latest version of Plectrum

http://jackuchu.net/plectrumbeta/plectrumbeta.swf

To go to a level stand over the album art and press X.


This build adds moving platforms, auto scrolling camera section. Platforms you can jump through, I need to make these better as you can fall through them and sometimes you cant jump when your on them. Also added to the length of the Imogen heap level.

Top 15 platformers of all time from Retro Gamer Magazine 37

25...Castle of Illusion
24...New Zealand Story
23...SMB
22...Tomb Raider
21...Pitfall!
20...Monty on the Run
19...Super Castlevania IV
18...Bruce Lee
17...Super Ghouls & Ghosts
16...Banjo Kazooie
15...Flashback
14...Castlevania Symphony of the Night
13...Sonic
12...Impossible Mission
11...Yoshis Island
10...Rainbow Islands
09...Prince of Persia
08...Chuckie Egg
07...Bubble Bobble
06...Jet Set Willy
05...Sonic 2
04...Super Mario 64
03...Super Mario Bros 3
02...Manic Miner
01...Super Mario World

I might need to get an iphone

Re making Hide and Seek

I'm remaking the Imogen Heap Hide and Seek level of Plectrum. Originally I used the paint tool in flash to draw the levels, but I have found that its more effective to use boxes, as this stops there being rough terrain that the player can get stuck on.


I'm looking into making some of these boxes change size or rotate to the rythem of the audio thats being played, but that might only be doable in Actionscript3. I quite like this style of graphics so I might keep these pink/black boxes for this stage.

Ananita Design

One of the developers using flash that i really admire is http://amanita-design.net/

They created games like Samerost which does not look like a traditional flash game, It uses digitised graphics, photoshoped from digital camera images.

They also made a game for the band The Polyphonic spree, which I guess was based on there music.

These games are good looking and can be fun but sometimes get a little frustrating when you get stuck somewhere and have to resort to pixel hunting.

Ananita are currently working on a new point and click game called Machinarium, which Is looking really good.





Machinarium Preview from Amanita Design on Vimeo.

Where do I go from here?

Even though its the end of this module on the course im still going to continue developing Plectrum.
Things I'm going to do.

Finish Levels
Change the art style to something more "artistic"
Talk to Game Design lecturers and see if they have an ideas as to how to improve it.
Get noticed by publisher
get game released over XBLA PSN or Wii Ware.
Make enough money that I can keep making games wont have to get a proper job.

Evaluation of the project, so far

I say so far because although tomorrow is the deadline of the course modual I don't see it as the end of this project. I want to keep working at this until I have a fully finished game that I can submit to flash portals/festivals etc.

Research
Having a blog has really helped show how much research I have done, It's much easier to show what I've been looking on a blog than having to print stuff out and put it in a research folder.


Development
Its been a little slower than I would have liked but creating something good takes time,the majority of the coding is done now, and I can concentrate on making levels.

Analysis
I tried to analyze most of what I researched, I think I did ok.


Outcome
Its not a finished game but I think its a good indication of where the game is going, maybe if i'd set myself a less ambitious task it could have been done by now. But if you have low ambitions your more likely to be ignored. I'm pleased with what I have so far.



Overall its been a good project. There were some miner hiccups along the way such as getting distracted by Box2d and having some trouble with code, but over it think it went well.