I learnt a while back that motivation is a myth. People decide whether or not to do something first then make up the reasons why they did, or didn't, do it later. Once I realised this my output went through the roof. It's simple, when faced with the decision of whether or not to do something either do it or don't, and forget about all the excuses.

You can either be a person who does stuff or a person who doesn't, but whining about which you are won't change the fact.

That's spooky. I made a prototype last month with a very similar movement mechanic. I thought it was unique until I just spotted this thread, and originally my game used a tank before I changed it halfway through. Check out my demo:

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=4953.0

It's the one about half way down the the first post called Lunar Buggy. It might give you some ideas on balancing the flight mechanic. Anyhow yours is looking good so far.

Here's an old mock up I found whilst clearing out some old files. It was back when I decided I wanted to learn how to do pixel art. That didn't go to well, and I'm still rubbish at it.   

http://www.gooeyblob.com/temp/gentleman_colour.png

Anyway, I'll appreciate all C+C good or bad.

...Am I the only one who was reminded of the Planter's Peanuts guy by the main character?

I just had to google Planter's Peanuts. Never heard of them before. He's not meant to look like a peanut, but I see what you mean. The game was going to be a Manic Miner-esque room escape platformer with multiple pathway through the game. But as you can tell my pixelling wasn't up to it.

Here's an old mock up I found whilst clearing out some old files. It was back when I decided I wanted to learn how to do pixel art. That didn't go to well, and I'm still rubbish at it.   



Anyway, I'll appreciate all C+C good or bad.

I remember the Elite manual had a section describing Generation ships. You'd always meet people who'd claim to have seen them in the game, but they were never in the game. It was just flavour text. I think this might be the only example of a games manual actually lying.

I use BlitzMax for this kind of quick game prototyping. No real reason other than I feel comfortable using it. It's getting the artwork done in time that I find difficult.

[YouTube video:]

I had some spare time on my hands recently so I decided to make a few game demos/prototypes. I made seven small demos over the course of nine days spending less than four hours on each. A couple of them are only clones, but considering the short dev. times I think I can be forgiven, and they may be a bit buggy as I didn't spend that much time on QA. They're all made in BlitzMax and use my own physic module. So feel free to check 'em out, C+C are welcomed. Have fun.



Pages from Oddball's Coding Sketchbook
YouTube video:





Spire of Ooze

Click for screenshot

Download: Spire of Ooze (663KB)

Resize the window to a size you like. The screen can be scrolled by holding the cursor near the top or bottom of the screen. Click to add or remove ooze. And that's it!
Check out 2D Boy's World of Goo and Tower of Goo so they don't sue me.



Line Slider

Click for screenshot

Download: Line Slider (257KB)

Line Slider is a clone of Line Rider. Draw with then left mouse button and scroll the display with the right mouse button. When you are ready press 'Play'. You can 'Pause' or 'Stop' the sim at anytime without losing your work. Use 'Clear' to delete everything. And that's about it.



Trebuchet

Click for screenshot

Download: Trebuchet (265KB)

To start the trebuchet swinging press the 'Start' button. Press it again to release the projectile. Press it a third time to reload the trebuchet.



Lunar Buggy

Click for screenshot

Download: Lunar Buggy (191KB)

Drive and fly your lunar buggy around the landscape. I recommend using an Xbox360 controller for best results, but an ordinary joypad or keys will work as well.

Controls
Move/spin left/right: Left/right arrow or left stick
Thruster: Up arrow, 1/'A' button or right trigger
Reset game: 'R' key
Exit game: 'Esc' key



F360 Challenge

Click for screenshot

Download: F360 Challenge (2.36MB)

F360 is a quick prototyping of car controls. There's no game element yet Just drive around the track. Stay off the grass as it's been raining and it's very skiddy. An Xbox360 controller is the best option for controls as it gives the best all-round analogue controls, but a standard joypad or keys will do. Enjoy!



Crosshair

Click for screenshot

Download: Crosshair (232KB)

Crosshair is a basic Robotron clone made in one day. With such a short development time the balancing my be a little off, so it may be too easy or too hard.



Barrel Drop

Click for screenshot

Download: Barrel Drop (457KB)

Barrel Drop is a turn based physics game for two players.

How to play
The object of the game is try and let as few barrels as possible fall into the fire. Players take it in turns to remove gooey blobs from the game area. After a player removes a blob if any barrels fall into the fire then his opponent is awarded a point for each. The winner is the player with the most points when no more barrels or blobs are left. The current players turn is shown at the top of the screen along with the current scores.

Tips on playing
You get all your points before you remove a blob each turn. Take your time and allow all the barrels to settle before taking your next blob.

Good stuff!

I've been away from the forums for a while so I've just had trawl through 50 pages of new pixel art. And I loved every second of it! Keep up the awesome work guys. Good stuff.

I had two games mentioned in PC Zone (UK) quite some time ago. They were both runners up in a game making contest. Anthony Flacks excellent Bert the Barbarian won the top prize so no complaints there. They sent me a copy of the mag with my prize, note I only got one prize even though I had two games in the runners up , it should still be around here somewhere.

To me Lemmings is massively under-rated if it's only 20th. I can't think of any other game that gets every element of the genre perfect. Gameplay, graphics, sound effects and music all fit the game perfectly. It is as fun to play today as it was on the day of it's release, and it'll still be just as good in another 20 years time. It is quite simply a timeless classic that transcends the generations. There have been plenty of games that I have thought were amazing for a time, but only Lemmings keeps it's sheen when all other gaming gems have faded. Looking at that chart saddens my soul.  

Dude, Narwhals don't have tongues. They suck the life force out of their enemies using their horns.

Narwhals don't have horns. They have a lower protruding tusk on the left side. On occasion a narwhal will have double protruding tusks. But yeah, they are still totally cool.

ruuunnnnn!!


hurrryyy

is that fish ??

I believe it's Zack and Sarah running. Also awesome stuff.

What I could never understand about things like this is, when someone sees something they can't explain they immediately jump to the most ridiculous conclusions. I mean, abnormal weather effect Vs aliens from millions of light years away, or tiredness Vs spirit of the dead reaching out from beyond the grave, should be no contest, but it seems people just want to fool themselves.

When you take a step back and think about these things logically it is amazing how people can actually, and so completely, believe the most ludicrous of things.

playing around with some tiles for a new level.

This equals win in my book. Good stuff.

Wii Fit managed to force it's way on to my list this year. However, I'm not sure if it's valid as it's not technically a 'video game'.

1. [60] Lemmings
2. [50] Elite
3. [40] Worms
4. [30] Chaos
5. [20] Sensible World of Soccer
6. [10] Wii Fit

Pikachu, I choose you!

Oh, sorry. Wrong poll.

1280x768

If I could I'd have it lower, but it's the native resolution of my laptop monitor.

I've seen a DS version listed in various places. Anyone know what that version will be? I'm assuming it's not the same as the PC version, but is it a cut down version, or something completely different just trading on the name?

Which makes you wonder who the poor guy was they all stole their stuff from.

Squidi?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.