Xmas Bonus now for sale!

OK people here it is! It's finally hit the virtual shelves, wish me luck and tell your friends (especially the casual game lovers!), thanks!

http://www.cloverleafgames.com/game.php?id=1025

Min Specs: 500MHz, 64Mb RAM, 800x600x32bit colour, DirectX 1, Win 98/ME/XP, 10Mb Disk Space, Sound Card (recommended)






Fancy an XMAS BONUS? Then download this festive puzzle game from Grey Alien Games. Line up the seasonal shapes against winter snowscape backgrounds, but don't chill out too much or the candle will burn out before you've cleared the grid. Swap shapes to score points with the help of exploding puddings, shooting stars and crazy crackers, topped off with some of your favourite Yuletide tunes. Come and join the festive fun!

Features:

# Seasonal fun
# Addictive gameplay
# 100 levels
# Crazy bonus items
# Boss Key!

No comments after 3 hours? Shame on you Blitz community! ;) Even though I know there's another thread full of praise for this. hehe :)

Just wanted to say a hearty well done to Grey Alien for finishing his first retail game! I wish you all the best with this, and hope you manage to make some cash. I have some free time tomorrow night, so plan to have a go of this (and Matty's Gauntlet demo).

Well done mate ! A bit of pressure I bet trying to get it done before Christmas. I wish you many festive sales !

Thanks Avon, I was worried too and going to bump but you sorted it out! Hope you enjoy it.

Smiff: Yeah there was quite a lot of pressure; I already had a game engine in place but got given the idea of making a Christmas version only Mid Oct so had to bust a gut to convert all the graphics, music etc and then finish the entire game off inc. bonuses, instructions, 100 levels + loads and loads of minor stuff. I have a 22 page to do, 6 pages of it remain unfinished, maybe for V2 ;-)

Good work! Always a pleasure to see a completed game.

Wait! You mean i have to PAY for my Christmas Bonus? You lil stinker!



haha.


Excelent work indeed Grey!

Cyg: 'fraid so. Play it, you'll get addicted, honest! (or are you already?)

Tell you what finishing a game is really hard, that's why I made 4 free games first, but to release it needs SO much work and stress. You also have to be hyper critical of your own work yet temper this with a realism that says "yeah but there's no way I can do that in time". A very good exercise for sure which hopefully gives me the skills for more games! yay!

I wrote a puzzle game that was sort of a 3D pair matching type of game, totally finished the game and set about putting the front end on it. After two attempts (and not being particularly happy with either), I then discovered something about my game - it was boring as hell! So it sits on my hard drive, 99% finished and unseen by the world - thankfully. LOL

You'd hate being me. the reason some of my stuff doesn't get completed is that i'm always unhappy with something. I only recently started doing the "I'd love to do this. *But I have no time*" :) Good tip there mate!

Avon: that's a sad story, maybe make it better and release it?

Cyg: Yeah, the realism tip is something you learn in business (well not everyone does!), but it's vital really with any large project. Get the big important stuff done then focus on nice tweaks that you can do that really add something.

I should, I know, but it's coded to be a pair matching type game (in 3D! woo...) and it would take almost the same effort to turn it into something playable as it would to just start writing a new game!

Anyway, I had no intention of hijacking this thread. This is about your game, which I will be playing tonight, once I get home from work (where I am now). I'll post later tonight with my thoughts. Don't worry, I'll be gentle. ;)

Avon, That sounds like Doom3! :P



75% of the people who hang out here might be thinking about the same person about now ^.^;;

Hey Grey... you git! ;)

I was on level 7... JUST about to complete it and I was dropped to desktop. That hour went too fast!

A fantastic game - truly one of the most enjoyable puzzlers I've played in a long time. I can't really fault it, but if I'm being ultra critical then there are just four things:

[1] The "Grey Alien presents" screen at the very start seemed very out of place for a puzzle game. It looked and sounded more like I was about to go into a sci-fi game!

[2] The "jingle bells" tune got on my nerves a bit, BUT all the others were spot on - pleasant tunes, nicely playing in the background.

[3] I don't like being able to restart levels indefinitely, it's just a personal thing. I'd rather have three lives or credits, or something like that. Maybe you do? As I only restarted a few levels once, 'cos I run out of time, I'm not sure.

[4] Please warn people before dropping back to desktop! Just a "Trial time up!" message box with an "OK" button would suffice. For a second I thought the game had crashed.

Now for the plus points:

[1] Very clear, colourful graphics - each symbol is clearly defined and makes it easy to play.

