Rollin' Paint.

how long it take to make a full game?btw is the paint is an actor?

Well, Ive made 4 games with Stencyl so far, and 3 have took me around 2 months to make. My 2nd game took around 4-5 weeks.

This game I started around xmas day last xmas, and I had it mostly finished by early february - but then I spent another 3-4 weeks polishing, fixing stuff and just making it better.

Being able to use stencyl to convert to IOS has been great - although Im lacking mac/apple hardware/devices, I have Innes helping me. It would have been great to do it myself, but I simply don't have the resources currently. Saying that, its going great so far. From my side, all art/assets have been mostly redrawn high resolution, a few changes to the way buttons and menu stuff works, any text refering to keys or mouse have been changed, and now together we are working on the few bugs there actually is - as it goes, it works excellently but needs a few fixes and tweaks though - mainly to the gui on smaller devices (phones for example - ipads look amazing as it is).

so its coming on great and im happy. the paint is a circle actor that is spawned multiple times depending on mouse/touch position, so it looks like paint. But this was only possible in 3.0 due to the greatly enhanced performance and the many actors im creating.

Thanks for the reply ^^

Just a little update on this game. Am now working on the IOS version with the help of Innes, and its already looking very nice on ipad, and works/looks really good so far. Needs a few little fixes and some gui alterations (more so for phones than pads due to the smaller screen), but on the whole it looks great, works smooth as, and Im looking forward to us completing it.

That's awesome. As I've said before, this could do really well on the App Store if it were marketed well, and the interface is a perfect match for mobile.

I hope so!

The last few days Ive gone over the whole game, redone all text/buttons and their behaviours and they are more mobile oriented now (no more mouse hover highlighting etc). Ive redone the HUD and buttons in general for ipads and iphones as they are a tad on the smaller side on iphones, but on ipads its perfect - so im checking now when levels start and its selecting hud/buttons based on which device you are using. Theres some more work and testing to do on that side with the main painting controls too, but im impressed so far how well it runs and mostly plays.

I have the help of Innes working with me too when he's free, as I kinda gave up on the VM route and he has access to mac and apple devices, and things are going great. Got a small list of little bugs/fixes to make, a few minor alterations, and then the hud and button stuff up above - then it will be alot of testing. ive also incorperated a 'wheeltime' button, which ive just set up an extra menu option to let the user choose where they want to place it on the ingame screen.

But yeah, im pleased so far with what Ive seen,and i feel it will end up a superior version to the flash one. Once we have IOS sorted, then we will move over to Android - but at the moment the game isn't too pleased with it (it doesnt work at all).

Will keep you posted anyhow.

Just to add, barring any last minute counter bids, this should have a sponsor the next few days when Ive chosen.. so should have an updated game link.

Game now out on

http://www.gameshed.com/Physics-Games/Rollin_-Paint/

Will stick it on Stencyl Arcade soon.

As with my other game From the Dark, I'm happier how this turned out, and still relatively pleased with it, but as with that one, I'm seeing a dozen things I wish Id done and what have you.

Although the difference with that and this, is that I've done a major overhaul of things with the IOS version I have going of Rollin Paint. Much higher quality art, changes in UI and the HUD, the whole way it works in regards to it once being mouse, now being touch, and lots of other things like, a 'wheel time button', instead of just hitting space. Extra options to place this button wherever you want, other little changes and additions to make it a far better result for mobile devices. So that version is almost done now anyhow.

So far its still IOS, but Id love to get it on android, as there seems a big Fgl push to make use of their new mobile system.. so who knows, shall see how things go, but this is going to be my final game I finish up for a while, as I try to sort other things in my life out. So hopefully it goes well, regardless of how it goes.

..and is now available on stencyl arcade.

Thanks for anyone for looking in, playing or commenting. Ios version Im more or less finished with for the most part, just last little things, then deciding what to do with it.

I'd be curious to hear more about FGL's mobile arm and how the bids look like there. It seems to be new/small still.

I assume their SWF -> iOS feature is just chucking it into Adobe AIR, which won't work too well with Stencyl games or many Flash games.

