Holida Bonus Beta! Please test.
Community Forums/Showcase/Holida Bonus Beta! Please test.
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| "Holiday" Bonus, oops. Hi, I am really proud to present my latest game - Holiday Bonus. This game was made in BlitzMax with the Grey Alien BlitzMax Game Framework (V1.03) I've worked really hard over the last few weeks (16 hour days etc.) to convert my Oz game into this. I honestly think that this is the best match-3 game ever made (but I would say that, wouldn't I ;-)) Please try out the beta version and let me know what you think. If you can write down your level completion times, that would be great thank! [EDIT]WOOO, it's finally live on my site! www.greyaliengames.com/holidaybonus.php ***If you feel inclined to buy it, I've set up a special 10% DISCOUNT for Blitzers! Just use this discount code: UYR000HR      I hope that you enjoy it and I look forward to hearing your comments :-) I don't have time for any major changes at this stage just minor tweaks or I'll miss the Christmas boat! I'll be releasing a new version of the framework soon with fade in, cross fade, particle scripting etc - all the extra stuff that I've put in this game. Big Thanks to IPete2 for the AMAZING graphics and to CS_TBL for the top quality music - nice one guys! |
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| Jake, My times are: Level Time 1 1.09 2 3.45 3 5.49 4 2.26 5 2.22 6 3.13 7 1.53 8 7.38 9 5.47 Brilliant job Jake - this is a very slick and fabulous to play Christmas themed game. The gameplay is fast and furious - wonderful even. The game is smooth and just keeps throwing particles and lush graphics around no matter how fast you play it. Some nice easy puzzles to warm you up and then some more difficult to keep you going a little longer. Music is fantastic - great job CS_TBL, Sounds are crisp and clean. There are a couple of additional touches Jake has included to take the gaunlet a little further again, with a special gallery for unlocked pictures, a neat map screen and a nice opening introduction into the game. Usual player manager and score/level saves are part of the game too. Heartily recommended! :) |
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| Looks very polished. :-) |
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| Ah, finally I see that darkblue night image! Looks moody ^_^ |
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| Thanks everyone. Interesting times there Peter. I'd better keep an eye on everyone else's. Hey did you like the HoHoHo? ;-) I think the shape colours tunred out really well (after my 3am tweaking in Gimp) and the grid and backgrounds all blend nicely. I did all new soundfx (moreorless) for this version, some similar to older games but basically new. Yeah so I should have said, it features: - 55 levels (in full version) - 10 lush game backgrounds - 5 wonderful in-game music tracks - a gallery of unlockable pictures - a Bonus Power gauge for double power bonuses! - 7 bonus items + a random bonus item - wicked particle effects - pro menus and a cool parallax map screen pan and zoom :-) - you can use the backgrounds as desktop wallpaper Wish me luck, I've staked a lot on this being a success, and I felt compelled to do it. Oz just took a bit too long and so I had to majorly bust a gut to get this ready on time. Not an experience I (or my family) wants to repeat, but the end result is worth it... |
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| - 10 lust game backgrounds lust? :-) sleep++; |
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| haha, ok will hit the sack and edit that now. yawn. Another portal (well Trymedia actually) has accepted. That's 7 now :-) |
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| Trymedia is actually the easiest portal to get your game in. So, all you guys out there with completed games what are you waiting for? I mean, if Grey can do it you can do it :)~ |
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| well they only took like 5 weeks to reply...Another portal just accepted - that's 8. Ker-ching! |
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| Nice.....You should come away with a nice Holiday Bonus (hehehe). Good work Grey! |
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| Very sleek! Nice graphics, nice sound, nice music, nice particles, nice overall game... ...but the one thing that really bugs me is the intro where you hear the clock ticking, yet the pendulum doesn't move. :-? My times: Level 1) 0:36 Level 2) 0:40 Level 3) 1:03 Level 4) 1:32 Level 5) 0:49 Level 6) 1:33 Level 7) 0:54 Level 8) 2:41 Level 9) 3:11 (Meaning it took me less than half the time IPete2 did, but I've played hundreds of levels of Big Kahuna Reef though, so I'm used to match-3's) |
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| Doh! |
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| 1) 0.34 2) 0.46 3) 1.35 4) 3.51 5) 2.22 6) 1.36 7) 1.59 8) 3.22 9) 5.24 |
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| Thanks for your times. The demo should be over fairly quickly and the next 10 levels will be harder (you get the idea from level 9) |
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| Very fun, very slick. Best match 3 I played. Only thing I noticed, the top of the power bonus dooda meter, the curve isnt very nice. |
