The link to the game @BenJets @Mexicanopiumdog and I have made is contained in this thread: http://www.makegamessa.com/discussion/2334/city-hall-jam-growteam
:D

I have followed the steps exactly as I have found them here:
http://help.yoyogames.com/entries/23363366-Preparing-GameMaker-Studio-for-Android
I went to the http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html page and downloaded Windows
32 & 64-bit. I downloaded everything to C:/android/android then I try to set up the path in GM to find the SDK.
The issue is that GM says that the SDK is not found, and I have tried every single path configuration that I can think of. When I go into the android download manager, I do not see the SDK as downloadable item as I have on screen shots of what I am looking for. I have tried clearing the cache and refreshing the list. Unless I am being a total wally, I am following the steps.

I followed this guide and it seemed to work just fine:
http://help.yoyogames.com/entries/23363366-Preparing-GameMaker-Studio-for-Android
These are things I didn't notice when I spped-read the instructions :)

To get the SDK Installer, rather than the ADT Bundle, you should scroll down the developers page and click the link marked "Download For Other Platforms", then select the "recommended" installer from the section labelled SDK Tools Only and follow these steps:

Run the Android SDK installer. If you do not have the Java SE Development Kit (JDK) you will also be prompted to download and install this before continuing. You will be asked to install the Android SDK to the path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk". We strongly recommend that you choose an alternative path (for example : "C:\Android\android-sdk") as the default path can cause problems with GameMaker:Studio as well as the actual Android updater program itself.

When it starts you should select Android SDK Platform Tools, Android 2.1 (API 7), Android 2.2 (API 8), Android 3.2 (API 13), Android 4.0.3 (API 15), as well as the most recent version of Android (selected automatically by default by the manager).

Hi guys :D
UTR WINDOWS PROTOTYPE DOWNLOAD LINK: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15257303/game_dev/UTR/builds/Untitled_Tetris_Roguelike_prototype_001.zip

http://instagram.com/p/qWhYlEt1Zm/
Welcome to my Tetris Roguelike mashup! So people say (you know, like @dislekcia) that you should build Tetris to understand making games, so I did :) And straight up Tetris bored me so it... grew...
In Unnamed Tetris Roguelike (UTR) you wander around the dungeon (or is it?!) with the only tool at your disposal an endless stream of tetrominos. You will see that it is a power which is a double edged sword if you don't wield it wisely! And that's why there's a handy restart button [R] :P
I've built this initial thing to be a super condensation of the mechanics and what I've put in so far. The controls are on screen, and I've tried to make things super self-explanatory (thanks mechanical proto juice!) so I don't really want to explain things - please give it a bash and let me know:
Questions for before you play:
1. How did you find the controls? They're not your usual WASD controls, that's for sure, because the game requires a different level of "precision".
2. Did you find the concept fun?
3. Did you understand the mechanics of the game? Was it hard? Could it be easier, perhaps? How?
4. How did you find the theme? (what little there is right now... It's mostly functional really) Does it make sense to you? (given the lack of animation on some things that should, like the walk cycle) How does it look?
Question for after you play:
a. The monster is really stupid right now, but notwithstanding that I'm having trouble balancing its power against the player - mostly, right now, in the time it takes the monsters to get through blocks. It feels SUPER excessive, but it's barely enough to let a noob player go do what they need to do. How does it feel? Do you think it can be approved? How?
b. Does this feel like it could be a long form game or a short one?
c. How does it feel right now without the ability to FIGHT and defeat enemies?
d. Any other thoughts? :)

Thanks guys!
UTR WINDOWS PROTOTYPE DOWNLOAD LINK: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15257303/game_dev/UTR/builds/Untitled_Tetris_Roguelike_prototype_001.zip
PS: There are two resources in the game, but they don't do anything yet. I'm planning to make them do stuff like summon particular blocks, or upping your stats/equipment... Or buy a house. Or whatever. Dunno yet.

CorruptedHeart;23376" said:

Regarding the new UI, looks like it will for sure be in 4.6
http://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/05/28/overview-of-the-new-ui-system/
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/248524-Official-New-UI-System-coming-in-Unity-4-6

I will believe it when I see it :)

Merrik;23384" said:

I feel like it ended up as an interesting time capsule of this period of my life. I look forward to replaying it in a couple of years time. I can't really see much appeal in it for others. It's very self indulgent and I'm very self-conscious about it because its so personal.
That's a interesting point about the first person. I never really thought about it at the time. It's definitely something to keep in mind if I try something like this again. Thanks @Dammit.

I think the appeal is in the fact that your life is quite different (and arguably fairly cool :P ) compared many others' so it's the same reason we'd play other games - to sort of semi experience another existence. I think it's a cool way to tell stories, but I would expect a future version to have less down time between options and actual player engagement. I skipped a fair amount cause I wanted to see what (i) would get to do next.

BlackShipsFilltheSky;23359" said:

4.5 fixes a bug that renders Unity games unplayable on many OS X Mavericks machines

Good to know, I was not sure about upgrading before our next PC release, this seals it.

