tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post6618036445514459674..comments2023-11-03T01:45:11.288-07:00Comments on Lost Garden: The Randomly Reinforced Lost Garden Prototyping AwardsDaniel Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437870541630835660noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-9714704655801795922008-10-01T09:44:00.000-07:002008-10-01T09:44:00.000-07:00Danc,Now it is official! I finished my first attem...Danc,<BR/><BR/>Now it is official! I finished my first attempt on CuteGod! You can check it out on:<BR/><BR/>http://extremejava.tpk.com.br/cutegod/<BR/><BR/>I will post this on CuteGod page, too... :)<BR/><BR/>Regards,<BR/>EduardoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-24930220648072958182008-08-12T16:17:00.000-07:002008-08-12T16:17:00.000-07:00Absolutely Eduardo! Send me an email to remind me...Absolutely Eduardo! Send me an email to remind me at danc@lostgarden.com when you get something.Daniel Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10437870541630835660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-70454105244749217432008-08-12T11:29:00.000-07:002008-08-12T11:29:00.000-07:00Danc,If I finish my attempt on the Cute God, I can...Danc,<BR/><BR/>If I finish my attempt on the Cute God, I can receive an award, too? :)<BR/><BR/>Regards,<BR/>EduardoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-10208258052608794912008-04-27T10:29:00.000-07:002008-04-27T10:29:00.000-07:00@SörenLooks good! Let me know when you have someth...@Sören<BR/><BR/>Looks good! Let me know when you have something playable you'd like me to look at! :-) <BR/><BR/>Danc.Daniel Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10437870541630835660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-68025590855340073182008-04-27T10:15:00.000-07:002008-04-27T10:15:00.000-07:00still alive...http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/9...still alive...<BR/><BR/>http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/9292/ninjapeasln2.png<BR/><BR/>regards,<BR/><BR/>SörenBuschnicKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05932499350055246132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-40898861272969768132008-03-30T10:48:00.000-07:002008-03-30T10:48:00.000-07:00Yep, the Manekineko picture is mine. You can see s...Yep, the Manekineko picture is mine. You can see some of my small online gallery over at <A HREF="http://danctheduck.deviantart.com" REL="nofollow">http://danctheduck.deviantart.com</A><BR/><BR/>take care<BR/>Danc.Daniel Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10437870541630835660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-39874007272830553722008-03-30T10:17:00.000-07:002008-03-30T10:17:00.000-07:00Hi Danc, I've just come across your blog and made ...Hi Danc, <BR/>I've just come across your blog and made a huge discovery i guess...<BR/><BR/>About the drawing of the maneki-neko located in http://lostgarden.com/2006_05_01_archive.html , I wanted to know if that's your drawing (if originally you drew that or not).<BR/><BR/>Thanks,<BR/>MiguelUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04130898912652528907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-80098562132966314752008-03-24T13:04:00.000-07:002008-03-24T13:04:00.000-07:00Re: Comments on play with your peas. First off, it...<B>Re: Comments on play with your peas.</B> <BR/><BR/>First off, it is much improved! The high score list and the levels make it much easier to get into the zone. You are reaching a point in your prototype where you can really start to laser focus on uncovering the fun. <BR/><BR/><B>Pea placement:</B> The ability to put peas anywhere hurts the fun of the game. First off, people don’t know how to add peas. Secondly, it is common for the first time user to kill off his peas by clicking up high. <BR/><BR/>A solution: Start off with a single pea at the bottom of the screen. This simplifies the initial game play. <BR/><BR/><B>Early levels are too easy:</B> I was spending a few second at most on each of the initial levels. This makes the high score list for these levels less exciting. The structure of the game is that it is okay for players to experiment and dabble around getting to 100,000 points. <BR/><BR/>A solution: Start your initial goals a bit higher. If you change the scoring system, you’ll have to play with the exact score, but having the user dabble for 40 to 120 seconds in the first area is pretty reasonable. <BR/><BR/><B>Timer:</B> The timer on the right hand side of the screen should count up, not down. This makes it seem that the levels are time limited.<BR/> <BR/><B>Improve combo scoring:</B> The way that the combo score is calculated is not obvious. Plus the collision seems a bit glitchy on ramps so that simple actions will result in surprisingly large scores. <BR/><BR/>A solution: Record each time that a pea hits a unique block, <BR/>• Display a X1 above the pea’s head for the first hit and make the block flash. For the next unique block, display X2 and make it flash. The final score is Number of unique hits * 100. (The complexity of the score can be extended later) <BR/>• Once a block as been hit, it cannot be hit again by that same pea until the pea exits the “Falling” state and enters the “Walking” state. <BR/>• This should give the player important feedback on how scoring works. As an added bonus, it should also let them know that creating infinite loops is not a useful strategy. If the pea hits five blocks, they only get 500 points even if they do it 50 times. The result would be more complex level designs. <BR/><BR/><B>Levels are all pretty similar:</B> There is nothing that forces the player to adapt their tactics on later levels. <BR/><BR/>Some ideas: <BR/>• Include some simple level design. Have a handful of blocks already on the screen when the player starts. <BR/>• Have a handful of peas on the screen already when the level starts. By varying the position in relationship to the initial blocks, you can set up all sorts of