SuperSite

[SuperApe]

Among other projects that fill the moments I get to myself, I've been contracted to design another website and in meeting my client I realized that I really need to update ... scratch that ... completely overhaul my personal website.

I've had this (http://home.netcom.com/~ghstorm/index.htm) lonely site for years. Originally the site was all hand-coded HTML, later Java and finally after a long time, I got a used copy of Flash. At that point, I was still a flash n00b (as my sig suggests) and just wanted to get it done, so I simply took my HTML version and "flashified" it. The results were miles better than the HTML version, but let's face it: it doesn't scream game designer, web designer or any of the other things I like to do, like writing, animation, programming, etc.

Like a lot of people, including my new client, I'm enamored by the new Apple marketing look that's very clean (like your butler recently polished the buttons for you) and bold. So for now, that's the style I'll go with.

Content-wise, I'm leaning towards a simple collection of standard fare: small bio & pic gallery. Additionally, I'd like to feature my projects in a more professional way and include small examples of game design, including some flash casual games in an online arcade.

Along with the overhaul, I'll be playing this a little smarter in terms of attracting web crawl by utilizing some tricks I've acquired over the years.

I'm gonna give myself about two months for the whole thing, given how unpredictable my "free time" really is. I will keep this thread as a development log and ask that those interested contribute with testing, comments and thoughts. Your input is welcome! :D

More soon. Cheers.

[outpt.co.uk]

If I can help with subdomains or database access (temporary or otherwise), let me know. I mean, who knows, you might even want something like a blog.

:scratch:

[SuperApe]

Thanks, outpt! I may ask for some assistance in those areas, but for now I'm just working on the high-level concept and design. (oh, and atm I resist the temptation to blog like I resist using a cell phone) I'll make sure you're aware when there's something to test. Thanks again! :D

[PsxMeUP]

Cool, if you need some graphic design I know a bit of photoshop. :hammer:

[SuperApe]

Special thanks to outpt.co.uk for helping to host a test or two. :D

This is the first step: the front page.
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/

This will grow into a slightly more elaborate toy/game.

Please play around with it as is. Comments welcome.

[King Mango]

Color the buttons?

[DeadMeatGF]

Looks nice - I've been dragging the sparklies around ;)
Pedantic comment - best viewed at 800x600 or above? As it's a centred layout it looks fine on my 1280x1024 ...

[SuperApe]

Right. I haven't got my official language down yet. 800x600 or above sounds better.

There's a few more things the little sparklies will do. And I would like to incorporate them with the games that are forthcoming.

[SuperApe]

Updated.

http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/
(Special thanks to outpt.co.uk)

Added a way to keep the overlay up (but I'm purposely not including instructions), varied all the elements in friction, etc., added "and above" in the HTML text, etc. Again, I don't have any content (i.e., the navigation buttons don't go anywhere yet). I am starting with the welcome mat ... and web toy.

If anyone has a minute to give their thoughts. (read: spam) I suppose it would be good for me to know:

- Is it obvious that there's potential interactivity?
- Do you feel it would be better to have instructions?
- Did you look for goals to achieve and did you achieve any?
- Are the mechanics of holding the overlay up too subtle?
- Overall impression?

Comments appreciated. Suggestions are welcome, but I have a plan in mind for this development. That doesn't necessarily mean I won't steal your idea. :D

[DeadMeatGF]

It was obvious to me that there was interactivity - the pointer changing to a hand, for instance - although I'm not sure less geeky folk will twig you can drag the sparklies ... maybe add a "click" sound or change the pointer to a grabbing hand (rather than a pointing one) when you grab them?

[SuperApe]

I'm curious to know if controlling the white semi-transparent overlay (holding it up) works for anyone. I had planned on an explicit button to clear it away, but I did this as a temporary measure during development and found that I kinda liked it. However, I of course did come to it knowing how it worked. So, I'll need someone else's opinion on that. And the other points I listed above.

[King Mango]

I haven't been able to figure out how to hold it up or move it yet.

[PsxMeUP]

I love the effect of everything moving along with your cursor. Has an organic feel to it. There's potential in that. It looks like there's a bit of AI involved but it gets lost when you grab and drag one of the circles. All of a sudden the circle starts to move in a mechanical way, skipping and clipping around. Sometimes the circle detaches itself for some reason (maybe I move too fast). Not sure what that purpose is. I usually hate sound in websites but this one is begging for it, especially when you grab one of the circles. If you're planning on adding a puzzle element to it then sound could play a key role. Overall it looks like an experiment or demonstration of some sort of AI or programming language. Like a university project type of thing.

[SuperApe]

Wow, it's neat it gives that impression, but I assure you, this is nothing so high-minded. (...or is it?) The "mechanical" clipping and popping is a minor bug I'll fix. Completely agree about the sfx. Thanks, Psx.

Thanks, Mango. Keep the mouse up near the navigation buttons as the overlay opens. At its apex, it will check for mouse position and stop (open) if the mouse cursor is up there.

Thanks for the responses, folks. Every comment helps. I love the feedback. I will readdress the main page toy soon with these notes in mind. :D

I've just updated with the first of a series of casual games that is now available via the "Games" button. The game is called "Connex" or "H.I.P. Connex", depending on if this former title is already taken or not. ;) There are only three rounds represented atm, and they are uber-simple. The rounds after this will feature "more organic imagery" and that's all I'm saying about that.

You can find the game featured by pressing the "Games" button.
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/
(Special thanks to outpt.co.uk for providing space to test and play around)

Please check this game out. It is very simple and meant to be so. The other games I have lined up will be more complex comparitively. This is supposed to be the most accesible of the collection in the arcade.

Comments on this new addition welcome!

[SuperApe]

EDIT: The game Connex is now properly integrated with the main page. Just hit the "Games" button. Please play this short demo of a very casual game. Let me know what you think.

http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/
(Special thanks to outpt.co.uk)

I can always use an extra web/game tester. Please click on the link above and post your impressions. Comments welcome! Thank you.

[PsxMeUP]

It's pretty cool. Nice and simple.

Impressions:

My first instinct when the game is loaded is to press on the white circle without pressing the gray one first. So I press the white circle and nothing happens, then remember I have to press the gray one. I do this even after I've played the game a few times and know how to play it (like I said, instinct).

I noticed the gray circle gets a blue stroke when you hover your mouse over it. Didn't notice this at first so I would be partly over the circle, click and nothing would happen. Maybe it should be more visible cause it tells you when you can press the button and right now it's not getting the job done.

A notice that says "Time Out" then "Game Over" when you run out of time would be cool too.

