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Today I reached my 50 levels goal for Bloblocks. That feels good :)

52 in fact but I needed a little bit more in case one or two levels weren't good enough for the release.

I have yet a lot to learn about level creation but I must say it was really fun. Futhermore, I think that learning this kind of skills with simple mechanics like those of Bloblocks is really straightforward and rewarding.

I also worked on the French translation which is nearly ready!

So let's revisit the TODO list:

• order levels by difficulty and theme
• complete and improve texts (each level is introduced by a little text)
• translate a few static images
• take screen-shots
• make artworks
• make my wife test the game
• create some images for the Game Center
• test test and test on iPad
• submit the game to iOS App store (for iPad only to start)

When I get my Android tablet:

• test the game on it
• submit the game to Google Play Store

While waiting for approvals:

• last test on Kongregate
• arrange the promotional website

When approved:

• publish the game on Kongregate
• tell the world :)

I still have to know if the game requires adjustments on mobile devices like the iPhone (priority). I will get in touch with a good friend with an iPod in developer mode soon. Yes you there, I know you are reading this my dear François!

I am working on the iOS and Android stores description of Bloblocks. This text may also be used on Bloblocks' promotionnal website.

I really hope it is clear and good enough!

Notes:

• I prefer to make the text personnal.
• I'd like people to understand that I try to create games for them to enjoy.
• I also don't pretend to be a company. I work alone so there's no place for 'WE' there. That would be sooooo lame…

Here's what I wrote (some parts were taken from the Ludum Dare event post I made since I liked them):

--

Hi, my name's Mr Laurent Bedubourg and I present you my first indie game:

Bloblocks, a puzzle/puzzling game developed with love and care.

Game-Play:

In Bloblocks you have to make colored groups explode. Touch a group to make it explode, rotate the world or swap blocks to optimize your explosions but beware that your moves are limited.

• Arcade mode:

A fun and addictive mode where you try to survive and achieve the greatest score possible.

In arcade mode you have to harvest options and pass score checkpoints to survive.

This mode works with [iOS GameCenter] so you can compete with friends and compare with other players!

• Puzzle mode:

This mode contains [50] levels using the game mechanics to challenge your brain.

In puzzle mode, you have to find the good moves which will group colored blocks together and make them explode.

Clear the board of every colored blocks to win the level.

The puzzle mode unlocks story artworks, win all levels to get the full story.

Features:

• Addictive arcade mode
• [50] puzzles
• A strange story composed 8 black and white artworks
• 3 basic actions: Rotate world, Swap, Destroy
• 5 kinds of colored blocks
• 11 extra kinds of blocks to make your journey more interesting
• Music track from http://www.nosoapradio.us
• 100% passionate indie work
• A strange message of introspection!

Game's message:

I tried to pour something special into this game (however it is easy to ignore it and just play a hopefully good little puzzle game:).

The game's message is "introspection is fun".

I would like Bloblocks' players to become greater human beings.

We humans are imperfect because of our limited senses and our untruthful brain (our brains are both incredible and terrible, really).

When we accept the imperfection we can start to integrate the concept into our everyday life.

We think twice. We question our thoughts, behaviors and reactions. We understand people around us better. And pardoning them become easier too.

That's a way to conquer our lizard brain, to stop being afraid of everything and everyone, to start doing things of real interest and find the energy to complete and ship what we started.

And only then we can create a new world, a greater overall humanity because many individuals will be conscious of what they are and willing to learn and improve.

Hell, it may sounds arrogant for a little puzzle game! :)

I really hope you will enjoy Bloblocks and share it around you.

Best regards

Mr Laurent Bedubourg, The man who created that bizarre and fun video game.

I think this was a pretty productive week, not full speed but quite good.

What do I have now? A pretty complete Game.

Here's what the home screen should look like on Kongregate (watch the mess):

The ad for App Store / Android is replaced by some mini help screens after a few seconds (it's some sort of slide-show).

I "polished" a few graphics here and there but the bigger addition is clearly the X2 bonus in arcade mode if your clear the board from an entire color. It took me less than 20 minutes to code and it really shapes the scoring GamePlay up.

I created more levels and that's my main "developer" task now. I need at least 21 new levels to reach my 50 levels goal. I could cut the number to 40 but I feel like it is a good idea to have more levels.

