I have been searching for how to do scheduled posts now for a coulpe of weeks. I knew then that i was going to visit England and i wanted to write some extra posts that i could make appear as if by magic during the days i am not around.
As usual i failed at this task and so thought that Blogger didnt have this functionality. Well i was so wrong. It is there hidden in a way. Although if you know it is there i am sure it isn't a problem. Now however i have a new problem. Just how do i test it effectively. I have no days left to be able to test this thing.. bah!
So if you are reading this post. then you have seen it work. Yup.. ahuh! This is my test post for scheduled posting. i will however be on a plane on my way to England when it posts, if indeed it has. Hmm, if you are reading it then it worked. I seem to be feeling a conundrum and no idea why, lol.
Tomorrows post should be more normal. I wonder which day i will get to talk about PB Winterbottom and Xblig comparison.. We shall see. Also more news from The Midway on PS3 tomorrow, if i can get to a pc.
G'night
Showing posts with label Blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blog. Show all posts
Friday, July 9, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Blogs By Shin
Shin has an excellent Blog that he updates regularly. I would recommend people read it as he keeps it simple and to the point. the point being reveiwing games mostly.
He points out obvious stuff about games that have been recently released. Though sometimes he will talk about older games and memories. along the way Developers, especially new ones could learn a thing or two about making games. Making Whole games i should say. What i mean by this is actually highlighted by his most recent post... here is the link
Digital Quarters
The post i am referring to is about a recently released title into the Xblig universe 'Old School racer'. This is a pretty good game, one of the few (regretfully i cannot seem to find enough time for playtesting session, each one takes me approximately 30-45 minutes). Oops enough about my lack of time. I commented on this game quite extensively. The reason is simple. It was a nice game when first presented but was lacking a lot of touches. Touches usually come under the quality label, and I listed a whole slew of things. Then i hoped to be able to do a second pass when the frist one was addressed. .I even mentioned i hope he didn't rush the title out and finished it. Alas i agree with Shin on this one. The final touches are not there, though i have to say that a lot of extra time was spent on developing this game. When i saw it, it never had nitro boost and a set of the other features like multiple bikes.
It is aok to spend time adding more content, no, please add as much as you want. Then when you have tired of this or it has met your size criteria, go ahead and then spend as much time developing the touches on top. This is a great example of a lot of time spent on features and not enough anywhere else.
Shin told it like it is. Great job mate and keep up the blog posts, i always love to read them. Maybe when ya get ya hands on my next game you will give me some sold thoughts. Though if ya complain i'll maybe cry ;) Nah! Honesty in reveiwing for me always. Though i do have to say that ... Well talking about reveiwers is actually another post for another day...
Now go see his blog, and maybe learn something!
G'night
He points out obvious stuff about games that have been recently released. Though sometimes he will talk about older games and memories. along the way Developers, especially new ones could learn a thing or two about making games. Making Whole games i should say. What i mean by this is actually highlighted by his most recent post... here is the link
Digital Quarters
The post i am referring to is about a recently released title into the Xblig universe 'Old School racer'. This is a pretty good game, one of the few (regretfully i cannot seem to find enough time for playtesting session, each one takes me approximately 30-45 minutes). Oops enough about my lack of time. I commented on this game quite extensively. The reason is simple. It was a nice game when first presented but was lacking a lot of touches. Touches usually come under the quality label, and I listed a whole slew of things. Then i hoped to be able to do a second pass when the frist one was addressed. .I even mentioned i hope he didn't rush the title out and finished it. Alas i agree with Shin on this one. The final touches are not there, though i have to say that a lot of extra time was spent on developing this game. When i saw it, it never had nitro boost and a set of the other features like multiple bikes.
It is aok to spend time adding more content, no, please add as much as you want. Then when you have tired of this or it has met your size criteria, go ahead and then spend as much time developing the touches on top. This is a great example of a lot of time spent on features and not enough anywhere else.
Shin told it like it is. Great job mate and keep up the blog posts, i always love to read them. Maybe when ya get ya hands on my next game you will give me some sold thoughts. Though if ya complain i'll maybe cry ;) Nah! Honesty in reveiwing for me always. Though i do have to say that ... Well talking about reveiwers is actually another post for another day...
Now go see his blog, and maybe learn something!
G'night
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Time to Blog
I have taken me meds tonight. The ones that will hopefully get me at least 5 hours of solid sleep. so now it must be time to blog as usual i did not make it earlier. So what do i waffle one about? should it be a directionless diatribe or something more directed?
