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Intel Competition / [Intel Comp 2010] Baxslash's Entry (Search-Lite)

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baxslash
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Posted: 16th Sep 2010 19:11 Edited at: 21st Oct 2010 13:57
OK so my wife says she can't find an interactive 'Word Search' game she can use on the projector at school (she's a teacher) and I say "Don't worry I'll just whip one up for you!" and two days later this is the result...

So there's a version for her which can just read a text file for the answers, then there's this version I'm putting into the competition:
DEMO Version 1.0.2
Updated 21st October 2010!

So you can use the mouse/pad to select the words you find by clicking/tapping on the start & end letters of the word (any order).

Screenshot:


No sounds or any bells and whistles yet...

Have a go and don't be too hard on me for the multiple entries it's in the rules!!

EDIT: Nearly forgot, to scroll the word on "Hard" mode just use the "Up" and "Down" keys!

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baxslash
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Posted: 16th Sep 2010 19:13
Screenshot attached...

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Battoad
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Posted: 16th Sep 2010 20:52
Ha, i can do this one. So simple an idea yet so good, for a certain age group).
I know you have a bit to go yet, but I think if somehow you highlite the letter or box selected first, it would help little ones.
Keep em coming, bet you cant do 3.
"I think we need a bigger boat".

swissolo
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Posted: 16th Sep 2010 21:10 Edited at: 16th Sep 2010 21:14
Just because I was curious to see how well having to click on the first and last letters of the word worked I started clicking randomly. I can see people doing this so I wanted to just find out if it would randomly give me answers I happen to click on. It didn't, but it crashed because a value was out of the range of an array, so you might want to look out for that

Other that that, it worked well. I like how you could click on differnt parts of the letters and the line would pass though where you clicked, if that makes sense at all.
Edit: Wow, this is 5239+ lines long... So much for "simple"...

swis
baxslash
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Posted: 16th Sep 2010 22:10 Edited at: 17th Sep 2010 15:52
Quote: "bet you cant do 3"

Probably right!

Quote: "I think if somehow you highlite the letter or box selected first"

That's the next bit I'm working on, thanks!

Quote: "It didn't, but it crashed because a value was out of the range of an array, so you might want to look out for that"

Thought I'd sorted that problem thanks!

Quote: "Wow, this is 5239+ lines long... So much for "simple"..."

Not when you consider 5000 lines of that is just the word list...

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swissolo
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Posted: 16th Sep 2010 22:18 Edited at: 16th Sep 2010 22:19
Quote: "Not when you consider 5000 lines of that is just the word list... "

Aaah. I figuired you were still doing the .txt file thing only it was included in the executable.

swis
baxslash
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Posted: 16th Sep 2010 22:32
Quote: "I figuired you were still doing the .txt file thing only it was included in the executable"

I tried the txt file idea but it took forever to read and needed a huge array...

My way works pretty instantly though

Slayer
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Posted: 16th Sep 2010 23:35
Cool game! yah it would be a good app. I mean hell it would be
fun to play on an Iphone! but I don't have an Iphone... I have a string and two cups! hahahaha

ow and yah I got an array bug as well!

I dont know how to spell
baxslash
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Posted: 16th Sep 2010 23:42
Quote: "Cool game! yah it would be a good app. I mean hell it would be
fun to play on an Iphone! but I don't have an Iphone... I have a string and two cups! hahahaha

ow and yah I got an array bug as well!"

Thanks Slayer!

I'm looking at that bug as I type...

The Slayer
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 00:15
Well well, baxslash. Going for three, are you?
This game's a good idea too. I like to do this kind of puzzles.
With the normal (or original) word puzzles like this one, you have to find each word presented, and with the remaining letters, you have to find one (or more) words. Mostly the words are related to a theme. Is this the same with yours?
Hum, I found two bugs. The first one is when I completed the first puzzle (it was set to easy), I wanted to try another but set to medium, and nothing happened. The 'hard' option was available.
The second bug is, that when you have chosen the hard level, the first word at the very top (on the right) isn't visible completely. I don't know if that word is one that has to be found, because you don't see much of it.
Other than that, it's a great idea, and nicely done. Some music and sounds would be great, but you're probably busy making them, right?

Quote: "I have a string and two cups!"

Hum, is that good news, or bad...? I wonder...hahahahaaa!

Slayer rules!!! Yeaaah, man!
baxslash
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 00:28
Quote: "Hum, I found two bugs. The first one is when I completed the first puzzle (it was set to easy), I wanted to try another but set to medium, and nothing happened. The 'hard' option was available.
The second bug is, that when you have chosen the hard level, the first word at the very top (on the right) isn't visible completely. I don't know if that word is one that has to be found, because you don't see much of it."