[2] Although there are only a few, the sound FX are perfect. Nice "pops" when the tiles vanish, and so on.

[3] Nice overall presentation (aside from the previously mentioned intro screen).

[4] Simple but compelling gameplay. Really good fun, and a enjoyable sense of panic as the candle is burning down!

[5] Good powerups that come in handy, but don't make the game too easy.

[6] I only saw the first seven levels, but it's good they are varied and not the same pattern over and again. Some puzzle games have the same level endlessly, but just speed up the gameplay or something. Your design means you can have trickier levels, with tiles that are awkward to match up.

Whew. I had better stop there! If I had more money then I would buy it in a flash - something I may well do if I get my end of year bonus this year.

VERY good work Grey! A great game which deserves to do well.

I instructed the wrapper to Nuke the application after 60 mins so there is no polite message warning you - had this been a windowed app it could have been made more friendly..

I'll talk to Grey about some integration with the wrapper, that'll at least give some warnings in game.

Hmm, yeah OK Tim, as several people thought it crashed this needs to be sorted after all as it may leave a bad impression so ignore my "maybe" email OK, send me the sh*t ASAP.

Avon: Really good feedback, thanks a lot. I know wha tyou mean about my logo, it was originally on more arcadey games but feels a bit to "hard code" now, I'll look into it. Sorry about jingle bells lol. Later on you'll be glad of the restart believe me. I was thinking of lives originally as I'm of the spectrum/C64 school but most modern games don't have the. Also if you died, all you would do is start the game again and select the last level you go to which defeats the point of lives (sort of). Also because there can't be a slighty random element to the game, it could be unfair to penalise the player. I see your point but may not change that thanks anway. Ask you can see in my above comment I'd better make a warning. Were you playing the proper retail demo or the beta? Anyway glad you love it, I'm flattered, lovely plus points. I really worked on getting the sound good but not annoying, Tim helped with the graphics and the are easy to see and match and my levels are designed to lead you into the game. Level 8 has a different bonus item on it, the paintbrush! The most useful bonus item of all. Anyway, if you get an Xmas Bonus the buy my Xmas Bonus ;-)

The beta. I really should have downloaded the proper demo, but assumed they were pretty much the same.

Fair points, maybe there should be a score penalty instead? As far as I understand it, your score is simply reset to what it was before you started the level (obviously not when using the level select feature). This doesn't reward skilled players who can go many levels without using a restart.

Maybe a score deduction like (current level * 250) would be good? I had about 13000 (I think) on level 7, so restarting would have cost me 1750, which is enough to be a penalty, but wouldn't destroy your hard earned score.

LOL - I didn't see the irony of what I said until you posted that!

nah waht you didn't see was my clever marketing ploy by naming the game something that people want ;-). Score thing noted, it might make it into a future version. But whereas 250*level seems a good idea initially, at level 100 you'd loose 25,000 points! and those end levels are really quite hard.

Oh yeah... hehe

Well, you get what I mean, even if you need a better algorithm. :)

Hey everyone I made a sale! wooo.

Congratulations Grey! :)

When you purchase the game, do you get free updates for life, or just for version 1.xx? Or none at all? I am really keen on this penalty for restarting idea (even if it's a small penalty), and if you decide to implement this in a future release, I wonder if I'd get the update for free? *grin*

Speaking of the startup screen -- I realize that you've used that same b&w Grey Alien logo for some time, but graphically it looks really out of place with the rest of the game.

I think the name itself is fine, but you may want to redesign the logo a little so it looks less like it was done in mspaint? Especially since it's one of the very first things people see, it's important to make it look good.

Personally I didn't really make the 'it sounds like it's going to be a sci-fi game'-jump that Avon mentioned above, but I guess if that is something you are worried about you could always change that perception a little by saying something like "Grey Alien Productions(*)" (software/entertainment/studios/whatever) presents..." instead, making it sound more like a larger entity than a single person.

To clarify, I didn't mean the sound of the name "Grey Alien", I meant the sound effect played while that screen is displayed. It was like an eerie sci-fi sound, which I didn't think fitted a cheerful puzzle game! This was in the beta, I assume the sound effect was also in the retail demo?

Avon: Buy = Free updates for life of course. But if I make a sequal such as XMAS Bonus 2.0 and it's completely different then no. But I plan to update this game but what I can't gaurantee is anyones ideas will make it in, although the penalty seems a good idea.

Yeah I might kill the sound for now and only keep it on the more hardcore games.

