A new blog is born

This is 161 post on this blog. Honestly speaking, I didn't expect to get pass 100 posts ;-). Lately I've created a new blog, a bit less game dev related, but probably I will not resist writing about my game projects there too. So, you are welcome to follow me also there: http://kamildevblog.blogspot.com. Hope to see you on the other side.

Stock analysis software

Not gamedev related news but.. If you wondered what I'm doing lately, here is the info. I've got interested in stock market and that means that now I'm developing stock analysis app ;-).

First I was programming it in C#, then I have changed my mind and implemented something in PHP as a webapplication, but after I have found a webportal which does the same + 10x more things as mine wannabe portal, I had to rethink my approach (because I still want to monetize on that app). Now I'm implementing it as a desktop application, but this time in Java so multi platform all the way ;). Plus the interface is localized (right now in Polish and English, other languages are also possible). What I like is that you can switch the language without reloading the app (could be used for future games too :) along with using embedded database for storing save games).

No news, but not dead

Just found some time to write, so.. I wanted to say that I'm not dead, and the site is not closed, but at the moment I'm not working on any games. I wanted to play a bit with Android and maybe make some simple games for it and I wanted to make some web game - SM3 maybe. But now I don't have much time and when I have it I use it to work on my newest interest: stock market analyze. A web application which tells which stocks are worth buying based on given criteria.

Please keep in mind that this whole gaming "business" that I have here, was the result of fun and joy the game development has been giving to me.

So, existing games are "feature frozen", I will only fix bugs if any. I just don't know yet when (not if ;-) ) I will make a new game and in what technology.

PUX - side scrolling shoot-em up

Well I was playing a bit lately with concept of web browser java games. I wanted to start with something easy but not boring and after pondering with a few ideas I've settled with side scrolling shoot-em up type of game. Right now it's in very alpha state ;), much like a proof of concept then an actual game, but still I've decided to upload it to the server so others can follow it's development - I really hope there will be something to follow ;).

So here is its address: www.ktgames.net/webgames/pux

Controls are:
W/S/A/D or arrows - movement
SPACE - fire

Yes I know that it's the title from sigmore mines.. you can think of it as a Borg ship :P

Sigmore Mines 1.06

Hi, I've just posted to portals a new version of Sigmore Mines 2.
It's bugfix update only. On some phones (tested on Nokia 5310) the game was hanging while selling items and while displaying the about dialog - now it works fine.

Sigmore Mines as web browser game?

Well I have a question for you my readers (if anyone is still reading my "forgotten" blog):

What do you think of java web games (applets)? I know there are few, mostly massive multi-player ones, but what would you think of sigmore mines as a web browser game?

Back from hollidays

I'm back.. well one week is something but surely not enough.. Anyway I really should start making some game :D

Hollidays

Well I know that recently I suck at blogging.. but now I have an excuse ;) from today evening up to 3 September I'm on holidays and I will at least try not to touch the computer ;).

I think also that SM2 was my last J2Me game (probably). The idea of PC + Windows Mobile combo died out due to the poor performance of the second.. JavaFX looks promising (and would be even more promising if they made runtime for Android also), but it is still developing technology so I'm a bit afraid of investing my time in it. Right now I think about Applets - they could be played on win, linux, mac. For userbase I could just embed my applet into Facebook app and hope that someone will like it ;).

Sigmore Mines 1.05

Hi,
I've just posted new version to the portals (better latter then never ;) ). As for tweeter. It didn't worked for me. This service is a bit of crap.. All what I've got were people who follows thousands and were followed by thousands - in other words some spam-links_farm stuff.

Ok but back to the main topic. 1.05 release is important one. It fixes bug with overload penalty discovered by "animate". In previous versions even when the game was telling you that you were punished for carrying to much stuff, you actually weren't because, monsers' action points where not refreshed after their turn (only after player's turn). Now they are, and this affects also spells rest time, this probably rendering game a bit more difficult.. Anyway and as always, have fun :).

Tweeter

I have created an account on twitter http://twitter.com/kamilt . I don't know how it will work for me but I think that short notes about my development status are more likely to be kept updated be me, comparing to long blog posts for which I don't have much time lately. So no just for testing period, I invite you dear reader to follow me on twitter :).

What I'm doing now?