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| The music and graphics are top notch and everything blends together nicely. Well done! |
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| 1: 1:01 2: 3:11 3: 2:00 Very slick grey, the way the view zooms in on the tree between levels is a nice touch - had to stop at level 4 thru over keyboard use. Nice sfx too, you deserve to do well with this - regards, |
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| Only thing I noticed, the top of the power bonus dooda meter, the curve isnt very nice. haha well if that's all then great :-)agent4125: Thanks dude. Blitzplotter: thanks for the times. Yeah the tree zoom + parallax pan is cool, it was IPete2s idea (I just had to code it ;-)). "over keyboard use"? you mean you spend too long on the PC today as the game doesn't need keyboard? |
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| Pssst might have been a good idea not to include all 55 levels! *cough* |
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| oh yeah doh (You can only play up to 9 in the game), but they are actually the levels from Oz and many won't work. Actually for the average customer this is not an issue as they won't know. In fact most games have all the data in them and are just unlocked. |
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| *puts sock in mouth* |
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| I know but don't tell everyone shhh. Full version is out soon with proper levels instead of Oz levels. Gald u like it anyway. The graphics turned out nice too :-) |
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| The graphics did turn out nice. The still shots did not do it justice. Did you write the music yourself ? |
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| skn3[ac]: Thanks, yeah ht estill shots are jpg so loose a bit of the quality (png looks better but is 500K per shot). Plus of course you *have* to see it all moving smoothly and the particles etc. No, CS_TBL did the music, he's very talented. Hey do you want to test some levels? I have made the first 9 a bit harder and I'm interested in getting someone else's times on them. Email me ASAP if you are into it. |
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| I have emailed you :) |
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| sent |
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| You sure ? Nothing in my inbox(s) Try *sticks sock in mouth* |
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| Very polished. I've never actually played a match 3 game before. These were my times on the second go: Level 1 2.21 Level 2 2.49 Level 3 4.5? Can't remember the third. Is there any way to see what the best scores are for a level? |
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| skn3[ac]: resent. Safe to edit your email address out now. Wellmt: Many thanks, hope you liked it. There is no best scores for level thing in this game :-( wanted to add it but ran out of time, sorry. |
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| Just released V1.00! Check it out. Levels are a bit harder and there are snowflakes on the end of the level plus a couple of minor fixes/tweaks, oh and the final mixed music! |
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| Showed this to g/f earlier today. Suffice to say I didn't get my laptop back for four hours - and that was only cos she'd got thru the 10 demo levels three times over. Its really not my cup of tea although its pretty cool anyway. G/f is closer to your target audience tho, so I reckon it could do OK. |
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| Gfk: Great :) that's a good sign. My accountant's secretary bought Oz and she played the levels through multiple times too (I'm gonna stick a 60 min limit on it cos I'm mean) Well then you know what to get her for Christmas... It'll be on sale next week, I'll post links. Glad you thought it was cool, that's high praise coming from you ;-) |
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| With the new version, my times are: 1) 0:34 2) 1:00 3) 0:59 4) 1:14 5) 1:45 6) 1:44 7) 1:49 8) 3:19 9) 4:58 My 4-year old wanted to play to, and he got the following: 1) 2:27 2) 6:03 3) 8:01 (He doesn't remember to clear the grey background squares, though) |
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| xlsior: great thanks for the new times. Almost exactly the same total as me. So do you think these new levels are better balanced? As this game will be limited to 60 minutes on the portals, you'll clear 9 in 17mins but other people take 30+ mins. However, the next 11 will be a lot harder, so to get to level 20 before the demo runs out will be a real feat, that's the aim anyway. Making them hard but not boring or frustrating is difficult. I've got a lot of "meaningful" shapes in the final set but also some abstract ones which test the level structure capabilities out and I like these too. My boys both play. Conan, who is 5 (6 in March) played Oz to level 7 on his own! Callum who is two likes the door intro and clicking the sacks on level 8 and tries to play the game but he doesn't understand it. He's also scared by Santa and "HOHOHO" on the end game (you haven't seen this :-)) Your 4 year-olds times seem goo then for basically random match moves with no aim (except to have fun I guess) :-D I'll let you know when it's out (next week) |
