#Marcus O'Snail - Completely made on mobile

14 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

cinder pebble
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I previously posted this game on the Feedback channel, but that was when I was about halfway finished. The game is now complete.

This a puzzle game about Marcus O'Snail, a friendly snail who is abducted by scientists and forced to navigate through mazes all day long.

The game including all assets (music, sound effects, art and code) were all made using only a smart phone. If someone is interested in how it can be done feel free to ask me any questions. I'd be more than happy to share and discuss workflows.

https://bastisbastis.itch.io/marcus-o-snail

IMG_4955.gif
itch.io
Marcus O'Snail by bastisbastis

Nice gravity you got there. Would be a shame if something happened to it.

mellow merlin
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everything via phone? was it an Ubuntu Touch based one?

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I'm definitely interested in the setup, both hardware and software

cinder pebble
# mellow merlin everything via phone? was it an Ubuntu Touch based one?

It's an iPhone SE (2020), and Apple have some pretty restrictive App Store rules, but I've found solutions to most situations.

For playtesting the Gamepad implementation I used a 8bitduo SN30 PRO+. The only other hardware used were a pair of headphones (and a charger I guess).

The game engine is (obviously) phaser.

For coding I use the app CodeSandbox. It let's you write nodejs apps, so it works fine with Phaser. It supports git, has a nice extended keyboard layout, supports NPM and includes a browser that can show console.log unlike all other browsers I've tried.

For music I use GarageBand, it's a suprisingly powerful tool.

For sound effects I've tried a few JS ports of BFXR, and the best one I've found is this: https://jfxr.frozenfractal.com

I've finally found a good Vector art app: Vectornator. For pixel art I've used Pixel Studio and Nomad Sculpt (only paid app I think) Nomad Sculpt.

I sometimes use the website ezgif.com for animation and image processing stuff.

The planning is Done in Notion (nice for coop game dev).

My last project was a multiplayer game that had a simple Node process as backend running on a webhotel I rent. The app Termius has a terminal that let me SSH into the server to manage it.

I know some of the apps are iOS only, but android probably have similar solutions.

The hole thing is a bit clunky, but given my current life situation (2 small kids) this is how I can squeeze the most game dev into a day.

The only thing I havn't found a solution for so far is 3d model animation, other than like rotating objects in code.

I'd be happy to go into more details if you have any more questions.

mellow merlin
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lol exactly the same situation hence my interest in your approach 🤣

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wow so you really did code on the device. cant imagine that with that clunky little onscreen keyboard

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I use an older Thinkpad 470 which is hidden in the kitchen and after kids are in bed I get it out of the stash 🙂

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have you thought about streaming the screen to a TV + a Bluetooth keyboard? or is the TV blocked as well by the children?

cinder pebble
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I did, and I'm kind of used to it after a couple of years of doing it. I constantly write .serOrigin() instead .setOrigin() though.

Most of my coding is Done while laying in bed next to my sleeping youngest, so TV isn't an option. But I'm considering getting a really compact bluetooth keyboard.

mellow merlin
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thats what I'd call hardcore coding next level

scarlet jetty
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nice game, how did you get ideas for level designs?

cinder pebble
# scarlet jetty nice game, how did you get ideas for level designs?

Thank you!

I started out trying to figure out different ways to challange the player (Unclimbable walls, moving blocks, force quick rotation, rotate while falling, breakable walls) through simple brainstorming. Some ideas came up when playing with my kids.

Then I just started to try to figure out how a level would have to look to force a player to solve the challange.

Some levels I drew on paper, some in a drawing app and some I made up as I coded them.

For the overall progression I made a list of what I wanted each level to do:

Level 1: Teach movement
Level 2: Teach Rotation up
Level 3: Teach rotation down
Level 4 Challange rotation
...etc...

The last thing was really helpful for me.

polar canopy
cinder pebble