"In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/news

Posted By: capanno

"In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/news - 02/22/06 13:55

Just over a month now, Ive been working full time on a game. The game is about creation, hence, In the beginning.

The game is split up into the 6 days of creation. Each 'day' having activities based on the events of that day. Im am finished, technically, with the interface, and day 1s activities. This first part took a long time, since I had to code the base which all activities will be based on. Like handling transitions between activities etc.

The characters in the game, is that of my parents's childrens ministery they have had for the past 20 years. In the game, the player joins them on a journey back in time. You follow them as they fly in their 'spacehip'.

The characters stil need to be incorporated into the game, and I hope to have them walking around and talking to the kids very soon. The game is for kids aged 6 to +- 10.
Making a kids game is difficult, but I plan to test it with kids as soon as I have somehting presentable.



This is the main startup screen. Its not entirely finished. Im still trying to figure out a way to let the kids navigate visually, instead of having to read.



Here, the player enters her name, or selects it from the list if it was entered on a previous occation.



This is the menu where you go to a specific 'day'. Oh, and the gecko on the screens is a gecko I made, and he is running around the screen when you are viewing the main menu and day menu.



When you point over a button, it displays where it will take you.



This is the menu for day 1s activities. At the moment the 4, um, 'official' activities are in place. More will be added if I get some more. When you point over a button, it displays what activity you will play bottom-right.



Paint. You can mix colors, change brush and load diffrent pics to color in, with the buttons in the controll panel, and the arrows on the edges respectively.



The one Im the most proud of! the most complex piece of code ive written. The picture at the top is the reference. The code knows when the shape is finished, and loads the next one, or do whatever I will add later on. Defining a shape is as easy as setting some vars and changing some panel properties. Ok, yeah, lots of vars and properties. At the moment the shapes are limited to 20 blocks, but can easily be configured to use as many blocks as neccecary. Hundreds if I need to.



This is the game you will play when you are 'flying' to the next day. You have to collect 5 stars to continue. If you hit a rock, the ship shakes and you loose all the stars you picked up. Yes, I got pwnd when I took that screen! bleh.

There will be lots of interaction before, during and after activities when I finish the characters, constantly giving feedback and help to the player.

Would love comments. Good or bad.
Posted By: dennisb

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/news - 02/22/06 14:10

I think you have a great style for kids games. I think the kids will really enjoy this. Keep up the good work!
Posted By: DEX

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 02/22/06 18:42

Yes I like your syle too. I made and published more than 30 edu games, so I can definitly help you to publish it when you finish it.
Keep up a good work
Posted By: capanno

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 05/17/06 12:35

Small update!

3 new activities added. The graphics have not yet been finalized, especially in the firts 2. Its just the framework laid down.



Drop 'drops' in the flashing bucket!



Some maths with waterdrops



Find the missing part of the snowflake.

C&C?
Posted By: Gurke

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 05/17/06 12:57

Very well done!
My sister (mother of two kids) asked me a while back to make a game for her kids and to be honest I sucked at it!
Games for children have to be much more creative than every other kind of game.
Childrens can get bored realy fast so a game that aims on kids (like a learning game) has to contain lots of possibilities .
When I was younger (6-9 years) we hadn`t something like a computer but I know that I always hated stuff with slogans like "for children" or "educational" on it because I always got bored by these stuff.
So I`m pretty impressed by what you have already achieved!

~Gurke
Posted By: Joozey

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 05/17/06 13:06

Funny that the south africa language looks so much like dutch
Looks like a great game for kiddies, really good art style, wonderfull job
Posted By: Gurke

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 05/17/06 13:27

Maybe its Afrikaans or what its called.. Thats this dutch/afrikan language mix!
well.. and he/she is from SOUTH africa and if I remember correct afrikaans is the most spoken language down there.
It has something to do with the time of colonization.
But I`m sure he can explain it better than me^^!

~Gurke
Posted By: Sunangel

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 05/18/06 06:37

Argh, the screenshots looking so sweet
Posted By: capanno

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 05/18/06 06:56

Hi!