Well i am going for the first option, as i love that idea a lot more at the moment...
Ilerion, Welcome to the whacky world of Xblig and Xna programming and playtesting. I see ya got your first one in there on Old School Racer. For anyone that wants to know, Ilerion is a cool dude that i do have the pleasure of knowing. Though darn him for finding several bugs in my game tonight haha! ;) No really, great job. I am sure everyone in the community will appreciate you as they get to know you.
A Shooter is about ready for the Playtest section once more, however Ilerion found a bug i just cannot seem to find. Sooo, i might just put it up there anyway. Not sure. So it will have to wait till tomorrow now. so much to do, so little time.
Talking bout Meds, it is also a game that some web site i read said was worth a look. How wrong they were. I hate it when i get cheated (or feel cheated) out of living or succeeding in a game. This breakout game (i love breakout games, as you could tell from my Pong/breakout mix Aceball) sucks badly. I just felt cheated from the first moments. Not the way to start a game, no wonder it only has 2 stars. Pity as it looks like the programmer can program too!
Onto PS3.. Once again i have gotten The Midway sent off to Sony. I cannot disclose why it has not gone live yet on PS3 Home, but it should now be slated for Mid June. I know you folks are gonna love it. Well certainly gonna love it more than a lot of home. When i get more info i will post something up. Our secret agent is still on the loose in the Midway.
Tonight i don ear plugs and Vicodin.. Hmm, can i don Vicodin? Maybe i will consume Vicodin and consume ear plugs.. Hmm, nope.. that doesn't really work either. Just how would the ear plugs know where to go ?
With that random Thought i am Outta here!
G'night.
Well i am going for the first option, as i love that idea a lot more at the moment...
Ilerion, Welcome to the whacky world of Xblig and Xna programming and playtesting. I see ya got your first one in there on Old School Racer. For anyone that wants to know, Ilerion is a cool dude that i do have the pleasure of knowing. Though darn him for finding several bugs in my game tonight haha! ;) No really, great job. I am sure everyone in the community will appreciate you as they get to know you.
A Shooter is about ready for the Playtest section once more, however Ilerion found a bug i just cannot seem to find. Sooo, i might just put it up there anyway. Not sure. So it will have to wait till tomorrow now. so much to do, so little time.
Talking bout Meds, it is also a game that some web site i read said was worth a look. How wrong they were. I hate it when i get cheated (or feel cheated) out of living or succeeding in a game. This breakout game (i love breakout games, as you could tell from my Pong/breakout mix Aceball) sucks badly. I just felt cheated from the first moments. Not the way to start a game, no wonder it only has 2 stars. Pity as it looks like the programmer can program too!
Onto PS3.. Once again i have gotten The Midway sent off to Sony. I cannot disclose why it has not gone live yet on PS3 Home, but it should now be slated for Mid June. I know you folks are gonna love it. Well certainly gonna love it more than a lot of home. When i get more info i will post something up. Our secret agent is still on the loose in the Midway.
Tonight i don ear plugs and Vicodin.. Hmm, can i don Vicodin? Maybe i will consume Vicodin and consume ear plugs.. Hmm, nope.. that doesn't really work either. Just how would the ear plugs know where to go ?
With that random Thought i am Outta here!
G'night.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Work to no avail
I worked hard yesterday on some of the stuff i have to do. I really wanted to get to some of the new games in Playtest on XBLIG, but was unable too. After spending way too many hours trying to get my wordpress blog up and running on my web site.
I really want a much more seamless integration of my web site and my blog. Then my few advertisers will be a lot more happy I am sure. However editing the look of the wordpress site is not a fast and furious thing. It does have an importer that will read blogger into it. However it does not keep the html formatting. Ok, so who wrote that crap. C'mon, i can copy and paste the html in, but i have 189 posts. So i am now gonna have to do them all manually. WTF?!!!
So no real Blog posts as the work in progress was quite long and tedious. Here is the link if ya wanna see how far i have gotten.
New Blog
laters
I really want a much more seamless integration of my web site and my blog. Then my few advertisers will be a lot more happy I am sure. However editing the look of the wordpress site is not a fast and furious thing. It does have an importer that will read blogger into it. However it does not keep the html formatting. Ok, so who wrote that crap. C'mon, i can copy and paste the html in, but i have 189 posts. So i am now gonna have to do them all manually. WTF?!!!
