hi

can we have a few more lives/health on voxatron i am just not making the grade with my old reflexes-and would like to see more than 2 screens of the game....

any help appreciated

cheers

It has been a while now since the first preview trailer for Voxatron came out. At that time it quickly became apparent that I should recklessly suspend everything in my life to make this game, and apart from a couple of months clambering out of contract work and some other minor distractions, I've been hacking away on it non-stop since then. It started as a cut-down arcade game to alleviate my long-burning desire to make something set in a virtual display cube, but is now growing back into the potentially expansive adventure game it originally came from ("Felix and the Firebird"). It looks like it will grow even larger and absorb much of the design of Felix.

I don't yet have a fixed schedule for the final release as the design is still evolving. But what I do have is a very playable alpha that will be available shortly for anyone who's keen to pre-order the game. The alpha also includes a map and voxel editor with which it is possible to make almost everything you can see in the following trailer:

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Anyone who upgraded to OSX Lion and plays games made with SDL might have noticed a lot of programs crashing all over the place recently. Including mine. The problem is with SDL's fullscreen support using code that is no longer supported in Lion.

It looks like there's a new stable version release on the horizon to address this, but my solution was just to use an opengl surface instead:
SDL_SetVideoMode(0, 0, 32, SDL_FULLSCREEN | SDL_OPENGL);
And then update a single quad texture using glTexSubImage2D each frame. It seems to be reasonably fast on modern macs.

If you're a registered user, you can get the Lion-compatible versions here:
https://www.lexaloffle.com/games.php?page=my

Another minor feature in these updates is the ability to get a larger window in windowed mode. You'll have to manually change the configuration file to do this though. Look in ~/Library/Application Support/Game Name/config.txt (Mac OS X) or C:\Program Files\Game Name\config.txt (Windows) and change large_window to 1. This will give you a window scaled up to 960x720 for all games.

It's been so long since I played CC, that I forgot all the "cutie things" you can do, e.g., send my solutions; find a solution; etc. I just entered the BBS for room 38- easy and found my own solution. I'm stuck there, but I can't read my own solution.

I high-lighted it, then press "ctrl+c" but now I have no idea what to do with it. There's a "clipboard", but honestly, I don't remember where it is, how to access it, enythin! It's like if I were playing CC for the first time.

I appreciate any help given! Thanks!

I love writing tools. There's always one more nifty time-saving feature to add and the constant promise of the whack things you're going to make with it. Lately I've completed a fairly intense block of tool development and am reconfiguring my brain to shift back into creative content-manufacturing mode. So now might be a good time to show a few things I've been working on. Also to confirm to RSS subscribers that the feed is actually working (first post!).

Most of my tools are quite hacked together and behind the scenes. Voxatron's sound synth designer, music mixer, BBS code for sharing and previewing levels, and my trusty sprite editor are all gangly monstrosities that noone else should be exposed to. The thing I'm most excited about is the Voxatron editor, which is starting to feel like a user-friendly piece of software. Rather than considering it a peripheral feature that hard-core users can engage with, I'm hoping to make it a central part of enjoying the game. It should be possible for an average player to plonk some monsters, items and blocks into a level and still have fun playing it. Here's an example room that took about a minute to make:

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I made this video for a freestyle rap band. The stills were captured from a screen that has a lamp behind it (backlight was broken) which is why the lighting fades out towards the top.

Click here for video!

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