Universal YYYYY :: A Pixel Arcade Fantasy Story :: Development Blog

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by WhiteSponge, Jun 28, 2014.

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  1. WhiteSponge

    WhiteSponge Well-Known Member

    Hey everyone! My name is David and I craft games as WhiteSponge. I have made Small Chronicles and Folo Hearts. Now I'm ready to start crafting the next game.

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    YYYYY - Day 1 of Crafting
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    Since Folo Hearts is set to be released this coming July 3rd, that means that it’s time for the second 1GAM (One Game A Month) to commence! As with Folo Hearts, this next game will have a focus on simplicity, but with a twist.

    And as with Folo Hearts, I would always go back to the paper and pencil combination for helping me brainstorm and sketch.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    If you look at the sketches, you might be able to figure out how the game plays out. And if you do, you might then be wondering… What is that about? Why is the game’s background dropping on top of your character?

    Let me ask you a question. Have you ever felt that there were times when you were under a lot of stress? Now imagine if the world above was falling down on you. How does that sound?

    [​IMG]


    And that is my inspiration for YYYYY. Why is the game called YYYYY? Well I will leave that to your intepretation.

    As mentioned before, in YYYYY, the game’s background will drop on your character. To prevent that from happening, each colored background will have its own close button at its edge.

    [​IMG]


    Tapping on the orange close button will allow you to close the background that it is in. But just as there are many things in life that can be stressful, there are also many different colored backgrounds that will require you to close them.

    Pretty unusual gameplay right? You can also say that it is a manifestation of a person’s mental state. While there are many things that could fall on you, there are also things that you could do to prevent that from happening.

    And so that’s day one of crafting YYYYY. Be sure to subscribe to this thread for more blog posts on YYYYY’s progress!
     
  2. WhiteSponge

    WhiteSponge Well-Known Member

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    YYYYY - Day 10 of Crafting
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    As mentioned in the previous post, YYYYY is a fantasy and rather abstract world where you can close backgrounds that are falling on you ~ So here’s what has been going on behind-the-scenes for the past few days.

    [​IMG]


    As I am still relatively inexperienced with using Unity, I estimate that crafting YYYYY would take me at least 2 weeks (at least to deploy to both iOS and Android).

    [​IMG]


    For starters, I have added the words “Game Over” to appear when a colored background falls and crashes on you.

    [​IMG]


    The game can now also be restarted without having to stop and run it again. When it’s game over, tapping on the “Play” button now allows you to play another session of YYYYY.

    [​IMG]


    And if you are wondering about the “Share” button, it allows you to share your YYYYY game replays with your friends and family.

    https://everyplay.com/videos/6861222

    So if you want to compare your score or background closing skills with your friends, hit that share button like you have never done before!

    On top of that, did you notice that the game now also has ambient music and sound effects? To complement the abstract and fantasy setting of YYYYY, the background now plays an ambient music. If you compare with the usual background music, this approach allows you to have that imaginary or abstract mood while playing YYYYY.

    While it seems as if YYYYY is almost done, there are currently no incentive(s) for beating your own high score. So adding incentive(s) at the end of the game and preparing for publishing to the various app stores is next on the priority list.

    Be sure to subscribe to and check back this thread for the next blog update on YYYYY!
     
  3. WhiteSponge

    WhiteSponge Well-Known Member

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    YYYYY - Day 13 of Crafting
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    Taking what I have learnt from making Small Chronicles and Folo Hearts, making YYYYY an easy to pick up game seems like the wise thing to do ~ However, my inner devil always seem to kick in when I’m trying to balance the game’s difficulty.

    [​IMG]


    So if you are wondering, how does one balance the difficulty of a game like YYYYY? With YYYYY, you have to close the falling backgrounds to get a point. Therefore, here’s what I did to make the game more challenging for you.

    With Physics
    As each of the falling backgrounds are treated as real life objects in the abstract world of YYYYY, they do actually have mass or weight. As such, they can indeed be affected by gravity.

    So through modifying the physics in the world of YYYYY, the game can indeed be made even more challenging. Each falling background has a gravity scale that is essentially how much it is affected by gravity.