So no real Blog posts as the work in progress was quite long and tedious. Here is the link if ya wanna see how far i have gotten.
New Blog
laters
Monday, April 12, 2010
A Shooter Decision Followup
I have done it. I have made a decision, and one that i am happy with. Or at least think i am at the moment.
I ground down the issue to as few Major questions as i could. Then tried my hardest to answer them truthfully. I had help from other XBLIG Devs (thanks DrMistry, theBigDaddio) and a few friends (Jeff and Paul). So without further ado here are the questions i distilled it all down too.
1. Will people who buy the game feel ripped off with only 13 levels?
2. Will this negatively effect my downloads of the game?
3. What effect will this have on the View of Sorcerygames overall quality?
I had a lot more questions at first, but am very happy now with only three that i care about.
So..
1. I think people will not feel ripped off. They will spend a single dollar and get a game that if they are good they can play through the whole thing in about 35-40 minutes (still gotta test exactly how long). I think this is great value for money, as it will take them some time to get good enough to actually do this. So realastic time this game is worth must be about 3 hours or more.
2. I do not think the number of downloads will be effected by the number of levels. Noone knows how long the levels are etc, so a number is just a random piece of information. Though i do believe that there is percieved value in a higher number. (i have 100 levels etc!). In the end the quality of the gameplay is what will sell this game. As that is what it is designed for.
3. This one concerned me the most and in the end cost me the most sleep. I have decided though that quality can be measured in various ways. For this title it will not be the graphics or the effects all over the place (like my other title Pellmell was). This one is about the pure simple addictive gameplay experience. This is where I believe the game shines. Yes, i have SFX on button presses and i will have other quality type stuff in there, bought music and shared hgh scores etc. So for 1 Freakin Dollar this game is gonna be a great addition to the Sorcerygames portfolio.
So there you have it. I have made my choice. I have already designed level 13 and it is in. It makes me giggle when i play it, so i must like it a lot. Now i just need to create level 12s level aliens triggers, and the levels are first pass done. Maybe i'll get time to look at the leaderboard sharing code soon. Not that i am looking forward to that work, bah! But someone has to do it.
Thanks for the input everyone,
Laters
I ground down the issue to as few Major questions as i could. Then tried my hardest to answer them truthfully. I had help from other XBLIG Devs (thanks DrMistry, theBigDaddio) and a few friends (Jeff and Paul). So without further ado here are the questions i distilled it all down too.
1. Will people who buy the game feel ripped off with only 13 levels?
2. Will this negatively effect my downloads of the game?
3. What effect will this have on the View of Sorcerygames overall quality?
I had a lot more questions at first, but am very happy now with only three that i care about.
So..
1. I think people will not feel ripped off. They will spend a single dollar and get a game that if they are good they can play through the whole thing in about 35-40 minutes (still gotta test exactly how long). I think this is great value for money, as it will take them some time to get good enough to actually do this. So realastic time this game is worth must be about 3 hours or more.
2. I do not think the number of downloads will be effected by the number of levels. Noone knows how long the levels are etc, so a number is just a random piece of information. Though i do believe that there is percieved value in a higher number. (i have 100 levels etc!). In the end the quality of the gameplay is what will sell this game. As that is what it is designed for.
3. This one concerned me the most and in the end cost me the most sleep. I have decided though that quality can be measured in various ways. For this title it will not be the graphics or the effects all over the place (like my other title Pellmell was). This one is about the pure simple addictive gameplay experience. This is where I believe the game shines. Yes, i have SFX on button presses and i will have other quality type stuff in there, bought music and shared hgh scores etc. So for 1 Freakin Dollar this game is gonna be a great addition to the Sorcerygames portfolio.
So there you have it. I have made my choice. I have already designed level 13 and it is in. It makes me giggle when i play it, so i must like it a lot. Now i just need to create level 12s level aliens triggers, and the levels are first pass done. Maybe i'll get time to look at the leaderboard sharing code soon. Not that i am looking forward to that work, bah! But someone has to do it.
Thanks for the input everyone,
Laters
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Making better Blog + A Shooter Decision
I have been quite active over the last couple of months trying to improve my Blogging skills. So far i have introduced Pictures, this i loved, and a picture can speak a thousand words. Then recently i aded my first video. Ok, so these are a bit more time consuming to create, Also Youtube will only allow me so many videos per my account (8 i think), so not sure waht will happen with that when i get really going. In the last and a couple of previous posts i have introduced coloured text. I wasn't sure what it would come off like, but tbh i am quite happy. The effect is much better than i expected. Now i just need to work on refining what i highlight, and with which colours.
