Is it the case that there is significantly low support for the game, and is this why I always see the same 618 levels in the BBS list, or is that because there was only one chance to have user levels uploaded? If there is a support/activity problem, what can be done to help that?

A quick test of pushing, carrying, standing on, stacking, hoisting and throwing actors using some crates and the good old snail.

A prototype of Swarm Racer 3000 is now available to all Lexaloffle customers! Log in and check your My Games page to get download links for Mac, Linux or Windows. If you need to activate purchases from the Humble Store, see this thread.

I prototyped Swarm Racer 3000 in 2009 for the Tokyo Game Show, and I'm releasing this brushed up version of that so that it doesn't gather dust for too long. I'm hoping to do 1.0 at the end of the year, after Voxatron's engine and arcade mode is finished. It won't be a massive game -- around 40 tracks, a simple designer and some guest composer's music would round it off nicely I think.

This preview version has 8 tracks and the trophy system of the original Swarm Racer (which is offline right now -- I need to update the builds). I haven't put an online score system in yet, as I'm working on a better system that Voxatron will also use. If you want to get competative, feel free to post your times here!

I'm not sure if I'll keep lasers and the fairy character, but left them in to play around with. I also left in some debug keys -- F & N for fast forward and slow motion, and PAGEUP, PAGEDOWN move the camera (try zooming in and watch the renderer fail beautifully)

More screens:

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Reworks That Matter is a collection of remixes of Morusque's excellent Blocks That Matter soundtrack. It's free and you can listen to it right now on Bandcamp!

Due to an administrative error, Swing Swing Submarine also gave me the opportunity to submit a track (Ore). This was a welcome opportunity for me to reply to Morusque's earlier reworking of Chocolate Castle tunes (for the Blocks That Matter Chocolate Update). The piece I chose to remix has similar arpeggios and chord changes, although I dragged the tune quite far from its soft, ethereal origins and into caustic chip territory. Because -- you know. That's something I know how to do.

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Welcome to 2013, Year of the Snake! Here's a little preview of an old prototype I decided to dust off recently. Swarm Racer 3000 is the sequel to Swarm Racer, with new visual style and some new elements. I ended up going nuts and making 8 new tracks & some audio. It was great fun! I'll be releasing it shortly as a bonus game for Lexaloffle customers.

Also a couple of development images when the renderer broke in interesting ways:

hi zep, i was wondering if you had considered porting voxatron or your other games to android as this cool new console (OUYA) is coming out. You probably already heard of it of course, biggest kickstarter response ever! Its based on the shareware model, the first level or levels are free then you can choose whether or not to get the whole game. Im hoping to put some games on it one day via Gamemakers android porting capabilities.

http://www.ouya.tv

also just curious what anyone thinks of the OUYA as a way to play pc/mac games with a nintendo/playstation type controller. Personally im really excited if it works out.

p.s. it already has (kinda) dual stick so would fit your controls. merry xmas!

probably no need to mention this but this allen 123 some crazy french wedding dress spambot. lol. Silly spambot!

if the wedding dresses were made of voxels id completely understand...

A platform shooter originally made for LD48#25. The theme was "You are the Villain". This is a two-player game. Player 1 controls a space trooper and Player 2 controls the enemy characters. If you'd like to play single player, just ignore P2 and the enemy A.I. will kick in. The goal is to reach the end of the level with the most gold -- with 2 players, take turns being the trooper and compare scores.

Player 1 keys: S,D to move (or O,P in single player) X,C to jump and shoot (or Q,W)

Player 2 Keys: Cursors to move K to switch which group of monsters to control L to perform the monster’s attack

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Grab 4 lexaloffle games for $12 / or 2 packs for $18!

Next week I'll also be adding a prototype of Swarm Racer 3000 -- but this will also be available to any existing Lexaloffle customers. So if that's you, and you're only interested in SR3K, all you have to do is wait! Click on the image for more information.

Voxatron 0.2.3 builds are now up, and will shortly be up on Humble Store (check the version number in the filename). If you don't have a lexaloffle account (Games > My Games) and would like one, see this thread.

To update from a Humble Store account, search your email for the download page link, or request a new one here

This is a quick bug-fixing update. There is better compatibility with older BBS levels, the weird monster-controlling ASDW bug is fixed (aww!), and I've made some improvements to the editor file loading / saving scheme to reduce the chance of accidentally saving over files.

I also added a journaled backup for editor files. Any previous version of the file you save over will be appended to filename.bak. You can't easily do anything with the .bak files yet -- they're just for safety! In the future I'll add some simple tools for inspecting and restoring backups.

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Hey All!

Voxatron 0.2.2 builds are now up, and will shortly be up on Humble Store.
If you don't have a lexaloffle account (Games > My Games) and would like one, see this thread.

