indiegamedesign

I just wanted to say a quick thanks for the great tutorials. I've only had a quick look at your site so far, but I found the one on seamless game tiles very interesting, and will definitely return for more info.

Keep up the jolly nice work!

TELLES0808

I'm currently using two methods to attempt text outlining on my Board Horde game, which both seem to be viewable on my ipad (over the web. Not sure what the results would be when using CocoonJs or something).

I created a retro style font to use in the game; rather than importing it as a font, I created each letter on a vector package (inkpad) arranged the letters within the package to spell out the words I needed, and imported the words as different frames of the one sprite. This is a very time consuming way of doing things, as every time I need a new word I can't just type it in and have to copy and paste each letter, arrange them, and then import them.

So the second method which I've recently used (currently only to display the players name in the game, after its been typed into the text box) is to create two Webfonts using the trial version of Font Creator (which is a months limited trial, and limits the fonts you can export though you do get all the letters and numbers that you need); one of the fonts is slightly thicker than the other and acts as the outline for the thinner font when overlaid as two separate Text objects in c2.   The advantage of doing things this way is I can now type whatever I want rather than having to arrange each letter by hand, which is a lot more flexible. I still have a few problems to iron out, as occasionally the outline font will appear on the screen a fraction of a second before the text overlay which looks a bit odd. Also it can sometimes take a while for the webfont to register.

Anyway, I'm sure there's got to be an easier method for displaying outlined fonts on iOS devices! But, if not, my gung-ho methods might work for you (both types of outline text styles can be viewed in my game link above) I will continue experimenting, and let you know if I find a better way or encounter more problems.

cklester

I had started to implement an 'automatic move' routine for if there's only one hero on the board, but had to disable it whilst concentrating on getting more important features ready for the Newgrounds competition. Now the competition's over I'll probably have the chance to finish adding it at some point, so thanks for reminding me! (bug hunt and asset size reduction is the priority at the moment, though)

Blacksmith

As soon as I start uploading Board Horde to various sites I'll be sure to let you know (any assistance in drawing people's attention to it is always appreciated). It's likely I'll try Kongregate, Clay.IO and Market.js to start with (and update the Newgrounds game).

I hope to have the game ready to upload in about a week or so, and then spend June adding in lots of extra features before I move on to developing something new in July (though I'll still add new boards, potions, traps etc from time to time).

Kyatric

That's the hairiest damn princess I ever saw. I think if Luke Skywalker opened the cell door on the Death Star to find you waiting for him inside, his first words would have been: 'Princess! I'm here to shave you!'

pixel perfick

A very amusing illo. All it was lacking was a colander on its head.

cklester

Aw, man! And 'Your Mom' was doing so well too! Unfortunately that's a persistent bug that I've tried to get rid of many times, but it still keeps coming back for seconds. If I can't locate the source of the problem I might try putting in a fall-back botch job solution (such as- if hero is in collision with enemy, and collision routine has ended, kill enemy). The other real game breaker that only seems to happen on Internet explorer is that sometimes the 'corner detection' array doesn't fire, and the heroes walk right off the board. Also it occasionally has troubles getting past the loading screen when played for the second time on Safari.

Once I have sorted out the bugs and put in a scoreboard, I look forward to seeing Your Mom place highly. Thanks for taking the time to play the game and provide a screenshot of the bug at work.

Blacksmith

Just replayed Hexzul. Great tutorial, and I'm happy to announce that I actually scored some frikken points! For me, it was just like that bit in the Matrix when Keanu announces 'I know Kungfu!'. Oh yes, 80 entire points! Come get me, world! I'm bulletproof!!!

Blacksmith

Thanks for the kind words, and I'm glad the a.i.s behaving in a bit more challenging fashion. Very well done with Hexzul, by the way. Even if I still haven't scored a single darned point I enjoyed playing it, and thought it a very nicely put together puzzler.

harrio

Nice to hear the computer has been trying its best against you. Get some practice in, and once I have implemented scoreboards we'll be able to see who is the true master; man or machine!

