Hey all, hope you’re well!

 

Very very tired sheepy here. I am off to bed soon (it’s gone 9am here!), but the good news is the game is done, has been reviewed, and will be out tomorrow (November 15th!)

 

EEK! :O

 

I’ll keep this short and leave you with a little video I made of the game!

 

Hope you like it!

QS =D

Hey all, hope you’re well!

 

So, it’s November 1st as I look out the window and I’m wondering where my bloody game is!

 

Oh, you are too? Awesome!

 

Well, it’s finished. I mean really, honestly finished. The unlocks are in, and I just have to add GameCenter to it and it’s ready to ship to Apple!

 

Yay!

 

Unfortunately, even at this late stage, I’m discovering bugs. Like this one:

Scary, eh? But also friendly! It’s saying ‘Hello’ 😀

 

So what does this mean?

 

Well, firstly it means that my game’s very friendly and playful, even when it’s throwing bugs at me! 😀

 

It also means I’m still testing it, and new bugs are still being found and being fixed!

 

What this is leading to is a slight delay. I’m not rushing this out full of bugs that’ll need to be fixed and will annoy people. That’s not the plan.

 

I’d much rather fix it now than after it’s annoyed someone.

 

Having said all that, the game will be released, and released soon. And despite my best efforts, it will have some bugs in it. All software does!

 

I’m just trying to minimise them as much as sheepily possible!

 

Thanks so much for your support and patience – it means the world to me, and I hope to have something fun for you guys to play soon!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

QS 😀

 

 

Hello everyone, hope you’re well!

 

A quick update from Sheep towers!

 

Air Supply – Infinite is almost done, you’ll be glad to know (I hope!).

 

Feedback from those kind enough to test it has been excellent, and has helped fine tune and tweak the game into something better than it was before! 😀

 

One tester suggested different control methods, which are now in, and others identified issues which I’ve hopefully resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.

 

The real trick is making it easy enough to be welcoming to new players, but to give hardcore players a challenge too!

 

This weekend I’ll be collecting data from the testers to work out an average ‘time to unlock stuff’. This will help make the unlock system fair I hope!

 

Hearing feedback from testers is always helpful, and I’d like to thank them all!

 

THANK YOU ladies and gents!

 

As a point of interest, my usual routine when getting feedback is this:

 

1. Get feedback.

2. Think of a million reasons why it’s wrong/not relevant/silly.

3. Stay up all night thinking about it and cursing the tester.

4. Wake up the next day and realise they’re absolutely right!

5. Make the suggested changes.

6. Grumble (possibly).

 

😀

 

 

There are still one or two bugs in the game I need to fix, and a nasty crashing issue which won’t go away.

 

The unlock system, information system, endings and Game Center stuff also need working on!

 

Thank you for your patience! It’s exciting to be almost done!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

QS =D

 

Please Stand By…

 

So, apparently my games break with iOS7.

 

Yikes!

 

Fortunately, it’s not just me. Just about every developer out there is scrambling to update their apps (you’ll have noticed that little red number going up lots on your app store icon recently!).

 

Unfortunately, unlike other companies, I’m a one-man band. As a result fixing everything will take some time.

 

Sorry about this, and thanks for your patience!

 

Normal service will be resumed soon!

 

QS

So, back in July, I mentioned on Facebook that I had three main goals to accomplish by the end of the summer…

 

These were:

 

1. ZX Spectrum game!

2. Text adventure!

3. Air Supply on Android, Kindle, Mac, Win8

4. Something I’m very excited about but can’t tell you!

 

 

Well, number 4 turned out to be Air Supply – Infinite (ASI) – which I am beavering away on right now, hoping to finish before the end of the month. Maybe. Here’s a screenshot for you, showing off the improved scan lines:

 

 

Numbers 1 and 2 are still on, and I’m hoping to have another look at them once ASI is done. They really are just for fun though!

 

Looking out the window, it looks like Summer’s over 🙁

 

I’ve not quite managed to get any of my planned stuff done!

 

Oh no!

 

The real time-sink is testing. I’d estimate about 70% of my time goes on testing, the remaining 30% goes on actually making the games.

 

I’m sorry it’s taking so long. I’m absolutely terrified that there might be bugs in my games, and do my level best to eradicate them before they land in your perfectly manicured paws!

 

I won’t catch ’em all (there’s only so much one sheep can spot!) but I’ll be sending test copies of ASI out soon!

 

And then, soon after, you’ll be able to play it for yourselves! We’re talking a few short weeks here with any luck, as opposed to months and months of waiting!

 

Thanks for your patience!

 

QS 😀

Hello all, hope you’re all good!

I’ve been beavering away at another Air Supply game!

Hurrah!

Sam is back, this time running round whole planets, trying to get to ‘The Void’ where he can pick up an Infinity Cup!

