objects.
I love lizards! :)" 
I immediately tought on the Tamarind's bullets, which looked like this:
Yup! This is a pixelated circle that I was using to test the Tamarind while I was still developing it. Well, this goes dedicated to noTformaT, so here's the new look of the bullets:


Isn't it neat? :)
Yes, this is more or less the way the look now. I love pixels and 8-Bit related graphics, but they simply won't fit on Ooni :(


 (Click to enlarge)

They now look better and smoother.
Oh! And they're also smaller now. Their size was 30x30, and now they're 26x26...

I also made new variables for the achievements, but I can't explain that to you :)

I hope you've enjoyed my post. Remember that I'll post something new almost daily!
Oh, by the way, the first Tech Demo of the game is on it's way! So I can finally try to make a funding campaign and gather the money I need to make this game dream real :)

domingo, 9 de octubre de 2011

Development Day 89: Goin' Bananas!

On the last post I talked about adding a new fruit to the game. That would be the Banana...


I didn't work on it since I took the day off and went to shopping with my parents, so I will just talk about what it does.
The Banana will give the player the ability to become invisible. While invisible, the player can walk across enemies (Flais) without getting damaged. Spikes are still being considered to be evaded by invisibility.
The invisibility will last 10 seconds, so try to spend them well ;)

Oh, this is a shout to Henl3y, an IndieDB executive director. His job is to read IndieDB blog posts and fix any grammar errors.
He got mad at me because my last post was filled with errors. I want to tell him that I'm sorry :(
I ALWAYS add a ton of effort to my grammar, but since I'm Mexican it is hard to keep it up.
So, Henl3y, I'm sorry :(

sábado, 8 de octubre de 2011

Development Day 88: That Post Gave Me a Feeling

I feel bad. I can't believe that it's been 88 days since I started this game, and it's not even Alpha.
This is because I'm a student, I'm busy with school, homeworks, mid-day chores, hanging with my friends; but most of all it's because I'm lazy. Lazy as heck. In total, I've skipped like two months and a half of work because of lazyness and when I work I don't work more than half-hour.

But yesterday and today, I worked hard. And I can't believe it was fun!
It feels pretty good when your project goes on and gets bigger and bigger :)
So, if you're a Developer (and even if you're not!) give more effort at the projects you're working or you'll work at. Don't say: "When I get older I will....." NO!
Today, we have something called: "Internet", it can show you anything, ANYTHING you want to do. There's a tutorial for everything! I mean it!
It doesn't matter if you're 10 years old, you can be (let's say) a musician. In places like Google or YouTube, you are able to find thousands and millions of ways to create your own songs!
Maybe you may end like the next big musician of the time, I don't know.

No one likes to grow up and say: "I wish I have done this......".
The only frontier is the lazyness, that's the only frontier......


Uh.... Well....
NOW BACK TO OONI!

I havent done too much, but significant changes in Ooni.

Several days ago, I talked about introducing a new fruit that will be able to destroy Flais. In fact, there is going to be 2. But fist I would like to talk about the Tamarind:


What does this thing do? Magic.
No, this is a new power-up that will be able to shoot bullets. The player won't need to press any button to shoot, Ooni will automatically shoot bullets with a time rate of 2 bullets per second.
I've been working hard on this fruit, specially because I had troubles at the time rate of the bullets and lots of bugs as seen on my previous post.

Anyway, this is pretty much how it looks in the game.


As you can see the Tamarind and all the other fruits emit a ring with their color. This makes it look a little better and more notable.



When the player reaches any fruit, Ooni will acquire the color and the power-up of the fruit, but it will only last for 10 seconds!



The Tamarind will shoot immediately. It will shoot (as I said) 2 bullets per second, or 19 bullets in 10 seconds.



As you can see, the Tamarind's bullets can destroy the Flais when they touch them.
See? Magic!
Uhmm, yeah. I think that's all for now for the Tamarind...

