Global Game Jam 2010

I'm off to the Global Game Jam tomorrow! I'll be attending the jam in Calgary, but it's happening all around the world. I'm driving down with fellow jammer/TIGSource-member GregWS and I'll be meeting my pal Chevy Johnston there.

Speaking of Chevy, he recently released the first version of his awesome FlashPunk engine for Flash development.

I've also been busy lately finishing up a general-purpose 2D level-editor for myself. It should help speed up my future projects! More info on that later.

Anyways, just a quick update, gotta pack for the trip!

Sad Face

:(
The IGF finalists are in, and RunMan didn't make the cut. But it's okay, I'll just have to try harder for 2011!

Holiday Cheer

Holy crap lots to talk about!

Site Redesign

As you can see, the site has undergone a redesign. I'm pretty happy with the new color scheme. If you have any suggestions on how I can improve it, feel free to drop them in the comments.

New Jumper

New Jumper! The title isn't final yet. The fourth game in the Jumper series will be played in your browser with the Flash Player.


Development is progressing smoothly. I'm currently writing myself an editor (also in Flash) for the game, but going a bit beyond the call of duty and making it more of a general-purpose editor. I'd like to make something I can reuse between projects. If what I come up with is polished enough, I might even release it for others to use for their projects.

FlashPunk

New Jumper is being programmed using Chevy Ray's FlashPunk engine. I'm helping him bug-test and offering suggestions as I work. The engine seems to be nearing completion, so hopefully that will see a public release soon and everyone can try it out! Trust me, it's really awesome!

Praise!

It's the time of year for top 10 lists and "best-of" lists and other miscellaneous lists! I've been fortunate this year: MoneySeize and RunMan have both made it onto a list each, with the latter even making it onto two.

Edmund McMillan: MoneySeize 5th best Flash game of 2009

Gamasutra: RunMan 5th best indie game of 2009

Play This Thing!: RunMan 4th best indie of the year

In Retrospect

I'm really blown away by the amount of exposure I've been getting this year! The friendliness of the indie community never ceases to amaze me.

I never expected people to flat-out volunteer their help (and contacts) with marketing and selling one of my games, but while working on MoneySeize I had Edmund McMillan approach me and offer to help me sell a Flash game. I really cannot thank him enough for this, and I've heard tell of him coaching a few other indies through the process as well. Really man, you're the best and I hope Super Meat Boy makes you filthy rich.

Later, I participated in Ludum Dare 15 and that was just a blast. I ended up winning second place with Broken Cave Robot, which was very cool.

And then finally: RunMan! Tom and I had been working on this beast for a loooooong time. I'm actually kind of shocked that we finished it at all. But the enthusiasm and support we've gotten from the indie community has been amazing and I'm super happy to see so many people enjoying it. For the curious, our download counter is sitting just below 35,000. We've also entered it in next year's IGF, so wish us luck!

Well, that's it! Merry Christmas everyone!

Blog Broken!

Yes, the blog is completely broken right now, as I shift over to a new site design. It should be back (and better than ever!) sometime tonight or tomorrow, thanks for your patience.

RunMan v1.2

Tom did another new version of RunMan: Race Around the World. Most notably, he fixed a bug that was causing corrupted ghost files to be created.

• Fixed ghost file writing


• Altered some particle effects and reduced the overall number of particles that get generated


• Altered 6-6's architecture to prevent a bug


• Altered 1-5's architecture because people tended to get stuck


• Fixed a bug that caused the boss to get lost at the end of 3-6

I'm Back!

I'm sure some of you have noticed that I haven't been very productive on the game development front lately. I've been taking a bit of a break from serious game development for a while, exploring other media and dealing with school.

It's Christmas break now and I have time to get serious about a game project. I'm also planning on participating in Ludum Dare 16, which is taking place December 11-13. Last time I did a Ludum Dare, Broken Cave Robot was the result. So if all goes well, I'll release two new games within the next little while. I'm also working on a redesign of my site, which should be finished sometime soon as well. Lots of progress ahead!

Meanwhile, Raocow has started a Let's Play of RunMan: Race Around the World! He previously did an LP of An Untitled Story and it was a blast to watch.

Elsewhere in the indie world, exciting things are happening! Shaltif's Sill, a C++ 2D game engine, is inches away from an alpha release. And Chevy Ray's FlashPunk engine is a Flash raster-game engine which is also close to a first release. Oh, and Unity is free now for indies (!!!).

Jumper Zero

Jumper Zero is another new Jumper fangame! This one is by forum-member Kilo and follows the adventure of Nomo, a failed experiment predating Ogmo who must, of course, escape from the lab.

It is very tastefully made and everything seems to stay very true to the spirit of the original game. The presentation is clean, simple and works well. The difficulty curve is also pleasantly gentle, easing you into the harder stages - a stark contrast to the original's "wall" as soon as you hit sector 2, but I think a change for the better. I'd recommend giving it a play!

In barely-related news, I've changed the download link for the much older fangame Jumper: Opposing Forces. It now resides in the fanstuff directory with the other fangames. You can now download it here.