To update from a Humble Store account, search your email for the download page link, or request a new one here

v0.2.2

Added: Animation object type
Added: Object paint modes: solid, empty
Added: Camera-independent objects
Added: Resource tree with folders / Objects referenced by global id
Added: Undo/Redo resource structure operations
Added: Load/Save any branch of the resource tree (replaces vobs)
Added: Select multiple custom objects and delete/copy/cut/paste
Added: Crate (for testing physics -- not exposed yet)
Added: Wider side panels and extra palette slots for future expansion
Added: Model Data Exporters (obj, pov, txt, png)
Added: Water Test

This update contains new resource management, tools for making animated objects, and model data exporters. Not much of the new code is exposed yet, and over the coming months I'll trickle out new object types (pickups, doors, players, monsters, music) and roll out the new physics (throwable, stackable, pushable actors).

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Testing out the new exporters coming in 0.2.2. Voxatron currently supports .pov, .obj/.mtl, and .txt (raw data), and either the current voxde item or an in-game scene can be exported.

This scene was exported as a .pov and rendered in POV-Ray (click to bigify)

Next update coming on Monday! [ ^ _ ^]

日本語版はここをクリックしてください!

It's that time again! If you're planning to take part in Ludum Dare 48 hour game dev event and are near Kichijoji/Tokyo, drop by Lexaloffle HQ (Pico Pico Cafe) with your laptop! The cafe will be open to the public until 23:00 as usual, but after that I'll also keep it open until 4:15am both nights for fellow LD night owls.

:: Ludum Dare 48 Hour Game Development Event

Join us for Ludum Dare #25! Ludum Dare is a 48 hour game development event that happens online all over the world. People take part either solo or in groups to make a whole game in just 48 hours, based on a theme that is provided at the start of the event. There are no prizes, except the sweet glory of making something and sharing it!

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Hey guys! I'm back!

I've been away for a long time, but I really wanted to share this with you guys. A while ago a friend of mine got involved with a student game-development project for school, and he asked me if I'd like to do some music for it. Of course I said yes (despite the lack of pay), and this is what I came up with:

Stained Glass Viking Chiptune OST

Give it a listen if you're so inclined, and I'd love to hear what you guys think. It's looking like the game is never actually going to release (it's been many months since I heard anything) but at least I got the experience of making some music. =]

~GnomeSlice

It's not something that bothers me too much, but I do wish the profile picture would work for me. I even tried one of the preset ones and it didn't work. Help! :P

Welcome back to another edition of Voxatron's development diary. The game is available in alpha form (with access to all future updates) here. There's also an updated development plan if you'd like a broad feature-centric summary, and a FAQ.

Recently Voxatron has been going through a kind of annealing process; many sub-projects jostling for position as it becomes clearer how they interact with each other. I've collected a large wishlist of engine features and gameplay ideas, and now the goal is to gradually boil the whole thing down into something that is technically possible and creatively in self-agreement. The temperature is getting a bit cooler now, and it's clearer what form features will take and which ones will get squeezed out.

So, here's a run-down of some of those sub-projects in roughly the order that they'll show up in future updates..

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I'll go into a bit more detail about this side project in the next dev diary shortly, but here's another sneak preview of the LEX500. It's a fictional low-res machine designed for hacking out little games quickly and sharing them on the BBS. The resolution and data storage size is quite limited to encourage making something small and interesting.

I'm planning to have a fixed 16 colour palette (including transparency) to further prevent extra work the designer might feel compelled to do. This screenshot is just a test for the palette, showing an example game scene and different ways the 16 colours can be used together. If you have any gripes about the palette, let me know soon!

My question is: how do you create charas on 2.0 or you can't do that?

I WAS MAKING A CHAIR FOR NEW LEVEL. But i made a mistake. I tried to undo, but the DOWN PART OF CHAIR DELETED! Then i tried to redo but THE EMPTY SPACE CHANGED to strange block or cube with many colors!!!

I repaired the chairso it was looking like this beforte the "BUG" (and after the mistake - one side is higher than second) - the picture of repaired chair is AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST.

GUYS PLZ CAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS BUG OR GLITCH???
COMMENT IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS THAT OR IF SOMETHING LIKE THAT HAPPENED TO YOU

Here's a quick tutorial that shows how to use the new door types with triggers to set up a level which has 'locations' -- areas that you can enter just once. When the two locations are completed, a third boss location is unlocked.

You can use the NOITEM trigger with regular items too; they don't have to be blue doors. For example, if you'd like a block to permanently appear after an apple has been collected, set the apple's COLLECT ONCE parameter to 1. Then group the apple and the block (select, shift-G) and set the block's trigger to NOITEM. If you'd like the block to permanently disappear along with the apple, do the same but set the trigger to GROUP.

Here's the level file: (not fun to play -- just a demonstration!)
tutorial_doors.png

For more complex examples, you can see a lot of these triggers used in Twisty Castle. For example, the four pots that you jump down are grouped with their respective blue doors and triggered with 'GROUP' so that they no longer appear after the section has been completed.