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AppGameKit/AppGameKit Studio Showcase / [WIP] Pirates Treasure

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erebusman
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Posted: 5th Aug 2012 05:55 Edited at: 2nd Sep 2012 22:41
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Hello,

I am re-writing my DBPro project Pirates Treasure in AppGameKit Tier 2.

Most Recent GamePlay Video



Play Screen




You can see the old DBPro WIP thread here.


NOTE: This will be updated as the project proceeds I will edit the thread
UPDATED:
9/2/2012 - added new screenshots see most recent post


Current Status:

This project is roughly 50% finished but reached a playable state on 8/4/2012.

Things To Do:
- Fix Bugs!
- Put in special gems with effects/powerups (8/12/2012 gems in, effects coming soon)
- Most sounds have not been coded in yet
- Scoring/HighScore system needs to be implemented (8/12/2012 scoring done - high score coming soon)
- Leveling system needs to be implemented
- Settings Menu displays and navigates - but you can not change settings yet.
[amiga]- added in hint system (8/18/2012)


Differences / Improvements:

- The AppGameKit version contains full animation of the falling gems and replacement gems whereas the original used short delays between the gems disappearing and the new ones appear to give the appearance that gems were dropping into place - when in fact they were just appearing in place. Even with the new animation system the game now plays about 500% faster and utilizes between 2-3% of my CPU rather than 25%.

- Obviously due to AppGameKit support all screen resolutions will be supported instead of only the 800x600 and 1024x768 I coded for DBPro version.

- Again due to AppGameKit support planned platforms are now much broader rather than windows only.


Current Screenshots:

Main Menu



Settings


Help Screen


Older Videos

8-6-2012 Video core gameplay here.

8-12-2012 Video showing the logic of special gems firing like the Cannon Ball and Lightning Opal (no animations yet) here.
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kamac
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Posted: 5th Aug 2012 11:29 Edited at: 5th Aug 2012 11:29
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Oh my god. I was doing some early game menu, and how's it called?
Treasure Pirates.



Don't worry then, I am not up to release it (since I am doing another project), and if I am, I will change the name I guess.

By the way... where do you take such epic art from?

Follow me on twitter! @MotionStruct
Motion Struct blog
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george++
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Posted: 5th Aug 2012 20:58 Edited at: 5th Aug 2012 21:00
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Hi,
nice screen shots!
I always wondering if there are some algorithms behind these type of games
I made a google search in the past but I didn't find something relative
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erebusman
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Posted: 5th Aug 2012 22:47
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@ kamac : thank you for the compliments, thats funny we had similar name ideas. Given that its backwards I don't personally see a problem and I assume your game had some different ideas?

- I do all my own artwork; I've been doing game art since 1995 so I've gotten pretty good at it!

@ Moraldi : Thanks for the compliments. Yeah the algorithms for match detection; potential matches, and matches where special gems exist were the most challenging part of the game for me ; but this is my first game that I am programming (although I've done other tasks on other games) so all of it was challenging in one way or another

Also my first time writing a program in C++, which is also challenging.

But I enjoy challenges -- no better way to learn things than to set some really good goals right?!

thanks again guys
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Cliff Mellangard 3DEGS
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Posted: 6th Aug 2012 00:38
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Quote: "I do all my own artwork; I've been doing game art since 1995 so I've gotten pretty good at it!"

They look very good
Sounds like you started programing because of the same reasons i did

Always hard to find good coders to visulize your own game ideas with your art

Android 2.3 Gingerbread , ZTE Skate , 480x800 , 800 mhz cpu , Samsung Galaxy Y , 240x320 , 832 mhz cpu
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The Zoq2
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Posted: 6th Aug 2012 01:40
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That art looks amazing
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erebusman
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Posted: 7th Aug 2012 07:14
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@Cliff; yes that is a good summation of my motivation -- most coders have a project they want to work on -- if I ever wanted to make any of my own ideas I had to learn how to do this myself!

@ The Zog2 : Thank you!

See main post for gameplay video just updated!
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Hodgey
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Posted: 7th Aug 2012 12:57
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That looks amazing erebusman! I wish I had your artistic skills. Let us know when there's a demo!

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erebusman
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Posted: 8th Aug 2012 07:17
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@ Hodgey, thanks will do!
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erebusman
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Posted: 13th Aug 2012 07:39
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Updating a new Game Play Video


Implemented in this build:

- Canonn Ball Special Gem
- Lightning Opal Special Gem
- Wildcard Special Gem
- Score System implemented

I still have a nice "to do" list but one item important to note here is I will be adding special animations like explosion/lightning bolts etc to go along with the specials, but right now they just destroy the appropriate number of gems!

