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Boston FIG 2015

Posted in: Electric Shocktopus | September 22, 2015 | No Comments


The Boston Festival of Indie Games took place last week here (in Boston… err, actually Cambridge).  It’s an annual event where a bunch of developers show off their games at booths… and thousands of people come by to see them.  It’s nice, low-key, and a lot of fun.

This was my third time showing off a game at the event, and I brought The Electric Shocktopus.

And when I say I brought him… I *really* mean I brought him.

 

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Thanks to my artistic and resourceful wife, my booth was decked out with a larger-than-life-size Shocktopus.  From what I heard, the giant octopus cut-out was like a beacon at the festival, visible no matter where you stood.

 

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Though, I suppose where I was standing I couldn’t see him.

 

As always, I had a wonderful time showing off the game, and it was really well-received.  Over the course of the 8-hour event, dozens of people stopped to play, and many more simply watched.  I was showing off a demo-version of the game with just ten levels… though a few people got a bit more involved than that.  One person got into the Feel Bad Friday levels and was playing through 4A4C…

 

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Suffice it to say, since he was new to the game, he didn’t beat the level.  But he made it much further than I expected (all the way to those crates you need to burn through, for the record).

And a few other players took to the Level Editor like Shocktopi to water.  Here’s Sea Star Reef, a level that a player made over the weekend:

 

Here's the Level Code:

[The Electric Shocktopus-“Sea Star Reef”-eNqr1jGkAOoAsRkeaKqjg1UNpTpN8UJ8OrEAPEqNTYlVTCicdHCGH1YX4eKQocLYBMElz Z0IXZZ44KiuwaeLnFjGnohopYpsWK1DIjAyR0fkqjXBA/HrxJQlHtHCHLy+ppqFeB0zDE zGF46Eg3ZUx1DUQYUcOJhNrFYqUdKJjgWiaqU0EKsWALmm47s=]

So I emerged from this year’s Boston FIG having shown my game off to a bunch of new players, having gotten some valuable feedback, and with a giant Shocktopus cutout.  Which is standing on my desk.  Looming… looming.

-Andy

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FBF: YS Display

Posted in: Electric Shocktopus | September 18, 2015 | No Comments


Now you may want to cover your eyes for this week’s Feel Bad Friday… it’s pretty offensive.  That’s right, I’m playing through YS Display by A Random Player.  And it is scandalous.  See what I’m talking about by watching the video on YouTube.

Also, along the way I show off a couple new features of Version 0.7, which is still under development.  There’s some neat science tools (voltmeters and such), and some useful level-design tools (moving tiles that you’ve placed ftw!).

 

 

It’s another case of A Random Player making a level that leaves me scratching my head.  Was it made through trial-and-error?  Was it planned out completely before a single tile was placed?  Was a computer program used in the creation of this?  Inquiring minds want to know!

As always, thanks for sharing this level with us, A Random Player.  For anyone who wants to play this scandalous level yourself, you can find the code here.

-Andy

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