5M points in Triple Town
I think I’ve been playing this game for over 10 years now. But for the first time I scored 5 million points…
…and built four Lightning Castles, as you may see! :]
Update Origin when it claims a missing DLL
Because Electronic Arts hires a complete morons as developers of their Origin software, you will often find yourself in a situation where:
- Automatic update of Origin for PC fails asking you to download offline installer
- Running offline installer fails with missing DLLs error
Leaving you with virtually no options for updating Origin client.
“Virtually”, because by a complete accident I found a solution for EA stupidity.
Read More “Update Origin when it claims a missing DLL”Let’s talk about game economy!
I am old and thus I still remember these pretty days of Diablo I, back in 1996 — where each and every pieces of Tristram was filled with a pile of 5 000 gold pieces (the biggest amount you could store in single map’s cell) — because Diablo I’s economy had so poor design that most of the players were earning millions by the end of the game, without a real ability of spending this.
Game economy is an extremely important part of each game design and you are deeply wrong, if you think that it plays key role only in economy-based games. I have intentionally mentioned Diablo 1 to show you an example of a dark fantasy game. Some economy-related mistakes for match-three like game are also mentioned here.
In this article I would like to focus on some economy-related issues and mistakes that you must consider when designing money and resources layer in your game, no mater what kind of game you’re currently developing.
Crafting is an important part of game economy, but I have written a separate article on this subject.
Google Play Games: The good and the bad approach
Google Play Games on Android and Apple Game Center on iOS is a really good tool for developers and gamedev companies that provides them with a powerful tools to build, analyze and retain your audience and optimize your game.
As for the game players — it allows them to share and compare their results and build their common game profile or even portfolio, by getting experience, achievements and ladder positions across many different games in the same time.
And, as with everything, this can be a base for your success or a begin to your complete failure.
Here is a quick review and compare on how game creators of two different games for Android approached this topic. And, in the same time, a very quick info on two quite different games.
Read More “Google Play Games: The good and the bad approach”
Simple ways and mistakes to ruin a gameplay in your game
I’ve been playing Puzzle Forge 2 game way to much. I spent so many hours playing this game that I managed to get some nice achievements in it and in Google Play Games in general.
In addition, I found a quite nice number of gameplay-related bugs in this game. Large enough to use it as a model scenario in discussion on ruining your game and a gameplay in it, by makings simple, yet stupid mistakes and wrong design assumptions.
Read More “Simple ways and mistakes to ruin a gameplay in your game”
A Farewell to Arms in Puzzle Forge 2
I have finally said “good bye” to the Puzzle Forge 2 game. My decision was made because:
- I played it way too much (4000+ weapons / 300+ game days / 5-6 times god visits 50-60 real hours of playing),
- I have managed to get all the Google Play Games’ achievements from this game (see below),
- I managed to craft all the legendary weapons,
- I have beaten Netherion six times,
- I found a lot of irritating bugs in gameplay
While doing above, I managed to capture some interesting (?) screenshots that I’d like to share here.
Beating Netherion in Puzzle Forge 2
To cite Forrest Gump, I should say (about Puzzle Forge 2):
So, I went… and I met the Netherion… again…
(or actually — 6th time) And I decided that
I’m pretty tired and that I think I’ll go home now…
(i.e. stop playing this game).
So, here you have some screenshots on how did I duel Netherion for the last time…
All legendary weapons in Puzzle Forge 2
This is basically a shortcut and my personal memo of a corresponding forum thread — a complete (?) list of all forty legendary weapons that you can create in Puzzle Forge 2. With a little bit cleanup.
The game itself hasn’t been updated since July 2016 (and most forum threads ceased even earlier, somewhere in 2014 or 2015), but even today it has a large number of players and certainly — a massive gameplay!
BTW: Using ugly, dully, unreadable and lame phpBB (a forum engine last time updated in 2007!) for supporting game players that are actually bringing you money is so… so… lame!
Triple Town’s Boom Town mode killer!
Here you have a proof of scoring 2,5 million points in Triple Town’s Boom Town mode…
…including (as you can see in the back) an outstanding 9.8 multiplier. Beat me, folks! :>
What is PUBG and what’s all about all those battle royale games
End of January is the beginning of the test of the new, free and less resource hunger PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). It should be possible to run this game in Lite version even with integrated graphics card. And, as said it will be available free for everyone at no cost.
Hold your horses, because “free” may mean Thailand or Asia. Currently tests are limited only to this country and it is not sure, if PUBG Lite version won’t be limited only Asian market.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a battle royale-type game (see below) in which up to 100 players can compete on a single server. I will discuss some game details and battle royale games here as well.
Read More “What is PUBG and what’s all about all those battle royale games”
Early access model in game development
Steam Early Access (March 2013), Xbox Game Preview and Playstation Early Access (both in June 2015) are all early access models for financing and distribution of games (most often, an independent studio’s creations) that is pretty much the same as crowdfunding in the rest of the world.
If you’re interested in any of these subjects then this article may be a good starting point for you. It is an introduction-level text, so pros in this area might quickly get bored.
A word about crafting in games
Crafting is a computer games-related aspect in which game player needs to gather certain elements, puzzle pieces or resources in order to develop a new object. It can be found in:
- fantasy games (mixtures, elixirs, spells),
- war-games (armour and weapons modifications),
- survival games (food crafting, tools creation, healing).
In most cases, in order to create these you need:
- resources (which can be found by exploring game, doing quests or purchasing),
- knowledge (either learned yourself or by using NPCs-offered services),
- sometimes money (for paying for these services).
Triple Town
Just wanted to share a couple of cool and not-so-cool screenshots about my favourite game.
Well… I think, I can call it a favourite game given the fact that I’ve been playing it for four years in a row (and another four years from time to time — update from 2021).
Read More “Triple Town”Puzzle Forge
Just wanted to keep for personal reasons my best scores achieved in my beloved Android game — Puzzle Forge by Tuesday Quest.
The game is so fabulous that it took me one and a half year of playing and caused me loosing a lot of dollars. Fortunately, this went (in most part) for supporting developers of this great game.
And, yes… I also found a nasty bug! :>
Read More “Puzzle Forge”My favorite AI Factory’s Chess Free games
I’m playing Chess Free by AI Factory Limited on my mobile devices. Games has an option to export gameplays in PGN format. Though I’m pretty weak player, I wanted to write down myself most interesting games I played.
If you’re anything more than beginner in chess, you probably won’t find anything interesting in this post. Sorry! :]
Free Javascript chess engines and notation board presenters
I had to find a free Javascript based chess engine for one of my projects. I must admit, that I’m a low-level player and much, much lower level chess developer, so I assumed, that there is no chance, you can write such advanced thing like complete chess engine in such simple language like Javascript.
Turned out, I was wrong. I was actually devatated (again and again) with the power and possibilities behind Javascript.
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Fixing graphic problems in Diablo I and Diablo II
I’m so sucking and low player that actually for past fifteen (!) years I’ve been playing in actually four games: Diablo I, Diablo II, Civilisation and Transport Tycoon. The first two caught my heart so deeply that I even try to run them (Diablo I!) on Windows 7. And… I actually managed to do this.
Since, this involved a lot of googling and asking, here is a summary of my findings.
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Playing Diablo I in multiplayer-mode on Windows 7
I personally adore Diablo I and Diablo II. Since first version of this game is already fifteen years old (published in 1996) it requires special steps to play it on Windows 7. The most popular solution is to use IPXWrapper. However, in my case it required some additional works.
Read More “Playing Diablo I in multiplayer-mode on Windows 7”