Pentominoes - Alpha release

**code_glitch** · 26-06-2010, 10:21 AM

really good game. works perfect.

**jdarling** · 27-06-2010, 02:31 PM

Yeah, there are still a lot more things to do on the Help and Tutorial parts, right now I'm focused on getting all of the bugs out and making things work properly. Once I get to that point then I'm going to look at better help and some type of tutorial/hint of the day type thing.

I also want to get hints into the game so you can get assistance on if a move was good or bad as well as what the next move should be (if you want of course).

If you really want to stress your brain, make a puzzle in the editor and then try playing it in the game. Unless you have a REALLY good memory, you will be surprised how hard it is to even solve your own stuff LOL

- Jeremy

**djcityscapes** · 27-06-2010, 09:42 PM

I didn't notice any of the bugs. It just worked for me.

**jdarling** · 07-07-2010, 02:04 PM

I posted a new zip file last night and forgot to post about the update here on PGD... Updates to this version include a better (I hope) win screen, ability of editor to load/solve any valid puzzle, a lot of bug fixes and optimizations, and a few new puzzles.

While it may not seem like much has changed a lot has, in fact, I've separated out the internal workings so well that I hope to have two versions of the actual game (if not more). One for OpenGL and one for GDI. My eventual plans are to try and cross compile for handheld devices too, but that's a bit off for now.

Next up is a bit of a UI overhaul and scoreboard stuff. I'm going to try and get all of the UI elements built in so that porting to other devices and rendering contexts becomes easier (again, I hope).

By the way, I'd highly recommend building a project like this. You wouldn't believe the amount of complex crap and optimizations I've had to learn just to get this game up and running without it seeming like a resource hog. Dancing Links, Exact Cover, Endo, Enup algo's, tree and trie optimization, memory mapping and page fault speedups, you name it this has been a learner. Can't wait to port it to limited hardware (I'm thinking Android and DSi for starts) to see if its all worth it.

- Jeremy

As always; Download From: http://www.eonclash.com/pentominoes/pentominoes.zip

**mikade** · 07-07-2010, 03:49 PM

Sounds pretty impressive.

How long do you think UI overhaul is going to take? Erm, that is to say, should I just wait for a new version, or try what you've posted now?

**jdarling** · 07-07-2010, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by mikade

Sounds pretty impressive.

How long do you think UI overhaul is going to take? Erm, that is to say, should I just wait for a new version, or try what you've posted now?

LOL, the answer on timelines from me will always be "Its done when its done". The UI overhaul won't be anything major and the gameplay won't change with it. So the version I've posted is as playable as any.

On the subject of Educational Games... It depends, I end up coding a lot of "quick hit games" for my kids but don't hardly ever release something to the public. An example would be a math based fill in the picture "game". The player was presented with a field of formulas and as they solved the formulas a picture was revealed, if you answered what the picture was successfully then you got a simple "yeah" screen and the next set of problems were thrown up.

I've also done a few memory type games. Some with math (1 + 1 = 2), some with pictures (two different dogs but still dogs), some with words (cat = <pic of cat>), nothing ever very polished, but good enough to keep my kids interested.

E-Dungeon is another thing my oldest and I work on from time to time (of course right now we are working on this one). Its basically a Rogue-Like game where you have to wander around learning things. Nothing fancy right now, but fun to play when its working LOL (can't compile right now as I broke some of the code when I reinstalled everything the other day).

- Jeremy