Well, I have also experienced troubles with the variables for the achievements. The achievements only worked if the game was loaded with the achievements viewer as the first room of the game, or else it crashed.
I have already fixed that. The game now has a loader that prepares all the variables in order to run the game properly, and it will also load the player's saved data. But not now.


That is how it looks now. It places a random fruit in the lower right corner that moves.
I know that it is an ugly black rectange, but it takes less than a second to load it all.
It will also be removed at the final release of the game.


I've got a new Level Designer, Jonathan Leek.
He has been working on some stages, and they're so damn hard to clear!
He just sent me 3 in order to know if he's doing his job properly, and he is!

This is what the mail said:

Here are the finished levels so far; I have a handful that are still drafts; I'll send them to you when they're cleaned up a bit. 

As you can tell, I'm not the greatest artist, so I used notations to try to make things as clear as possible.

Squares with F inside- falling blocks
Squares with x inside- destructible blocks
Filled in squares- Crates
Circles with arrows- Flais with arrows showing movement
Circles with A's inside- Aviator flai
Powerups are shown by their initial i.e; B is a banana, T is a Tamarind, etc.

Let me know what you think, if you have anyquestions, etc.

Jon


Take a look, and click to expand.



 I've been taking a close look to them and they're really cool! I've also started making this one real:


This is how it looks:





I know that the stage doesn't look really stetical (and by that, I mean: "good-looking"), but it's my fault, I will change it later :)
Uh, yes, I added spikes :P


So, yes. Today was a day of lots of work, and I'm happy about it :)   <----See?
I know that Ooni has been growing slowly and it's because I'm lazy.
But I can tell that if I keep working like today, the mechanics of the game are almost done, so the Alpha version of the game may come between one and two weeks! And if I keep like this the Final Release may be done before Christmas! :D

I hope you took seriously what I said at the beginning of the post. You only live once and no one would like to die as a Mr. Nobody. Do whatever you want without affecting other people and shoot for your dreams and that...

Ehm... I have recently made the Ooni's IndieDB Blog, the posts are pretty much the same but you'll be notified when a new one comes out, and IndieDB is a great place to discover and support new projects, seriously, take a look :)

Hah, so thanks for reading such a long post, in fact, the longest I've ever writen about any of my projects. So, again, thanks :)
And I want to make this post even longer, so here's a pic of Ooni in my shitty $30 cellphone...


LOL!
Have a nice day, and come back eventually :)

Oh! I forgot, expect a new fruit tomorrow :D

viernes, 7 de octubre de 2011

jueves, 6 de octubre de 2011

Development Day 86: Indie!

Just wanted to tell you guys that I joined the IndieDB to gain a little more audience.
Go to IndieDB now and find other cool projects! :D

Click here to go to the Ooni's IndieDB Page.

lunes, 26 de septiembre de 2011

Development Day 76: Achievement Unlocked!

I've implemented the achievement system on the game. I just added 2:
  • THE BEGINNING: Finish your first stage.
  • FEELING HIGH: Eat your first Avocado.
In the pictures below you'll be able to see some screenshots about it:

 All achievements locked.


 One achievement unlocked.


Two achievements unlocked.


The achievement room will definitely not look like that! I'll align them to the center and add a proper background. This is a prototype.
This engine is not hard, but it is really long to do. At least it works properly :)

martes, 20 de septiembre de 2011

Development Day 70: Lychee Officially Delayed!

So, yes... There was a fruit in the game, the Lychee. I never said what it's power was, so...



The Lychee's main power-up was to give Ooni the ability to shrink, so Ooni would be able to move through tunnels and small places.
But since this gave a LOT of bugs, like, getting stuck when the power's time was over; I've decided to take it off and show it later in an update or something.

Now I've added another fruit. It doesn't give me as much problems as the Lychee.
I'll talk about it later :D

lunes, 19 de septiembre de 2011

Development Day 69: I'm So Sorry Jonathan D:

So, Jonathan Leek contacted me to take the Level Designer position.
I sent him some of the stuff that the game uses, so he can start planning some stages.