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| Grey: Just a thought, but one of the things I liked about Big Kahuna is that they also have a level editor, and sites where you can download a ton of fan-made levels for the game to use with the full version... so even after beating the 100 levels it came with, you can add additional challenges to it later. He's also scared by Santa and "HOHOHO" on the end game (you haven't seen this :-) After finishing level 9, you do have the "ho ho ho" sound, whihc sounds pretty good... Actually, the sound effects overall sound very professional and fit well together. Did you either create or commission the sounds yourself, or did you find royalty free sound effects somewhere? If the latter, where did you obtain them, if you don't mind me asking? |
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| I do have a level editor but it doesn't look "PRO". If I get enough direct sales I'll release it with Holiday Bonus "Gold" which includes level packs. So the sounds were some old sounds I had that I remixed in Fruity Loops and some new sounds that I bought from Sound Rangers, oh and I made a couple like the gauge filling and the map zoom and the ice panel slide on etc. I had to cut them all, fade them, reverb them, and balance them etc (you get the picture), and of course choose the right ones. That's why I listed myself as sound engineerin the credits ;-) And the HOHOHO was made by...now that would be telling. Anyway the HOHOHO comes back at the end of the game with a cool screen and some ace music. |
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| Final version sent to portals! This is a momentus day for me :-) My first totally self-produced and self-publisher game. Wish me luck! Cheerz. |
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| Whohoooo!! :-) |
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| I have some advice - stop making puzzle games - I don't play them. I like RPG games, make a RPG - ideally a 3D one. Off you go, I'll wait here. |
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| RPG's have my choice as well, but have you ever tried coding one, "puki"? Let along drawing one? (I think RPG music is fairly easy, compared to code and gfx :P) |
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| I love RPGs too, played all the best ones (except for that recent mega one, Daggerfall 4 or whatever). Anyway Puki, I'll make an RPG match-3 in 3D and zip up the media and souce and send it over OK? |
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| Okay, make sure the media is fully animated and AAA or at least really good quality - I want animated people (male and female - different professions) and monsters too. |
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| Actually I was thinking of makeing a game called Boner Bonus, are you interested in that sort of animation too? |
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| Oh, oh... another match-3 game is coming? It should be OK if you can change the game engine. All your games have the same flavor. :S The select level of holiday bonus remembers me the AOTMG. I can feel the same visual-fx and sound. I can't to believe that you're planning to make another match-3 game. Well, it's aceptable only if the people are still buying your games. If you can sell the same game again and again and again... you're lucky. |
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| Well, the new 3D RPG one should be a change in direction. |
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| Oh, oh... another match-3 game is coming? Jealousy is an ugly thing. It should be OK if you can change the game engine. All your games have the same flavor. :S The select level of holiday bonus remembers me the AOTMG. I can feel the same visual-fx and sound. I can't to believe that you're planning to make another match-3 game. Well, it's aceptable only if the people are still buying your games. If you can sell the same game again and again and again... you're lucky. |
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| Oh, oh... another match-3 game is coming? Are you referring to Holiday Bonus or Boner Bonus ;-) one is real, and one isn't... All your games have the same flavor. :S except I improve each one in a variety of ways. Also I hope the flavour is GOOD :-) The select level of holiday bonus remembers me the AOTMG. I can feel the same visual-fx and sound. I reused the idea because it was cool, and everyone seems to agree. Yep, AOTMG zoomed in, but this one has a background that pans and zooms in parallax! Also the sound is a brand new sound. If you can sell the same game again and again and again... you're lucky. I'm full time so I treat making games as a business, not a hobby (otherwise I'd make shooters and never finish anything).I had a business plan and it went like this "See what types of games sell well. Find a genre I like and can code relatively easily (no professional game is "easy"). Analyse, duplicate and improve that genre. If it is received well, repeat, adding variation and improvement each time until I get bored or customers/portals stop buying" I think this approach has worked well. I'd love to make some different games soon and we'll see what happens. |