Fengol;23347" said:

**cringes at voice overs**

But what specifically if you can identify it.

mattbenic;23341" said:

[quote="tbulford;23327"]The date originally promised for 4.6 was Spring

And let's not forget that the new GUI framework was originally going to be a 3.x feature ;)[/quote]
Shhhhh you will spoil the surprise :) actually it had best be included I am onhold with some stuff without it :s.

dislekcia;23340" said:

@tbulford: I get what you guys are going for and some of what I heard was pretty funny, but I just couldn't watch the whole video with those accents... Too cringe-inducing. Sorry! Maybe if it was more obvious who was talking and when (three announcers was pretty overwhelming, there's a reason most broadcast commentary is done with 2 commentators who have distinct voices) it might have been easier to follow.

Yip that's all in line with some of the things we planning to change. The South African ascent does make South Africans cringe. I am not confidant how its accepted internationally but I dont plan to use one either way.2 presenters for sure. The point about very distinct voices is something I hadn't added to the list yet.

dislekcia;23340" said:

Also, looking at the BAD gameplay, I'm feeling like your whole 6 degrees of freedom movement stuff isn't being used very much........

The current map was bought as is the game-play is still from my 2 day prototype so the levels were as they were. However you spot on with this criticism. We have a few levels plans including some that shift and rotate. Moving gravity center where objects will fall from the "floor" to the new floor. Twisting turning gates that you have to match orientation on of get jammed. They fact its a "sport" really opens us up to building anything we think is fun and not having to put it into a real world scenario.

dislekcia;23340" said:

Use the 3D. Don't just make a stand and bang deathmatch with extra controls nobody uses.

*thumbs up*
Also to comment on a previous issue you raised, we planning a some single player modes, mostly "training" drills to give players something to experience with or without a multilayer game on the go. Well not just something to do but a solo game show experience like the full multiplayer. With just them running a gauntlet.
Thanks for the feedback.

tbulford;23327" said:

The date originally promised for 4.6 was Spring

And let's not forget that the new GUI framework was originally going to be a 3.x feature ;)

Tuism;23328" said:

Clicked on your link and:

Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist.

Thanks thats fixed now :)

damousey;23303" said:

I'm debating what this brief might mean for me. An artstyle I'm not comfortable with, perhaps?
hmmm, probably all black and white and movement like Sin City, but the Anime.
photorealism and or 3D would be there too, but I think the idea is that it would still be attainable within time.

Code.
And we'll set your IDE up to be in comic sans.

Karuji;23314" said:

[quote="bischonator;23309"]I wish it had the new GUI, have to wait for 4.6 I guess!

Knowing Unity I doubt we'll see it in 4.6 :<[/quote]
Hope you wrong they specifically have ear tagged it for 4.6 - he said with a hopeful grin.
Actually on a serious note I am holding some project work back for that damn GUI since I don't want to pursue the alternatives with it just around the corner. So hopefully it comes ASAP.

bischonator;23309" said:

I wish it had the new GUI, have to wait for 4.6 I guess!

Knowing Unity I doubt we'll see it in 4.6 :<

BlackShipsFilltheSky;23233" said:

A ) The amount of money spent on indie games has been steadily growing (unless this trend has suddenly stopped or reversed in 2014 ??). I'd expect the AAA indie developers (as Jeff Vogel terms them) to do better this year than any year prior.

It's interesting how counter Vogel's article runs to "infinite audience theory". On one hand we're seeing the results of what happens when you directly put your game in front of more people, on the other those people are somehow not buying other things...

BlackShipsFilltheSky;23233" said:

B ) People don't spent X amount per year on games except when the people are statistics. Real people buy games when they want them. If they don't want any indie games they'll spend their money on something they do want. A truly great game can make its own market (just like games like Castle Crashers and Braid did in the first place). The money that people can spend on your game isn't a limited resource that other games are eating into. The X money divided by Y games assumes that gamers will spend that money regardless of there being games they want, which I don't think is the way the market actually behaves.

I think this is very true in a niche, where you're very obviously competing with game that are similar to yours for players. This is more true in multiplayer niches than in SP, because MP relies on crowd logic and critical mass. I feel like the way to deal with this is to make games that are accessible and bring people into niches, especially if the game itself is deep - you're essentially broadening the pie for everyone when you do that. That's not to say you can't do well in a niche - but that means you're probably making a short-lifespan game at that point... I dunno, I feel like building long-term value is a way out of this problem somehow? Although Vogel is kinda the poster-beard for long term value. He did say he'll be okay, so I think maybe his piece was a warning?

BlackShipsFilltheSky;23233" said:

Somewhat separate to Jeff Vogel's predictions, I do have the fear that having less curation on Steam will burn consumers (if they buy games that they don't enjoy) and there will be a shift away from untested indies as consumer trust decreases. But I haven't seen any evidence of this so far.

Hasn't this started happening with Early Access? People have been burned by games and Early Access revenues seem to be down from the crazy heights they started at, but that might just have been the terrifying power of Steam front page visibility.

BlackShipsFilltheSky;23233" said:

Having said all of that... Steam does still hand out easy money in the curation of their front page... Steam are very much still in the business of easy money generation, and I believe Sony and Microsoft have similar programs for their consoles.

