Homebrew Boondoggle (DS Entry)

[mnewell]

Boondoggle is a game that I've been working on for awhile and I thought it was time for a proper public release. I noticed that GBAtemp is having a homebrew bounty so I figured I'd throw it in. It's a collection of word games with a very complete English dictionary, user profiles, and achievements as well as an original soundtrack.

Screenshots:

The full site is at:
http://www.newellprogramming.com

The latest version of Boondoggle can be downloaded at:
http://www.newellprogramming.com/download.html

Boondoggle is still a work in progress, so please send any bug reports to bugs(at)newellprogramming.com or post them in this thread.

I hope you enjoy playing my game!

 

[BigLord]

Just posting here to say that this game (at least the main one) is actually quite fun, and very well made. Props to you, my friend!

(My only complaint about it is... Rhythmoggle is oh so damn hard. I can only get 10 points out of a Standard 3mins song!)

 

[Deleted_171835]

It's a great game!

Looks like a commercial game! I applaud you. It's also quite fun!

 

[Guild McCommunist]

It's great to see more love for homebrew games. It seems like the DS has a lot of good apps and stuff but the amount of complete, playable, and worthwhile homebrew games is pretty small. This looks really good and I downloaded it a while ago but have yet to test it.

Still, from the impressions here and the screenies, it looks great. Already got a kick out of RUA DS, so it's nice to see another homebrew game up to play with.

 

[mnewell]

Thank you everyone for all the kind comments!

Just posting here to say that this game (at least the main one) is actually quite fun, and very well made. Props to you, my friend!

(My only complaint about it is... Rhythmoggle is oh so damn hard. I can only get 10 points out of a Standard 3mins song!)

I would agree with you there: I need to redo the notemap for that song because the notes aren't well placed and it makes it a little too hard.

Also, I just got the dictionary streaming overhaul done and will be posting an updated version of the game once I'm done adding some visualization effects to Rhythmoggle.

 

[mnewell]

New version of Boondoggle is out!

v0.1.2

-Overhauled dictionary streaming engine (much faster word checking in Rhythmoggle)
* Streams the index into memory during the splash screen and title screen
* May require a small one-time loadscreen when you select a game (depends on whether the index is loaded by that time)
* Push the d-pad while making fireworks on the loadscreen for a bit of fun

* After the initial load, everything loads much more quickly
-Added some graphical pizazz to tapping tiles in Rhythmoggle
-Fixed some graphical corruption on Rhythmoggle results screen
-Fixed cyan pop-up during loading

Get it at http://www.newellprogramming.com/download.html

Please give me your feedback about the new loading system. Rhythmoggle should feel quite a bit more responsive now.

 

[BigLord]

Hurray for updates!

And hurray for the developer actually agreeing with me when I say something is too hard lol. It's regardless my own fault too, since my main language isn't english, I don't think of different words fast enough.

Oh by the way, this update will reset the highscore board, right? Aww

 

[mnewell]

Hurray for updates!

And hurray for the developer actually agreeing with me when I say something is too hard lol. It's regardless my own fault too, since my main language isn't english, I don't think of different words fast enough.

Oh by the way, this update will reset the highscore board, right? Aww

Absolutely not.

This update doesn't break save compatibility and you should be fine as long as you don't delete your bd.sav file in the /boondoggle/data/ directory. All of your high scores will remain intact.

 

[mnewell]

I finally got around to adding visualizations to Rhythmoggle and I've released a new version!

v0.2.0

Added visualizations to Rhythmoggle mode
Small bug fixes
Minor general optimizations

Get it at http://www.newellprogramming.com/download.html

I hope everyone enjoys playing the new version!

 

[BigLord]

Thanks man. This game is currently very successful among my peers, they love it.

Also, I've finally unlocked Pong, yay!

 

[BigLord]

No more updates for this? I was hoping to learn how the heck are we supposed to unlock the third game

(I've unlocked "Ping" already, sweet Pong clone!! This game gets better and better)

 

[mnewell]

No more updates for this? I was hoping to learn how the heck are we supposed to unlock the third game

(I've unlocked "Ping" already, sweet Pong clone!! This game gets better and better)

I've been pretty bogged down with work lately, but I was hoping to get the third mode and a few more achievements done before the deadline hits on Tuesday. I should be able to put out an update around then with Exploggle in it. As far as what the third mode is, that's a surprise.

EDIT: It seems like Exploggle might take a little longer than I thought; I may not be able to finish it before that competition ends. That said, I'm still going to get it done eventually.

 

[BigLord]

Please take your time. Even if it isn't in time for the deadline, I still want a good 3rd mode.

And so do your other fans, who obviously exist but don't post here, trust me

this game has GOTTA have more fans.

 

[BigLord]

Wanted to report a kinda nasty bug. If you play Endless mode on Boondoggle, the background (foreground?) on any mode of Rhythmoggle gets all wacky and glitchy.

I'll take a picture of it when I can... Actually I think I can right now...

...

There, I think it's visible enough.

Also, I noticed that the glitched parts of the screen fit the pause menu EXACTLY. It must have something to do with it.

 

[mnewell]

Thanks for finding that! I'll take a look into the issue. You'll notice that it doesn't look like the background for the multiplier and wheel are showing up either; I'm guessing it's an issue with the alpha blending.

 

[mnewell]

I'm having some trouble reproducing the bug on the current version of Boondoggle. I've tried playing Boondoggle Endless and then Rhythmoggle and it hasn't shown up.

Do you have the latest version (0.2.0) and are you able to give me a more detailed step-by-step to get the bug to show up? It's possible that it only gets triggered when a certain amount of words are spelled or something.

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[BigLord]

Sorry for keeping you waiting. That's strange... Let me see if I can do it again.

Wait... What the hell, I was positive I had the latest version. Apparently not. Updated now.

... I'm an idiot. It's fixed. You probably fixed this very bug in the last update. Sorry for wasting your time, man

 

[Deleted_171835]

I too am also surprised that there isn't more praise for this game.

It is a well designed game that is quite addictive. My only suggestion would be to make different tunes play or add the ability to play music from the microSD card (would only work in the first mode).

Great game!

 

[BigLord]

And you know what bugs me the most? It's so damn complete! The achievements and the unlockables really make you want to continue playing the game!

Plus it's such a good little time-waster. And it improves your vocabulary, hehe.

(particularly useful when your main language isn't english)

Why don't more people post here? Bah

*anxiously waits for the completion of Exploggle*

 

[Sir_Voe]

This game is indeed great. Very well polished in presentation and gameplay, and stimulating to the mind in a way not common in video games.