Game Progress Update #18


Update #18

Hello world! Welcome to the eighteenth Dev with Dave Game Progress Update!

This time round I have managed to plan, and start to implement the remaining UI screens. However I decided to try and do something special during the planning with the About page. So I didn’t get quite all of them done yet.

The settings page

The settings page contains controls so the player can adjust the game settings, like the volume of the music and sound effects.

The page scrolls in a similar way to the other pages where the content doesn’t all fit on the screen. There is a button for the player to adjust the advert settings below what is shown on the image above.

I created everything using the existing UI system I’d implemented earlier in the project. With the exception of the blue bars which represent the volume level. These will require a tiny amount of extra code to resize the blue bar according to the volume.

The eagle eyed among you might have noticed the above image is different to the video. I created the image in paint.net, and the spacing isn’t exactly the same in the game.

Sound Effects

I also spent more than a few hours over the last two weeks listening to various science fiction and retro game inspired sound effects, trying to decide what type of sounds I wanted in the game.

I used Google and YouTube to do the bulk of the research. Either searching for specific sound effects or watching gameplay of retro games.

I downloaded some free assets to use as placeholders for the time being, so I could make a start on the Audio system which is responsible for loading and playing the sound effects.

My goal is for the audio to match the graphical styling of the game, and have a certain retro feel to it.

Next time

I think for the next update I’m going to continue developing the last few UI screens, as well as gathering more place holder audio effects for the game.

And that’s all for this time, I’ll be back in two weeks with another Game Progress Update for you all!

Game Progress Update #17


Update #17

Hello world! Welcome to the seventeenth Dev with Dave Game Progress Update!

I’ve managed to finish both of the remaining boosts! Now both the Second Chance and the Missile Jammer boosts will work, once the player has unlocked the boost and purchased one.

I’ve also managed to add several new bugs to the Known bugs/Issues list on the Trello board, which is less cool tbh, but better to find them now and fix them in the next revision.

Second Chance boost

The second chance boost causes the player to recover from an impact which would otherwise have killed them. It also provides a few seconds of shield to ensure the player manages to get out of harms way.

This was implemented by adding a few lines of code into the player collision function, which simply checked to see if the player had a Second chance in their inventory, then decreases the inventory count, checks the chances of it working (It starts off a 20%, and increases as the player upgrades the boost), and if successful it simply starts a shield for a few seconds and carries of with the game.

I had to refactor the code which started the particle explosion. I turned it into a function so I could call it from a couple of places where it was necessary, but not when the second chance was in use.

I think the Second chance boost needs some more visual (and audio) feedback. I’d like to see maybe a simple line of text and maybe an angel wings animation appear and disappear on screen.

Missile Jammer boost

The first thing I did, was plan out exactly how the missile jammer was going to work. Since it was another lovely day I decided to sit outside with a pen and paper (my absolute favourite medium for planning/sketching ideas) and think about exactly how this boost would work.

I added a check at the start of the game to see if the player has any missile jammers in their inventory. If they have then reduce the inventory by one and set the missile jammer isActive flag to true. I’ve done this so the Jammer works for the whole game, rather than needing a new one each missile zone.

Next, I added some code to the spawn zone function which when a missile zone is being spawned, it adds the missile sprite IDs to an array. When the zone has finished spawning, the function quickly cycles through this array and using a similar chance check as the Second Chance boost, it determines whether or not to move the missile.

Initially I thought that I could simply change the depth of the missile sprite so it appeared behind the sky background image, but this didn’t work. Instead I simply moved the jammed missiles offscreen on the y axis.

I imagine this boost would play a sound effect similar to a radio being tuned in when a jammed missile appears on screen (or when it passes the boundary which starts it moving?)

Bugs

I’ve also managed to build up a somewhat large list of bugs. These have all been recorded in the Flappy-vaders Trello board ready for when I’ve finished adding all the basics, and am ready to start polishing and fixing bugs.

I don’t think any of them are particularly game breaking so I am ok with just leaving them as they are while I work on adding the rest of the systems for the game.

Next time

Quite a lot of the remaining things in the “Things to do” list seem to be relating to the User Interface, things like the options screen, pause menu, about screen etc. The rest are mostly relating to monetisation and the sound effects.

I think for the next update I will try and get the UI pages complete and working, which perhaps won’t make for an exciting video next fortnight, but it’s an important part of the game which needs doing.