I've told him about stuff I haven't told in the blog yet ;)

domingo, 11 de septiembre de 2011

Development Day 61: Another Song!

I would like to introduce you the 2nd World's theme....

Snotty Bratz (Ooni's 2nd World Theme) [by Garret Beelow] by ZuperZ_Music

I had to put the 2nd World's theme befroe the 1st World because I'm having little legal problems with it. But don't worry :)

sábado, 10 de septiembre de 2011

Development Day 60: Plan B

Yesterday's post made me think....

Now that Game Maker Studio will be comming this year, I will be able to publish my game into the iPhone, iPad, Android, PSP, Xperia Play, and much more....

The first plan was to make the Ooni with 3 worlds, 100 Achievements, and you may know the rest (if not, read this). It was going to be released for the PC/Mac platform: Steam.
But if I want to release the game on Steam, the game should be more or less, PERFECT! And I just don't have the time or patience to do that.

Ooni was supposed to be a game that updates, and gathers new stuff, like: Worlds, Stages, Achievements, Enemies, Power-Ups and more. That makes the player happy. And that is (seriously) the only reason why I'm a game developer.

If I release the game on Steam soon, it will be filled of bugs, and critics hate bugs. They would rate my game really low and that would be more or less the end of my game developing career.

But mobile games (somehow) are not criticized on as many aspects as a (let's say) "big screen" games.

Why?
Because 9 out of 10 moile games are simple. Just play, die, and repeat.
That makes the development cheap, and so, the game's price for the player is cheap.
There is no reason to review the game in such complex way.
Why?
Becaus you shouldn't analyze something simple in a complex way.
Makes sense?

Here's my point:
Mobile games are short. And my game's development is (for now) still short.
What if I release the game with just one world to the iPhone, iPad and Android as soon as the Game Maker Studio? Of course, I will add a world each month or something.

So, yes, Ooni for iOS and Android will come out before Steam and Mac.

What do you think?
Please, let me know in the comment section.
I really need to know people's oppinion.
So, if you have Twitter, would you please Retweet this link and support this game development?
http://twitter.com/#!/The_Green_Tie/status/112709625677225984

Thanks for reading such long post :)
Remember that I will keep posting daily posts if I can...
And also, thanks for supporting such important project of mine :)

viernes, 9 de septiembre de 2011

Development Day 59: Raise Your Mobiles

This very wednesday, YoYoGame's CEO made a blog post at YoYoGames.com saying that the Game Maker Studio will be released this year.

Read the full story here.

jueves, 8 de septiembre de 2011

Development Day 58: Because You Wanted It!

I made a Tweet saying:
"If this gets Retweeted 10 Times before midnight, I'll upload a Free Stage of Today"
And it actually got the 10 Retweets in less than an hour, thanks :)

So, here's the thing:

Free Ooni Early Development Stage Download!

This is a downloadable Ooni stage for you, so you can see how the development has been.
REMEMBER! It may be buggy, since it's still in Alpha version. And this demo doesn't have ALL the things I've developed, I don't want to spoil ;)
Also, the goal will not look like that in the final version.... 



What you'll see:
  • Ooni's movement.
  • Avocado's Hi-Jump power-up
  • Lil' Flai
  • Merry-Go Flai
  • Scary-Go Flai
  • Full HD 1024x786 graphics

PLEASE, IF YOU WANT TO TELL ME YOUR COMMENTS, CRITICS, OR NOTIFY A BUG OR PROBLEM, DO IT IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW, THAT WOULD BE AWESOME :)


sábado, 20 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 39: Even Moar Minecraft!

Yes, I'm still talking about Minecraft. So what? It's pretty cool! It's got blocks!

So, yes, one of my loyal Minecraft buddies, G_or_G, made a giant Ooni!
It's pretty impresive! Look at it!



