15 replies to this topic

[Desert Dog]

Okay, so I present..

Hex Dogs!

The not-so-popular, but none-the-less amazing strategy board game invented(independently) by John Nash, and Piet Hein.
This time with an Aliens vs Dogs setting.

Screenshoooots:


Click this link here, and go play the game!
http://www.desertdogdev.com/hexdogs.html

If you have a mobile, please let me know if you can run it o.k.
Otherwise, please let me know how you get on against the A.I.!!

Here's a version that contains a frame rate counter in it, if you'd like to see (and report!)
how well the game runs:
http://www.desertdogdev.com/HexDogsFPS/hexdogfps.html

Thanks very much!
Cheers,
~D

Edited by Desert Dog, 07 May 2012 - 09:54 AM.
fixed link

[Nocturne]

Hmm... Okay the game is simple enough and works fine (AI is "meh", but hey...), but I feel that you have taken up so little screen with the gaming area that on a mobile device it will not play at all well... I think that you should have the game board take up at LEAST 2/3rds of the screen for this to be viable as a mobile game.

[TerraFriedSheep]

Hmm... Okay the game is simple enough and works fine (AI is "meh", but hey...), but I feel that you have taken up so little screen with the gaming area that on a mobile device it will not play at all well... I think that you should have the game board take up at LEAST 2/3rds of the screen for this to be viable as a mobile game.

I agree with you on the AI, I've just played it and although sometimes not winning quite as quickly as I seemed to be heading for, I havn't had trouble beating the AI yet. However, I did play it on my mobile, and it ran A-OK! So long as I had the phone in portrait mode, the game fit nicely on the screen and the hexagons were fine to touch. Granted if they were much smaller, I would have probably made some mis-taps, but as it is, it ran just fine on my mobile

[Desert Dog]

Other than making the hex's elongated vertically(I don't think so!) I don't really have much choice. It's already stretched to the limits horizontally, and I didn't really want to have a moving view.

Well, maybe I could make the hex's a little longer looking... hmm...

I'm already on the smallest possible board I could manage. On a 6x6 board, it's 'technically' possible for the first person to move to force a win, so I'm sacrificing a lot of playability if I make it any smaller!

Thanks for testing! And for the mobile test Soulsnatcher!

Sorry about the A.I. It's a bit simple.. tic-tac-toe-ish. I've got some players who are finding it 'hard', but once you know how to play (or have tendency to think longer than 15 seconds) it's easy enough.
YellowAfterLife was kind enough to point out a consistent winning formula, so I may have to throw a few extra unintelligent checks in there, to mess those up!

[Desert Dog]

This game has had a massive art revamp! If you enjoyed the game, but got put off by the drab graphics, well, be put off no more!

[TerraFriedSheep]

Wow, the new graphics look great! I thought it might be worth mentioning, I actually thought I was a dog, I sort of forgot we (as the human player) go up-down; I clicked dog starts thinking I would go first, which got me a little confused for the first 2 goes, simple I know

Just wondered weather it would be good to just show "CPU" under the dog starts button or something? It's nothing major.

[Smarty]

Looks like you have linked both the old and the new version in this post. Comparing the two, that's one makeover to be proud of. Really cute graphics, too, although they are oddly animated here and there. But for a strategy game like this one it's not much of an issue.

I tested it on a Galaxy S Android 2.something. The game worked fine in the built-in browser, in Dolphin and in Firefox. Dolphin had worse performance than the other browsers, though, and the built-in browser for some reason put a large border around the game, making it significantly smaller. So of these three, Firefox Mobile had the best player experience. Overall the game played smoother than I expected. For comparison reasons I'd suggest you'd put in an FPS counter, even if room speed is largely irrelevant in this game.

As for the A.I., yes - it becomes easy to beat it once you figure out the trick. Playing a human opponent is probably more interesting, although I don't think it will have too much lasting appeal.

[Nocturne]

Looks much better! I'd say more, but I think that Smarty has said everything... Oh, and I have a Galaxy S2 and it works fine too on both the standard and the FF Mobile browsers.

[Desert Dog]

Wow, the new graphics look great! I

Thanks!

I forgot to mention(and I don't have anything credit related in-game yet), but the artwork is by Elias Viglione, or PanicBomber as he is known as on these forums. Fantastic professional, definitely gets a recommendation!

I thought it might be worth mentioning, I actually thought I was a dog, I sort of forgot we (as the human player) go up-down; I clicked dog starts thinking I would go first, which got me a little confused for the first 2 goes, simple I know

Yeah, good point. I'll see.. maybe.

ooks like you have linked both the old and the new version in this post. Comparing the two, that's one makeover to be proud of. Really cute graphics, too, although they are oddly animated here and there. But for a strategy game like this one it's not much of an issue.

Even though I didn't do the graphics myself, I'm really proud of how the game now looks.

Thanks for the thorough test! I'm actually running to some serious running issue with certain Androids (I'm told it's GM itself) so any&all positive Android feedback is great!

Hmm, I never thought about a FPS counter silly me. I'm uploading an alternate version with one in it, so people willing to test it out, can give that feedback. Cheers!

Edit: Here's a link with a FPS counter for those interested:
http://www.desertdogdev.com/HexDogsFPS/hexdogfps.html

[Smarty]

Thanks for the thorough test! I'm actually running to some serious running issue with certain Androids (I'm told it's GM itself) so any&all positive Android feedback is great!

