Heres a couple of screen grabs from my current work in progress game for the iPhone and iPad. Its still pretty early in development but its already pretty playable (even on an old 2G iPod). I dont even have a name for the game yet (thinking of either Flip Tunnel or Tunnel Runner but if anyone has any better ideas). Im guessing its only about 30% done (thats from the features for the game) at the moment and doesnt include any real polish and theres still a lot of work to be done on the level progression of the game. Basically its a random running / jumping / dodging style game done in 3D and Im planning on having some basic RPG style character progression to improve the players abilities. The reason for showing the screen grabs so early is that Im hoping it will get peoples interest in the game, get some feedback (good or bad) back from it which will help to increase my motivation (coming back home after a hard day of work, during these cold dark nights just makes me want to hibernate) and if I can get some good word of mouth, all the better as its the first game Ive done all by myself and it can really be rough going sometimes. All been well Im aiming for getting the game out for Christmas if everything goes smoothly so Ill also be looking for some beta testers soon if anyone is interested? Thanks for reading. Mike.
Thanks Yeah. Great! Can you PM me your e-mail address and I'll e-mail you back and when I've got something up to a stage I'm happy to let people lose on I'll send you a build of it. I'm based in the UK by the way so if I'm a bit slow at responding, it's 'cos I'm either a sleep or at work (or both ) Cheers, Mike.
Lookin' good! I'd be interested in helping you test if I'm available when the time comes. In the meantime, keep going, and don't get discouraged! Bringing a great game you can be proud of into the world is worth the patience and effort it takes to make it happen.
Thanks. I'm hoping to hit alpha in about two weeks time as long as I don't hit any major problems (fairly new at coding so I can get tripped up on the simplest of things sometimes ). I'll definitely post asking for testers when I've got something I'm happy to let people lose on it Thanks, Mike.
Great. If you PM me your e-mail address I'll let you know when there's something to play. Thanks, Mike
That's not Tunnel Runner. THIS... ...is Tunnel Runner. One of my favourite 2600 games ever. This game looks good graphically, but seems primarily like yet another tunnel obstacle course.
Great. PM your e-mail address and I'll let you know when I have a build ready to send out (looking two weeks from now). Thanks, Mike.
I've never seen that before. Graphically looks pretty good for an Atari 2600 game (I had the old fake wooden effect one when I was a kid (loved Empire Strikes Back and Spider-Man on it) and the little black joysticks that came with it lasted forever). So was it something like 3D Maze or Midi Maze? Yeah, the game is pretty much an obstacle game I guess, but I'm hoping to get a few new ideas in the game as well. I've got a few ideas, but what seems good on paper doesn't always work out been fun in real life
It's actually a real time version of this model, but I think the real time model looks better It's just your generic slightly manga'ish character that I could get to fit well in a 32x32 pixel grid for another game I did I would love to say that there was some big arty thing behind it, but there isn't. I picked the colours so that they stood out and you could tell the arms from the legs and it didn't look to strange for the screen resolution for the game it was going in, which at the time was old java mobile games, so you where looking at 16*16 pixel blocks. I liked the character enough to use him again. Cheers, Mike.
Yeah, it was a 3D maze. Technologically quite impressive for the time (used CBS' RAMPlus+ system) but also quite an enjoyable game that could get very tense at times. Your mention of MIDI maze also tells me you were an Atari head like me. Well, it'll be interesting to see what you do with it. Being that it's on foot changes things, it'll just be interesting to see how.
Yeah, as a kid, I grew up with most of the computers / consoles at the time (never had any of the 8bit Atari computer thou, which was a shame because the arcade ports always looked amazing on them). Midi Maze was one of the first linked up games I ever played I think (that or Stunt Car). The game itself is controlled a bit like Tempest (tilt the device to rotate the screen), but you can also run upside down (on the centre pipe) by tapping the screen so you have two levels to work on, which still keeps the game simple, but adds an extra element to the game and it feels like just enough freedom while youre playing the game. For me personally, I like iPhone games that are fairly quick and short, but also have lots of replay value. Just like the old arcade games did form the 80s. If I can also add in elements that reward the player for constantly keep coming back to the game, all the better (thats partly where I want to add the basic RPG elements to the game). Basically, I just want to make a game thats fast and fun to play for myself and hopefully that will mean other people will like it as well. Thanks, Mike.
Thanks, the graphics need to be for when the game starts to pick up speed Give me a shout in about two weeks time and I should have something close to an Alpha build ready to play with. Thanks, Mike.
Couple of new screens Hello, Just another quick post to show a bit more progress. Most of the work is stuff cant be shown via screen shots (audio code, a few bug fixes and little tweaks and pokes), but here is a couple of screen shots from one of the boulder sections with a few particles thrown in for good measure. Actually, it appears that I can use a lot more particles then I was expecting (even on a 2nd Gen iPod the frame rate is pretty solid) so thats give me an idea for a few more obstacles and traps I can throw into the game. It looks a lot better when its moving and all you can see are dust trails with the sounds of boulders rolling past you (I dont want to go to Indiana Jones, but Im going to have plenty of fun with the obstacles). Screens have been scaled down (by half) from the iPhone 4 screen grabs so its a better matchscreen size area when viewed on a computer screen (and it keeps the download size a lot smaller). Im coming up with a lot more ideas now for the game which I think will really take it to the next level and enhanced the game play a lot. Ive also included a game logo mock up for the game, but Im going to need to change the name as theres already a game called Tunnel Runner on the App Store (should of checked first I guess ). Any feedback is always welcome of course and Ive not forgotten the people that have asked to be tester (as soon as theres something solid to play with (sorry that sounds dodgy) Ill be in touch). Right back to downloading the new iOSs (taking ages) . Thanks, Mike.