Iteration is an experiment with a quirky form of time travel. Going back in time creates a clone of yourself that exists up until the point at which you went back in time. Paradoxes are possible, but will come undone if you revisit the time at which they were created. Sometimes to save yourself, you must kill yourself; sometimes to fix time, you must break it. Use with caution.

Download

There are 5 training levels, and 6 proper puzzle levels.

The game is not complete, in the sense that I had plans to take it so much further, however this version is in itself a complete game. I decided it was better to release it at this unfinished stage than for it never to see the light of day. Perhaps in a distant future where spare time abounds, I could return to this project and bring it to its full glory.

Being lazy, here is a screenshot of it from my last blog:

So, now that's out the way, I accidentally started work on another game: Here Be Dragons

Perhaps best explained as a combination of Flotilla and Gratuitous Space Battles. The idea being you are the pirate captain of a ship (or fleet), exploring the high seas in the early 18th century, visiting various locations on your incomplete map (some areas being marked with dragons).

At friendly locations you would manage your ships, choosing which cannons go where, what cargo you carry (ample supplies of food, water & ale are necessary), and what to upgrade. Similar to GSB, in the sense that you would place the different modules on the ship. Different ships would have strengths and weaknesses (speed, manoeuvrability, strength, how well it can move upwind).

Crew can be obtained by paying them shares, or by forcing defeated enemies to become recruits. Doing the latter would lower the average crew morale. Not having enough food, water or ale, or doing very poorly in battle would also lower crew morale. If the morale is low enough, the crew will mutiny and you will lose.

The ships will handle in the sea using physics. If you place all your heavy cannons on one side, and crew quarters on the other, the ship will tip over. If you cover your ship in armour, it may be too heavy and sink. If you take damage in battle, your ship's carrying capacity will decrease, and you will have to throw cargo, cannons (or crew) overboard to avoid sinking.

Combat would be similar to Flotilla. Turn based, and during each turn you could select each weapon, choose whether it should fire or not, and what the target should be. You can also move the ship, sacrificing accuracy for speed, or stay still for maximum accuracy but remain a sitting duck for enemies. At this point you can also throw cargo overboard (perhaps to avoid sinking, or increase your speed),

Cannons would require cannonballs. If cannonballs run out, they would instead fire junk like knives and forks, glass shards and junk. Cannons would also make the boat rock a tiny bit (more so when fired in union, for example during a broadside).

Ship sails would use cloth physics, and holes from cannonballs would reduce the effectiveness of the sail. Masts will fall down if they take enough damage.

I would also like to make the ships very destructible, but it would be quite a challenge. Simply doing the masts and sails should be possible though.

As well as fighting enemy ships, enemies would include sea fortresses, hostile islands, and dragons (sea serpents).

Winning a battle would earn you resources, including gold, which could be used to purchase better weapons, and eventually more vessels.

The game would be in iron man mode, where if you die, you lose everything and have to start from the beginning. This would increase the pressure in battle, since you would not want to lose your precious fleet. The game would be about combat and strategy, and a bit about exploration.

So how far have I got, and how far will this project actually go?

I spent a while on the sea and floating physics, and from that I learnt that floating is quite unstable. I did manage the get the ship floating, but I wasn't happy with it overall and saw that it would be a pain in the long run.

From there I decided to half fake the floating. How it works now is by applying a force on the boat relative to the distance between it and the sea level, but also applying some drag to avoid oscillation. The tilting of the boat is then calculated from the normal of the vertex, modified slightly. I will change how tilting works, however, since I think I can do it a better way.

The ship responds to physics (you can throw stuff at it, and the ship will react).

I realise though, that this would be a monumental project if I took it on as explained above. For me to be able to realistically consider getting much further with it, I think I would have to cut out or simplify quite a lot of the ideas above, which would be a shame. The more I think about the concept, the more ideas I get for it, which just adds to the unlikelihood of it ever being finished.

I have had a lot of fun so far though, it has been my first attempt at a proper 3D game, and my first attempt at 3D modelling (albeit with Google SketchUp)

Putting all that aside, I have yet to finish "Domino's Adventure 2: The Belated Winter Chronicles", or as it is actually called: Rollabout.

The main roadblock I have with it, I have realised, is the GUI. That, and deciding whether or not to finish the level editor, and level sharing.

The level sharing is pretty much done. All the networking works, as does the PHP and MySQL database side of it. Levels can be uploaded, downloaded and played. I just don't like the GUI I have in game for it.

The level editor has the trickiest part of it done - the terrain editor. The level saving format is finished, stable and extendible. All that remains for it is to make a nice GUI, and add the ability to place simple objects (like rocks, trees, spikes, etc).

I think it would be a shame if I didn't add those two features, but I feel that at some point I will have to cut them off, if their existence means the demise of the whole project.

Perhaps all this will work out fine if I stop playing minecraft?