Is this playable on some time of the day or has it generally been flooded?
Either I don't even reach the page or the swf starts but doesn't load.

[edit]
Right, and just now it loads up for the first time.

I think their servers are getting hammered constantly.

it's so awesome. i was pretty much laughing the entire time while playing.

Absolutely wonderful.  I think my favorite level so far is the fulcrum with cheese on both sides.  If too many mice go to one side it collapses.  I'm amazed it stayed up in my game as long as it did.

I always feel massively deflated after the actual release.  Partly due to the usual last minute issues that always appear, partly, perhaps, because it's all over?

Partly I think we feel this way because of leaving out features, or just even from working on the same thing for so long.

But, what's really fun is going back through your library and finding things you made a long time ago.  Sometimes it's embarrassing, but sometimes you find something really fun that you made and you get to enjoy it all over again.  Part of the thrill of making games I guess.

Big problem with pygame is distribution of games - a lot of people have had headaches making binary versions, which is sad.

Py2exe isn't that hard to use.  Although I admit that creating a distribution script can be intimidating to someone new at programming, in reality you only need to find one for a game similar to yours and change a few variables.

But yes - I think the pygame devs need to consider rolling part of py2exe into their module or at least provide an extensive tutorial on their site.

[Firemen + RTS]

Firemen + RTS

Fight your enemies, while fighting fires!
Firefighting isn't strictly necessary to win, but if you leave the flames unchecked, they'll take your base down with them.
Use fire against your enemies, too!

I love this idea.  Especially with different unit types (having to build firetrucks, door breakers, ladder guys, hose guys).  You could even throw an RPG aspect in there similar to Warcraft 3 by having your units level up the more fires they put out.

If you decide not to use a game editor, then Python with a library like pyglet or Pygame is a great way to learn.  It’s a high-level language that is relatively easy to learn and, being a general-purpose programming language, much more powerful than any of the game editors I’ve seen.  The libraries provide all the necessary functions to load images, fonts, sounds etc. without limiting you too much.

I'll second Pygame.  Python has a very clean syntax - very nearly pseudocode, at times - and in my experience is a great language to learn all the algorithm kinds of things that programmers need to know.  There are also numerous modules you can use like jmp said (I recommend PGU, personally).

Note though, that there are aspects of programming you won't learn with Pygame.  It's not going to force you to learn anything about memory management and pointers.  I would argue that you need to know that stuff, so eventually when you get more comfortable with programming check out C++ or Objective-C.

As for learning what constitutes good game design, I think the best way to learn is by doing.  Just make games and play games (checking out their source code if possible, most of the projects on the Pygame website allow you to do this).  Figure out what it is you like.  Have your friends play the games you make.  See what they like.  Eventually you will begin to understand what works and what doesn't.  Python again is useful here because it is wonderful for rapid development of prototypes.

Some of my favorite games (Knytt for example) are heavy on atmosphere and exploration.  This sounds like the ultimate exploration game - I'm looking forward to this one a lot too.  Plus I'm interested to see how straight exploration works in a multiplayer context (although a lot of MMOs have exploration, this looks like it is focusing purely on that aspect).

Also, unlike you, I believe this is the future. I'm even going as far as to say that this going to be the standard method for playing games in 10 years (possibly even less), no matter how we feel about it.

Well, there are lots of benefits on this kind of service for the consumer - no worrying about patching, automatically keeping hardware up to date, variety of games available, etc.  But I wonder for games like Oblivion where the user mod community is heavy if they will have the ability to pick and choose exactly what you want your configuration to be (especially if you want unusual, unvalidated mods).

  The visual of all the different games running as small portals on the iPad blew me away.  Still not sure if the latency on this is going to make it worth while - but who knows.  Certainly from a networking technology perspective it is cool.

Just got my first "Hello World" application running on the iPhone proper (i.e. not the sim).  It feels like I'm stepping into a larger, more complicated world with lots of possibilities.  Actually, it brings back memories of my TI-83+ too.

Calculator programming was such an underrated highschool activity. This was clearly the cool way to spend freshman maths.

I remember making this text RPG where you had a raise a virtual sheep and have it fight enemy sheep.  This was all in Basic, programmed in with the calculator keys before I knew what functions or classes were.  It's a wonder my geometry teacher didn't throw me out.

Just got my first "Hello World" application running on the iPhone proper (i.e. not the sim).  It feels like I'm stepping into a larger, more complicated world with lots of possibilities.  Actually, it brings back memories of my TI-83+ too.

Tech demo looks great - I'm loving the particle effects when the balls explode.  Controls seem fine and the laser effects fit with the theme.

I did manage to fall off the edge though of the demo area, though, and the game froze.

Now if only they would release it for the PC as well.  So far I've only gotten to play Flow and Cloud of Chen's work.  Maybe I just need to suck it up and buy a PS3 finally.

was interesting.  Very cool environmental effects and the game seems to have retained the humor which made it so popular.

It will be interesting to see how that team handles the theme of exploration.  Looking forward to trying this one out.

I'm still relatively new to "the scene", so all of my projects are fairly small.  I try to focus on doing one thing well than do too much.  Although, once I start collaborating more with others I'll be able to try bigger concepts.

- When you go through a rediculously hard level, avoiding all sorts of death traps, be it bullets, demons, ex-wives, or whatever. After many, many deaths, you finally get to the end of a level, only to be killed in a cutscene.

Ooh, I hate that one. Especially if you're stuck at a bit juuuust before the death cutscene then finally get there to find out, surprise, you die anyway. Like it would have killed the designers to just account for that and go to the cutscene anyway.

Along these same lines, I hate it when there is a regular fight in an RPG where the plot necessitates that I lose.  Actually, I hate it when that happens in any game (Halflife 1 had a sequence where this occurs, for example).  If you're going to put me into a fight give me a way to win!

I'm happy to announce that Adrift, my 2D game about guiding a wayward sailboat with the power of the wind is now stable enough to release.



The objective of the game is to find where "X" marks the spot in a variety of levels, while avoiding obstacles such as blocks, pirate ships, and canons.  Click on the screen and drag to change the wind.  The distance you drag determines strength.

• You can download the Windows executable from the game's web-page here.
• Adrift is freeware and completely open source.
• I built this game using Python / Pygame.  My Pygame portal is here.

I hope you enjoy the game!

Interesting idea - you found a way to make Tetris even more nerve-wracking for me.

I was initially confused on what was happening to my blocks when they got shot.  I didn't understand that while they would disapear they would still take up space.  Maybe you could have a version where if part of a block gets hit, it is removed.  This would actually create some interesting strategy opportunities where you want to get hit.

The original La-Mulana might have been a love letter to the MSX, but I don't even know what an MSX looks like and I think it's a great game, so there.

Also, and this isn't specifically directed at you, I don't get the "I hope it's just like the original" attitude. I mean, it'd be understandable if it was ported to a handheld or if the original was on some ancient and rare console, but if you want to play La-Mulana in its original form, it's still freely available and there's literally no difference between playing a game like this on the PC and playing it on the Wii.

Oh, certainly it could still be a great game.  But a good deal of its charm resulted from a very consistent style, which the players, even if most of us never played an MSX (I never did either) were able to appreciate.  It could still be great - but a shift (if one occurs) in art, music, and control style represents a risk to all of those areas.  I hope they succeed, but there is a chance they won't.