Ive done a lot of reading and looking around Fgl regarding mobile selling/bidding and the general thought is (wall of text to come - sorry!):

Mobile games dont seem to do very well currently from what I can tell. People are putting games on there, but they get very poor bids and tend to not bother afterwards as they see it not worth it. I think the best way, especially for Ios will be just to put it onto the apples appstore (the usual place ios games go), as currently it doesn't appear worth it.

Fgl, over the last few months, have brought in a new mobile platform that is apparently doing very very well from early tests and such, and is now available to devs to try out. It works differently though, in that devs contact sponsors directly (sponsors that are listed as specifically looking for mobile games). So its kinda, instead of sponsors looking, bidding on your flash game, you contact them and THEY have to tell you why you should go with them. Anyhow, once you have a sponsor, sorted out the details of things, you have to implement their api (i believe its all the same api developed by fgl , i *think*, but maybe altered/changed depending on sponsor), and this basically sets up how the system works, and also, it wraps ANY swf to be used on android devices - altho I get the impression you can use native android apps too instead of this method, but Im not 100% sure on that. Then what the sponsors job is to get it onto as many marketplaces that they are on, and use this to the games advantage - essentially the sponsor is the 'publisher'. Apparently, some early tests people have done with fairly average/basic games that have worked well with this method, are making some very nice amounts every month. The amount made is split between fgl, the sponsor, and the dev - varying from sponsor to sponsor and the deal between sponsor and dev.

General thought that Ive read is that, instead of making say 100% (minus any fees) by uploading to a marketplace yourself, making a couple hundred sales (if your lucky, or more if the game does well). While the dev may only get 40-50% (or whatever the dev gets depending on the deal), this way, its this percentage of many many thousands, that makes it a better deal in the end. (kinda like, instead of taking 100% of 100 sales, you would take say 40% of 1000 sales - so altho the dev gets less of a sale, because there could be lots more , you end up with a better deal on the whole)

So - as far as my game goes, Im not 100% what im doing with it yet - appstore, yeah probably.. as thats the easiest in way of the game works, just need to sort it out, get it on there. This new Fgl method has the possibility of doing very well - but will take more work (and Im not sure how well the game would work that way anyway). So lots to think about.

hats off man, the design skills + ability to finish things are traits I greatly envy.

thanks! Though i think ive hit a bit of a wall lately - i started with Stencyl around August last year, and have finished 4 games so far. I have maybe 3-4 unfinished 'test' games, and one that was mostly complete (well, for the most part, was meant to be my comp entry) but Im unhappy with it, so I feel I wasted kinda 5-6 weeks on it. I should really have pulled away earlier on as I had moments of thinking it wasnt working.

Ive almost completed (barring more fixes/alterations once it gets tested on ios again), the ios version, and it looks and feels far better than this flash version, as much as i was happy with it at the time. So, ive held off trying to start a new game, and have opted (ok, more of a cop-out), in making rollin' paint 2 - seeing as the game is there and is all set up nicely, ive been working on new levels, and completely new art, which I feel at the moment put the flash and ios version of rp1 to shame. lol So for now im just doing what i feel comfy with just to keep me doing stuff, before I start a completely new game again.

4 games since August? That's nothing to be ashamed of. Shipping games every 2-3 months is just about right in terms of making something substantial but not so much that you risk getting demotivated or off track.

Yeah, first game took me 2 months, second took about 2-3 weeks ish.. started third end of october, finished just before xmas day, started rollin paint i think ON xmas day, finished it late feb. Rollin paint and from the dark both got sponsored.

I try not to lose track of where I am or get  sidetracked or anything, but Ive been finding things hard the last couple of months. I finished RP, went through all the sponsor stuff, then continued on the ios version which is more or less done, but Ive struggled with the game I was working on - I kinda got to about 70% complete and decided I wasnt too happy with it. RP2 is coming on nicely though, but i think thats because the first one worked and its all there, all i need to do is repaint stuff, new levels, i have a few new tricks to put in - and its keeping me occupied anyhow. Hopefully after this Ill make something totally new that works for me.