Frog The Door Games

The paid and free versions of Cryptogram for Windows Phone 7 have been released. Look, a press release!

Cryptogram, the Classic Puzzle Game Comes To Windows Phone 7

Based on the classic puzzle game available in thousands of newspapers and books across the globe, you can now bring hundreds of cryptogram puzzles with you at your fingertips on your Windows Phone!

A cryptogram is a simple alphabet substitution applied to a phrase where each letter in the phrase will stand for another. You uncover the solution by swapping an encrypted letter for the correct letter. If you think 'Z' in the puzzle stands for 'A', then it will equal 'A' every time the letter 'Z' appears in the phrase. The puzzle is solved when all letters in the phrase have been deciphered.

• 300 puzzles with more on the way!
  
• Clean and simple user interface with modifiable themes.
  
• Solutions are famous quotes from some of history's greatest minds.
  

A free version supported by ads will be released in addition to a paid version available without ads for $1.99. It is available in all supported countries but solutions are in English.

Crytogram is now available on the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace.

Marketplace Deep Link to Ad-Free Version

Marketplace Deep Link To Free Version With Ads

You might be wondering what's up with Vintage Hero and rest assured, it's still in the development pipeline. After picking up the HTC Trophy, I started messing with Silverlight on Windows Phone 7. The result is a new game I'll be releasing very soon called Cryptogram.

Based on the classic puzzle game that uses a substitution cipher to obfuscate a quote or phrase, uncover the solution by swapping an encrypted letter for the correct letter. When all the letters have been solved, the phrase becomes clear.

Here's a few screenshots of the game in action. Click to enlarge.

Expect Cryptogram to be released on the Windows Phone Marketplace soon!

While making the Silverlight app served as a good diversion to recharge my batteries, work on Vintage Hero will resume full time. Being a more complex game with a lot of content, it takes time to design and make all the parts I need to put in the game. But I am eager to get back to it as it is a project close to my heart and I want nothing more than to see people playing it. Once work commences, I'll gather what I need to put together the promised video of progress on the game. In the meantime, if you have a Windows Phone, look for the new app soon. I'll let you know when it's out.

Let's face it. Rumble and XNA haven't had the best history. I still hear people refer to "massage games" and such when people talk about Xbox Live Indies, but there are many out there who can now look past the sea of undesirables and see the potential and successful. It's come a long way since it's innocent beginnings. Yet many developers still shy away from utilizing force feedback and some that do, use it in a brute force kind of way that can annoy the player. Even some AAA titles seem to just set the motors at full blast for three seconds when you crash off the road. Ugh. When it comes to rumble, subtle is the way to go.

Before I go on, I'd like to say that the following code is free to use in your game and is licensed under the Microsoft Permissive License with one caveat. You can not use this component in a game where the sole purpose is to vibrate the controller. You cannot use this for a "massage game" or any other where the purpose of the application is rumble based. You can only use it to enhance existing gameplay where otherwise, not having rumble will not change the objective of the game. Hate that I have to say it, but it needs to be said.

Here I've implemented a time dependent, dynamic based rumble component. I've played many indie games that accidentally leave the motors running until I quit to the dashboard. You can get around this by using time based triggers. When an event happens that requires force feedback (say a collision) just add a new rumble for a set amount of time and when the times up, the rumble stops.

To make things subtle I use the idea of dynamics. Since sound is a vibration, we can use it as an example in which to compare. In music, dynamics are control over the volume of the sound, or intensity of the vibration. By varying the dynamics over time, I could apply a "shape" to the controller's rumble. I've added the ability to change to different rumble shapes by calling them by name, such as binary (on/off), linear (start at minimum and increase to maximum over time) or parabolic (fade in to maximum by time/2 and fade out to minimum by time).

Since joining Twitter I've been uploading some new screens of Vintage Hero to Twitpic. If you follow me, you might have noticed some of these tweets are marked with a #screenshotsaturday hashtag. Screen Shot Saturday is part of an independent initiative that collects images game developers post to twitter on Saturdays using the hashtag. Here are some of the ones I've posted as well some concept art for the cutscenes.

