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"Abandoned Town" - A small game built with Unity3D and Shanty Town free assets

2015-08-24T13:07:00.003+02:00

Here is what I have built in 3 practice sessions learning Unity3D:

Shanty Town - Worker collecting his lost wrenches

I used free Shanty Town - free assets made by Unity Technologies. So far I managed to create a terrain, mountains, used textures, pre-made models like houses, vehicles, fences, doors and of course pre-made human character that is able to walk. I also added 6 wrenches which you will find while searching the area of "Abandoned Town". As you move trough the street there will be ambient noise of wind.

This is just a start. I plan to add UI and more wrenches to collect. Maybe even achievements which data will be saved on disk locally.

Download the files from here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mn6dyd8g9o3f3ov/Abandoned%20Town%20-%20Spinnerbox.zip?dl=0

In either case there is somebody who already made a Shanty Town project available for purchase. Check it out here

By the way I was reading this book: Unity for Absolute beginners. Really well made. It is more like a walktrough trough Unity features and tools. But if you are a beginner what else could you need more.

Wonders in Math land - HTML5 version

2015-04-30T15:07:00.002+02:00

Its been a while since I did something about this game. I managed to develop HTML5 version in Phaser 2. Currently it is in alpha state, version 4.1.0. Go ahead and play it here: wml-spinnerbox.rhcloud.com

you can also play it on your Nexus 7 in Google Chrome or Mobile Firefox.

Would you like to see more cards, levels, scoreboard, or a multiplayer option? Would you like to see mobile version as well? Have another suggestion? Found a bug? Write me at spinnerbox2000 [at] gmail [dot] com.

"The Art of Computer game design" by Chris Crawford - book review

2015-03-06T12:30:00.001+01:00

Hello.

In this post I will share my thoughts on a game design book called "The Art of Computer game design" written by Chris Crawford. There are eight chapters, plus some additional info like interview with Chris and what education should a game designer have. This book was originally written in 1982 by Chris, and in 1997 Prof. Sue Peabody decided to make this book available to wider public over the Internet.

It contains very useful info on what a game is, what are the parts of a game, what is a puzzle, why do people play games etc... I am quite satisfied with this read, so if you are planning to become a game designer or you are planning for you next game project, this is the first game design book you should read. I think it is not enough, for more info read another book, like this one http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Game-Design-lenses/dp/0123694965).

Computers have evolved a lot since 1982 but in basis games haven't changed much. The only update to your knowledge you have to do is with computer devices and I/O devices. Basics of a computer games have been established trough 1980s and still are basics of todays games. There are many classic games on which nowaday games are built upon.

So here is how this book is structured:

What is a Game? This chapter covers what is a game compared to what is a puzzle and story. It covers four aspects each game should have, representation, interaction, conflict and safety. Also several types of games, like board games, card, games, athletic, children's and of course computer games.
Why do people play games? This chapter covers why do people play games, its because of fantasy or exploration, proving oneself, social lubrication, exercise and need for acknowledgement.
A Taxonomy of Computer Games. This part separates games in several categories and explains each category its properties. Skill and action games, combat games, maze, sports, paddle, race and miscellaneous games. Next there are strategic games, adventures, D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) games, War games, games of chance, educational and children's games and at the end Interpersonal games.
The Computer as Game Technology. Game technologies, computers and precepts for computer games, what should a computer game contain. Don't transplant a game, meaning if a game is good as a card game that doesn't mean it will work good as a computer game. The design of the game should circle around the I/O because the I/O is the greatest limitation of computer games. Try to keep everything clean, store less and process more, maintain unity of the overall design.
The Game Design Sequence. Each game should have a goal and a topic. First choose what is the goal of the game and then choose how to present that goal to the player by choosing a topic. Do a lot of research and preparation, DO NOT start with coding at this phase. Develop I/O structure, game structure, program structure and evaluation of design. Prepare for programming, do the programming, play-test your game and find play-testers to test it for you. And at last, post-mortem, fingers crossed that you have done a good job.
Design Techniques and Ideals. Covers some techniques how to solve problems when designing your game, something like: vast resources, artificial smarts(AI algorithms), limiting information presented to the player and pace. It also covers relationships between opponents, something like, symmetric games, asymmetric games and triangularity. Each game should have smooth learning curve and illusion of winnability. There will be several good features that you may want to put in your game, but you must choose only one of them and discard others.
The Future of Computer Games. This chapter covers the extrapolation of technology, revolution of technology, the mass market and increase in diversity of games, but roughly games will not change fundamentally.
The Development of Excalibur. This chapter explains how was Excalibur built for Atari 8-bit computers(1983), and Crawford says that what this book covers is ideal case, but rarely when you are building your game, conditions will be near perfect. Excalibur was in development for about one and a half year and it was a failed project.
Reflections. Interview with Chris Crawford
The Education of a Game Designer. This last part is a must read, since it will tell you the pitfalls you can make if you try to become a game designer, and how you should start your career.

