It is. Though some graphics are actually just bad because they're placeholders created by a non-artist (me). We have another update, by the way. [Cross-posted from Omiya Games] Hello, everyone! We're back from MAGFest 2016! The reception has been incredible, and we want to thank everyone who visited and played our game. As it turns out, our survey revealed that everyone loved Not a Clone. Everyone answered they wanted to play it again, and the grand majority indicated they'd rate the game 5 out of 5 or 4 out of 5. Now that we're back from MAGFest, we're working hard to finish the game. The good news is that we only have a few months of work left before we release. In the meantime, though, our artist is working on fleshing out the graphics for our Cookie Clicker clone microgames. Check it out:
[Cross-posted from Omiya Games] Last week, we shown a sketch of a few clicker microgames. We just finished integrating them into the game, and they’ll take the place of Box Clicker, posted back in August last year. Many thanks to Astra Wijaya for putting the graphics together. So how does one play Flower Clicker or Phone Clicker. Simply tap the screen by exactly the number of times noted by the instructions. Be careful, though: if you tap too many times, you may lose your screen! In other news, Taro Omiya has been very busy writing up an academic article for Game on Games on the G|A|M|E Journal. The full details of the development process for Not a Clone may be coming soon!
[Cross-posted from Omiya Games] Apologize for the lack of updates for a few weeks. Many of us are recovering from the exhausting trip at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), so this week’s update is a small work-in-progress idea we’ve been bouncing around. Born from our writer, Robert Denner, the loading screen has been updated to look like a messenger application, where your friend introduces you to Not a Clone store. Here’s a rough sketch below: Obviously, we have a lot of work to do on improving this screen, but it does mean we now have a progressing story in our game. In other news, Taro Omiya has been working hard on integrating leaderboards into the game, while Astra Wijaya and Chase Bethea has been adding new assets into the game. We may start a Twitch stream soon in regards to our development process, now that we think of it...
[Cross-posted from Omiya Games] This weeks Not a Clone update is by Astra Wijaya, who put these beautiful spritesheets together for the next pair of microgames. Well be implementing these graphics live on Twitch at Tuesday, 3:00 PM EST, channel twitch.tv/japtar10101. So stay tuned! In the meantime, the leaderboard integration for iOS Taro Omiya was implementing is now complete. Well be working on Android next, though as noted earlier, will only be supported on Android version 4.0 or higher.
[Cross-posted from Omiya Games] As hinted in our last post, we've finally updated our old Gem Ninja microgame which used placeholder assets to Bomb Ninja and Bun Ninja. Some of you may note the latter was integrated into the game during a Twitch stream. Similar to the old game, Kittens and Spices will act as things-not-to-slice in each game:
[Cross-posted from Omiya Games] Last weekend, we participated in the Ludum Dare 35, and released a new PC/Mac/Linux game during the game jam! We will be busy handling Ludum Dare-related business for the next two weeks, but we do have a few updates on Not a Clone. As usual, Astra Wijaya put together a few sketches for the next set of microgames we'll be working on: What will these microgames be? Tune in next week to find out! In the meantime, here's a GIF of Pushing Buttons in its final form:
The Not a Clone Update to Unlock All Secrets [Cross-posted from Omiya Games] Our weekly live-stream continued last Tuesday (April 26th, 3:00 PM EDT) with a completion of Unlock, the handy puzzle micro-game about moving a key out of its keyhole. The end result? We've successfully integrated Astra Wijaya's artwork to a thrilling tale of thievery: For those interested, our stream's highlight is available here: twitch.tv/japtar10101/v/63164094. This still leaves one more sketch from last week's Not a Clone post, which will be the highlight of this Tuesday's 3:00 PM EDT stream (twitch.tv/japtar10101). That said, we still have more new sketches!
Not a Clone Update: Make Me Happy [Cross-posted from Omiya Games] After some technical difficulties with our weekly live-stream last Tuesday (May 3rd, 3:00 PM EDT), weve successfully integrated Astra Wijayas artwork to the comical animal caring simulator, Make Me Happy. Or is it a complimenting-a-classmate simulator? You decide! Such a romantic micro-game wouldnt be complete without any heartbreaks! Fortunately, we deliver on that front, too: As always, our streams highlight is available here: twitch.tv/japtar10101/v/64383068. Next Tuesdays 3:00 PM EDT stream (at twitch.tv/japtar10101) will cover one of the last two sketches weve posted so stay tuned!
[Cross-posted from Omiya Games] We have a short Not a Clone update this week. We finished integrating Astra Wijayas artwork for Ridiculous Rockets last Tuesday (May 10th, 3:00 PM EDT) in our weekly live-stream: As always, our streams highlight is available here: twitch.tv/japtar10101/v/65721074. Next Tuesdays 3:00 PM EDT stream (at twitch.tv/japtar10101) will cover the last microgame that needs art integration before release! The rest of the stream will focus on adding the last few left-over features in the game.
