I am delighted to reveal my forthcoming game is the sequel to X-Orbtek, which was recently listed as one of the Top 5 Pick Up & Play PC Indie Games.
X-Orbtek II will introduce new gameplay that brings a whole new edge to the game as well as a local multiplayer mode that combines competetive and co-operative play in one mode. There will also be a classic mode for those who are fond of those simpler days…
Release is scheduled for 2013. That is about as specific as I’m willing to get for now!
Unlockable theme
For a mere 65p, less than $1, you can buy the new version of X-Orbtek. It comes with several unlockable themes, new enemy types and additional power ups, including bombs and a decoy ship.
If you’ve not played it already, X-Orbtek is a great game that is easy to pick up and with global high scores it can be hard to put down.
It is available on the Play Store now!
A new update should shortly be available for the Android version of X-Orbtek. There have been a number of improvements to gameplay and stability but the one you’ll spot first is that the game has been renamed to X-Orbtek Free. Have a quick look through the changes:
You can now play Invertical for free without going through Steam Workshop with a new version has been released on the Oxygen Addict site!
The free version contains loads of levels (although not as many as the full version!) with several hours of gameplay and even boasts new improvements such as different control configurations, including use of a game controller, and an improved progression system where you must collect the books and scrolls to unlock new levels!
I hope to bring these changes, along with further improvements, to the full version in the coming weeks!
The second Oxygen Addict game to hit Android’s Google Play Store is HexStackIt
Gamble your points in this game where you have to to collect hexagons of the same colour as yourself to build your stack. The bigger the stack, the more points you earn for each hexagon but one mistake will wipe the whole lot!
You can download it from this site and copy the .apk file across to your phone or tablet or just get it from the Google Play store!
The Android version has varied backgrounds
When GameMaker’s Android and iOS licenses were dramatically reduced on Steam I couldn’t resist. Incredibly just four days later I had released X-Orbtek on Android and you know what, the game worked rather well.
Excited by this I have started pushing on with Facebook development. When wrestling with getting the app to authenticate I made a mistake, I tried regenerating my keystore. Being a newbie at this, it didn’t occur that this would have massive effects. Alas a few days on and I’m very excited to upload a new version of the game. It gets more exciting a lot quicker, has Facebook login support, can post to the wall and an assortment of other tweaks and improvements. Brilliant.
It failed to upload. It was the digital signature. In hindsight, I should have seen this coming. I should have anticipated it, but I never. Gutted doesn’t begin to explain the feeling when it became clear that the game wasn’t going to get updated.
As a result I’ve unpublished it from the Play Store and have uploaded a new version! You can find the new version at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.OxygenAddict.XOrbtekRelease. If you’ve previous installed and enjoyed the game, why not remove the old version and get the new one?
I hope everyone enjoys the changes and I’m hoping there’s more to come. Suffice to say that I won’t be risking a keystore change again though!
X-Orbtek now available for Android
The free version of X-Orbtek has been made available for download. What is even more exciting is that you can get it for both PC and Android! This is the first Android release by Oxygen Addict and it plays just as well as the PC version. The game is well suited to mobile phones / tablets with its short bursts of gameplay.
If you aren’t familiar with X-Orbtek, it involves collecting Orbs before they disappear whilst dodging enemies. What really makes the game is pushing you to get highscores, which is why it got a positive write up by Wrathkai and made Games Shrine’s top games from 2012!
Battling for highscores on a mobile phone
The Android version is currently only available as an APK install. This is easy enough with a USB cable, or just download from your phone! Instructions are on the download link or read this – http://www.talkandroid.com/guides/beginner/install-apk-files-on-android/
I am pleased to say that a new game has been made available for free.
Collect multiple stacks
It was this time last year when I first shared an early build of HexStackIt 2D, however as gameplay wise it offered little on top of HexStackIt I decided not to progress any further. I later decided on a new approach for the same core gameplay but something that would change the way that you play the game. Previously the best way to earn a high score was to pick one colour and stick with it, hoping you didn’t screw up (skill helps here!). This could be a little frustrating, letting lots of hexagons fly by whilst you prioritise one colour.
The new approach is to allow the player to have multiple stacks, one for each of the colours. That way you can switch between the colours and build up several large stacks. It is no co-incidence that the four colours co-incide with the green, red, blue and yellow. You can bank just one stack at a time or all four at the same time. Getting the colour wrong will lose your stack for your current colour and hitting a grey loses all stacks, ensuring the game can still be nice and cruel!
Check out the below video and there’s loads more on my Youtube!
Over the past 10 days or so I’ve been working on a Halloween based game called Trick or Treat. It takes the unique platform / puzzle gameplay from Invertical and adds a huge dollop of exploration as your explore levels looking for books, presents, chocolate and other delights in the Treat dimension. Alas poor Simon can’t reach everywhere so he must check to Trick and make his way past a host of nasty monsters. From a design perspective this gives a whole new purpose to inverting with one being safe and for collecting items, the other being more dangerous. The letterbox format works very well and exploring the levels can be good fun.
I hope to make a few more improvements before Halloween itself but you can check it out by either downloading it via the link below or you can even get it through Steam. I’d have loved to have further developed the game with more vibrant and unique art throughout the levels, plus of course additional levels but time is against me (and GameMaker’s lack of stability… crashapocolpyse). Sadly whilst I really enjoy playing Trick or Treat, after Halloween it will go on the backburner until early October next year!
