Code:

local tgtx, tgty = action.target:get_location()
local fx, fy = action.actor:get_location()
local x, y = action.target:get_location()

WTF? How tired was I when I wrote that?! 

first world problems

Hehehehe... chuckle, chuckle, chuckle...

Hehehehe.....

Seriously...

Don't interact with computers before bed. I read of some research that indicated links between late night computer usage and trouble falling asleep. Spend the last 30 minutes of the day reading, writing, drawing, knitting, whatever.

Looks great! I love a challenging game, the overall description sounds like something I'd really enjoy.

Good luck, keep us posted!

Exploration - especially as a major point in the game - is a terrific kind of thing that makes PGC very valuable in concept; and fundamentally it's a big building block of games aforementioned. It's the distribution - and actual presence - of gameplay elements that really determines the overall funness of PGC.

Yeah, this.

A problem I'm dealing with now is reward for exploration. People don't explore to find yet another dead end. Everyone wants to find something special. That's the holy grail. Lot's of special things spaced out in a way that is unpredictable so that it drives the player to explore and be pleasantly surprised at reasonable intervals.

Uhm, pardon my ignorance, but isn't part of being indie working the best magic you can with whatever resources you can get? It's not like all these young developers are in a bind as to whether to choose the super high-poly 3d rendered graphics or the little coloured dots. You just work with what you can manage. And it's not just an artistic choice either, it's logistical, and technical. I'm not really up to snuff with 3D graphics programming, so when I started my project I was like:

Hmm... what do I have? How can I put this together to make the game I want?

I guess I could have started learning lots of new skills and stuff, but c'mon, the deck's already stacked against the little guy, you gotta make do.

Looks really nice, can't wait to give it a whirl.

Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross OST

If it's a 2D game, what are you doing that requires C++?

I'd suggest looking into Flashpunk/Flixel. Beginner-friendly, effortless to deploy, works well for 2D stuff.

I'd basically agree with this, I love working with C++ but I've a lot of experience with it's various pitfalls. If you're targeting desktop systems then Python/Lua/Flash or maybe another high level language is a better way to go.

One factor to consider is what the performance criteria is and if there are any 'must have' libraries you need for development. On desktops, 2D game performance is pretty much a non issue, but if you target mobile phones or NDS then there are some metrics that need to be done.

My experience with PyGame was very good, it's a great library with ton's of user submitted add ons. Unless you're deploying flash or java, there will always be some platform tweaking, the point is not to eliminate all of them but reduce them into very easy tasks, which they are with PyGame.

the guy at 0:42 (interviewing the tap fish guy) looks stoned or bored or something
oh wait it's satire
dohoho
Seriously though, some serious truths there. If anyone hasn't read this article, they really should.

Holy crap, that article gave chills, serious chills. It's like emperor Palpatine luring Luke to the dark side or something.

I'm actually shaken by that article, I want my ignorance back.

Version 1.8 is now available for Mac, Windows and iOS!

The desktop versions are available for free at www.mysteriouscastle.com, and anyone willing to post some constructive criticism on this board is encouraged to PM me for an app store promo code.

Here are some elementals:

Plus innovation implies something radical to many people. I think that good execution can be considered innovative in some fields. Small changes can definitely be innovative. Not all innovations are as flashy as others. Sometimes combining unusual things in a good way is innovative. In those ways Desktop Dungeons is innovative.

Could be, my understanding of blue ocean comes from articles I perused years ago...  

As far as I understood it, it was broad targeting of under-tapped markets instead of fighting in competitive markets.


EDIT: Hey, someone who read the book! That makes a lot of sense nico.

Also I'm curious as to what people's opinion on people releasing high quality free games is?  Does this devalue games as much as a very cheap but only available for free game?  Strange as it seems in my mind I feel like a very cheap game is going to devalue games as a whole more so then just a free one.

I'm also curious about this. My game may not be considered 'high quality' yet, but I put a lot of work into it and am releasing it free on Windows and Mac. I'll explain my mindset, perhaps someone can critique it.

I'm somewhat inspired by the ideas of "Blue Ocean Strategy" and brand development. I think that blue ocean is about not fighting over a demographic, but simply broadening the demographic you are targeting. Many people may interpret this as diluting your vision, but I posit that it's not necessarily so. One way to target a broader demo is to release for many devices, another is to add editing and appeal to designers, another might be providing multiplayer options, etc, etc.

Brand development is about associating good things with a brand. Any successful product will generate a brand, but it's also possible to make it more of a feedback loop by creating expectation and interest, then deliver a piece of product, and generate more expectation and interest, all associated with a brand. Many franchises manage to do that, and a lot of indie's manage to inadvertently doing that through a combination of alpha funding and pure passion. At this point, anything with 'creator of dwarf fortress' is an automatic grab for many people. I never read the New York Times, but I read the article about the DF guys, because the DF brand is huge among roguelike/simultation fans and indie games fans in general.

So, while giving something away for free devalues a product, it can build the value of a brand, and expand the market for that brand, in turn opening up the possibility to increase the total revenue of future products. And since we're talking digital assets, increased revenue basically equates with increased profits.

That's the general theory, but I'm not confident that it's the best way to approach it, only one way.

I've only just managed to solve the problem myself - and before then I thought I'd solved it but it was horribly broken %5 of the time (usually for playtesters, never for me). So it's probably still broken even though I've implemented yet another fool-proof connectivity test on top of it all.

And computationally expensive. Floodfill > Tunnel > Floodfill > Tunnel ad nauseum.

Is tic-tac-toe a mature game? How about Monopoly? At some point the patterns become either meaninglessly obvious or meaninglessly random. However, the question is treading dangerously close to holy ground. Can't stay here, this is semantics country.

To know Cocoa, one must know XCode+Interface Builder (is it still called that?).

When I started Cocoa programming almost 10 years ago, it was basically just NextStep, a very nice Framework indeed. Now I get lost trying to figure out what is going on with bindings, coredata, corewhatever and so on. I usually try to go for doing most things in code because then I understand what's happening. Of course it's just because I'm an old fart resistant to change

And Obj-C is nice. Haters gonna hate, but once you get used to it's unusual form it's pretty nice to work with, and a very, very readable language, which is great for learning from example code.

In short: learn the tools. learn the language. read code. connect the dots. good luck.

Download 1.8 for Windows, Mac, or iOS!

The windows version has some sound problems, so there is no music 

Please let me know how it runs on your systems, I've only tested on a Macbook and an AMD system, and the AMD system didn't run very well. I'm curious as to what the compatibilities are.

This is how some things look:

Demons and undead hate each other, so if you step out of the way, they're likely to destroy one another.


Chillin' out in the church.

HUGS FOR ELECTROCRAT

I warmly return your virtual embrace with tender feelings of camaraderie. The warm senstions inside my belly announce that I will soon flower into glorious womanhood, my special day shall arrive soon.