It's got a height of 73 blocks and a with of 61 blocks.
It took him 3 hours to make it -.-

viernes, 19 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 38: I Became a Servant

So, yes, as I said in the previous post, I have a Minecraft Server Blog, dedicated to the news and rules of my server. If you play Minecraft, you should check it out :)

jueves, 18 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 37: Another Opportunity

Just a few days ago, I was chatting with my mate about my rejection at KickStarter, and he told me about this site, 8bitFunding. It is like KickStarter, a site where people can donate to projects and get something back, but this one is dedicated to indie games and they don't reject mexicans (AKA Heaven).

I might put a project in there soon :D

miércoles, 17 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 36: ZuperZ.com (via: The Green Tie's Blog)

I just received a mail from someone called Alex. He/She told me that ZuperZ.com is now avaliable.

I've been waiting for this moment for almost 3 years.... But now, I don't care...
Since I released (or however you say it) the ZuperZ.net it's been really hard to update it and also no one visits it... So, FUCK IT!
I'm really comforted with Blogger (AKA Blogspot)... It is SO easy and natural to use that I've got lots of Blogs dedicated to various themes! And I'm going for More!

I've got Ooni Game Dev News, The Freak Feast's Daily Pics, The Random Clip's Comics, The Green Tie's Gaming Reviews, My Minecraft Server's News, a Dev Blog of a crappy game I made for a competition and even a personal Blog.

I'm really comforted with it :)

martes, 16 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 35: Ah Break

I'm posting this to tell you that I'll take a break from working on Ooni just for a week. Because I just have one week left before I get back to school.

lunes, 15 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 34: Freak Feast!

On my old website, I used to post a Daily-Pic of scary and funny sketches that I made at school.
The website was made with Flash. It was pretty hard to post a pic everyday. So I said: "Fuck, No".

But now, I made a blog, where it is going to be easy to post all those pics!


domingo, 14 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 33: Somehow, a Promo

I progresses just on little things of the game. And then the night came, and I got bored.

So, like every bored dude, I made a wallpaper!
But not any wallpaper! A RETRO wallpaper!

Check it out!


Use it as your desktop wallpaper and make all your friends jealous! :D

sábado, 13 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 32: I Came...

I came........ Back from my vacation trip!
Really cool, relaxing, fun, and other things that might tease a hater.

But, ouch! An entire week without developing the game! Sure it is a long time.

I will continue the development tomorrow.

viernes, 12 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 31: Positions Are Still Open!

Thanks to everyone who has already contacted me to take the jobs!
I can say that they were like 10! But just 1 (per job) can be the one.
But, NO ONE has sent me an example of what they can do -.-

Positions are still open! You can still apply to become our Game Tester or Level Designer!
I'll pay $50 for the whole work! Take this opportunity!

GO HERE TO APPLY!

jueves, 11 de agosto de 2011

miércoles, 10 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 29: Steam's Trade Update

Steam just announced AND released their Trade Update.

It is a system where players can trade items from games or Steam Gifts with other players.
Since it is just Beta, it is only avaliable on Team Fortress.

I've been thinking of adding this function to the game. The answer is "Yes".
But I won't use it on the first version, I will add it later.

martes, 9 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 28: Lights! Camera! Action!

It's been a while since I began Ooni's development. And by "while", I mean a whole month.
I think that the game won't have any credit unless I show to the world how is the game. But in a way shorter way than a blog.

If a picture is worth a thousand words...
A video is a worth a thousand pictures!

Yes, I think that I'll need to make up a video.
But not a Trailer, something shorter. Thirty seconds, perhaps?
I'll make up a Teaser; giving a quick explanation of what the game is going to look like.

I'll just need to get home.

lunes, 8 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 27: KickStarter Approved Me! But....

KickStarter sent me a mail this evening. They approved my KickStarter campaing...