That's all I could find. It is a pretty simple game. Not much to talk about. Still, I could definitely see a larger game develop from this, like how to get from point A to point B through obstacles with the least amount of clicks, or how to draw objects with a single line. Something like this game:

Draw that shape in one stroke without passing on the same lines twice

[SuperApe]

Thanks for playing the demo, Psx! I appreciate the thoughts and comments. I should be able to throw together a few dozen new rounds fairly quickly today or tomorrow, which should show where this game is really going. And like the previous comments, I'll be adding some small sound effects on this too.

I'm glad to be getting more familiar with ActionScript; enough to put (more complex) games together. I think the next game (already designed) will appeal to a larger audience.

More comments always welcome. :D

LINK:
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/
(Special thanks to outpt.co.uk)

[SuperApe]

Update to the main page and a couple new rounds on the Connex game. (all still in alpha~beta)

Any comments during development are welcome. Link shown above.

EDIT:

Random web surfers welcome! :D

No credit, bad credit okay!

We'll be here all week.

[SuperApe]

Well, *I* think it's starting to look cool. :rolleyes:

Coming up:

- A simplified typical web site lineup added to "About": pics and links.
- "Projects" section populated.
- A few more rounds to the Connex game.
- The 2nd game.
- Multiple ways to unlock games.

Although this is going to be WIP for a while, I'll always appreciate comments. Please share your impressions.

LINK:
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/
(Special thanks to outpt.co.uk)

[PsxMeUP]

Impressions:


I get the overall impression that the site is targeted at children because of the size of the buttons and menus.
When I go to a section like Projects it would be better if the bubbles behind the menu wouldn't affect the mouse cause I get the impression the text has a link when there's a bubble behind it.
There's no way to retract the menu once you've pressed a button. If the bubbles on the home page are to have a purpose there won't be a way to get back to them.
"Toy" doesn't do anything.
Overall the site is nice, but it lacks some refinement, especially in the buttons. Almost as if the bubble/circles didn't match the buttons and menus.

The overall site has a "hollow" feel because of the circles, so the menus and buttons are out of place because they are so solid and metallic. Menus should match the rest of the site. Something like this:

[SuperApe]

Progress:
- "A few more rounds to the Connex game." *done* Two additional rounds make a total of twelve, with a simple congrats screen. Proof of concept is complete.
- Game unlocking mechanism refined. The idea is to click on all the cells while in Toy mode. Popup confirms new game unlocked (Connex).
- Altered behavior of the Toy cells to fix most jittering and still allow throwing them.
- New behavior of the Toy cells added to allow "clumping" or "sticking" some cells together on others.
Problems:
- When loading the Connex game, we should be seeing it's loading bar. I need to load the game by another method, got a few to try.




When I go to a section like Projects it would be better if the bubbles behind the menu wouldn't affect the mouse cause I get the impression the text has a link when there's a bubble behind it.
There's no way to retract the menu once you've pressed a button. If the bubbles on the home page are to have a purpose there won't be a way to get back to them.
"Toy" doesn't do anything.The "Toy" button is the only unlocked item in the Games panel. This will raise the overlay and allow a clear view of the cells. (Toy mode)

I will likely make adjustments to the look of things as I go along, but I'd have to say, just by looking at that image, the buttons could get lost and confused with the cells in the background. I'll have to think about it.

Yeah, the Projects page is WIP and not yet "populated". Thanks for taking a look. Hope to hear again.

[SuperApe]

2nd game preview is unlockable. Comments always welcome! :joy:

LINK:
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/
(Special thanks to outpt.co.uk)

[outpt.co.uk]

Been meaning to comment on this for a while, but each time I've visited I've been trying to figure out the circle game. Might be just that I've not spent long enough playing with it in any one session.

I've tried to push the circles into the larger, prominent blue circle, tried to push them out, tried to drag them on top of each other. I've noticed that I've been able to get a couple of them to stick to the edge of the large blue circle, so at the moment I'm guessing that I need to get all of them to stick somewhere - but where and in what order I don't know. Maybe a subtle hint or some kind of game feedback mechanism would be beneficial.

I like the quirky design, it's inviting and the circles remind me of those cheap bubble-blowing toys I used as a kid :D I like the way that hovering the mouse over each of the circles produces a different effect - they shout "touch me!". These will benefit from different sound effects, maybe something like arcade-style frazzles and bleeps - although I would welcome a sound on/off control. The dragging of these shapes seems less smooth than previous versions.

In your about page you mention creating memorable experiences, and something as simple as dragging frazzly circles about is definitely something I'll remember at the back of my head for a while, as opposed to many of the dull flash toys I come across. I like flash mini-games as they provide short detours when browsing through pages of content, and I look forward to the other games that you plan to add.

I'm not too keen on the all-caps font that has been used for the pages of the site (although looks great on the buttons), but I would agree that it needs a playful font. The text on the buttons might look better if they were all the same size. Perhaps a lower font size on the pages would also give you more space to tell the visitor about yourself. I like simple navigation and the translucency effect when viewing the pages.

Overall looking good and I know the site will blossom over time. Don't worry about crediting me for hosting it on your links - I don't expect it and don't mind if they were omitted.

[PsxMeUP]

Been meaning to comment on this for a while, but each time I've visited I've been trying to figure out the game.

There's a game with the bubbles? I thought it was in development. If there is, there should be some welcome notice with instructions as to what we have to do.

[DeadMeatGF]

I think the idea is that it's "Easter-Egg" based ... although I've always been rubbish at finding anything like that ;)

[outpt.co.uk]

There's a game with the bubbles? I thought it was in development. If there is, there should be some welcome notice with instructions as to what we have to do.

Was referring to the draggable circles in the background - at least I assumed it was a game, seeing as the bubbles were draggable and stick at points. Also when hitting 'Toy' just seems to bring up these bubbles.

I did see the connect game (which doesn't seem to be there anymore), but assumed this was an early version of another game.

(edit) Figured out why these bubbles stick -- if you're dragging one of them and you set off another animation, the bubble you are dragging will stop dead.

If this flash background is just for show, it'd be good if you could prevent these from being dragged beyond a certain radius.

[SuperApe]

YaY! Comments! :love:

I am making changes and improvements everyday. (little by little, inch by inch...) Please keep checking back, trying it again and commenting. This really helps a lot.

NOTE: When you retry the site, be sure you Shift-Click on your browser's Reload button, which clears your cache and reloads the site. This is because I'm constantly uploading newer versions of the flash movie, but the html page you visit rarely changes. I want to make sure you're getting the latest.

I've just added a little more explanation to the site to help nudge people in the right direction. Yes, playing with the circles in the background is encouraged. Yes, the whole scheme is very "easter egg" in that as you explore, you unlock more.

