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Monday, December 16, 2013

Amazon App Submissions


     Amazon is really easy to upload to. I thought there was a development fee, but it's actually free. There's a simple and colorful interface that let's you put android, computer, or web apps on the Amazon market. Yesterday, I submitted my Android apps to the Amazon market so I could be more available during the holiday season. My android games were made with Unity and making them Amazon friendly was just a matter of changing the app store links in the main menus. I just hope my apps get up on time and don't get tossed back with errors. I don't have any Amazon devices to test on or money to get any so it's just wishful thinking for now.


Sunday, December 15, 2013

TriGrid's Lost Features


     A few features got cut from TriGrid during development. There were going to be 100 challenges instead of 60, but I made the level select sprites 3x4 instead of 5x4 and didn't want to change them all. The purple triangles would originally cling to walls but that behavior led to constant errors so I reverted them to behaving like yellows that turn more frequently and never changed them back.

     Every time the player moved, the blue arrows where going to move one space in the opposite direction. That led to problems in the level design though. Sometimes it was just impossible to catch one from behind and it basically destroyed all hope of beating a level within a time limit.

     When I came up with shooter mode I debated making that the primary game and having Challenge mode be a bonus, but I decided that Shooter was simpler and felt like a worthy award for mastering all the challenges (it also made a compelling in-app purchase). I also had multiple pages of text in the tutorial menu but shortened them to one sentence when I noticed most test players skipping the instructions completely.

     Things don't always go as planned and problems arise during development sometimes. It's up to you as a developer to adapt and evolve the game to overcome these obstacles. I'm happy with the way TriGrid turned out.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Status Report #16


     Finals week is behind me at last. My third semester of college is complete! I now have a full month to myself for game development and things will get done. While my brain recovers from a semester of college I'll be playing the new Zelda and watching some 3D modelling tutorials to get ahead since I have a 3D class next semester. DAZ 3D is free now and it'd be a good idea to master it someday.

     I intend to finish DragCore before January and get started with prototypes for my next game. August is approaching and I still have 3 games to push out. Not to mention summer school. Here's what I accomplished during finals week.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Samsung Seller Office Problems


      I'm getting all kinds of errors when trying to put my games on the Samsung Seller Office. My 100% Indie Account sends me broken emails and app submissions are closing in a week. It's way too close to the holiday rush to even bother with this stuff. I'm just going to wait for my new 100% Indie Account to go through and try again when DragCore is done.

      Sure, I'll miss the holiday rush but Samsung devices can still get to Google Play. The only advantage I'm missing is exposure on the Samsung marketplace and I'm pretty sure TriGrid and Candy Shop Catch won't be on the top of the "holiday must have" list.

      I'll be on top of things later, I'll be trying crazy hard to get my platformer (coming after the board game) featured during the holiday rush just to know what it's like. If anyone else is on Samsung's 100% Indie campaign, I could totally use some insider tips on how this all works. All I know so far is what I could find when looking around on their website.