I can now correctly match a player's guessed word to one in the database and if that word is correct a smiley is output. This needs to be extended to check if the player has already guessed that word, if the guessed word is incorrect and output the appropriate smiley's for these events but I'm sure it won't be a difficult task. However this is on hold until I tackle the next task two tasks.
Now I have Ice-cream Sandwich I've found that most all of my GUI labels and boxes have been re-positioned and re-sized :( I did expect this and I thought that I could rectify this at a later date, but if I want to get this tested on as many different versions of android early on in development I'll need to address this issue now.
I have noticed that the instantiate command I am using to position the letters uses Vector3 to position the blocks and this doesn't seem to be affected by the resolution changes between phones/firmware. So, my plan is to investigate whether vector3 positioning can be used with UnityGUI labels and boxes to ensure the position stays consistent across all devices. I hope that this change will also affect any future implementation across iOS devices too.
The other problem is the constant and quick switching of the letters seems to be putting some people off playing. After getting some feedback from a few people those very familiar with and some not so familiar with the games industry, I have decided to look into this before I press on anymore.
Currently, the 16 blocks appear and will change every three seconds. They will randomly output any letter within the alphabet and the player will have to spell a word and submit it within the time frame. This switching is usual and so players are either entering one letter per switch or waiting for the correct letter that they need to spell one word. This is not what I wanted. I wanted a fast-paced word construction game. But most of all I wanted people to enjoy the challenges, not get put off by them.
So I have decided the following from suggestions, feedback and my own head:
- Output a block switching timer so the player knows exactly when the blocks will be switching and are prepared for it.
- Increase the time that the blocks switch
- Create an algorithm to ensure that a word can definitely be created within the "random" letters switched.
I believe with these changes the gameplay should be a lot more forgiving and more enjoyable.
After this, the changes in resolutions will be looked into. I'm not sure a novice like myself will be able to get it done but I'm going to try :)
And I'll need to update the documentation too if this works well.
In other news...
Darksiders is also not going well. I was really excited about the premise and the gameplay but I've only played about three hours over a couple of months (I've been busy in life) and haven't been tempted back much to play it. I've heard that it is a slow starter so I may give it some more time or switch to Assassin's Creed 2.
Although I haven't been totally absent from gaming this month. During June, my partner and I attended Games Bafta Question Time with questions being answered by a panel of veteran and experienced games developers which I thoroughly enjoyed. Among the many things that he said, Peter Molyneux spoke of a mobile game that he and his sister were playing called Tiny Tower. Intrigued I downloaded the game as it was free and instantly 3 hours of my life had passed by. I have found the game so addictive, can fit around my life and yet it's so simple. Now I have also got my partner hooked on it and we're fiercely competing against each other daily to see who's tower is higher (i'm currently losing). The competitive side of this game alone is driving me to keep playing although I haven't yet been tempted to buy more Bux to enable me to build faster. I think that this will help me 'cheat' my way through the game progression and will not provide me with any satisfaction when I suddenly increase my number of floors/money. Maybe if they had payment option that allowed you to increase the random chance that you get a VIP to a limit on each floor you build or decrease the amount that the next floor will cost, then I may have been tempted.
So as August approaches, my birthday and hen due are drawing ever nearer. The next couple of months will truly be packed full of stuff to do, but I want to iron out the problems highlighted above asap.
No time limit on this as of yet. If you'd like to give me some feedback of my current build please leave a comment with
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