18 April 2015

An Apology To Those Who Do Follow-4-Follow (Mini Rant)

I would also like to apologise to those who follow me in the hopes of getting a follow-back. I'm sorry that I don't do follow-to-follow and I'm sorry you aren't interested in my content and I'm also sorry for letting you down with all of that.

And I TOTALLY meant all what I just said up there...

Look it says in my damn Twitter profile description in big all-caps that I don't do follow-4-follow...
It doesn't take a fucking rocket scientist to work this out...
If you choose to follow me for the sole reason for wanting a follow-back then you're gonna be disappointed. If you want followers then earn followers by posting interesting content, not follow others in the hopes of getting a follow-back - that's just fucking cheap.

This rant isn't aimed at people who follow others because they are interested in their content, this is directed at people who follow others in the hopes that they will get a cheap follow-back. This rant could also apply to sub-4-subbers on YouTube who do a similar thing to get subscribers.

End of what could very well be the shortest rant you'll see on this blog ever.

12 April 2015

Project Plasma Mobile Released!

Project Plasma Mobile is now up and ready via itch.io! This game is available as a free game that is available to be downloaded and sideloaded onto pretty much Android-powered device!

Download Project Plasma Mobile

Now, this is something I can't stress enough - this game is a basic prototype, it will not amaze you, it probably won't even look good. My focus here wasn't to make a great game (I know many of you aren't going to want to hear that but it's the truth I'm sorry) it's just a prototype, an experiment to see how a touchscreen device copes with what is essentially a pseudo-port (wrong terminology?) of Project Plasma.

If you're wanting good gameplay, go download the original Project Plasma. It's not a freebie, although there is a free demo available now. Project Plasma Mobile is an experimental game and nothing more, but hey at least it's free.



11 April 2015

Project Plasma Mobile Is Coming! What To Expect

Wow April 2015 has officially overtaken October 2014 in blog post count. Well putting that aside let's get on with the real point of this post.

Project Plasma Mobile is right on our doorstep - it's being released tomorrow at 10pm BST time which I know is a little later than normal. The reason why it's so late is in case I run into any technical issues like I did when I was uploading PP v1.0.2 on Easter.

PPM will initially have 8 levels however I will likely add two more levels onto it to round it up to 10 in an update. In the highly likely case that this will happen, then levels and 9 and 10 will be Elite levels, like levels 23-25 and X in the PC version.

Most of the graphics here are being re-used from the original PP however the backgrounds (mostly) and the bosses are new. As I'm releasing this game as a mere prototype and not as an actual release per-se (like with the PC version) these boss graphics will be kept in their basic, MSPaint-looking form. This will not be in the case in future, non-prototype games. The point of this game isn't to create an impressive mobile game, it's more of an experiment to see how a game like Project Plasma would cope on a mobile device.

The game's audio has also been widely re-used from the original game.

Updates for this game will be very few and far between. The first update will probably come fairly quickly, this will likely be the update that adds levels 9 and 10, but after that expect very, very few updates for PPM except for a few bug fixes. Again, this is due to it being a prototype.

Most of the weapons available in Project Plasma will be available in its mobile equivalent however we'll be saying goodbye to the Directional Cannon as the aiming of this gun would interfere with the movement mechanics of this game. All other weapons are still there.

As for compatibility, it has pretty much every single Android mobile device covered.

  • ARMv5 support. This is in place to allow compatibility with extremely old devices that use old ARM architectures such as ARM11.
  • ARMv7 support. The vast majority of devices have this kind of architecture. By extension it will also be compatible with 64-bit ARMv8 devices.
  • MIPS support. I don't know any Android devices that use this architecture (although I'm sure there are some out there) but if you have managed get hold of one then it should work on it. MIPS64 devices should theoretically be able run PPM as well.
  • x86 support. Intel devices. If you have a phone/tablet that has an Intel Atom chipset in it then it will run PPM. 64-bit x86 devices (x86_64, or just simply x64) should also run PPM by extension.
If you're on a WinPhone or iOS device then sorry, but you're out of luck this time. Project Plasma Mobile is an Android-exclusive title. Watch this space though, as I do have plans to expand to other platforms both in the mobile space and the desktop space.

Project Plasma Mobile's itch.io has been officially made public but there's nothing to see there yet. Still if you want to check it out then follow the link below and you'll see... pretty much nothing right now...