[Cross-posted from Omiya Games] While we had to skip the update last week due to some life-related reasons, we're back with some new information about Not a Clone! First, the great news: we'll be uploading a demo version of the game very soon. This will provide a sneak-peek at what's in store for the full version. The full version of the game, meanwhile, still needs a few more polishes (mainly bug fixes) and an occasional feature or two. For this week, we've successfully integrated Astra Wijaya's artwork to Ridiculous Piñatas. Those who watched our stream might recall the large number of problems we had with this microgame, but rest assured it's been fixed as proven by the clip below: Also new to a game is a new unlockable: the lucky coin. Every once-in-a-while, a coin will appear in the menu that transitions from one minigame to the other. Tapping on it provides more money to spend in the shop later. We will NOT be streaming next week, as we'll be busy putting together finishing polishes to the demo build. Still, stay tuned!
The music from the trailer is by Kevin Macleod, a composer that releases music, royalty free. I admit that it's meant to be a placeholder, and has already been replaced in-game. But I do have some great news! [Cross-posted from Omiya Games] After a ton of updates and teasing, were proud to announce that the demo version for Not a Clone is out right now! You can find our free demo (for Windows, Mac, and Linux) in these web portals below: Itch.io GameJolt SlideDB Note that a web version is in the works as well. What is Not a Clone, you ask? Heres the full game description: Were still hard at work putting together the final release for the game, but were confident in the games current state to present to you a good taste at what is coming up. Let us know what you think!
[Cross-posted from Omiya Games] Apologize for the lack of update last week. Our regular poster here, Taro Omiya, was sick last weekend. But now he's doing a lot better! Our latest Not a Clone updates are general User Interface (UI) polishes, in preparation for the looming release. As those who played our free demo will recognize, we have a rather unusual loading screen that provides messages to the player. We've polished this to look more like a text message application it was intended to look like. Both our artist, Astra Wijaya, and writer, Robert Denner (a past collaborator on Letters From Secret Santa, and the person who came up with the text messaging idea), are hard at work putting finishing touches to this unique story-telling medium. Also debuted with the free demo are the music! The ever-so-talented composer, Spencer Bambrick, has put together some great music for this game, including the calming menu theme below. Check it out!
[Cross-posted from Omiya Games] We're rapidly approaching completion with Not a Clone! At this point, almost all of the major features are implemented, and we are making some small incremental changes in preparation for release. For example, the newest addition to our game is an animation for the notification icon that appears on the Shop button: Oddly enough, this effort came about due to a necessary bug fix that the notification number did not accurately reflect the number of microgames you could buy from the shop. Similarly, while we had the Lucky Coin feature for a while (a coin you can tap in-between games to get more in-game currency), we only recently implemented a method to unlock the feature. Astra Wijaya has been hard at work to put the sketching the last few necessary bits on unlocking the upgrade. We'll be continuing our weekly Twitch live-stream next Tuesday, 3:00 PM EDT at twitch.tv/japtar10101. Our plan is to implement a few improvements for microgames that a few people had problems with. If you missed the last one, where we created a method to unlock the Lucky Coin, you can check it out in the Youtube video below.
[Cross-posted from Omiya Games] Happy Fourth of July weekend! This week, we've been gearing up to send out a private beta build next week. As many of you may know, beta testing is a simple quality assurance measure to make sure bugs are fixed, and the game's economy is balanced well. Unfortunately, due to the rampant cloning (heh) and piracy in certain app stores, we'll be keeping this build internal. In the meantime, here are some development updates! As noted earlier, we are now focusing on polishes. Last Tuesday, Taro Omiya modified the behavior of two games, Phone Clicker and Angry Monkeys. Here's what Phone Clicker looked like before the change: And here's what it looks like after the change. Notice any difference? That's right: we've replaced the number of taps made on Phone Clicker to a bunch of fingerprints. It's a small, but noticeable way to create distinctions between microgames that are functionally similar to each other. The changes made to Angry Monkeys, on the other hand, are more subtle. Here's the before: And here's the after. Notice some changes made to the physics: We've set the monkeys and the slingshot to not collide with each other. Furthermore, when the monkey is flung into the air, its trajectory will not be in the mercy of the string behavior, but rather, the position you've let go of the slingshot. Overall, this should make the game more predictable and easier to play. Last but not least: Astra Wijaya has update the upgrade graphics to look cleaner, as demonstrated in the game list screenshot below: As usual, we'll be continuing our weekly Twitch live-stream next Tuesday, 3:00 PM EDT attwitch.tv/japtar10101. If you missed the last one, where we've made the changes described above, you can check it out in the Youtube video below. See you next time!
Apologize for being sporadic in both replies and updates. We're in private beta testing phases, which require a lot of time and dedication in sending out to our testers the latest build. Either way, we do have a short update: [Cross-posted from Omiya Games] A quick update on Not a Clone: as many of you may have noticed, a few days ago, we've update the demo build to a new version 1.1. The changes are fairly small for the demo itself--the biggest change is how the loading screen appears--but it also synchronizes the build with where we're at with our current development. From here on out, we'll be updating the demo builds more often as we approach completion, so stay tuned! Our last two live streams focused on general polish. Last week, for example, we updated the price of every microgame, using Google Sheets as a reference: As usual, we'll be continuing our weekly Twitch live-stream next Tuesday, 3:00 PM EDT at twitch.tv/japtar10101.