You may be wondering why I'm not writting with exclamation marks.
Looks like the I won't be able to receive the funds earned unless I have an US adress and an US Bank account. As you might already know, I don't live in the United States. I have family living in Texas, but if they are not part of the project, it is against the rules of KickStarter to involve them. And since this is serious legal stuff, I would not like to cheat in here.

So, my KickStarter campaign is now officially cancelled... By me...

This made me pretty sad. I definitely won't get the help I need.
But remember that on the right side of this blog, there is always going to be a Donate button.
So, if you really like the blog, or want to help me to make this game come true without any problems; please, support with a buck or two if you can...

domingo, 7 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 26: The World Map

Did I mention Eamon previously? I think I did, but I'll tell you about him once again.
Eamon G. Pryme is the new Additional Developer I hired to help me make the programming codes that I don't know how to do and the ones that I don't want to do.

So, as his first task, I asked him to do the engine for the World Map.
I knew that this was going to be a really hard work for him... So I made him a drawing!





World's Name: This is the Name of the World.

Stage Tile: While the player is choosing a stage, Ooni moves around the Stage Tiles. When Ooni is on a Stage Tile, the info of the Stage appears on the Lower Box. Also, if a stage is cleared, the tile turns green.

Ooni: As I said on the previous label, Ooni walks around the tiles. Ooni can move around the tiles wether vertically or horizontally.

Puzzle Pieces: This is something I haven't discussed on the Dev Blog. There are going to be 9 hidden Puzzle Pieces around the 30 stages of a World. When a player gets a Puzzle Piece, it is shown on that little square. When a player collects all the 9 Puzzle Pieces of a World, a super hard stage is unlocked. Note, this isn't a Tile!

World's Score: After you clear a stage, you get a score, right? Well, the High-Scores of EACH stage are going to be added together to give you the World's Score (global.WorldScore_TheForest)

Total Game Score: All the high scores of all stages are added together to show the Total Score of a Player (global.TotalScore)

World's Completion: This marks the player it's progress on the world. If he clears a stage, he gets percentage! I've made a calculation. Each thing the player does, gives him "1.3" out of 100%
For example:
Clears a Stage: +1.3%
Clears a Stage catching the Blue Orb: +1.3%
Clears a Stage without Dying: +1.3%
Clears a Stage beating the Time Goal: +1.3%
Defeats a Boss: +1.3%
Finds a Puzzle Piece: +1.3%

Cleared Belt: As I said, when Ooni is on a Stage Tile, it show's the Stage's info. Here, it shows if the stage is cleared.

Puzzle Piece Mark: If a Puzzle Piece is found on a stage, this marks appears on it's Stage info. Note, this doesn't apply for all stages.

Stage's Name: It shows the name of the Stage. No big deal.

Stage's Score: It shows the High-Score of the Stage.

Rank: It shows how well a player did at clearing a Stage. The maximum stars that a player can get on a stage is 3.
There is a criteria for stars.
You get a star if you cleared the Stage without dying.
You get a star if you cleared the stage beating the time goal.
You get a star if you cleared the stage catching the blue orb.

Time Goal Mark: It shows if the player cleared the stage beating the time goal.

Blue Orb Mark: It shows if the player cleared the stage beating the time goal.

No Deaths Mark: It shoes if the player cleared the stage without dying.

Time Goal: It shows the Time Goal of a stage. If a stage's Time Goal is beaten, the player gets a star and a Time Goal Mark.

Boss Tile: Basically a stage, but it doesn't apply RANK.


This is basically what I told my matey to do...

sábado, 6 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 25: Y U No Understand!?

A lot of people are applying to take the Expert Gamer position. But I think they don't get the point.

I want you to know that in this project there is a big difference between a Game Tester and a Beta Tester.

The Game Tester is going to play each stage at least 10 times, and it's going to decide a good time for clearing a stage; it is going to be paid with $50

I'm not desesperately looking for a Beta Tester, but it's always good to have more people on the project. The Beta Tester's job is to search for bugs and report them to me. No paid job.