My final thought would be 4/5 for this book. It covers all you need to start with game design but its old and it doesn't cover novaday computers which might make you read newer book. Anyway I think you should read it.

Hearthstone SQLite database

2014-09-29T09:42:00.004+02:00

In the past two weeks I have been doing something interesting, I was developing a Hearthstone database in SQLite 3.7.9. I built it mainly to practice some SQLite programming.
Some guy managed to collect all information from some internal Hearthstone file and put it on this website: http://hearthstonejson.com/
I used a php script which I built to export the data from the json file to my SQLite database.
You can download the comple sql file from here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66845602/hearthstone/sqlhearthstone.sql

or you can restore the complete database into you sqlite3 from this file: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66845602/hearthstone/sqlhearthstone.db

I have some other plans to do next, so maybe there will be hearthstone db version 2.0. I don't know.

I am not affiliated with Hearthstone or Blizzard in any way.

All information in the sql file and the db file belongs to Hearthstone © Heroes of Warcraft and Blizzard © Entertainment developers.

If you have some suggestions I would gladly hear them.

Change of Blogger's url address

2014-07-29T19:33:00.001+02:00

I am planning to change my address to vladtheterran.blogspot.com

Just to note all my readers :) so spinnerbox.blogspot.com will stay but I will continue my work on the new address :)

Tumblr page changed address

2014-07-29T10:55:00.003+02:00

Know what? I just changed my tumblr page address, it is: http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/
I am also planning in the future to change my Blogger blog address to something similar like the tumblr's one.

What do you think? Is this blog name good?

Let me know?

Tumblr page

2014-07-28T14:53:00.003+02:00

while playing some games I was making screenshots so tumblr turned to a good place for them. Visit my tumblr page at http://spinnerbox.tumblr.com/

Pixels by Patrick Jean

2014-07-26T19:19:00.003+02:00

Haha awesome video

Solarmax 2 - review

2014-07-23T13:44:00.001+02:00

Hello guys, in this post I will share my thoughts on a game called Solarmax 2. It a successor of a game called Solarmax.

Game details

Genre: strategy, tactics, space, RTS alike, science fiction
Mechanics: real time
Player mode: single-player
Platforms: web based flash version, mobile, iOS, Android and Steam Greenlight/WindowsWeb page: http://nicotuason.itch.io/solarmax2
wiki/help page: (couldn't find any)

My thoughts

I finished the game three times, once on medium difficulty and two times on hard difficulty. So the first time I started the game, really pulled my attention because I like science fiction genre. It has awesome visual/graphical elements and every thing runs smoothly, as it should be. The beautiful music really fills the

sci-fi experience... man kind set for conquering the stars :) However when I play sci-fi games what I like is the story or the comics that gives that fiction element. In this release there wasn't a story and the space ships look like a little light particles which is a bit disappointing. When I want to explain the game, I think of particles, not a space ships :)

This game should be a tactics game right? Well it does have tactics but you cannot really feel it. Basically in its core is just: be faster and collect bigger army so that you don't loose the level. You don't get to feel change in a single game when you send ships to one or to another planet, it is just collect bigger army. There should be levels with bigger maps, with more planets/(turret stations)/(warp gates) where you are going to feel a change with the distance between planets and the planet size. It is however a good time waster and kept me entertained up until I finished the game on both medium and hard modes. After that it became a bit boring so I lost interest. More levels are needed and perhaps map editor and multiplayer mode. Don't forget to add a short story.

