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[Curseman]

Yeah, taking the music from your site every time will use your personal bandwidth.

[Maxim Schoemaker]

Hey there! Sorry for not posting for a while. Sadly enough I do not have a new update yet, but that's because I have a question first: Is there a website or service or something I can put my music on, so that my game can load the music from there quickly, cause loading from my own website it takes a shitlong time... :3

[soyyo2]

Nice done!
I like the idea and hope to play the finished version soon ! 

[droqen]

Hey there! Sorry for not posting for a while. Sadly enough I do not have a new update yet, but that's because I have a question first: Is there a website or service or something I can put my music on, so that my game can load the music from there quickly, cause loading from my own website it takes a shitlong time... :3

http://mmltalks.appspot.com/

Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but it's lovely nonetheless...

[Maxim Schoemaker]

Nice done!
I like the idea and hope to play the finished version soon ! 

thx :3

http://mmltalks.appspot.com/

Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but it's lovely nonetheless...

You talked about this on your Probability 0 devlog too and it caught my attention back when I found it there. I actually tried using the SiON engine in my game, but it only works with music in text form (right?) so that means I'll have to recompose my chiptunes in mml. Which, of course, is a possibility, especially because I should actually make new songs and not use old ones I still have lying around :p. but I love composing on my Gameboy, it feels more authentic, I suppose. So I think I'll just stick with loading giant sized mp3 files from a fast file hoster, provided that I find one :3

[droqen]

Alright, then I have another solution :3

Just host the whole .swf elsewhere; aside from music it's probably pretty small anyway. I'm still not sure where to suggest you host it but it'll be a lot easier than hosting the music separately and loading it externally (:

[Maxim Schoemaker]

Alright, then I have another solution :3

Just host the whole .swf elsewhere; aside from music it's probably pretty small anyway. I'm still not sure where to suggest you host it but it'll be a lot easier than hosting the music separately and loading it externally (:

Yeah, I suppose that's possible. Although, like you say it's pretty small. So, making a loader that loads the swf that is too small to take time to load seems illogical. And if I load the music during the game I only have to load the music that you're going to need right now (btw, after loading it once, it stays in the cache, so it doesn't need more loading). The file size of the .swf isn't really a problem, I could just as well put all the music inside the .swf, but somehow flash doesn't let me load the music until I need it. So you end up with a white screen until all the music is loaded, which really sucks. I suppose that making a separate preloader that would load the game .swf like you suggested, does solve that problem. But then I'll have to load all the music at the start of the game too. So, it depends on how long it takes to load the music from a good host. If it still takes reasonably long, I suppose I could better load it all in the beginning. But if it doesn't take long, I could just well load it at the beginning. Damnit! I hate it when I change my opinion mid-text... :3

Solution: I'll make a separate loader for my .swf :3, that way I will also have all my files together, cause the music will be inside the .swf. Awesome! Thanks for the suggestion ^^

Edit: allright, sorry Droqen, but screw this! My hate for Flash has been re-established... What happens is that flash has this very handy function 'hitTestPoint', which works perfectly fine in most cases. But if you start putting objects inside other objects it goes wrong. Long story short, loading the .swf externally screwed up the game and there was no way to fix it (not true, but still).

So I'll just load all songs at the beginning and I'll just find a very good host. The game won't be very graphically intense, so loading the graphics won't actually take any time (the same way as it doesn't take time now).
 

[Valyou]

That concept was BRILLIANT! I couldn't put this thing down for even one second.
I got 26 points at the highest.

[droqen]

if you start putting objects inside other objects it goes wrong. Long story short, loading the .swf externally screwed up the game and there was no way to fix it

How were you 'loading the .swf externally'? I meant you should take the whole swf, host it elsewhere, and embed it directly from there :x

[Maxim Schoemaker]

That concept was BRILLIANT! I couldn't put this thing down for even one second.
I got 26 points at the highest.

Thx :3 congrats on the score, that is pretty impressive xD


@Droqen: I'm sorry, I'm guessing I screwed up some lingo there. :3
Anyways, I did exactly this ->

How were you 'loading the .swf externally'? I meant you should take the whole swf, host it elsewhere, and embed it directly from there :x

but the code to load another .swf into the loader's own .swf, means you have to put it inside the parent 'this' from the loader, and then everything is inside of the game is inside a new parent and if you then move the this.x or this.y of the game (so as to get the nice camera effect) it goes wrong with the collision. This is fixable by making all my collision to points that went through the localToGlobal() function. But I've used so much collision test that I don't feel like changing them all.

Sorry for the confusion :3


Anyways, does anyone know of a good site to host sound files? Most hosting sites need you to be a premium awesome member before you get unlimited download speed and I don't really feel like paying such amounts of money...:/

[Maxim Schoemaker]

Allright!

