Flash to iOS Performance Tests
Last week, I sat down to do some intense Flash to iOS Performance tests to get an impression what the best approaches for porting Save the Maidens to iOS would be. Besides testing out a couple of tweaks that were supposed to improve iOS performance, I wanted first hand proof whether pure blitting actually was the holy performance grail it is proclaimed to be, when it comes to porting animations.
As described below, I've come up with another approach in this years spring which works with bitmaps as well but instead of copying pixels around, simply slices up the initial sprite sheet containing all animation states and assigns the sliced bitmapDatas to bitmaps on stage.
I needed proof whether this was worth anything compared to blitting, since plenty of developers including some on the Adobe front promote blitting techniques as the one true solution for an acceptable mobile performance.
Porting Plans for Save the Maidens
Summer was packed with work: I had a large educational game project coming up for LerNetz dealing with the topic of regenerative energies, which is eventually going to find it's way into Swiss classrooms - exciting! It's currently in revision with their client and I'm positive I'll be able to reveal some details in a couple of weeks.
We finished the game in the first week of September and I decided to take a time out afterwards to tend to renovating two major rooms in our home. It was good to get my mind off computers for a while and learn something completely different to my daily work. As the complete home improvement n00b I am, I was quite excited to acquire skills that involved hammers, dust masks and ear protectors rather than a laptop.
But now after five weeks of shoveling rubble, dealing with handymen (project management in software development is a cake walk in comparison!) and driving to the hardware store once a day, I'm itching to get my hands dirty again - code wise. And since I have only few duties to obey to in the next three weeks, this will be the moment I'll pick up «Save the Maidens» again.
Pick up? Yes. Ever since I finished the first version in April, it's been lying at FlashGameLicense, collecting dust and attracting little attention from bidders. Why, I cannot exactly tell since its initial rating by the FGL staff had been a solid eight out of ten.
Work made me forget a little about my frustration and when I showed the game to a friend a couple of weeks ago, he called my an idiot for not having a finished game out there in the wild. And what should I say - he was right!
system_blue exhibited in Bern
I'm very excited to announce that «system_blue», a Flash game I've been developing with LerNetz for their client SDC (the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation) has recently been completed and will be exhibited during the next days at the Bundesplatz in Bern.
The game puts you in the position of a manager, taking care of watering systems, which supply farms, homes and factories with water pumped from a river nearby. By rotating valves and, thus, directing the water flow through the pipes, it is your task to assure all involved parties get their fair share of the precious liquid. Not an easy assignment, since with every level the blue system grows more complex and challenging as you try to keep the water tanks from flowing over or running dry.
My first indie game: Save the Maidens
I've been waiting a long time to finally do this and I'm super proud to finally announce my first indie game: «Save the Maidens».
This is a very important moment for me, since I've been striving to make my own games for over ten years now. What's more, this brings me one step closer to becoming an independent game developer, turning my own ideas into neat games and, eventually, make a living from publishing them. At least to some extend... hopefully...
Finished but not published - yet!
However, I'm stoked, this is finally happening, especially, because «Save the Maidens» has come a pretty long way. But before you click on that linked image and ask yourself «Hey, why doesn't it take me to the game? Where can I play it?» I have to tell you that it's not public, yet. Still I think it's a good moment to reveal some details and info about this baby and what we are planning to do with it...
Recent Updates
- Still an awesome album for coding: Europe - Prisoners in Paradise. 80s rock FTW!
(about 7 days ago) - yeah kids, go look that up: "Parker Lewis". It's what Nancy Hart must've watched while she worked on the concept for #Scrubs.
(about 9 days ago) - Got my hands on some #Parker #Lewis DVDs from @gerritvanaaken. Finished season 1 last week and achieved true retroness. Trés awesome, Sirs!
(about 9 days ago)
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