Download the games individually or as a bundle
Over the past weekend I have been working nearly non stop to make games, all trying to raise money for charity. The results of the weekend are now available for people to download and try out. Its been hard and at times frustrating. I’ve yelled at my laptop to work, only to realise I was viewing a screenshot , battled through the pain of my dodgy back and even relived my days of high school maths through SOHCAHTOA (see kids – it is useful!).
But you probably don’t want to hear me moaning on. This marathon is about two things… charity & games. I’m pleased to say that during the marathon I managed to raise an extra few donations plus even made a few game sales meaning that once my bank account gets verified in paypal, I’ll be able to transfer that across and then donate the money. Of course there’s still time as the main event, the 24 hours non-stop gaming, is just under two weeks away and there’s still three months left in the year to earn game sales to add to the page. Hopefully some of the positive articles [1][2] I’ve had on X-Orbtek will lead to sales!
In terms of the games I’ve produce, I’ve mixed feelings. Some of the games work well, others well not so much. I think my biggest frustration is that I’ve had to balance quality & quantity. There were 6 game ideas (7 including my own) and none of them were as simple as the games where I’ve previously had a short turnaround. That said, it is still quite an achievement and with one exception I think everyonewill be happy enough with what I’ve done. Sadly the one exception was probably the most important one. See if you can figure out which from my summaries below.
Elephants Vs Monsters
Elephants… with lasers
I was worried when I saw this. My reaction was “Oh crap – I don’t know anything about Tower Defense games”. I’m quite pleased with the result to be honest. I’m not saying its genre defining but you place your elephants, can upgrade them and they shoot enemies with lasers. Job done. There are a few issues with the game though. There’s some performance problems and if I’m being honest, I don’t really know why. I thought it was to do with spawning but I’m not so sure now. With more time I’m sure that I could narrow it down. The other thing is balance. I’ve found that if you survive the first few waves then the game gets easier and easier, which obviously isn’t right. I’m sure with more time I could have refined it. Balancing is a fine art and if I were developing this as a game released for money then I’d probably devote at least a full week to playing it over and over. Due to the performance issues I skipped adding sound as well. Other than these issues, yeah job certainly done here.
Extreme Koala Super Rescue In Space
Extreme Koala Super Rescue in Space
The name amused me when I came up with it but having wrote it out many times now, I’m less fond of it. Anyway… The game is effectively a single player Chu Chu Rocket. It doesn’t have the same insanity of hundreds of mice everywhere but it is still good fun to play. Aside from some niggles with path finding this is an enjoyable enough 15 minute game! I’d love to expand on it with new enemy types and things like banana pickups to stop monkeys throwing, well you don’t want to know what, at your koalas. Half way through when I added the “Press Space To Start” functionality I did think that if I were to work on the game again I could have a future mode where you set everything up at the start then watch it unfold, maybe with point where you can pause and change your arrows. In all I’m quite happy with this game.
SKSP Hospital Quest
SKSP Hospital Quest
My idea was simple – wander around the hospital collecting presents etc to give to kids in bed. This would make them happier, which boosts their health. When everyone is healed, game complete. You’d also have nasty bugs wandering around. That all works. To make the gameplay a little deeper I added progression with more wards being unlocked and of . With the balancing I’ve not been able to complete the game myself. I haven’t been able to “win” at the game but you know what… real life isn’t like that. My other issues are that the art is pretty terrible, path finding can be flawed and it can be a pain trying to find things given you’re in a rush. Perhaps I could have slowed the whole thing down a bit.
I may look at refining this game at some point.
The Gum Ninja
The Gum Ninja in all its glory
For the most part I really like this game. Okay the main objective and “story” are terrible but the whole jumping about and firing your gum is quite good fun. The jumping code was pulled straight from Invertical, although unfortunately that game’s jumping wasn’t the best, especially as it was about going “up” rather than left & right plus it was floatyish so that you could perform actions mid air. That said, it doesn’t work too badly. The main issue is with sticking. I never managed to really solve this.The collision code actually stops you colliding with walls rather than if you collide then stop. This meant that sometimes you were stopped too far away from the wall to collide with the sticky gum. I’m sure that I can crack it, just was short of time during the marathon. As I quite like the game I hope to fix it up some day!
Watch Out – Beagle About
What’s the beagle up to now?
Yeah, this game changed a lot from my initial design and probably not for the better. I had planned on having it a bit like a pacman style level where you go find marshmallows whilst avoiding sprouts (the enemy) but then thought “dogs should pee on things”. I then got overly keen and came up with a bunch of object then realised there’d be room for dodging enemies. So instead you have one room with “riddles” to solve and it takes about a minute or two to complete the game… which given how slow I am at even the crappy artwork in the game still took ages to make. Ho hum. On the upside – game complete and I’m sure the person who made the suggestion will like it for the photos of possibly the most awesome dog I’ve met… Toby!
What would be cool would be to have a whole house with lots of different objects making you search and figure out what you’re meant to do. Then of course you’d want animations or at least something more involving then pressing SPACE.
Well thats my thoughts on what I’ve produced over the weekend. Why don’t you download them and let me know what you think! If you’re taking part in the Sick Kids Save Point then why not play them then?
Elephants Vs Monsters
Extreme Koala Super Rescue In Space
Elephants Vs Monsters
SKSP Hospital Quest
The Gum Ninja
Watch Out – Beagle\’s About!
SKSP Bundle
