Games by Andrex

4kg: Prototype

I am pleased to announce that a beta version of 4kg, which I call 4kg: Prototype, is now available in the Chrome Web Store. Install it from here.

4kg: Prototype consists of the first world of 4kg, the Machine Complex, which means it is three levels long. It has all the accompanying music and art which will make it into the final version of those levels. However, it lacks a key part of the final game: the virtual world. Places in the levels which would have required beating a virtual world mini-level in order to progress have been streamlined.

Other differences:

• There are no achievements.
• The sound effects are the defaults from Leave Me Alone, and will be changed.
• Death animation will probably be changed.
• There are no cutscenes in 4kg: Prototype, but there will be five in the final game.
• The floating white orbs do not do anything, and are not recorded properly.
• It does not feature the cloud game save feature.

So I guess I’m obligated to say anything in 4kg: Prototype is subject to change yada yada, which it is, but I’m mostly just beefing up the game’s content and polishing things off at this point. However, I do want to also get player feedback before I release the final game.

I hope you enjoy this small taste of what’s to come. I’ve been working on 4kg for quite a while now (came up with concept in December 2009, designed first level in June 2010, started programming in August 2010) so more than anything I’m finally relieved I have something to show. Let me know what you think.

-Andrex

PS- Also somewhat ironically I’ve released this demo/beta without finishing the trailer for it, heh. It’ll be done, uploaded, and posted here and on the Chrome Web Store page later today. Look forward to it!

Results of the Scanline Survey

A week ago I ran a survey asking for suggestions of the default filter behavior for 4kg. You see, the engine 4kg uses includes two extra filters, but they have to be manually set by the user to use them. I’ve taken quite a fondness for one of the filters, the scanline effect, and wanted to use it for the game. However, I figured I’d also ask you guys what you wanted.

The results are:

• 4 votes for having the scanlines be the default for the entire game.
• 2 votes for just having scanlines on the main menu.
• 0 votes for not having scanlines by default at all.

To be sure, you can turn off the scanlines if you so choose, but out of the box, 4kg will have a scanline effect. I think it looks really cool. Thanks everyone for your votes.

-Andrex

4kg Dev - Night 13

Got so much done these past few days that I have to do this in bullet form.

• Got the pause screen mostly working. Only lacking muted audio and the ability to return to the main menu.
• Smoothed out most of the bugginess dealing with the double-line platforms (the ones you can pass through going up.) I also got it somewhat working that pressing down lets you pass back through them.
• Entered the remaining two levels of the first world into the game.
• Got ladders mostly working. Only lacking a climbing animation.
• Got the falling animation done and fixed the wall sliding animation.
• Started work on the second enemy’s AI.

Because of all the above, 4kg is almost entirely playable for the entire first world, not counting the virtual world portions. Therefore, I have decided to release a demo/beta of 4kg on the Chrome Web Store in a few days. It will only feature the first world (e.g., the first three levels of the game) but I want to get player feedback (and reward you, my loyal readers!) I also want to validate my existence and time spent making 4kg, as well as maybe make a bit o’ money from donations.

Here is all that I need to do before I release the demo/beta:

1. Floating White Orbs into the save system
2. Menu and level select menus
3. [Secret gameplay system]
4. Second enemy’s full AI
5. First set of cutscenes
6. Delete file functionality
7. Death and climbing animations
8. Help monitors (for in-game tips/tutorials)

Get EXCITE!!
-Andrex 

The Save System

Since the original Legend of Zelda (circa 1986… jeeze, has it been that long?), save systems in games have become ubiquitous to the point of being a requirement. So obviously, 4kg will have a well-rounded saving system. I want to point this out because there are several HTML5 games I have tried which do not take saving into account, which is almost completely unacceptable unless you’re making a kind of arcade-type game. And even then, high scores and unlockables, you know?

Even those that have save systems I feel do not get it truly right. In an age where computers are almost a commodity and people switch between multiple PCs every day, merely storing save data locally is definitely not ideal, especially taking into account how cloud-centric the rest of the web has become.

So that’s why 4kg will be incorporating cloud game saves. Although you will have to manually set it up (like Chrome’s syncing), once configured, your save file will be persistent across any number of Chrome instances.

It works like this: you go to the options page of 4kg (similar to other Chrome apps and extensions), and choose to sync your game saves using your Google Account. (Other accounts are not a possibility, initially at least.) Specifically, it is saved as JSON to your Google Docs account. Then when you play 4kg on another computer, you do the same thing, and whammo. Over the air magic. Even your fullscreen settings are persistent!

