Im not dead!

See, im posting stuff, so i must be alive in some capacity. To my one/two readers (i know who you are ;) ) apologize to my lack of posts, ive recently got a new job, and had a struggling time releasing Zombie Squash.

But...

Zombie Squash is out now!

I know right?! Took me a while put you can pick it up for iOS right here. Its free and something fun to do for five minuets at least.

So whats next? Well i have work to for my final year of university, as well as my placement job i am currently on, but i have been drawing up plans for a new mobile game which i will reveal in the coming months...


Till next time!

ZS Dev Log: 17/07/2013 (The its nearly finished update!)

Hello everyone!

Well, the app is nearly complete! I have just a few things to do, by adding a final song, a few sound effects, a bit of artwork and testing for bugs!


The next update i give will with any luck be that the app is submitted to apple for review (and i expect they will let me know i need to edit a few things)

When all is good and ready to go, the app will be available to download for FREE from the app store! And i will also write up a short piece about how development went, things i could have done differently etc.

Till next time!

TODO:

Add final song
Add sound effects
Add final background
Test for bugs

ZS Dev Log: 10/07/2013

Although not really much a dev log, i thought i should show off the fantastic new artwork we have, and tell you what im currently doing!

Here is what in ga

me is going to look like! i still have abit more to add, but you can see the fantastic zombie sprites and background road image.

I will mention this again at some point (when the game is released) but the artwork is done by the amazing Sarah Kate Forstner, if you want to check out more of her work, look at her portfolio here. I will continue to add in the artwork and prep for release!


TODO:
Add in more artwork (integrate with all iPhone models)

Continue work on sound and music

Bug fix and optimsation

ZS Dev Log: 02/07/2013

Well wow. I cant believe im saying this, but ZS is nearly completed! My ambition of the game was to have something released publicly that employers and casual gamers could enjoy and i think i have met that goal with ZS. There are things i think i could improve game play wise (sequel?) but for now i think the game is a casual enjoyable game, and is free.

Although not much is new (as ive been bug fixing and working on sounds/in app purchases) here are a few screenshots.

The in-app purchase is ready to go, and you will be able to remove ads for £0.69p! This is completely optional, and wont hinder the ability to play the game at all. I also added the restore button functionality into a button in the options menu, so if you have previously purchased the remove ads feature, you can restore it free of charge.

There have also been many performance enhancements, small features and bug fixes it is difficult to show in a screenshot (for example, screens fade in and out when changing screen) but most recently i added a new pause screen background, that hides the enemies and greys out the main game screen.


There are still some things to do, and artwork is still in the process of being created, but for now things are coming along nicely! Look for Zombie Squash in the App Store on (hopefully!) July 31st.

TODO:
Fix a loading indicator bug when restoring purchases.
If in a game, and the app is suspended, put the game in pause (simulate pause button being pressed).

Continue to make the in game music and sound effects
Just keep swimming

ZS Dev Log: 24/06/2013

Wow, 12 days since i did a blog post!? Time flys when your having fun, i have been relaxing in the sun, hanging with my girlfriend as well as catching up on some truly amazing games (The Last of Us. Buy It). Because of my small holiday, i havent done much work, but never fear! I have been doing some work with in app purchasing and more importantly sorting out my artwork.

I finally have an artist to create my artwork! She is an amazingly talented 2D and 3D artist, who's work for me as well as her portfolio i will share in due time.

I wont post any screens today, but the in app purchasing is coming along nicely, and for my own sanity, i need to keep myself reminded of what i must do next, hence today's post!

TODO:

Continue work on in app purchasing
iAd display shows errors and is sometimes slow to respond, look into that

Add restore button functionality (for purchases) in options

Continue to test on physical device

ZS Dev Log: 12/06/2013

Hey again! Just a quick one, and to quickly show the iAd implementation (and ads will be removable from 0.69p), this will be the only place in the app there will be an iAd. Eagle eyed viewers may notice i also removed the carrier bar, for a full screen experience. At the moment the remove ads instantly (for testing purposes).

TODO:

Integrate in app purchasing (for iAd removal)

Decide upon in game button size

Buy apple dev licence and test on physical device! (im sure there will be bugs)

Continue looking for sounds and music (artwork almost found!)

ZS Dev Log: 07/06/2013

I forget the last time i did a dev log. it must have been a few weeks... Anyway, heres a new post! I added local high scores and started a little bit of work on an options screen.

