The Great iPhone Experiment, Part 2.

Ok, so I got the board gems and another piece drawing so I really have only some simple gameplay checks to add in and it will be playing. Even added the preliminary level structures so it can create the levels, and the high score system is sitting there waiting to be plugged in.

 So yeah, the 3 days things is a little misleading as I obviously have some technology created for my other games that is being re-used. So what exactly is being re-used you ask? Well…

Start of some techie nerd stuff some of which may only make sense to me, but here goes: 

I have a landscape template project that I can just grab and plug in a new title screen graphic, new help, game, and settings background images, add a new icon, and change about 4 lines that have to do with the naming and it fires right up. I have a high score system that is pretty generic built-in and everything in place for saving the current game and asking if you want to play that saved game. I have the sound code and will probably be re-using a lot of the sounds from Poker Stacks. I have some Match 3 grid technology written for Poker stacks so I can just re-use the effects for spinning out or blowing up the gems and checking what is touched. I can plug in the pause button stuff as well and will probably use some of the background moving images from Jezster just to dress up the game  a tad.. I have a scoreview that does the score float animation and a timer view that draws a timer bar and time and the code that manages timing out during play. And Ill likely even use the game over’ type graphics from other games.

So, yes… I have a head start. But its all just sitting there and needs to be plugged together and attached to some different gameplay to make it official. If this works Ill gladly use this recipe over and over as I know of a couple other developers that are doing just that. It would be fun to get some sales so I can continue to join them…

And I really dont believe that the AppStore market is always a good indicator of overall talent. It just takes building that one fun game idea(and not necessarily done that ‘pretty’ even). And have people find it quickly… so basically get lucky…

Got an idea for the next great gem swapper, well anything really… Ill use my headstart for you too… Just drop me a line and will get that project going…(and don’t worry I’ll spend more time on the details on a project like that, actually you might be surprised at how many details make it in this game too).

 

The Great iPhone Market Experiment.

Well, Ive now tried the ‘spend 2-3 months on a game and add polish to it experiment’ for iPhone. So now for something completely different. I am writing a game (using a lot of existing code) in just THREE days that I will put up on the AppStore. I invite you to follow along as I write it. Basically I came up with the idea last night, and I thought, hmmm…. I really like this idea for a simple variation on the gem swapping/Match 3 type genre, I should make it quick.

Some of my thoughts: 

Some of the games on the AppStore that are making insane amounts of money are VERY SIMPLE games. Stupidly simple in many cases. So what the heck.

Im not going to stop much to really tweak it this first go round. Why? Well because I dont want more than 3 days invested in it. I can put out a pretty good product by just moving ahead, and by looking at some of the games that are the most popular that have way more polished games they compete against, well Im not sure the iPhone market really appreciates the details like they should. So why bother. And then Ill only have 3 days of development invested in it instead of 2 weeks… So if it doesnt sell it doesnt sell, I almost left the market completely because my polished ‘Jezster’ didnt sell with 2 months behind it! But 3 days, well it is worth a shot…

 

I figured since I already have code that will handle about 80% of what this game will do thanks to Poker Stacks (and a little Jezster for some eye candy)…  

 I already have 95% of the graphics done in about 3 hours today, and the shell of the game working and showing the title screen and gameboard, so its a fun little experiment that who knows, might be the next big iPhone game.

 And as a little bonus experiment, I had a different name picked out, but my brother happened to mention that I should have the word ‘Ninja’ in the title. It doesnt matter whether the game has anything at all to do with Ninjas, people just like ninjas!! So ‘Gem Ninja’ it is…

 So follow along the next 3 days as I crank this sucker out. I wont give away the 1 gameplay mechanic that makes it different(though Im not guaranteeing completely different from everything out there, but its an original idea to me, so…). It should be fun….

Hoping to get the gem board drawing and the high score system in place by the end of the day…

All-In WM sneak peek

We have a way for you to get the biggest sneak peek of part of what to expect in All-In 3.0 for Windows Mobile. Just download the new All-In desktop version(2.9). It has a lot of the new layout and interface so you can see just how cool it is going to be. But we held out 3 big features and improvements and maybe more that will go into 3.0, obviously why its labeled version 2.9. And if you like it, maybe consider purchasing the desktop version as well(it will be a free desktop upgrade to 3.0 later this summer and they both will ship around the same time).

 

 

 

So Go Check it out.. Go All-In!

This is cool…

Well, Im still working on All-In 3.0 as the main project I have going.  I figured I could show you that the Desktop version is getting a complete overhaul. Though it can and will use a lot of the VGA graphics from WM, it is also getting its own cool look as I would really like this to be a premiere product and worth a big look on the Desktop side too. I’ll admit I didnt follow completely through with that in the initial releases back in 2004/2005. The AI and other gameplay that makes All-In great was there, but I could have done a better job of packaging.  Well here’s a sneak peek at some of the new packaging… And with the new code clean up it will get all the new things that WM 3.0 is getting too.

