You can now choose which types of balls the Change-A-Ball can turn into.
It now works correctly when it changes into the Snowball - growing when rolling on snow, melting, being thrown by Toolman Tim, etc.
When changing into Glow Ball, it now correctly emits light.
Added the ability to choose a goal state.
Big Glow Ball
Can now choose color of the Glow Ball.
Slight changes to the physics - a little more dense - doesn't float as much.
Next Update
The next update with be on October 15th. Some new rope type parts will be added.
Build 1.3.6.9 - New Parts
Ended up adding a two new parts for this update.
Glow Ball
The glow ball is very light and will float, barely being affected by gravity. It gives off light and will turn on solar panel, shine through magnifying glasses, etc. The is two sizes. The larger one casts light over more distance.
Change-A-Ball
The Change-A-Ball will change balls types whenever it hits another part with enough force. Its starting shape can be chosen.
Bug Fixes
There were also a couple bug fixes.
Added missing message for the sled
Fixed a crash bug in the physics engine. It was very rare, but could happen if just the right combination of events occurred. Was most likely to happen on contraptions that had been running for a longer amount of time.
Next Update
The next update will be on October 15th with new rope type parts.
Build 1.3.6.7 - Improvements and Fixes
This latest build has a mixture of a few bug fixes and also some general improvements.
Fixed bug where uploaded puzzles were not showing up on the Puzzles/Community screen when the uploaded button was selected. It was incorrectly showing mods instead of puzzles.
Fixed bug where the published preview was not matching the expected preview.
Copy and paste now work in sandbox mode.
No longer change camera zoom level when changing size of puzzle if the current puzzle size already fits in window.
When creating a new contraption the default scenery layer is behind the parts layer instead of in front of it. This seems more natural because most the time scenery will be drawn behind parts.
Made it so that when creating a new contraption, the contraption window does not cover the parts bin window. Minor change, but now you don't need to resize the contraption window to get to the parts bin.
Changed the Multiplayer screen so it defaults to showing public multiplayer games and also defaults to creating public games. (Hmmm... a multiplayer competitive mode would be neat... need to think about this).
There will be an update a week from Sunday on September 17th with a new part (Change-A-Ball), but wanted to get these bug fixes out right away.
Maybe I should make a Halloween themed part to add to the game near the end of October. Any suggestions?
Roadmap #1 Going Forward
This a first pass work-in-progress of where Contraption Maker is going. I want to get a new part out in each update - roughly every month. The dates below are solid, but still figuring out the details of what new parts to add. Going forward - this is going to be fun!
Update #1 (September 3rd)
- Fix the Tim Sled crash
Update #2 (September 17th)
- Add new part Change-A-Ball - Fix copy/paste/etc problems in sandbox mode
- Work on upload/update of puzzles
Update #3 (October 15th)
- Add new rope type parts - Bug fixes
Update #4 (November 5th)
- Add new parts (to be determined)
- Chinese language support (tentative)
Update #5 (December 3rd)
- Release Mighty Knights DLC (price TBD)
New Build 1.3.6.6
In this latest update I fixed a crash bug connected with using Toolman Tim's Sled.
New Devs and Introduction
New Devs
Just a very short announcement. Top Meadow and Game Dev Castle have taken over the future development and publishing of Contraption Maker. There will be a longer announcement in the next week or two laying out future plans and where we want to take the game.
Introduction
I (Kevin Ryan) will be doing all the development on Contraption Maker in the short term. I've been working on the game with Spotkin for the last few years and was responsible for creating all the parts and the physics in the game. Now I'm responsible for everything. Oh no... I mean, Yay!
A little about my background:
I was the original designer/programmer of The Incredible Machine. I first started making published games over 35 years ago and was one of the 4 owners of Dynamix before it was bought by Sierra. See the attached picture for some of the games I've worked on. I'm really looking forward to continue to work on Contraption Maker.
Andrew and Zoe Roll into Contraption Maker
In this latest free update to Contraption Maker we have added a few new parts. Meet Andrew and Zoe. Two eggs that have some special abilities.
Andrew
Andrew is a true tennis star recently earning a silver medal in the Egglypics losing to John McEggroll in the finals. If anything comes close to him he will bat it away with his tennis racket. He is also able to knock away ghosts with one swing of his racket. When not swinging a racket he writes novels.
Zoe
Zoe is a wonderful photographer who loves nature and will snap photos of any critter that comes close. The flash will startle some of them and cause them to back away. Her flash will also make Zombie Tim turn around and walk away. Any ghosts hit by the flash will turn blue and they will be unable to spirit away any other parts for a short amount of time.
She is also a Duck Egg which is the best type of egg there is.
Zoe's Camera
If Zoe's Camera is jostled hard enough it will flash which will scare away various creatures.
Have Fun!
You should be able to make some cool contraptions with these new parts. Have fun!
Mighty Knights Update Sneak Peek
There is also a Mighty Knights update coming in the future. There is a cast of Mighty Knight characters and they each have their own special abilities.
It also has a complete terrain system with an editor tool.
It seamlessly works with all the other Contraption Maker parts.
Here is a quick sneak peak of it (note: work-in-progress with some "not-final" artwork):
The Mage casts a spell and creates a Grunt.
Setting up the Archer's behavior. She is very deadly.
Testing the collision borders created when the Digger digs his way through the terrain.
Choosing options in the Terrain Tool.
Playing around a little with an earlier version of the Terrain Tool.
The Mage creates a Grunt who runs over and climbs a ladder.
Contraption Maker Sandbox Update
Hello all, and welcome to another new Contraption Maker update! This update is free for owners of the game, and it should come to your Steam library shortly. If you aren't getting the update, restarting Steam usually does the trick.
The main focus of this update is a new type of puzzle that we are trying out. We are calling them "sandbox scenarios", and we are pretty excited about them!
Sandbox Scenarios
Sandbox Scenarios are are located in the puzzle menu under the new "Sandbox" tab. The way to think about these is kind of a structured version of the Maker Lab. There are a number of scenarios to play through, and most aren't actually that difficult to solve. Instead of doing things the easy way, show off your creativity and solve it in the most "Contraption Maker" way that you can. You are given access to as many parts as you need to get through these scenarios.
Once you have finished a scenario, you can share it to the Workshop for everyone else to check out. Did you get the egg in the box in a way that you are super proud of? Share it to the Workshop and show off to everyone else how you did it. Scenario solutions are all shared together to make it easy to see how everyone has solved a certain challenge.
Are you working on something super awesome that you can't finish in one play session? No worries! Just leave your scenario and come back later, and your contraption will save exactly how you left it.
We are excited to see how everyone solves these shared scenarios in their own ways. You are more than welcome to complete these as easy as you want, but where's the fun in that?
New Achievements
The new sandbox scnearios are coming with some new achievements as well. These are a little experimental, and if this is something everyone likes we would love to add more.
Sandbox achievements add specific challenges to some of the scenario levels. Getting the basketball into the box is pretty easy, but can you do it using only ropes and teeter totters? Please let us know in the forums if challenges like this are interesting, and if you would like to see more of them!
Puzzle Fixes
Unfortunately some of the Halloween puzzles snuck out with a few issues. The puzzles have been fixed and should now all be solvable :-)
Feedback
Sandbox scenarios are something we think will be fun, but we definitely would like to hear your feedback. Is this something you find fun? Would you like to see more of these in addition to more achievement challenges? Let us know in the forums what you would like to see!