When your game is over and you have got a highscore, an alert will pop up and ask for your name to go into the leaderboard, its kinda similar to what i did in my Tile Match project, except it asks for your name when the game is over, rather than playing as a certain name.

A made up a simple leader board, here we see the only name in here is mine (i got 6, im so good!)

On the options screen i added a quick reset scores button which just changes all scores "N/A" and "0"

I am currently looking for the final artwork on the project! Ive asked some very talented people if they would be interested, but if your reading this and think it would interest you please contact me!

TODO:
Start working on iAd system
Optimise game for speed



If i get the artwork.. my aim is to release before the end of July

Launch image and retina thingys

In preparation for releasing ZombieSquash on iPhone 3GS, 4/4S and 5 i have been making the different launch icons. This isnt really an interesting blog post (lets be honest, none of them are!!) but i thought i should at least document when i started to work with the retina display stuff and i created the launch screen, i do like the logo :) (check out my good friend Sam Canvin, the brilliant man who made this logo for more of his work).

Thats all for now!

ZS Dev Log: 25/05/2013

As i do, i continued an hour of work here or there on ZS.

I added this simple main menu (art 100% not final!) just to make the game a little easier to play and such. You'll see all the other buttons, but they dont do anything as of yet (and yes, the game will have ads, but only on the menu and pause screen, the app will be free and it will not interfere with gameplay).

Back to our main in game screen, i added a pause button (the buttons look is a bit bugged) which will bring you to a pause screen and pause the game.

This is a simple pause screen/game over screen i quickly designed, trying to keep to a similar style as the menu. If the game is over, the resume button is not available.

I still have a lot to do, but its moving along :)

TODO:
Add enemy death animations (code is there, just needs to be implemented)

Fix bugs (mostly the transparent buttons bug) and continue to optimise
Do not forget to continue to think about leaderboards

ZS Dev Log: 19/05/2013

Two days in a row!? Honestly im having just fun making the game so i just kept working.

Here is a screenshot of a game in its early stages. We see multiple zombies going down the screen all at the same pace. I added small health bar indicators to the enemies to show how many taps are required until the enemy is defeated.

This screen shows enemies of different health (and different speeds, but i cant really show that from a screenshot) all moving down towards the goal. The longer the game is played the more variation (and the more difficult) enemy spawning will be.


With the basics of the game at an ok level, i feel i should make at least some sort of menu.
TODO:
Make a simple menu with an image background and correct size buttons.
Try to optimise code for speed where possible (it runs great already, but i feel its always good to optimise as you go)
Think about leader board stuff, and a pause screen for the game.

ZS Dev Log: 18/05/2013

In my spare hours, ive been working on ZS! Woop.

At the moment, the game spawns enemies periodically while the animated enemies walk down the screen. You can tap the enemies to defeat them, and it can also be set how many taps are required to defeat each enemy. When an enemy is defeated the score increases.

If enemies manage to reach the bottom of the screen, your amount of lives will go down by one. Currently enemies walk down at the same pace and at the same time.

If all the lives have been lost, the game will currently boot you back to the menu screen. And you can start a new game if you wish.


TODO:
Add some variation in enemies
Add an increasing difficulty (maybe increased speed in enemies)
Add different enemies spawning styles.

ZS Dev Log: 08/05/2013

I had a spare couple of hours today, and i thought id do a bit of work on Zombie Squash! The screen shot shows basically something you could do in 2 mins, but the zombies and such have some functionality and code behind them (+ i thought it would be nice to upload early images, and when its finished, i can look back and laugh at myself)

Here we can see some zombies and the background. Currently the zombies are animated (i made it so every image can be animated, as all image views are added programmatically) and if tapped will die. I know, its AMAZINGLY basic, but i promise im doing something! The functions to move zombies as well as spawn them anywhere are all in place, and i should stress this is not the final artwork. There is also a menu screen, but all it has is a button to the game.

Next on my TODO list:
Fix any "basics" bugs (so basic functionality, such as movement and spawning)
Continue to play around with the taps to kill (currently there is a how many taps kill to zombie variable)

Make sure everything works fine!( So fix bugs again )
Maybe start on displaying the score on screen

The good news and the bad news!

Hello blog! Long time no see eh? Ok its only been a few weeks, but i haven't had much to post! Dont worry though, i can finally talk about some news, both bad and good, we will do bad first i think!

