You don’t know how bad I wanted this post to be on April 1st, just for shits n’ giggles, but hey, what are ya gonna do?

But that’s right, Defective is finally out in the wild.  Go play it and tell me what you think.

A big thanks to Andy over at ShootingGamesFree.org for sponsoring the game.  Defective will be exclusively hosted on his game site for the next few days before it’s available on sites like Newgrounds / Kongregate.

As most of you know, I started Defective back in May 2011 where it was a completely different-looking game for a quite a while (I even uploaded a few videos of me drawing the characters, here’s one of them).  Then, after I had my spine ripped out, I completely scrapped it, started anew, and finished the project somewhere around September 2011.  Here are a few of the selling points:

• 12 levels of shoot-em-up action… in space!
• 3 intense boss fights.
• 5 beautiful, custom-made music tracks just for this game!
• Storyline with a beginning and ending cutscene.
• 5 different upgrade types to find, 2 in each level.
• 5 different enemy types, not including 4 smaller “minion” enemies and 2 “turret” enemies.
• The player can transform into any of the main enemy types after destroying and absorbing 3 of their “souls.”
• Particles, particles everywhere.
• Achievements, who doesn’t like achievements?
• Save / load functionality with 2 separate “save slots,” players can pick up from where they left off later!
• Beautiful and polished graphics.

Speaking of selling points, another shout-out to Dave Fleming for scoring all of the music in Defective.

Alright, that’s it, go play the game already.

Hey all you people.

Just a quick post to tell you that the animation I’ve been working on and off of for the past two weeks is done.  I really gave it my all in terms of the animation and backgrounds and I’m really proud of the outcome.  Even the NewGrounds reveiws seem to enjoy it, as they’re all positive feedback (which is rare, lolol).

You can also go view it on the actual Youtube page if you’re so inclined, or even on NewGrounds (vote 5 please – it helps).

Like I’ve said before, I already have the ideas for the next three episodes, and since they’re all going to be short skits like this (about a minute long) there’s no reason I won’t be able to do it.  I plan on beginning episode two over the weekend.

Alright, back to doing other stuff.

Hey all you people, here are some more updates from me, Ralph!

Defective

Defective has been sponsored.  Expect it to be released any day now (I’ll of course announce it all over this site as well as on my Twitter page) – all I’m waiting on is the sponsor to send me the assets to brand the game with.  I can’t wait to finally get this game done with and released, it’s going to do great!

Animation

The untitled animation I’ve been working on in my spare time over the past week or two is practically finished.  All that’s left is for me to draw the background for the final scene and add sounds / music.

It’ll be released on both NewGrounds and Youtube sometime later this week.

Android Stuff

I could probably finish that animation today (I worked all day on it yesterday) but I’m probably going to leave it be for at least a day or two.  This is mainly because I want to get back to focusing on my Beginning Android Games book and start getting a grasp on Open GL ES.  It’s a pretty hairy topic from what I understand, but to make the games I want to make, it’s necessary to understand Open GL ES and its advantage over typical CPU-powered graphics.

Anyway, so those are my plans for the next few days – Android stuff, animation completion / release, and Defective release!

Alright, lot’s of stuff to talk about, so let’s jump in.

Animation released!

Well, not one of my animations, but still.  My friend-with-benefits, Brandon, finally got around to finishing his second Flash animation after a year of me yelling at him to stop procrastinating (or something like that).

It’s a tribute to some small game titled “Alan Wake” or something and is available for your viewing pleasure on both NewGrounds and Youtube.  Go check it out and rate 5 / thumb it up, it’s definitely NewGrounds front-page material and I expect to see it there in the coming days.

Edit – It’s already front-paged, very nice!

Defective coming soon!

Bidding on Defective ends today, and as of right now it looks like I have a sponsor.  What does that mean?  That means expect to play that damn game any day now – it just now depends on when the sponsor wants to release it!

My animation update.