If you still don't understand the differences, I highly recommend you to take a look to the whole Blog's posts.

viernes, 5 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 24: Going to a Calmed Place with No Inter... Kill Me (The Sequel)

I'm going to Cancun! Woo!


I'm going to Cancun as a trip for a week. At last, I'm going to take a real vacation on this summer, again.

There is not going to be much internet around there, also, I'm not taking my laptop over there.
So there is not going to be Development Day Updates for an entire week.... JUST KIDDING!

I'm going to take my iPod to the trip! And I will be able to update everyday!
Maybe I won't be able to put up pics, maybe.

Maybe I'll post more info about new Fruit power-ups, like I did last time!
Stay tuned and find out!

jueves, 4 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 23: Found a Way to get Funds!

I've been worried. My game is in the need of budget.
As I said on the previous post, I would no more than $700 to finish the game with no problems at all.
And as my rhymed title says, I've found a way to get the money I need...

Yes, KictakSrter is a platform for "donations" where people come up with their projects, talk about them and get funded by any amount of money that people want to give. It is pretty nice. A project of poster series got $100 pledged by two persons on it's first day! That's the 14% of the money I need.

But why did I put "donations" between hyphens? Because they're not donations!
I joined this community and decided to put up my first campaign, they were forcing me to give rewards to the donators!
What? What? But, those are donations! That is not a store or something!
Well, what can I say? I had no other option but to make up some rewards for the generous people that will help me fund this project.

These are the rewards that I will give away -.-


  • Pledge $1 or More and you will get a mention in the game credits.
  • Pledge $3 or More and you will get an iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad wallpapers, and all things previously mentioned.
  • Pledge $9 or More and you will get an activation code to receive the game for free on Steam for free when the game is finished, and all things previously mentioned.
  • Pledge $13 or More and you will get a voice commentary with me, talking about the development's story and some Q & A's, and all things previously mentioned.
  • Pledge $15 or More and you will get a suscription to the newsletters of the game. You''l know about the future updates of the game one week before the world.
  • Pledge $25 or More and you will get a copy of the Digital Soundtrack of the game, and all things previously mentioned.
  • Pledge $60 or More and you will get a 20x30 inch print of the main character, signed by me, and all things previously mentioned.
  • Pledge $100 or More and you will get a shirt of the main character, and all things previously mentioned.
  • Pledge $140 or More and you will get another 20x30 inch print with all characters, enemies, power-ups, worlds, etc. Also, signed by me; and all things previously mentioned.
  • Pledge $160 or More and you will get a papercraft of the main character, and all things previously mentioned.
  • Pledge $190 or More and you will get a digital video documentary of the creation of the game, and all things previously mentioned.
So... Yeah... If you pledge $60 or more, you'll probably have to wait between a week and a month after the game is finished in order to receive your physical stuff. And if you pledge $190 or more, you'll have to wait two or three months, so the documentary gets fully finished.

And since getting some of the rewards cost me A LOT, I'll need to increase the amount of needed money from $700 to $1,500 :/

miércoles, 3 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 22: Making a Game is Not Free!

Yes, I added a Donate Button on the right side of the Blog!

But why?
I'm going to explain.

Making a game is not a free thing!
For example, the program I'm using to make the game is YoYoGame's Game Maker. I bought it specifically to begin the development of Ooni. It costs $40.
Also, I'm going to pay $50 to the lucky guy who becomes my Game Tester, and $50 to the one who becomes the Level Designer. I'm going to pay $50 to my additional programmer, Eamon Pryme, after he finishes all his work. I'm going to pay to the Animator and the Voice actor I need, I don't know how much they will ask, but I expect like $40.
I need to Copyright the name of ZuperZ, Copyright the character Ooni, Copyright the Ooni Game, and Copyright the Theme Song... Each of those legal Copyright registers cost between $60 and $70 -.-

I would also like to buy the newest version of Adobe Flash when I can, it is the program I use to make all the art of the game, it will cost at least $250.
And, maybe, if the game becomes great on Steam, I definitely see a way of publishing on other gaming platforms like the Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3, 3DS, NGP, etc... But to do that I'll need a developer license, it costs way more than $400 per console license!

