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[HybridMind]

Here is my plan for the six challenge modes that I'm implementing today:

Challenge 1:  "FIRST CONTACT"

Num/Scale: Easy Creature Progression (Less creatures and they don't get as small scale)
BG Type: Flat
Animating BG: No  (flat background doesn't animate at first)
Mixed Creatures: No
Axis Aligned Goal/Target: Yes

Challenge 2: "WORLD IN MOTION"

Num/Scale: Normal Creature Progression (More creatures, progress to smaller scale like current game version)
BG Type: Flat
Animating BG: Yes (Introduce animating backgrounds for extra visual interest / minor distraction)
Mixed Creatures: No
Axis Aligned Goal/Target: Yes

Challenge 3: "A NEW PERSPECTIVE"

Num/Scale: Easy Creature Progression (Less creatures makes discovering perspective mode easier at first)
BG Type: Perspective (Introduce landscape perspective mode)
Animating BG: NA
Mixed Creatures: No
Axis Aligned Goal/Target: Yes
Creatures Move Left/Right: No

Challenge 4: "BELOVED WANDERERS"

Num/Scale: Normal Creature Progression (Normal amount of creatures like current game version)
BG Type: Perspective
Animating BG: NA
Mixed Creatures: No
Axis Aligned Goal/Target: Yes
Creatures Move Left/Right: Yes (The creatures can wander left right now!)

Challenge 5: "ALIEN MIXER"

Num/Scale: Mixed Creature Progression (We start with more creatures and smaller creatures because this is a more advanced level.)
BG Type: Flat
Animating BG: Yes
Mixed Creatures: Yes (Creatures are no longer from same set.. they are mixed up!)
Axis Aligned Goal/Target: No (for added difficulty the target's x-axis will not be aligned with the goal's x-axis.)

Challenge 6: "EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED"

Num/Scale: Normal Creature Progression
BG Type: Random (Randomly picks between flat and perspective)
Animating BG: Random (If flat BG.. random between animating/not)
Mixed Creatures: Random % (none to full) (variable creature mix ratio)
Axis Aligned Goal/Target: Random (goal and target won't always be axis aligned)
Creatures Move Left/Right: Random (creatures will sometimes move on perspective mode)

[HybridMind]

Nice game!  One of my favorite parts is when you get it right, and all of the creatures start smiling.  It really gives the game a warm, fuzzy vibe.

As others have said, this could definitely do with a soundtrack.  I think something with a classical feel would work well.

Thanks! Glad you like the smiling. I wanted this game to have a chance of appealing to a lot of different players and also adults and kids. There are definitely surreal and eerie/creepy overtones to the game (especially if you miss-click) so I suspect adults/kids will enjoy it for various different reasons.

I'm not going to be composing classical music but that is an interesting thought. I will be coming up with various small loops that can be strung together each level to mix it up. Hope to have at least 10 very small loops all in a similar key I think. Most likely be weird chiptune/electronica hybrid--but who knows. I am always surprised what comes out once I sit down to write music for my games. I want it to look good with the pulse of the game animations though. Like a weird alien rave party.

The game's really coming along. It's quite fun, though it hurts my eyes a little. @.@

Thanks--sorry the game hurts your eyes! :D

@LiquidAsh: Thank you for clarifying!

[medieval]

Looks fun! I like that it's in an actual sort of 3d perspective

[HybridMind]

PLAY LATEST IN BROWSER

7/10: v0.2.7.2 posted!

• Completed all six challenge modes (currently all unlocked)
• Implemented ability for the creatures to hop around on certain challenges
• Implemented goal/target axis flipping on certain challenges
• Implemented offtype creature modes for certain challenges
• Did first pass on challenge order and difficulty balance
• Cleared leaderboard data

v0.2.7.2 screenshot (All Six Challenges Finished--this is "Alien Mixer"!)


I'm excited that all six challenges have been implemented basically according to my notes a post or two above. Some slight changes (and I'm sure some tweaks will likely come) but I'm quite happy with it.

All challenges are unlocked right now but I am about to start implementing the bronze/silver/gold rating and challenge unlock system and likely once that is placed (if I have enough feedback on the challenge modes from any early players) I will lock them down and test that progression aspect of the gameplay.

[HybridMind]

PLAY LATEST VERSION IN YOUR BROWSER

7/11: v0.8 posted!

• Major version number bump because this thing is almost finished and I need playtesting feedback on how far/fun/easy/hard people are finding the six challenges.
• Implemented full gold/silver/bronze medal system
• Implemented all the various UI/Menu stuff to support challenge unlocking and various player notifications.
• Locked down the challenges and set some initial settings for earning stars and unlocks (feedback from playtesters welcome!)

v0.8 screenshot (Full challenge and star medal system with unlocks finished!)