To unlock Connex, click on each circle doodle in the background. A pop up will confirm your achievement.

It's interesting you mentioned those specific strategies with the circles. Did I mention somethiing like that before? There is more to come.

I hear you about the font. There are caps, but they just aren't standing out. I'll see if I can find another font. I can make the size consistent at least.

I gotta schedule some time to work on sfx. Small, short, but good. Sound on/off button, definately. I'm thinking very Nintendo sfx. The whole site is already leaning toward Apple / Nintendo as it is.

Things are changing as I go. More buttons are going to show up soon. Like, if you go to About, a row of smaller buttons will offer pics, links, etc. As I get more of the games done, I see things in the main site that need help and vice versa. I'm working on the next game now that the main site is in pretty good shape imho.

LINK:
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/

Everyone's comments are helping me a lot. Thank you! Keep them coming! :rockon:

[SuperApe]

Graphical upgrades. About page and Connex game.

EDIT: Needed to revisit BabyApe's likeness. It's getting there.

[SuperApe]

Problems:
- When loading the Connex game, we should be seeing it's loading bar. I need to load the game by another method, got a few to try.Fixed this by moving the loading bar from the Connex game swf to the main swf and just have the game pass the loaded % to the load bar. Works just the way I wanted ... finally. :bucktooth: I suppose this would be the preferred method, best practices, etc. I'm learning.

Comments always welcome! :D

[SuperApe]

Development of the second game is underway. I'm working on the control scheme and HUD. The animation and sounds will be the key for this one, but even with just silly temp art and no sound, I'm a little excited about it. This is one of those ideas that could go absolutely full-blown, but for sanity's sake, I will just hint at those extra elements briefly and stay closer to the casual game model and keep the scope of work narrow.

The story for the game "Critter Fu" centers around a squirrel who was wronged and must battle a series of opponents in the name of justice (revenge). So, no Rocky-like long training and "gearing up" montages. This game's narrative will be told in simpler single panel cards between fights. Perhaps an intro and conclusion scene will be necessary to sell it. But I want most of the animation to be in the fight moves. Also, I do have a pre-alpha version available for those who PM me and ask to see it. (in exchange for comments) :)

If you haven't seen the site in a while, please take a look and comment. If you need to, remember to flush your browser's cache by Shift-Clicking on the reload button.

LINK:
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/

[SuperApe]

This is a great learning experience. As usual, I find that diving right in has both advantages and disadvantages. At the start, I knew enough about Flash & ActionScript to get things going. Now, I know a little more about the details and polish that Flash needs. I've even gone back and touched up our current site. Graceful loading, setting the context menu, protecting movies from import, the HTML support and icons; all these sound minor, but put together make the site feel more professional.

:type:

[SuperApe]

Thanks to MamaApe for taking BabyApe to a friends for a sleepover, allowing me to work *a full day* on this project. Yay! :rockon:

In case it was missed, I do have an early pre-alpha sort of "proof of concept" thing going for the next game. I'm still working out the kinks for the control scheme and the base AI, but it's looking promising. Even without the full animation and proper art, it looks like it could be decent. If anyone is seriously interested in evaluating it at this early stage and giving their thoughts, please PM me.

Teaser for second game was updated as well. Other minor improvements continue. Every day I just try to do a little bit more.

LINK:
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/

[outpt.co.uk]

I would love the animations on the site to be a little smoother. How much of a negative effect would improving the framerate of the animations have?

[SuperApe]

I can investigate. Is it definately a wish for a higher framerate, or are there bits where the animation is popping / jarring?

[SuperApe]

I am ready for testers to comment on some elements of the next game. It's playable, but far from complete. Pre-Alpha stage atm. PM me for a link.

Critter Fu v0.25 pre-alpha is available to try. Art is very temporary, it will be redone and fully animated. There is no intro or story, no context for the battle that you see. What to look at in this version is the HUD, Controls, Fight Mechanics and the foundational opponent AI. (each character opponent will be different)

The controls are hard coded atm:

Down = Block
Ctrl = Left Punch
Shift = Right Punch
~ = Left Kick
space = Right Kick

I am also interested to see what is intuitive about the fight mechanics, what gets learned by playing, what is frustrating (difficulty level, controls, understanding the fight mechanics), what the player would like to be able to do. I have some extra ideas for the fight mechanics, extensions to what is already there. But it this is the time to hear other ideas, before I go much further.

Please PM me if you can devote just a little time to test and send comments back to me via PM. Thank you!

And I'm always happy to see comments on the main site on this thread as well.
(link posted above)

[PsxMeUP]

I can investigate. Is it definately a wish for a higher framerate, or are there bits where the animation is popping / jarring?

Animation when dragging the bubbles around is a bit choppy. Delay in cursor movement when playing connex can be a pain. The cursor seems to be a second behind your movement. Pretty fun game though. Brat Pitt scared me (man, he looks old).

[SuperApe]

Got half a second to change the toy "animation", but really it's the mechanics changing from "dragOut of the button's hit scan area, then reposition the doodle" to "whenever pressed, follow the mouse", so this wasn't a change in framerate either, but after multiple comments on the choppiness, both on this forum and in RealLife(tm), it seems that's what was being said.

This change does change the way the toy works in terms of dragging and sticking together. There's even a way now to get the doodle stuck to the cursor (released fairly easily). Looks like I'll have to keep revisiting this.

But, if you've tried it before and commented along those lines, try it again and see if that improves the problem to your eye.

[SuperApe]

Anyone have an opinion on default key controls for an action fighting game?

I know the setup I have now would not be for everyone. Right now:

<shift> = Right Punch
<ctrl> = Left Punch
~ = Right Kick
<space> = Left Kick
<dnArw> = Block

Also, if anyone is interested to play the current pre-alpha and comment, I welcome your thoughts:
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/critterfu.html
(remember animation is temporary)

... or any thoughts on the site in general. I make incremental changes almost daily:
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/index.html

[Nova Silisko]

i think something like this would be better:

Q: left punch
E: right punch
A: left kick
D: right kick
W: block

[SuperApe]

That's a good setup. I'm might also think about a configurable one.

And at first the idea was a mouse control scheme that I thought would be kinda cool. Either have a hud display of a body and allow mouse drags over it to indicate where attacks originate on your body (hand = punch, foot = kick, etc) and where the attacks land on your opponent's body, or have that sort of area mapped to the full window instead of a body hud display. (roughly seen now at the bottom of the critterfu page, link above.)

But I thought that after just playing Connex (mouse controlled, lots of clicks), that it might be too much.

[SuperApe]

More updates finally.