NOTE: I do have a dev cheat on where I can move any gem regardless of whether you normally should or not; this lets me test scenarios in much less time. But it will comply with normal match-3 gem rules on release.



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Hodgey
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Posted: 13th Aug 2012 11:44
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Looks like a fun game! You might already have it planned but some special effects each time you destroy gems (sparkles or something) would be good; right now it's a bit sudden.

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erebusman
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 19:06
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@ Hodgey - thanks for the comments! Definitely have the effects planned out !

Update 8/18/2012

This video demos the new hint system with rotating arrow highlighting the potential move to the player.

To achieve this I did the following steps:
- I coded in the logic for detecting possible moves based off of its x/y location in the 8x8 array
- then I coded in how to find out what the floating X/Y location of that gem was.
- then I coded the animation of the arrows. At first I had it just appear for half a second which was okay but a little boring
- I finally added the sprite rotation command for 8 degree's rotation per frame and we have what you see now

comments welcome

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erebusman
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2012 08:39
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August 22 Update

New features since last update
- recoded to 960x640 to better support iPhone resolution ; this is primarily to support wider screens better as previously it would letterbox these in a way I did not like

- level display (green numerical icon in bottom right)
- graphical level progress bar (red to green bar near menu buttons)
- end game detection built in (although not featured in video)

- high score screen implemented (also not featured in video)

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erebusman
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Posted: 26th Aug 2012 02:03 Edited at: 26th Aug 2012 02:05
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Update 8/25/2012

As I'm nearing the end I was taking a look at my game assets.

In its current state I was at 29.7MB with 19 of that being one single file, the main theme music of my game which is in .WAV format.

So this creates a problem; my understanding is any iPhone game thats over 25MB can not be downloaded on the wireless network; instead you have to either join a WiFi or wait until you get home and sync over iTunes.

This could be a purchase barrier for some customers.


I would -like- to make the file smaller but if I use .MP3 format then I'm only safe if I sell less than 5000 copies of my game.

If you sell over 5000 copies then you have to pay US Funds $2500.00

So all of a sudden my iOS game @ 99 cents ; with only taking 70% of the share (per App Store terms) the math looks like this:

5000 * .99 cents = $4950.00
4950 * .70 cents = $3465.00 <- my take home if I don't use MP3
3465 - 2500 = $965.00 <- my take home if I do use MP3

Clearly combining these two factors together I had to make the decision to drop the sound track from the game.

I really wish OGG (Ogg Vorbis ) support was working with AppGameKit & iOS (my current research says it is not - if you know otherwise please let me know!!!! ) as then I could ship with music as the OGG file is only 1.7MB instead of 19MB

Continuing to program in the rest of my sounds under .wav format at this time.

More updates soon.
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Hodgey
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Posted: 26th Aug 2012 02:44 Edited at: 26th Aug 2012 02:44
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Quote: "So this creates a problem; my understanding is any iPhone game thats over 25MB can not be downloaded on the wireless network; instead you have to either join a WiFi or wait until you get home and sync over iTunes."

It was until a few months ago.

https://developer.apple.com/news/#top

Second page: March 20 - Higher Limit for Over-the-Air Downloads
Quote: "Great apps come in all sizes. If you happen to offer a larger app, we’ve made it even easier for App Store customers to get your app wherever they are. We’ve raised the Wi-Fi download requirement from 20 MB to 50 MB so customers can download apps up to 50 MB in size over their cellular data network."


So try keep your app under 50mb.

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erebusman
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Posted: 26th Aug 2012 02:54
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Awesome thanks Hodgey, I can ship with music now! I'd obviously still prefer to have a much smaller download but when they have iOS/OGG support I can give my customers a pleasant suprise with smaller downloads I suppose!
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erebusman
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Posted: 26th Aug 2012 20:38
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I've been entertaining an idea: I'd still like to reduce the download size an extra 20MB is kind of insane ...

Has anyone experience with the two following ideas:

1: Make it so that the music does not come with the game initially but make it an in-game purchase that is free. This way the user can download it optionally when they are at home or on wifi to save dataplan charges. So do they allow 'free' in-app purchases?

2: Ship with MP3 support initially and then gauge if I'm going to be even close to reaching the sales figure to require the license or not. If I'm doing slow but steady sales and approaching the 5000 mark put out and update and change the music file to a .wav file around the 4000 mark to avoid having shipped the 5000 mp3's that require the licensing?