I'm unsure what GM would do to make it fail with certain Androids, unless GM is checking for certain OS/browser combinations. After all HTML5 is supposed to be a standard, right? I can't imagine the YYG guys using non-standard functions.

From what I can see the Firefox Mobile browser is the recommended configuration, with an FPS that is close to and sometimes on 30 FPS. It's not a very stable FPS, though. Especially the new piece appearing animation seems to drop it heavily, maybe because the animation is transparent. The built-in browser has a more stable FPS which is also close to 30 FPS but as I mentioned, the game is much smaller in it.

Another thing I noticed - there is no back button in the entire game AFAICS. Once you start a game you must select dogs or aliens, and you must finish the game before it returns to the title screen, which is a bit annoying especially if you wanted to read the instructions or change to a different opponent. A back button would also be good on the instructions.

[Desert Dog]

I'm unsure what GM would do to make it fail with certain Androids, unless GM is checking for certain OS/browser combinations. After all HTML5 is supposed to be a standard, right? I can't imagine the YYG guys using non-standard functions.

I don't understand, either, and I lack the resources(ability) to thoroughly test, but definitely with at least 1 (HTC One S with Android ICS.. it crashes the phone+reboot). It's not just my games, also a game by Dangerous_Dave. I also believe True Valhalla rewrote his Soduku game from scratch to get it as compatible as possible.

Especially the new piece appearing animation seems to drop it heavily, maybe because the animation is transparent.

I thought it may be because I was using image_angle on it, but after taking that out (and using a custom sprite rotation) it's no better, the fps does seem to take a bit of hit then, doesn't it?

It passes for me, but one to bare in mind, to avoid alpha then. *should probably test this more thoroughly*

Another thing I noticed - there is no back button in the entire game AFAICS. Once you start a game you must select dogs or aliens, and you must finish the game before it returns to the title screen, which is a bit annoying especially if you wanted to read the instructions or change to a different opponent. A back button would also be good on the instructions.

Reluctantly agreed. I kinda didn't have a good place to put a button, and tried to sneak away from it. I've added one in now in-game, at least. (I'm going to sneak out of doing one for the instructions, though.)

[Desert Dog]

I'm unsure what GM would do to make it fail with certain Androids, unless GM is checking for certain OS/browser combinations. After all HTML5 is supposed to be a standard, right? I can't imagine the YYG guys using non-standard functions.

I don't understand, either, and I lack the resources(ability) to thoroughly test, but definitely with at least 1 (HTC One S with Android ICS.. it crashes the phone+reboot). It's not just my games, also a game by Dangerous_Dave. I believe True Valhalla rewrote his Soduku game from scratch to get it as compatible as possible.

Especially the new piece appearing animation seems to drop it heavily, maybe because the animation is transparent.

I thought it may be because I was using image_angle on it, but after taking that out (and using a custom sprite rotation) it's no better, the fps does seem to take a bit of hit then, doesn't it?

It passes for me, but one to bare in mind, to avoid alpha then. *should probably test this more thoroughly*

Another thing I noticed - there is no back button in the entire game AFAICS. Once you start a game you must select dogs or aliens, and you must finish the game before it returns to the title screen, which is a bit annoying especially if you wanted to read the instructions or change to a different opponent. A back button would also be good on the instructions.

Reluctantly agreed. I kinda didn't have a good place to put a button, and tried to sneak away from it. I've added one in now in-game, at least. (I'm going to sneak out of doing one for the instructions, though.)

[Smarty]

I don't understand, either, and I lack the resources(ability) to thoroughly test, but definitely with at least 1 (HTC One S with Android ICS.. it crashes the phone+reboot). It's not just my games, also a game by Dangerous_Dave. I believe True Valhalla rewrote his Soduku game from scratch to get it as compatible as possible.

If you've got only one model, then at least make sure you test with the mainstream browsers available for that platform - starting with the built-in browser, then Firefox Mobile, then Dolphin and Opera Mobile. I haven't been able to test on the latter since Opera Mobile crashes at startup on my mobile.

With regard to the new tile animation, I wouldn't worry about it - it's not an action game so players will hardly notice. It becomes more important for games where more things are moving.

[PanicBomber]

Hehe the game looks nice and the gameplay is pretty addictive too . I tested on my HUAWEI Android, it ran fine but the top and bottom were cut a but cause of the browser, i think this should be made into an APP that can be installed on the phone

Just you should think about making Easy, Normal, Hard or something. I'll help you with the buttons etc for sure.

-Panic

[Desert Dog]

Thanks Panic!

Maybe I'll be thinking about an App when GM-Studio comes out. When that happens, I'll think about an Easy-Med-Hard option. As for now, I'm off into a new project!

Yeah, that top-bottom browser url can be annoying.. I have to design a lot of free space around the game 'cus of it.

[OMGCarlos]

I'm with Panic, this is a nicely polished game I feel should be turned into an app! I actually bookmarked it on my iPhone to play again later. The AI needs a tiny bit more work, there's a strategy that let's me psyche her out almost every time.

On an iPhone, all the important elements are in-screen which is what you want. You should get rid of the address bar on the mobile however. It's a single line of code but I can't recall what it is right now.