Filled out and started to link up the Project section.
Behavior improvements to web Toy.
Graphical improvements in Connex.
Reachable CritterFu Pre-Alpha page with current version and alternate control example, also showing multi-plane camera stuff I'm going to do for it.

Cheat by going to Projects -> Games -> This Site's Games

Need to get to things like:
- Loading animation
- Sound FX
- Animations for Critter Fu (and the rest of it)

working. comments welcome. :w00t:

[PsxMeUP]

Heh, that turtle keeps kicking my ass. It must be a ninja turtle or something. I can't seem to get any hits on it, even when I hit it straight in the face a bunch of times while it just stands there. What's the purpose of the power points? They are always at zero cause they drop when I attack, drop when I get hit and drop when I block. I noticed some forms appearing when I press attacks, like triangle, circle, but don't know what they do. I love the kick animations! They look like something out of the old Simpson's cartoons, back when they were on the The Tracey Ullman Show. :hammer:

[SuperApe]

Thanks for the feedback, Psx. Remember this the CritterFu game shown is in pre-alpha, working on the inputs and base enemy A.I. Since there are no instructions yet, I'll have to fill you in on what's happening.

The Power is your available power or strength. Health is your remaining life. As you punch/kick/block (and if you never let up on the buttons) you drain Power until you rest or it reached zero. At zero Power, your punches and kicks will do no damage. In fact, if you continue to attack with no Power, you are "hit" with no damage, just kind of stunning you for a moment. (I'm going to remove the extra hit efx for this circumstance) So the idea with Power is to keep a reasonable rhythm with your moves and allow for rest, not to button mash, otherwise you'll almost always lose.

The little box with circles, triangles, and a meter on the left is there for me to display the input signals. The shapes tell me what button is being pressed (left punch, right punch, left kick, block, etc.) and the little meter on the left is keep track of how sustained the button presses are. If you hold down a button, the shape (corresponding to the input) is displayed and the meter begins to go up. If you let go, the meter will go down. You cannot rest and recuperate Power until that meter is all the way down. Again, don't button mash and keep a steady rhythm in your button presses and you'll win for sure.

Why set it up like this? To encourage players to find that rhythm sweet spot, and to discourage simple button mashing.

Thanks again for playing it, Psx. Glad to see you got to the Critter Fu pre-alpha without too much hassle. :D

Oh, and remember the animation shown atm is temporary.

Update:
I've had a little time to work on animation for Critter Fu and it's looking pretty good. I'll finish the First Person animation and move on to the critter opponents next. Please keep commenting! Thank you!

[PsxMeUP]

The triangle/square/circle things are nice but they serve no purpose. Now... if they'd show what hits to expect from your opponent, then that would be cool, so you could block or adapt. Blocking should at least regenerate some power, not much but at least some of it. It would be like a trade-off between some health (I assume you still lose health while being hit while blocking) and getting some power back. One question. Does the turtle also abide by the "no button mashing" principle? He seemed to be mashing away quite thoroughly last I played.

[outpt.co.uk]

I did enjoy playing critter fu, I like the art style and the first person view. Having 'critters' fight it out is a great, original idea. I'm looking forward to fighting my way through a few different opponents, progressing in difficulty.

On my very first play, I went straight in button-mashing the left punch button, the hit detection picked this up well and it was clear that I had no chance to succeed using this method.

On the flip-side, you are right about using rhythm. Without using the block and maintaining a steady rhythm of left and right punches, it's possible to floor your opponent quickly - this seemed a bit too easy (see attached image). I considered this method as button mashing, in a fashion.

Approaching the game in a more tactical way making use of the block feature... I didn't think blocking works well, as there's no warning when your opponent is about to hit. It's just a flip between two images. This leads me to block more often than I should, which drains my energy and got me floored everytime. I think that having another image in-between to give the player a split second to react and block a hit would help - I understand you're working on animations though!

I don't think that my energy should drain away when I block. I have an idea that my opponent should still hit me occasionally, but the damage should be transferred from the health bar to the energy bar instead while I'm blocking.

Overall the results of these different approaches I tried seemed too polarized - it was either easy win, or easy lose. The hit detection and energy drain you've got running is a smart idea, and I think this would really work well with a few tweaks.

A score would be great (e.g. 100 points for every percent of health you have left after defeating an opponent, plus a bonus for surplus energy.) - this would enable people to compare their ability and promote some competitiveness on forums etc - I can imagine people posting stuff along the lines of "I completed critter fu with a score of X!" and having others playing to top that.

I didn't like the control setup - but I think everyone will have their own preference on this. It would seem more logical to me to group similar functions together, e.g:

Z = left punch
X = left kick
< = right kick
> = right punch
Space = block

(This would be my favorite)

or:

Z = left punch
X = right punch
< = left kick
> = right kick
Space = block

The size of the space bar makes it a highly-accessible key for a quick reaction to a hit.

Hope this helps!

The animation on the main site seems to be smoother too, which is great! I've done a full redesign for my site recently (offline), but I just cant bring myself to the massive task of converting the content over at the moment.

[SuperApe]

The triangle/square/circle things are nice but they serve no purpose. ... One question. Does the turtle also abide by the "no button mashing" principle? He seemed to be mashing away quite thoroughly last I played.That entire little box is for me to track the inputs and the timings of the controls (sort of a debug element), it will not be included in the final game. This version is working on the controls, so I can nail that down before tweaking metrics, mechanics related to the inputs. And, yes, the turtle abides by the same power-draining rules, more or less. And remember, this is the base AI, where individual creatures will have additional timings and moves on top of what you see here. (and of course I'm also tweaking the base AI in this stage of development) Great comments! :D

Hope this helps!Are you kidding?! That's fantastic! :claps: I'm in just about 100% agreement all around. These were my thoughts as well. I feel more confident that I can tweak things better on the next round of development. Yay! :w00t:

Any comments on any part of the site, including the fleshed out Projects section are greatly appreciated. Thank you! :D

[SuperApe]

Rough pass on the first person animation is nearly done. I'll incorporate the animation in the next version, where I'll also display the next round of tweaks to the gameplay and controls. I need to lock down the look and style before I move on to final animation. The narrative aspects have been floating around in my head for a while (this game idea started a couple years ago), and I'll be able to move on to storyboarding next.

I very much appreciate the testing, comments and support you all have given so far. Cheers! :coffee:

[SuperApe]

Long overdue work on the final look is shown in a hero shot on the critterfu page now. This will push me to finish the first person animation and gives me a clear direction to pursue for the NPCs. Yay! A weekend to work finally!

[SuperApe]

Right. First person animation is roughed out and looks good, gives me a clear idea of the number of frames to use, timing, etc. This weekend will be about final-ing that and doing a rough pass on the opponent animation, most likely the turtle again. Not all the camera stuff I'm going to do (multi-plane animation that works with the 1st person stuff), but it's getting there. I can see how all the remaining combat animation is going to go.