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| @ Grey, I'm not a match 3 fan to be honest but I did complete the demo and it's very good. I have to confess that I initially thought, out of jealousy - "Can this guy do anything other than match 3 games?" The truth of the matter is simple ... if people are buying your product and your making plenty of money then why not kick the arse out of it! Best of luck to you. Stevie |
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| Thanks Stevie, glad u like it and thanks for the good luck. As for "Can this guy do anything other than match 3 games?", well take a look at my website. It has a kung fu platform game (incomplete), a shoot-em up (incomplete), a mushroom collector game and a tetris clone, oh and an old-skool demo. Plus there's my AOTMG demo which is a shoot-em-up of sorts. Over the years I've written tons of mini-games (mainly action) and demos on a variety of computers (Spectrum, C64, BBC/Acorn, Amiga, PC Dos/Windows) so the answer is Yes, I can do other stuff :-) Also for 9 years I wrote business software (stock control/accounts) for bookshops using Delphi and SQL, but it was boring (good money though). At the moment the match-3s are a vehicle to greater things. I'm using them to learn Indie game development and marketing in great detail so that I can do some different stuff later on (soon...) Also people (mistakenly) look at my match-3s and think, "oh that's easy I could do that". Well I say, "go on then" - I don't mean a mini-match-3 demo I mean *everything*, all the particle fx, the transistions, the menu screens, the sprites, the game physics, the bonus items, the windows technical crap etc etc. Making any game to a professional standard is not easy. I had the first match 3 engine up an running in a week, but it's taken 1.5 years to get to this level. Also I hope that my games can be an inspiration to others to know that Bmax is bona fide and can be used for cool stuff, whatever you can imagine (in 2d ;-)) it can be done. |
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| @Gfk: Jealousy is an ugly thing. Oh, yeah. but I'm not jealousy, because I can do a match-3 game as good as the grey one. @Grey: Analyse, duplicate and improve that genre. If it is received well, repeat, adding variation and improvement each time until I get bored or customers/portals stop buying" that I said, is the only reason to still making the same game. |
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| Not a fan of match games either but as slick and professional as always. Couple of inane things : 1) When I press the cracker to 'click to continue' why doesn't it 'pull' like a cracker. 2) The music sounds like a 'Last Christmas/Do they know it's Christmas' hybrid. Not a problem and I'm sure nobody's going to cause a fuss. 3) The music during play reminds me of 'Tux'. It's not very 'Christmassy'. I know it's called 'Holiday Bonus' but the theme is Xmas so something more 'Carolly' would have been better. 4) The backdrops could be more festive than winter. Nothing major but I noticed so thought I'd mention them. Anyway, very nicely done! |
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| tonyg: thanks for your positive feedback. Yeah the artist suggest the cracker pulling thinig too, but like so many things, no time :-) Yeah I know that the backgrounds are winterey and the music suits them rather than everything being totally Christmassy, but making Christmas background requires tons of detail like kids playing, snowmen, sleighs etc and we didn't have the resources/time so I went for snowscape backgrounds. We'll have to see what the customers think... |
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| I reckon the customers won't be too fussed. The backdrops are not that noticeable but I would have got more into the spirit with jolly music while playing. After the nice, cosy, fireside, xmas feel it was a bit 'cold' rather than festive. As I said, nothing serious but took away from the Xmas feel a little. |
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| yeah, I guess I wanted a contrast from the house to the game, it couldn't all be dark insides. And outside really all you can do is snowy stuff unless you start adding people and other stuff, but then the pictures become too busy and stop working as backgrounds for the game as they distract and make the game grid unclear (been there, done that, ditched it). We had a another jolly tune but I felt it didn't fit with the pictures so I directed the musician to make more "scenery" type music, which he did. It's interesting you should bring it up though as naturally I'd thought all that stuff to but had to make a decision one way at the end of the day. Hopefully you are right and the customers will still groove to it anyway. The main focus is the game to be honest and that is pretty smooth and addictive, esp the bonus items and the double power bonus gauge, the other graphicsare the external trappings that set the mood and have to be there to get on the portals and to get the customers to download it based on the screenshots. Shame but that's the way things are these days. |
