This is actually something I've been thinking about for my own game (here in the devlogs):



You drag icons from the left onto the grid. I was thinking of making this "flippable" so the two side panels can switch. The only problem that I can foresee is the fact that the side panels are not the same width.

Would this solve a problem?

Dev log, stardate 20160423.4

Here's an unfinished screen of the "decipher program" that is another layer of protection for high profile computers. You must rotate the pieces to solve the puzzle (and not get caught in the mean time).

But what if I love to hate it? What then?!

Dev Log, stardate 20160422.4

Had a sizeable list of bugs to fix today. Set aside a big chunk of time to squish them all.

...Fixed everything in 15 minutes.

I have a dev log going over in that section, but I would love more input on how to make it even better!



Home Screen

About the game

Proxy is a game about becoming the ultimate hacker.

- Break into secured networks by solving intense puzzles
- Steal, destroy, and sabotage important data for credits
- Upgrade your computer to the bleeding edge
- Cover your tracks to avoid getting caught
- Build your proxy network for more time on the clock
- Light up the Hacker News with your exploits

Just don't get caught.


Breaking in minigame

Platforms
Android/iOS demo - Coming soon to Wii U!

Get the Android demo here: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.ReadyPlayGames.ProxyGame
iOS demo is email-invite only (Apple's rules, not mine) so send me a message with your email if you want to play.



Buy programs and items to improve your capabilities

Dev Log, stardate 20160420.4

Working more on the website than anything today. It's often the first thing people see, so it's vital to make a good first impression. Put the video on there and we'll have something great, too!

I think it's more about quality than quantity. The Metroid Prime games can be completed pretty quickly, for instance, yet I will place them in my favorites list every time.

There's other games that are "long" but have stretches of boring gameplay or obvious padding.

And what about sports games? How "long" are they? It really depends on the genre.

Dev Log, stardate supplemental

Making a video-only scene in Unity for the messages. You know, the kind that say something like "CHOOSE YOUR FATE" but here it's going to look like it's typed out on a computer.

I didn't even know steam had a "coming soon" page. That's great.

Dev Log, stardate 20160419.5

Got a big decision to make. Do I try to make a kickstarter to get the game onto the Wii U (with cool new features) or do I reach out to a publisher? I don't know how far my social media "reach" goes, so I initially thought that I'd look for a marketing team. Finding one has been difficult, and compensation rates vary wildly.

I had a thought: try to do the kickstarter by myself, and if it fails, then search for a publisher. Thoughts?

[Opening Logos]

Opening Logos

I was given the opportunity to get a MASSIVE number of free sound effects for my game. The only thing they wanted was for their company logo to be on screen for 8 seconds before the title screen.

No.

The one thing that I will never do is make my players WAIT to play.

I feel that if you make the player wait to play, they're already starting out in a bad mood. It may not amount to much, but it's something. The time between opening the game to playtime should be as short as possible. People don't care about your company until you give them a reason to care, and that reason is the very thing you're delaying.

The free version of Unity already has an opening logo (but it helps mask the loading time so I'll give it a pass), I'm not going to make the player wait more.

I don't even have a "title" screen. Instead the player goes right to load their game. One button and they're in.

I found...a potential way. In Unity there's a reference resolution on the UI canvas. I've been toying with that.

Perhaps people are confusing greenlight and early access? I know I was a tad confused for a while.

The people who gamed the system didn't help it, Greenlight has developed a bit of a reputation. I love the idea of gauging interest in a game, but is Greenlight too far-gone? Does anyone trust it anymore?

Thank you very much, I need all the help I can get!

Hi! I was told this was a great place to post my developers log and learn from everyone. Nice to meet you!

Dev Log, stardate 20160417.4

Thought I'd start sharing pictures of the in-game store (don't worry, no microtransactions).


Here you can buy items to make the actual hacking easier. There's:

- Password Decryptor: Very important piece of software. You need this in order to decrypt Password nodes!
- Breaker: This will lower the level of the password node. Lower level = easier and less likely to trigger the alarm upon decryption!
- Buffer: My favorite. This will inject false data into the stream, decreasing data loss and lowering the overall chance to get caught
- ? There's another button there. Hmm. What could it be?

[Too Cramped Complaint]

Too Cramped Complaint

Someone on reddit said that my game felt "too cramped" because the buttons take up so much space. Since it's on a phone I designed it that way, but phones and tablets are getting bigger and bigger, so I could see his point of view.

The solution is to give the player a scale slider. The PROBLEM with that solution is that it seems extremely likely to break everything. I can try to make everything fit just right, but introducing an uncontrolled element, scaling, might introduce some extremely difficult to squish bugs.

What do you think? Would it be worth it to try?

[Locking Orientation]

Locking Orientation

I encountered a MASSIVE amount of problems when the game was allowed to rotate. First of all, everything breaks if the game is held in the upright position. Just, breaks. Nothing works, pivotal buttons are off the screen, it was awful.

I decided to just lock it to one orientation. I have been EXTREMELY reluctant to try allowing the player to flip it 180 degrees, for fear that it will break the game in ways that I'm not anticipating. There's a...few...hacks in the game to "just make it work, darn it" so I don't know what would happen. Are phones smart enough? From what I've seen: probably not.

Dev Log, stardate 20160415.4

Someone found a massive bug that has already been fixed in the Android version, but the iOS version takes several days to update. Here's hoping iPhone players are a forgiving and patient bunch!

Dev Log, stardate 20160414.4

I'm reading up about how to run a successful kickstarter campaign. There's a lot of nuances that I didn't think about, such as: people are less likely to fund your project if you haven't funded at least 5-6 projects yourself.

Sigh, alright.