After a little integration time, I'll ask for help testing to tune it UP. Then, I'll start in on the parts *between* combat. I'm hoping to get this one done soon so I can spend time on OSMT towards the end of next month. I may only be able to get it to a proper beta stage, but that would be okay; to let play testing continue while I do that for a while.

Working. More soon.

[SuperApe]

Final 1st person animation will be done with a touch UP pass soon, but it's pretty much where it needs to be. So, it's now incorporated in the pre-alpha demo. I had a much more realistic, yet more hand-drawn version of this animation going during the roughs, but it turned out to bloat the filesize and RAM usage, so I kept more to the original (and standard, frankly) clean raster line art-look. It will still have the same timing.

... Comments always welcome! :coffee:

[SuperApe]

Main: I've filled in a few extra Projects links. And I'm getting ready to do the big switch over soon.

Critter Fu: I switched the default controls to use the keys "QWEASD". As expected, it feels a lot more comfortable. I decided the final scheme will be to offer two other options, "UIOJKL" or the num pad keys "789456".

I've asked for comments and testing help from ActionScript.org forum folks as well.

[SuperApe]

Critter Fu (pre-alpha) Version 0.3 is just updating for current state of animation with the new multiplane display in progress. This now works simply when hit, but a more nuanced system is in development to incorporate the cam shakes with the player moves as well.

http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/critterfu.html
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/CFv0.3.JPG

[SuperApe]

More nuanced system incorporating cam shakes with the player moves is now UP. Will work with these moves concurrently with the first person animation polish. It may be a little extreme now, not distinct enough from cam shakes on Hits, but then again, maybe I need *more*.

The cam shakes do add a level of visual excitement to it. And I've noticed that as I build this UP, I'm playing the game differently. When I added the final 1st person animation, with full swings of the arm including anticipation, etc, my instincts were to punch at a slower rate and let the animation play out (let the visual punch end). That's totally unnecessary; the underlying rules and timing haven't been changed. And now that I've got a lot of camera shaking going on, my instincts are to attack at a faster rate. Interesting. :D

Feedback welcome! This is my full time job now. Please help make these games better. Thank you!

EDIT: Global font change. Tahoma Bold FTW! :rockon:

EDIT2: Barest of config screens allows players to set one of three key map setups. 1st person animation and bg (forest) polished.

[SuperApe]

I've integrated Critter Fu as it currently stands (v0.3) into the main website and I'll keep updating straight there through the rest of production.

(Mild Spoiler alert.)

I've lowered the "unlock system" requirements. Used to be: Click all 23 "cells" in the background to unlock the first game, get to level 7 of the first game to unlock the second. It was clear that was just too much.

Now it's: Click 7 "cells" in the background to unlock the first game, then *either* click another 14 "cells" or get to level 5 of the first game to unlock the second. The whole unlockable idea may be too lame a gimmick to be worth it, but I wanted to try it. Comments on this are welcome.

CHEAT and get all available games unlocked by going to Projects -> Games -> This Site's Games.

[SuperApe]

Finished several tweaks to the Toy mode. (it does more now) Trying out more color in the main buttons and overlay. I'll come back to the interface again later.

[SuperApe]

Critter Fu: Working on efx animation for when hit. Added found sound effects. (as expected, it improves the feel of the game a lot)

EDIT: Sound effects added to Connex as well. I'm just about to call Connex beta.

EDIT2: Fixed "loading fu". I can focus on doing the opponent animations, starting with the turtle. I will be trying something cool with the HUD. After that, I can start work on the little cut scenes. Then, I can probably call it alpha. Charge!

[SuperApe]

Okay, I did a lot of little things yesterday, clearing the way for this weekend's push for animation on the Critter Fu opponents.

- Connex is now in beta. (I may do another pass on sfx, but...) I need anyone and everyone to help collect comments (quotes, at least) from people who've played it. Ask a friend, a co-worker, your spouse, your kids, a neighbor, ... anyone. This is a casual game, so no need (or desire) to get comments from only gamers. Please help test, then comment.

- Toy is in beta. With the new behavior of some cells while not in Toy mode, I think that's all I want to do with it. I had plans for more things the cells would do in the background as you navigated the main site, but those ideas seem unnecessary to me atm. (We had also talked about sfx for Toy, but I have a strong feeling that would get annoying, if not conflict with other games' sfx) So, this also needs testing from anyone and everyone as well. The more comments we get, the better these get.

- The main website is almost in alpha. (functionally complete) I've been letting things like color and font slide for a while, so I'm going to sit with the recent changes for a little longer. I also have to hook up the remaining links in the Projects section and there's other fun things I want to try. I will wait until after this Critter Fu animation push is done to get this to alpha.
http://outpt.co.uk/superape/newsite/preview.jpg

LINK TO THE SITE (http://home.netcom.com/~ghstorm/index.htm)
Please test the Toy and Connex! Here's how:- Navigate to site.
- Note first impressions and what happened from there.
- Note if any games are unlocked.
- Note impressions of any games and how much they were played.
- Stop whenever desired, note when that was.
- Note take away feelings of the site after leaving.
- Post those notes here or PM me, if you feel more comfortable doing that.

Thank you! :claps:

[JoystickMonkey]

Hey, I've been playing around with the different ones for a while, and today I'm going to focus on Toy.

I like some of the newer, smoother animations as you mouse over some of the objects. I think it would really make all the difference if everything had a smoother transition as you moused over or clicked. Some of them are so abrupt when you click on them, and it might be better if they were a little smoother. It's sort of relaxing to drag those little guys around the screen, and I'd try to make the whole experience as smooth as possible.

Also, after dragging a few of them around, they seem to mimic my mouse movement after that. They will wiggle around whenever I move my mouse. I'm not sure if that's a bug or what.

It's not exactly clear what the objects are sticking to, but I'd really like to know how things stick to one another. That way I can play with them and make little arrangements. The whole aspect of the thing seems to be centered around the fun of the manipulation of the object, and learning how it works. I'd like to understand why things stick in various places.

Sometimes when I'm dragging an object around, it will drift away from my mouse. Then, after it gets far enough away, it pops back over to my cursor, only to drift away again and repeat the process. This is probably a bug.

Overall, I think the Toy is pretty cool. Based on my own personal expectations, it would be more relaxing and fun if the animations were smoother and the behavior of the objects were more predictable.

[SuperApe]

These are great observations. Thank you.

You're right. I want the cells to have variety over anything else but having at least most of the animations transition smoothly would be more consistent with the overall feel of the Toy. I wasn't sure when I read your note and I had to check to remember how that looked. (can't see the forest for the trees) I can use this as a ramp up to the character animation this weekend.