Remember, 10pm BST time tomorrow... although remember, it is just a prototype game and little more.

8 April 2015

Playthrough Program - A Way To Get Chaos Symbol Games For Free, Coming Soon

Soon I will be introducing what I'll be calling a "Playthrough Program." This is basically a way to get certain paid games that I sell for free. This upcoming program will be open to gaming YouTubers who have a certain amount of subscribers. My motives behind doing this are to simply help me get my games out there.

Mystery Game 1 will be the first game that will be a part of this program and I will likely expand it to Project Plasma at some point as well. Bonus Game 1 will also likely be eligible for this however I have not made a decision on this yet.

I will be providing more information on this via a separate page on this blog at some point. This page will state the following.

  • What games are eligible for the Playthrough Program. (Games will come and go from this list as I see fit)
  • How to get free games through this program.
  • The requirements of getting games through this program.
  • Any terms and conditions you need to be aware of.
Obviously free games will never be eligible for this as free games are free anyway (Project Plasma Mobile for example.)

Bonus games will also appear on the Playthrough Program from time-to-time, typically around the release of their accompanying mainstream game or during said mainstream game is up for pre-order.

Watch this space...

7 April 2015

Mystery Game 1, Bonus Game 1, and Project Plasma 1/M/2 Info

Sixth day in a row. Oh baby this blog's on a roll this April. Anyway as the title suggests this post is all about Mystery Game 1 and its accompanying bonus game, Project Plasma, Project Plasma Mobile, and Project Plasma 2. Let's do each game in order of its planned release.

Project Plasma

I mentioned in the v1.0.1 changelog for Project Plasma that PP has pretty much ran its course now and that I want to devote more time to working on future projects which will hopefully be much better than PP. The main reasons for this is the fact that I want to make something that is better than PP since PP was basically a result of me vomiting my ideas into GameMaker 8.1 one cold December night and I probably didn't put as much effort and time into as I should have and complete revamp would take far too much time which could be used in making a game that is better from the start in less time.

The other reason is simply because I want to get experience at working with other game engines and other genres. Anyone who was following my Twitter last night will have seen a multitude of tweets that were posted by me which were literally just me going on about what game engines I'm looking at and what game engines are going on the shitlist.

There will be a v1.0.3, however this update will be exclusively for the full version of the game so the freeware demo version will be staying at v1.0.2 for now. Don't expect much from v1.0.3 however, and it certainly won't be coming before Project Plasma Mobile is released.

Oh and this is a little callout to the cheapskates who I used to talk to on Skype who kept asking it to be free... go fuck yourselves. That is all, thank you kindly. (There is a demo now so there really shouldn't be any excuse anymore asking PP to be a freebie, save some cash and buy it or just play the demo.)

Project Plasma Mobile

Project Plasma Mobile is a GameMaker: Studio game which has already suffered one delay and hopefully it won't suffer again. PPM's release is scheduled for April 12th and will be an Android-exclusive mobile game. PPM will be released as prototype however because of its nature as a prototype, it will be subject to very few updates (but there will likely be some) and work on Mystery Game 1 will begin pretty much straight after.

Mystery Game 1

Mystery Game 1 will be a platformer game made with GameMaker: Studio. I have decided on a name for this game, but I've decided not to disclose it yet. There really isn't much I can divulge about it at this point in time other than the fact that the storyline, and likely the gameplay as well, will be in a similar vein to the Japanese indie platformer Cave Story by Studio Pixel. You could consider that as this game's "role model" or inspiration if you will.

If you've not heard of Cave Story... here it is. It's considered by many to be the original indie game as we know it (although there were indie games around before that.)

MG1 will be available for pre-ordering shortly before the game's release, and that's where the next game comes in...

Bonus Game 1

This elusive game won't be made with GM: Studio. Remember earlier when I was talking about experimenting with other game engines? Yeah this is where BG1 comes in.

BG1 will not be made with GameMaker: Studio, instead, it'll be based on a game engine called "Duality" by Adam's Lair. It looks pretty complicated but I'm sure I'll be able to work it out... maybe with the aid of a few tutorials. This game will be a bonus game that will be exclusively handed out to people who pre-ordered Mystery Game 1. This game will be handed out as soon as MG1 is released, after that, BG1 will become a rare gem, although I may still offer it as a prize if I do any competitions in the future.