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| The xmas factor in the music is mainly the sleighbells, and if it's not sleighbells then it's the generic happiness. There's one really cool xmas track in it, in the level with the darkblue/night picture. The part after the first 30secs o' synthbells features that typical 'street brassband in the snow' in any Dickens'sh London. After that a bit more orchestra comes in with violins and flutes, lotsa happiness 'n goodness in there. Also, in all tracks (iirc :P) are choirs of some sort. In any case, the pix I got were more related to winter than to xmas, that's true, so I stuck to winter and added only a minor flavour o' xmas. Notice that the original title music, made months ago was completely orchestral, no synths. But to suit the puzzlegame genre I decided to spice things up a bit. The Last Christmas idea is correct.. :-) But that's easy anyway, lower the tempo, add the right drums and toy around with classic synthsounds. It's instantly reckognisable as xmas music. I quite like all these tracks, they contain a mix of everything. There are hints of famous movie composers and there's even the odd Holst reference. |
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| I really like them. Yeah maybe TonyG didn't hear the music on level 4, the "Dickens" music. My favourite may still be the "Columbo" end of game track, especially with that ridiculous new start haha :-) |
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| I think that track would have been the oddball between the other level tracks, so it better stays where it is: at the end :P |
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| Went up to level 5 but, sorry, still didn't hear anything festive. Was presented with my first picture in the gallery and was a bit non-plussed. What is it for? Reward of a sub-game or some part of a storyline would have been better. Anyway, as I said before this isn't my sort of game so don't take any of this other than constructive criticism. There is no doubt the presentation is superb, the graphics are very good as is the music although, for my liking, a bit out of context. Still not sure what the picture reward is for though. |
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| haha, you know about "metagames"? (surely you do and are pulling my leg) So like in casual games there is often a metagame which is normally like collecting pieces of an amulet, or some fish for your aquarium, or unlocking some pictures in a gallery (oh that's the one I chose ;-)) etc. It's just a reward for reaching a certain point and to elevate the game above just a basic trawl through the levels. In fact lots of non-casual games have galleries, e.g. Luigi's mansion. Also you can set the gallery pics as desktop wallpaper. You may not want to but it's seen as an added bonus for the target market. (personally I'm not big on meta games, I sorta see through them, but lots of people really like them) But then I can't please everyone, I could have spent the time on an "arcade" mode which was timed but then people would go "where are the unlockables" etc. Given enough time I'd put all this stuff in but time ran out, unless I can postpone Christmas... Go into the data/music folder an listen to level4, if you can be bothered, that's the most festive one there for sure, it's got a brass band and sleighbells and tinkly stuff, it's old-style Christmas all over. Anyway I'm flattered that you think it's good as I value your opinion. |
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| Christ those lot on Indiegamer as such a judgemental lot. They make comments about the graphics/gameplay, yet *haven't even downloaded it yet* doh! When you compare this game to the majority of other match-3s out there (by playing) you'll see why I think it's good ;-) |
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| After the lovely graphics of the intro I'm afraid I was a little disappointed too - just seems a little soulless. Easter Bonus and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz had charm, gameplay and lots of polish - this is like your first game with a better front-end. Sorry to be negative, but I didn't like this one. Even the best companies get it wrong sometimes. ;-) |
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| Even the best companies get it wrong sometimes. ;-) Thanks for trying it Steve. Sorry you don't like it, but you are only one potential customer so it doesn't mean I've got it wrong, thankfully other people DO like it ... *lots* :-) I guess when I start seeing sales figures that'll be the proof one way or the other. Hey did you try out the double bonus power gauge, that adds a pretty cool element. |
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| LOL - good old Grey optimistic as ever! You just might want to take a look at those 2 games I mentioned and compare though - remember I loved those. I guess I was disappointed more because your games are improving - this one didn't. |
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| I get an (114) Unhandled Memory Exception when I start the Holiday Bonus EXE. Here are my specs: Windows XP Media Center 2005 Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 2GB RAM 256MB nVidia 7600GT |
