Silly Balls
The Tools
I used CodeWarrior 5 and ResEdit for all the programming and development. On the graphic front, Photoshop 3 and GraphicConverter were utilized to create and edit textures for the game. The sound samples came from various freeware sound libraries. As the 3D models didn’t contain complex geometry, they were coded in directly.
image2.jpg
alt=“Silly Balls”
What Went Right
One of the best decisions I made was to create an editor for Silly Balls. Although this took some time, the amount of time saved in creating all the levels was enormous. The editor is far from perfect and still requires the use of ResEdit for complete level creation. However, having the editor allowed me to submit the game on time. I’d like to advise new game programmers that a good level editor will not only save time, as in my case, but also contribute to the game’s development process.
The format for the levels was flexible in that I was able to add in extra features without the game engine breaking. This is another tip for new programmers: when creating your format to contain your game’s level, plan ahead so that new features can be added without the need to create major modifications to your game code. I hope to continue development on the level editor so that I can release it to the public in the future.
What Went Wrong
As you play your own game continually from concept to finish, your own view of how easy and how good a game it is tends to change. Hence the importance of outside play testing is crucial. This is something I didn’t do until a little too late. Silly Balls is far too hard in my view, although I can complete it without losing a life. The other major problem with Silly Balls was the lack of a design document for the uDevGames 2001 version. My plan was to release the game for uDevGames and continue work on the game even after the contest was over. However, knowing which features should make it to be included in the contest version became a challenge. Looking back, I should have made a concrete decision on what features would make it into the submitted game, and which features would be added at a later time. The music was also a weak point in the game. It was added at the last moment so I wasn’t able to test it thoroughly. (Note to self: never add features on the day of final submission.)
image3.jpg
alt=“Silly Balls”
Conclusion
As for the future, my next project is to Carbonize (and debug) Silly Balls. Then I will continue to work on that and a 3D tank game. I’m also looking to enter the Independent Games Festival ‘student competition’ after Christmas. Looking further ahead, I plan to move away from Carbon and concentrate completely on Cocoa and Mac OS X. Like many developers, I have always wanted to write an adventure game, so perhaps I might go in that direction when the time is right.
I found that it was great to work against a deadline, and it made me concentrate on finishing what may have taken years otherwise! My advice for uDevGames 2002 developers would be to get your game out as soon as possible. This allows for more play testing and polishing of the game before the voting period begins.
My last comment concerns public feedback. It is a vital process for fine-tuning a game so that it is fun and runs well on a variety of machines. However, I recommend that you find some committed beta testers early on and don’t count on the public for 100% of your testing. The reason is that some players may not be eager to re-download a large game due to limited connection speed or interest. I think that setting up a home page specifically for your game entry that allows gamers to easily add their comments or to download small patches before the voting begins would be a smart move.
Overall, the competition was a great success and the benefit to the community in terms of working code is enormous. I look forward to browsing the code from the other games and hope that uDevGames 2002 will be an even bigger event.
- Developer: William Thimbleby
- Genre: Arcade Puzzle
- Site: http://www.www.tribar.dabsol.co.uk
- Team size: 1
- Released date: September 12, 2001
- Project length: 1 month
- Development hardware: G4 400MHz MP
- Critical applications: CodeWarrior, ResEdit, Photoshop 3
3D,puzzle,RedEdit,Cocoa,Carbon,CodeWarrior