All together, it will cost me more than $700!!
I will put anyone who donates more than $5 into the game's credits.
So please, help me make this dream true by donating a buck or two...

"BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?"


martes, 2 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 21: Ooni Needs You! Apply for a Job!

That's right! Ooni Needs You!

Well, basically I need you. Anyways, I'm recruiting two guys that can help me with some issues for the game.
And with this, I mean a Job! With payments of 100% Real Money! :O


I'm not really good at this issues, so I need people to help me with this.
I need a Level Designer and a Expert Platformer Gamer (Beta Tester).
You don't even need to have working experience at this! If you are good at it, and you have some free time on your hands, I'll pay you $50 for the whole work!
I'm also looking for a Flash Animator and a Voice Actor, I'm not willing to pay as much as the Level Designer or the Expert Platformer, but we can negotiate that by sending me a mail: green.tie.rgm@gmail.com


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Requirements for Level Designer:
  • Vision of what's good for the most of players
  • The ability to quickly build game stages
  • The ability to vizualize how your ideas are going to be played
  • The ability of making challenging content
  • Familiarize with the current elements of the game (we'll talk about it later)
  • The ability to create creative and inovative stages
  • Communicate with me constantly to discuss about your progress
  • Make stages that can be cleared 
  • The ability of being organized
  • The ability of designing something easy for the developer to understand
 Tasks for Level Designer:
  • You are going to create stages for a PLATFORMER.
  • You'll have to design 90 challenging stages in the shortest time possible
  • You CAN design your stages with pencil/pen and paper (you should then have to send them scanned to my mail)
  • Hide "The Blue Orb" in a hard place to reach
  • Make the levels as hard as you can, but be sure to use the content that the game uses (I'll give you a sheet about it later)
Payment for Level Designer:
  • You'll be rewarded with $50 via PayPal after you hand all of the stages you were asked for.
Want to Join? Do you have what it takes?
If you are ready to apply, send me a mail at green.tie.rgm@gmail.com that has:
  • Complete name
  • Gender
  • Age & Date of Birth
  • E-Mail(s)
  • Country
  • A personal presentation
  • Your education level
  • Work experience (if you have one)
  • Language skills
  • An example of what you can do (either attached to the mail or a link)
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Requirements for Expert Gamer:
  • The ability to quickly report any bug or error
  • Being a REALLY good player in platformers
  • The ability to play almost any game through many kinds of controllers/keyboards and gaming platforms
  • High attention of what's happening on the game
  • The ability to give critics of the whole project
  • A chronometer
  • And of course, high interest in indie games
Tasks for Expert Gamer:
  • You will need to wait until the game reaches the Beta version
  • You are going to test each of the stages that will apear through the game and give a short critic per stage
  • Clear each stage from 5-10 times and determine a good time for clearing each stage
  • Tell if a stage is good enough to be on the game
  • Tell if a stage is Not clearable
Payment for Expert Gamer:
  • You'll be rewarded with $50 via PayPal after you hand all your reviews and time recommendations.
Want to Join? Do you have what it takes?
If you are ready to apply, send me a mail at green.tie.rgm@gmail.com that has:
  • Complete name
  • Gender
  • Age & Date of Birth
  • E-Mail(s)
  • Country
  • A personal presentation
  • Your education level
  • Work experience (if you have one)
  • Language skills
  • An example of what you can do (either attached to the mail or a link) 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to help the development with something else, send me a mail at green.tie.rgm@gmail.com and tell me what you've got! :D

lunes, 1 de agosto de 2011

Development Day 20: No More Jam in the Tar

The Game Jam is over!
Using the provided theme: "Live", Eamon and me made the Game: Soulsnatcher


Here's some info:

Story:
In Soulsnatcher, you play as Maxwell who has been taken away from his beloved Lady Girl.
He has promised that their souls will meet again.
Now, even if Maxwell dies, his soul stays and can enter other creatures bodies and control them to reach his true love.
How would this love story end?