Here’s a work in progress screenshot:

 

 

Gameplay is simple. The basics are:

Jump over aliens.
Tap anywhere to jump.
Double tap to activate a Smart Bomb (I think, therefore I am).
Don’t forget your AIR IS RUNNING OUT!

There are unlocks a-go-go, and an awesome soundtrack by that genius Yerzmyey, who writes his music on retro computers (the tracks were written on a ZX Spectrum/ZX81 with an AY chip).

No trailer as yet, but I thought I’d post a ‘Music Teaser’ video that should whet your aural appetites:

 

 

I’m hoping this one will be a universal build, with GameCenter leaderboards and achievements

Thanks for tuning in! I’ll try and keep you updated on what’s happening.

QS

Hello there!

So, it’s been quiet round here, right?

Right?

Well, that’s because I mainly post stuff onto Twitter or Facebook!

It’s quicker and easier to find my stuff there!

For example, here’s a screen-grab of an upcoming game:

Hope you think it looks like fun! 😀

I sometimes post little teaser shots on these social network sites, as well as general rubbish that I get up to, but I’ll post here as well for those of you that read my ramblings!

Cheers!

QS 😀

Hurrah!

*hugs all his games*

QS 😀

I thought I’d write a quick opinion piece on the recent mauling of Microsoft’s Xbox One by Sony’s PlayStation 4 at E3.

Mainly, I think, because if you’ve followed me on Twitter the last couple of days, it may come across that I’m biased against Microsoft. It seemed a little lop-sided to me, especially from someone that actually has all three ‘current’ gen machines under the TV and also plays on iOS, Mac and PC.

I have to say, that my experience with Microsoft in general, as a developer, has been overwhelmingly positive, at least in my dealings with them for Windows 8. They’ve been receptive, friendly and helpful, and you’ll see some Windows 8 games soon! (promise!)

And may I just say that I don’t understand the seemingly negative reactions for Windows 8? I really like it. I have it on my Samsung slate thingy, and on a partition on my Mac. No problems with it at all really (especially when you discover the desktop!).

I was even hoping that I might be able to self-publish on Xbox thanks to the ties to Windows 8 development (alas this does not seem to be the case).

So I’d argue I’m not biased against Microsoft… just biased against stupidity 😉

The Xbox One stuff turned out to be pretty damn scary. The restrictions (which I won’t go into here) seemed draconian in their nature, as opposed to the status quo. The status quo being, you can sell your games online, or trade them in, or lend them to a friend. Without restriction. Without the need to be online.

And for what? There seemed to be little, if any, benefit to consumers for all the upheaval that was planned.

The Xbox One plans seemed unintuitive to say the least, and a further sign of how the industry I love is becoming less likeable, to me at least (e.g. In-app purchases, adverts in games, games as a ‘service’ etc etc)

I’m sure there are plenty of people who don’t care, or just don’t feel these things are a problem or important. Indeed, it would hardly affect me as I buy all my games new (being a collector!).

But it’s the principle of the matter. Games should be games, nothing more. You pay for one you feel might be interesting. You lend it to a friend if you think they might like it. At the end of the day you own the disc the game came on, and should be able to do what you want with it.

There are digital stores that really aren’t comparable to what Microsoft is trying to do with Xbox One. I won’t go into those here.

So, going into the E3 conference, I had real fears that Sony would follow suite, and we’d see the start of something a bit more than just insidious spread across the whole industry.

But what Sony did was amazing.

In that they did nothing at all, yet because of Microsoft’s plans, turned out to be the hero of the hour!

Being $100 cheaper was the killing blow I think.

Then, from a developer point of view, there’s the option to self-publish on PS4. I may never take advantage of that, but hell, the door’s open if I want to go that way!

I think hubris is the enemy here. Success does not give you a pass to do completely stupid things. Yet all these companies (Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft) have gone crazy in the past after huge success.

I guess it must be hard to stay humble. But it’s something a company should strive for, in my opinion.

Every person that enjoys one of my games is a gift. A GIFT.

Big companies forget that. Then remember after a fall. Then forget after another success. And the cycle continues…

Steve Jobs is often quoted as saying ‘Stay hungry’.

I couldn’t agree with him more.

QS 😀

Hello lovelies, long time no see!

So Unity for mobile dev is now free.

I’ve not been using Unity much as it happens, mainly because I wanted my games to be available to as many people as possible. Which means desktop and mobile publishing would be great.

Now it’s possible with Unity, which is a real coup in my book.

I’m glad I didn’t have the money to spend on a mobile license – imagine the poor devs that paid for it recently! Ouch!

But yes. Games development, in general, can be done on a very limited budget these days. There’s an abundance of tools available these days such as Unity, GameSalad, Xcode, GameMaker etc etc.

But more than the tool is the want, or need, to make something lovely. It’s what drives me on!

If you have an interest in games, I’d recommend trying to make one. It’s incredibly creative, and fantastically rewarding!

It’s also a lot of hard work! And a lot of fun!

Speak soon,

QS 😀