more on puzzle game

Hey! It's been a while since my last update, since I've been quite busy with some university assignments and work. Some news on the computer connectivity puzzle game!

I've completed the code for virus expansion through the network. When you click the '*' button, you are no longer allowed to rotate pieces, and the virus starts to creep through the cables. (as usual, graphics suck, but I'll take care of that in the future...)

Note how the connected PCs get infected, and how virus only reaches the sections of the network which are connected to the originally infected host.

I've also added score calculation based on the proportion of the network which ends infected and the amount of computers taken. And after you press the button and watch the virus take the network, a new level is loaded (I should probably add an intermediate screen showing score for that level and some extra info). I'm thinking of a possible game mechanic which is basically that the player must solve as many levels as possible in a fixed amount of time (say, 2 minutes). There will also be a "Relaxed Mode" where you can play without the time ticking behind, but I think it would be fun to have something like a global leader-board for the fastest solvers! :)

Oh! Another important development: I've decided the game will include music from DoKashiteru. They have generously released some great tunes under Creative Commons License, so go check them out and tell me if you like any in particular. Some of their best, which I'm planning to include in the game:

• 5
• one thousand six hundred tracks
• The Annual New England Xylophone Symposiym

and the real MASTERPIECE:

Yiourgh

Please let me know what you think!! Thanks for reading

New puzzle game

OK, some days ago I started a logic puzzle game, and today I decided to push it forward. It still doesn't have a name, so be welcome to recommend one. 

The (not-so-original) idea is to connect a set of computers in a network by rotating switches. The first thing I needed was a way of generating a random network of computers. I used something very like good old Kruskal for the connections, and got pretty nice results from the start :).

Adding computers to this useless network is a matter of just selecting some random nodes, and voilà:

Graphics are just for the prototype, I'll get proper ones before releasing the game, of course. The next and last step in generating the initial board is to randomly spin each tile so that the player has to figure out the original configuration by rearranging them. Here's the result: (I also increased board size in this one)

OK, so next was the tedious work of mapping the user's touch into a single tile, but after some hours of maths and testing I nailed it, alright. I also figured that no one would be able to select each individual tile with his huge finger (in relation to the tile's size, hehe), so I decided to increase the tiles and to test it on a real device. I also added a special computer, which I call "mother server", hehe. I think the idea of the game will be to rearrange connections so that the green virus infects all the computers of the network, or something like that... 

Anyway, that's all. I hope to finish this game before November, although I'm not very optimistic about it.  Oh, if you think of a name for this game, please tell me because I'm quite clueless on that...

short update

Last week I was sick and couldn't make any progress on games. I had to spend all my workable hours in boring web development for clients.

Anyway, now I'm OK, and work is progressing. I've been developing the accelerometer-based angle system for shooting in String Wars I talked about in the previous post, but couldn't really see if it's working because I don't have an iPhone or iPod to test it yet.

I'll be advancing on a puzzle game about connecting computers in a network, parallel to String Wars. It's a pretty simple idea, but I think It'll be fun. I'll keep you updated. Thanks for reading!