Saturday, March 19, 2016

Original Diablo Pitch Document

As promised during my GDC 2016 Diablo Postmortem talk, I have uploaded a PDF of the original Diablo Pitch document. You can find the document here:[diablo_pitch.pdf]

Enjoy!

Monday, March 7, 2016

Nonomancer v1.2

Well, it’s finally here! After taking a lot more time than I thought it would, the new version has arrived. There are many, many changes in this version, so let’s get to it.

Install information

No need to uninstall anything this time. Everything should work fine. Microsoft will still think of it as an dangerous program because I didn’t register it. Just run the .msi file and it should install over top of the old version without any problems.

You can find the download here: [nonomancer_v1_2.msi]


Nonomancer v1.2

New Features

All of the interface screens (title, map, etc) have new art and layout. They have a more consistent feel through the game now.

The game now has an optional tutorial. It contains a few puzzles that will explain how nonograms will work. The tutorial is accessed off the main menu.

Once you start capturing beasts, they will have a variety of skills. Before a puzzle begins, you will be asked to select a skill and it will activate once the puzzle starts. Some skills reveal squares, some fix wrong placements, some give you information about what lines have solvable squares and other abilities. Have fun!

There is new music. Most of it has been redone. There are environmental sounds (wind, rain, etc) that mix in as well, giving it a moody feel. There is also a victory jingle.

The fonts have changed to make both the clues and text more readable.

There is an Options button off the main menu. This will allow you to set the volume for the music and sound effects.

There are over twice as many puzzles as before.

Moo.


Bug fixes

Fixed all the puzzles and played them. All the puzzles are solvable now and created using the Nonogram tool I made.

There were a few bugs with the clues graying out incorrectly. They have all been fixed.

Many minor bugs were fixed, but most of them were from the new features and I can’t remember them all.


Notes

I will be putting the Nonomancer aside for a bit while I focus on my new product. I will periodically come back to it, but there won’t be an update (unless we have some bad bugs) for a little while. Enjoy!

Special thanks to TheJungleQueen and KittyAttackShip for their help, feedback and testing with this version.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

The Nonomancer v1.1

The Old-man Game Jam 2016 has come and gone, but The Nonomancer will still be worked on from time to time. I’m releasing a new version after fixing a few things over the last few days and adding some improvements to the game.

Install Information

If you have the old/game-jam version of The Nonomancer, you need to uninstall it first before installing this one. Go to your Control Panel and Uninstall Programs. It should be listed under "The Nonomancer"

Download the new .msi file [nonomacner_v1_1.msi] and double click it to install. Only install after the old version is removed.

If you have any problems/bugs/comments, I would love to get your feedback in the comments below!

Thanks,
David


The Nonomancer v1.1

New Features:

The puzzles can now be 10x10, 15x15 or 20x20. Previously there were only two sizes available and 20x20 didn’t fit on the screen. The board/grid graphics now have different sizes and the board scales depending on the scale of the puzzle.

There is now a “capture” screen and message. The pixel art that I spent so much time making that didn’t make it into the Jam-Version is now on display! Once you complete a puzzle, a custom message for each puzzle pops up and the pixel art is displayed.

The puzzle clues will now be drawn in different colors to help in puzzle completion. When you have “solved” a particular clue on a line, it will be grayed out. This does NOT mean that it is correct, just that you have placed that clue’s blocks in a possible legal location. This makes a big difference in quickly seeing which parts of the puzzle you have completed and which parts you have not.

Bugs and changes:

The board/grid/puzzle now centers correctly. I was using the wrong screen-width to calculate the middle.

You can no longer interact with the puzzle after you have completed it. This was causing some players to lose their progress as they uncompleted the puzzle.

The font for the game has changed. I created a single font and look for all whole game.

The clues are now displayed in black and are much more readable.

Clue numbers were displaying as strange characters (semi-colon, less than signs, etc). This has been fixed.

Once a puzzle is completed, the “Quit” button disappears and a “Continue” button now is created in the center of the screen. It seemed odd to win and then have to press “Quit” in order to continue.

I have remixed the title screen music. This separates it from the in-puzzle music a bit better. It is quite haunting.

The pixel art for a few of the first puzzles has changed.  They were drawing in a different size than all the other pixel art. All the pixel-art is now a consistent size.

Puzzle data for many of the early puzzles has been redone. One of the puzzles was unsolvable and the initial puzzles were way too difficult.

Up Next:

Soon I will be improving the title and map screens, giving captured creatures skills and a bring-a-helper screen.