I've made a thread about the logo here:

http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=54068

oops wrong forum

Avon. Added in a -1000 points penalty ANY TIME you restart a level, this is pretty fair I think. This is in V1.01 which has been sent to the publisher, don't know when it will be online, but I expect another sale from you then ;-)

In fact here's the version release notes:

V1.01:

- New Grey Alien Games splash screen logo and sound
- Bigger candle flame with slower animation and 3 frames.
- Anti-aliased text on leaf dialog.
- Improved Score and Level font.
- As well as your score resetting, you now loose 1000 points
if you restart a level!

I'm really pleased with the new splash thing, makes the intro seem more pro. Thanks to all for input, now wait for V1.02!

Nice one Grey - it's a bit hard though! Quite addictive so I'll play some more and improve. [EDIT] I'm improving. ;-)

The Game Over font with the flame-like colours doesn't suit the style of game though - just change the colour to a Christmas Tree green or something. And the candle flame could do with some anti-aliasing - or at least some extra shades.

V1.01 uploaded.

Thanks Steve. The candle flame is improved in V1.01. I know what you mean about game over, I jsut gotta find the time to do that an a million other mini tweaks. Anyway tell your relatives, get them to buy :-)

btw, it's been accepted by Big Fish Games and Reflexive Arcade too! More to follow!

That's what I was waiting to hear!

Nuts to waiting to see if I get an end of year bonus... I need to put my money where my mouth is and purchase this excellent game - which I just did. :)

Deservedly so - great stuff Grey!

Wow, cool thanks Avon! Hope you enjoy the game, in fact I know you will, be careful though it's VERY addictive :-)

V1.02 is on the way soon with these improvements:

- Added background to Level Select screen, changed cursor colour, and made highlighted box lighter.
- Added static bonuses to levels 1 and 2.
- Level name is now shown at bottom of screen.
- Candle flame no longer animates when game is paused.
- Removed "Remember" from leaf dialog at start of level 1.
- Show Portal Splash ini flag added.
- Cloverleaf Games demo is now limited to 8 levels.

About time too Grey... it's been at least ten minutes since your last update! ;)

I look forward to playing this tomorrow (no time today, unfortunately) but suspect I will have to set myself a time limit! It is addictive, I can vouch for that. I really didn't want to stop playing when the demo timed out!

Just as a matter of interest, were you in full-screen of windowed mode when the demo (or was it beta) timed out, and what happened exactly, did it just dump you to the desktop with no warning or did you get a message or did it go back to the Indiepath wrapper (starting window with "Buy" on)? In theory this will change now as the user won't be able to play beyond level 8 but won't get rudely booted out, but next time they load if 60 minutes are gone, they won't be able to get back in.

I had to boot my partner, Helen, off my game at 1am so I could get some more code done!

Problably no more updates until next week now as I have to earn some money with my "proper" job (Delphi contract work), yawn. I really hope this game does well so I can start making them full-time!

LOL - Whilst playing the demo, my wife was leaning over my shoulder pointing out stuff I could match. That is, until I went into childish mode and said "you're spoiling it for me - I want to do it myself!". Pathetic huh? hehe... at least we can take turns to play it now I've bought it.

I was playing full screen, in the beta, and it just dumped me to desktop. That was it - no window appeared or anything. I then tried to reload it, and a window popped up saying my trial had expired, and gave me the option of putting in a key (I think). I then stood up and yelled "Grey... I'll get you for this if it's the last thing I dooooooooooo!" whilst shaking my fist in the air. Ok, I made that last bit up. :)

LOL @ "Grey... I'll get you for this if it's the last thing I dooooooooooo!"

I was telling Helen, match this and that and she got peed of too, esp. when I go "tut" as she makes a dumb moves and misses a really good match. Also after she tried a level for like 4 times I'd say "give us a go" and do it with >50% of candle remaining just to make her sick. In the end I decided to shut up though!

Thanks for th info.

V1.2 is out now! Just download and install over the same version, it won't overwrite the highscore or the unlocked levels.

Jake, do you have MSN?

Michael Reitzenstein: No I'm afraid not, I have Skype or email. How come?

I wanted to add you... I guess your lack of a chat client explains your finished projects!

lol, yeah but the Blitz Forums don't help, I spend too much time in here. At least I learn cool stuff as well.

Hey grey,
Nice game - nice music.

Now, my wife is addicted!!!!

;-)

Good job.

sampyxis: Thanks, the music is either a love or hate kinda thing with most people, like Marmite! Well if you need a present for your wife for Christmas ...