Splinter of the mind’s eye

Posted in Adventure, Games, News on March 21st, 2013 by quantumsheep

Hello lovelies!

Just a small update on all things sheepy!

There’s a number of projects on the go at the moment.

My friend Jake is working on (and has been for a while) a little game called ‘Red Mist’. I have no idea when it’ll get finished, but it’s interesting and fun, and might be published through me. Yay!

Then I have a few adventure games in various states of completion. They’re very hard to do πŸ™

On top of that I’ve been learning to use Unity as I wanted to do some 3D games too. It’s fun and stuff, and the results are pretty spectacular looking. I just have to learn how to use it better. Understand it better.

So I can make sheepy games with it!

Also, I’m trying to port games over to Windows 8, but don’t have a stable testing environment for it right now. Microsoft have been very helpful, but it’s just taking forever it seems.

The projects are pretty varied. You have the adventure games (plain text, choose your own adventure, Myst type etc), a first person shooter with no guns and a 3D on-rails shooters.

So you can see, I’m being pulled in several directions, and have been for a while now.

In some ways, it’s kinda nice and varied. If I hit a brick wall somewhere on one project, I can move onto another for a while pretty quickly and no time is wasted.

One day could be spent setting up movement paths and turrets in 3D, or learning how to edit C# scripts. Another might be spent just writing locations for an adventure game, or touching up some art.

But really I need to focus a bit more. And I am going to really try and do that!

Also, I just hit 600 followers on Twitter (@quantum_sheep) – thank you all, that’s really, really lovely! Sheepyhugs for all! πŸ˜€

Speak soon!

QS πŸ˜€

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Did I say ‘Free Android version of Kraken “soon”?’

Posted in Android, App, App Store, Attack of the Kraken, FREE, retro, shmup, Shooter on January 31st, 2013 by quantumsheep

I meant later today! And here it is!

Have fun!

QS πŸ˜€

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Release (Attack of) the Kraken! :D

Posted in Amazon, App, App Store, Attack of the Kraken, FREE, iPad, iphone, ipod, Kindle, retro, sci-fi, shmup, Shooter, space, stars on January 31st, 2013 by quantumsheep

Hey all! Hope you’re well!

The assault on non-iOS devices continues with Attack of the Kraken for Kindle devices! πŸ˜€

Best of all it’s FREE – forever! No In-App-Purchases. No ads. Just a free game for you to (hopefully) enjoy!

The game will also be going free on iPhone from tomorrow (February 1st, 2012) so iPhone/iPad owners that haven’t tried it can have it for nothing too!

Working on the Android version, also free, which will be out soon with any luck!

Hope you like it! It was my first ‘proper’ iOS game, and while rather old (can I call it Retro?) it’s still quite fun I think!

Toodles!

QS πŸ˜€

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These ARE the droids you’re looking for!

Posted in Android, App Store, Games, Google Play, Gravitrixx, Mobile, News, retro on January 22nd, 2013 by quantumsheep

Hey all! Another update! Already!

I was up converting .Matrixx for the Kindle Fire when I realised I hadn’t signed up for the android store, otherwise known as ‘Google Play’.

The process only took about half an hour. And half an hour later, I had a version of Gravitrixx submitted!

You can find it here for Android.

Crazy stuff. It also takes just hours after submission to be published. So it’s available NOW!

I need a cup of tea. And some sleep I think…

Hope you Android users enjoy the game, and I’ll get busy bringing more to your format of choice!

QS πŸ˜€

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Gravitrixx on Kindle Fire :D

Posted in Amazon, Android, App, App Store, Games, Gravitrixx, Kindle, puzzle, retro, sci-fi on January 21st, 2013 by quantumsheep

“You’ve taken your first step into a larger world.” – Obi Wan Kenobi, Star Wars

Hello all!

Just a quick note to let you know that old sheepy favourite “Gravitrixx” has made it onto the Kindle Fire!

Yay!

You can find the game here πŸ˜€

Also, why not check out our game page for more details!

This is a very exciting start to the new year for me! I’m already looking at getting our other games onto the Kindle, including the much loved Air Supply!

But that’s not all! Testing is going on right now to try and get these games onto Android, and if Microsoft can sort out my account you’ll see them on Windows 8 too.

Busy, busy sheepy!

For now though, Gravitrixx has been a good start! Thanks all for reading!

QS πŸ˜€

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GO! :D

Posted in .Matrixx, Air Supply, Android, dot matrix, Games, Gravitrixx, iPad, Kindle, Mac, News, screenshots, Windows 8 on January 12th, 2013 by quantumsheep

Hello all, and a happy new year to you!

Had a productive start to the new year! Currently I’m still working on three projects, but have also been working on porting my current games to other platforms!

Below are Air Supply and Gravitrixx on a Kindle Fire:

.Matrixx is also looking a bit nice on the Kindle Fire too πŸ™‚

Other versions I’m aiming for is Mac for Air Supply, and possibly iPad. Also trying to work out how to get stuff onto Windows 8 Devices!

Busy times ahead! Hopefully you’ll see the fruits of my labours over the last year soon!

Thanks for reading, and here’s to a fun filled 2013!

Toodles!

QS πŸ˜€

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On and on!

Posted in News on November 15th, 2012 by quantumsheep

Hello all, hope you’re well!

I’m still here! Honest!