As some of you know from last week’s post, I’ve been working on a small skit animation in my free time.  As of right now, I’d say it’s somewhere around 70% done, but the toughest part lies directly ahead of me (animation-wise).  Here’s a screenshot to give you an idea of what it looks like.

I already have a tentative title for the series (again, all small 1 – 2 minute episodes) and have ideas for episodes 2, 3, and 4.  Expect more updates (and possibly even a release) later this week!

What about some game updates?

There was no Weekly Game Update post this week mainly because there are no real “active” projects being worked on.  I’m currently learning the ins-and-outs of Java, the Eclipse IDE, and programming with the Android SDK.

I have to give a tip of my hat to Mario Zechner, the author of the book I purchased, “Beginning Android Games.”  It’s a really well-written book with clear and concise topics and examples covering nearly every aspect of developing native (Java) games for Android.

Honestly, before this book arrived in the mail, I obviously tried to go about figuring all of this stuff online.  Take it from me, it’s just not the same and is definitely not as comprehensive as having everything laid out on paper right in front of you.  I highly recommend his book to anyone getting started with Android (though not necessarily anyone just getting started with game development / Java in general, as the book does require you to understand certain things in order to build from it).

And that’s about it.  This is my final week of classes before Spring break next week, so once this week is over I intend on doing nothing but watching TV getting some major work done.  So once again, go check out Brandon’s animation on NewGrounds and / or Youtube and give him some props.

Hello and welcome to the new home of Weekly Game Update posts – Monday mornings!  Why the change?  Well, in hindsight, it seems I get 80% of the weekly work done on my projects over the weekend, so I figure I’ll post updates about game progress after all that progress has been made, not smack in-between on Sunday mornings.

Anyway, the funny thing is, this past week was the exception to the rule.  I got a lot of work done over the course of the week, but once the weekend came, I just couldn’t get myself into gear (plus I felt pretty crappy for whatever reason).

But first, a quick note about Defective – the Quick Auction I activated on FlashGameLicense has 8 days left, so in about a week expect a definite release date (it’s funny how it’s almost been one whole year since I started that game).

Alright, into the good stuff.

Accomplished:

• Animated all of the Player’s sprites.
• Added functionality for the “special attack” button.
• Added more functionality to the buttons on the HUD, all are pressable and work.  The added meter next to the “Special Attack” button accurate shows the recharge progress.

Now, this upcoming week is going to be a little odd, for a few reasons.  I may not get any work done (in fact, I may go backwards in terms of progress) but I feel it’s for the best in the long-term.  Here’s why:

Learning About Native Android Development

I’ve always wanted to program a game in Java and since native Android development using the Android SDK is all done in Java, I figure this would be the best time to start.  It’s not like it will be difficult to learn (it’s practically identical to AS3), but it will take some getting used to.  Plus, from what I understand, this will give me greater control over my apps plus better performance when it comes to more intense graphic usage.

As a result, I’m going to put everything on hold and start focusing all of my efforts into learning this stuff.  Once I feel I’m ready, I’m going to port Kill the Bad Things over to Java and resume progress.

Animation in the Works

I’ve been working on a small animation that I plan to be nearly finished with by the end of this week.  It’s short – a little over a minute in its completion, and it’s all frame-by-frame animation.  It’s going to be episode one of a little series I have planned – all short skits.  I already have the perfect ideas for episodes two and three.  More news on this next week, though.

A New Project

The main reason I made the transition to developing Android games was to jump into a new niche and create a few games for younger children (eg – no words, very simple).  Why?  Well, I feel this could be somewhat profitable if I can create decent-enough games, and this incoming cash-flow will help me to work on my other, bigger projects (such as Kill the Bad Things and my other browser-based Flash games).

This weekend, I finally came up with a solid idea for my first toddler-game, and since it’s so simple, it would normally take me approximately a week or two to finish.  However, I feel this would be the perfect opportunity to learn native Android development (in Java), so I’m going to put everything on hold while I simultaneously develop this game and learn the ins-and-outs of developing games using the Android SDK.