TIGSource Forums

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Description Guide your friends through the sky!		Inspired by (http://famicase.com/09/softs/24.jpg) (http://famicase.com/09/softs/24.jpg)

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Download
Play online! (http://johnnesky.com/index.php?page=flowest)

How to play
Click near a critter and drag to tell it where to go. Drag a critter past another critter to grab it and form a chain.

(http://johnnesky.com/flowEST_1.jpg)

(http://johnnesky.com/flowEST_2.jpg)

The box art (with the help of your clever observation) seems that you lead a line, and face the leaders of other lines in "janken" / Rock-Paper-Scissors. I imagine that the winner would get the leader and his line added to the winner's line.

I really liked this box too, and am looking forward to seeing what you have in mind.  I think I liked this cover even better before hearing the translation.  Hope you don't let the title pervert your concept too badly.

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to use Rock Paper Scissors as the main mechanic, if at all.

I prototyped some floaty ribbon physics yesterday. Today I'm trying to design the controls. Maybe I'll have a sandbox prototype before I go to sleep? After that I'll see if I can procedurally generate those little critters with Flash's vector graphics.

And then I will make a game. :crazy:

It seems a month has passed. Oops!

The game will be called "flowEST", since that title hasn't been claimed yet (http://thatgamecompany.com/games/).

How's progress?

Right now it is like this (http://johnnesky.com/index.php?page=flowest). Hmm... It didn't lag nearly as much when I ran it directly in the flash player.  ???

The controls take some getting used to, but I like it. I bet it will work better if the player starts with just one critter and learns about the chain mechanics later... It's secretly a micromanagement RTS game, I think.

I will have a version with a more clear objective ready for the deadline. I might make another, more complete version after that.

Okay that is some FUN mechanics! I still got a bit overwhelmed by the long chain, and I'm not sure how to gather guys. I was just flying around with a single guy for fun.

That's looking pretty nice so far.

Updated (http://johnnesky.com/index.php?page=flowest)!

It's basically a game now! Though it could use a bunch of polish.

Okay! I binged on this project at the last minute and now it is done.  ;D

http://johnnesky.com/index.php?page=flowest

I love the feeling this game gives out. Music fits really well, and it's fun balancing the chains to get a high score.

Great! That's pretty much what I set out to accomplish.  :)

Nice job.  I really like seeing the background and characters in motion.  The music also fits this game well.

Wow what a relaxing game, very cool.  Props to Kevin on the nice ethereal music too.

I love this!  Really satisfying realization of that beautiful cover art :)

The score aspect didn't matter that much for me; mostly I just enjoyed the music and cute bendy creatures ...

Oh wow, the reviews on Newgrounds (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/reviews/544659) have been so friendly!  :-*

I got a score of 659 and HOLY CRAP this game is relaxing.

3070.

This game is secretly pretty stressful if you're trying to get a high score. But don't tell anyone! I wouldn't want to break the spell.  :blink:

This game would be perfect for your multi-touch device of choice.

Just registered so I could say:

this is great!

and

well done!

thanks for the game

matt

I love this game. Graphics look like it were hand-drawn and they are great. Good work.

I hoped somebody would do this cover. I really love the atmosphere you've created here.=)

How did you achieve this amount of fluidity with the critters' animation (when they bend for a turn)? Is is procedural?

Had a really magical time with this, absolutely beautiful.  Sound, graphics, gameplay, everything meshes perfectly.  Chillllled out.

I would say it perhaps outstayed it's welcome just a tiny bit.  I was ready for it to end a few minutes before it actually did, but it's not a big deal.

I got 1605.

They're rendered procedurally, yes. Although I did not get a chance to generate them procedurally like I wanted to, so there's just like ten varieties that I made. Each critter sprite is a polygon that I manually entered into code, and the vertices of the polygon are mapped to the coordinate systems of the nodes in the chain physics model, interpolating between the two nearest nodes using some crazy algorithm that's hard to explain.

The chain is a bunch of circles of varying sizes that are kept tangent to each other. By default they follow verlet physics. When they are following a path, they ignore velocity and just move towards the next circle (following an arc) like a snake. I have a system for smoothly interpolating between the verlet and snake physics that I am proud of. :)

Thanks for the reply! :beer: So, if I get what you're saying, the sprites are not textured quads rather than triangle strips, that are created based on the chain's curvature (or so)?

I don't know how flash's renderer is implemented, but in my code, the sprites are neither quads nor triangles. They are a call to Graphics.moveto(), followed by a sequence of Graphics.lineto()s. Some of the critters are just one polygon, plus a couple dots for eyes whose coordinates are calculated in the same manner as the rest of the vertices of the polygon. 

Maybe this screenshot of my desktop taken during development would help:
http://snoopon.me/shaktool/406

I had a great time dragging around the chain of critters. I didn't bother trying to get a high score, I was having too much fun just swishing about. Well, I'm off for another go. See you in an hour. :handthumbsupL: :)

Wow, this is an all-around great game. :coffee:

My website is currently down for unknown reasons, to be investigated. In the meantime, you can play flowEST on Newgrounds:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/544659

If I don't figure it out soon maybe I'll ask Melly to change the link for me in the compilation...

EDIT: Okay it's back. Yay!