Messages

46

iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.

« on: June 28, 2017, 01:42:44 pm »

Hey Folks,

So I got a bunch of really useful feedback for Corporate Salmon yesterday, and in turn I've been spending some time developing the shop.

Here's what I fixed!
1. Because of complaints mentioning the suits being too small to see, I doubled the size of the salmon and the suits on display.
2. Added some wiggle to the suit hooks to make them feel more natural.
3. I had someone mention the suit bags looked like hunks of meat in a butchers freezer, so instead of having generic red bags for the suits I've let them keep their unique designs with a padlock imposed over the top to indicate whether they're unlocked or not. As you can see in the pricing on the right, I also indicate whether they've been purchased or not.
4. For an extra bit of flair, the suit origin points are the top corner, so they not only wobble from that location but also scale slightly as they exit the screen.
5. Have started experimenting with a better system of documenting each suit as I'll be adding at least another 10 for the initial release so want a smooth workflow of introducing more.
BONUS Fix: I made it so the jump/fall lines only spawn in the middle of the step now so that the player can always dodge them.

Here's the list of other feedback I received that I'll be adding/amending tomorrow:
1. Disable enemy fish spawn after death (As they continue spawning until the app literally crashes after 5 mins)
2. Put the stats sheet graphic in the main menu atlas since it is only in the gameplay area currently
3. Look into having some visual indicator other than the promotion/colour change to show switching floors.
4. Along with the profit and loss lines, I'm going to look into having a couple of different variations of jump booster in the form of Bubbles and Hoops (Financial bubbles and loopholes) to accompany financial margins.
5. A visual indicator of what to do with the profit and loss lines in game.

I'm going to do one or two amendments tonight then aim to update my app build, failing that I'll export a windows version and get some footage from OBS. Either way, there should be some extended gameplay footage up tonight!

Stay tuned for more soon!

47

iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.

« on: June 26, 2017, 03:22:11 am »

Hey Folks,

Here's some GIFs of Corporate Salmon showing 2 levels of gameplay!

Corporate Salmon is structured in an office building, where over the course of gameplay you rise up the floors to the CEO office at the top. Not only does the colour of the level change, but also a couple of subtle variables:
1. Initial speed of escalator
2. Frequency of rival employee fish spawn
3. Frequency of coins spawned (Timing remains the same, just the burst increased)
4. Rival fish jump power put also frequency of jump increased, meaning they can keep up with the accelerating escalator.

From the event I attended on the weekend, folks enjoyed the game but a couple of issues arose:
1. The play button is still not clear enough for first time players (Admittedly I need a tutorial reset function as many people played the App without the tutorial that removes other icons from the screen).
2. The green/red jump lines were mistaken several times for just markers/signs rather than something that could be interacted with, so I need to create some kind of visual indicator that you should jump on them, whether that's a little tutorial pop up or text above the objects for the first couple of rounds they are in the game. May also require more revising of the design - If any of you have any thoughts for an alternative or examples of jump bars done right, let me know.
3. Spamming - Currently some people who played the game just repeatedly pushed jump to launch the fish up the screen. To counter this, I'll be adding in some variables that will make the level harder if spamming occurs. Examples of this might be increasing the frequency of red lines on the screen (You don't want to jump on those), possibly look at a subtle additional increase of escalator speed or volume of fish launched at player. I was thinking about having a stamina function, but I'm wanting to keep clutter on the screen as minimal as possible and don't want to create scenarios that can't be beaten or escaped from.
4. One other thing I'll be looking into to control spamming is collision detection. For example, should a salmon be able to jump on the side of a step to climb it or just the flat top of the step? I'll be experimenting with that now.


I've also got another feedback session in 2 hours, so I'll gather some more feedback there.

Things to fix in the next 2 hours:
1. Add a simple factory reset function to make a clean test easier
2. Experiment with designs for pop up tutorial screens
3. Tinker with the collision detection for the escalator steps.

That's all for now, stay tuned for more soon! I'll likely be putting up a longer playthrough in the next couple of days, as most have just been quick excerpts. Thanks for all your comments by the way, always helps!

48

iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.

« on: June 23, 2017, 10:24:20 am »

Hey Folks,

So it's been over a month since I updated this devlog, for good reason; literally the day after posting it, I moved into a new flat. Finding, negotiating and moving in wiped me out for two weeks, where I just needed to focus on rebuilding my routines and resting. After that, I've been slowly tinkering on the project and doing other various events.

A lot has moved forwards!

These devlogs are quite useful for keeping track of lists, so going to try and keep this on track till the intended launch date, around the end of July.