Bug 1: I haven't seen before!! Good work, I'll look into it

Bug 2: You can rotate the word list using "Up" and "Down" keys (Not a bug)...

Quote: "Other than that, it's a great idea, and nicely done. Some music and sounds would be great, but you're probably busy making them, right?"

I'm not making music for this one, not because I don't have time (although I probably don't) but because I see this as a game you might play on a train/plane and you might really annoy me...

I have added a few simple sounds already and fixed the array bug previously mentioned... new demo to follow...

swissolo
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 00:39
It took longer but I still managed to get the error...

swis
baxslash
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 01:15 Edited at: 17th Sep 2010 01:18
Quote: "It took longer but I still managed to get the error..."

That might be because I hadn't updated the demo yet...

Here is the 'fixed' version:
https://forumfiles.thegamecreators.com/download/2093140

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swissolo
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 01:23
hmmm... I wondered about that... I wonder why it took longer?

swis
baxslash
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 01:28
Quote: "hmmm... I wondered about that... I wonder why it took longer?"

Maybe you didn't click in the wrong place quick enough?

baxslash
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 11:50 Edited at: 17th Sep 2010 11:50
Here's highlighting (with 'rubber-banding') in action:


I was playing for about an hour last night before I remembered I was supposed to be working on it...

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baxslash
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 15:51 Edited at: 17th Sep 2010 16:38
Another quick update (sorry for the triple post).

I've got the highlighting working really sweet now!
New moving sky backgrounds (including toggle button)!
Load and Save game now work (saves full board layout including found words and time elapsed)!
Pause also works ("woohoo" I hear you say)!

EDIT: It also saves your current background so you can start with the same atmosphere right where you left off!

Screenies:




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The Slayer
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 17:25 Edited at: 17th Sep 2010 17:26
Nice, baxslash! Really nice! Nice backgrounds! Did you do these with your CloudBox program?? Were they made with DarkClouds??

Quote: "New moving sky backgrounds (including toggle button)!"

Are they just rotating? Or live backgrounds with moving clouds, day/night cyclus?

I like it!

Slayer rules!!! Yeaaah, man!
baxslash
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 17:40
Quote: "Nice, baxslash! Really nice! Nice backgrounds! Did you do these with your CloudBox program?? Were they made with DarkClouds??"

No they're off 'tinternet. Skybox textures. I will be putting some from enviroscope in there later but these were nice so I thought use them.

Quote: "Are they just rotating? Or live backgrounds with moving clouds, day/night cyclus?"

Just rotating but I've added my lense flare in too so there's a bit more going on. I'll probably make a full version with a DarkClouds background once the netbook version is done (hence the name "Lite") but something tells me DC would grind to a silicone wrenching halt on a netbook!! It would take about 6 months to load too

I did consider using the eXtends sky system but I'm reliably informed the plugin doesn't work on netbooks.

Quote: "I like it!"

Thanks! I'm trying to just have some really chilled backdrops that are nice to look at without being too distracting. I have a great idea for a silhoette type backdrop (inspired by 'Backlash') too... watch this space.

baxslash
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 19:13
New demo here and in first post!!

https://forumfiles.thegamecreators.com/download/2092965

This version has:
Selection highlighting!
New backgrounds!
Save/Load!
Pause/Quit!
New Jazzy icon!
Larger boards for Easy and Medium difficulty (it was a bit of a squash!)
Easy mode only sorry but it's nearly finished...

Still to do:
More cool backgrounds (I'll be varying them quite a bit)
Theme based fonts/grids
Music? I haven't decided if it should have it or not yet...

Let me know what you think!! Now it's Friday so I'm off to get some

swissolo
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Posted: 17th Sep 2010 23:45
If you have time music would be good, as long as there is an option to turn it off. (fixes the problem you stated earlier) Also, will you be able to make you own crossword puzzles? (enter 20 words or something)

swis
baxslash
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Posted: 18th Sep 2010 00:13
Quote: "If you have time music would be good, as long as there is an option to turn it off. (fixes the problem you stated earlier)"

Not sure which problem I stated earlier but I'm leaning towards music at the moment...

Quote: "Also, will you be able to make you own crossword puzzles? (enter 20 words or something)"

Crosswords are far more complex to compile although I have a crossword compiler started (another project)... not in this game, sorry!!

baxslash
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Posted: 18th Sep 2010 00:33 Edited at: 18th Sep 2010 00:35
Just finished adding a new background. It's a tree on a subtly changing background with leaves falling:


EDIT: ...and yes it's running at 628fps...