 

I’m All-In. 

 

 

 

All-In 3.0!

 Truthfully, I’m not really sure why it has taken this long to really make All-In what I want it to be. The vision has always been to be the top Windows Mobile Poker game available. And on a lot of fronts it is, was, and always has been since its release in 2004. But Ive had a lot of ideas brewing for a long time to take it to the next level. And now seeing the WM Marketplace in sight, what a perfect time to start getting there.

As you can see we’ve been working on a new skin and some new technology(the advanced list view). It will be used extensively throughout the program and will eliminate an embarassingly large amount of the current code and make everything more streamlined and clean. And it also has the added bonus of allowing the addition of new features and choices extremely quickly. And the new skin brings a new logo and icons. Good bye to my friend Smiley (the red haired guy on the cards). Ive seen our main competition negotiate deals to get on new devices. Yes, they have some ins, but they also have a product that while not playing as good or as much poker, it has some stripped down and attractive versions and yet with no strong branding. I took a hard look at All-In and decided that its unique style needed an overhaul to look cooler (and sadly a little more generic) in order for it to get the same considerations. And now with the new framework, it will be easy to make stripped down versions if that is what is needed. Sometimes simpler is better. Though we wont be switching to a Limit is different than No-Limit version system anytime soon.

So what else is going into All-In 3.0. Well, I cant tell you everything. I can tell you that this ‘List View’ morphs nicely for use in things like the career screen, thus allowing us to clean that up and obviously add some things! And some other areas are getting touch-ups too. Oh, and what is that other HUGE feature we are adding… ?!?!

You’ll have to wait..

 

 

Back to Windows Mobile…

It was a fun ride. Well sorta… and we still have plans for 3 more projects on iPhone/iPod Touch, but its back to what got us here and all the great devices on the Windows Mobile side. We have been actively working on updates to 3 of our big WM products and have ideas for one or two more.

 The iPhone market, while over glamourized in the press, just isnt really as good as it looks. Especially in games. There is simply too many applications to get lost in, and a store that was put out with too many problems that are only being corrected now(and in some cases not until iPhone 3.0 or beyond), which is simply not enough now that that first problem exists. It is just a big mess. Not saying you can’t be successful and not saying I won’t come back, far from it, but I think you need to have to approach it differently than I have, and possibly have ways of promotion I simply don’t have or haven’t come up with.

 I missed it. If I would have had an application ready right away on the AppStore release I would likely be singing a different tune! Though that might have been All-In and then I would have been just as angry with Apple choosing to do like 1 game only and unfairly overpromoting there own wares, that being Texas Hold ‘Em.

  I am on the tail of end of initial promotion of Jezster, and well, I can’t get one of my best most pollished games ever (excluding All-In) to sell at all. It already got lost. Im in the process of releasing a Free version of the program (which was rejected once, though contained the same exact things that my other lite versions had) but after that I really dont know what else to do. Good graphics, fun gameplay, great reviews, paying for advertising. Its just not enough. So for now Im done trying to play the AppStore lottery and get back to my roots. 🙂

And hopefully get my New Treo Pro soon…

 

 

Jezster Coming.

We are finishing up development this week for submission and got a chance to upload a couple YouTube videos of its game play. You can check them out on its product page at http://www.birdsoft.biz/jezster.htm

 

UPDATE: IT IS Submitted!!! Watch for it Soon!

 

It is now approved, but for QA purposes we are holding off release until later this week until a new version can be approved that helps with a couple small things.

We would like to welcome to the stage… Jezster.

 

We are pleased to give a sneak peek at our new iPhone game, Jezster. We are nearing completion and hope to submit by the end of the week. Here is your first look…

Jezster has taken over Shiny Happy World. It is your job to stop him and his evil Hench-Balls to once again bring peace to this cushy world. 

Jezster is a game based off the classic Jezzball genre. It expands tremendously on that with Power-Ups, Obstacles, and Boss Levels. Tons of gameplay with 30 Levels of Adventure and 6 bosses. Add an Achievement system, High Score System, 3 difficulty levels, and even Classic Jezzball Mode and hours of Cute humorous action oriented game play awaits.

Beta testers from the age of 4 to 60 have enjoyed the challenging but simple game play. A great game for all ages.

  

Watch for Jezster VERY SOON on the AppStore. 

Fun Development

Well the Little Green Beast is turning out to be some fun to write. The new game is more action oriented than the last few so I need a lot of animating done on screen. So I started out writing an OpenGL type engine for the game. Well, I didnt really love the results and what I would have to change to make some existing things work and so after a few days, I bounced back to straight Cocoa Touch.

 And let me tell you, you can squeeze some really good results out of the straight way of doing things with a few tricks. I sometimes have over like 20-25 different things animating smoothly on the screen at once. The main trick is to make UIViews for moving pieces separately so you can leave static UIView pieces alone and only update the animations in their own ‘thread’ views… Its rather cool… I hope you all like the results.