As for the system itself, you will have three slots for save files per game (or sync’d account.) Data is saved at the completion of a level, and you will be able to delete a file at any time of your choosing.

I believe this system represents using the web to enhance a game to its maximum potential, and look forward to hearing your feedback.

-Andrex

4kg Completion Update

Since the last completion update on April 20:

• Programming has increased by 11%.
• Art has increased by 10%.
• Overall completion has increased by 4.2%. 

Things may seem like they’re crawling forward, but in actuality what I’ve accomplished since the last update has been some of the hardest stuff. Before now I’ve been basically picking the low-hanging fruit. Speaking of, I really should just knock the rest of the sound effects out… and I suppose I’ve been putting off the last level’s design long enough. I would bet that by the next completion update, 4kg will be in the high 80’s at least.

Lots of stuff I’m excited to get to!
-Andrex 

4kg Dev - Night 11

Man… “Night 11.” That doesn’t seem like that much… but I feel like I’ve poured months into this game!

Anyways, just ate a little bit of the work away. Most all of tonight was spent overhauling the main menu you see when the game starts up. You know, plugging in file selection and that stuff.

Now, this screenshot has scanlines (click to enlarge and see them); that’s an option that Akihabara gives to users and I’ve switched it on here. I’m wondering though, should scanlines be the default? I’ll post more about this later.

Now, speaking of options, selecting that “Settings” option will open a new tab where you can control 4kg’s settings. Here’s what that looks like:

It has all sorts of user-configurable goodies out of the box. I didn’t touch a line of code for this page, although I’m considering reskinning it in the final version to not stick out so much… Blue and black are in, I think.

I am also plugging this page into 4kg’s Chrome manifest file. That means when you click the little wrench next to the Player Robot’s head, the Options text will be selectable and open up the very same page. It feels very “native” to Chrome, I have to say.

Anyways, as for the save options, none of them are working at the moment, but they shouldn’t be too hard to get working… at least, initially. I’ll share more on the save system in a future post. ;)

As for miscellaneous stuff, I desaturated the Player Robot’s sprite (he had a blue tint before, now he’s all black, white, and gray) and “de-rezzed” the Machine Complex tileset so that it fits in with the other sprites. Before, the “pixels” were half as big as they should have been. Now it looks more retro-y.

More soon!
-Andrex

Monetizing 4kg Using Google In-App Payments

I am pleased to announce that 4kg will use Google’s new In-App Payments service.

Before, I was considering making two separate versions of 4kg available on the Chrome Web Store: normal and donate, as I had seen done in mobile app stores. However, this carries a slew of problems: ratings and app installs are not consistent between the versions, and of course it’s always harder to keep two versions up-to-date than one.

But then at last week’s Google I/O, a solution was announced: Google In-App Payments. By adding a few lines of code to a web app, users can buy things in that app in just two clicks, using their Google Checkout account which they’ve already set up for Android Market, YouTube Movies, Google eBookstore, and the many other sites that use Google Checkout.

Now, I can hear some groaning that this means 4kg will have mini-upgrades you can buy, or items and whatnot. Well actually, no. Sorry, no horse armor in 4kg. The only place In-App Payments will be used is on the main menu, where you will be able to buy a “Donate Key.” This key does not do anything, but Google Checkout prevents normal merchants from just having “donate” buttons, so instead, you’ll “buy” the Donate Key. Again, this is the only place In-App Payments will be used in 4kg. In the future, this Donate Key may be used some way in other Chrome Web Store games I make.

I still have not decided on the amount the Donate Key will be, but if allowed I’ll make it user-definable. Otherwise, I’ll offer options for $1, $2, $5, and $10. If I can only have a single option, I’ll probably make it $2.

So now there will just be one free, open source version of 4kg available on the Chrome Web Store. I think this combines the best of both worlds.

Screenshot Time!

My loyal followers (all two of you!) have waited long enough! It’s time for an official 4kg screenshot (omfg!)

So. Here it is. Worth it? Let me know in the comments. ;)

This is the first level of the game and it is… 99% finalized. Well, what’s in this screenshot anyways. I have some other things to work out, but that’s game development, eh?

I’m pretty close to making a video (expect it to be pretty short though, it will probably only show off this level in fact), just like I said, there are some little gameplay mechanics I still need to implement before I can show it off.

Still, this is exciting. I can feel I’m getting close to finishing this. Are… you excited too?

-Andrex