To be honest I finished all levels on medium mode without knowing that there is a slider for how much percentage of ships you want to send. The tutorial level with the slider is a bit inconvenient. The slider is also a bit clumsy. You may slide to a value you didn't wanted by accident and then you could perhaps loose a level. From my opinion I think a radio button group would do better, for example you have a set of predefined values, 15%, 30%, 50%, not sure about this, just a thought.

I would also like to see a kongregate badge for finishing all levels on hard mode. It gives you motivation to play it more. The AI is fierce and cunning which gives depth and value to the game. However there is still space for level refinement. Some levels are just too easy and some levels are a bit pain.

I really like the thing that you get 10 tutorial levels, you have army advantage up until tenth level, which is nice. I also like the variety of game objects and elements, like bigger/smaller planets, warp gates, turret stations, space stations, obstacles, moving planets etc... Then variety in players/AIs, the possibility to experience game against four AIs. To note, the moment when black particles appeared, it was mind blowing :) and also the moment when you finish the game, all solar systems get white (that is why a short story is needed).

Tips and Tricks

While playing this game I concluded some general tips about it.

Generally you should always try to take over static objects like planets and turret stations, since moving objects are harder to take and more riskier.
Use constantly small amount of ships and transfer to enemy's planets to stop his unit production at least a short period of time. The AI will not be always able to clear his planets from your ships. You can do this by taking over two or three planets and keep you bigger army on one of the planets. While your empty planets generate new units, send them to enemy's unguarded planets.
You will want to use often percents like 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of your ships. Usually you start off by taking new planet with 100% of your units and then in the middle of the current game you switch to 50% or 25% so that you can leave the current planet guarded. Black particle's AI is very fierce and fast. If able it attacks immediately a planet that has zero or smaller amount of units.
Some levels have a pattern or trick. For example on level 2, divide in half your army and send it to one of opponent's planets.
On level 13 you should first take over one half of the screen (upper or lower) and then conquer the other.
Level 36 is just a trick, destroy the lower left AI, take over his planets and station and then with the warp gate transfer all your troops to the circular station in the middle of the screen. Wait a little to fight off black ships and then you are done with it.

Useful links

http://www.pockettactics.com/reviews/solarmax-2/

http://blog.bubblebox.com/139/solarmax-walkthrough/

http://www.kongregate.com/forums/3-general-gaming/topics/265265-solarmax-full-text-walkthrough

http://www.nicotuason.com/

Game alikes

Obviously the game mechanics is nothing new. There are many games, mobile or web that roughly have the same game mechanics. I made a small collection of links which you might want to check.

Tentacle Wars - The Purple Menace

Conclusion

This game pulled my attention, but it didn't keep going. Needs more levels, multiplayer, map editor and story. Some tools should be improved and it is roughly a clone of other games. It will be a wonderful and immersive experience only the first time and will leave you wanting for more, but the tactics and level maps currently do not promise much. It has a potential to become something bigger and better that it is right now. We'll see. The visuals and the music are awesome which make this game a game you want :) From my point of view I give it 3.9/5

Gallery

http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/92901566852/solarmax-2-part-1
http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/92901680077/solarmax-2-part-2
http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/92901782967/solarmax-2-part-3
http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/92901854042/solarmax-2-part-4

Heroes of the Storm - Intro :)

2014-07-20T16:53:00.001+02:00

Somebody playing Heroes of the Storm? Check this out :)

Playing Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - Part 1

2014-05-02T19:08:00.001+02:00

In this review I will play Heroes of Might and Magic 3. This will be part one in which I cover the game with screenshots, details and videos. In the second part perhaps I will cover the campaign mode of the game.