The first update for Space Racer has hit the marketplace. The next time you play the game the patch will automatically install. Lot's of new features this time around including:
-3 new bonus tracks unlocked when all 12 main tracks are beaten.
-Switch between normal and hard difficulties in single player mode at the track select screen.
-When playing 2-player, the loser won't get bumped out after the first race when "Play All" is selected for the circuit.
-You can now pick the same ship to race with in 2-player mode.
-New trial version is a better representation of how the game plays.
-You'll see a congratulations screen after beating all twelve tracks.

Thanks to all who played the game and I hope these changes make the experience more enjoyable. I'll be working at break-neck speed on Old School Hero for the next few weeks and hope to get some new video up soon. I also have some blog ideas to write up on the technical side, including how I did the faux 3-D effect of two sprite circling each other on the congrats screen in Space Racer and the as promised Tile Ripper for tile based games. I'd also like to share some press the new game's received, including being picked by IndieGames.com as one of the best of January's Xbox Indies! Till then...

Space Racer's been out for less than a week and I've been getting some great feedback. Since release I've been working on an update to address some issues people have with the game, the main one being the game's length. So for the first update I'll be adding some new bonus tracks that will be unlocked when you beat all 12 of the main tracks. I'll also be addressing some of the 2 player oddities that are present including the loser getting booted out of the first race when playing all tracks in a circuit. Also, you'll now have the ability to pick the same ship when playing a 2 player race.

I'd also like to thank 1uporpoison.com for holding a contest giving away free codes of the game. Congratulations to the winners, sleepydumbdude, Doug, and philliplynx! Check the comments in the Space Racer review and you'll see they've left a code to get Alawishus Pixel for free. The first one to enter the code wins!

If you don't already get Xbox Indie reviews from GameMarx.com or listen to their fantastic podcast about indie games be sure to start now! This week they're giving away a free code for Space Racer! If you missed the contest, no worries. Watch the GameMarx video review show this Monday and there will be another chance to get a code. Regardless, you should be checking out all the content on GameMarx as they're a highly entertaining bunch. In addition to the reviews, their game search app is also a great way to visually narrow down a list of games with custom attributes you might have. If you're into Xbox Indie Games and haven't seen their website, you're missing out. Leave a comment or send a message and let 'em know you're out there!

If you've played Space Racer and would like to review it here's a couple of websites that allow user reviews.
Xblaratings.com lets users review and rate all Xbox Live Arcade and Indie games.
Popupgamer.com is another review site with user generated content. Rate and review any game on any system!

Check back here for more news and I'll be sure to post when the update is up!

I sure hadn't planned to spend so much time in development with this game but what can I say, I like the polish. A game is, after all, only done when it's done. You can pick it up here or directly on the Xbox 360 marketplace for 80 MS points. Up next it's back to Old School Hero double time now. Doing a racing game was fun but platforming and action games are really where my passions lie. What I got from Space Racer was the much more robust level editor that I needed and a few more experience points in game development. As a result OSH will be better for it. Stay tuned for more...

Well it's been longer than expected but Space Racer is just about finished. I'll be going into peer review today or tomorrow and hope to pass onto the market place soon. Expect an announcement here when the game goes live as well as updates to what's in store for the next game (Old School Hero). In addition, I'm planning a much needed website overhaul perhaps this time free from the chains of Weebly.

While Old School Hero is continuing to be developed, I decided to whip together a nice 2D racer for release to the marketplace. So with that, I'm announcing Space Racer as the next release from Frog The Door Games. It's a 2D top down racer set in space with twelve tracks, four ships, head-to-head jump-in-anytime two player competitions and a trippy neon art style. The idea was to make a simple and fun two player game that wouldn't take long to develop assests for, but still be impressive to look at and have a good amount of replayablity. The result is a frantic take on what's kind of a cross between Spy Hunter and F-Zero. Here's a video of the game in action. Expect Space Racer to be on Xbox Live Indie Games this December.