TameTick.com

This blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:17:00 +0000

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Huge Traffic Boost!

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:09:00 +0000

Thanks for all the feedback on A Most Peculiar Adventure!

Apparently it really caught people's attention with over 1,700 visits in 1 week :)

New Game: A Most Peculiar Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:42:00 +0000

This is my entry to this year's Seven Days Roguelike Challange:

A Most Peculiar Adventure

It was made by Charl van Deventer, Whitaker Blackall and myself in one week.

Blogger to End FTP Support

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:55:00 +0000

Unfortunately, it seems Blogger has chosen to end FTP uploading support by March 26, 2010.

That means I will have to stop using their services and rebuild this blog with something else (probably WordPress), as I like having all the html and css on my own server and not on someone else's (especially since they can always pull stunts like this one in the future).

The old blog posts will remain here, either as they are under some "old blog" link or migrated to WordPress (or whatever I'll end up using for the new blog)

15srl: Day 15

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:33:00 +0000

Done

Lots

To-do

Lots more

Time spent

Many hours

Result

I didn't manage to implement everything on my list, but the game is playable and I'm putting on a dark corner of my homepage for the brave souls who want to try it out!

I will continue working on this until everything in my design document has been implemented.

15srl: Day 14

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 09:33:00 +0000

Done

spread items of different kinds
add short descriptions for all items
add short and long descriptions of all monsters
gain levels
gain hp upon level up
add long descriptions to items that don't have any yet

To-do

better status lines
better help
gain 1 attribute point upon level up
Implement more items
press enter in examine mode to get long descriptions
implement temporary effects
spread monsters of different kinds in level-appropriate fashion
add char classes

Time spent

2.1h

15srl: Day 13

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 09:16:00 +0000

Step 13 - experience.

Done

map drawing optimization
add symbols to items, creatures and tiles
populate maps with items
add stairs
generate new levels when going to new dungeon level
LOS
FOV
mark terrain as seen, unseen or in-sight
accumulate xp upon creature kill

To-do

gain levels
better AI

Time spent

3.3h

15srl: Day 12

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:34:00 +0000

Step 12 - levels.

Done

Map generator
place doors in map
place player & monsters in map

To-do

place items in map
stairs

Time spent

3.6h

15srl: Day 11

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:57:00 +0000

Step 11 - simple game.

Done

Implement weapon modifiers
Implement weapon damage
Add all creature types
Implement creature damage range
Add all items
Add classes
Add execute special moves
Implement game over

To-do

Context sensitive help screen
implement berserk
implement shadow walk
implement firebolt
Add special monster moves
Add all item effects
Add all item descriptions & long texts
Add all creature descriptions & long texts

Time spent

2.3h

15srl: Day 10

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:50:00 +0000

Step 10 - magic.

Done

Add inventory to save/load
Add wearables
Add weapons
Implement equipment
Equipping
Wielding
Add special items effects
apply speed buffs
apply spirit buffs

To-do

Implement weapon damage & modifiers
Add special moves
Add special monster moves
Context sensitive help screen
optimize save files encoding

Time spent

3.7h

15srl: Day 9

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 09:44:00 +0000

Step 9 - items.

Done

Implement items
Auto pick up
Item properties
Implement inventory
Layout tweaks
Don't close blocked doors
Examine mode
Inventory mode
Drop command
Use command
Killing
Add items to save/load

To-do

Add inventory to save/load
Stacking in inventory
Context sensitive help screen

Time spent

4.6h

15srl: Day 8

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:25:00 +0000

Step 8 - data files.

Done

Variable size maps
Refactor to not use "this"
Add map size to cookie save/load
Clear message log upon load
Refactor abilities/stats code
Add rest of stats and abilities
Make message log fix-sized
Add help screen
Tweak layout

To-do

Add rest of creature types

Time spent

6.2h

15srl: Day 7

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:06:00 +0000

Step 7 - interaction.

Done

Design tweaks
Fix time bug for failed moves
Add action points to saved games
Reading creature stats from file
Add ticks to saved games
Add abilities & stats to creatures (faction, vitality, attack, defense, speed, life, damage)
Multiple creatures
Attack
Combat system
Chase player AI

To-do

Time spent

3.6h

15srl: Day 6

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:02:00 +0000

Step 6 - it's alive! Alive!

