zaterdag 19 september 2009

the content is DONE!!

Okay, it took me some time to write a new blog post. But I had a good reason; Flipper development is going hard and fast! As of today basically all the content is done (I get 2 more songs on Monday, and I need to put in some translations) but all the graphics and levels are DONE.

I’m really happy and relieved right now. As some of you know I started school at the beginning of September, and I’m developing Flipper! at night. For the last few weeks I didn’t sleep more than 3 hours a night.

And now it’s basically done. And I’m so happy with the levels and how the game turned out. For the first time in my life I actually like to play my own game! Normally I don’t play my own games because I know all the levels and AI code by hearth. So it isn’t fun.

But in Flipper! there are just so many ways to complete a level or get a higher score. A wasted so many testing time on breaking my own high scores.

The high score is defined through the following parameters : how many items are left over in the level, how many enemies you killed and if you collected a star.

Combine this with the big freedom the powerups give you (you really can use the powerups everywhere). And the fact that you can improve your platform skills (i.e. get the timing just right so you can pass between two enemies). The platform skills aren’t necessary to complete a level but they do help if you want to get a really good score.

Also the guys from sonic picnic (http://www.sonicpicnic.nl/) have provided the audio for Flipper! and I must say, it’s awesome. Especially the different songs for each theme. It really captures the atmospheres of the worlds. And they sound darn catchy as well!

Next week consists of cleaning up the code and making sure the game follows all the rules of Nintendo. Then the game can be send to Nintendo for testing where it hopefully passes and gets added to the store/channel.

Also next week, I will make an official statements regarding the game and publisher (and hopefully release info). I will probably add some new visuals (the new logo is AWESOME!) and screenshots.