Dash & Dot game studio's microblog

[dash-and-dot]

Some blog changes

Hi there,

We hand’t posted any news for a while and first one will be about blog (lol, again). 

As many of you could know, we are using Tumblr to host this blog. Unfortunately, I selected wrong configuration of main and secondary blogs. And we’ve decided to switch it today. It’s not a big deal, but our old posts will be ‘archived’ in dash-and-dot-old.tumblr.com

So, subscribe to new tumblr and stay tuned with us! :3

[xushaw]

[dash-and-dot-old]

Another movie about indie games! Helping these guys you’re actually helping indie developers. Let’s make it happen! ;)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/studiobento/gameloading-rise-of-the-indies

P.S. Hope, someday you'll see movie about us :D

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Yay! Our microblog turned 1 today! 

A year ago we decided to start blog and share new and stuff related to Dash & Dot.

Unfortunately we haven't pushed a lot of updates, but we definitely will fix it this year! ^_^

Stay tuned,

Dash & Dot team

[xushaw]

[dash-and-dot-old]

This week the Chain Reaction gaming event was going at Digital October. Unfortunately we could not get there, ‘cos that part of the city was closed due some public event :( But as we came to the city, we decided to watch online translation at our fav cafe :3

http://digitaloctober.ru/ru/events/chain_reaction_igrovye_startapy

[xushaw]

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Recently me and Anton have bought two PS Vita! First we were inclined to the Nintendo 3DS. We checked it at Nintendo zone at cafe in MSK :) It was fun to play Mario, to use REAL buttons, analog sticks (honestly I’m tired of “one finger control" games for touch devices *U_U* )! Nintendo’s console is a bit specific though. Sony’s PS Vita seems more attractive for us: there’s separate category “indie games" (cute! :3), rich controls (two analog sticks, real buttons, etc. :3). Anyway, I liked old PSP and PS Vita seems very attractive for me. Can’t wait to start to make game prototypes for it ^________^

[garfino-old-blog]

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Guess what? I’m a juror in the @IndieCade! Not in Awards Jury… However it’s amazing! :D

[garfino-old-blog]

BIG update on Dash & Dot's website

[dash-and-dot-old]

Hi there! 

I’m glad to tell you that our website/blog for Dash & Dot has been updated!

I and Ksenia had been working hard on new design and it’s HTML/CSS implementation for several weeks. Results of our work you can see by yourself at http://dash-and-dot.com

Also, since today we moved Dash & Dot’s blog from old subdomain and placed it as front page with several static pages – about our games and our team. We want to share more about our daily work on games and build up BIG community. So, share this news with “Share” button, like posts and discuss in comments! ;)

Welcome to Dash & Dot game studio’s blog!

Anton and other members of Dash & Dot game studio

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Work weekend in coworking ^_^

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Happy Valentine's Day! ^_^

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Leap Motion

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Hi there!

As game developers me and Dash & Dot team are really interested in new devices and platforms. Unfortunately we've missed Ouya (who knows, we still could release our games for it ^_^).

If you don't know anything about Leap Motion here is short demo video about from official website.

Ksenia helped to make several unboxing photos. 

In box we've found letter from Michael – Leap Motion Co-founder and CEO.

 As you can see, Leap Motion controller is tiny and light. It has logo on rubber back side. There are several red leds on top, green led is placed on one of the side surfaces. Controller also has micro USB port to connect it to your Mac or PC.

After unboxing we've connected Leap Motion to our Mac Mini to run first tests. At developer's portal company has shared several test and example applications. So, we downloaded it with special application that is required to make everything work. Hardware connected, software installed, GO!

OMG! It's working and, you know, it's really precise. We've played with it around 15 minutes, found nice demo with light...And now we are really excited to make next game with its support! I couldn't wait to start work on it!

[xushaw]

Looking back...

[dash-and-dot-old]

Hi there! 

