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Dev Blog #2: We Made Some Progress...


On 04/20/2015 at 12:55 PM by PixlBit Studios

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This is seriously only Dev Blog #2!? Man, talk about dropping the ball... So, yeah, last time I wrote one of these PixlCross was truly in its infancy. To say it's come a long way since then would truly be an understatement. We're coming fairly close to putting a bow on the game and have entered our heavy testing period where we are soliciting feedback from friends and making changes accordingly. Which is kind of crazy.

Since I really failed to keep up on this dev blog as we developed, I think it makes more sense to release a series of blogs detailing some of the major milestones along the way and what it took to get there. Here's an agenda of blogs I'd like to write on and with any amount of luck, I'll knock them down one-by-one until we're current.

  1. To Solve a Nonogram
  2. I've Made a Huge Mistake
  3. Out of Control
  4. A Picture's Worth 1,000 Words
  5. U Want to Release a Game?

It's kind of staggering looking back on where we started and where we're at now. It's been a VERY long road with A LOT of long hours. I'll be perfectly honest in saying that this has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride of an experience. While Chessa and I are totally excited to be approaching the finish line, I think we're both pretty happy that it's nearly done.

If I've learned nothing more, it's that game development is hard, especially when it's done in the margins of your life. Even building something as simple as a Nonogram game, the effort involved has been absolutely tremendous. What's even crazier is that there's still a mountain of stuff to accomplish, including the final submission to Nintendo, the eShop page, the eManual, marketing and PR, the Steam Greenlight campaign, and god only knows what else. Thankfully I've got a PS4 and Bloodborne now to help calm my nerves and relax in the off hours...

For now, I'll leave you with a gif that does an ok job of showing off the game in motion.

- Nick


 

Comments

Michael117

04/20/2015 at 02:20 PM

What language did you use for the game? I remember you saying that when you started learning to program in college it took a while for it to eventually click for you and I'm having a similar issue with object oriented stuff.

For the last two semesters in DarkBASIC and C++ they have been teaching us procedural programming, but the last two projects of this year have been easing us into object oriented stuff finally and building simple games with classes. I'm halfway done with a Battleship game at the moment and it's twisting my brain trying to keep track of all the classes, functions, getters, setters, and what everything is actually doing lol.

Nick DiMola Director

04/20/2015 at 02:47 PM

I've written the game in Javascript, with the help of HTML 5 and CSS 3 for the UI. It's an... interesting... language. Having done plenty of web development, I have a bunch of experience with the language, but never really "used" it, so to speak. Now that I've gotten knee deep in it, I've really got a handle on how to do javascript right.

It's kind of a crazy language, because there are just closures absolutely freakin everywhere. Not to mention, it's all event-driven, so order of operations can be a serious challenge. Something as simple as getting a loading screen to pop-up took some mental acrobatics.

After years and years of programming primarily Java, it's hard NOT to think in object-oriented. Once the switch flipped to that mindset, it kind of got stuck there. Even with my game, I'd say that I fell into the hole early on of trying to make it very object-oriented instead of playing to the functional strengths of Javascript. It took a near full-rewrite to right my wrongs, and even then, I still have stuff that's a bit sloppy for my tastes.

I guess the thing to remember when doing OO is SOLID. It's a good set of guiding principles on how to do Object Orientation right. Hopefully your teachers have pointed you towards that before throwing you into the fire!

For what it's worth, I was able to get the OO stuff straight by building a little list management system, which ultimately became the Game Collection system you see here on PixlBit. Modeling and implementing that system really brought clarity to the concepts for me, hopefully your Battleship game does the same for you!

If you do have any pointed questions, shoot me a PM or an email, I'm glad to help!

Matt Snee Staff Writer

04/20/2015 at 06:38 PM

dude man, the game looks great!  I am so impressed!  I can only imagine the work that went into it!  

I'm a big believer in making stuff, and I'm glad you've now had the pleasure of following your vision here.  Congratulations!!!!

Nick DiMola Director

04/20/2015 at 07:27 PM

Thanks Matt! It's been a long road, but in the end, I think Chessa and I will both be happy we did it. Never in my life did I think I'd actually fulfill my dream of creating and releasing a video game, so this will be quite the accomplishment.

Hopefully from here we can continue with this process and release other games in the future, particularly ones that are more creative and original. This was a good starting game though and I'm glad we didn't bite off more than we could chew.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

04/20/2015 at 08:08 PM

Yeah im right there with you with self publishing.  The novel is written but needs editing, and currently im researching ways to market it.  The thing is its like starting your own business and you work twice as hard as a normal job, but it's YOURS!  Laughing

Cary Woodham

04/20/2015 at 07:10 PM

Is this the game you're trying to get on Wii U?  When it gets up there, I'd love to review it at GamerDad if you get any review codes.

Nick DiMola Director

04/20/2015 at 07:24 PM

Absolutely, Cary! We are trying to release it on the Wii U, so once the game gets through Nintendo's lotcheck process and they provide me with review codes, I will be certain to send one your way.

We're also targeting a PC release via Steam, but we'll need to do the whole Greenlight thing to get there. I should be opening that campaign very soon, so I'll be sure to share details here and ask that everyone please vote for us!

mothman

04/20/2015 at 07:42 PM

Excellent news Nick. No Wii U for me so I can't support you, though I'd like to. :)

Nick DiMola Director

04/20/2015 at 07:58 PM

Don't worry, Peter - it's going to hit the PC too! Just need to get through stupid Steam Greenlight...

mothman

04/20/2015 at 08:07 PM

Then I will be a customer.

Travis Hawks Senior Editor

04/20/2015 at 09:22 PM

That gif is so tantalizing. I like the way it's come along! I took a peek at the pixlstudios site recently to get an update and couldn't find anything. Glad it has really hit its stride. I like the UI look and everything.

I've been looking at the Windows App store (for PC), which is kind of a weird place, but a game like this might be perfect for that. Not to mention all the other places to sell stuff. Greenlight will get you the most traction, obvz. Just didn't know what you thought of those other places in the meantime or to help you get a few more greenlight votes.

Anyway, I'm excited to see (and hear?!) more soon!

Nick DiMola Director

04/21/2015 at 12:40 AM

Thank you, sir! I'm excited to share some more, particularly via a proper trailer. Going to be putting that together pretty soon here, just need to find the right angle.

Truth be told, I haven't done my due diligence yet on the PC marketplaces. Figured I'd start with Greenlight and move from there. The Windows store is definitely a good landing place though and I'll have to figure out how to get published there. Same goes for the Mac app store.

Once I wrap the Wii U version, I'll be getting the PC/Mac/Linux version all squared away for release. The bigger challenge there is setting up a server for the UGC. Not sure I can burden this poor PixlBit server with that much more traffic!

Travis Hawks Senior Editor

04/21/2015 at 07:19 AM

Ha, poor guy gets a workout... 

KnightDriver

04/21/2015 at 02:38 AM

The panel on the left certainly is attractive.

Nick DiMola Director

04/21/2015 at 07:24 AM

Thanks! In one of those blogs that I planned to write, I'll go through the whole story behind how we got there. It definitely took a bunch of work to get it looking that way... and a few arguments.

Our Take

Jason Ross Senior Editor

04/21/2015 at 10:23 AM

AAAH! Puzzle #91 spoilers! Some of us had to move and couldn't make it that far yet!

Nick DiMola Director

04/21/2015 at 09:45 PM

No excuses! Hurry up and play everything!

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