Alchemy on Android!

The past few days I've been for lack of a better word obsessed with a game released on Android called Alchemy.  The basic idea is to combine different elements to create new things.  You start with the basic elements of earth, water, fire and air and away you go. You combine the secondary and tertiary products of these combinations to create even more new objects.   There are 300 items to unlock in total and so far I'm on 118.  So quite a lot more to go and it's starting to get really tough. 

But what I love about this game is that it's such a simple idea.  As I have an interest in science myself I was trying to think of an educational game using the periodic table elements but this has blown me away.  It's a much better idea than using elements from the periodic table as everyone will identify even the most basic elements of earth, air, fire and water. 

I also love the little easter eggs and quirky objects that I've unlocked so far.  I've found Yoshi, the 1 Up mushroom from Mario Bros, a Genie and a Zombie.  I can't wait to play some more later on.

So if you have an Android OS on your phone, download this game today.  Oh, didn't I mention.  It's totally free!  Here's a sneak peek at the game for those unfortunate enough not to have Android.

RotM: Step back to making a better map

So before I dived into starting to add static meshes and textures to my map I thought I'd get the opinion of one of my friends who is quite an avid FPS gamer.  Doing this dropped my hopes of nearly finishing my map to setting me back at least another 2 weeks.

RotM: The joy of Textures and Static Meshes

So I've finally finished the geometry for the map.  It still needs to be polished but its at a good standard for me to begin filling my map with textures and static meshes.  So over the next couple of weeks that's what I'll be doing.  I intend to apply the WoLD's technique and work systematically through the map section by section so each area is brought up to the same level of quality.

I'll post some new images soon!

RotM: More Terrain and Water features

So now I've finished blocking out the terrain and pyramid so that the tomb now has exits that lead out up to the ground level.

I'm going to be placing the pick-ups today so that the map is closer to what I think will be the gameplay in the final design.

The rest of the week I guess I'll be adding the kismet and matinee triggers in to activate the secret doors (that I want to put in place over the tomb exits) and finish refining the terrain. There are some areas of the terrain that still need smoothing and the steep drops at the sides of the pyramid need to be steeper. I also think that raising the river will also be beneficial for the map.  Currently at some points in the terrain the player cannot see down to the river and it would be a shame to block the players' view of this feature.