And the dogs love it (they hate it when it's actually coming down, though).

But it was really cold.

That's a full-grown woman's hand. That ice is a solid inch thick! It took great violence to hew it forth from the wheelbarrow.

We're snowed in, of course. You might scoff if you live on the east coast, but I'm not driving our dirt road with no chains in this stuff.

12 comments

Back to top!

In related news...	01:23 PM -- Mon February 9, 2009

"A $2 billion allocation intended to push universal broadband service into rural areas of the United States has been cut from President Obama's economic stimulus package."

COME ON!!! It's blizzarding on my satellite dish!

7 comments

Back to top!

Snow Day	01:17 PM -- Mon February 9, 2009

It's another one of those fine blizzard days, I will probably not have much internet access! I didn't have any this morning, just visiting now, and the blizzard is kicking up a notch, so I think I will probably not be long for this virtual world... sorry if I don't get to your emails before I lose it!

Comment on this entry...

Back to top!

Dumb Packed	03:09 PM -- Thu February 5, 2009

Looks like the Dumb Pack is just about there. I don't doubt more issues will appear, but that's why it's nice that it's so easy to update! I've put up the trophies and awards for it on the Dumb Pages. So it's good. I'll just need to release the next patch which fixes the issues people have noticed lately (holding off until tomorrow to see what else pops up), and update the game info page so it doesn't try to warn you against buying it anymore! And of course do the stupid newsletter I have been procrastinating (but besides procrastination, it is appropriate for it to be delayed until the game is out for real, right? I want to announce it!).

Then that's it! I'm moving on. I am moving on to Loonyland Tactics. I have a great idea about the development of this game, but I'm going to have to do some testing first to make sure it's feasible and wise, so I will probably delay the start of development for a week or so first while I work on those other things. Wouldn't it be nice if I did some Costume Party marketing in the meantime?

I've also been thinking about and planning for this year's PAX! It's a tad premature, but Phil Hassey and I have been talking about sharing a booth, so I got to tinkering in my brain with what I would be doing in my booth. I'll definitely have game CDs available, and it occurred to me that not only do I want to sell T-shirts there, but it's the ideal opportunity to go ahead and get a full-size T-shirt run produced! Sure, they'll be sitting around the house taking up space needlessly for now as the orders barely trickle in, but since I'll need to have a bunch handy for the show anyway, why not get them now? Then I can have shirts up on the site all nice and normal and fancy. I'm trying to go for ones with appeal beyond just Hamumu, and the two that have really caught my brain have been the No-Pumpkins shirt (I have no idea why that hadn't occurred to me before it was mentioned on the forum!), and a classier version of the "I Am Dumb" shirt, with a warning sign style to it. Like you're letting people know in advance, so they can be careful. So come on out to PAX this year (it'll be in Seattle at the end of August, I believe), meet us, buy some CDs and T-shirts, and check out what we are up to!

Maybe I'll arrange a secret code phrase so true Hamumians can get a sneak peek at whatever I am working on then, while the lesser mortals just get to play the existing games. The secret code will probably be "Hey, I'm from the forums!"

Oh, and speaking of Phil, he's hosting this month's Mini-LD, which is this weekend! Unfortunately, so is our Groundhog's Day party (featuring Rock Band!), so I don't know how much participating in Mini-LD I will be doing.

8 comments

Back to top!

Will the debate ever end!?	04:03 PM -- Fri January 30, 2009

11 comments

Back to top!

Dumb Pack Beta Is Here!	03:36 PM -- Thu January 29, 2009

Costume Party Dumb Pack Pre-release Beta!
Go get it. I've already fixed a bunch of things, so it ain't perfect (it's a beta!). Maybe it's actually an alpha... betas are feature-complete, and this is missing 5 tiles and a lot of sounds. Anyway, it's available and as wondrous as you ever dared dream (minus 5 tiles).

Since release, so far, I've fixed Yerfdog's inhale effects (inhaled guys didn't trigger switches they got pulled over, but they do now), added a display of what he's inhaled, Happy Stick's clinging (he remained airborne if you clung to a colored block that vanished), made the remaining tutorials, and fixed an issue with the E-Crates! Those fixes will appear in the next patch in a day or two, hopefully along with lots more new stuff. I'm currently debating exactly what to do with the remaining 5 tiles. I feel like Squashes should be in there somewhere, but there's already Pumpkins, and I'm not even sure what the Squashes should be able to do.

9 comments

Back to top!