Being on the Steam front page is a firehose. You still have to make a game that'll turn that firehose into sales, you still have keep your marketing visible so that people associate your game with enough good things they remembered hearing so that they'll click that image in the first place, and you still have to make sure that your game impresses your Steam liaison enough and performs well enough that they feel good about giving you featuring. It's not really easy money, it's disproportionately easy compared to everything leading up to it, yes.
Microsoft's front page seems terrible right now, all those ads have killed a lot of games. I have no idea how Sony's performs, but I'd argue that relying on front page featuring is a bad idea - if it happens, great, you still have to do all the other stuff necessary to sell your game yourself anyway first :) It feels like all of this is just a warning against relying on luck.

I made this mock-up for the design doc of Brockian Ultra Cricket

This morning I received an e-mail from Softpedia who has listed the game on their site and given it a 100% clean rating.
http://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware-Games/Re-Spawn.shtml

On April 25th 2014, we released Re-Spawn v1.0.0.5 which addressed some of the major issues we encountered. The turn around time for this release was about 2 weeks and I am quite happy with the fixes and changes we got done during that time.

Release Notes:
[FIXED] Defect #4 - Heartbeat Sounds Continues After Death
[FIXED] Defect #5 - Proving Grounds Spawn Points
[FIXED] Defect #6 - Bots Just Run Around
[FIXED] Defect #7 - Updater Disable Buttons
[FIXED] Defect #8 - Spawner Telefragging Not Working
[FIXED] Defect #9 - Proving Grounds Map Name
[FIXED] Defect #10 - Rank for Leaderboard Calculation
[FIXED] Defect #11 - Server Ping Incorrect
[FIXED] Defect #21 - Bots Seem to Randomly Crouch
[FIXED] Defect #22 - Can't Get out of Credit Screen
[FIXED] Defect #23 - KD Ratio Calculations Incorrect
[FIXED] Defect #27 - Bots just stand around in Proving Grounds
[FIXED] Defect #29 - Rocket Launcher blast
[FIXED] Defect #30 - Mouse cursor disappears if chatting during death
[ADDED] Player Statistics Display
[ADDED] Top 100 Leaderboard on Home Page
[ADDED] Client Version Check before joining a server
[ADDED] 5 minutes left audio and visual alert
[ADDED] 1 minute left audio and visual alert
[ADDED] 30 seconds left audio and visual alert
[ADDED] Server config file that allows various aspects of the server to be configured and controlled.
[ADDED] Fail safe check if the servers are undergoing maintenance.
[ADDED] Version number to the main menu screen for easier reference.
[CHANGED] Player registration process to include Country, Birthday, Terms Acceptance, and Marketing Opt In values
[FIXED] Bug where the game couldn't be run at a higher resolution.
[FIXED] Bug where collision mesh material of the Turret was being rendered.
Testers and Server Hosters
The player uptake of the game hasn't been what I expected and I suspect this is due to the lack of servers in other areas (currently only have a South African server). So if any of you out there are willing to host a server for us, please get in touch and I will send you an Official Server License and Key. You will also get full credits in the game and a new server hoster page will be created on the website with your details.
The server is extremely stable and requires no support or maintenance, we merely need locations and willing volunteers.
We are also looking for more testers, so please download the game from here, or spread the word if the game is not your type of game and get fragging. :)
Indie DB
We decided to take the plunge and list the game on IndieDB, we will monitor the popularity here and hopefully will be able to engage more players.

Please join us on the official forums or on Indie DB and help us promote the game.
Next Release
The next release of Re-Spawn (v1.0.0.6) is currently underway and will include 2 new maps and a host of new features that didn't make it in to v1.0.0.5. We plan on releasing new versions every 2 to 3 weeks and are optimistic that we can hit these deadlines now that the base game is complete.
Re-Spawn Marketing:
Website
Forums
Blogs
Wiki
Facebook
Google+
Twitter
Gobbo Games Marketing:
Website
Facebook
Google+
Twitter
Skype: gobbogamessa
G-Talk: webmaster@gobbogames.co
E-mail: [email]webmaster@gobbogames.co[/email]
Thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing you in game real soon.

Hi guys!
After Ludum Dare and my gambit with Unity, I have a few questions that I hope have "non-difficult" answers from you pros, all these I'd researched during LD but couldn't find answers to them...
1. The Time.timescale thing makes awesome bullet time :P But then the physics don't resolve at a big enough resolution and everything goes steppy... I found the timestep value in the physics manager, but it's a fixed value and can't be changed through during the game... Annnd while I was typing @manikin suggested something, I'll try it out :D
2. Sprites that always face the camera a la Duke Nukem - do I really have to use LookAt every update per sprite? That seems super resource heavy. How do I render an object as a particle? Or, can I instantiate single particles and manipulate them like GameObjects? I don't want to billboard them since I'm not using terrain.
3. On the flip side, can I put GameObjects as particles, so they're in 3D polygons?
4. Is there a way to reference to a single polygon/plane/quad? Like, I want to know what the angle/normal of the face the shark sits on is. Right now I'm referencing the entire GameObject, wondering if I can automate it to know about the face itself.
Thanks guys! :D