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[Dom2D]

I'll try to make a level, but there's a good chance I'm lying.

You wouldn't lie to me!

I love what you did with Tobe. Maybe if I have time, I can do an actual level that's more than the usual repeated patterns.

I also blog about it on my site so I hope it helps - http://tobesadventure.squarespace.com/devlog/2010/3/2/anything-beats-everything.html

Thanks for the blog post, I'm sure it will help!

As for the levels that are not only repeating patterns, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. There are 6 categories of levels in the game, some are way more than just patterns ... But I'm keeping the surprise for later! Do whatever you want with your level, I can't wait to see what you come up with! If you want to do something complex like a screenshot with tons of stuff happening, you can send me a jpeg or something when it's complete, instead of cutting out all pieces. Anyway, I'll let you do your magic!

I'm hoping that this week-end or the next one I will have a good mock-up of the game's hub, where you choose what levels to play and try to score as much coins as possible... in a ***SECRET***. You'll see pretty soon!

Oh and you can ask me questions about the game or anything else here on on this Formspring page.

[Dom2D]

I've been studying programming really hard these last few months and it's going great really. I'm getting a hold of that ActionScript 3.0 - I'm almost ready to code Anything!

But sometimes, I miss Anything Beats Everything so I jump back to the drawing board and polish both game design and visual design as much as I can.

Here's what the interface looks like now, starting with the shiny new title screen.



The next screen is the whole shell of the game. This is where you'll select the levels you'll play, trying to score Tic-Tac-Toe-like lines of succesfully completed levels. Every line you complete will net you a bunch of rewards - I'll talk about that in a future post. You can see there's a variety of level categories, easy, hard, expert, boss, trivia, story and puzzle! Yes, puzzle levels!



I'm still working on the help screens, as shown here. I want something clean, an overlay with clear instructions.



And in-game, the interface now shows the level type, the instructions and the timer. I think it's cleaner than before. I still have some work to do on the timer.



So that's it for today! Thanks for watching

p.s. You should head on to Dom2D.com, I just redesigned the whole site! ^_^

[rayteoactive]

Did you learn to do programming from scratch? I always wanted to start, but have no idea where to. How about some tips or tutorial links?

[Gainsworthy]

Trivia? Bosses? STORY?

[mokesmoe]

2P Versus‽

[Dom2D]

Did you learn to do programming from scratch? I always wanted to start, but have no idea where to. How about some tips or tutorial links?

I'll start a thread for that soon!

Trivia? Bosses? STORY?

Haha, this is bit freaky but hey whatever I'll take a song like that any day.

So yes, I figured making trivia and puzzle levels was pretty easy - it's the same mechanics programming-wise, it's just more level design. Bosses are a faster, more aggressive sequence of levels thrown at you by a monster, kind of like the boss stages in Warioware Inc. And story... is a little special. I'm not sure if I'll have time to put it in the game though 

2P Versus‽

Yep! Again, it's something I figured wasn't all that hard to do really. It's basically hot seat tic tac toe played with Anything Beats Everything levels - It won't be the best multiplayer ever, but it should be a nice little addition to the game.


Also, I added the new screens to the original post!

[Fauxfox]

Argh i really wanted to submit summin for this. see if I get time in mah schedule 

[mokesmoe]

If you could add two mouse support you could have two players at the same time, but most people don't have two mice anyway. I do. Maybe you could have a second cursor controlled by the keyboard.

Wait, I thought of something better:
Both players have a button assigned to them. When they find whatever they're looking for, they hit the button. The game tells them who hit their button first, then gives them a couple seconds to click on it. The timer should be short so they can't hit the button then look, but still long enough to click on it. If they click the wrong spot, or run out of time, they get disqualified, and the other player get the rest of the levels time limit to find the thing.

[Dom2D]

If you could add two mouse support you could have two players at the same time, but most people don't have two mice anyway. I do. Maybe you could have a second cursor controlled by the keyboard.

Wait, I thought of something better:
Both players have a button assigned to them. When they find whatever they're looking for, they hit the button. The game tells them who hit their button first, then gives them a couple seconds to click on it. The timer should be short so they can't hit the button then look, but still long enough to click on it. If they click the wrong spot, or run out of time, they get disqualified, and the other player get the rest of the levels time limit to find the thing.

I didn't even know you COULD have two mice!

As for the buzzer button idea, it's actually a cool idea! I'll see if I can do it. Thanks!

[mokesmoe]

I've seen one game in my entire life that had two mouse support. I didn't have two mice at the time. I think it was some lame mouse controlled kung-fu game. You probably need some weird drivers and stuff, and probably isn't worth the effort.

EDIT: Apparently Hammerfight has two-mouse support too.

[Dom2D]

A couple screens I've been working on, starting with the grid. Now the rewards and unlockables are in the same screen as the playing grid, so you can see stuff you've unlocked right as you're playing the game.



Each reward category now has its own screen, where you can view them all and see how to unlock those rewards.



Quick question: would you, as a player, prefer that the rewards are all unlocked with achievements (like reaching a certain score, playing a certain number of levels, etc.) or would you prefer "buying" things out with coins gained through playing the game? There IS a balance between the two, obviously, but I'm wondering if the "buying things" part is really what players want... 


The Puzzle levels should look a bit like this. I'm not 100% sure about the paper texture in the back though.



 

[PlayMeTape]

Personally I prefer achievements as I've got something to work towards instead of just playing over and over again.

Everything looks great by the way! 

[st33d]

This thread has the most entertaining screenshots on the board. You get a free minigame for checking up on the game!

 

[Inanimate]

It honestly depends, Dom! If you manage to make it so you don't have to replay levels to buy stuff, that would be very handy! But, achievements are great too... I just don't like having to do the same thing over and over to get a reward. So, if you balance them out to make it so you can achieve them without needless replaying, it would be great. Why not do both, as well? Super Smash Bros. Brawl had THREE ways to unlock every character, and it worked great!

[Dom2D]

It honestly depends, Dom! If you manage to make it so you don't have to replay levels to buy stuff, that would be very handy! But, achievements are great too... I just don't like having to do the same thing over and over to get a reward. So, if you balance them out to make it so you can achieve them without needless replaying, it would be great. Why not do both, as well? Super Smash Bros. Brawl had THREE ways to unlock every character, and it worked great!

Three ways? How?

[Inanimate]

Story mode, playtime / number of matches, and doing certain things.

[mokesmoe]

You could have both. Make it so if you don't want to do a certain achievement, you can buy it with coins. Harder achievements would cost more.

I guess now that I'm making a game, I could make a level from it.

[Dom2D]

I just got a level from st33d and it looks great!  (I'm not showing it though, I have already shown too much!)

[Fauxfox]

Cool :D im almost done mine too ;p

[Swattkidd]

Wow this looks great, good job! I can really see this being a hit on the DS or PSP, or the iphone.