There are two games still in the works – Air Supply SOS and ProjectSAMMY.

They haven’t gone away, and neither have I!

This year has been mostly spent researching, testing, experimenting… all sorts of stuff! As well as working on the bread and butter games that hopefully brought you here to read these words in the first place!

There are other factors too – time, money, personal issues, discontent with the market, with games in general etc etc – they take away from actually *making* a game sometimes.

I’m not here to give you excuses, though! Work is still ongoing, and developments are always exciting! For example, my good friend Jake is working away on stuff that we can publish through Quantum Sheep. And as stated, work on the two projects mentioned is ongoing, if a little slow!

So I’m just saying “I’m still here! I’m still working! And you’ll have new stuff soonish!”

Thanks as ever for reading!

QS πŸ˜€

Why am I here?

Posted in Adventure, Games, News, retro on September 18th, 2012 by quantumsheep

Someone on a forum asked “What do you make games for?” and made a poll with the suggestions:

1. Money
2. Fun
3. Neither

I chose ‘neither’ but felt I should elaborate on that. It turned out into a bit of an essay, but I thought it might be ok to put it here, hoping to give people an insight into why I do what I do!

So, here’s my answer:

Ever since I was a young boy back in the 70s I wanted to make games. I was introduced to them via the arcades (Space Invaders!) and an early home pong system my dad bought us for Christmas one year!

This started happening in the 80s with the advent of the ZX Spectrum. I tinkered around in BASIC and made my first full game (a maths based educational title) for my ‘O’ level computer studies project.

Machine code was a bit beyond my capabilities so before and after that I looked into game making programs. There was ‘Games Designer’ (http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0001970) which I found to be fun but a bit limited.

There was also ‘The Quill’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quill) which helped me write a couple of unfinished Adventure games. I found that having the initial idea is easy. Finishing a game is not. Something true even to this day! πŸ™‚

There was also ‘White Lightning’ (http://www.forth.org/lightning.html) which was just way too complex for me. I did end up spending most of my summer that year sitting by a pool with a load of graph paper making characters. I must have been about 14 I think?

Then there was a hiatus of sorts as consoles took over. I could no longer make my own video games so I got into making my own collectible card games (using common cards from CCGs I was playing at the time). There are PC programs now that let you design your own cards, but back in those days I had to photocopy all the art, cut it out, stick it over existing cards to make my own etc etc.

I also got into board games and RPGs. My friends at the time weren’t really into that kind of thing, so I ended up playing out scenarios alone or in my head. I would read rule books for hours, marvelling at the amount of thought that had to go into making a game work.

Late 90s/early 2000s was when things really started kicking off again. I used GameMaker from a very very early stage, and ended up also learning how to make simple WAP games for early mobile phones.

I even tried my hand at a GameBoy Advance game. Alas it didn’t get far!

I was lucky that someone in an actual game company recognised the passion I had for games and gave me my first game design job. That guy is Jake, and he’s one of my very best friends now. I know of no-one else that loves games as much as I do!

So I got a games industry job, but I couldn’t stop making my own games. Later I used Adrift and wrote a couple of adventure games (http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/Quantumsheep)

And then came GameSalad. I picked it up straight away, and it has been so much fun to use. It has changed my life because I can now create whatever I want to, pretty much. And thanks to Apple, I can distribute that to thousands of players and hopefully spread some fun around πŸ˜€

Making games is, essentially, an extension of myself. I hope my games will reflect that. And while I’m not averse to making money from making games, it’s not the driving force.

None of my projects had money as the core reason for doing them. In fact, for nearly all of them there was no way to actually monetize any of it. It was literally done because I wanted to do it!

It’s all a bit boring I’m sure, but I hope that it shows I do this as a creative exercise to get all the ideas that swim around in my head OUT.

I love games. I love making games. I do this because I can’t imagine NOT doing it.

Is that a good enough answer for you? πŸ™‚

QS πŸ˜€

Something for the weekend, sir/madame? :D

Posted in Uncategorized on August 17th, 2012 by quantumsheep

Hello all, hope you’re well!

It’s been a busy summer, and now it’s getting really hot. Literally. We moaned about a lack of summer weather before, and now I wish it were just a tad cooler!

I’ve been house-sitting for my cousin again, and looking after her lovely little dog, Snoops. He’s good company, and I’ve been pretty productive while here.

Most of ProjectSAMMY has been planned out and I’m going through the literally thousands of test photos I’ve taken, trying to match up certain ones with in-game locations.

I’m doing the vast majority of the art, from photos, which is partly why things are taking so long! Sorry!

Here’s a pic I made that I thought I’d share with you. No guarantees that it’ll be in the game, but I kinda liked it!

Hope you find it interesting and thanks for stopping by!

Now I have lots of hot and sticky weather to wade through!

Toodles!

QS πŸ˜€

Hello!

Posted in Games, News on July 29th, 2012 by quantumsheep

I’m *Still* here! Sorry! πŸ˜€

So it may appear that I’ve not been very active recently!

This couldn’t be further from the truth!

Several titles still in development. But you know, it’s just me here, fiddling around, trying to make games!

It’s still fun though, and I hope to have something for everyone soon!

Hope you’re all well, enjoying the weather and, if in London, bearing with it all during the Olympics πŸ˜‰

Speak soon! πŸ˜€