PUZZLE KINGS CHALLENGE - HOT New Feature Now LIVE!
HUGE new update to TetraLogical!
LOTS of work done, including the following!
The biggest by far, is the HOT new "PUZZLE KINGS CHALLENGE" mode!
You'll notice a new "PUZZLE KINGS CHALLENGE" button on the left of the screen, and this will be enabled and select-able once the entire GLOBAL and FRIENDS Leaderboards for ALL levels, from Steam have been synchronised (just takes a couple of seconds generally!).
The new CHALLENGES INFO panel beneath this new button will show any CROWNS LOST, HELD, or WON / GAINED, once synchronised! (These will be counted and tallied up for the current session, UNLESS you switch from FRIENDS to GLOBAL at any point, as this simply resets the WON / LOST' since last shown, notification!)
For example, if you were KING on any Puzzle Level, and have been beaten on it since last played, the game will let you know WHO beat you, and what their best time is. :D ....You can then jump into THIS easy-to-use new CHALLENGES screen to directly play levels, if you want to try and regain your crowns! :) (NOTE - You can also use CURSOR LEFT / RIGHT / UP and DOWN, etc to quickly move through levels!):-
Other stuff!:-
In addition to this, I've also worked on some other improvements, just because I could add them... :D
Enhancement to PUZZLE MODE! (REQUESTED) - You now get a very helpful, highly visual indicator of where your piece is currently classed as EXACTLY over, on the current game board.
Enhancements to NONE-PUZZLE modes! - I've now added a nice new 'Shockwave' effect to more easily highlight where your top scoring move was - it's not essential, and can be turned off in the SETTINGS MENU if preferred (or if it runs slow on an old system), but I liked it! ;)
Enhancement to ALL Modes! - Some GREAT tweaks to timings, to make the game more fluid / enjoyable - plays really smoothly now, turns are MUCH faster, and (for now), the computer 'OPTIMISING PIECES' process is GREATLY sped up! (NOTE - I may have to move to a newer build of the engine at some point soon for online multi-player, which seems to be a bit slower for my AI optimisations, so this *may* possibly return to somewhere near it's original speed again in the future - fingers crossed it doesn't!)
<*> Fixed a silly sound bug, where sometimes sounds weren't played, whoops!
As always, HAVE FUN and a HUGE thank you for your support, guys! - Please let me know what you think of the new mode and improvements - I've worked really hard on them, and it would be awesome (and motivational!) to get some feedback or even reviews! ;)
Den / Japster
Small-ish, but nice update!
A small-ish update!
By request! - I've added a new Windowed mode resolution options and movement control!
1) You can now switch between Full Screen and Windowed modes that are smaller than the Windows resolution. You'll now see an extra area in the Settings Menu, giving a choice of Window sizes to run TetraLogical in, for when you are NOT running in Full Screen - You can select any size offered, and de-selecting Full Screen will run the game in a window of that size - it's dynamically selectable without having to restart... :)
2) I've also added a 'ghosted' title bar window dragging control (which becomes visible when hovered over, at the very top of the window!), so if you are in Windowed mode, you can click, hold and drag the TetraLogical game window around to wherever you'd prefer it!
3) Also added a couple of fixes to my new levels - whoops! - I'd not checked they were fully Puzzle Mode solvable - they are now! :)
4) Sounds and music volume levels saving, and music staying OFF if you selected NO music volume, are also fixed.
As always, have fun, and thanks for the support guys! :D
UPDATE Released - Cloud Saves, New Levels and more!
*NEW!* - A brand new updated release for all of my TetraLogical fans! - Grab it now! - it's got:-
CLOUD SAVES - TetraLogical now saves to the CLOUD also! - ALL progress, plus your current progress / saves states for ALL Puzzle Mode levels... Fire up TetraLogical from any of your Steam Client PC's - Desktop / Gaming PC / Laptop etc, and play where you left off! :D
NEW LEVELS! - 12 additional levels have been added, ALL Puzzle Mode compatible too! - Have fun beating them / setting your best solved time!
Some small but helpful bug fixes - Including a couple of corrected level names, some text positioning (Level Editor Screen, and "Optimising Pieces" now display correctly again! - ...and another where previews were causing problems. If anybody was affected by that last one, I'd be grateful to know if it's now resolved!
As always, have fun!
Many thanks for the support,
Den / Japster
Update Available!
*NEW* build now LIVE, with enhancements and a couple of fixes!
