New project

We haven't had much ready yet but still keep making ideas for new games. Now we have something new to show.

We made Flappy Skimmer Ride with Construct 2 and it seemed to be a good way to make simple games. I wanted to make an iOS-game and Gamesalad seems to be better to that.

Skimmer game was inspired by Space Quest I but we had some other ideas too. Old 8 bit Nintendo had a game called Kid Icarus. It had it's idea from Creek mythology. I like scifi so I replaced wings with rockets. And there it was. Rocket Ikaros. It will be different type of game but that's how the idea came up.

And of course I first designed logo for it. I work in advertising agency and sometimes logo is what we have to start with. Colors were inspired by Kid Icarus too.

I also made some artwork for protagonist. It still needs some work. Different colors maybe? Hands look funny too.

Rocket Ikaros will be simple game but it has small story too. And unlikely many more games these days I wan't to have it end if played long enough. I'd like to have kind of relaxed atmosphere to game. Like Elton Johns Rocket man. But let's see what composer can do. He's quite busy at the moment.

There's already playable version but it's ugly and and needs lots of work. But I have a good feeling about this.

Pixen - pixel art editor for mac

We took part to itch.io:s Flappy Jam and I needed pixel art editor for making graphics. Matt Rajcas Pixen is a good choice.

I had some experience with Pixen earlier but now I needed to download it again. I found out that Pixen is now paid app in mac App Store. But I was more than happy to pay for it. Making apps is not easy job and developers need money too. Often I see people complaining about paid apps but if you need it you buy it. Under 10 euros is not much for a productivity app.

Pixens interface is very simple and classic

Pixen has all the basic drawing tools, layers and even tools for animating. It supports also full screen mode, pinch zoom on the touchpad and Wacom tablets. You can set different tools to both mouse buttons. Only feature I sometimes miss is type tool.

Making pixel art is fun. It is like playing with Lego's. They never look realistic but you can still make awesome stuff. It also reminds me of Dr. Halo - program we used when we were kids. I think it came with Genius Mouse. With Dr. Halo we made lots of graphics for Space Quest inspired game. It had also some animation tools so we also made few simple animations of protagonist mostly just walking around. Back then we had also our first game made. It was called Death Boxing and I drew graphics with Dr. Halo.

I'll think I'll be spending more time with Pixen in near future. After Flappy Jam I got new idea for a game and I need to start sketching. I'll get back to that when I have something to show.

Why do we need iOS ports for mac?

There is lots of games with more options and better graphics. So why would we want to play games designed for iOS with our macs?
Gameloft had few games on x-mas discount so I bought Asphalt 6 and N.O.V.A. 2 from Mac App Store. I have those two on my iPhone but I wanted to give them a try with mac too.
13" MacBook Pro and MacBook Airs are very popular but they come with Intel integrated graphic boards and are not suited for heavy gaming. Heavy gamers usually have a gaming laptop ,heavy desktop pc or console like I have but you cannot carry that with you. Heavy gamers also spend lots of time playing games.
But people carrying their neat and light mac laptops have sometimes some time to waste. And why not play games. Games ported from iOS are maybe not the most beautiful ones but light enough to be played with Intel graphic cards. And if you're not a heavy gamer you could like simple controls and easy gameplay. Games you don't need to spend hours to master controls or try the same jump or fight hundreds of times.
Casual gaming is going to be more popular. Everybody has a laptop and smartphones are selling with great numbers. So why not port popular iOS games for mac. They just should be ported properly remembering that laptops have a physical keyboard, bigger screen and touchpad. If everything is done correctly playing those games is easy and fun. So the answer is yes, we need those games on mac too. If you sit in a train one hour it can be spent playing N.O.V.A. 2 but for example Skyrim is too heavy stuff for just wasting time (and have some fun doing it).

N.O.V.A. 2 looks good enough for casual gaming.

Cars in Asphalt 6 are easy to handle.

Why I like scifi rpg:s more than fantasy ones?

For a while I have been playing Mass Effect 1 & 2 with Xbox. Earlier I tried to play Oblivion and now I bought Dragon Age: Origin. All of those should be great games.
Most of rpg:s are placed in fantasy worlds like good ol' Dungeons & Dragons. For pc there were not too much good scifi rpg:s. Some old farts would mention Sentinel Worlds. And then was Fallout 1 & 2 but at that time I did not play much.
And now I was playing those four games and liked much more Mass Effects. Even there is lots of fantasy rpg:s they all look quote same.  I always end up carrying 20 pieces of leather pants because they are worth of coin or two. And at the end of the game I have so much potions I could put up an drugstore. I never use most of them because I could need them later in the game. And when the final battle comes I'm too busy to use them all.
Other thing I hate especially in Oblivion and Dragon Age is collecting flowers. I should be a hero, not a florist. Fantasy games usually have some kind of a alchemy system but I am too lazy to learn them. Flowers could be used in potions but always some guy wants me to pick up flowers for him.
Scifi games are usually simplier. You don't need to collect million kinds of different junk just because you may need it or you don't know is it valuable or not. In fantasy games I always have to throw away three pairs of sandals and that valuable drarwen hammer because I cannot move any more. It also seems that in Mass Effects (and Fallouts?) you can make more decissions and what you do and say has more effect to the world.
Or maybe I've just played wrong games but fantasy games seem to be quite same kind. Only fantasy games I love to play these days are Eschalon series. But it is isometric and turn based so there is more time to think. And no flower collecting.
Maybe I just should start playing Fallout 3 wich I bought almost a year ago. I have plenty of a time before Mass Effect 3 arrives next year. I just pre-ordered its Collectors Edition. I like those artbooks.

Project SpaceMelee beta download

Beta version of Project SpaceMelee is now available for download.