My Next Game

I’m already excited for my next #1GAM game! Can i tell you about it? Alright, I will.

It will be for several consoles, and able to be played across all of them at the same time. Which consoles? The WiiU, PS4, the new Xbox (I don’t think I’m allowed to share the name yet), the Dreamcast, original Famicom (sorry NES owners!), and the most powerful console of all: the Atari 2600.

It will feature not quite photo-realistic graphics, supporting (literally) infinite colors and sounds. What will the gameplay be like? Don’t worry about it. Gameplay is only there to keep you addicted to the game, whereas we all know that games should be about the graphics and effects like lens flares. Games should be full of hour long cut scenes that make you cry and then throw ten thousand zombies at you so you forget about crying until the next cutscene.

Does all of this sound too good to be true? It gets better. A game this fantastic must have a fantastic price to match, right? Wrong! I’m entirely embracing the f2p model. What does this mean? It’s free to play! Your payments are welcome, but paying nothing at all will get you access to the full game! (or at the very least, eht tsrif enecstuc) Did you like that parenthetical statement? that’s a preview of an alien language in the game.

Well, I need to get back to my limo. My secret sponsor is sometimes impatient. Who is it? That’s a secret!

Domino Dungeons Prerelease

It’s finally here! This is not a joke! Domino Dungeons is finally here! Sort of. This is actually a pre-release version of the rules. I’m looking for any and all feedback/constructive criticism, so let me know what you love/hate about the game, and the rules themselves!

Enough talk. You probably want a link. Here it is, waiting for you and possibly one friend to play it. (EDIT: Version is now .92)

Are you still here? I guess I should explain a little more. Domino Dungeons is a physical roguelike game made using dominoes. It keeps the randomness and difficulty of a roguelike, and brings things to a whole new dimension: “The Real World”.

“Dominoes, you say?” you might be asking. “How much fun could it be?” Well, these aren’t normal dominoes- “Then why do you expect people to have these dominoes to be able to play your game!?” I don’t. Included in the rulebook printable pieces are provided for playing. Use these if you don’t have the right dominoes (I expect no one else does). “But those pieces will be made of paper! I want dominoes!” Well, you could always suggest some way for me to provide a physical edition of this game. That was one of my goals in the beginning. If you know of any board game publishers who owe you a favor, or even just have a lot of wood and paint, please let me know!

Now play the game already! That’s what it’s there for! (And don’t forget to give feedback!)

7DRL Day 2

Well, 48 hours are gone. Things are not looking good. By that I mean that I’m really no farther than I was 24 hours ago. If I actually had all 168 hours to make this game, things would be easier. Unfortunately, life often gets in the way. I’m not dropping out though. I intend to finish 7DRL, either with success or with failure.

7DRL Day 1

The first 24 hours are gone. They went by quickly, and I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked. I’ve over-generalized everything, which isn’t really a good idea for this situation. Not only that, but Haxe (the language I’m using) is still rather new, has no libraries for anything similar to roguelikes, and has very odd syntax for 2d arrays. So, basically I’m starting from scratch with no helper libraries. Also, this will be my first, ‘real’ roguelike.

Despite all this, I managed to get a few things done. Dungeon generation is 50% complete, I have classes for the player and monsters, with stats set up, and I’m working on movement code. Here is a screenshot I shared earlier on twitter:

7DRL2013

I’m officially starting.

Domino Dungeons Preview

This is a sneak peek at my latest (possibly greatest, but who knows?) game. The big news is that this is the first ‘real’ physical game I will have made. I’m sure almost everyone has made their own rules for Monopoly, Risk, or some other game. I have too. But this time, the game is entirely my own. The medium is: dominoes.

Above you can see the hp and strength markers at the top, as well as the three classes (left to right: rogue, fighter, wizard). Each class has its own quirks, such as the number of spaces it can move, or how character generation happens.

This is the stairs tile, which leads down to the next floor of the dungeon. It is placed after a certain number of dominoes (which make up the dungeon) are placed.

These are the dominoes I’m using for this prototype. From top to bottom: red, blue, green (the camera doesn’t have low-light vision), orange, purple, and yellow. You also probably noticed that these dominoes have a number of pips ranging from zero to nine. This is what will allow various strengths of monsters and traps.

Depending on how fun the prototype manages to be when it’s finished (it’s quite fun now!), I may make ‘professional’ kits by ordering dominoes and boxing them with a physical rulebook. I doubt this will be popular enough to do that, but I’d like to be proven wrong! In either case, the rulebook will be posted online as a pdf for free. If you have enough pieces you can differentiate between, you can still play. However, you’d most likely lose the extreme portability of something like a set of dominoes.

So that’s it. Tell me what you think about the idea, and what you would like to see in a game like this. All feedback is appreciated!

#1GAM February games on Kongregate!

Both of my February games are now on Kongregate.  You can play Power Defense! here, and Conquest of the Free here. Feeling generous? I’d greatly appreciate it if you left a cooment and/or a rating!