Quick progress report, I have half the level content done, the dead menu, and the first cinema working. Here's a screen of the overworld to make transitions between levels make sense:

http://drdougbeach.tomatoland.org/game/progress006.png

Free time hasn't been opening up even though I thought it would, but I'm getting there.

Latest progress for Chill Out, work has been slow for a long time:

http://drdougbeach.tomatoland.org/ChillOut_003.zip

Lot's of polish issues and things missing, since it's my current working build, but I got the graphics mostly done, music is done, gameplay is mostly done, and now I just need to build the levels and fix up the cinemas. I finally have some solid free time, so I am hoping to get this done within 7 days.

Posting just to say things are still moving along on Chill Out but at a slow pace. Still having a hell of a time finding time for it, but I have the music now and the levels figured out. I feel really awful for taking this long, I just haven't had much free time, but things are getting done.

People finding it very hard: how far are you getting? I could put in one or two checkpoints.

I played this game a while back and forgot to comment, anyway my best was a little past the second wall you blow up. I only played 3 or 4 times, but I also played the earlier version of the game a couple of times. I'd say what got me stuck initially was having 4 tanks, it's difficult keeping track of all of them and it seems more problematic having 4 than having less. The time I did the best was when I had two tanks and money to buy a reserve tank, so when I got down to one I bought another tank ad kept repeating this. The extra firepower of four tanks is not really worth the maneuverability you lose, I found.

I'm not sure how well this suggestion would work, but I'd consider cutting it from 4 tanks maximum to 3 tanks maximum, and starting the player with one reserve tank ($2000).

Also posting to say I'm still on Chill Out. I've been having a bit of trouble finding time to work on it, but I'm getting steady progress. Once I get my music I'll post up a new version which should be about 70% of the full game.

There is a lot of high quality stuff here so far. I'm looking forward to a lot of these games!

if i could make a suggestion, please increase the framerate from whatever it is now (30?) to something higher. games that run at 30 frames per second feel really amateur game-makery. besides that the concept of your game is cool, but the grapple controls are a bit fidgety.

I probably would have forgot this, my laptop is old and overheats easily and I don't do 60FPS games on it because of that. I changed it though, and the game runs in 60FPS now. Would it be alright if I included a toggle button (ie. F2) to switch between 30 and 60 FPS on the full game (defaults 60FPS)? The game can run in both with the way I have it set-up, but if you think this goes against the design of the A52O package I'll just release it as only 60 FPS.

GZ you got any of the rest of targ working on it with you?

I'm the only one, everyone else is busy with other things or is unable to help.

Another progress report, but not much to say. I'm still working on Chill Out, but at a slower pace. I've been busy with other things but I don't think this will be a huge delay.

There will be a small tutorial mountain that explains the basics of the game (ie. falling far is lethal, snowbanks break your fall, rope, etc). The general idea I have right now is a few mountains (levels) and a boss level. The goal is going to be reaching the top.

I haven't gotten into any of the story stuff yet but there will be some kind of story in the game.

I haven't been able to work on mine as much as I'd like in the last few days, but I am getting steady progress. Here is the demo:

http://gzstorm.com/screen/ChillOut_000.zip

The core gameplay is mostly done, I am using the platform code from Matt Thorson's Grandma Engine as a base. The only controls not listed are pressing C (jump) in mid-air to throw a rope that grapples trees, and pressing down lowers down from platforms.

I am still working on Chill Out. I am hoping to get a demo out within a few days.

http://gzstorm.com/screen/progress_1.png

The colouring is probably going to be fixed up and some of the graphics edited, but this is fairly representative of how it will look.

I recall experiencing this before, but I don't know if it can be avoided. For instance, a few seconds ago I generated some noise in Audacity and lowered the volume of it (amplify, -20 db). Then I copied the data and hit play. Volume was low, so I pasted another copy below it. It got louder, and every new copy made it even louder until it maxed out. So I am pretty sure this isn't just a GM thing.

Have you used sound_stop to stop the wall hit sound before you play it? It might be a little weird sounding that way, but it might be more desirable than the volume stacking like that.

This is my progress screenshot for Chill Out:

http://gzstorm.com/screen/progress_0.png

i'll be starting round 3 of removals pretty soon. again, those who've not posted, please post about your games, or you will risk being cut!

I recently signed up (about 4 days ago) and I usually don't post about development of games I work on. Since this is a different circumstance, I'll be posting about my progress soon. Thanks for the reminder.

Also going to throw my praise in for Mashman, it's really solid. Since this is eventually going to be packaged as all 52 games in 1, I think it's important to make sure the games aren't too hard, long, or frustrating otherwise people will probably get impatient and skip to another game. Mashman passes all these tests for me, and even though it's gameplay is basic, the presentation, style and story are great.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he meant prizes since it's a contest.

Prizes
A total of $200 will go to the 6 people who create the most content chosen for use in Jetpack.

The top 2 will receive $50.00
4 runners-up will receive $25.00
In addition EVERYONE who submits work used in Jetpack will receive:

A FREE premium/deluxe/platinum edition of Jetpack
Your name in the credits of the game

It's not a lot, but I'd say it's more about helping out on a cool indie game than anything.

I've been following this new Jetpack for a while and I'm looking forward to it. I'm not a graphics guy but I'd highly encourage anyone with the skills to check this out. There's even a tech demo on the blog ( http://www.jetpackhq.com/blog/2010/01/18/control-me/ ).

Great mechanic, it automatically increases the difficulty over time too. I haven't played a game using this before, it also ties in to the whole zombie idea.

This is a great series, thanks for sticking to it for so long. There's a lot of interesting games here, and the fact that you have it in a youtube channel really does a good job of representing what the games are.

I don't see labeling as the problem. I think, generally speaking, we all know the "art games" that are being referred to here. While I don't agree with the way they went about communicating their dislike for such games, there's a lot of valid points in there. You can't deny statements such as "art games" not being fun. This is hard to deny, because the a great deal of art games look for other ways to engage people besides being fun. That's no surprise.

My feeling is that "art games" are lazy, and as a product of this, there is a huge backlash against them. It's become more acceptable now to showcase an idea rather than a game. Where previously someone would take an interesting idea and make something fleshed out from it, the "art game" simply exists to show the author thought up such an idea first. In many ways, I feel people who are in the art game scene are constantly trying to outdo each others ideas. I don't see a point to this, because you mostly appeal to people in the game development community, and even then, it's very much divided.

I don't like most art games, as I said I think they are generally lazy. The best way I could explain how I feel about art games, is how I feel about people who hype their games that will never be released. They will post these great screenshots, talk about how they have all these amazing features, but the game won't ever make it. It's too ambitious, and maybe the creator isn't able to deliver on everything so he has to cancel it. It's attention seeking, and very little craft of game development is involved. Pretty much how I feel about art games.