Buzzword screenshots

Community Forums/Showcase/Buzzword screenshots

GfK(Posted 2007) [#1]
Hello.

Couple of shots of my soon to be released word game - Buzzword. Busy firing it off to portals and stuff just now, as well as finishing up a few small issues from testers as they come in, and getting my website in order ready for launch in a few weeks.

Demo to be released soon.










smilertoo(Posted 2007) [#2]
theres bees....but no pigeons wearing shoes.


GfK(Posted 2007) [#3]
No. Pigeons in shoes have their place, and this is not it. :)


Grey Alien(Posted 2007) [#4]
Ace, I'm glad we can finally see it! Reminds me of numericon, a hexagon based numbers game.

Are the backgrounds photos?

Looks well done, but I'd love to see it in action to assess the polish levels.

Good luck with the portals!

Word games are in, so good choice.


GfK(Posted 2007) [#5]
Yep the backgrounds are photos, but I took them myself so no licencing issues :D

If you can pop onto IRC in the next few minutes, I'll show you a demo.

[edit] actually, check your email.


Matty(Posted 2007) [#6]
Looks very nice (although not a game I'd play). How difficult was it to set up the 'board' - I mean placing the letters for each level?


LineOf7s(Posted 2007) [#7]
Screenshots look "just like a bought one", which given the levels of polish I'm comparing it to, impresses me very nicely. For whatever reason, it looks nicer than any of your Idigicon games.

Would it be wrong of me (based solely on screenshots) to mention how superficially similar to Popcap's "Bookworm" it seems to be? Not a bad thing, and at least it's not 'another Match-3', but I eagerly await a demo to see for sure. :o)

Congratulations - it looks like something to be proud of... and it may just make you a few quid in the meantime.


GfK(Posted 2007) [#8]
Yeah I found Bookworm about six months back while doing a google search for anything 'similar', and temporarily canned my game because of it, but in the end I really couldn't justify throwing away five or six months of work just like that. I don't consider there being an existing word game a good enough reason to abandon it.

So I picked it up again - even borrowed an idea or two from Bookworm.

For whatever reason, it looks nicer than any of your Idigicon games.
....who games? I don't know what you're talking about. *twitch*


TartanTangerine (was Indiepath)(Posted 2007) [#9]
I thought this game had already bee-n (sorry about the pun) released - good luck with this I'm sure the similarities to other games will not hinder interest from portals or your sales potential.

Something I played a little while ago that you reminded me of.



GfK(Posted 2007) [#10]
Oh right, so nobody can make word games any more? Or games with bees in?


slenkar(Posted 2007) [#11]
or games where you make words from hexagons that feature bees heavily and have the same title and same gameplay mechanics?


big10p(Posted 2007) [#12]
or games where you make words from hexagons that feature bees heavily and have the same title and same gameplay mechanics?
So, you've played Gfk's game then? Didn't think so.


Torrente(Posted 2007) [#13]
In any case, Gfk's game looks a lot more polished and professional.


GfK(Posted 2007) [#14]
In any case, Gfk's game looks a lot more polished and professional.
:)

Thank you.


TartanTangerine (was Indiepath)(Posted 2007) [#15]
Btw, take advice on-board but at the end of the day follow what you want to do. DO NOT be bothered by other peoples petty snipes including my frequent irrelevent ramblings. Well done on getting the game finished.


GfK(Posted 2007) [#16]
Thanks :)


Grey Alien(Posted 2007) [#17]
Wow Buzzwords is certainly a coincidence, but yeah don't let it bother you, I doubt they'd get funny or have the legal resources to back it up even if they did :-)


Grey Alien(Posted 2007) [#18]
Emailed you.


GfK(Posted 2007) [#19]
Got it, thx!

I have a few lil bits to fix up tomorrow so I can look at implementing a few of your suggestions.


Blitzplotter(Posted 2007) [#20]
I agree, the polish on your product just from the screenshots far outstrips the other...


Grey Alien(Posted 2007) [#21]
Hey it looks like on that other one that words maybe eat away at the grid making it smaller. That could be a neat bonus round for your game.


stayne(Posted 2007) [#22]
Call it WordBuzz :)


Chugs40(Posted 2007) [#23]
Looks Good.


Wiebo(Posted 2007) [#24]
He that's really nice looking GFK. congrats on another new game done.


caff_(Posted 2007) [#25]
It's really addictive to play. Trust me - I detest puzzle/word/block/match-3 games - but the first time I played this on 'free play' mode, about 2 hours passed that I didn't even notice.

Other game looks a bit cack to be honest.


GfK(Posted 2007) [#26]
Caff - thanks for kind words. Means a lot.

The new version (thats currently in pieces on my hard drive due to problems with Vista) has a lot of new features, improved front-end, enhanced control system (thanks Grey Alien for the suggestion), support for DirectSound, FreeAudio and OpenAL (*spit* @ vista), improved 'difficulty curve', a game help system, plus a handful of bug fixes and little tweaks here and there. I've also done the name change we discussed a couple of days ago to avoid confusion with that other game.

Very happy with it!


Grey Alien(Posted 2007) [#27]
Hey sounds great! So is OpenAL default now to have Vista compatibility by default as you can't expect a casual gamer to go "hmm, sound is dogy, I'll just checkout other drivers in the options page", they'll just close the demo and never play again. Sorry if this is obvious.

So it sounds like all you need is the obligatory plot and map screen (map screen at the very least) i.e. story/adventure mode.

Look forward to seeing the next release.


