Category Archives: My Games

Announcing Ketchup the iOS app

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I have been pretty quiet on here about what I’ve been up to lately. I’m not sure why, but I’ve been reluctant to announce my next project. I think part of it is that it’s a very simple game, and it’s that age-old fear that someone else is going to make it before you do. Sure, there may be some valid precedent for that, but it’s a silly thing to get hung up about.

So anyway, my next project is an iOS version of Ketchup, a very simple (deceptively simple) abstract board game created by Nick Bentley. Ketchup is already playable in a few different places on the web (more about that later), but I think at least a couple of the planned features will give folks who already play it somewhere else a reason to pick it up for their phones or iPads. Those reasons are a very strong AI (in development by Tysen Streib, who worked on For The Win with me), and asynchronous multiplayer via GameCenter. The AI is already TOO good, (a problem we also had on For The Win) and one of the challenges we have yet to tackle is how best to make it interesting to play against at all levels of difficulty. Ideally, I want to have some kind of automatic scaling of difficulty so that it attempts to play at or just above your level, always giving you a challenge, but not making it impossible for you to win. I’m not yet sure the best way to do this, so there is probably a lot of work left in that department.

Another area that is still pretty undeveloped is the user interface. The game is totally playable right now (and as of last week, asynchronously as well), but the interface needs a lot of love. These two items combined mean there is probably another few weeks worth of work left on the game’s development. (As with my previous personal projects, I’m balancing this with freelance work too.)

Recently, someone posted on reddit about another web-based version of Ketchup they’d created. (The other playable versions are on Mindsports and igGameCenter.) Part of my motivation for writing this post is because there was a mention of interest on Reddit in a mobile version, and I wanted to reply to that. (So if you’re coming from Reddit, hello!)

Promo Codes for Oppo-Citrus

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I have some promo codes for my latest game, Oppo-Citrus that I’d like to give away to anyone who reads this.

Just leave a comment on this post, (and maybe double check to make sure your email is correct), and I’ll email you a promo code. If you’d rather not comment, that’s fine too, just send an email to promocodes [at] abstractpuzzle dot com, and I’ll reply with a code as soon as I get it.

UPDATE: promo codes are gone. Thanks.

For The Win is out now!

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For The Win is out now and on sale at launch for only $.99 in the App store!

For The Win is probably the most ambitious game project I’ve ever worked on, and represents months of hard work. Surprisingly, I’m not even sick of playing the game, and supporting the project means there is a better chance that I’ll be able to add asynchronous multiplayer (and a universal version) in an update in the near future. The game is already packed with features, including five different AI personalities, with three levels of difficulty each, GameCenter leaderboards for number of games played and won against each AI difficulty. You can quit and resume your game at any time, (great for pass-and play games), and it’s easy to name the players and customize their colors and avatars.

I think it’s well worth a buck, so go download For The Win now!

Oppo-Citrus 1.1 release notes

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Here are the things that changed in Oppo-Citrus 1.1. (Waiting for review with Apple.)

* new TAP control scheme – Tap instead of drag to place the bottom row. Hopefully this clears up the confusion about how to use the menu. Can be used in-game also.

* There is a now a music track!!! Access volume controls from the pause menu. (But it sounds great, thanks Tori!)

* New sound effects – sounds for level complete

* Fixed visual mismatch between level select screen graphics and actual levels for levels 3 and 4

* custom games – disabled mini pieces (too many bugs with it)
* custom games – disabled horizontal powerups when piece size is anything other than normal

* about screen – added “all apps” button

* Fixed a crashing bug with completing 200% on level 11. This also fixes the “all levels 200%” achievement. (Special thanks to @brackeen for reporting.)

For The Win

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So the “big” freelance project I’ve been working on part-time for the last five months or so was submitted to apple last Friday. It’s public knowledge that I’ve been working on it, but I wasn’t sure if I could talk about it until yesterday.

It’s called For The Win, (app store link), and it’s a tile-laying abstract strategy game for 2 to 4 players. Unfortunately, the app took a lot longer than I’d estimated, and we didn’t get to put asynchronous multiplayer in there, but if the app does well I’m really looking forward to adding that in an update. (I think it will be a really fun addition to all the other games I already play that way on a daily basis.)

The game is played by placing tiles from your pool of five different types (Alien, Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Zombie — everyone has two of each) next to each other on the gameboard until someone has all five types of their color connected. The difficulty comes in that you can’t immediately place next to your existing tiles, and have to manipulate them into position by either moving them, or using each tile’s unique special ability.

As you can see, the game really has a really great look and feel to it. The app was designed by Luis Francisco Baroni Coutinho, who has worked on art and graphic design for an absolutely ridiculous number of board games in the past. He took the game’s original character artwork (by Eric J. Carter), and designed basically everything else needed for the iPhone version.