It's time for a new update! ^^
And it's not just a normal update... It's a super mega uber awesome update! =D
Here's what's new:

• 2 new characters! (Astronaut and Rainbow Ninja!)
• 2 new game modes (Collect and Claustrophiliac!)
• A tutorial
• Supportive background comments! ^^
• New song! (in level 1, the other levels still have the old song :3)
• New particles! om nom nom :3 (That means blood and sand and twinkly stars, etc)
• And a new better working particle system (not really visible)
• The removal of time travel feature and music slowdown/backwards (Why? Cause they ate your CPU and didn't really fit with the gameplay, them bitches)

Clickeh! <3

Hope you enjoy all this :3

We realise that the rainbow ninja is actually ugly as hell, but we felt sorry for deleting his fugly little ass. So we kept him in :3 Do you feel he deserves to be a character? Or is he really too much?

I also did something fancy with loading the music. It starts loading all the songs at the start of the game, but it doesn't pause the game till their done. You just play while the music is loading. But because the tutorial is without music, by the time they finish the tutorial the music will have been loaded and it'll play! =D (and if you refresh the game, the music will be in you cache, so it won't take time to load anymore ^^)

I do still load all the music from my own website, so if anyone knows a good, free, nice filehost. Then please tell meh! :D

Cheers,

Maxim


Oh, and tell us your highscores! ^^

[AndrewFM]

Oh god, this game brings back bad memories.

This is really fun, albeit a bit cruel. There's so many ways to get yourself in a situation where it's impossible to save yourself. In the collection mode, my record so far is 5 thingamagics... doesn't sound like a lot, but it took a lot of effort to get that many

Maybe add difficulty levels in the future. An Easy mode where the pieces of the stage move randomly, with no consideration of where you currently are. Then moving up to a Hard mode, which is what it is now, where the stage is a thinking living creature, making a conscious effort to crush you in whatever way possible.

Also, Rainbow Ninja is pretty cool. You should keep him in.

[Maxim Schoemaker]

@AndrewFM I agree, this game is quite cruel. What I tried to do was to create a very difficult situation that could only be manageable cause your character would be easily controllable. That's also the reason why there's no penalty on slomo (it just makes the game less exciting, but it's handy when you're in a tight spot).
I've been thinking about making easier modes, but all I could come up with was ways to make the game harder :p.

Although I appreciate your suggestion, I don't think random blocks would work. The thing that makes this game awesome (in my opinion) is that (almost nothing) is random, but still the levels change constantly. Like you said it feels like a living creature. Making blocks move at random would probably be easier, but also a lot more frustrating if a block suddenly decided to squash you. Right now you know it's going to come, so the only one to blame for being squashed is yourself :3.

Maybe if I make the blocks move even slower, it would be easier. But I think the best solution would just be a warning that tells you this game is 'Hella hard". I am aware of the fact that hard games are often mall designed games that couldn't find a way of making the game interesting and playable at the same time. But I think that the people who will be intrigued by Claus, will be those that don't mind dying. Also, I don't think it really sucks when you die, cause respawn is instant. It's kind of like the Super Meat Boy system where dying isn't really bad, cause the levels are short and you respawn fast.

But, if anyone has another suggestion on how to make this game easier (or an easier mode). I would love to hear it :D

[Maxim Schoemaker]

Update!

Here's what's new:

• Game modes are now linked to game themes
• New game mode: "Repair"
• Highscores are saved!
• Pausing the game will turn down the music's volume :3
• And some new sound effects :3

<3

The game theme's/modes are not ordered on difficulty right now. If you'd ask me which game modes are harder and which ones are easier I'd say from easy to hard: time, repair, collect, claustrophiliac.

Hope you enjoy playing! =D

Edit:here's some new footage: ^^

What do you guys think of the new game mode?
Do you have any more ideas for other game modes?
Do you think the game's too difficult?
Do you like the backgrounds? Do you like the characters? :3

Cheers!

[Raku]

Oh wow, that looks so frantic and addictive! Keep up the good work!

[Maxim Schoemaker]

Oh wow, that looks so frantic and addictive! Keep up the good work!

thanks!




Update:

• When you increase your score a number will appear above your head telling you your score
• The character now purrrs when he's almost squashed in claustrophiliac mode
• In repair mode the blocks now sparkle when you repair them
• Slomotion now gives you a trail
• Fixed a bug where music wouldn't loop after it had been muted and unmuted

Go, go, go!

Cheers!

[Curseman]

I love rainbow ninja.

[NFour]

incredibly addicting :D

[Conker534]

i like it :D

[increpare]

works really well

not sure about the graphics (at least in the default mode)

the fact that the white text persists in the background can be a bit distracting (I'd put 'em in the background)

the music got repetitive for me after a while

my best score is 37 on the default mode

pressing esc to go back to title screen would be appreciated

would like if it would remember that I had turned tutorials off

not sure what altar mode is.  I tried turnign all of the blocks the same color

I like the different game modes (that I could understand).