Here's the major changes:
1. Rather than having the escalator restricted to the screen space, I've made amendments so that you can actually climb the escalator (Rather than just getting pushed back down). This was a big undertaking (And basically required gutting a lot of functions), but has definitely been worth it. Gameplay has a better flow now and a tangible end to the game rather than just a slow point grind.
2. Colour revamp: Whilst I am able to draw stuff, I am utterly incompetent with colour grading and theory. If you've seen some cohesive themes in my games, I do enjoy pink and green as a palette, but in the case of Corporate Salmon, there was a lot of colours that clashed in awful ways. So, I enlisted the help of the NES palette to remaster the game visuals with. Just having a palette to work with that just compliments across the board is super fun.
3. UI revamp: Like with Narcissus previously, one of the elements of my games that gets the most attention during development has to be the user interface. After 4 revamps, I decided to hack out all of the original gimmicks such as the line graph, profit/loss chart in the corner of the gameplay screen and in turn simplified the progress meter and final score listings. The setup is a lot cleaner now which I'm just about happy with (May still make some amendments yet!). As for the main menu, I replaced the text in there previously with the 3 main buttons of the restart screen.
4. More tangible progression in game: I've added an actual visual progression in game so as you move up levels, the colour of the escalator changes as well as the background to reflect moving between floors. The aggressiveness of your fishy colleagues as well as the frequency of money increases as you get higher and higher up. To level up in game as well, you can either reach the top of the escalator for that floor OR get the required amount of coins (Both is possible as well which is pretty cool!)
5. Staggering the gameplay: Upon loading up the game for the first time, all UI elements are cut except what you need to progress to gameplay (The play button), then slowly gameplay elements are introduced with each death. It's a much smoother transition into what's happening, particularly after watching a lot of people scratching their heads intitially to even start the game or even know what was happening.
6. Boss level at the end of the game with a floppy ragdoll bear. Was a stupid amount of fun to work on, still a lot of amendments to sort out.
7. A LOT of tiny refinements and fixes.

SO

What are the major things that I'm needing to tackle from this point?
A. Finish the end of game scene: Since updating the camera movement for the rest of the game (Allowing the player to advance at their own speed), I need to do the same for the Boss. I also want to do one final layer of polish and refinement on the level itself and finish the ending.
B. Shop Refinement: Whilst the majority of the functionality is there, I need to create at least 25 different suits of varying prices for the final game. I also have an itch to update the visuals of the store, as there's something still off in my eyes.
C. Font design: I've struggled up to this point to pin down the fonts I want for the game, and as I've updated the UI for the game I've changed the font to various designs. I need to pin down the specific sets for example the monitor screens versus the general gameplay UI, then update the rest of the game UI to match.
D. Refinements to currencies and scores in game: Whilst the coins in game are a good currency, the profit and loss function is consistently lost on people. I'm going to be figuring out whether cutting it back to purely coins works or whether I can save the multiplier function somehow.
E. Profit/Loss line positioning: One of the big complaints I've had so far is people being unable to jump past the loss lines when they're in a certain position. For this, I'll be experimenting with what collecting them means, whether there's a better way to do it and trying to make their positioning more uniform.
F. Streamlining the gameplay loop: Currently the player must wait for their coins to be counted before restarting the level. I recently played an App that forced you to watch these figures rise without offering the option to skip the "OOOH look how many points you scored" section. It kills the pacing and I'd like to be able to left people watch that if they want, but be able to skip it and still have their currency counted.
G. App functionality: Adding in stuff like the AD functionality, iAP to disable Ads, leaderboards, reward ads (And getting coins to buy suits).
H. Produce press materials and contact content producers
I. Produce App Store materials (Trailer, logo, banner).
J. Look into the possibility of localising the game.

I think as well on top of all this, I'll be looking at putting out a flash build in a couple of weeks to test the functionality and gauge interest. Keep an eye out for that!

Thanks for your patience, I'll be aiming to update this on a semi-daily basis; I'll be taking the game to an event this weekend so I'll hopefully get some more feedback from there!

49

iPhone / iPad / Android / Corporate Salmon - Fish in Business Suits Climbing an Escalator.

« on: May 12, 2017, 03:15:59 pm »

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Don your best suit and flop to the top of a fishy financial escalator in Corporate Salmon!


Here's the gist of Corporate Salmon...


Get ready for work...


Collect revenue...


Meet with colleagues...


Make profits...


Get fired...


Buy suits to feel better.


I've been working on the project for 2-3 months (As well as flitting between other projects), I expect this one will be in development for another month or so.

If you hadn't guessed from the format of the game (And my previous projects) this is a game for mobile, I'll be making it free with ads (With the option to pay to remove them). I'll probably also chuck up a version of the project on a flash portal as well!

Any thoughts on what you see so far would be greatly appreciated, as well as any questions you have. There should be more info coming soon in the next few weeks!