The Bad News
Unfortunately, i have so many had in dates for university projects this month, im going to find it hard pressed to do any work on ZS this month, which sucks! If i get any done, ill be sure to post it here, as well as any uni work i have to show case.

The Good News!
Due to having so much to do this month, i have very little to do next month, giving me all the time in the world to work on ZS, YAY!! Hopefully ill get a lot done in that time, and actually have some stuff to talk about.


Im also back at my wonderful, wonderful pc and ive been able to power through some games (Bioshock is great, isn't it!) and ill hopefully be able to post more stuff over the coming days, until next time!

Light bulb moment!

Its 2:31am 19/03/2013, as i lay in bed i thought of an idea, and idea that seems so simple and yet i feel like a fool for not thinking of it sooner.

ZS should have not just zombies, but humans too! It will add more variety to the game, as players that kill humans will be subject to an in game penalty (such as a loss of score, or life loss). My framework is already set up for other entities such as this, so it will be simple to include!

Ive also been thinking more and more about the leader board. You know how on the Facebook app, you can go to someone profile, and from there go to another profile and so on, but from there you then have to go back about 100 times? My app may have the same problem if im not careful (due to using a navigation controller as my view controller), i should be careful about what links i place on the leader board screen. Also, it is possible i will need an addition screen for writing a name to associate a score with, although i think there are other ways this can be done.

Who knows, maybe ill think of more ideas tonight, ideas often jump at me when i just lay in bed.

I need to plan more.

Being away from my computer for three weeks you would have thought id come up with an ingenious solution to work away from home. I did not, because im a fool.

I did try to sort out a Remote Desktop Solution 30 mins before i was yet to leave, but i couldn't sort it before i left. So because im doing no work and have nothing to blog, i feel at a loss about what to post...

Anyway! I did try and do some research into a few problems i encountered with ZS (zombie squash, its got an acronym now!) and i think i have found some good solutions so at least that's something! I also had some great ideas about a common AI - Langtons Ant. If you reading this (and i expect no one is). Search Langtons Ant on Google, its a simple AI that looks very realistic.

Thats it for now, nothing else to post, maybe ill do some research and post that.

The joys of my sleeping pattern

Although this could be a tad off topic, I have the worst sleeping pattern in the world.

Seriously, I'm like a sloth, I'm busy for 4 hours, sleep for 2, busy for 4, sleep for 2...
And the cycle goes on! So I'm now in "wide awake mode".

In news that relates to anything remotely interesting, most of the basic class implementation for zombie squash is complete. Animation works, movement etc (touch events yet to work, sort this out Jamie!). I'll be away from my computer for a few weeks soon, but it will give me some time to think about other ideas for the project as well as do some work for my degree.

Time to sleep! Well most likely not.

Mac Rage

Ill try keep update short (mainly so i can be bothered to read them back myself).

Work is going both very well and very badly on Zombie Squash. Im loving being able to use C# with VS2012 in order to create my iPhone game (Base classes like Enity have been made). However, the framework im using (Xamarin) requires you build your application over a network using a Mac as a build server. This seems perfectly sensible, if not for the fact i own the shitest mac in the universe.

The wifi on it is very temperamental, and because of this, breaks my iOS simulator when trying to build. The solution is to do this through a wired network, but it just costs money to get a Ethernet switch so that i can connect both my mac and pc to the internet as well as each other.

God damn Macs.

Beauty.

Visual Studio. C#. iOS.

That is all.

Ill make a game now, promise!

Today i attended a lecturer from a member of Microsoft studios and there educational department. The guest spoke about why us as students should publish to windows 8 and windows mobile platforms. Now while i dont agree that windows 8 is a great OS, i believe having a game up on one of these stores, as well as on Google play and the app store should have already happened.

As of today, i will be starting on a new mobile game, Zombie Squash! (Working Title)

The game will be a face paced game you will be able to play for one minute or one hour. It will involve protecting a camp of survivors from countless zombie hordes to raise your score and beat your friends. More details (as well as hopefully some screenshots!) will be coming soon.

For anyone interested in the technical side, it will be built in C# using frameworks from http://xamarin.com/ . It will enable me to write one version of code for multiple platforms and even future platforms easily.This will also be a good test of what these frameworks can do for the stealth project i will be making later this year.

Im really looking forward to the project and hope to post more soon!