TheDom

A few quick bits of feedback for you.

I tested the game on my ipad3 and it runs quite smoothly (it was the wrong aspect ratio and didn't resize properly, but that's probably due to you not having configured it specifically for larger iOS devices yet).

The first thing I'd suggest is changing the title, on account of the Star Trek First Contact film, as it seems a bit similar. The text explanation at the start went a bit quickly, and I didn't get a chance to read it all before it vanished (I think there were a few spelling mistakes, so I'll check this again when I get the chance). The Star Wars game comparison holds up, as it did remind me a little of the classic 3d game from the 80s.

I found the controls function quite smoothly, though I'd have preferred thumbstick style for greater manoeuvrability (a good example of thumbs tick controls that work well can be seen by searching the forum for Icarus Wave. I'd also suggest looking at Kronos by farflamex on Kongregate, as its full of ideas.

I really liked the pulse effect on the spaceship lasers, and the ship design works well. What I would also like to see is 'breathers' between missions, where you return to base and hang out in the bar, checking out scores and having conversations with other Npcs (wing commander style) as without the occasional change of pace the game could get quite repetitive (its possible that you've already planned something like this). All in all, its a fun shooter which doesn't yet bring any new ideas to the genre, though I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to mix things up a little.

Best of luck with it, and let me know if you need more feedback on revamped versions.

Quire

Some nice artwork there.

The rep system has changed a bit recently, but it used to be about 500 rep to post a link. You can get a lot of rep if you log in and go through every page of the manual. It's also worth clicking on badges and seeing how to earn them, as that's the best way to improve your rep (helping other folk on the forum can also increase it bit by bit)

Hi folk,

I've just added the latest version of Board Horde to the front page. It still needs a lot of tidying up in places, but it should give you a rough idea of how its progressing. The a.i. works a lot better, though there's still a few tweaks I need to make to the routine (mostly to stop it thinking its going to tread on a trap, when it isn't). I also need to delete unused assets, shrink oversized assets, properly cue up some of the new Sfx, etc.

Anyway, please let me know what you think so far, and whether you encounter any bugs or problems.

Appreciated, as always.

foolmoron

I really like the concept behind your game though I could never get the fault lines to trigger, so I didn't make it past level 2. For a while I assumed (as others might have) that it was a fault with the game itself, but then a friend had a play and managed to figure it out.

Paradox

I really enjoyed the Hitchhikers Guide references and styling of your game. A very original take on the Arkanoid Brick Busting genre.

I think we all knew we were in trouble when he said he'd be testing on his iPhone (especially since my entry was designed with larger touchscreen devices in mind, as board games aren't really cut out for small screens). I was surprised to see how well some of the games ran on smaller devices, and it at least proves that the games can work well if you know what you're doing.

harrio

Very profound, dear chap! If I had only read Life's Instructions I could've been an Admiral by now, instead of a Professional Eel Tickler (the hours are long, but the eels seem happy).

Some interesting results there. I agree with the top choices, though I would've liked to have seen Bunker control and Icarus Wave do better (personal preference, I guess).

Even if you didn't contribute, I'd recommend checking out the link above as Tom gives a lot of good feedback on how the games performed on his iPhone. The main issue it seems to highlight is that probably more than half the entries had sound related issues.

Anyway, one of the main things I learnt from the competition is that nobody ever reads the instructions (even if you have a big button marked 'instructions') so try to make games as easily accessible as possible (in game tutorials, and other helpers for example).

Well done to those who won, and also well done to those who took part. I'm looking forward to seeing some of those games develop into something considerably more awesome.

OrangeFlash81

Firstly, welcome to the forum!

Construct2 can save both number variables and text strings (eg, names on a scoreboard) using a plugin called 'web storage'. You can find out more in this Manual entry here: https://www.scirra.com/manual/120/webstorage

It's ridiculously easy to use (I've just started using it in my current project and was surprised to discover I only needed to add the object and click a few buttons) and saves data via cookies. scirra have recently added an even better saving feature which allows you to add a proper save game system to projects, though I've yet to experiment with it.