Posted in: Electric Shocktopus | April 24, 2015 | No Comments

Well, after last week’s long-and-challenging Feel Bad Friday — this week I thought we’d take a slightly different tack.  A walk down memory lane, if you will, where I play through the *first level* ever created by a player in the Electric Shocktopus: Danmaku Barrage by Chemi.  Created in June 2013.  Whaaaat?  Yes.  Long, long ago.

So thank you to Chemi for sharing that level way back when, and thanks to NealCruco for helping convert the level to bring it into the modern era.

Click to watch on YouTube

This old, old level shows off a couple mechanics that *used* to be in the game, but aren’t anymore.   Things like charging yourself negatively (now you can only charge your Shocktopus positively).  Or floating conductors – that take on a voltage depending on their surroundings.  Neat to see little reminders like that about how much games change as you develop them.

-Andy

Posted in: Electric Shocktopus, General News | April 17, 2015 | No Comments

Things are going well at TestTubeGames headquarters.  I’m pretty much over that cold from last week (wow, that was a doozy).  I’m working on some new levels for Bond Breaker — including Oxygen:

A very, very rough draft of an Oxygen atom (the innermost two electrons are invisible)

(Wow, I’ve been refreshing my memory about p-orbitals and hybridization. How long ago did I learn about this stuff?)

*And* I’ll be at the Cambridge Science Festival again on Saturday.  It’s a fun event if you’re in the Boston area.  Tons of science activities and booths staffed with really cool research going on in the area.  Also there’s a Robot Zoo – which I’ve heard people are interested in?  There are activities all week, but I’ll be at the Science Carnival at the Cambridge Public Library.  Come on out and play some science games!

Last year’s science festival was off the hook!

Feel Bad Friday!

Then, of course, since this is Friday, there’s a little ol’ thing called “Feel Bad Friday” that we need to take care of.  Before we get started on this week, there was a bug in last week’s level, Meadowy, so if you’re so inclined, you can go grab the real level code here.

Okay, on to this week’s level!  This is another level by the prolific A Random Player — who could single-handedly keep me in the FBF business for quite a while, it looks like.  This one is called Juggling, and, as with every week so far, it is a very difficult level.  I even had to edit the video to keep it manageable.  Twas not easy.

Click to watch the video on YouTube

If you want to play that level yourself, you can go grab the code here.  And a big thank to A Random Player for thinking of such an intricate level… playing through it before it was even known to be beatable… and then sharing it with us.  You can find all the levels that players (random and otherwise) have made, or share your own, in the TTG forums.

-Andy

Posted in: Electric Shocktopus | April 10, 2015 | No Comments

Slow week over here at TestTubeGames headquarters — I’ve been stuck in bed getting over a nasty cold.  But if there’s one thing that’ll snap me out of this… it’s a Feel Bad Friday.

This week I’m reaching deep into the history banks of the forums… all the way back to December 2013.  Back then, Shocktopus was heavily in development, Estonia’s Minister of Culture resigned, and Bond Breaker was still in the distant future.  Ah, good times.  Well, thanks to a little level converter we now have, we’re able to go back and play some of those old levels in the *new* version of Shocktopus.

Which means a whole bunch more levels to play!

This episode I take on exfret’s dastardly level Meadowy.  In introducing the level, he calls it “nice, simple level.”  Just, keep that in mind as you watch me play.  A nice.  Simple.  Level.  The level code is posted for the world to see, so feel free to give the level a try yourself.

Click to watch the video on YouTube

Thanks to exfret for sharing this level way back when.  Now when it comes to making levels, exfret is kinda a big deal.  You can find plenty more Shocktopus levels by him in the forum, or if you’ll recall… he made a whole story arc for Velocity Raptor.  The See-All Seal.  Impressive stuff, I encourage you to give it a try if you haven’t already.

-Andy

Posted in: Bond Breaker, Electric Shocktopus | April 3, 2015 | No Comments

Me versus a number!  Woo!  I just finished up playing another player-made level of The Electric Shocktopus — for my weekly Feel Bad Friday video.  (Where I keep losing… and losing… and losing at my own game.  But, hey, I eventually win, so… yay?)

This week I played another level by NealCruco (who brought us 4A4c)… this time called 4348.  You’ll have to look deep into a title like to truly understand it.  Or just skip right to the level!

Click to watch on YouTube

Thanks to NealCruco for providing the challenge this week!

Other News

A brief summary of the haps at TestTubeGames…

The Electric Shocktopus Version 0.5

The game is still solidly in Beta, but thanks to the help of the intrepid playtesters in the forums, we’re getting close to a more finalized version of the game!  Yay!  Now you can grab version 0.5, with tons of improvements and fixes.  Great for trying your hand at NealCruco’s level above…

Day of the Devs

Last weekend I spent some time at a games festival at Boston University — “Day of the Devs.”  I had a booth where I was showing off some games (Shocktopus, and Bond Breaker), and I had the help of a little someone to hand out business cards…

Handing out cards is all in the wrists. Oops, sorry Shocktopus.

I got some time to chat with a lot of nice game developers there, some of whom were indies, and some of whom were still students (wait, not mutually exclusive… but I digress).  I had a great time as always showing off Shocktopus, and watching people play.  It’s like Feel Bad Friday, but not me playing!

Bond Breaker, part II

There are some big changes on the horizon for Bond Breaker.  This is a project that I’ve been working on with the Center for Chemistry at the Space Time Limit (err, CaSTL) at U.C. Irvine.  The game has been out for a while now, but we’re working on add a lot new levels and mechanics right now.  There was always a plan that we’d get into advanced topics like (more accurate) Scanning Tunneling Microscopes, and Oxygen, and current research.  And right now we’re working on levels that do just that.  Fun!  So stay tuned on that…

-Andy