The “client” for this project was Tasty Minstrel Games, and if there is one thing Michael Mindes did exceptionally well on this project, it was bring together a great team. The leader of that team was Brad Cummings, (of iOSBoardGames.com fame), and it has really been a pleasure to work with Brad, as he just really has his finger on the pulse of this weird little sub-niche that is iOS board games. He did all the early UX design for the app, as well as keep track of everyone’s tasks and all that other lovely stuff that a good project manager does.

The app also features five different AI personality types, with three different difficulty settings for each. One of the biggest technical challenges (and most rewarding aspects) of the game’s development was working with AI programmer Tysen Streib, whose work was so good that most of the changes we had him make were to make it easier to win against the AI on easy difficulty.

I didn’t work closely with him, but it’s worth giving a shout-out (since it appears that’s what this post has become) to the game’s original designer, Michael Eskue. I actually backed the board game on Kickstarter way back before I had even an inkling that I would be working on this project. Coincidentally, I got my Kickstarter reward copy in the mail about the same time I got started on development. Anyway, the game has real hidden depth and strategy. It can be a difficult one to wrap your head around at first, (and that may be the biggest challenge to this app’s success) but I genuinely think it can be rewarding to learn and play.

I will post again when it hits the app store.

My latest game, Oppo-Citrus

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Hey, in case you haven’t already seen it, my latest game, Oppo-Citrus is now available. It’s got procedurally generated puzzles that are unique every time you play, with 11 different game modes (levels) of varying difficulty and gameplay. Each level has it’s own GameCenter leaderboard, and there are some achievements in there as well (more coming soon). It’s a take-your-time-style puzzle game, where you can think about what move you want to make as long as you want. I’ve been told it’s an unforgiving game. It can be really hard. Some game modes rely more on luck, but there are definitely ways to optimize your strategy. The game also keeps track of a lot of statistics for each level. Please consider giving it a shot, especially if you like my first game, ActionChess. Thanks for playing!

Oppo-Citrus v.0.8

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Oppo-Citrus is live today in the app store.

I sort of forgot it was going to be released today, and the app description, which I’d fully intended to replace with something more descriptive, was simply the following:

Oppo-Citrus is a puzzle game with a catchy name!

Drag the row of fruit from the bottom into the middle of the gameboard, and try to make shapes of 4 or more of the same fruit. It’s that easy!

Enjoy!

So what I’ve settled on (hopefully it’s beter) is the following:

Oppo-citrus is a puzzle game where you drag a row of fruit squares from the bottom of the screen onto a grid to make shapes of 4 or more of the same fruit. As the shapes are removed and points are scored, additional levels are unlocked. Each level introduces some new mechanic or combination of mechanics. See how high you can score on each level!

Play Oppo-Citrus and enjoy the following features:
– 11 unique levels of increasing difficulty and complexity
– hand-drawn pixel graphics for iPhone and iPhone 5
– stereo sound effects made entirely using the sounds of fruit
– GameCenter leaderboards and achievements
– Beat the 11th level to unlock the custom game mode, for unlimited replayablity!

Enjoy!

Anyway, please consider giving Oppo-Citrus a try. I spent about six months making it (part-time), so I hope it’s worth at least a buck. And let me know if you have any problems or find any bugs. Thanks!

ActionChess 1.5 Release Notes

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I’m in the middle of the process of submitting ActionChess 1.5 to apple. There is a ridiculously long list of things this build adds from the last one, which was… oh back in October of 2010. That’s over two years ago, and that means I’m a slacker! Anyway, that list includes:

* GameCenter achievements and leaderboards for all game modes.
* Retina graphics for normal iPhones (iPhone 5 support in the next version… probably).
* New “tap-based” input method. (The old drag-based method still works also.)
* New AbstractPuzzle/ActionChess news feed.
* New help button on the home screen.
* New “wiggle” animations when pieces get near the top of the screen.

There are probably about 500 other minor changes. Unfortunately, that list doesn’t include fixing the one or two UI bugs I know about (that annoying flashing that happens *sometimes when the level changes is still there, I’ve seen it). Here’s a list of things I want to tackle for the next version:

* release the more or less completed static-Puzzle mode
* modernize the interface to support iPhone 5, and possibly (hopefully) the iPad
* fix those bugs I mention, and quite possibly give the graphics an overhaul

Thanks for playing!

Oppo-Citrus is waiting for review!

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I have been pretty radio-silent around here about Oppo-Citrus as well as the hundred other projects I have going right now. It’s hard to find time to blog when you can’t even find time to do all the coding that you have planned or on your plate.

So yeah, today I sent out a few trusted beta-testers what I’m considering the first “final” version of Oppo-Citrus. Then I fixed a bunch of bugs I found in it. Then I uploaded it to Apple. Here are the screen-shots I settled on using for iTunes:

The game has leaderboards for each of its 11 levels, as well as 10 “starter” achievements. (I hope to add about the same number of new achievements in an update in a week or two.) It’s not universal (boo!), but it does support the iPhone 5 screen ratio for those who have one (yay!).

I’m hoping yet tonight to submit a new version of ActionChess for review also. I’ll write another post if I can finish that.