We in Dash & Dot aren't celebrating only big holidays such as Christmas and NY in the end of year. A year ago our debut game Virus Wars has been released and published in the Apple AppStore.

Today, I, Ksenia,  would like to share memories about Virus Wars development process.

In this holidays bustle I almost forgot, that on the 28th of December a year ago iOS game Virus Wars was released !!

I want to share dev process, ‘cos, I think it was “indie” enough.

IDEA

Virus Wars was our debut game, so we wanted to make something simple, but avoiding cloning visual style and game mechanics of AppStore hits. It was decided to make board game Virus Wars, that imitates evolution of several hostile colonies of viruses, which are growing and absorbing (zombifying) each other.

As mentioned in boardgamegeek.com: “The exact origin of the game is unknown, but it was actively played as a paper-and-pencil game in Saint Petersburg State University in 80s. There were several variants of the game with slightly different rules.” It wasn’t well known game, but seems simple and attractive.

We decided to save original “pencil&paper charm” without cartoonish effects.

Here’s main menu evolution:

…and “intro” variants:

Menu scene made in blender3d. I was new to 3d and blender, so this scene wasn’t created as fast, as it should be. Sure game menu wasn’t super realistic render, but for such purpose it was ok:) There were some troubles with blender 2.5 beta - some tools didn’t work yet or worked not properly, but some features, that I need, were improved in 2.5 and I didn’t want to use old 2.49. Anyway I love blender:)

Another hardcore was making TRULY realistic fonts, ‘cos I hadn’t found handwritten fonts, that suit well. All fonts were replaced by handwritten titles: they were written by hand in pen on paper, photographed and “photoshopped” this way:

Of course, pen tablet could solve the problem, but that time I had none:(

Here’s some sketches, that used for game icon and menu scene:

Game field looks extremely minimalistic:

Some cartoonish faces were added to tutorial:

Decided to follow the “realistic-pencil-and-paper style” to the end, we started to record the sound effects by themselves on iPod Touch. Here’s Anton recording “pencil sound”:  

Finally the game was released and (SUDDENLY) mentioned at Indie Cade 2012!

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Merry Christmas!!!

[tigsource]

NAVE Arcade, by Videogamo

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These guys are AWESOME! Amazing old-style arcade! Love it! ^_^

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Mega BLOCK. Coder side.

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At this weekend I and Ksenia (@xushaw) have been working on game for Charity Game Jam. Thanks to Wasin Thonkaew (@haxpor) that I found out about it.

It was several reasons, why we decided to participate in this game jam. At first, main goal of game jam to collect money to make child’s wishes come true. I think it’s really cool to make game for such purpose. 

After short discussion we decided to make simple jumping up game. Ksenia started to work on game art, and I was working on game prototype. 

On Saturday I’d started with LimeJS engine and first prototype was ready soon.

But on next day I met several problems with box2d. That’s why I decided to switch to cocos2d-html5. It was right choice, because I worked with cocos2d-iphone earlier when we were developing Virus Wars.

With new engine my coding speed increased! But I hadn’t enough experience with box2d. So, I’d spent a lot of time in learning new things about physics engine and applying it to game. Nevertheless our game started to look more polished. 

On Monday I’d begun to add game character’s animations created by Ksenia. It was easiest part.

On next two days (Wednesday and Thursday) I’ve improved work with box2d, polished gameplay and added a lot of stuff to make everything more fun. 

Last two things were main menu and credits. Video with them has been posted in Dash & Dot blog yesterday at evening. Several hours later we submited our game to Charity Game Jam site.

GAMEPLAY VIDEO TIME!

Want to try and beat my record? Here you are!

Official website Charity Game Jam: http://charitygamejam.com

And direct link to Mega Block our site http://dash-and-dot.com/mega_block

Charity Game Jam is awesome experience and we definitely will repeat it! ^_^

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Credits in Mega block game, that we created for Charity Game Jam.

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MOAR BUSINESS CARDS! ^_^