In the Night, a Bear!

Another teaser image from the ongoing development of Islands.

Here's some further details for those who are following along:

• It's a platformer made in Flash.


• It takes place on a series of floating islands in the sky.


• It is my first platformer to use scrolling stages and checkpoints.


• It involves a bear.

Also: I'm sorry I haven't been keeping Grandma fed and watered lately. I promise an update soon... Islands and spring cleaning have proven very distracting for the last few days.

Waves

This is a song I just finished the other day, titled 'Waves'. It may or may not find its way into one of my future games. Enjoy!

As well, the Grandma Engine v0.920 was recently released with some changes and bugfixes. Version 0.930 should be coming soon, with a standardized menu system and pausing examples for you to learn from if you so wish.

The latest version of the Grandma Engine can be downloaded here. Future version requests I've received (other than menus and pausing) include gamepad and PXTone support, and I'll probably get around to adding those someday too!

And lastly, development of my next game (a Flash platformer) is gearing up, and I hope to finish that within the next few weeks. Stay tuned for details.

Elderly Platforming!

So I decided to finally start doing something about all the emails I receive asking how to make a platformer engine in Game Maker.

Enter the Grandma Engine v0.910. Download here. The file is a Game Maker 7 editable file. I don't think it requires the registered version of Game Maker, but future versions might.

To clarify, I've prepared a list of things the Grandma Engine does not have in common with the stereotypical grandma:

• Old


• Slow

To highlight the positive features of the engine, I also found it necessary to provide a list of the things the Grandma Engine does have in common with the stereotypical grandma:

• Gives you candy

Other features of the Grandma Engine include a custom movement system (meaning it does not use the built-in Game Maker movement system), slopes, jump-through platforms, and an An Untitled Story-style room system.

The engine is completely free to use for freeware or commercial games, my only request is that you mention that my engine helped you somewhere in the final product, with a link to this site.

I plan on developing this further, at least for a while. If you have any suggestions or bug reports, email me or come post on the forum. Also, feel free to post games (WIP or finished) made with the engine on the forum. If you improve the engine by adding some functionality to it, post that too and maybe I'll add it to the next official release.

Oh, and one last thing: I need a logo for the engine, and I'd like for it to be a picture of a locomotion with the face of a granny. If you happen to have a picture of a locomotion with the face of a granny laying around, please submit it by posting a link to it in a comment or on the forum. Thank you.