The following behavior is designed. Once clicked, they are in an active state that will follow your mouse. (until main site pages are navigated, when they will start to do new things, including return to their initial location, clicking into place and reset, where they no longer follow your mouse.)

The sticking behavior started as an accident. It was cool, and I was just thinking of ways to communicate how/when they will stick, but I think I need to nix the sticking for now and see if it makes sense to explicitly design that behavior. It may, I really liked being able to make shapes with them, but then again that alone had little payoff imo. There have been a lot of ideas about what else the cells will do, but I think simplicity may be best in this case.

That behavior that looked like snapping and popping if you dragged the cells fast enough, that was definitely a bug and I've fixed it ... by nixing the sticking behavior unfortunately. This also makes them very easy to fling around, which is fun. Just fixed now. Try it and see. Thanks for catching that.

[SuperApe]

... and a day later. :hammer:

I just finished adding 50% filesize :rolleyes: in embellishing the Toy cells. It looks prettier, but at a cost to both filesize and cpu cycles. I'll sit with this again and decide whether or not to keep all those funky line styles, individual key frames and other things that make it just less efficient. Anyway, the cells look a little prettier.

JM, it occurred to me about half way through that process that you *may* have been talking about the movement of the cell itself, once clicked, in that it "pops" under the mouse position, even if some of the cells have a very large hit scan area. If that was your comment, I apologize for not seeing it earlier, but it is a designed behavior, used to help throw and jostle the cells around a lot with simple, lazy clicks. If instead, I had the cells gradually head toward the mouse position on click, you'd never be able to throw them with much velocity. Anyway, I'm still happy I did at least another pass on the Toy animation.

Now, to tackle that turtle.

[JoystickMonkey]

Nice!

Toy is 300% better. :)
Animations are smoother and cells are more fun to play with.

Only thing that's a little weird is that sometimes a cell will get stuck on my cursor even when i don't have the mouse clicked.

If you plan on unlocking things through moving the cells, I'd recommend a less obtrusive way of notifying the player. The big menu popup and interruption of what I was doing can break the effect that the toy has. If people are playing with the toy, you can expect that they would notice a text popup in the corner, especially with a sound to accompany. You could also make the background flash a lighter color during the unlock, but that may be overkill and break the effect of the toy.

The Connect game is very straightforward. It may be totally too much work, but how hard would it be to create an editor to make your own(locally saved) connect the dots puzzles? Something like that would show off a little more technical prowess, and could be a good launching point if you ever wanted to create a game with user-created content like FantasticContraption. Of course, it's much easier for me to say things like this, and it may be better to just focus the attention on more advanced games.

Critter Fu is starting to be fun. I liked the layers of art demo. It's not clear why some of my attacks miss, when the turtle's attacks never do. I hope there are some warning animations in the pipeline that give me a little time to block, because right now I feel like it's a game of luck instead of skill. I'm looking forward to seeing more iterations of this one.

[SuperApe]

As always, excellent notes, JM. :joy:

Cells getting stuck on the mouse is a bug for sure. I think there may be a 10 cent solution for it, but I know of a $1 solution. Thanks.

I'm wondering if an idea I have for the popup/panel backgrounds will help the achievement popup be less obtrusive. I do want to make sure the achievements are obvious, in fact, I'd like some percentage of the audience to immediately hit the Games button. Good note.

You - are - reading - my - mind - stop - it. A system of making your own Connex levels is part of the original idea. If Connex became a stand-alone entity, you can bet an editor and a system of saving/loading/emailing would be central to that.

It's becoming clearer to me that I'm not communicating a crucial aspect of Critter Fu's combat: how the power rating affects your ability to fight. (Your hits will do less/no damage if you're drained of Power) Part of the problem is a bug related to the fatigued animation (just not playing atm), but the GUI is not helping either. And when one is drained completely of power and tries to attack, I'm currently sending them to a Hit state, which is not right. I'll attack this from both animation and the UI, when I get to it. Thanks for calling attention to it. More updates coming.

[SuperApe]

Connex name changed to Dotudot. The name connex (and many, many derivatives) is used a lot. Dotudot is unique as far as my searches go. I wanted to be careful with any name change, I hope this is the right one.

Loading animation updated.

[SuperApe]

I've updated Critter Fu while in the middle of the turtle animation. It's going to look ugly, you can best see the new stuff if you let the turtle kick your butt. Lots of tweaking to do in code once this is done, will affect timing. Working...

[SuperApe]

Another turtle animation update. Although only a couple more animations to go, there will be another pass on the turtle later. But, many of the coding timing tweaks are done, so it should look better overall. Pushing to be done with turtle animation tomorrow.

[SuperApe]

Turtle animation is complete, but is worth looking at again later. After a few code tweaks to firm up controls and timing, I will move on to the interface.

[SuperApe]

Slowly reaching alpha on Critter Fu. I've done some modest work on the interface, still playing with layout, style, etc. I've got a little code work on a more responsive control/display setup. So I'm not quite ready for the interstitial story panels, but I can flesh out the GUI next, making it a more proper menu system, if dead simple.

Dotudot (formerly Connex) is in beta.

The website's background Toy is in beta.

Comments on anything is very welcome around here.

Cheers. :coffee:

LINK TO SITE (http://home.netcom.com/~ghstorm/index.htm)

[outpt.co.uk]

Only some quick feedback this time around...

The site feels much more polished now. The buttons looks great, the box animation when selecting games look great. One problem i noticed is that I couldn't select another game while one was running.

Dotudot
The game is smooth enough and the difficulty seems about right. It feels simplistic, but that's not to say it isn't a fun diversion. On the title screen, "How To" and "Play" lines can easily be read together as "How To Play" - would probably change this to "How to Play" and "Start Game".

Other things I'd probably try and add is a some sort of simple background (maybe even just a faint gradient), ripple effect when clicking the dots (like when throwing a pebble into water), and maybe a sound (like a xylophone hit or something) which progresses in pitch as you click each one.

Critter Fu
Game looks a LOT better now - feels attractive and fun to play. The Critter Fu title text would look great as a logo.

The thickness of the lines around the energy bars, portrait, and restart button would look better if they were more thinner and sharper. The Power and Health numbers seem cramped - I think something along these lines might look better (very rough mock-up, but you get the idea!):

[SuperApe]

Yay! Thank you for the comments! :rockon:

One problem i noticed is that I couldn't select another game while one was running.I haven't consciously addressed it, but I think my plan has been to treat these as games with "Exit" or "Quit" buttons, but there's no reason why I can't do both. :)

probably change this to "How to Play" and "Start Game".Good note. If I can't find a simpler set of words, I'll make sure it's at least clear.