As this will be my first game with the Duality engine, you could consider this to be a prototype as well. This game will never be made public and no I will not be giving it out to anyone so don't bother asking.

Project Plasma 2

The final game I'll be covering in this round-up will be Project Plasma 2 which will see a return to GameMaker: Studio regarding its engine.

Project Plasma 2 will continue from where it's prequel left off in terms of the game's storyline while looking over towards the game's technical side it will fix many of the issues and qualms people had with the original PP. Expect better graphics, audio that I actually made myself instead of going to Creative Commons websites like I did with PP, and better mechanics overall.

There will be no Project Plasma Mobile 2 however, you can read more about why that is the case here.

Project Plasma 2's accompanying bonus game may or may not surprise some of you...

After PP2

I do have a few games planned after PP2, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I like focusing a short distance into the future when it comes to stuff like this, but I don't want to focus too far into the future as I'll end up focusing on that instead of everything else I planned before it. I'll probably do another post like this when we come up to the release of PP2 but until then, watch this space...

6 April 2015

Chaos Symbol Website - Coming Soon

No I don't mean this blog.

There will be an official Chaos Symbol website coming soon. How soon? I don't know but it will be coming, I do have a lot of stuff on my plate right now though (college coursework, Project Plasma Mobile, Mystery Game 1.etc) so this won't be done in a hurry.

More info coming soon - watch this space.

5 April 2015

Project Plasma v1.0.2 (Easter Update) Changelog

Happy Easter everyone!

As promised, PP v1.0.2 has now been released with some minor changes and fixes. This is a comparably large update as opposed to the previous updates we've had on this game so while v1.0.1 may have been worth the skip, this one is worth downloading.

This update is massive, even bigger than I expected it to be. Hell, I'd say this update is bigger than the v0.9.5 and v0.9.6 updates (possibly combined) I made back in December 2014 (and they were both pretty big.)

  • PROJECT PLASMA DEMO IS NOW UP. This has been a long-awaited feature among those who are wanting to try before they buy. I really should have released this on the v1.0 update but I completely forgot so here it is now!
  • Fortress (level 12 boss) is now slightly more aggressive in its behaviour.
    • Fortress's shield segments now have 50 health. (Down from 100)
    • Fortress only has 5 shield segments as it was somewhat glitchy with 6.
    • Fortress will now attack when 3 of its shield segments are down. (Down from 4)
      • Remember: You need to use the Machine Gun to destroy Fortress's shield! All other weapons are completely ineffective against it!
  • Made some amendments to the Spritework Documentation.
    • It is now called "Graphics Documentation" and now includes some of the backgrounds which were made with WeaveSilk. I didn't know that any works made with this tool were licensed under Creative Commons Attributions. In other words, I can still use them for commercial purposes, however I need to give credit.
  • Project Plasma's executable file (plasma.exe) now has an icon again.
    • Turns out a recent update to Avast AntiVirus was preventing GameMaker 8.1 from exporting the executable's icon. Another reason to move away from GM 8.1 I guess.
  • Crystalline is now available to fight in Boss Attack.
  • Outpost Reactor Core's icon on the Boss Attack menu is correct.
    • It was originally just a plain, solid circle, which is what the reactor core originally looked like pretty much.
  • Changed the menu button's position so it shouldn't move up slightly when at the top of the level (aka boss fight.)
  • Menu background now appears on level 25 when the player calls up the in-game menu.
    • This fix has also been carried over to the boss attack levels.
  • Repair capsules are now visible on boss attack levels.
    • This fix has also been carried over to the tutorial level, if you somehow manage to get a repair capsule there that is.
  • New sprite for the blue homing enemy that constantly follows you (seen mainly on levels 3, 4, and 5.)
    • This enemy now has a red centre as opposed to a blue one.
    • The version that throws itself at you has also seen a colour change (to purple) whereas the version that flies along an irregular, drunken path across the screen and back is still blue.
      • The purple variant also rotates at a modest pace.
  • Fixed Spiraller's boss name only showing up as "Spiral" on level 2.
  • More enemies added to level X.
  • Fixed glitchy loading bar.
    • This wasn't an issue in v1.0.1, however in an unreleased version between v1.0.1 and v1.0.2 (v1.0.1_01?) the icon graphic was the loading bar for some weird reason.

4 April 2015

Project Plasma v1.0.2 and Voiceless Info

Two things being covered this time. Project Plasma's Easter Update and Voiceless.