Controls:
W, A, S, D keys to move (no matter what you are)
R button to restart a level

Body Abilities:
Human (Maxwell) - Can walk, jump and climb ladders
Monster - Can walk and jump he is basically just a grunt
Rat - Can walk, jump and go into small places hes for when things just seem impossible

Special thanks to:
Nikc-Nack - He helped in our time of need
Garret Beelow - Thanks for that song!
BananaWalrus - Whose music makes me wanna dance
YoYoGames & it's Community - for all you've done so far
Every person who takes the time to download and vote



CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE GAME!

or click here to view the full entry with comments...

I sincerely don't like very much the final version, all I can say is that it is Decent.
The people who have played the game say that the character gets stuck on the walls and that. They also say that the levels are impossible.
Let me say something, all the stages are clearable, I cleared all levels consecutively twice, you just need to find a way of doing it.
But I like what people say about the art, the concept and story; specially because I did all that :)

If we don't reach to the first place... "So what?"
If no one liked it... "So what?"
If everyone liked it... "So... Thanks!"

I learned a lot on this 72 hour Game Jam. You need to understand that we were under pressure, lots of pressure because of time; we actually uploaded the final version 10 minutes before the Jam ended!

And I even made a new friend! Eamon. Thanks for being such a nice co-op mate, and thanks for forgiving me after I over sleeped 5 hours...

You, my friend, are now welcomed as an official additional programmer for this whole Ooni project!
(Spoiler: He actually is!)

Oh! By the way, Eamon made a Donative campaign for him, to improve his work!
DONATE NOW!

Hmmm.... This gives me an idea....

domingo, 31 de julio de 2011

Development Day 19: Facts of the Pre-Pre-Development

I'm just going to put a quick post so I can keep going with my entry for the Game Jam...

Well, just a little bit of you may know that there was a Development version of the game that went catastrophicly wrong before the current version of Ooni's Development. A bit confusing, but yes.

Well, I'm going to tell you some funny facts about Ooni's first Pre-Development!

  • The Ooni game was first planned just one day after YoYoGame's grand iOS publishing post (I cried when they made that post, seriously).
  • The first design of the Ooni character came up while I was drawing at MsPaint on the free time of my computer class. There was no previous sketch...
After I came back from school, I immediately made it's design of Adobe Flash...
Perfect... *Sniff* *Sniff*
  • At first, Ooni was suppossed to be an Iguana; but then I tought that if that's so, it would need some kind of spikes on it's back. That would definitely make look Ooni pretty bad, so I denied, and now Ooni is officially a Lizard.
  • Ooni's basic orientation is Mexico. For example, all the fruit that appear in the game so far, are popular fruit cultivations in Mexico.
  • I considered adding bees and other kinds of bugs as enemies.
  • In real life any fruit is bigger than a lizard, and a lizard is bigger than a fly. On Ooni's world, most of flies are bigger than a lizard, and a lizard is bigger than a fruit.
  • I also considered to put many characters with different abilities, like in Super Meat Boy, but if I would do that, each character would need to eat fruit or else the stages would be impossible; and that would make the game's Development like four or five times slower.
  • The first version of Ooni that was "supposed" to be for iPhone/iPod Touch, was going to have only 1 World, 20 Stages, 1 Final Boss, 45 Achievements, 10 Fruit, and 3 Enemies. But then, I said: "FUCK!", and now the FINAL VERSION of the game is going to be like 48 TIMES BIGGER! (and I'm just counting levels...)

Well, that's all for now, I hope you enjoyed some of my Pre-Pre-Development's Fruity Fun Facts!
Ugh, actually, this took me a lot of time, I better keep going for the Game Jam...