I will try and keep this page nice and up to date with what I'm up to, I find posting fixes/updates helps me keep track of where I'm at, particularly in the later stages of development where progress isn't measured in huge leaps and bounds. Twitter is my usual stomping grounds, for super up to date stuff check out what I'm posting on there.

Thanks!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

50

Ask a Question / Re: Testing In-App Purchases - Issue!

« on: January 29, 2017, 03:28:41 pm »

Hey!

I got the same IPv6 issue crop up and from reading your replies on here it isn't absolutely clear how you managed to resolve the issue. Could someone explain how you resolve/fix the error? I too am using admob advertisements and have an in app purchase in my game. Thanks! (Here's what Apple wrote btw!)

From Apple
2. 1 PERFORMANCE: APP COMPLETENESS
Performance - 2.1

We discovered one or more bugs in your app when reviewed on iPad and iPhone running iOS 10.2.1 on Wi-Fi connected to an IPv6 network.

Specifically, there are no ads in the app.

Please run your app on a device while connected to an IPv6 network (all apps must support IPv6) to identify any issues, then revise and resubmit your app for review.

For information about supporting IPv6 Networks, please refer to Supporting IPv6 DNS64/NAT64 Networks and About Networking.

51

Extensions / Re: Totally Awesome Transitions for Cool Developers Like You [Engine Extension]

« on: January 17, 2017, 07:47:14 am »

This is super cool as a feature, although I feel it could gain a lot more traction if you had examples of the transitions in action (E.g. The Stencyl shader tutorial http://www.stencyl.com/help/view/shaders). Thanks again for making this and look forward to giving it a go!

52

Paid Work / Alex Johansson - Programmer/Designer/Artist/Educator Available for Freelance!

« on: November 08, 2016, 01:10:01 pm »

CHECK OUT MY GAME SHOWREEL HERE!

Hey Folks, my name is Alex Johansson and I'm a games developer based in Cambridge, UK.

I've been building games for over 5 years primarily using the software Stencylworks.
I've built around 80 different games over that period of time.

I've also had 2000 hours of experience teaching the software to 7-24 year olds.
I give educational consultancy and produce curriculum content as well as running workshops.

My export capabilities include iOS, Android, Flash/HTML5 and Desktop.
I also build custom controllers using Makey Makey, check out my Youtube channel for more content.

Here's where you can play some of the games I've made: alexvscoding.itch.io

Get in touch via alexjohansson at hotmail dot co.uk or via Twitter
I'm currently open to doing freelance work, be that working on a project or Stencyl Tutoring. Get in touch!

Here's what some of the press have said about the games I've built:


NARCISSUS
"Johansson has produced a unique, multi-faceted game
offering two different but equally appealing experiences
well worth your time."
Destructoid


WORMBALL
"Pinball is dead, long live wormball.
It’s everything you love about pinball,
except 100% more disgusting and with
dancey music included."
Rock Paper Shotgun


MORSE
"Morse’s salvation, then, is its code.
For all the power that you wield in the game...
and there sure is a lot of it...
you cannot simply make things happen
on a whim because Morse code is complicated."
Killscreen

53

Stencyl Jam 16: "Spooky" / Re: WORMBALL - Pinball meets Snake.

« on: October 11, 2016, 03:41:35 am »

Alex!!!!!

I'm looking for a graphic designer, and I love your style.  Can we talk? Real money is involved.

Hey,

Drop me a message via Stencyl/Twitter and we can talk! Any links to stuff you're working on?

54

Stencyl Jam 16: "Spooky" / WORMBALL - Pinball meets Snake.

« on: October 10, 2016, 10:24:14 am »

Hey Folks,

It's a little late posting it, but at the weekend I developed WORMBALL, a pinball snake mashup using Stencyl. Here's the brief, GIF heavy summary of development:





Basic Ball and Flipper Mechanics. (Originally set out to build a pinball game with tower defence mechanics).



OH GOD THAT WASN'T MEANT TO HAPPEN



Whilst creating particle trails, made a worm. Enthusiasm explodes for the project.



Added some bumpers and googly eyes that follow the player, as well as the beginning of collectables that the worm can eat.



Added a spawn, score, stamina for the paddles (To stop the hoarding of collectables) and made the bumpers release pellets.



Added decals and an overlay - Failed miserably to implement a camera that panned in time with the height of the player smoothly.



Opted for a static camera, added health and hunger, along with portals. Opted for a more modest less blinding font.



Switched the collectables to a more distinct colour, added icons for hunger and life. Added worm shake, title page and controls.



Added decay to the brain bumpers to reduce the torrent of collectables, added instead poppable spots and harsher paddle stamina.



