PocketMatrix

Well I thought id use my 100th post to say hi to every one and have a round up of what people are working on at the moment, I find it interesting to see what the community’s up to.

Ive been writing a 2d rigid body physics engine over the last few months for use on handheld platforms, this turned out to be quite difficult as most implementations that id want to use (in terms of physical correctness) are just too slow on fixed point hardware, but its getting there so I should have a demo out over the next few months for people to play with…

So whats everyone up to (screen shots are always nice!)

I've been working on a game engine for 3 months, and the core engine itself is done. GUI, AI, Map, Animation, etc. There are still some things that aren't finished, but for the most part it's not difficult to build a game using it.

I've also been working on a game, both to get published later on and to test the game engine, but unfortunately things have died down quite a bit. Even with a game engine and 12+ page design document explaining the game, storyline, how it works, etc., I've been unable to get a pixel artist to join my one man show. This puts me in a bit of a bind because I can't really continue without the proper sprite animations. I've been using place holders for the most part, but realistically that only goes so far for the game I have planned.

Now I'm currently trying to think of a simple game to build in the mean time, as I'm thinking it'd be easier to find a pixel artist for a small project. Unfortunately I don't have any good game ideas that fit in the "simple" category. Hopefully I can think of something.. only a matter of time I suppose.

In the mean time I've been improving the game engine (increased it by 10 fps so far on the PPC) and working on my design documents.

Here's a screenshot (fairly old) of the game and engine I've been working on:

Working on a game using the fabulous PPL language, since I'm too lazy/inept to learn C. It'll revolutionize* the PPC gaming industry I say! There's actually a proof-of-concept for any of the more specialer people!

*fill a damn needed niche.

I'm finishing right now our next game, it's unnamed yet (I'm trying to come with a worse name than 3D CEdice but it's hard...) but here are some screenshots:

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it's a really weird game :) it's based on pssst, an old Ultimate (now Rare) game where you had to defend a plant from some hungry bugs which tried to eat it.
you could say it's a time crisis /house of the dead with bugs and plants ;)

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once it's finished I'll go for the smartphone version, and once there I think I'll have to do a little stop in the road :(

p.s. the physics engine looks really nice, and specially its name, when planets collide, sounds like a 50s scifi movie ;)

I suggest a whole new thread for people to suggest lousy names for your game Kak

(I was joking when I started typing this, but now...)

Yeah I've tried Pixelation.

Looking for a company is a good idea in theory, as that's what I'm currently doing. Unfortunately there are several downfalls.

- If you don't have any games under your belt, they don't take you seriously.
- If your game isn't already 90% complete, they won't even look at your demo.
- If they're interested, I end up having to wait 2 months before a pixel artist is available. That's 2 months of me sitting around hoping they don't forget about little 'ol me. I'd rather keep looking.

This brings me back to looking for another independant person like myself.

I have run into several things so far:

They're interested BUT...
- they don't know how to do pixel art.
- their pixel art isn't good.
- they flake and don't contact you for over a week.
- they don't take the project seriously and only want to do a sprite if they can get around to it in their spare time.
- they want to turn your game into something it's not.
- they want money up front and won't take percentage.
- their asking price is way too high.

In any case, I don't want to derail your thread here. I'd love to hear some advice (surely there's something I'm doing wrong), but we should probably take this conversation to PM if it goes any further. Otherwise it'll turn into a "how to find a pixel artist" thread, heh.

I'm working on a prototype of a puzzle game idea. I just don't find the time (my day job is killing me).

Anyway, here's a screenshot of the super cool gdi rendered prototype :). I've never done a game on a hex grid before, it's not as easy as it may seems. Next I have to find a way to get a cell neighbourhood table. The AI is done, but I can't test it.

I'm working on a sort of sequel or clone, or whatever to an old game called "Armor Alley". It's like a mix of arcade and strategy game with helicopter under your control. Not much of a strategy, though . But it's gonna be really fun I hope . If only I find a graphics artist..