Release date: 28-th February, 1999
Genre: Strategy, RPG, fantasy, tactics
Mechanics: Turn based
Player mode: single-player, multi-player
Platforms: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, Ubuntu/Linux/Wine
web page: http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com/heroes3/heroesofmightandmagic3iii.shtml
http://www.gog.com/game/heroes_of_might_and_magic_3_complete_edition
wiki/help page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_of_Might_and_Magic_III

Screenshots:

main menu

starting a mission

Fortress - City

Fortress buildings

Fortress creatures

Battle, Necropolis vs Neutral

Mission options

Hero inventory

Playing a map

List of heroes page

Earth view spell

Ladder

Single scenarios

Campaigns

You can also play the game in multi-player mode with up to 8 other remote players, using third party software like Hamachi VPN or GameRanger. I would recommend using GameRanger. How to play HoMM3 on GameRanger

Hosting HoMM3 game on GameRanger is easy

Chat options in GameRanger

Screenshot of a multiplayer game. See green text on the bottom left

Videos:

Card Sprite sheet Generator

2014-03-21T13:37:00.003+01:00

During development of Wonders in Math Land I had to recreate card animations many times. Therefore I developed this script called: Card Sprite sheet Generator.
It enables you to create two way sprite sheet animation with just two images, in my case front and back side of a card. I had some bright ideas to improve it. Let me know our thought on it.

StarCraft2 Achievements application

2014-03-21T13:22:00.002+01:00

I have been busy these days, developing a custom application for StarCraft2 using Blizzard's battle.net web service. If you are a SC2 fan and play it alot this application will enable you to browse trough the complete list of SC2 achievements when you don't play the game. Choose a region and locale/language, then filter the list by category, points and keyword. Finally, let me know your thoughts on it and what can be improved.

The link to the application is: http://sc2ach-blueplayer.rhcloud.com/

Browse achievements by category name

Browse achievements by points and category name

Browse achievements by title and description keyword

Mochi Media is dead?! :(

2014-03-15T19:26:00.001+01:00

Yup mochi media is dead :(

If you really like some of my games I can send you file for upload, just email me:

spinnerbox2000@gmail.com

It was fun with mochi media. Great platform for sharing free games but that is life :(

Wonders in Math Land - Speed Play

2014-02-28T13:28:00.001+01:00

Latest patch of Wonders in Math Land

2014-02-26T11:51:00.001+01:00

Play the latest patch of Wonders in Math Land here: http://www.stencyl.com/game/play/22553
Clear browser cache and press ingame reset button if it doesn't work.

Here is the walktrough video:

Screenshots:

Links: Learn basic and advanced SQL

2014-02-19T12:05:00.000+01:00

I searched the net for some good online quizes about SQL

Here are some links I found:

A basic quiz about SQL from W3Schools
http://www.w3schools.com/quiztest/quiztest.asp?qtest=SQL

Basic SQL quiz:
http://www.sqlquiz.com/sql-quiz.php

SQL Guide with onsite SQL console
http://sqlzoo.net/wiki/Main_Page

My personal best are:

Beautiful Javascript quiz on NetTuts:
http://code.tutsplus.com/articles/nettuts-quiz-11-do-you-know-sql--net-24439

Desktop application for practicing SQL. Uses SQLite and 3D galaxy with stars as data.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/galaxql/

More thorough website covering basic aswell as advanced database concepts:
http://www.indiabix.com/database/questions-and-answers/

Enables you 10/20 or 25 question timed or casual quiz:
http://withoutbook.com/OnlineTestStart.php?quizId=15

Puzzle game

2014-01-22T17:44:00.001+01:00

This is a puzzle game I liked. It is called "Electro Appliances"

Upload a mochi game to your site

2014-01-10T11:15:00.003+01:00

Guys when you upload one of my games please use the embed tag. When a user comes to your site to play my game it will always be the LATEST version of the game.