interesting situations. <BR/>• Limit the number of blocks of each type that you can have on the screen. For example, how fast can the player increase their score if they only have access to 2 springs? Deleting or overwriting a block would return the block to the inventory. <BR/><BR/>take care<BR/>Danc.Daniel Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10437870541630835660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-87070765410965366312008-03-17T10:34:00.000-07:002008-03-17T10:34:00.000-07:00Sorry about that Dan -- it turns out that one of t...Sorry about that Dan -- it turns out that one of the features I added depends on a feature of XNA that is known to have "issues" on machines without the full XNA SDK installed. :(<BR/><BR/>I've removed the feature (it wasn't important) and uploaded a new version:<BR/><A HREF="http://www.devras.com/PlayWithYourPeas/Install/PlayWithYourPeas_Installer_1_0_0_6.zip" REL="nofollow">http://www.devras.com/PlayWithYourPeas/Install/PlayWithYourPeas_Installer_1_0_0_6.zip</A>Richard Simhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02651080358894326967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-47773645841714604332008-03-17T08:25:00.000-07:002008-03-17T08:25:00.000-07:00I like the idea of slathering a meta-game onto the...I like the idea of slathering a meta-game onto the prototyping challenges. I appreciate the (dis?)honorable mention, these challenges raise important questions about my deplorable lack of follow-through. Maybe we can answer them, someday. :)<BR/><BR/>-HaroldUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17366950981744794478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-71116296546896657722008-03-17T04:11:00.000-07:002008-03-17T04:11:00.000-07:00Just wanted to give a quick "I'm still alive" ping...Just wanted to give a quick "I'm still alive" ping. The peas are coming along fine, although slowly since my weekends of late have been full with other stuff.<BR/><BR/>I have pathfinding and physics working. So the main components are there. I still need scoring and lot s of polish on the rough bits (transition from physics to AI, determing which direction to jump off once you've climbed a hill, planting of the flags, etc). <BR/><BR/>Also, I have decided not to release the game before I find some sound samples to use. I have experimented a bit with sound and find it to be quite important for an immersive experience. Does anyone have any I could use?<BR/><BR/>I'm at work currently, so I cannot check out the other games - but congrats to the medal owners! ;-)<BR/><BR/>regards,<BR/><BR/> SörenBuschnicKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05932499350055246132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-31904632348218136022008-03-16T20:57:00.000-07:002008-03-16T20:57:00.000-07:00Travis: I added Kamal to the entry. Richard: Sound...Travis: I added Kamal to the entry. <BR/>Richard: Sounds like some great improvements. For some reason though I'm having difficulty running it. Currently the exe crashes on launch. Install crashes at the very end, but I'm assuming that it is also launching the .exe. I uninstalled and tried fresh, but with no luck.Daniel Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10437870541630835660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-71432406364772721962008-03-16T17:32:00.000-07:002008-03-16T17:32:00.000-07:00Wow, thanks. I've got to share my credit with Kam...Wow, thanks. I've got to share my credit with Kamal who helped heaps and the other two guys who provided moral support and may eventually implement their features.<BR/><BR/>This one's going straight to the pool room! After basking in the awards glow for a while I'll have another crack at the game (probably get jumping going because the pathfinding movement looks really challenging to me in my prototype at the moment)<BR/><BR/>If anyone wants feel free to yoink any part of my code to accelerate your project, I'm always online with google talk ( the dot trav at gmail dot com ) maybe we can get a few of us to hook up on a future prototyping comp and try to shoot for a goldUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13857778855289469682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-69998289143186202112008-03-16T16:24:00.000-07:002008-03-16T16:24:00.000-07:00Thanks for the award! :DI've uploaded a much impro...Thanks for the award! :D<BR/><BR/>I've uploaded a much improved version to my web site - it has way too many changes to list them all, but the important ones:<BR/>- High scores<BR/>- 30 levels split across 3 episodes<BR/>- Limited pea count (changes across episodes)<BR/>- Bug fixes everywhere.<BR/><BR/>http://www.devras.com/PlayWithYourPeas/Install/PlayWithYourPeas_Installer_16-03-08_Fixed.zipRichard Simhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02651080358894326967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-56075117848818945332008-03-16T11:20:00.000-07:002008-03-16T11:20:00.000-07:00Very cool. I'll have to check out the games. Just ...Very cool. I'll have to check out the games. Just need to finish three projects first. :) Always the projects.<BR/><BR/>So, any chance of doing that for your other challenges? :)D. Moonfirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09219249033378321750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-33167247931489088852008-03-16T11:14:00.000-07:002008-03-16T11:14:00.000-07:00Thank you for the bronze medal. My first idea was ...Thank you for the bronze medal. My first idea was to fully implement the design of your game, but unluckily after the creation of the "editor" I had very little time to complete it. The editor was easy to develop, but all the other required code (pathfinding etc.) takes a lot of time. I hope to find the time to finish the game one day or other (because the graphics deserve it)... or I'll try to spend more efforts in your next design contest.<BR/>Thank you again for your graphics and ideas!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com