So now "all" I have to :

• make 21 more puzzles (or at least 11 good ones)
• reorder levels by difficulty / theme
• take some nice screen-shots
• correct texts!
• make my wife test the game and tell me ALL the things I ought to do to improve it (just write the list and keep for later unless big problem encountered, do not desperate)
• write a marketing description of the game for stores
• make some images for the Game Center achievements
• test the game again on Kongregate
• test the game on Android emulator
• is there a GameCenter for Google Play? if yes link the game to it for high-score.
• open a Google Play Store account
• submit the game on App Store for iPad
• submit the game to Google Play Store
• publish the game on Kongregate when at stores are open for business
• translate the game in French
• create a promotional website with all the promotional stuff done.

I also have some accessibility problem to solve before submitting the game for small touch devices. I am not sure a 60x60 pixel is enough to touch precisely so I may have to hack an auto-zoom feature before allowing the game on smart-phones. I have to test this to ensure player will be able to play correctly…

I still aim to submit the game in App Store the 16th of October. I have to learn how other developers do to peacefully handle their simultaneous release because I am a little anxious about this right now :/

Like mentioned on Twitter, I participate to the Ludum Dare October challenge.

The rules are simple:

• finish a game during October
• take it to market
• earn $1 (not necessary during the same month)

I was already thinking about finishing Bloblocks and releasing it on iPad and Kongregate this same month so my participation is more a commit to this deadline than an unbearable challenge :)

Anyway shipping a game is always a challenge.

My main problem right now is to stop improving things and store good ideas for another version or update.

So let's focus a little. What do I want to ship?

Bloblocks contains two game modes.

Arcade survivor mode:

• Objective: stay alive and earn as many points as possible.
• Interest: addictive, repeatable game-play, beat your own high-score, or play to Kongregate/iOS Game Center high-scores

Puzzle resolving mode

• Objective: clear puzzles using game mechanics
• Interest: mind challenging, unlock story artworks, "completed the game" value

Bloblocks also contains a story. You unlock the height scenes story playing the Puzzle mode.

Bloblocks contains a message which is delivered here and there. I tried to create a small text to introduce each puzzle level. These texts usually have a meaning. I hope my English is not too bad…

Now, what is missing:

Help: playing the game should be easy. I plan to add small tips in the main screen to explain the 3 main things you have to know to play the game correctly:

• touch groups of the same color to make them explode
• how to rotate the board (flash is different than tablets)
• how to select the swap option

Puzzles: plenty would be better. I create a few each day and I won't be happy with less than 50 puzzles for the release. It takes time and sometimes provokes dangerous ideas like "hey this features would be cool".

Marketing material:

• screen-shots
• promotional texts
• big icons for stores
• if I have the time a video
• promotional website containing all these
• promotional icon for Kongregate too!

So let's work on all this and only if I have the time I will add features and improve the game further… :)

As a consumer and as a developer freedom must be the rule.

iOS goes against the rule: you have to pay apple 99$ per year to test and install your own application on your device (the one you paid hundreds $) and you cannot install a random application from the internet, you are forced to use the App store, controlled by Apple.

I don't know for android, I imagine that there are limits to freedom too, may be you must fist download the application on your computer and then upload it on your device through USB connection.

OSX and Windows are more and more restrictive and turned towards their app stores.

I think that there must be an international law which will states something like:

"Anybody who develops an Operating System, for any kind of device, must ensure that:

1. the tools and APIs to create and package applications for this OS and device are free, available for download and documented (developer)

2. installing an application on the OS can be done just with the device, through the included web browser, with only a password request made to the device owner after he opened the link leading to a packaged application download-able from the Internet (user)

3. any application that act as a competing app store for the device can be installed legally without any complaint or constraint (anti-trust)

4. the OS mustn't fight or put restriction against these "non-official" applications.

Microsoft, Apple, many Android stores, Gaming consoles… they are all wiling to limit our freedom to better control what we do with their devices. It's ok to say "we didn't check the application your are going to install, it may contain malware, check your source". It's not ok to prevent the device owner to install these third-party applications.

Of course devices and OS manufacturers have rights, but when you create something for humans, you have to respect their rights.

Now's the time to create these minimal international rules for the future of mankind.