How do you transfer Zen garden to a new computer?

None of the pickups in Voxatron are as useless or as fantastic as the sword. Choosing to use one against oncoming hordes is much harder than any of the robot's long range weapons, but at least if you die, you can go down with a bit of honour. It's also good for smashing scenery up, and comes with a two piece set of dandy armour.

The first half of this video shows the voxel editor I'm using to make models for Voxatron. Something similar will ship with the game, but with a nicer interface (at the moment it's like a cross between Blender and Emacs).

Thanks to the magic of Adobe Alchemy, it's now possible to play puzzles on the BBS directly in your web browser. Just click the 'Play' links in listings for Zen Puzzle Garden and Chocolate Castle to get a flash version. If you're up for some punishment, I urge you to try Robin Houston's set of gardens.

In other news, there's now an RSS feed of the blog here.

Hello, I heart Minecraft and also the Voxatron trailer which I found on Ars Technica today and am really looking forward to seeing what is created here. When I first saw it, I was for sure it had to be the mysterious "other game" that Notch's company is working on but apparently not. Good luck to the devs of this amazing looking project!

I'm a computer science student in college right now ... how do you get into making games with pixels and/or voxels that are portable and run on modern platforms?? Is Java the best approach to doing that? I'd like to become familiar with game design tools where I can decide to either to sell the finished game if it's good enough, or release it open source if I don't think it's commercially viable - I don't wanna get hooked into using stuff that has license restrictions that prevent me from going either way. Anybody have any suggestions on how to get started doing that kind of thing?

A few people asked about the music used in the Voxatron preview trailer, so here's a copy in mp3 format & the original .xm. Note that I wrote it with the trailer in mind, so it's quite short! For the final soundtrack I'd like to make an extended version.

voxatron_trailer.mp3

voxatron_trailer.xm

The tune was written in Milky Tracker, which you can also use to view/play the .xm file. There's a bunch of unused pattern data lying around in there, which I sometimes like to have a nosey through in other people's tunes to get an idea of how it evolved.

Most of the instruments are generated by the in-game synthesizer and derived from game world sounds: the drums are from collisions and the sound of bullets hitting the armadillo shell, etc. If you'd like to use them for anything, feel free to grab a copy from the .xm.

.. and some wallpaper for good measure.

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[Edit for googlers: the game is now available!]

If you've noticed an increase in the amount of voxel-based graphics around the place, this is why.

Voxatron is an arena shooter that takes place in a world made of voxels (little cubes, kind of). Everything in the game is displayed in a virtual 128x128x64 voxel display, including the menus and player inventory. If you look closely, you can sometimes see the inventory (score/life/ammo) casting a shadow on some of the objects on the ground.

I've been working on voxel rendering and modeling tools for a long time now, with the ultimate goal of making a large explorey adventure game. About half a year ago it fused with work I was doing on arena shooters for Conflux, and this is the result.

It's quite a simple game at heart -- mostly just Robotron set in a 3d destructible world with goofy creatures. I'm unsure how major the implications of destructibility will be for gameplay, but it sure is fun to blast away pieces of wall. I've also added an experimental wall-building pickup you can use to construct barriers to hide from scary monsters.

The game takes place in a small set of arenas. Some of them feature rooms with set action pieces, somewhere between Knightlore and Smash TV. This is some of the original adventure based design sneaking back in, and an excuse to create thematic environments.

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Some mock-ups for a fictional 16 colour, 160x120 pixel game console.
(click for a larger version)

Pikpok has just released a trailer for the HD iPad version of Zen Puzzle Garden along with a new website and screenshots. There's no gameplay footage yet, but it's due for release in December so it's not long before you can see it in action. The game plays basically the same as the original, but with all new level design, beautifully rendered 3d environments, and an original soundtrack by Module.

I take a lot of inspiration from the demo scene, and a couple of things I'm working on now -- voxels and music synth -- are in ready supply! Here's a lovely wee 4k demo by FRequency.

Right.. off to try some metaballs..

Hiya all, choice BBS, Lex I say again.

Please post any GFX back of games in progress you might be working on. I'm trying to break out of my shell, so here's a few pics:

1. Quibble - an isometric snake game. I made a board game of this originally on a small grid where each player places a new segment of snake to try & trap each other.

2. Castle Skull - Dark Castle, Prince-of-Persia-esque game of saving the princess. Remake of an XT game I made in 1990 that absolutely no one has ever seen before (& never will!). It flicks between isometric & platform depending whether you're exploring or fighting.

3. The Dark Moon of Arcalon - Me & Joseph's next platform masterpiece, inspired by Liero's battle mode magic, expanded into a thematic intergalactic fairytale.

4. Velcro Mind - rendered GFX for a remake of Velcro Mind, which Joseph originally made for DOS in 1995.

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A couple of recent screenshots from Super Neko Puzzle (in development for PC, Mac, Phones & Web).

... in development! Lexaloffle is partnering with PikPok, esteemed developers of Bird Strike and Flick Click Football, to bring Zen to iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android devices. PikPok are reinventing the game to complement these platforms, and so far its looking fantastic. I can't reveal too much about it yet, but you can expect to see more details emerging in the near future. Here's the official announcement over at PikPok

Made for the Ludum Dare 48h #15 Controls: Arrow keys to move. Z for jetboots. X to shoot. R to restart. To win: collect 5 artifacts and then fly into space.

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A one button action game made for the Murigee 48h game development event. The theme was "Hyper Olympics". Click once to split into many athletes Click again to perform the action (jump / throw / dive) Goal: Try to get between the flags (bonus for being spread out)

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Hello peoples

Just frolicking in my brother's new fandangled lexbook network & thought I'd introduce myself. For quite some time I've been a frequent Tigsource snooper and am looking forward to hanging out on this BBS.

If anyone is a fan of BBC Micro, Amiga & arcade games, I'm looking forward to reminisce & critique with you. There's a lot to be expanded on in the good old masterpieces interms of new game design. I noticed last time I was in America all the arcade games (with the exception of Tron(!)) are the same here in New Zealand. Ghosts 'n' Goblins was really the earth-shatterer for me. It's nice seeing that magic come back to life, Arvoesine for example.

Currently I'm making an Asteroids clone called Gromulus which will be ready by the end of the year, & there's lots of GFX I want to share on Pip of other works in the pipeline. The Dark Moon of Arcalon especially, which is a new Jasper's Journeys type collaboration with Joseph.

Anywayz, nice to get that out of the way. This is the first thread I have ever started - perhaps it could be a "hello world" type thread.

Stack everything to complete each level Controls: A and S or cursors to rotate Click and drag to move.

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Go here!

This is an example blog post. Anything you post in the 'Blog' category will show up on your profile page in blog format. You can also adjust the appearance of your page in the edit profile menu:

1. Choose a 48x48 profile icon.
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• View/download games you own from the "Games > My Games" menu with your BBS account.
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