Other things I'd probably try and add...Having a simple switching "theme" was one idea I had earlier. Like the background, sounds and stuff kind of progress over several rounds. There's actually a large bank of ideas tied to this one already. I'll add these ideas. :joy:

Critter Fu
Game looks a LOT better nowThank you. I'm just now approaching alpha: where all the pieces are at least in place and working together, if not final or polished. One of the last things I've worked on is the GUI and I knew I wanted to tie it into the story intro. So, I've had to do a little work on the story, just enough to know what I'm doing for the title sequence and gui background. It's like a sculpture puzzle that can't stand up on its own until you put all the pieces together. I hope you'll still be seeing this pace of improvement as I go from alpha to beta.

(This has been an experiment for me in that I've been putting up early prototypes; and actually structuring the production for early and often presentation, so that I can show it and get feedback throughout the process. If I had any resistance to this way of thinking about development before, I'm well over that now. I've gotten over the idea that it's not my own work if I get feedback during development, etc. More during some future postmortem.)

The thickness of the lines around the energy bars, portrait, and restart button ... thinner and sharper. The Power and Health numbers seem crampedYes, I haven't really changed those elements since I made them, I've only moved them around on the HUD (and I'm debating the numbers altogether, going possibly only graphic). I will be going back over those elements, like the meters. (Now that I'm confident I'm going to be using them pretty much as they are now) I think the HUD is going to be something I'm working on the during entire process. It's got a long way to go.

Excellent feedback. Every little bit helps! :claps:

More comments! More updates to come over the weekend. :coffee:

[JoystickMonkey]

Things are definitely coming along, and critter fu looks pretty nice.


I've gotten over the idea that it's not my own work if I get feedback during development, etc.

Haha, ideas are cheap. The hard work that goes into implementing those ideas and smoothing the edges so that the ideas come to life is where the real difficulty is.

[SuperApe]

Thanks, JM! :D

Working on the jigsaw puzzle that is the HUD. Among other questions I'm currently exploring, will moving the viewport to the center of the HUD cause a problem because the Critter Fu window itself is off-center? (That is, was it better when the viewport fell more in center of the browser window?) Going through multiple designs for everything on the HUD as well as how they're arranged. If any aspect *required* outside input, the HUD and interface in general is it.

[JoystickMonkey]

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but I'd say that you should keep any gameplay in the center of the screen as much as possible.

[SuperApe]

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but I'd say that you should keep any gameplay in the center of the screen as much as possible.Yeah, I'm using words to describe graphical puzzles and failing. :D Unfortunately, my crappy digital camera only gives me low res images, but I'm attaching a pix of my HUD sketches I've been working on.

The Green circle is showing variations on the shape of the meters for each fighter (the "face meter" and the health and power meters), making the elements out of simple shapes (circles, squares, triangles, variations) and trying to get something that's visually intuitive. The Yellow is showing work on the layout of the combat HUD, placement of the elements over the whole Critter Fu window. The Blue area is (hard to see but) showing work on some icons I want to use instead of alphanumerics. (heart for health, and an arrow or lightning bolt for power) The Red area is where I was trying to visually compare the two positions I see the viewport working in. And the Red area is shown closer in the second image.

In the second image, the red outlines the whole browser window area (and the far border would be the user's screen edge), and the purple is where the viewport falls in the two positions, either vaguely centered or more off the right, as it is now.

While I agree that gameplay should fall in the center, I gain some things with the other position. In terms of the Critter Fu window itself, I get better balance, I'm able to fit in the opponent's meters better and I'm able to leave more of the viewport open to the player. So, in essence the question I see is whether it's more valuable to have those things I just mentioned or to have the viewport in the center.

/long version

[SuperApe]

Okay. I've got an idea that might help nail the HUD down properly. Let me work on it today.

EDIT: OK, you can select from five HUD meter styles at the Fight! menu. People can give opinions on these variations I selected from my notes. These would not be available as permanent additions to the configurable options for the player, this is simply a debugging/design feature to help compare HUD styles. I'm also trying out the icons for Heath and Power. The Circle HUD style would probably get me sued by Warner Bros, but all the colors and stuff is still in flux. This is looking at larger variations in meter style and configuration. I will see about adding an additional control in the Fight! menu to toggle the viewport orientation from "offcenter" to "centered" so we can compare that too.

EDIT2: Two more HUD styles added to the mix, and I think I found my favorite: "Minimal". With some tweaking and polish, that could be it. And I'm feeling less concerned about the offcenter viewport atm. Comments welcome.


LINK TO SITE (http://home.netcom.com/~ghstorm/index.htm)

[SuperApe]

Main site:
I've added a quick and dirty HTML version to help on two counts: to serve non-FLASH browsing and to give the search bots something more to read. It's also working towards a more polished website experience. It's offered as a slim menu on the bottom of the page, serving almost as a site map as well. (sorta) While those pages will obviously lack a lot of the visual / interactive content of the main site, they have the same links and text you'd find in the FLASH version.

Critter Fu:
I'm pretty much sold on the "Minimal" HUD style for Critter Fu, with a circular frame (probably 2 point line size) and maybe one or two tweaks, like a pain indicator flash in the bg color and a highlight on the rim of the frame indicating the keypress state, something that was indicated before on previous HUD elements and I'm missing now when I play.

Now that I've sat with this viewport position for a while, and I've been playing with progressively less and less HUD clutter, I'm actually beginning to explore the idea of extending the viewport from a square with the roughed up paper / balsa wood border, to a full window viewport. It would mean extending the frames of background art and animation, and it could potentially have a performance hit as well, but I'm looking into it.

Head down and working. As always, comments welcome. Link in previous post. :coffee:

[SuperApe]

Main Site (plus a few critical old HTML pages):
I think I'm done fiddling with HTML. Now all the pages, including those linked to from my signature, are updated with proper validated HTML and a cleaner, more design-y style. I've tested all the main site HTML pages from a variety of browsers, so even someone without FLASH will be able to read what's on the site and get all the links. Almost a complete experience, minus the graphics and interactivity. :rolleyes:

Dotudot:
"How To" changed to "About".

Critter Fu:
I've modified the "Minimal" HUD style, included the turtle in displaying that style and made it the default. I'm using a combination of size and opacity to convey current Power levels. I'm using the portrait's background and frame color, along with the damaged "face" meter, to indicate current Health levels. I think it's overall an improvement, and I'm feeling more confident about its player usability. I may or may not go for the key press indicator I mentioned before. I'm enjoying the very minimal look atm.