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Slayer
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Posted: 19th Sep 2010 14:00 Edited at: 19th Sep 2010 14:00
Quote: "Hum, is that good news, or bad...? I wonder...hahahahaaa!"



Good! yah Because I cant drink water right after I get off the phone
hahahahaaa ow and I can beg for change$$ hahahaha

I dont know how to spell
baxslash
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Posted: 20th Sep 2010 14:46 Edited at: 20th Sep 2010 14:48
I've been polishing some of the details and adding another background in. The new background is an animated 'water' theme with rain creating ripples:


New demo later today with all the new features which include:
New backfround themes ('Water' and 'Tree')!
New text styles!
New magnifying glass cursor!
Music!

EDIT: If you look closely you'll see I have to check my word list for family friendly content!! My five year old son loves this game...

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baxslash
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Posted: 20th Sep 2010 17:33 Edited at: 20th Sep 2010 17:49
As promised here's the latest 'Demo':
http://www.filefront.com/17305509/SearchLite.zip

I've made a few minor additions such as the 'save game' now saves the font type. Also a config file is saved on exit so that next time you load the game you get the same background etc. Also I've added a toggle to turn the music (just added) off/on using the 'M' button.

That's more or less everything I wanted to put into this game! I've already submitted an earlier version that I'll be replacing with this version (without restrictions obviously). Unless I (or anyone else) find any bugs that is!!

baxslash
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Posted: 1st Oct 2010 13:14
Quick update: Now uploaded to the AppUp site for validation!

Now the other games...

baxslash
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Posted: 13th Oct 2010 19:40
Search-Lite has also failed validation (I have an email but it isn't showing on my AppUp dashboard yet...) and I imagine it's the same error as "The Last Stand" as I'm fairly sure I used Matrix Utility on all my projects... wish I'd spotted that before!

I'll keep this thread up to date with progress...

Two more days till we find out who won!

The Slayer
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Posted: 13th Oct 2010 19:46
Quote: "Two more days till we find out who won!"

Yes, indeed! The suspence is killing me!

Cheers

Slayer rules!!! Yeaaah, man!
baxslash
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Posted: 14th Oct 2010 14:46
Re-submitted today with one minor bug fix!

baxslash
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Posted: 15th Oct 2010 17:48 Edited at: 21st Oct 2010 13:57
I'm really pleased that this won a prize (apart from the fact that I'll now have something to test my games on before submitting them!).

I really think this is a great game for netbooks. How many thousands of pages of paper are wasted every year on "Word search" books!! You see them by the dozen in airports/train stations/newsagents...

I hope that the kind of people who buy netbooks are the kind of people who buy word search books too because if they are then I'm on to a winner for sure!!

Anyway, thanks again to everyone who helped/tested and made suggestions for this game! Especially my wife whose idea it was in the first place!!

EDIT: Latest Demo-> DEMO Version 1.0.2

baxslash
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Posted: 28th Oct 2010 10:34
Quote: "Participants: Community Admin and baxslash
Community Admin
27 Oct 2010 16:56:59 Dear Valued Member,

Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that Search-Lite 1.0.1 has successfully
met validation criteria and is ready to be published on 31 Oct 2011

Best regards,
Intel AppUp(SM) developer program team"

Finally my first game has passed validation!!

I can see my second ever PA thread coming very soon, I may try to produce a full PC version over the next few days for the same price as the netbook version (about $2 I think...)



MMM
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Posted: 28th Oct 2010 11:25 Edited at: 28th Oct 2010 11:28
Sounds good - congrats man. I felt this was one of the more deserving games of the comp, given the criteria.

Any tips or tricks you used to get this validated? Or just standard 'follow the rules' fare?



EDIT: just saw your other post in the msi creation thread; very interesting. Well done again.

Powerboard Productions - find the site yourself.
baxslash
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Posted: 28th Oct 2010 11:30
Quote: "Sounds good - congrats man. I felt this was one of the more deserving games of the comp, given the criteria.

Any tips or tricks you used to get this validated? Or just standard 'follow the rules' fare?"

Thanks @MMM!

I used Visual Studio 2008 and the advice on AppUp (attached as a PDF). I have another three games up for validation at the moment using the same method for building the installer.

I just posted a little advice on the "creating a free msi" thread which might help. Mostly repeating what you have already said!

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baxslash
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Posted: 28th Oct 2010 16:46
I've started a new thread for this game under Program Announcements here:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=177196&b=5

Any further development news will be posted there.

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