B.B.B.B.M.M.	11:52 AM -- Tue January 27, 2009

19 comments

Back to top!

Dumb Packin'	03:19 PM -- Mon January 26, 2009

I don't want to spoil too much of the fun, so I'll skip sharing too many details and tricks, and just say that I completely redid how wires worked today, and they now look sorta better in a way, although there is one thing I bet people will complain about, and I'll leave that for you to discover (and complain about!). Mainly though, they function better. They used to use bullets for the sparks, and it was very easy to completely overload the bullet limit by filling wires with sparks. Now there is no limit on sparks, except that multiple sparks that share a space (if they are heading in the same direction) become one, so, effectively I guess there is a limit of the number of tiles onscreen times four. Anyway, it doesn't slow things down anymore, it's great.

When electricity gets to the end of a wire, it shoots out bullets as 'sparks'. They're only harmful to the player. I should probably add a Blaster device that does the same but harmful to enemies. That way you could benefit. I've also added electrifiable floors (usable as an alternate type of wire, as well), pushable blocks that conduct electricity, and special wires that make sparks multiply. Oh, and the batteries I was talking about. There are a whole lot of potential tricks involving all these devices, so enjoy.

In other news, I've decided the best way to get this tested, best deal for you and for me, is the same deal we had with Loonyland 2! This week, I'm going to get pre-orders set up, so you can buy the Dumb Pack in advance and try it out. I get my testing, you get to play early. Everybody wins. I guess I need to get to work on some sound effects and music pretty soon... still a few tiles to go, too.

The real question is, which music is most appropriate for each of these characters? Yerfdog's never had a song, unless you'd like to hear the "doo-doo-doot-di-dit-doot HAMUMU!" song repeated endlessly. And Bouapha's got tons of songs. I don't know which is fitting. Happy Stick Ninja is new... but there's the secret music from Dr. Lunatic, which would fit since that was where happy stick was born. Then again, he's a ninja. Maybe he should have the Ninja Academy rockin' tune. And no, still don't know quite what background image would be good either. Maybe green hills and sunshine, to go with the Cliffside tiles.

10 comments

Back to top!

Sneak Peek: Costume Party Dumb Pack	12:08 PM -- Fri January 23, 2009

New stuff! Only three new things, two of which are kind of old. Yes, after all the desperate demands, we now have sideways spikes. The third new thing is very interesting, and I'm mainly posting a sneak peek so I can get lots of ideas for them.

They're Wires. They go on the overlay layer, and automatically connect up, like roads in Simcity (I was actually inspired in the first place watching my wife play Zoo Tycoon and lay out paths). If you have one wired up to a pressure plate or switch (you can see both in this pic), then stepping on the plate/switch will send a spark down the wire. You can also wire them to Targets, and they'll spark when you shoot the Target. You can see two sparks on the upper wire in this picture, if you look closely. So what do the sparks do?

• Detonate Blast Bricks (see left)
• Light or unlight Fireplaces (see upper right)
• Open doors (see lower right)
• Notice the upper Kid is standing on a Switch... but that Switch isn't down! How is that possible!? Sparks pop Switches back up! That's why there's a loop in the wire.

So far, that's all sparks can do. But doesn't it seem like there should be more? I want to have a light bulb you can light up, but that's tricky to decide just what tiles it would create (also, since Wires go in the overlay layer, the wire would prevent light from happening in its space!).

So I'm just asking for ideas. Either existing things that should react when sparked in some way, or new things that the sparks could be used with. One idea I really like is a Battery. Each time a spark gets to it, it goes inside, and once the battery is full, it empties and... something!? I am not sure. A simple idea is that when full it fires a spark upward, so you could have something where you need to get 8 sparks to go into a battery in order to get a door open (because the battery then sends one spark to the door). Want to need 64 sparks instead? Stack two batteries on top of each other! Each time the bottom one fills, it will fire one spark into the upper one. 512 Sparks? 3 Batteries.

Another idea I sorta like is if a wire runs into water (both being in the Overlay layer, you can't actually string wire through water), it could shoot out Blast Brick shots when a spark hits the water. Maybe it's better to just have a Blaster that fires a shot each time a spark hits it. Maybe dead-end wires should always shoot out a little blast of Lasers each time a spark gets there, to simulate sparking electricity, and to be dangerous. I think I will do that one at least right now!

P.S. Dumb Pack Status: 15/25 tiles.

19 comments

Back to top!

<< < 57 58 59 60 Page 61/125 62 63 64 65 > >>