FULL list of changes - many thanks to Marco, for most of these suggestions!:-
1) GREAT new feature for PUZZLE MODE! - Now, hovering over a level in Puzzle Mode will show you who (globally!) has the best time to beat, and what time to beat! - Here's hoping it motivates some of you to attack each other's best times! ;)
2) Puzzle Mode - Same easily-identifiable noise when placing pieces as normal mode.
3) Puzzle Mode - NO delay between tiles destroyed animation and giving a new piece. Makes the game more fluid, and potentially faster to complete levels, based on skill! - Go for it!
4) Changed "Scroll" references to "Mouse Wheel" throughout game - makes more sense!...
5) Puzzle Mode Level Previews - new feature:- Hovering over these will now get the best time and player! - You'll know what (and who!) to beat...
6) Hopefully fixed an a small bug where if the game is optimising puzzle pieces in Puzzle Mode, and you impatiently Exit / Retry, you could leave it stuck it on an 'optimising' cursor.
7) Re-jigged some of the ludicrously difficult levels, and placed them in the 'Crazy' levels pack...
8) Enhancement to the editor, easier to use! - Added more controls to now 'shift' a layout around, adding or deleting columns or rows from ANY edge of the layout (Top, Bottom, Left, Right) - it makes creating levels a LOT more fun/easier, for example, if you need to adjust WHERE your cool graphics are in the level, or find that you need another column or two to the LEFT or TOP, you can now do this!
9) Additional controls for the control method, to also allow the popular group 'A' and 'D' keys to rotate your piece!
Thanks again for your support, everyone! :D
Enjoy!
PS - The next interim update will also show you your best, and the best score to beat, in the Puzzle Mode screen itself. I'll also be letting you know if anyone has beaten you since you last played, if you had the TOP TIME on a Puzzle Level, but have since been beaten - you can then decide if you want to go and take your crown back, there and then! :D
New In-Game Achievements Summary Screen!
IN-GAME ACHIEVEMENTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE
...I've added a fancy screen to tot up and show, inside the game, how you're doing with regards to completing the game's many achievements!... :)
(EDIT:- Players NO LONGER need to edit any STEAM settings to see these! - they should just work and display fine for everyone!)
If STEAM has successfully loaded, then STEAM will send the current player's achievements data to my game and the TROPHY ROOM button will be active, and press-able once the game has synchronised achievements data (generally takes just a couple of seconds!):-
Simply use the UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT Cursor keys, OR Left-Click the mouse anywhere in the Achievements window or drag up or down, to scroll faster or slower.... :)
You can then browse your achievements in-game, to easily see which ones you're missing, or have been awarded (I'll also add stats soon, so you can see how close you are to getting stats-based achievements (ie. Beat the Master AI 10 times etc)).
NOTE - The Achievements Screen will dynamically update, as soon as you earn any achievements in that session! - So hopping back into the Trophy Room after beating an achievement WILL show it as earned, instantly... :)
Oh, and I also added some nice graphical background effects, and started work on CLOUD DATA SAVING too, ready for the next update!... :)
Let me know what you think, and thanks again for your support!
PS - STATS-based achievements aren't updated dynamically *yet* - So don't worry, if you get a stats-based achievement (ie. Beat the Master AI 'X' times, etc) and it doesn't yet show in Trophy Room - it will show when the game is next started... ;)
Den / Japster.
Just to let you all know that I'm now working on the ONLINE MULTI-PLAYER!
ONLINE (STEAM) MULTIPLAYER!
Just a quick announcement to say that after a while adding all of the other features and promised (and then some!) modes, we're now tackling adding the promised ONLINE MULTIPLAYER functionality for TetraLogical!
It's a *BIG* update in terms of work required, as we're having to re-write the turns logic, game logic, achievements recognition, etc to also work with remote players, but it's moving along smoothly, albeit slowly (to get it right and not break anything - LOTS of testing to do too!), at present!
(BTW - We know that some people are managing to play the game in valve's GREAT new couch sharing multiplayer mode, and fair play to them! - but that relies on a great connection, plus, all players control the mouse in this mode, hence it's a little awkward to play, so adding dedicated online lobby based matchmaking and multiplayer should make for the best experience we can give!...)
MAC OS and LINUX releases imminent!
In other news, we've squashed the last couple of bugs that occurred in the MAC OS and LINUX beta builds, so TETRALOGICAL will shortly be available on those platforms too!!
Thanks as always for the support, everyone! - I don't know about you guys, but I'm raring to kick some of my online friends' butts on the game! (or more likely, have mine kicked by them! ;) )
Cheers,
Japster
Some Festive feels!
It will be active from now until just after the new year, so play a game and see what you think! - Just a bit of fun!