Naturally if somehow I sold an amazing amount of the game I would not object to paying for the license but $2500.00 for a game thats going for .99cents a pop is just insane.

3: What about AAC support? Obviously iOS supports M4A/M4P AAC files ; is this something that iOS games will support in AppGameKit? I don't see any mention of it and when I changed the file over it didn't play so I'm guessing not for now?
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erebusman
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Posted: 26th Aug 2012 22:34 Edited at: 26th Aug 2012 22:35
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Updated a couple of screens to format better for the small display of phones.

Note the setting screen has no buttons or text because that is going to be localized text. Should be doing that over the next week.



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Hodgey
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Posted: 27th Aug 2012 03:26
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Quote: "Make it so that the music does not come with the game initially but make it an in-game purchase that is free. "

Funny, I was thinking of something very similar right after responding to this thread.

Quote: "What about AAC support? Obviously iOS supports M4A/M4P AAC files"

You use Tier 2 don't you? If so there's probably a way to get those files to work with AGK. I can't be certain though.

The game is looking good! That's some fantastic artwork you have there!

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erebusman
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2012 19:07
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Two new screenshots. One showing cannonball going off, the other lightning gem going off



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erebusman
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2012 23:29
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Minor Update:

In other good news I was able to get my first build on Xcode for testing this afternoon as well. I had to use the emulator which ran a little slow because I'm waiting for apple to get back with my device provisioning information.
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erebusman
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Posted: 3rd Sep 2012 00:53
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Slightly less minor update: I was able to build the game & run on my iPad a few minutes ago.

Not sure how to get it to say there as it was just while xcode was running? I assume theres an option to actually place it on the device rather than just run it from the device for 1 time?

Tips appreciated This has been a 2+ day process trying to get the app compiled, devices provisioned etc! I don't think the documentation that was available covered even half of the things I ran in to ; but it was nice to have what was out there.
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erebusman
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Posted: 3rd Sep 2012 23:04
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Settings menu is shaping up:

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erebusman
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Posted: 30th Sep 2012 23:12
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The game is now complete and submitted to Apple, once its approved I'll post a release thread.

I did however have one big GOOF up. The name Pirate's Treasure was taken .. about 2 years ago. I had neglected to search and find that the name was in use.

Therefore the game is now know as Pirates Jewels instead. There were a lot of great choices but this sounded nicer than Pirates Gems and I like the name to contain in its meaning that its a jewel style game.
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Cliff Mellangard 3DEGS
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Posted: 30th Sep 2012 23:32
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Congrats and any plans soon for an android version?

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erebusman
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Posted: 1st Oct 2012 04:12
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@Cliff; thank you!

Re: Android ; supposedly from the people I've been networking with the Android market makes about 1 dollar for every 10 you make in the iOS market.

Given that its $99.00 entry fee to release iOS apps and $99.00 entry fee to the Google/Android market place I'm going to wait and make sure I make at least enough money in the iOS marketplace that I anticipate 1/10th of the sales in the Android market place would pay off my investment to buy in to it.

In other words; not unless I make more than $900.00 US funds in the iOS marketplace would I bother doing an Android release.


Hopefully I'll make a fair bit more and it wont be a question, it will be a given. But until I'm profitable I have to decide where it makes sense to try and ship my product to .. that is market share * profitability of the market - expenses to entry.

Thanks again!
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MarcoBruti
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Posted: 1st Oct 2012 10:42
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Quote: "$99.00 entry fee to the Google/Android market place "

I have paid 25$, not 99$, to get an Android Developer Account. Have Google raised the price?
BTW, you are right, earnings on Google Play are scarce, and the worst thing that I heard that people with hacked smartphone (getting the root account), can download the game, steal the APK and cancel the purchase. I suppose that with Apple this is not possible, since there is no try&buy.
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Cliff Mellangard 3DEGS
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Posted: 1st Oct 2012 18:35
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Quote: " I suppose that with Apple this is not possible, since there is no try&buy. "

Android neads it with the huge amount of bad apps and many apps dont work on all devices.
I love android but it have its drawbacks

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erebusman
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2012 05:39
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Well perhaps I am wrong, it looks as if it is $25 at the moment, I apologize not sure where I got that from then!

I'll still apply the same formula but now I'd only need about $250 in iOS revenue to make it seem worthwhile!
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erebusman
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2012 05:58
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Figured it out , I was remembering the amazon kindle marketplace fee! That is 99 and I have a kindle fire, it must have been the one I checked!
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erebusman
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Posted: 9th Oct 2012 07:22
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Please see my release post for this App http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=200673&b=48
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