    By default, each background starts from a gravity scale of 1. However, to make it easy for you to pick up the game during your 1st play session, I have made it so that it starts from a gravity scale of 0.25.

    This means that the first few backgrounds will fall rather slowly. However, the gravity scale will also be increased with each passing second. In other words, things will get fast rather quickly.

    This is the code that literally increases the gravity scale
    [​IMG]


    Incentive(s)
    Now I am sure that you would agree that trying to beat your own high score is an incentive in itself. More complex games would definitely reward you with gold or gems for doing that. However, a simple and abstract game like YYYY would not go in that direction.

    [​IMG]


    Did you notice the small “you” standing on top of your score? Yup that is your star right there. Getting a higher score will get you more of that so there’s definitely an appeal in doing so.

    [​IMG]


    So what do you think? Do you like the unusual gameplay that YYYY has to offer? Be sure to check back for some new behind-the-scenes game development footage!
     
  4. WhiteSponge

    WhiteSponge Well-Known Member

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    YYYYY - Day 19 of Crafting
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    It has been almost 6 days but YYYYY has been submitted to the iOS App Store. Now I just have to wait for it to get approved!

    While that happens, here's a little behind-the-scene to show how I craft various parts of YYYYY.

    I will post the release date of YYYYY when it gets approved!

    Enjoy! :D

     
  5. WhiteSponge

    WhiteSponge Well-Known Member

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    YYYYY - Day 28 of Crafting
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    If you were wondering why there hasn't been any news about YYYYY, then you don't have to do so anymore ~ That's because YYYYY's release date for both iOS/Android has been set!

    After a few weeks of crafting the abstract and rather minimalistic game that YYYYY is, it is finally time to reveal the release date!

    [​IMG]


    Since it is a rather easy date to remember, YYYYY will be released on both iOS/Android on this coming 8th August! That is exactly 2 weeks from now!

    Now while waiting for YYYYY's release, there are a few things that you could do and enjoy during these 2 weeks.

    YYYYY Release Trailer



    While it is just a simple trailer, it has a hidden message to it. Can you guess what it is?

    WhiteSponge's new Live Stream! (Via TwitchTV)

    If you have not seen the previous blog post, then this might be new to you. WhiteSponge will be live streaming every Monday, Thursday and Saturday from 8pm to 11pm EST.

    If you have only seen a few behind-the-scenes videos that I have posted on YouTube, then you will want to see game crafting/development done live. Here's a quick recorded version and highlight of the first live stream that was done on this Monday.



    I will be kick-starting this live stream with making a new game called Booommm! If you want to find out more about Booommm, then be sure to catch the live stream!

    Lastly, remember the date with YYYYY on 8.8.2014!
     
  6. september

    september Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2012
    2,673
    0
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    Nice concept, good luck with it _b
     
  7. WhiteSponge

    WhiteSponge Well-Known Member

    Thanks september! Hope you will enjoy the game as much as I did making it (when it comes out that is) :D
     
  8. WhiteSponge

    WhiteSponge Well-Known Member

    It's been a short while but YYYYY is coming soon in only 4 days!

    So to celebrate the game's upcoming release, YYYYY is having a pre-release "Get Your Hands On The Game Before Anyone Else" giveaway!

    [​IMG]

    And only 8 winners will be selected!

    To win the giveaway, just use your Twitter to tweet out the following:

    Gimme some of that #YYYYY fun now! I want to play it before everyone else!

    Remember, only 8 people will win so tweet right away!

    The winners will be randomly picked and will be sent the promo codes!
     
  9. WhiteSponge

    WhiteSponge Well-Known Member

    Not 4 or 6 but 5 Y's!

    With less than 24 hours, YYYYY is also mentioned by Rob from Today In iOS's podcast!

    Click on this link to visit the page -> http://tii.libsyn.com/tii-item-0315-ios-8-beta-4

    Thank you Rob!

    Can't wait till you get pissed off from playing YYYYY! *evil grin*
     
  10. WhiteSponge

    WhiteSponge Well-Known Member

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