If you prefer the normal look and feel of TetraLogical, then just tap 'S' to disable or enable the festive atmosphere, any time whilst playing a game! ;)
As always, thanks for the support, and enjoy the game!
Den.
TETRALOGICAL's Workshop / User-Created Levels Submission area is now LIVE!!!
The NEW User-Created Levels Submission is NOW included inside TetraLogical!
If you fancy creating any levels for submission in TetraLogical's updates, then you can now simply click the new UPLOAD button found in the Level Editor!
Once successfully uploaded, you should hear a confirmation sound (and will be adding confirmation prompts to the game in the next update), and your new level should appear on Steam's Workshop area in a matter of minutes, for other players to vote on for inclusion in the regular (and of course, FREE) levels updates for TetraLogical!
You can even head on over to the Workshop and edit the descriptions for your creations if you prefer to add more info!
(The next patch should be out in a week or so, so you could even have your own level(s) in by then, community votes pending!)
https://steamcommunity.com/app/814420/workshop/
Here's hoping that fans' combined creativity will improve TetraLogical's levels selection for everyone! - User levels that are successfully voted into the game will of course be credited to the creator on the game screen, for in-game kudos! :D
Obviously, as TetraLogical has a universal-age-friendly rating, the only things to bear in mind are that no adult or offensive themed layouts can EVER be included, and will be hidden/deleted from the Workshop, so simply mentioning it here just in case!
Other than that, have fun guys!
PS - I've added some sample existing ones from the game (which I'll remove from the Workshop in a few days), to give you an idea of how it works!:-
New DELETE USER LEVEL button, and a couple of new levels / Puzzles!
Well, I've been steadily beavering away on the latest (admittedly small but useful!) update to the game for the last few days, and I've now got the logic in for user levels deletion / maintenance!
There's now a new DELETE LEVEL icon in the EDITOR screen, which will become active/bright red if on a USER created level.
I've also added a whole lot more functionality behind the scenes, to make adding levels even easier, including auto-sorting of the levels displayed, cleaning up of files for deleted levels, and lots more!
I've tested it in pretty much every scenario, and I'm satisfied that it definitely keeps user levels and data safe, while removing all redundant files to ensure no issues occur with old level data, saves, previews etc...
NOTE:- As this DELETE button will INSTANTLY delete a user created level, I want you to be SURE you meant to do it!... :D
...hence, a simple mouse click will *NOT* delete the current level. For your certainty, you have to press and HOLD down the RIGHT mouse button, and while holding that, click the LEFT mouse button on the DELETE button. You will hear a nudge sound if you didn't do this properly, and a different sound if you did!... :)
Give it a try! - the update is out NOW!
Oh yeah, I also added a couple of new levels / PUZZLE MODE layouts, Levels 105 and 106 - they're seasonal ones, if a little early!... ;)
NEXT UP! - Level sharing functionality!
...it may not be the most straightforward compared to Steam workshop, but I think I have a way of saving a level (or levels) out, which you can then send/share amongst friends! - The game can then simply import them in, if it finds any new levels in your game install folder, and add them automatically!...
An overdue update!
Hi guys!
Apologies that it's been a while since my last update...
I've been sorting out a hectic life, and managing to de-clutter it so that I can devote more time to game development (I've also been slowly selling off my 100's of old retro computer systems, and it made for a very busy life, impacting my available game development time) - I've now passed them all on in one fell swoop, to free up much-needed Dev hours!... :D
So now, I'll soon be in a good place to be attacking that promised online multi-player, and given that Valve's got something up it's sleeve which might help with that, I'm even more excited!...
I'm also by request, adding a tutorial mode, to make it easier for newer players to get the gist of the game... :) ...obviously, more levels will be coming along in the next update, and as I playtest less than I'd like, if I don't see particular Puzzle levels being completed by ANYONE but me, then I'll be tweaking them to make them a bit more complete-able...
Finally, I'll be DISCOUNTING the game very shortly - think 'Halloween'.... Where I'll be greatly discounting it by 40% for a short period of time, if you want to tell your friends to keep an eye out... :) Should help increase the user base ready for when online multi-player is in... :)
Oh, and a HUGE shout-out to Headbubbles, who REALLY seems to like my game, and is well on their way to completing all of the in-game achievements! - 87 so far I think, WOW! - I'll be working on making the last of those achievements live, so that you can get a nice round 100!...
PS - Once the game has enough purchasers and purchaser reviews, Steam restrictions will be lifted, and I'll be allowed to create more achievements too, for everyone - ie. Per Puzzle Level completions etc!
Thanks for the support all, it means a LOT to me.... :D
