Fancy Skulls 0.6.1

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Update 0.6.1
- Changed some colors and some enemy designs
- Redone shop’s UI on a NGUI, now it looks and feels better
- Gambling machines now can be playe a limited amount of games
- Replaced Random Gun unlock with Random Eye unlock

Update 0.6
- 4 new enemy types
- visual tweaks
- balance tweaks
- dynamic difficulty
- separate shops for upgrades and items
- player can only carry 2 weapons at once now
- choose from 3 weapon mods at the shops
- Rudolph now can only be heard from a certain distance
- lines object that triggered spawn don’t go to every egg

Leave feedback: http://forum.fancyskulls.com
How to get latest version: http://fancyskulls.com/update
Buy the game: http://fancyskulls.com/#buy

Fancy Skulls 0.5 and 0.5.1

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Update 0.5 – Sound And Vision

changes
- lowered conditions for unlocking stating builds
- changed color palette for enemies
- redone HUD using NGUI plugin which make it a bit faster and easier to make it prettier
- ability will remind when it’s availible to use in HUD by animation
- HUD popups now more readable and stack
- some visual tweaks

additions
- new eye – random mod
- three new items
- added random mod option to the shop which costs one key
- few fore weapon mods
- x hits in a row gives y mods changed so shooting mines or enemy projectiles will not reset it
- added effet for shots that do double damage similar to crit effect
- added effect of connection from object that triggered spawn to eggs
- new sounds for enemies, items, eyes, etc
- music?
- procedurall shattering of enemies, which means they will shatter differently every time
- few floor textures
- rudimentary controller support – you can bind keys and use it in-game, no menu navigation. default binings for 360 controller, you might need to reset keybindings to default to get it working

bugfixes
- possible fix for beam at the end of the level not working
- fixed performance issues after opening bonus chest at the start of the level
- pathfinding issues in certain rooms
- fixes for ray gun mods
- some minor fixes

 

Update 0.5.1

bugfixes
- fixed some weapon names displayed incorrectly at the shops
- fixed enemy projectiles and some objects spawning at very small size and not getting bigger
- fixed some enemies seeing through walls
- fixed weapon switching too fast to previous weapon if it has no ammo, preventing scrolling trough weapons
- fixed damage arrow not fading away slowly
- fixed not showing popups after level change
- fixed some enemies seeing through walls
- fixed some revolver upgrades
- fixed a case when after starting a game with custom build and then starting a normal game it would still start with previous build
- fixed some typos and wrong names (I forgot to fix typo in Alchemist’s Eye name, though)
- fixed cannon “follow crosshair” mod
- possible fix for a case when enemy projectiles and other objects would not scale up
- corrected coins position around gambling machine

changes
- less resources in a bonus chest
- at least one mobile enemy will spawn in a room

Discuss update and report found bugs here

Buy the game for $5.99

Fancy Skulls’ Updates, new Let’s Play

Update 0.4 “Screenshake”

New enemies, balancing, visual improvements, better performance.

- screenshake effect added when firing some weapons, to explosions and when player gets hit
- added 6 enemy types
- added 2 items
- threasure chest will always contain weapon on a first floor, eye on a second
- shop in a exit rooms on first and second floors
- first floor is slightly easier than second
- some enemy projectiles can’t be destroyed by shooting
- flames destroy any enemy projectile
- reworked room layouts
- room walls on a same floor have slight brighness/saturation variations
- few more weapon mods
- spyglass item now will work as soon as it’s picked up and will show enemy silhouettes instead of names, which can be seen through obstacles
- mannie’s mines are no longer explode from first revolver shot, but pushed away
- added keybinding for taking screenshots, which are stored in game’s folder
- displaying slot number and max ammo by pressing tab for carried weapons
- vsync option
- optimizations
- balance
- bugs fixed
- some things tweaked

And because I’ve uploaded it with a critical bug, I released 0.4.1 at the same day it went live

Update 0.4.1 “Shells”

- fixed bug where it was not possible to die and progress to the next level
- added bonus for completing level fast
- added empty shells for reveolver, smg and shotgun
- fixed mod for flamethrower “cook items for fuel” not working
- ammo will not be picked up when carriyng maximum amount of that ammo type

And I recorded Fancy Skulls Let’s Play, which you can see below:

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Fancy Skulls Update 0.3 Is Here

Changelog:
- added challenges and unlockable “starting builds”
- update check in menu, if new version is availible it will let you know
- options now available in main menu as well as in pause menu
- changed visual design for one enemy – skull
- added “champion” version for that enemy
- removed pickups for mana, mana now regenerates by walking
- resolution and keybindings can now be changed in game, since there is now way to show launcher on Linux
- fixed resolution setting incorectly in fullscreen on start on Linux
- added some trees
- added textures on walls and geometry
- added coin slot machine
- added charge bar for mortir
- eye names now displayed in shops
- death and win count in main menu
- save file to save progress
- few new layouts for secret and treasure rooms
- new icon
- some balance tweaks
- some optimization
- some new sounds
- bug fixes

My Spelunky videos

Some time ago I started recording my Daily Challenge runs in Spelunky (game is randomly generated but Daily Challange has same set of levels for every player) and at first I did it without commentary, and then I started to talk while playing it! Actually I want to make let’s play of Fancy Skulls some time later, so this is kind of practice for this. And it’s fun!

Anyway, feel free to subscribe!

Fancy Skulls Alpha now availible!

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Alpha version now availible for purchase for $6.99 at fancyskulls.com

I’ve been working on this game for about a year. And I finally released alpha version. There is still some work to do, but I think game is intersting enough, and I want to get feedback, and it was important to me to release it, even at this somewhat incomplete stage.