Conquering Europe - Cities - Walktrough video

2014-01-03T16:28:00.003+01:00

Conquering Europe - Walktrough video

2014-01-03T16:08:00.001+01:00

Wonders in Math Land - Walktrough video

2013-12-31T17:42:00.002+01:00

Playing Black Mesa

2013-12-30T13:33:00.001+01:00

In this post I will share my experience about my playing of Black Mesa, a mod of the orginal game called Half Life. Built on the "Source" engine, available for free download on Steam, Black Mesa has very improved look compared to the orignal. You can read whats written on the books, shelves, walls, better light refraction, shading, which makes the whole experience much more comfortable.

While playing I got to some software issues:

It happened to get stuck in one position. I could only turn my self around but not being able to move or do other things. This happened when I wanted to replay second chapter after finishing the complete game.
Also when loading screen appeared many time the game crashed. So I had to restart it from last saved point. Ok, not much of an issue since I finished the whole game. I hope the team will fix this issue.

I was really enjoing while listening to the Black Mesa soundtrack. It really adds much to the playing experience especially when you get to places where there is a big fight with many soldiers and/or creatures, therefore increasing the tension so that you feel what is like to be in place of Gordon Freeman :))

What makes this game good is that it is rich with puzzles the player has to solve in order to progress. You are traveling trough cooling pipes, corridors, reef edges, jumping obstacles, shooting with soldiers, fighting tanks, aeroplanes, helicopters, launching rockets, avoiding laser detonating bombs, etc... One thing to note, before progressing trough the game: learn how to use the controls properly. For example jump+crouch move. I couldn't finish the laser level without dying hundreds of times. It is the place where I learned to use jump+crouch move properly. Unfortunatelly Black Mesa team didn't included the guide/practice chapter which is a part of Half Life. In fact the last chapters of Half Life were also not included, chapters like, Xen, Gonarch's lair, Interlooper, Nihilanth.
The team took about 8-9 years to complete this part. I hope the ending will be available soon.

I tried to make as many as possible, screenshots of the most important parts of the game using the Steam's F12 functionality. I made about 200 screenshots, so I will post them in parts.This part has 51 screenshots.

Gallery

http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/92905190012/black-mesa-part-1

http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/92905276912/black-mesa-part-2

http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/92905634082/black-mesa-part-3

http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/92905749817/black-mesa-part-4

http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/92905807397/black-mesa-part-5

http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/92906138392/black-mesa-part-6

http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/92906200307/black-mesa-part-7

Playing Sonny: Destroyer

2013-12-19T14:01:00.002+01:00

link:http://www.kongregate.com/games/ArmorGames/sonny
genre: RPG, hack and slash, adventure, skill, turn based
player classes: Destroyer, Guiardian, Assasin, Gunslinger
The game has a story and plot.
The game has really thrilling music. I am really enjoying while playing.

music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I7OQ0g2l5k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk0xWI8akxc&feature=share&list=RD9I7OQ0g2l5k&index=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuZ0BfRPNl4&feature=share&list=RD9I7OQ0g2l5k&index=2

links:
http://sonny.wikia.com/wiki/Ignition
https://armorgames.com/community/thread/329271/sonny-boss-2-omen
http://armorgames.com/community/thread/169383/how-to-beat-omen-ad-docter-herregods
https://armorgames.com/community/thread/96964/sonny-final-boss
http://www.kongregate.com/forums/3/topics/8145
http://sonny.wikia.com/wiki/ZPCI

Gallery

http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/93106937102/sonny-destroyer-part-1
http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/93107083522/sonny-destroyer-part-2
http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/93107156717/sonny-destroyer-part-3
http://vladtheterran.tumblr.com/post/93107210517/sonny-destroyer-part-4

The begining

Abilities page

In game tips

Sonny's Inventory

ZPCI- Zombi Pest Control Incroporated

Escape from the ship

The tape, arrghh give me the tape :))))

Wonders in Math Land: patch 1.4.4

2013-12-17T15:41:00.000+01:00

Hello again. I have added some new GUI features to the game. Now you have complete game guide that shows when you play the game for the first time. Also the number of cards in the levels increases from 12 to 18 cards. Cards now are place in specific formation to make the game more enjoyable and interesting.

http://www.mochimedia.com/games/play/wonders-in-math-land