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| Steve: Gotta always look on the bright side or it would be too easy to get depressed. Someone on another forum just said how they liked my Xmas Bonus but not Easter and OZ, and they really like the new one. See what I mean about personal preference haha. Hey I think they are all good. Easter Bonus ws an improved Xmas Bonus imho and OZ was in BMax so it made use of all the fancy 3D card effects. Holiday Bonus is Oz with a couple more effects and completely new media, plus the double power gauge instead of the diagonal move gauge. Maybe try it again some time, I think it's really neat ;-) Anyway, one good thing to come of it for you is a new framework! I'll release it in a week or so... Seb: Right OK, thanks for that. You've got a pretty bang up-to-date machine, but I've never tested it on that OS. Checking now...OK that error number says that if fails on these line: If GraphicsModeExists(ScreenWidth, ScreenHeight,32) Then OK = Graphics(ScreenWidth, ScreenHeight,32,Hertz) EndIf Which it really shouldn't fail on! Does it support 800x600x32bit @ 60Hz? Would you be able to help me a little bit if I gave you a debug.exe to try it on for a better error message please? Also did you try the Oz game? Did that work? I know that there was a problem initially with Oz when certain graphics cards didn't support DX7, so I added code to change to OpenGL. Then Mark change the DX mod so I hope he hasn't broken that code. Oh yeah, another thing, try going into the .ini file and changing driver from 0 to 1 (unless it's already on 1). This should run your game in OpenGL mode. If it works, then I know it's a DX7 not being detected properly on your PC problem. If you have a few minutes to help I'd REALLY appreciate it as this game is about to go out to the whole world next week! Thanks. |
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| very nice except music in game makes me sad...I think its becouse of beer.. |
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| Ofcourse, everybody has their own opinion - I'm sure it will do well. It just seems to me you're starting to rush the games to market - rather than improving gameplay and graphics. In this case it's understandable because it's a Christmas themed game and so has to come out in December at least - just take your time on the next one and make a better game. |
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| Naughty Alien: yes the music is quite moving in parts cos it's made by a film/TV composer. Part of level 4 sounds a bit like Call of Duty or something (the brass). Steve Elliott: yeah I had to hurry this one along in time for Christmas, however, I still spent more than 200 hours on it. Every area in the game was polished, I don't think any part was "rushed" ;-) I did want to start this game a month or two before I actually did but OZ took a long time to finish due to slow art delivery and extra work from the producer, mind you it's a good game too. Yeah I really don't know what the next game will be at the moment as I've got quite a few job offers from this one so I need to see if they pan out or if I prefer to do my own thing... |
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| I'd like to see you develop that platform game you've been gagging to do (and not just because of the potential framework benefits for myself). |
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| I've checked it again this morning, and it is working. The only thing I can think of is that Media Center TV App was in DirectX exclusive mode and wasn't letting any other apps have access. I'll keep trying throughout the day and if it happens again, I'll try running it in OpenGL and will let you know if it fixes the problem. |
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| Bobby: Yeah me too, problem is persuading the missus that it can actually earn some money so I can work on it for months... Seb: Ah I see, well that's good to know in a way as I thought it might be some major DX problem. You can test Open GL by going into HolidayBonus.ini and changing driver to 1. Be interesting to see if that runs alongside Media Centre. I'm not treating a fix as urgent right now. In fact, it's not me who can fix it but BRL. I probably have to get them a simple piece of test code and get them to try it on MediaCentre. Thanks again. |
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| I know that there was a problem initially with Oz when certain graphics cards didn't support DX7, so I added code to change to OpenGL But Bmax should do that anyway?You did import GLMax2D into your original code, didn't you? Anyway, Holiday Bonus seems to address the pedantic niggles I had with WWO. Can't really say much else as it's essentially the same game in different clothes, so everything I said about WWO, holds true for this game too. ;o) I did notice that you're finally including the icon resource within the exe, about bleedin time too. ;o) Now you can have a relaxed crimbo (as relaxed as it can be with young kids, at least) and let the portals do their thang. :o) |