Yes, I am approaching the six month mark on this project. :p By far, most activity has occurred in the last month. :coffee:

Please comment on anything. (anything I have on the web atm)

HERE'S A GOOD LINK TO TRY FIRST (http://home.netcom.com/~ghstorm/)
(remember: to cheat and unlock all games on the main site, go to Projects -> Games -> This Site's Games)

[SuperApe]

Locked in the "Minimal" HUD style in Critter Fu and removed the HUD style selection from the Fight! menu, (fiddled a little more with HTML here and there), and now getting set to polish up the combat in Critter Fu with some animation timing, control and A.I. tweaks. I've had plenty of time to play test the combat and I've gone through everything else, so now's the time. I think I can then just rough out the animation for the other critters (like I had with the Turtle) and the campaign scenes and call this Alpha. :)

[SuperApe]

I'm not done with those tweaks to Critter Fu I mentioned, but there's some progress. For one,Does the turtle also abide by the "no button mashing" principle? He seemed to be mashing away quite thoroughly last I played.I found that the turtle was getting blocks in for free (no power cost) and he was regenerating power instantly, while players deal with the key press mechanism and always have some delay. (There's plenty of other control issues like this I have to get to soon.) So now, the turtle is a little more fair in that respect, but it meant balance was off with that A.I. That's okay, it was time to retool the base A.I. anyway, currently represented by the turtle, and make it modular for the individual enemy characters.

Enemy A.I. is in a new revision. It's a far step more aggressive in general. (just dialing up the frequency of action) I'm also trying out three new things with the A.I.: 1) I'm using a simple regulator mechanism that allows the critter to manage the power level better (and it simultaneously gives me a nice way to dial up/down the aggression or "fury"), 2) I've got a little "switch" in the A.I. to shift it's strategy (as well) if Health falls too low, to reflect a more conservative, if not downright "gunshy" (block twice as often), behavior, and 3) I have the critter begin at a fairly mild level of fury (static), but if provoked, will get progressively more furious. (more frequent attacks, less concern about conserving power) I suppose this behavior is quite a bit more complex than before, but I really haven't added much under the hood at all.

Anyway, comments welcome as always. :coffee:

[SuperApe]

Implemented a difficulty level setting on Critter Fu's Match menu. The trick is getting a satisfactory and appropriate change that's independent of the fighting style. For example, one obvious way to ramp difficulty would be to just increase how often the character punches, kicks, etc. But, I already know I want things like this to be defined by individual characters, their strengths and style. So at this time, I'm doing most of the change in adjustments to how the character deals with power management ("fury") and defensive behaviors ("gunshy"). It's looking somewhat successful atm, but there's room for improvement and as I make any changes to the A.I. in general, I'm sure difficulty changes will likewise have to be adjusted.

[SuperApe]

Still tinkering with the combat A.I. in Critter Fu.

Spent the day adding goodies to the Toy because I thought it could use a little more something. New functionality opens up in Toy mode once all the doodles (cells, whatever) have been clicked.

Once all doodles are clicked and you are in Toy mode, several doodles will have additional functionality when clicked or clicked and held. The red one will Stop all doodles, as if time froze. The small cyan one in the middle near the red one will Go and resume momentum on all doodles. Others will affect momentum in one way or another: halt momentum, reverse, attract to default position, scatter from screen center, draw toward center, etc., etc. When used in conjunction with the Stop and Go buttons, players can set up interesting situations building up, altering, reversing momentum in stopped doddles, then hitting "go". The Stop button now also allows a way to put the doodles together, similar to the "sticky" behavior I had to get rid of. *And* the lingering "bug" where a doodle could get caught on your cursor, now seems to allow two doodles to be clicked simultaneously, causing very cool combinations of effects, depending on which two you clicked. (For example, click the "draw to default position" and drag it over the "halt/brake momentum", click again and you can always quicly 'reset' the doodles, no matter how far out they are.) I think about half have functionality now. If I can get to *all* have unique functionality and still have it somewhat manageable, that would be great. Please try it.

[SuperApe]

Added more goodies to Toy mode (see above post), seems to be fun without being confusing or "too much", but please let me hear what you think. :)

[JoystickMonkey]

I like the new functionality, but unfortunately it leads me to suggest another leg of work for you regarding the toy.

I'd suggest having sounds accompany your actions, as that's a great way to differentiate unexplained, strange and possibly buggy behavior and totally intentional behavior. I don't know who would make the sounds, but sound events would really help make the toy become fun and relaxing to play with.

Two other things:

I've said this before, but the menu overlay things tend to get in my way. I want to play with the toy, not click ok.

If you grab a cell and drag it overtop of another cell, the second cell will start to dance. If you let go of the cell you were dragging, it will stick to your mouse. That is a bug.

These are cool little features you're adding to the toy. I think that sounds would help explain specialty events and make the whole experience become more alive.

[SuperApe]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for commenting. :rockon:

I agree about sfx. This was mentioned earlier and I haven't forgotten, I just want to make interactivity solid before I go there. And I don't yet have a proper sfx theme in mind. This is why Toy is really not done yet. (I need to do another sfx pass on dotudot and critter fu too)

I remember the note about the popup (achievement popup), but I haven't done anything about it. Perhaps what really just needs to happen is a notification that requires no confirmation. (no "ok", just a smaller popup that goes away on its own) I'll think more about that. Getting there.

The sticky doodle bug has been transformed to an official feature, here's why: When you do this, you activate both the original doodle's functionality *and* the new doodle you click on. You can keep collecting these sticky doodles, and adding to the overall effects. (I've gotten 5 or 6 at once) This was just too good a thing to pass up.

For example, you can click the doodle that draws everything in to the center and drag it to the largest yellow circle (that sits screen top right by default) and click on that, which has the effect of nullifying effects along the horizontal axis. So, now everything is drawn into a vertical column. (So hard to explain this in text, it really is better to show it)

Now, it's not perfect: some doodles need to be clicked in a particular order to be combined. (Under the hood these doodles are essentially layered on top of each other and that determines if one can be clicked over another.)

And I don't think it's too hard to figure out how to release a sticky doodle. As long as you're not hovering over another doodle, you just click and upon release it will drift back to the default position. But, I'd like to hear your take on that.

Thanks! :claps:

[SuperApe]

Found time to do some of the code tweaks in Critter Fu related to fatigue & camera shake and did some sfx tweaks in Dotudot mostly about nit-picky timing. I spent some time researching sounds that might be appropriate for the Toy as well, but I haven't found anything that jumps out at me yet. The style of the Toy is so abstract I'm finding it difficult to get past it. I stopped myself from going with sfx from the Jetsons. New job is keeping me busy, but I'll continue to chip away at all this when I can.