So far i hope you would all agree that my blogging is getting better and not worse in the visual department. I am not so certain from a creative standpoint though. Simply because i get no comment reactions, so it is hard to know what to do. Till i have a better direction i will carry on with my meandering writings.
Really Important Decision to be made...
On a more serious note, i am in a quandry over 'A Shooter'. It was supposed to be a 1 dollar game, but the time i am putting into it are expanding this. The gameplay is exactly what i wanted, and i think aweome. The issue i am having is what to do with it. I can see i have a further 9 levels to create, and i am not sure anyone will truly appreciate the work i will have to put in to finish them properly. I still have a lot of work on the overall balance for the existing 11 levels. So my thoughts are... So far there is about 25 minutes of gameplay so far. So if I add just 1 more level, and then maybe do a special Boss for level 13 (seems appropriate), will the game be any worse for it ? I do not think so, and it will have about 35 minutes of gameplay too at that point. I think the sales will be exaclty the same as if i have 20 levels. I can always do a sequel if people love the gameplay and mechanics, but at this time i think i am just overdoing it.
In all Seriousness.... What Do YOU Think?
So far i hope you would all agree that my blogging is getting better and not worse in the visual department. I am not so certain from a creative standpoint though. Simply because i get no comment reactions, so it is hard to know what to do. Till i have a better direction i will carry on with my meandering writings.
Really Important Decision to be made...
On a more serious note, i am in a quandry over 'A Shooter'. It was supposed to be a 1 dollar game, but the time i am putting into it are expanding this. The gameplay is exactly what i wanted, and i think aweome. The issue i am having is what to do with it. I can see i have a further 9 levels to create, and i am not sure anyone will truly appreciate the work i will have to put in to finish them properly. I still have a lot of work on the overall balance for the existing 11 levels. So my thoughts are... So far there is about 25 minutes of gameplay so far. So if I add just 1 more level, and then maybe do a special Boss for level 13 (seems appropriate), will the game be any worse for it ? I do not think so, and it will have about 35 minutes of gameplay too at that point. I think the sales will be exaclty the same as if i have 20 levels. I can always do a sequel if people love the gameplay and mechanics, but at this time i think i am just overdoing it.
In all Seriousness.... What Do YOU Think?
Thursday, March 25, 2010
More Blog Readership Question
I have been writing this blog for some time now. I write articles most days, and some times more than one a day. I am told that readerships of such blogs should in in the hundreds if i keep up my posting. In fact the articles i read a long while back stated that it did not matter much waht i wrote about, so long as i wrote something. At some points in time i would write something that would appeal to most everyone. Sound advixe, or so it sounded at the time. But i have to say that currently i am underwhelmed by my lack of readership. I read about a month ago that i HAVE to put tages onto my posts so that search engines can find them. This has been sound advice and i have gone from a single reader a day to about 10 or so. This is a positive move.
Don't get me wrong, if i had noone reading ii would probably keep writing this Blog. I find it at times to be a great way to store some useful info, or use it like a wiki or museum. Later i am sure i will come back and read some of my old posts and be amazed. either way, i am going to continue with it.
I am wondering if anyone out there has any ideas how to publicize this more though. I would love some more readers. Maybe then i can get people to comment and end up with some discussions, or find that some people would like more articles on AI or something. I dunno, just some interaction would be nice.
I did put the URL on Digg, but i think i need to go back and read up on what i am supposed to do after that. Cos so far i have not recieved a single jump from that site. Something that is a little odd (guess i did something wrong, bah!)
laters
Don't get me wrong, if i had noone reading ii would probably keep writing this Blog. I find it at times to be a great way to store some useful info, or use it like a wiki or museum. Later i am sure i will come back and read some of my old posts and be amazed. either way, i am going to continue with it.
I am wondering if anyone out there has any ideas how to publicize this more though. I would love some more readers. Maybe then i can get people to comment and end up with some discussions, or find that some people would like more articles on AI or something. I dunno, just some interaction would be nice.
I did put the URL on Digg, but i think i need to go back and read up on what i am supposed to do after that. Cos so far i have not recieved a single jump from that site. Something that is a little odd (guess i did something wrong, bah!)
laters
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