Using New Tile Map Skills

     Shortly after starting to place dungeon tiles the old fashioned way I realized that it would take forever. Why not use tile mapping to save the background image as a prefab then place non-tile objects over that? It'll even save total memory in the final executable. So now I'm using the tilemap strategy I learned last week to make all the levels. It should be done by tomorrow. Then placing everything (besides enemies) should take another day.

    I thought using this tile map editor would be amazing and dear lord is it a dream. What once took hours can be done in minutes. Tons of boredom and hand cramps resolved with a simple drag & drop interface. 2D Toolkit is beautiful and it continues to make my job way easier.

Found Extra App Stores

     Gamasutra always has something new to show me and my latest discovery is this handy list of other appstores I can put my games on. I've only used Samsung, Amazon, Google Play, and iTunes so far. If my experience on Samsung proves anything, getting featured on a less crowded appstore can go really well. Even if only 15K people use a particular store, that's 15K people who didn't know about my games.

   I'll wait until Unicorn Training is done and in that break time between school semesters I can put all my other apps everywhere at once. Just in time for the holidays. I don't really feel like spending a whole day preparing for these markets just yet. I'd feel better if my first RPG went up when I join this new network. I'm not expecting any revenue from the things I have so far anyway.

Some Unicorn Training Tiles

     Yesterday I made a bunch of tiles for the dungeons and today I'm going to start making template items to make the map making more efficient. Things like bundles of trees, spike pit patterns, and common wall shapes to plant on tileland maps like I did for the forest. Those stones in the top left are switches and vanishing walls which make up a lot of the dungeon room puzzles. The colorful ball on a pedestal will be animated to flash through those colors. Players will use it to select a dungeon or boss to fight.

    (Also I updated the games page with some pictures to make the side projects section more lively.)

Status Report #47 (Starting Tiles, Written Plans)

     Planning stage complete! I literally just have to make the rest of the game now. I'll build the assets, code the necessities, and patch up the rest. By the looks of things I should be done by September. All the hard parts are officially done and it's just a matter of grinding out to the finish line. Hopefully I can get most of it done before school starts because I know I'll be distracted by then.

The status report is beyond the break!