Thanks for the comments!

About the language, Afrikaans developed on its own here after Jan van Riebeeck set foot in Cape Town in the mid 1600s. (Damn I dont even know the dates). The So yeah its a version of dutch, although sometimes the same sentence can sound nothing alike. The most spoken language here is definitely english, and its also the official language. Then we have a couple of native languages like Zulu, Xosa, Sotho, Tswana etc. Im not sure where afrikaans is in the list. Wikipedia will have more info than me. (Need to refresh my knowledge a bit)
Posted By: Gurke

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 05/18/06 17:14

Hehe.. so at least I wasn`t that wrong about the language ^^' !
I would be realy interrested to know whether you have already tried your game on children (you said something like this in your first post) and which results you got.

~Gurke
Posted By: Joozey

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 05/18/06 17:21

haha yes I allready knew we brought the language to africa...
But "you don't even know the dates", at least we should! I bet like 3/4 of the dutch ppl don't even know the guy's name was Jan van Riebeeck
(that includes me, well untill now )
Posted By: capanno

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 05/19/06 11:53



I have not tested the game on kids yet. Its definitely on my to-do list.
Posted By: capanno

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 06/15/06 09:53



Another activity added.

Catch the falling apples. If you drop more than 5, its game over. Counter on top right.
Game gets more difficult the longer you play.
Posted By: capanno

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 08/11/06 13:14



Ive been busy! Im busy with day 5. The end is in sight!

Here are some characters from one of the activities.
Posted By: Matt_Aufderheide

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 08/11/06 13:51

I wish poeple would stop making games in order to brainwash young people. You ought to be put in jail for this.
Posted By: ISG

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 08/11/06 14:46

I wish people would give input to make others work better instead of sit and criticize everything they come by on the forums.
Posted By: JimFox

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 08/11/06 21:12

Hi Capanno,
Your sea life looks cute, and high quality besides. Looks like you got a lot into a small texture. You can "brainwash" my kids any time!! But if you are telling the truth is it brainwashing or just teaching???
Anyway, keep up the good work.
Best regards,
Posted By: William

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 08/12/06 04:17

The crab looks pretty sweet, and well... slightly evil. Like it's hatching a sinister plan to destroy the world.

j/k, good art work 'n design.
Posted By: capanno

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 08/14/06 07:22

Hi thanks for the comments! Im still not happy with the orange fish. Will need to work on the skin.

Thanks matt I love you too.
Posted By: capanno

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 08/15/06 09:52



Here they are in action!

Im now going to work on the orange fish's skin.
Posted By: capanno

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 09/06/06 10:42

2 more added. Feed the birds, and memory card game.





Can play with 4, 6, 8 or 10 cards. Can only see 2 at a time. match a pair to remove them.
Posted By: capanno

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 10/22/06 18:00

Things are going really well. The end is in sight. I'll have a big update tomorrow.
Posted By: Gurke

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 10/22/06 18:08

Hmmm... I wonder why most of the finished games in this comunity are educational^^... (ofcourse I know that this is not true but atleast there are quite a few finished educational games^^)

I`m still wondering how children will like your game!

~Gurke
Posted By: PHeMoX

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 10/22/06 18:39

Looks pretty good Capanno, I think kids will like this game.

@Gurke: Perhaps it simply takes less time to make an educational game? It's a guess, I have no idea, I've never made an educational game myself, but this game seems quite short, eventhough some things could keep you busy for a while I think. Kids usually don't demand a 40+ hour game either, so ..

Cheers
Posted By: capanno

Re: "In die begin" - In the beginning, screens/new - 10/23/06 07:33

Thanks PHeMoX!





Both of the above are still WIP. The graphics need some improvement, but technically its working well.

Other than that, ive only got 1 computer activity to finish, then Im done with that part. Then Im going to include the pront-out games and projects, and tie it all together. Ive already started with that, including the sound and stuff. I can see it all coming together now. My save load system is working perfectly, and the bugs are minimal. I hope to finish soon...
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