As I mentioned in the history notes above I did a major version number bump up to v0.8 because this thing is almost finished and I need playtesting feedback now on how far/fun/easy/hard people are finding the six challenges.

Main todos left (besides any tweaking or other gameplay stuff) are:

* ESC/pause/return to menu from game screen kinda stuff
* Add '?' icon to UI for player to click on to bring up ESC/pause how to menu
* Preloader stuff
* Make better game title and other menu polish stuff
* Write some small music loops!!

Gonna call it a night. Been a series of very fun but exhausting days this week working on this game. I welcome feedback as usual--thanks for playing if you have a chance.

EDIT:

7/11: v0.8.2 posted!

• BUG FIX: Challenge complete screen had two bugs with how it was displaying the star medals--should be correct now. The challenge select screen was correctly displaying the medals though.

[HybridMind]

PLAY LATEST VERSION IN BROWSER

7/11: v0.8.3 posted!

• Implemented pause menu with q/restart/help functionality
• Reworked in game UI a little bit to layout better / be less blurry
• Added a '?' icon to in game UI (same as hitting ESC)
• Added a visual notification to new star medals one on level complete screen (they pulse) This was to draw attention when you unlock a new one versus when they are already unlocked

It is finally time that I can make some music for this game! I'm pretty excited as it will be a nice break from all the intense game dev related work I've been doing on this game.

[rhope]

Braindump

• I can get past level 3 without needing a bronze star
• Version string on the pause menu differs from main menu
• Level 10 on Challenge 6 relies too much on chance; the critters overlap too much

[HybridMind]

Braindump

• I can get past level 3 without needing a bronze star
• Version string on the pause menu differs from main menu
• Level 10 on Challenge 6 relies too much on chance; the critters overlap too much

Currently unlocking the next challenge is keyed to beating the challenge in two minutes or less where as the bronze is awarded at 1:30 or less. I guess that may be confusing but my worry was (until I get more playtest feedback) difficulty. I think my preference would be that stars/medals are sort of "icing" for the player where as unlocking the next challenge shouldn't be too frustrating to get at?  I'm definitely going to be thinking about these type of tuning things though in the polish round here.

Thanks for catching the version string thing on the pause menu! I've added it to my todo list (I wasn't updating it--it was just the placeholder string data from the flash IDE)

Also thanks for your feedback on challenge 6. Most of that challenge is random (since it is called "Expect the Unexpected" so it will definitely depend on whether you get a perspective or flat mode background near the higher levels of it.  I will keep pondering based on feedback like this how I will tune it up so thank you.

I'm writing short music loops right now that will be strung together each level as you play a challenge. I want to get enough done and then get more player feedback at that point from here and some other sources I use for playtesters.

Now back to music!

[oyog]

I dunno what it is but I am awful at finding the right one in a group of the snowman lookin' guys with the long legs.  If one'a them is mixed in with other critters I seem to have no problem but I get to one of the levels with the snowmen guys and my heart sinks a little cause I know I'm gonna take twenty seconds and three wrong answers before I find the right guy.

Even if you don't win I think you should get an honorable mention for the "Most Adorable Game" award.

My girlfriend loved the first build of this, by the way.  I sent her a link to the current version cause I think she'll enjoy the different levels.

[Biggles]

Really like this one, great polish and a fun game, very cute

[HybridMind]

PLAY NEWEST VERSION WITH MUSIC HERE IN YOUR BROWSER (make sure says v0.9 in menu or clear your cache!)

7/12: v0.9 posted!

• Composed 5 new 30-40 second chiptune loops and put them in the game!
• Fixed version string mess up on pause menu.
• Discovered I was only using 3 of 6 available jump/happy noises and made sure they are all active now.
• Added a limiter to the amount of happy noises that will play because on levels with 10+ creatures it is a little overwhelming/annoying when they all go off combined.

I'm gonna go take a walk.. been sitting in front of my computer all day (for days) and I need to move a little. :D

I will probably add more chiptunes too but writing 5 loop in one day is a little draining for me (even if they are 30-40 seconds in length only...)

Thanks for the continued feedback everyone! I'm glad people are finding it visually adorable. Like I mentioned I want both kids and adults to be able to find enjoyment in this game.  I've been trying to see how far I can take a simple premise like "where's waldo?" and put my own spin and flavor on it. I'm having quite a good time.

[Greender]

The twins with the big bellies are the hardest to recognize. fun game HybridMind.

[HybridMind]

PLAY IN BROWSER HERE

7/13: v0.9.1 posted!