JazzieB(Posted 2007) [#28]
It's possible to detect which version of Windows a program is running on and change any defaults as necessary, so you could default to DirectSound or OpenAL rather than FreeAudio. Link: http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=66314

I basically go down the DirectSound route, but it would be just as easy to use OpenAL instead and fall back to DirectSound if it's not available.


TartanTangerine (was Indiepath)(Posted 2007) [#29]
uh link?


Grey Alien(Posted 2007) [#30]
sorry to Hijack, but is FreeAudio = DirectSound or is it different? Thanks. Maybe DirectSound is more stable on Win98/ME etc. If they are different (I think they probably are) why is FreeAudio the BMax default instead of DirectSound or OpenAL if it's a bit rubbish? Is DirectSound dubius too? Sorry a lot of questions...


JazzieB(Posted 2007) [#31]
They are three separate drivers. FreeAudio is used as the default because it is the most stable across a majority of systems (including the Mac and Linux). There were issues initially with DirectSound, but I believe these are fine now (I certainly haven't had any problems). It's probably used as default because it's the only one that is guaranteed to be available on the PC, Mac and Linux (No DirectSound on Mac or Linux, and a user doesn't necessarily have OpenAL installed on any system).

These drivers can further by devided into sub-drivers if you will, but I won't go into detail here. Probably best to have a nosey through the threads in the Module Tweaks section.


GfK(Posted 2007) [#32]
There were issues initially with DirectSound, but I believe these are fine now (I certainly haven't had any problems)
I get no sound at all with Directsound under Vista. I'd call that a fair 'problem' ;)


Chroma(Posted 2007) [#33]
That's good to know, thanks. What was your solution?


GfK(Posted 2007) [#34]
I don't have a solution yet, other than putting up with FreeAudio and a 1-second lag when playing sounds - which let's face it, is no solution at all.

I'm hoping OpenAL sorts it, but the lack of a Vista box (of my own) to test on is proving problematic. I have to hike half way across town to get access to a Vista system, and as I said in another thread, I had awful problems getting Blitzmax/BLIde up and running on Vista, to the point that I gave up.

I'm hopefully going to get another shot at testing my game in Vista by the weekend. I'll post back here when I have news.


big10p(Posted 2007) [#35]
Maybe DirectSound is more stable on Win98/ME etc.
Nope. As I've already reported to Gfk, I get no SFX with DirectSound on my win98SE system.

The FreeAudio driver works fine, though, or it did, at least..

Gfk: I get no sound at all with either driver in RC1. Only just noticed this because I usually have my sound turned down. Sound was fine with FreeAudio in the previous version so you must have bust something, I guess. Maybe this is related to the problems with Vista, too?


GfK(Posted 2007) [#36]
I doubt it since the build you have hadn't even been tested on Vista.

I haven't changed anything with the audio stuff at all, so the fact that its suddenly stopped working on your system is a bit worrying. You should at least get music, since that uses MaxMod's own driver.

I'll be on IRC soon so I'll have a chat with you then, if you're about.


Grey Alien(Posted 2007) [#37]
JazzieB: Thanks for the clarification.

GfK: Hope you sort it, I'm keen to hear the ending. So you're using MaxMod for Ogg streaming yeah?


big10p(Posted 2007) [#38]
S'ok, I got sounds working again. I had copied my data folder over to carry on my saved games from the previous version. I believe you'd said it was ok to do this?

Anyway, I deleted the data folder and all was working again. Had you made a change to one of the cfg files in RC1, or something?


Nathaniel(Posted 2007) [#39]
@Gfk
That looks very pretty. I can't wait to play the demo...


JustLuke(Posted 2007) [#40]
This looks great; the visuals are nice and crisp, the layout clear and uncomplicated, and the photographic backgrounds appear to blend well with the user interface*.
Also, I love word games, what with being a nerdy English student and all.


* Usually photographic backgrounds "don't work" for me - in my opinion, unless selected carefully, they often clash with the other art assets (but many combinations of photography, hand drawn art and 3d rendered images risk this) - but, judging from the screenshots, this doesn't seem to be the case here. On a side note, you know you've been writing too many academic essays when you start adding footnotes to forum posts.


Grey Alien(Posted 2007) [#41]
Yeah I used photos in my first game Xmas Bonus, and it seemed OK but it is pretty mucha non in casual games so ,y future games used handrawn or 3D rendered art for backgrounds instead.


GfK(Posted 2007) [#42]
The backgrounds work really well. Throughout testing (and bearing in mind that some testers have had copies of the game for about four months now), nobody has even brought up the issue until this point.

But for what its worth, I own copyright on the background images, as I took them myself. They were chosen from an archive of about 2,000 photos I've taken over the last few years. Some were taken locally, some were taken in the Lake District, others were taken in Spain, Greece and Cyprus.

I do agree though - bad photos would spoil it.


JustLuke(Posted 2007) [#43]
So when can I take a look at the demo?


GfK(Posted 2007) [#44]
April 16th :)


caff_(Posted 2007) [#45]
I think the photos are nice - the more you have the better, I reckon, to provide a feeling of 'variation' for each level.


GrahamK(Posted 2007) [#46]
VERY nice GfK, mind you, I'd expect nothing less :D

Hope it does well for you.


JustLuke(Posted 2007) [#47]
Oi! Less posting and more cobra3d-making, you! ;)


Steve Elliott(Posted 2007) [#48]

Oi! Less posting and more cobra3d-making, you! ;)



Yeah, back to work bitch. ;-)