Very little news.

It just occurred to me that it’s been 3½ months since my last post, and I was thinking that perhaps I should let everyone know that I’m still alive. 🙂

Done. 😀

Codingwise I’ve been working on a new ZX Spectrum game since December, so that’s where my main focus is right now. Currently it’s using mostly ripped graphics so I’m not going to post pictures from it just yet, but once the artist has produced some new shiny graphics then I’ll post some more details.

After that I’ll endavour to get my X-Quest 2 & Neon Invaders games done as the next two. It’s about time they were finished. 😎

Those who follow me on Twitter may have noticed I posted this two weeks ago;

That was just a bit of experimentation, but I’d like remake Battlezone (yes, there’s a lot of them already, but I love it) and hopefully this experimentation will lead to that. So far I haven’t worked on it since then – and don’t expect to until after I’ve finished 2-3 other games, but it’s a peek at what’s to come. 🙂

I won’t be working on anything the next month, though. Well, nothing except sucking down Mojitos. Going on vacation for a month, y’see. 😉

A small festive reminder about my three Christmas games.

Just as I thought I’d gotten into a nice tradition by making Christmas games…I don’t make one. So Christmas is cancelled this year. Well, not cancelled – there just won’t be a new Christmas game from me this year.

But I thought I’d take this opportunity to remind everyone about the three Christmas themed games I have made – so if you haven’t played any of them you might use this post as inspiration to try them out.

The Snowman – A platform game where the objects is to build a snowman and then dress him. And if a baddie comes too close? …then shoot a snowball in their little “faces” – which will freeze them for a short while.

The Night Before Christmas – A sort-of platform game inspired by Mission Elevator, where the object is to play as Santa and fetch the gifts, then put them under the tree, all while making sure the sleepwalking kids stay in bed.

Buggerman: The Xmas Heist – Also a sort-of multiscreen platform game, based on Bagman, where you play as a Pumpkincreature to try and steal all the gifts from Santa’s workshop.

All three games are brought to life with the help of Lobo (graphics) and SpaceFractal (sound) – and of course – me as the coder, so the look and sound is nice and similar across all three games.

The Snowman

 

The Night Before Christmas

 

Buggerman: The Xmas Heist

New release: Space Rawks

Not a peep for 9½ months and then suddenly three games in two weeks. That’s so typical of me. 🙂
…I’m like the Octomom of games development. 😀

Today’s release is called Space Rawks. It’s a wordplay on ‘Space Rocks’ (but you probably got that) and it’s basically a remake of Asteroids – but with a lot of new stuff bolted on to make it a bit more interesting that the original game.

The game has more than 20 powerups (and “power-downs”) – not all are equally good, but except one they only lasts a few seconds and will make you chase them. You don’t have to collect them…but where’s the fun in that, right? 😉

This game has had a difficult birth – I started working on it in 2009, and for a while I doubted that I’d ever actually finish it, but I did – and it’s here…and it’s a relief. 😉 There’s a ‘making of‘ post here so you can read a bit about why it took four years to make.

I hope you’ll enjoy it…and don’t forget to let me know by email or on Twitter if you like it.

 

More content on the site

I’ve had an section on my site called “Other Stuff” for a while now – but with nothing in it.
I’ve now (finally) done something about it and put it to good use. Well, use, anyway. 😉

So far there’s four subsections to it;

Four sections so far. There may be more later. Any suggestions?

“In the press”
It’s always nice when people appreciate what you do, and sometimes it results in a mention in a magazine, perhaps a review or even an interview. There has been a few over the years – especially in Retro Gamer Magazine. I’m collecting what I know of here – mostly so I have it all in one place, but also handy if anyone else wants to see what stands out.

“Postmortems”
In this section you’ll find “Making of…” articles. As I don’t really blog so much about my games during development you won’t find many details about how they came to be elsewhere, but I’ll try to make some detailed recounts of how development went, in this section. It might be fun to read if you’re into games development – or just curious about it.

“Donations”
My games are free and my site is ad-free. I like it that way – it’s a hobby and I don’t need to generate money from it. Still, if you like my games and feel like you want to show your appreciation by making a donation I’d appreciate it. $1, $5, $10, or whatever amount you feel like…it doesn’t matter – it’s the thought that counts. If you donate I’ll put your name up on this page so everyone can see how cool you are (if you don’t want your name here just let me know).

“Games in Limbo”
Sometimes there’s too many ideas and too little time to work on them – or you just plainly run out of steam, so once in a while development on something stalls. This section is the limbo that those projects with an uncertain future end up in. Usually I’ve already done a lot of work on them already, so perhaps I’ll resume work on some of them one day…but then again – perhaps not.