Dev Blogs
March
25th March 2020
It has been one interesting month for everyone. But back to business, Space Captain Howard 2 has been complete for well over a month, but it really needs some kind of marketing effort so it has been put on the back burner. Marketing isn't my thing. Development is though, so I've spent the bulk of weekends and evenings after work updating every game we have. When I wasn't at work, I've basically been digging post holes for a fence, levelling dirt and shovelling rubble. Updating every project in such time and energy constraints sucked. The older applications like Magic Six and Bio Sword were very dated. Going through old code and converting old JS into C# wasn't much fun for me. It wasn't difficult, but getting the motivation to power through it was hit and miss.
I found the GUI needed updating to support more aspect ratios too. Updating the first Space Captain Howard game was more involving than I realised, it still had a large amount of JS in it. I had to resist the urges to add more content, rather I made some adjustments to the difficulty in a few levels. Also added a score highlighter, something I didn't get around to earlier. Suprisingly, updating that game still took quite a few hours more than I expected. But it is time well spent. Playing it again was also a lot of fun, which in turn made me realise why I commit my time and energy to these projects - it is a passion.
Bio Sword has also been updated for an iOS release, so the marketing engine needs to fire up for that too. It was our first game, so it holds a special place in our hearts. It also benefited from aspect ratio fixes, and a few random bug fixes. So with the old projects done (they should be pushed out in a few weeks), it frees me up to resume work on the Monster Siege game - something I have been waiting for.
And lastly, Super Battle Button also got a big update for playability. The old (lazy) difficulty curve was replaced with a much smarter model, designed to behave like a human player. Since the premise of the game is supremely simple this wasn't too difficult to achieve, but it did take a fair amount of testing and fine tuning. Some more strategic depth was added too, in that every time a player scored five green hits in a row, it gives a power point that enhances the next ability or trap. Traps alternate with abilities, and if well timed can help change a game around. The soundtrack really gets you into the spirit of the game though, worth checking out if you need some mindless fun. The next update (which includes an iOS release too) should be in April too.
