At the moment the core of the game is getting around a level as quickly as possible. This requires flipping seamlessly between 'lunar lander' mode and 'wheel of a trials bike' mode. I do have some pseudo random levels but they aren't quite as much fun as the hand crafted ones. The last video shows a level being played in both modes but is obviously contrived to be very wheel-mode friendly. The level was drawn by my son on a piece of paper, he then took a picture with his phone and mailed it to me. I then had to process it in photoshop but it wouldn't be too difficult to build those in the game. Level creation could become very simple. I'm looking for some sort of sharing SDK (someone must make one and I'm not writing the custom network code for it) that could make user level sharing so easy that we shouldn't need procedural levels. That said, I haven't ruled them out entirely, I love messing with procedural stuff.
More experiments with reflective textures, though its unlikely that they'll ever be quite this shiny in game: Quick movie of it moving on Vine
Almost forgot about this small project! But now I see... improvements here and there are coming along nicely, aren't they? Looking forward to see further progress
Early next year hopefully. New video of the first placeholder bad guys. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel There is also a new very short blog. I'll be updating it more often from now in if anyone is interested.
It isn't dead, it's just been on hold for a few months while things are happening with Topia, I'll be back on it in a month or so.
I have had an insanely busy few months. Fat Owl With A Jetpack is still on hold but, for what it's worth, the game and it's built in editor are now cross platform between iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and Linux. At the moment I'm not really working on it at all but spend an hour or two every few weeks making sure the new code were developing to take Topia to more platforms is still working in Fat Owl. I'll post a video when I get the chance.
Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel Fat Owl with a Jetpack is still happening! After a long break the game is getting close to finished. The current version has over 40 levels. Mostly of the race and survival types. This has taken a long time and since I started the project, many two button 'lunar lander clones' have been released but none work like Fat Owl. You don't run of fuel, you don't die when a wingtip brushes the wall and it all happens at 60FPS. If you're interested in finding out what this means. IM me for a TestFlight build.
Could any of those who asked to get on the TestFlight please post an impression. Even if you think it's lame and/or confusing I need to hear it! Also, How do I get the name of this thread changed to something like "Fat Owl With A Jetpack - Looking for testers" Still looking for more testers, contact me on the private messages here or at [email protected]. It's a small download and runs at a solid 60FPS on most devices from iPad2 up*. The low minimum spec and means it won't warm your hands too much on any 64bit device or suck your battery dry like certain other 60FPS games. *iPad2, the original iPad mini and iPhone4s run the game at 60FPS almost all of the time, there is still a little shader optimisation left to do...
Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel A bit of experimentation with a possible new in game camera. The slight downside is that half of those who've tried it felt sick. That is only one person though!
I think that new camera looks awesome! Though I think it could use some adjustments so you can see a little better of what's coming ahead. I hope you will add it to the beta. BTW, fun game!
The way it is working in that video lets you see a long way ahead. I reckon it actually makes that level easier. It'll be in the next version on a slider. The default will probably be somewhere between 12.5% and 25% of the tilt that you see in the video. Thanks for the feedback
Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel A quick video of the latest version, illustrating the way the control switches seamlessly from responsive, easy to fly jetpack and almost frictionless projectile and back. People on Testflight, pease run the app and download the new version. You might want to also turn on its ability to send notifications as the upgrade to iOS10 will have turned it off! Anyone interested in playing the testflight build, please message me.
