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Topics - DaVince

16
Site Comments / Front page discussion
Edit: the new front page is now here! This thread is repurposed for further development updates.

Okay, so N E O was so kind as to give me the source code of the current front page.

In the following days, I am planning to overhaul it. Specifically, I want to make it so that it actually becomes unconfusing, useful and appealing to anyone looking to make a game. I'm trying to make it so that the page is useful to old users and attractive to potential new users - something I think we all agree has been lacking so far.

So I had this in mind:

- The current links for us long-time users, made compact at the top of the page
- A brief introduction of what Sphere actually is
- A quick showcase of what kind of games you can make in Sphere
- Quick and easy "Getting Started" links which point to: Sphere Studio, minisphere, the API reference and the Tutorials section on the wiki.

Now, I've already started work on this, but I just wanted to ask the whole community what you guys think and if you have any comments or suggestions on anything else to add or not add.
17
So there's this game:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/394310/

Basically, the game is a boxing sim/strategy game with some RPG elements. You gain stats and skill points which you use to get new skills, then go into boxing matches, then carefully mix and match your skills to win the match. It's a very cleverly designed game if you ask me.

Anyway, it's actually been out since January, and I made most of the music for it. (Anything that doesn't sound FM synthy.) It never actually dawned on me to post here about it, but in the end, it is an indie game I've been involved with in one way or another, and I'm actually very proud of what the creators made out of it and very happy what role I played in it (and that people like the music!), so why the hell not post it here, y'know? :)
18
I was thinking that the low influx of new people must be because account registration is locked down thanks to the spambots so much. I know of at least one case where someone emailed me about having issues of not being able to register.

So I was thinking... How about allowing new accounts to post again, and lock down their account/send them a message/delete the post automatically once their first post on the forum contains any links?
19
Sphere General / Sphere Game Engine on IndieDB
I was surprised not to find Sphere on IndieDB at all, so I added it. This was kind of necessary because one of my games (Sir Boingers) has been on IndieDB for a while and I wanted to link the correct engine to it; that engine being Sphere of course.

However, I obviously shouldn't be the only person to maintain this page, especially since there are several wonderful people here who are actually developing implementations of Sphere! Also, they expect the page to be updated regularly before accepting it, as well as games associated to it. Yeah, their system is pretty obtuse. I'm not even sure this thing CAN have several maintainers. Bummer.

Um, what I'm basically asking is, could anyone try to join the engine as a maintainer/news poster? If that's not possible, then at least track the game and perhaps add some of your (finished or upcoming) games to it? It's a bit of a hassle, but doing all this should make both the name of Sphere and its best games spread a bit, since IndieDB is connected to Desura and a bunch of other stuff.
20
Off-Topic Discussions / Happy 2015!
We've missed Christmas, but I won't let new year's slip by without a thread here! :P

Happy new year, everyone! I hope 2015 will be a good year for all of you.
21
Off-Topic Discussions / Ludum Dare 31
It starts in a few hours and I intend to join it. Gonna mess with OpenFL rather than Sphere this time, though.

Anyone else in?
22
Resources / Awesome collection of pixel fonts
So I just found this URL:
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/freebies/free-premium-pixel-fonts/

Many, many pixelated fonts in different styles. I always had trouble finding good pixelated fonts for use in low-res games, but there's 65 of 'em here, and most are of pretty high quality. Thought I should share it.
23
Off-Topic Discussions / Happy new year!
Well, it's been 2014 for about 50 minutes as I type this. Maybe it's already been longer for you, or maybe it has yet to come, but... Happy new year, fellow Spherical members! May you have a great 2014. :)
24
Off-Topic Discussions / Merry Christmas and all of that!
I realize it's already the second day of Christmas, but hey, Merry Christmas, or happy whatever you celebrate, everyone! :)
25
(Split off from "What's your day job?")

I've recently also taken up my first paid job as a music composer for this game called Tiny Trek. It's currently being kickstarted and I've made two songs and an ambient track for it so far. Go check it out; this game is really looking awesome I think. :)
26
I made a really quick, simple tutorial on how to use the spriteset editor that comes with Sphere's default editor. Here it is:

http://youtu.be/3jt8r-KKPkU
27
Off-Topic Discussions / Ludum Dare
It's a 48 hour solo game creation competition that actually happens rather frequently (4 times a year I believe?). Thought I'd join in for a change.

The compo starts next weekend. Anyone else in? I'm thinking it could maybe make Sphere a bit more well-known out there, too! :)

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/
28
Off-Topic Discussions / Game Dev Tycoon
Here's an interesting game I found:

http://www.greenheartgames.com/

The most interesting thing about it? This was made with node-webkit! Looks like it's very suitable for making full commercial games. :) (The game itself is fun, too!)
29


A cross-platform Sphere game launcher





After getting frustrated with how little you can do with startup games, I decided to write an external game launcher for Sphere instead.

It is written with node-webkit. This unfortunately makes the file rather big, but it makes the launcher very cross-platform and easy to modify. (Note: I'll compress the launcher file on later releases, making it at least twice smaller.)


Features
  • View a list of your Sphere games and launch them.
  • Shows information about the game from game.sgm and info.txt files.
  • Shows a screenshot if the game folder has a screenshot.png, an icon if it has icon.png and a video if it has a video.webm file.
  • Supports multiple game paths (which don't have to be near a Sphere engine file).
  • Written in HTML/CSS/JavaScript, so can be edited, improved and themed easily.



Instructions
Note: there's no configuration options yet, so you have to set up your game and engine paths manually. This thing won't work until you do.
  • Open SpheRun.cfg
  • This is a JavaScript file containing some simple arrays of data right now.
  • Add or edit paths to Sphere game directories at CONFIG.gamepaths.
  • Define your game engine at CONFIG.engines. Only CONFIG.engines[0] runs at the moment.



Downloads
Current version (0.1):



Future plans
0.2
===
Proper config file support (INI or JSON?)
Add a configuration menu (with link in the header)
- Engines
- Games
- Whether or not to use Wine (Linux/OSX)?
Make this menu show on first run
Add an engine selector in the header

0.3
===
Keep track of whether or not the engine is running and disable the launch button
Keyboard support (arrows, enter, ?)
Open an engine's config.exe

0.4
===
Add editors to configuration menu
Open game with editor
Open editor

0.5
===
Functionally replace config.exe
Theming support

Ideas after 1.0
===============
Get data from an online database of game info?
Browse data resources (using sphere-web-tools)?


License
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
30
Off-Topic Discussions / Triptunes
http://blitzlunar.bandcamp.com/album/triptunes

This is a music album containing fresh songs with samples from many different games from many different consoles. You can hear at least NES, SNES, Mega drive and GBA in there. I think this album is really nice to listen to, so thought I'd share it with you all. :)

There's several tracks in this I really like, myself, like 2 and 14. But it's all good!