Done

Save to cookie bug fixing
Load maps from cookie
Load creatures from cookie
Implement monsters
Make creatures blocking
Implement time
Simple AI

To-do

Add ticks and action points to saved games

Time spent

6.1h

15srl: Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:21:00 +0000

Step 5 - saving/loading.

Done

Integrate json, jquery.cookie and jquery.jsoncookie.
Settings json file
Descriptions json file
Key-bindings json file
map from json file
Save command (to cookie)
Load command (from cookie)
Save maps to cookie
Save creatuers to cookie

To-do

Load maps from cookie
Load creatures from cookie

Time spent

7.7h

15srl: Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:10:00 +0000

Step 4 - the map.

Done

Experience (design)
Flesh out monsters (design)
Map structure
Display map
Scrolling
Turn player into a creature
Put player in map
Check for walls
Look command
Doors
Open/close commands
Tiles
Descriptions for tiles
Move descriptions to a dictionary

To-do

Time spent

5.7h

15srl: Day 3

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 09:19:00 +0000

Step 3 - it's a boy!

Done

More game design
Game states
Keyboard input
Walking @ on empty map
Screen layout
Message log
Status lines
jquery/json/cookies research

To-do

Time spent

5.1h

15srl: Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:46:00 +0000

Step 2 - hello world!

Done

Set up project on BitBucket.
Research (js, canvas, cookies, jQuery, mercurial).
Basic html/css/js structure.
Flesh out game design.
Hello canvas world!
Screen class for output.

To-do

Preliminary technical design.

Time spent

6.6h

15srl: Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 09:50:00 +0000

Step 1 - decide to write a game.

Done

Announce beginning.
Set up eclipse + hg plug-in + aptana.
Start design document.
Start done & to-do lists.
Set up time tracking software.
Find appropriate IRC channels for tech support (html5, jquery).
Preliminary game design.

To-do

Preliminary technical design.
Research (js, canvas, cookies, jQuery).
Set up project on BitBucket.

Time spent

6.6h

15 Steps Roguelike

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:32:00 +0000

I'm starting a game using TheSheep's 15 steps plan, doing a step per day.

I will be starting fresh but reserve the right to pilfer and pillage any of my previous projects for source code, as well as anything I can find online.

In January 14th at night (or January 15th in the morning) I will post my success or failure. I also reserve the right to use the most generous of time zones for determining the end date.

I will try post small status reports here as I go along- see you in 15 days!

-Ido.

New Homepage Design

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:24:00 +0000

I've decided it was time for an overhaul for my homepage.

The result:

http://www.tametick.com

Still need to tweak the colors for higher contrast, but I am happy with the outcome so far.

-Ido.

Most Played Roguelike - Poll Results

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:22:00 +0000

The final results on the poll are in:

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the top 4 are Crawl, Nethack, Angband & ADOM in that order (with Angband & ADOM tied for the 3rd place).

What is surprising (at least to me) is the disparity of the results: Crawl in the first place has almost twice as many votes as Nethack in the second place, and exactly double the amount of votes as Angband and ADOM!

-Ido.

Yet Nother Roguelike Framework

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 07:13:00 +0000

As most developers probably know, every game you develop make all subsequent ones easier to make.

Until now I've been using the venerable Ad-Hoc Craptacular Framework method (AHCF from now on), namely- starting new games by ripping off relatively-general-use code from older ones.

The AHCF method works, and works quite well. Every new game your ever changing "framework" gets more general & useful and before you know it it doesn't take that much effort to transform it into something that's easily packable and usable in a new game simply by copying a single directory/jar/dll/whatever.

As you've probably guessed by now, the game I'm currently developing has its code separated to an engine and a game component, and when it gets a bit further along it might even be useful for other people to build their own projects on top of its engine.

Stay tuned for further updates,
-Ido.

Which Roguelike Have You Played the Most?

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:37:00 +0000

Feel free to participate in the poll to the left, it will run until October 19th.

-Ido.

Monetizing Indie Games

noreply@blogger.com (Ido) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:48:00 +0000

I have recently come across 2 articles about monetizing indie games:

6 ways to try and monetize indie games- by the infamously prolific Kevin Glass.
Getting paid, earning a living in a free world- in GraduateGames' blog on GameJolt.

Some interesting ideas all around, but probably nothing you haven't heard before in one form or another.

Another oldie-but-goodie: on being an independent game developer.

On a different note, please make use of the rgrd subreddit if you find links to something worth sharing with your fellow roguelike developers.

-Ido.