Fog and Thunder – afterthoughts

So, I have finished and released a game I’ve started about a year ago. Because finishing projects is cool.
After release I have posted it on kongregate and newgrounds, but game fell flat on those portals. And that made me a bit sad. But then I have tweeted to freeindiegam.es editors about my game, and got mention there, and posted about it on /r/IndieGaming/ – got quite a few players, and good deal of feedback. I’ve updated game with fixes and balancing tweaks after. Game have been mentioned on other blogs and sites. So, it’s important not to rely on one place to getting your game out.

So, year ago, when I started this game, it was a bit more ambitious, there were all sorts of ideas, and it was unfocused. Now recently when I got back to it, I cut away everything I could, focused on light mechanic and player’s fragility, made simple goals for levels, and here is the result. I even cut away crafting mechanics which I were quite proud of coding – by placing coins on a ground in a 3×3 grid, and it would work no matter in which order thy were put.

I think I will return to this game some time later and expand it a bit, adding some depth, making it more exciting, adding something to find, probably.

It is possible that I will announce new project soon, stay tuned, subscribe to rss, follow me on twitter.

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Fog and Thunder – early build

This is one of my old projects that I decided to finish. So, Ive been working in it past month. I started working on it year ago, and since I haven’t blogged too much, you will find entries about it few posts ago.
It’s a roguelike, where things are affected by light, and you are on a quest to find something cool to fill an emptiness inside.

Play!

Post-mortem: Box Life

At may 8th I’ve released improved version of my Ludum Dare entry, which I carelessly titled as “box life”. This post is about what happened later, and what I’ve learned. Game did surprisingly well – I did not expect this. It has higher than average rating on kongregate(around 3.75) almost 40 000 “game plays” at the moment, which are, in fact, views. Game was mentioned by freeindiegame.es, indiegames.com, indiegamemag.com.   What I think I got right:

  • Look and feel. Game looks and feels nice. Sound, textures, animations are all right.
  • Options – like pause and menu on escape, inverse and sensitivity options for mouse, versions for download.
  • Level design – Those moments when player sees something, and want to get there, but needs some power to do it, than she finds that power gets back, and hooray! Well, this is what makes metroidvania, even a small one.
  • Secrets. People really liked finding them. I’ve actually added them because I really enjoyed finding them in Legend of Grimrock. Or, in some older release too, in Portal 2, I liked to find all that Ratman’s graffiti.

What could be improved. Mostly because I wanted to release the game, and move on to next project. Based on feedback and my thoughts.

  • In abstract environment is hard to say, if something is a decoration, or have a purpose. Orange blocks and sculpture with balls and lines were confusing to players. They were initially added as decorations and some landmarks, because initial LD entry environment was too bland and alike.
  • Reward for finding all secrets may be disappointing for some. It’s just an little illustration I drew.
  • Story of some sort.

I’ve learned a lot from this little project. I don’t know what else to say. Thanks!

P.S. Unity is an awesome tool for making games.

Release: Box Life

I’ve completed super enhanced version of my ludum Dare entry! Hooray!


Play in browser

Download: PC, Mac, Linux

 

Support on kongregate

List of changes:

  • Reworked level design
  • Visual tweaks
  • Objects to collect and assemble
  • Fixed bugs
  • More sounds
  • Animations
  • Small reward for those who found more than 4 secrets
  • Mouse sensitivity, volume, fullscreen, mouse inverse options.
  • Cool thingy that you can see on a screenshot below

Thanks to everyone who left feedback to my entry. And Ludum Dare is awesome.

 

Weekly pictures: first issue

I’ve started to draw a picture every day.
I’m gonna bunch of them here weekly, and I post them on my tumblr daily. This is the plan anyway.

Update on my new project

First of all here is another glitchy screenshot:

I have decided not to use flixel, since I had some performance issues, so now it’s just me, AS 3.0 and some small libraries, like gTween. And it lets much easier to work with animation, without any 3rd party tools. Two of my last games haven’t got love in this aspect mostly because I was to lazy to use create animation and convert it to spritesheets. And because I’m pretty pretty good at animation (and graphics) overall feel of the game will be better. not to brag, I’m terrible at programming, at least I think so. And to be honest, I think I’m OK in animation and graphics, but people says I’m good.

I have made some progress, and I think I may have found interesting mechanic, that serves well to purpose of the game.

And here is a screenshot from current version.

New game is what I am working on

Here is what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna write a blog post! About new game I’m making. And I’m gonna do it just for fun, and not gonna think if this is interesting to anybody, or not.
So, here is the PICTURE.

That picture does not, in fact represent how game is gonna look, or even how it is looking right now. It’s just a glitchy effect I liked.
The game is about dungeon, exploration, and danger! Mainly about exploration and searching and finding.
It is based on this prototype, I’m building it in Flixel now, instead of pure AS 3.0, because I don’t really want to write collision checks and all that gibberish nonsense that real programmers usually do. Because I’m only one guy and there is a lots of work to do.
That is my main concern – game I want to make can be too big to complete it in reasonable time. So, I’m gonna keep it simple, and probably present it unfinished, and continue to work on it and improve.
And here is some characters.

Egg and Ghost and me (postmortem)

I wanted to make a game. I needed to make a game. And I have made it! Here is the story of how it was.

Development
I think I have managed to create fun and interesting core mechanics. There is some interesting enemies, managing egg and platforms is cool, and I really like bosses I have designed.

 

 

Here is an Iron. He came from idea, that sometimes you just need to move the egg to save it. At first, a have made him immune to bullets, but then I just gave him more hp, so sometimes he can be killed with certain power-ups.

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