Today, I discovered a nice little user review on GetJar, of my mobile game Enigmatica. Enigmatica is a puzzle game for mobile phones, that I released a few years ago, and earlier this year went freeware.

The review goes like this:

Very easy to play and a cinch to navigate. Graphics are simple but effective. Thoroughly enjoyable (a little addictive), very happy with this one.

After reading this, I think the mean problem of that game, and even more so of the original Enigmatic Movements Mac version, are the graphics. That’s why I started the Smiley Puzzle Project, which in essence will contain the same gameplay.

So now I’m seriously considering doing a mobile port of the Smiley Puzzle Project. It shouldn’t be all too much work, since I can reuse code from Enigmatica. The hard part will be selling it, unless I could find an interested publisher. And even if it doesn’t sell, I can make it freeware and use it to attract people to the desktop version!

After being put on hold for a couple of months, I revived the Smiley Puzzle Project!

The reasons for putting it on hold were mainly a lack of time and motivation. I’ve been putting most of my spare time into the Speeltijd website, which is slowly growing and gaining visitors.

But a few of weeks ago, I coded a very basic prototype of an idea I’ve had several months back. It turned out to be promising, and pushed me over the edge to continue with my game development efforts!

This week, the final week of my summer holidays, I resumed work on the graphics of the Smiley Puzzle Project. This was rather by accident, after I read in a FAQ how to create the graphics I had in mind, but wasn’t able to create. So the ideas started flowing, and motivation is back! And it came right on time, since my domain name was about to expire, and I was considering to drop it.

So the next step is to find ways to spend more time on game development. Working part time is out of the question unfortunately. Not financially, but my boss just wont allow it I’m currently investigating other options, and trying to find ways to have a small income, in case I decide to temporarily (or permanently) leave my day job.

Anyway, I will soon post some new screenshots and updates. Encouraging comments and ideas are welcome of course!

During the past few weeks I’ve been working on a prototype of the Smiley Puzzle Project, and as promised, here are the first partial screenshots!

Grabbing and moving of the smiley’s already works fine. Next thing on the todo list is the left side of the game, where the points and other game parameters will be displayed.

Oh, and just to make it clear again, this is not a match-3 game! More about the game concept can be found here.

A while ago, I started a new game project. For the time being, I will name it the Smiley Puzzle Project. Why? Because it will be a puzzle game featuring smileys!

More precisely, the core game mechanic will be the same as my old mac game Enigmatic Movements. An extremely limited version can be played as a java applet at the Dark Moon Software website. But contrary to my other games, this one will be my first game coded in Java, using LWJGL (Lightweight Java Game Library), an OpenGL and OpenAL binding for java.

I have 3 good reasons for going the java route:

• I’ve been coding in java for more than 7 years now, so I have plenty of experience using both the language, and the necessary tools. I expect this will speed up the development of the game considerably!
• Cross platform!!! Since I’m a long-time mac user, and I don’t even have a Windows machine at home, using java will definitely be the easiest solution for going cross-platform. In the beginning, I will probably keep concentrating on the mac market. But expanding my audience with millions of windows users can’t hurt. And it will be necessary if I want to get this game on any portals!
• Ultratron and Titan Attacks! These fun and cool looking games by PuppyGames are also written in java and LWJGL, and are a great inspiration! This blog post about Titan Attacks is also an interesting read. Another full 3D game written in java and LWJGL is Tribal Trouble by Oddlabs. Check out the amazing screenshots! These games clearly show that java has become a valid alternative to C and C++ for game development.

Currently I’m working on a prototype of my game, and I already have a small part of the artwork done. I hope to have some screenshots and more details available in the near future, so check this blog on a regular basis. Or better yet, subscribe to the Dark Moon Newsletter!