First up is PP v1.0.2 which is coming tomorrow. This version will include many fixes and changes, however perhaps the biggest change will be the PP demo which is coming tomorrow. This demo will feature the first four levels of Project Plasma plus level 17. After level 17 the game will end and abruptly take you to a screen which will in turn take you to the main menu. This demo will be a free download open to anyone who is interested in buying the game but wants to try before they buy.

Because this game is a demo, it will not be guaranteed to get the latest updates (e.g. when v1.0.3 comes out, the full version will get it, but the demo will not.) In fact, the demo will only be subject to updates when something that is included in the demo version has been changed, so for example, if an update changes something in level 18 and nothing then the demo won't be updated, however if there is a change to level 2 then both the full version and the demo will receive that update.

To start, both the demo and the full version will be on the same version (v1.0.2) however the demo may or may not receive the v1.0.3 update, however this depends on what is being changed.

Next up is Voiceless. Don't remember it? It was a game project I was working on a few months back before the release of Project Plasma v0.9.7 however I decided to postpone it. This game has not been cancelled completely, only postponed, however I'd just like to say that Voiceless probably won't be in my mainstream line of games (as in one of my main releases.) Instead it will likely be a bonus game that will be available as a pre-order bonus to people who pre-order another mainstream game.

Voiceless will NOT be Mystery Game 1's bonus game, I have something else planned for that.

More info on bonus games can be found here.
1st January 2016 Update: Voiceless has now been completely cancelled and is not going to be developed.

3 April 2015

Project Plasma Mobile 2 Won't Happen

One point of interest lately is Project Plasma Mobile which as people who have been following this blog are aware, has had its release pushed back to April 12th but there is one question remaining here.

What about PPM2?

Well it's not gonna happen. This is because Project Plasma is too complex to port to a touchscreen device such as a tablet or smartphone without having to sacrifice some of its key mechanics and not making any sacrifices like this will result in an extremely hard to play game that would work fine with a keyboard or controller, but it wouldn't work too well with a touchscreen as you'll more than likely find out when PPM is released.

PPM will still go ahead as planned as I've promised to have this title released, and there will definitely be a PP2 (for the PC) but there will be no PPM2 as I simply feel the game is too advanced for a touchscreen device, and that complexity will only go up with PP2.

2 April 2015

PPM Delayed, Project Plasma v1.0.1 Coming Instead

No this is not an April Fools Prank (mostly because it's 2:05am here and the date is April 2nd now)

So I've unfortunately had to delay the release of Project Plasma Mobile to 12th April from the originally planned date of 31st March. However, to make up for this I've decided to bring out Project Plasma v1.0.1 which will come with minor changes and fixes. I also, for the first time ever, have decided to release this changelog before releasing the update.

The changelog for the upcoming update is as follows:

  • The first log disc no longer needs ultra-hard mode to be acquired  (This reverses the change made to it in the previous update)
    • There will likely be an incentive to encourage players to play on ultra-hard mode.
  • Spiraller (level 2 boss) now gives more cash upon death. (900 up from 750)
  • Larva (level 1 boss) now fires missiles at a reduced rate.
As for the demo that will most likely arrive in the 1.0.2 which will arrive on Easter. The 1.0.2 update will be dubbed the "Easter Update" which was originally going to be the 1.0.1 update.

Also don't expect many more updates on Project Plasma, as I do have PPM to finish off as well as Mystery Game 1 to plan out and start working on. There will be probably at least two, maybe three updates after this one but that will likely be it since I will be allocating my time towards my future projects.

The only PP update you can expect between now and the release of PPM would be the 1.0.2 update, after that there will probably be a 1.0.3 update at some point maybe another one or two updates following it. After that though that will be it for PP and I'll be moving on to new pastures so to speak.

The upload process for the 1.0.1 update will begin on April 2nd at 8:30pm BST.

UPDATE: Currently I'm having issues regarding the game's icon. For some reason I can export the game, but the icon will be blanked (well fucking done GameMaker 8.1.) Hopefully I'll be able to resolve this before upload time but if I can't then I will still upload the game at that time as normal since it's only affecting the icon and isn't actually affecting the game itself. Regardless, this just adds yet another reason as to why I'll be ditching GM 8.1 for the more modern and far more obedient Game Maker: Studio.