• Added a preloader
• Added studio intro
• BUG FIX: A lot of the creatures had stopped smiling when the twin was found but they are smiling again
• BUG FIX: The penalty visual flash on time UI wasn't clearning right, also standardized it to red.
• Made it so every song will play in a random order without repeating until they have all played. This way I can add more tracks and people won't get repeats till they've heard them all at least. Currently just 3 loops and one menu loop.
• Added thin border around menu screens because on sites with white backgrounds it looked awful
• Moved loading of APIs to during Initializing phase of preloader so that background net lag spikes wouldn't visually lag the intros/main menu animations

EDIT: Fixed a small bug where when you close the leaderboards screen it would replay the SWF again... doh! Caused by adding the preloader without putting a onClose function on the leaderboard calls... v0.9.2 now

The twins with the big bellies are the hardest to recognize. fun game HybridMind.

One of my friends calls those "the picassos" because I guess they look like an ear... :D Thanks for playing it!

[HybridMind]

LATER VERSION PLAYABLE HERE

7/14: v0.9.3 posted!

• Added two new chiptune loops bring total to 5 in game and 1 menu loop.
• Major overhaul of the music sampling rate and sound effects sampling rates. Also did another pass on balancing music and sound effects volume.
• Cut init time down to 3 seconds from 4.

[moonmagic]

I really enjoy the music for this game. The modulation reminds me of Toejam and Earl.

[Jonathan Whiting]

I don't have much in specifics to add now, everything seems to be coming together fantastically.  I just wanted to say how inspiring I've found your work ethic + frequent updates.

[HybridMind]

I really enjoy the music for this game. The modulation reminds me of Toejam and Earl.

Hey--thanks! I tried to keep each loop using the same three simple instruments in Reason as a constraint and to help keep them sounding in theme. I use one Redrum patch run through a Scream bit-destroyer thing, one Subtractor setup to be all low chip-tuney for bass, and one Subtractor setup to modulate with sustain / chip-tuney for the lead.  I'll have to check out some Toejam and Earl music on YouTube to see what you mean.

I don't have much in specifics to add now, everything seems to be coming together fantastically.  I just wanted to say how inspiring I've found your work ethic + frequent updates.

Glad you feel it's coming together so well Jonathan. 

I find keeping detailed dev logs and tracking my time really helps me to think through where I'm at at various stages of the game development process as well as think aloud through design problems or feedback.  Plus the detailed hours log helps me see how I'm using my time effectively (or not) and hopefully adjust my course. This helps with later sponsoring and licensing of the games I make as I can get a good idea of how sustainable making games is for me as a full time business versus doing a different job and keeping game making as a hobby or side-job.

[HybridMind]

PLAY THE LATEST HERE IN YOUR BROWSER

7/22: v0.9.9 posted!

• RELEASE CANDIDATE--WOOHOO! Major update here. Been cranking on this past few days again and this is looking like it will be the final version barring any odd events or convincing feedback (or bugs!)
• Added stereo pans to sound effects like jumping, picking, destroying of twins
• Made the twin to find able to move also
• Raised movement rate on applicable challenges
• Lowered number of twins on 2nd perspective challenge
• Got my social links in to help build my fan base
• Fixed external mp3s not looping right by adding on the fly adjustment for leader and follower so that flash can skip the ID3 data and bogus frame data.. ugh
• Redid the bass mix on the music tracks
• Added a reset scores button so you can flush old data / achievements
• Totally redid main menu
• Added simple tutorial to first time playing first level (can restart any time with 'T' key
• Added a 'resume game' button to pause menu in case player is lazy and got there by mouse button on '?' icon on UI
• Added fail safe bail out on level generation when I'm placing twins in non-colliding fashion because sometime randomly it can't find a placement before the script times out. Now it will bail after 1000 attempts (about a second) and just drop the twin wherever it may be to keep the game going
• Made a credits screen
• Made a total game stat / rating thingy that unlocks once you've played all six challenges at least once that gives you combined totals as well as a combined bronze/silver/gold rating for how well your combined scores on the game were

I'm beat but happy with how far this has come--ALMOST DONE! 

[sergiocornaga]

This is somehow creepy. I love it! Got 29 seconds on Challenge 6, which I'm pretty happy with. No idea if that's good though as I only played each challenge once... plus there are no other high scores to compare with.

[HybridMind]

This is somehow creepy. I love it! Got 29 seconds on Challenge 6, which I'm pretty happy with. No idea if that's good though as I only played each challenge once... plus there are no other high scores to compare with.

29 seconds on challenge six is quite good. Yeah I had to reset the highscore data this morning since some of the challenges changed a bit. They shouldn't be reset any more though.

Glad you like it and thanks for playing!