Other than that, I've got a tablet version working and just need music and sound doing!
If you're interested in finding out when WORMBALL is released, keep an eye on my Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/alexvscoding

Once the browser version is released, I'll be taking the phone/tablet version further with more levels and mechanics, as well as building a custom cabinet to play the game with.

55

Ask a Question / Unresolved issue with code sign errors.

« on: March 20, 2016, 05:33:02 pm »

Hey Folks,

I've been tinkering with iOS development for some time now and can currently get games working on my devices. I currently need to start testing on other people's devices (Using adhoc). This is an issue because following the instructions laid out by Stencyl actually causes the app to no longer work (A problem that I've had on a recurring basis for a long time):

"Code Sign error: No matching provisioning profiles found: No provisioning profiles with a valid signing identity (i.e. certificate and private key pair) matching the bundle identifier “com.alexvscoding.blank” were found."

To get games working usually on my iPhone, I export using the development provisioning profile (Contrary to Stencyl's guide) which at least lets me test on my own devices, unlike the above that bears no fruit.

Any help or suggestions with getting adhoc working would be greatly appreciated as it's stopping a lot of my projects from reaching their final stage.

Thanks!

56

Ask a Question / Upgrading Project From 3.1 to 3.3 - Scaling issues with Graphics.

« on: April 23, 2015, 05:10:50 am »

Hey Folks,

Had finished the last update for the Narcissus build and I noticed that the latest version of Stencyl was out. After saving a backup of the game, I opened Narcissus in 3.3 and when I ran the game the graphics failed to scale (but retained their positions). Here's an example of what I mean:

How it should look:

How it actually looks:


It might be worth mentioning that this project has been developed with 3.1 up till this point.

Any help with this would be super handy.

Thanks!

(Logs are Attached)

57

Ask a Question / App keeps crashing/low performance when home button on iPad is pressed . URGENT

« on: January 07, 2015, 03:23:05 pm »

Hey Folks,

Have ironed out all other bugs from Narcissus and prepping for Valentines day release, but there's one bug that refuses to fix. When testing Narcissus on iPad, I've put a piece of code in place to check if the game has been closed (if lose focus, pause game). Whilst it's worked a couple of times (very infrequently), it crashes when the process is repeated. Also performance for the first second or so of gameplay after being unpaused after the app has been re-opened, Narcissus suffers a drop in framerate then returns to normal.

Any suggestions or help with how to address this would be greatly appreciated as I'm on a very, very tight deadline (game needs to be shipped to the app store in less than a week to make the 20 day admin checks).

Thanks,

Alex

58

Ask a Question / Re: Game built on Mac & moved to Windows- Issue Publishing (URGENT - TIGHT DEADLINE)

« on: July 31, 2014, 01:41:57 pm »

Thanks for the support Rob, just wondering why it'd run fine on a mac but not on windows? I've ran CHIGUN on a windows laptop and desktop computer to make sure it wasn't performance of machine and had the same result.
Did the same test on a Macbook Pro and on Mac Desktop computer and both ran without the white screen at the beginning. I'll have a browse around the forum. Can I send you the Stencyl file for the demo to have a look at?

59

Ask a Question / Re: Game built on Mac & moved to Windows- Issue Publishing (URGENT - TIGHT DEADLINE)

« on: July 31, 2014, 10:55:46 am »

Hey folks,

Ran the game and got a full set of logs generated. We tested the game, waited 4 minutes for it to load then played a match. Hopefully something will crop up to explain the delay on startup.

LOGS ATTACHED BENEATH.

Thanks!

60

Journals / CHIGUN - Hungry Hungry Hippos Meets Samurai Gunn.

« on: July 31, 2014, 09:46:02 am »

Chigun is the lovechild of Hungry Hungry Hippos and Samurai Gunn.

CHIGUN is a free for all platformer, pitting a pair of pistol wielding chickens against each other.
Collect bullets by pecking them up from around the battlefield then ricochet
them off the blocks to blast your poultry opponent into giblets.

DOWNLOAD LINK

LATEST FOOTAGE - COMING SOON

----------------------------------------------

Chigun started from me designing aliens for another game whilst on holiday in Austria,
from which a full game has blossomed with local multiplayer and some ridiculous physics.

Upon moving abroad to upstate New York for the summer, my good friend Tyler was thrown
into the fray to bring his crazy art style to the table. We have 4 weeks to finish the game before
I move back home, so expect us posting stuff up daily as we hurry to get the game done!

This is us.



----------------------------------------------

Artwork By Tyler Giordano (Right in Gif)

@tgiordanaught

Game Design By Alex Johansson (Left in Gif)

@alexvscoding

Approximate time we have left to get the game done:

More updates coming soon!

Contact for Press/Youtubers - alexjohansson@hotmail.co.uk