In the mean time, don’t forget to like, follow and subscribe to Dev with Dave on social media to keep up to date with the project, and I’ll see you in two weeks for another Game Program Update 🙂

Promoting your game using Facebook

Promoting your Game with Twitter >

Promoting your game with Facebook

Promoting your game using Facebook

In this post, I will be talking about promoting your game using Facebook, using organic reach, without spending any money. Facebook does offer a paid advertising service, but I’ll discuss that in another post.

This post follows on from my introduction to promoting your game, If you haven’t already read it or just need a recap, then you can find it >here<

I’m sure there aren’t many of you out there who don’t know what Facebook is. It’s one of the oldest and most popular social media networks in the world! For the last 15 years it’s been changing how humanity interacts and shares information.

Almost a third of the worlds population has a Facebook account (2.79 billion people approximately) so that’s a lot of eyes to put your game in front of.

Organic reach

Now, before we begin, I have to point out that Facebook organic reach has been shrinking slowly over the last few years. This is due to several factors, things like the ever increasing amount of new content posted, changes to the Facebook algorithm etc.

According to HootSuite, the average reach of an organic page post is around 5%, or roughly only 1 in 20 people who like your page will see your post..

Now this doesn’t mean that organic reach is dead. Quite the opposite, however it does mean that competition is fierce.

Strategy

This is one area of social media marketing where there are no shortcuts.

First of all you need clearly defined and measurable goals, so you can determine if your posts are having the desired effect.

I’ve spoken before about knowing your ideal customer/target audience; and your customer avatar will be one of the most valuable tools in your arsenal for generating organic reach in your posts.

It’s important that your ideal customer demographics match the demographics of the platform you are using, but you also need to know what kind of things they like or they are interested in so you can create social media content which they engage with.

It’s also important that you don’t just promote your game. One of the keys to a successful marketing strategy is to connect with your audience and build a relationship. 80% of your posts should provide interesting content or value of some kind to your audience, and the remaining 20% should promote your game.

I find it to be quite helpful when developing a strategy to spend a few hours on Facebook snooping around what your competitors are doing with their social media, just to see what is performing well and what is not.

Remember to keep checking your metrics to see how your own posts are performing as well, and don’t be afraid to try something different if your first attempt didn’t achieve the results you were hoping for.

Pages vs. Groups

Facebook offers two choices when it comes to places to post content to, those are Pages and Groups.

A Facebook Page is very similar to a Facebook Profile, only it’s always public. When a user likes or follows your page, they will get notifications and updates on their news feed when you post stuff.

I find it’s best to create a page specifically for your game, rather than a company page where you share content relating to all your games. This way you can narrow down the focus of your content and hopefully create a lasting relationship with your audience.

Groups tend to be more user oriented, with much of the content being created by users. If your game has elements of user created content and a strong existing audience, then a group might work well for your game.

I find however, the best way to utilise groups is to join groups which are on theme for your game (Angling groups if your game is targeted at anglers, skateboard groups for a skateboarding game etc.) and then interact with them. Get to know the posters and the feel of the group, and contribute where you can; then occasionally and where it’s relevant to the post drop a link to your game.

You should never just join a group and then spam 30 identical posts a day promoting your game. This kind of behaviour is usually frowned upon by the group admins and will 100% not result in any kind of good result you may be hoping to achieve.

Other helpful advice

When setting goals and targets for your social media campaigns, remember that when audience building you want to build a targeted audience who interact with your posts and have an interest in your game. Just collecting likes isn’t a sound business strategy.

Don’t rush your content. Whether it’s text, images or video, it deserves the same amount of attention to detail that your game did.

Remember to interact with you audiences comments on your posts. This will help foster relationships as well as make it more likely that your post will be seen by more people.

One of the most impressive ways I’ve seen to get Actual players to like your social media page is to offer them the chance to join you on social media from in game in exchange for a small amount of in game currency or some other reward.

Lastly, although I highly recommend looking at competitors pages and content for ideas and inspiration, your social media strategy should be unique to you, so avoid copying directly.

Outro

And that’s about all for this time round. I have given you every thing I know about promoting your game on facebook.I hope you have found this post to be informative. Don’t forget that if you have any questions about it then please feel free to post them on the Dev with Dave Forum

Promoting your Game with Twitter >