New feature: Inverted Objectives!

After a messy game jam and the relaxing holidays, we’re back and working hard to make Not a Clone the best mobile game about mobile games. There has been a lot of tweaks since the last update, so let’s list a couple. First and most notable is inverted objectives: in certain games, the objectives will occasionally change to something else, usually the opposite of the usual instructions. For example, here’s what normally happens to Flappy Sombrero when the sombrero hits a cactus:

ObjectiveNormal1

With inverted objectives, however, the instructions changes. Instead of flying between the cactus, the sombrero is supposed to fly into it. To make the difference more clearer, we’ve also inverted the colors of the objectives, making it easier to recognize when the objectives has changed.

ObjectiveInverted2

We’re still in the middle of working on this new mode, so stay tuned!

Speaking of staying in tune, last update, we’ve mentioned that Challenge mode was being implemented, and that certain details may change. One significant change is that you no longer lose a life if you fail the Challenge. As a consequence of this, we’re planning on making Challenge games a lot harder.

There’s also a few updates we’ve made to the opening of the game. First, the loading screen now shows different quips each time you open the game. Second, the number of icons that appears within the first few frames of opening the game now reflects the number of games you have unlocked. For example, the first time you play the game, you have 15 icons visible on the screen:

StartScreenApps

Lastly, the start screen now has a rolling label below the start button. It changes every couple of seconds to display a new information:

StartScreenRollingText

Lastly, we’re going to leave with a mystery concept art our artist put together. Can you guess what it could be?

Bicyclabult

Not a Clone August updates!

Howdy, all! We’re back from an exhausting and frantic August with some awesome updates to graphics and minigames. Some major progress has been made!

First, Astra Wijaya improved Flappy Bee into Flappy Sombrero:

FlappySombreroBig

He also improve Into The Cup into…Into The Cup:

IntoTheCupBig

Taro Omiya, meanwhile, put together a couple of new minigames! Let’s see if you can figure out how to play the game:

Mystery Minigame 1
Mystery Minigame 1
Mystery Minigame 2
Mystery Minigame 2
Mystery Minigame 3
Mystery Minigame 3
Mystery Minigame 4
Mystery Minigame 4

New Not a Clone graphics and minigames

Hello, everyone! This month, we’ll be in a bit of a hiatus because we will be volunteering on teaching kids how to make games throughout this summer. We should be back in normal schedule starting September.

Fortunately, we do have some updates this week! The first is the usual Astra Wijaya graphic updates, this time on Flappy Fly into Flappy Comic:

FlappyComicBig

Much more cooler, however, is that we’re now creating new minigames as well! So far, we have two previews. Let’s see if you can guess how they play:

Mystery minigame 1
Mystery minigame 1
Mystery Minigame 2
Mystery Minigame 2

(Don’t look at the tags! That’s cheating!)

Not a Clone minigame mockups and fun facts

Continuing our updates on Not a Clone’s progress, we’ve got a new mockup for a minigame:

TotemBG-SS

Art, again, is courtesy of Astra Wijaya.


In regards to other updates, there’s been a few small tweaks to the UI. For example, the loading screen now provides the definition of a clone:

Loading

A lot of people who play-tested our game didn’t know what a clone was, so we put the definition up on the loading screen to educate our players. Second, the game over screen now provides some fascinating (or depressing) facts about clone-related practices:

GameOver

Note that neither texts are final.

Response to “Can You Make This Game?” Emails

A few weeks ago, I received an email (truncated to remove the sender’s details) that said:

I have always wanted to get into the video game app market. After the recent success of Flappy Bird, I know that I have nothing to lose in terms of just sharing my idea with an accomplished video game engineer and to see if we can work together. I am not just looking for someone to build this game for me, but I am looking to be a part of a team and to possibly get a mentor out of this as well. I know little about developing games, and only a little HTML. I am willing to learn, and to work with you to build this concept I have. If this game idea is something you see has potential, and it is something that you will help me to develop, I am willing to split the profits 50/50.

Of course I cannot share the entire concept without some type of NDA or a verbal/written agreement that my idea will not be shared or developed without me. However, I can share that it has the charm and ease of Flappy Bird, with the anticipation, frustration, and excitement of Minesweeper.

If there is chance for you to just hear my idea, I would appreciate just having that opportunity to share this concept with you. Once again, I am not trying to duplicate Flappy Bird, there are now many copy cat versions out there since the creator pulled it from the app stores. I do have an advantage of knowing what games kids like, as I have nephews and a niece who are constantly playing the newest games of their phones. I actually presented them my concept and to my surprise they want to play it.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this, and I hope to hear from you.

Personally after reading this, it took every ounce of self-control to not troll this email writer. Not many of us creatives take nicely to a “I want you to make this…without any funding” emails, for multiple, complicated reasons (and I still consider myself a beginner). Having spent a few weeks thinking about it though, I realized I don’t want to discourage anyone from making games. Since a simple, “no” wouldn’t help this cause, I figured the following response would be a better:

Hello, letter writer. First, I want to welcome you to the beautiful, creative, and diverse world of video games. I’m glad to hear you’re interested in contributing to this growing form of art. I believe every new person brings something new and unique to the culture, so I’m more than happy to hear about your new ambitions.

In regards to your game idea, however, I and my fellow game developers have received a lot of emails with similar requests. From our gathered experiences, we know most of these deals–regardless of how good those intentions are–are fraught with both legal and technical problems. So when I give this response, I want you to understand that I am not suggesting your idea is terrible. Instead, it’s an answer from the knowledge I’ve gathered while working in this industry. I hate to be a downer, but no, I am not able to develop your game for many complicated reasons.

I’m sorry to leave you empty-handed, but I can help you get started. There are plenty of tools today that significantly simplifies game development. For example, I’ve heard countless amount of praises for Construct 2, a free game engine that requires no programming whatsoever. I personally use Unity, another free game engine with a ton ofresources to get free scripts. And with copy-left licenses like Creative Commons, it’s not hard to find free art, sound, and music. I can confidently say with such huge amount of resources, anyone with a vision can make games.

Good luck!

I don’t expect a response from the email writer, but I hope I’ve inspired some hope in him/her and others with this letter.