Grapple is nearly at beta!

The "Splash Screen" and all the level select screens are placed along the x axis next to each other and the camera snaps to each spot as you swipe or use the arrow buttons. The background is made the same way as the levels which saves space by not using any additional assets and it looks pretty sweet.

The level select screens, following design patterns for mobile level based games.

This is one of the first images listed on the Play page, it really shows the gameplay of grapple in one image.

But one image is too little so I put all these on the Play store page as well. The trail rendered behind the player makes it really clear how the player has been moving.

Recently did up a new menu to match the new cartoony style of the game and also saved some space using meshes with vertex colors to create this while the old one used textures. The carrot score bar has a pretty nice bounce animation as it fills which is coded in by scaling the carrots. I'll have to get a GIF of that.

Pretty soon Grapple will be entering Beta and I'll be looking for people with android phones to try out the beta release and new maps as they're made!

Read More »

Add Comment

templates-office.com Grapple, Unity

Grapple now with hamster

Leaps and bounds of progress on grapple recently:

Animations and art for the character, carrots are collectible and textures for the surfaces!

Read More »

Add Comment

templates-office.com Grapple

Grapple: an android game where you swing on a rope

Decided to upload an early version of Grapple for those that would like to try it. So far it has been testing on android JellyBean and IceCream Sandwich on two different phones. I haven't done much testing yet so I apologize if there are bugs for your device/version. Please do leave comments here, on reddit or on g+ if you try. Let me know what levels got you stuck or what levels weren't fun.

Known bugs:
-Grapple can misfire when pressing the drag button before fully releasing the tap to aim the grapple.
-Slow Mo when holding in before releasing a grapple will reduce velocity over time.
- Sometimes a level will start with the grapple already attached
- swinging hard into rock will often cause the ball to stick there (releasing the grapple or pulling yourself will unstick you).

This version is far from finished and not completely playable, the tutorial overlay is a 10 minute thing to be able to release this version and there are only 12 levels so far. Have fun.

http://www.mediafire.com/?8u4kgrarz4mhl2o 

Read More »

Add Comment

templates-office.com Grapple

Something different

So I've been quiet all summer and now I'm back. Through the summer I haven't been working on the voxel game but on a summer project for mobile. I think releasing games is an important experience for a game dev and I think that a smaller game is what I need to complete and release a finished stand alone game.

The game I've been working on is a remake of a prototype I developed months ago in flash and I decided to try again in Unity. It's a very satisfying gameplay prototype where the player controls a ball by swinging from ropes. It's not that unique an idea but it's an implementation I have yet to see, at least on mobile.

It involves a lot of lines

My implementation makes ropes bend and wrap around obstacles. I've been working for a while to make this element as smooth as possible and the result is a very natural feeling effect. Also I've written physics code to handle the ball hanging on a rope which makes the core gameplay possible.

Once the rope can bend you can swing in ways never possible before.

As well as making a prototype I moved further, started adding art assets and making playable levels and the project is in alpha stage.

The ball wraps around small obstacles quickly.

Although I enjoy the core programming above all it is very satisfying to see the game become more polished with the addition of functional menus and the things a real game needs.

So this is my first attempt at mobile games but it's an interesting platform. It's hard to find a gameplay element that is any fun but I feel like this is pretty fun. I guess I'll get a clearer picture once I move on to playtesting, but I feel I should have more levels ready before then.

Read More »

Add Comment

templates-office.com Grapple