Concentrate Blog » John

Keeping up the game face

John — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:32:52 +0000

Progress today has been blisteringly fast in some places and a total standstill in others. I’m currently having difficulty embedding images so that they are used by the online .swf file. However, all the bonuses, sounds, and level progression are in place and working fine. The difficulty of the game, even on the earlier levels, is – I am reliably informed with no hint of exaggeration – actually harder than climbing Mount Everest. I would like to emphasise that this is a genuine comparison by experts who have managed to complete neither.

So we’re on hold, pending embedding things in such a way that they can be used online. But hopefully it’ll be back on track soon, pending a soon release date.

Concentrate Game: Development Update

John — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:59:52 +0000

In my recent post, I blogged about the in-progress Concentrate Game. So for those who are interested, here’s a progress update, and I’ve even tacked on a list of things left to do.

Overview: Player clicks on falling objects before they reach the bottom of the screen. Some objects have more points than others and travel more quickly, other bonus objects have rewards associated with them. Of course there’s a time limit, what did you expect?

Today’s progress:

Sound: Having added my first sounds last night, I noticed there was a problem. The sounds were playing after an inconsistent delay. Luckily, google and this CS4 patch fixed the problem. After this I added more sound effects and I plan to add some more tonight. And all that noise.

Levels: Tweaked and balanced levels and level progress. I’ve also added a “congratulations” banner at the end for if the player completes 5 levels. Began the randomised placement process.

Bonuses: Designed and added a rudimentary bonus structure. There are surprises asociated with this that I will not divulge here.

Live testing: Attempted and failed to run the game online – it never gets past the starting countdown. It works fine offline – could this be me incorrectly setting the flash version in the browser, or similar?

Tonight’s plan:
Finish adding sounds, and all that Jazz (sorry).
Complete randomisation process.
Fully implement bonus structure.
Add extra objects.
Neaten up the interface.
Get live test working.

“But, oh wise, and magnificient John,” the elated among you cry “why are you determined to do so much tonight? Can it not wait until tomorrow?” And you’d be right, except that I want to spend tomorrow neatening, balacing, and firefighting ready for a pre-final web release. And also – thanks to structuring the code nicely with lots of encapsulation and modularity and the like – adding bonuses, randomisation, and new objects shouldn’t be too much effort. The hard bit will be getting the live test working – I’ve no experience with this, so I anticipate some heavy googling.

But you can help me in the meantime. Oh goodness yes. No, not by choosing a game this time – but by choosing a name! At the moment it looks like we’ll have to stick with its codename: Concentrate Game 1. Please help!

Sit down, Don’t Mess About, and Concentrate!

John — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:36:19 +0000

It’s hard not to notice a relaxed atmosphere in the Concentrate studios. There’s no doubt that being comfortable helps you focus, although I sometimes wonder if sofas and a minifridge aren’t pushing the boundaries from “comfort” through the “luxury” barrier straight into the “gluttonus sloth” zone. There’s no doubt in my mind that code, like chi and beer, flows best the closer to horizontal you are.

A Mug of Authority

Other than being a total pedant when it comes to password selection (passwords must be non-word, alphanumerical, case-spanning and character-filled) and a website-fixer-upper I’ve volunteered to produce a simple, easy to play, and hopefully fun flash game for the Concentrate website. Due to other commitments, I’ve only got a couple of busy weeks to complete it in. I’ll be honest – this is my first ever encounter with Flash and, coming from a background in Games Development with C++ and Java and with other experience in an extensive ArrayList (programmer joke, best ignore it) of other programming languages, I find it strangely likeable. But more of my inherent nerdiness later, the main thing that I need to do is harvest information from you, the devoted aspiring Concentrationalist Acolyte. So, in classic probing-alien-in-a-UFO style, I need you to tell me what you want from a game! Pick from the following, or just comment including your own ideas.

Idea one: Lunchbox Launderer. The player makes money by flogging lunchboxes to the highest bidder at the highest-product-margin possible.

Idea two: Alien Versus Dragon. The player plays as an alien who has to go into a dragon’s den and steal some money. You’ve got no equipment other than a razor sharp two-handed smile.

Idea three: Mug Manufacturer Minigame. The player creates mugs with authoratitive slogans on. Points are awarded for how frequently the slogan is used, but deducted if it uses more than three words.

What do you reckon? Drop us a comment and let us know what you’d like us to include in a Concentrate game. Sensible ideas only please. Nothing to do with pre-chewed pencils LOL.

A Plug for a Mug of Authority.