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| Yan: there was a problem that Mark fixed where the DX7 driver would return null and thus Graphics() crashed. I detected the Null and used OpenGL instead and if that was null output an error message. Then Mark changed it and I was paranoid that he may have broken my auto-detection code, but it seems OK, phew! Yeah can't remember what your niggles were but there is now a fade in instead of instant on, was that you? Icon was in Oz as a resource too ;p and has been part of the framework for a while. Yep I can relax now (sorta), got a couple of consultancy jobs (web-site for someone and a system upgrade for someone else), but they won't take long and the money is good. Actually all today I've been packaging it for selling on my website, this was quite laborious as I had to make all the upsell pages for Armadillo and get it ton interface correctly and get Innosetup working, plus make a web page and php counters etc. You get the picure. Anyway this thread wil become obsolete pretty soon. |
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| WOOO, it's finally live on my site! www.greyaliengames.com/holidaybonus.php ***If you feel inclined to buy it, I've set up a special 10% DISCOUNT for Blitzers! Just use this discount code: UYR000HR |
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| I see you wiped win98 from the specs .. |
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| yeah just in case... |
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| Jake, Looking good and what a bargain man! IPete2. |
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| yeah with 10% off it's less than £9.00 for hours of quality fun. |
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| {EDIT}Just realised what I did.... |
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| . |
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| Well, They are not the only "Fish" in the sea. IPete2. |
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| /me slaps IPete2 with a large games portal. ;o) Oh...I Forgot to say, the music is great (as are the graphics, Mr IPete) and has a nice 'epic' feel to it. :o) there was a problem that Mark fixed where the DX7 driver would return null and thus Graphics() crashed Yeah...I understood, but BMax will automatically drop back to GL if the DX driver returns null and you include GLMax2D (this has been in almost as long as the DX driver itself).Try this... Strict Graphics 800, 600, 0 Cls DrawText "DX = " + (D3D7Max2DDriver() <> Null), 12, 12 DrawText "GL = " + (GLMax2DDriver() <> Null), 12, 24 DrawText "Using : " + _max2DDriver.ToString(), 12, 48 Flip WaitKey() End...then disable DX (DXDiag) and run it again. Admittedly, it'll still error out if GL is then unavailable, but that wasn't my point. ;o) Not that it really matters off course, (if it works, it works) t'was more of a 'FYI' kinda thing. :o) |
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| Right, I tried again this morning with Media Center App open in windowed mode and got the Unhandled Memory Exception error again, so I changed to OpenGL mode in the INI file and it worked fine. Maybe you could get it to switch to OpenGL if DirectX fails on the above lines? |
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| Yan. Ah I see. Well I'm setting the driver first based on an ini flag, then I'm calling graphics afterwards and checking to see if the result is null. But this failed when DX was not found as Graphics bombs. So Now I check the DXdriver result and if null I change to OpenGL, THEN I call graphics and I still check the result of that. Works well. Seb: Yeah except that it shouldn't fail on those two lines, it's obviously something that BMax can't deal with. It's failing within those two lines internally and my check for if it was OK or not isn't picking up the error :-( So I'm not sure what I can do. It's probably worth posting in the BMax Bug forms at some point I guess. Thanks for your help. |
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| Okay, d/ling demo... Whoa! Perhaps the most addicting puzzle game of my life! This is even better than those Jawbreaker or Colored Tile games that I THOUGHT I knew! I got a great score on your demo, too. I'm telling you, if I can get addicted to this game, ANYONE can, trust me, you got another winner on your hands, no doubt about it. |
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| @Yan - "Thwack! " IPete2. (quietly flinching) groan! Lol IPete2. |
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| I'll give it another go or two, but I'll probably get the Wonderful Wizard of Oz instead. btw I think the painted backgrounds of the Oz game work better than the photographs and computer graphics of this game. The two graphic styles don't mix as well in my opinion. |
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| Steve, There are no photographs in Holiday Bonus...only rendered 3D. :) IPete2. |
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| Steve: Sure Oz is a good game. Some people weren't sure the painted backgrounds went with the 3D, but you can't please them all ;-) If you get it let me know, then I'll ask the publisher for a sales update and I can see if he lies ;-) haha... IPete2: there you go, mission accomplished, someone thought they were photos, or at least refered to them as that :) |
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| IPete2 - nice job. Perhaps too realistic! ;-) |
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| Cheers Steve! :) IPete2. |
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