I know, I'm not posting much lately, but the fact is that there is not much to post about. In my work I'm spending 7.5 hours at front of the computer working with T-SQL + C# or PHP, and after work I try to learn German so in the end I don't have much power left to make something else.. I wish I could speak German fluently, but well.. it takes time.. Anyway I have a list of things I want to do in the near future :

• Change entry page of my website so I could divide content based on topics such as j2me games, windows mobile games, pc games, other application, a bit about me etc, but I don't have idea how it should look right now..
• I have written some small useful apps and I want to put them online, but I need to make them fit my webpage content (look one point up).
• I'm learning .Net 3.5 Windows Presentation Fundation and already have an idea for 3 different apps which I want to write using this technology.
• I'm in the beginning of writting Windows Mobile Game - engine and main menu is done already (Stani - I fixed the menu, shoudl work with your thumbs now ;) ).
• Want to see next Star Trek movie :D
  

Sigmore Mines 2 Nightly builds

Hi,
I have a bit of motivation to work on new features of SM2. The result of this is a nightly build version of Sigmore Mines 2. If you want to live on edge and see today test upcoming features, go to my forum and download latest nightly build. Here is the direct link : click.

Easter Wisches

I'm going to Poland for Easter and I'm not taking my laptop with, but I will try to visit my forum from time to time so hope to see you there :) - forum.

And of course happy Easter very one :).

SM2 1.02

Sigmore Mines 2 - Version 1.02

* Fix : Corrupt save game when book was in inventory while saving.



New version is now posted to all three portals (GetJar, Mobilerated, Phload), how soon it will available for download depends on portals' processing time.

New platform for my games.

I somehow managed to caught a flu.. as a consequence of this I'm laying all day in bed (with headache and stuffy nose all the time..). On the bright side of this, now I have time to think about my next hobby project. Yeah, I'm still starving to make a nice rpg game (not necessarly direct Sigmore Mines continuation), but this time I want to target different platforms and decided to check my luck with PC and PocketPC and the same time. I already have a simple 2D engine for PocketPC (but running on OpenGL so 3D is also possible) and I want to make a simpe minigame to test it. However I havent decided yet, how simple is simple enough...

RPG Rules

I was thinking a bit about rules system for rpg game. If your system is poorly designed, it in no time become uncontrollable and you end up with unbalanced game. When to think of it, all those stats numbers are probably interesting only for economists, but not for gameplay. The truth is that player will not see the difference between attacking monster which is for example 10% stronger than player, from monster,which is 15% stronger..

To see the difference, the difference must be big enough, and if small differences are not useful, the rpg system should not allow them at all. To make such system I have grouped tasks into difficulty levels. I've created a few groups, just easy, normal, hard and difficult.

I run a simple test program to see the outcome of such system, here are the outputs:

Attacking easy enemy

• Hit
• Hit
• Miss
• Hit
• Hit
• Hit
• Hit
• Hit
• Hit
• Miss

Attacking normal enemy

• Hit
• Hit
• Miss
• Hit
• Miss
• Miss
• Hit
• Miss
• Miss
• Hit

Attacking hard enemy

• Hit
• Miss
• Miss
• Miss
• Miss
• Hit
• Miss
• Miss
• Miss
• Hit

Attacking difficult enemy

• Miss
• Miss
• Miss
• Miss
• Hit
• Miss
• Miss
• Miss
• Miss
• Miss

Of course output is randomized, so different runs give different results. What I like about the approach I used is that you can just by looking see clearly the difference in the task difficulty. Now all what game needs to do is to tell which monster belong to which group, taking into account such thing like experience with using weapons(hitting a monster with a bow for an archer is easier task than for a warrior) and other factors.

Forum

Maybe you already noticed, or maybe not, but I want you to note that there is a forum link on my ktgames website. You can post questions there about my games and of course read the answers ;). PS My friend is developing his own J2Me game in similar climate, so I have decided to share the forum with him. Check it out. Forum Link.

New website's layout :)

I have changed my website's layout. This time it is designed by me from the beginning to the end. I hope it looks cleaner and is easier for the user to navigate. In addition, my old forum is back :) (search for a link on my website : www.ktgames.net). Also Sigmore Mines 2 has its own domain : www.sigmoremines2.ktgames.net :).

PS Did you know? I'm learning intensively German language right now. Maybe future versions of SM will have English/Deutsch/Polish translations :).

Sigmore Mines 2 v1.01

Today I have posted a new version of Sigmore Mines 2. I don't know how fast each portal will update its content, but I think it is a matter of hours.

What is new in 1.01?
- I fixed a spelling error.
- Not recognizing that final quest was finished is fixed.
- Introducing normal and hard difficulty setting.

Hard difficulty is the difficulty of SM2 v 1.0
Normal difficulty means:
- more chances of getting gold from killing a monster
- more chances of hitting a monster (+10%)
- few monsters have less mana, attack rating, defense rating

Previous save game is compatible with this version, when old save game is loaded it is treated as a game on hard difficulty setting.

Future plans

Hi all. I have on my hard-drive SM2 1.01 version with minor fixes. Actually with fix for misspelled "Strenght" and sometimes when you kill final boss, the game didn't recognize his death.. Yeah there are persons who have finished the game ;), but due to the number of feedback regarding of difficulty of the game, I have decided to add a difficulty setting in the options menu. Current difficulty level will be a hard one, and normal will be a bit easier.