next »

[JobLeonard]

Well, I solved it today... do you get messages when the game is played offline?

If you do 4connectors and 3connectors-on-edge first and work inwards from there then finding the solution isn't that difficult actually. The problem is more one of speed: I can't connect it fast enough to go beyond bronze at this point.

BTW, you could make those perfect-molecules a bit more memorisation proof by rotating and mirroring at random. That nets you 8 varieties per puzzle (assuming there's no symmetry in the puzzle)

[oodavid]

Yeah, if you're offline the analytics data won't get logged, no biggie though.

In the next chapter I'm going to pull in the perfect molecule logic from my editor and that way I can do things like "Create 10 perfect molecules" and know that each level is truly random:



Editor in action

[JobLeonard]

Do you use any math for this, or is it brute forcing it?

[oodavid]

Not brute, but it's not exactly a single-pass algorithm either, what it does is populates the board with the maximum number of atoms:



Then it randomly removes a number of bonds, but checks the molecule is contiguous before accepting the removed bond. That's the number you see me tweak - when 0 it removes 0 bonds, but you can set it higher to remove as many as possible.

[JobLeonard]

Can you also state that there should be a minimum number of 4 and 3 connectors? Might give you a little bit more control

[GrinningPickle]

I wanted to try this because it looks really good but it says my device is not supported.
I have a Nexus 5 with Lollipop. FYI

[oodavid]

That's no good! The play store says all devices are supported, but I've not had the chance to try it on Lollipop... Cyanogenmod has a new Lollipop build so I should be able to load that onto one of my test devices...

[oodavid]

Had a gander at Lollipop, it looks like a lot of small improvements that will make the whole Android experience that bit sleeker, I'll be using that tomorrow I think.

[oodavid]

After a couple of rejections that were quickly resolved, we're now rocking the iOS!

[JobLeonard]

The iPhone 4S you're seeing is mine.

[Lemmily]

Just tried it on Android! Nice work Really like the style - fits nicely, though I'm confused at why I have a picture of a puppy on the map pointer thing?

[Ben H]

The mechanics look really smart, and I liked the previous science-related concept you had. But it seems your UI at the moment is very similar to TwoDots. Your lives and menu display are identical, and the postcards idea is too.

I think the mechanics of your game are original enough to warrant a more original UI too I agree with others that a more unique name would be better. I think this could be polished to be something really cool!

[oodavid]

@Lemmily - cheers for having a go - yeah, the puppy is placeholder until I fix a bunch of issues with Facebook connectivity; most games just use a generic smiley face but I'm graphically handicapped!

@Ben H - awesome feedback, thanks! I'm open to name ideas if you have any?

Yeah, the TwoDots interface is there as a bit of an accident - I was really struggling with the overall visual theme and it was sucking up all my time and I gave myself a release deadline timed with a big Jobs fair last week so I thought "ah sod it, I'll use someone else's ideas until I get a designer on board", not long after tearing everything up Gavin came along and contributed a smashing colour palette and awesome map, so I've just plugged it in. Ultimately I've no qualms with releasing it like this for the time being - I know we'll be addressing it in due course and I doubt it'll reach even 1,000 players in the next few months!

At the moment I'm coding an as yet unnamed foe who randomly appear to fuck with your game. Current nickname "the bastard". Other names have included "The Malignant Fingerer" and "Git Hand"...



^ Kinematics Test, the end character will be automated, even using your shuffles and swaps and whatnot. He will be hated.

[JobLeonard]

Unless you build in a mechanic where you can somehow get back at him, I predict many a rage-quit.

[oodavid]

What if I want people to rage-quit?

[JobLeonard]

Then you should make "The Bastard" an obnoxious eight year old boy who thinks he knows everything and that he's amazing.

[The Translocator]

Make the only way to get back at him paying for the full game.

 

[oodavid]

Then you should make "The Bastard" an obnoxious eight year old boy who thinks he knows everything and that he's amazing.

Maybe we have a new name... "Molecule Match - Ever Wanted to Hit a Child?"

Make the only way to get back at him paying for the full game.

 

I realised "The Bastard" couldn't reach the boosters or settings menu, so now he's stretchy... Although I might give him a detachable "rocket" hand for that...

[JobLeonard]

If you make his body stretchy as well, that might be a good use of stretch & squash animation.

[oodavid]

I think it looks a bit weird with just boxes, I'll grab my pencils and doodle a character and see how it looks, I imagine it might be a case of making a slender character that can move vertically without obscuring too much of the screen, not that it's a huge issues I suppose as he's meant to be messing with you.

Today I'm going to migrate from GameClosure DevKit1 to the new DevKit2, it's been pretty painless so far but I think the effort will be worth it as they've got a new Facebook addon for DevKit2 that is inline with new Facebook API guidelines. I'll keep y'all posted

Edit - Whee, we've had 200 installs!