Level "Decemberweenation"

Available on the level server!

Which reminds me, we haven't told you about fail-ly laser tiles yet, did we? Well, they are there. Don't touch!

We want to allow to preorder the storymode very soon but before talking about business plans, let's take a look at the levels in the story mode first!

We used some of the level contest entries as a basis to create story levels. Lootninja by sauer2 for example:

Original Lootninja Level, as included with the latest release

"Upgraded" Lootninja Level

Some of the steps when "upgrading" a level are the addition of...

background, skyline and info/data terminals...

shadows and characters...

hidden areas...

... and new content in general. Most "upgrade levels" are larger and require more time to do a 100% run than the originals.

Here is a big screen of a different, jetpack robot-heavy level, which is not based on a contest entry:

Codename "Jetpack Intro" (1920x1200)

We're nearly done with all the levels for episode 1 but some bugs, the preorder website and paypal integration will probably not allow us to release before January...

Scaffolding, scaffolding, scaffolding...

46 days of no updates...

One of the decorations we use in story mode levels is a scaffolding tile set. Today, I spent some time trying to find an alternative look, which would look better in a single-row/column line of these tiles. I ended up using the original set.

I uploaded the set of alternative 64px scaffolding tiles to OpenGameArt, hoping it will serve some other purpose.

In the next blog post I will tell and show how the story mode levels differ from the freeplay ones.

Video: 0.4 changes [Vimeo | YouTube]

We released Nikki and the Robots 0.4.0 (0.4.1.1 actually), which you can download here or via in-game updater.

The new features are:

• New robot: Cannon! It shoots cannon balls that disappear after 10 seconds
• Players can download and upload levels in the main/editor menus
• Author name and license agreement added for saving/uploading levels
• Sounds added for menu, jumping, buttons and batteries
• Last level switch to be pressed now blinks green
• Added "transient" switches (won't stay pressed)

Some news not directly related to the release:

• There now is a Joyride Labs Reddit, a discussion forum with a social web touch
• The compile instructions on our wiki have been updated, let us know if you run into trouble!

Two of us were at BIGJam this weekend. It was fun! We produced a Haskell- and an Inform-based game prototype. Both are silly.

Video: Acrobots on YouTube

For "Acrobots" we modified our open source Nikki and the Robots Freeplay version to have no gravity and added a new floating robot. The robot is supposed to collect engines and trash that floats around the level which would add thrust and mass respectively.

The Inform-based text adventure can be played here online. It begins with:

You are in a room that looks fancy-dancy. You can see backyard door, a glass box (closed) (in which is a cat) and a unicorn here.

The Inform text adventure language is very natural-language-like and is a good learning tool for some beginner programmers.

We're looking forward to more Game Jams and the BIGJam 2012!

You can check out many BIGJam 2011 games in this thread.

The contest results are in! And a new update, which you can download or get using the in-game updater.

[video links: Vimeo | YouTube]

The winners are

• Julian (for Greed) [Shirt + Game]
• sauer2/C. Hackenberg (for lootninja, hanoi, powergrid and obstacles) [Shirt + 4xGame]
• Jukkeri (for Trick Series 02) [Shirt + Game]
• pixma (for robopractice) [Game]
• 2048 Terrabit (for Robot Race) [Game]
• Marius Ghita/mhitza (for stairway to heaven) [Game]
• 3sdras (for Geronimo) [Game]

New in 0.3.3:

• Added 30 levels from the first level design contest (in standard levels/03-contest1)
• Jetpack robot physics tweaked again
• Level names are now sorted correctly

PS: you can download the levels without changes here.

Soon after the end of the first level contest we released Nikki and the Robots 0.3.2, which you can download here or via the update menu option of your copy.

[video links: Vimeo | YouTube]

The new features are:

• New Patrol Robots, which will make Nikki fail the level when touched
• Jetpack Robots are more forgiving and easier to control
• No more editor crashes when Nikki has not been added
• Signature checks for updates (heightened updater security - not gameplay-relevant)

A few words about the contest judging: we will announce the winners in approximately ten days. We received some last-minute levels and are very thankful to all level builders who shared their works.

Patrol Robot

We hope that the Patrol Robot is fun to work with. You can get in touch with players and builders on IRC and the forums.

PS: The robot compendium has been updated both in our tutorial and on IndieDB.

At the time of writing, there are approximately 64 hours left if you want to submit levels to the level design contest to win one of three T-shirts and pre-orders of Nikki and the Robots.

We received 23 user-made levels so far (get all of them here or here) and I took a look at how many robots, switches, batteries and objects in total are in them.

Contest Levels 2.5 - See as real table here

My feeling was that robots were under-used in the contest. The statistics show that I'm wrong. What surprised me however is the average 530 objects per level (the current average object count in levels shipped with Nikki and the Robots is 170). Makes me feel lazy. :)

We have been tweaking physics and controls lately in preparation for the next release. (check out this horrible recording of horrible jetpack test physics :) ).

I'm curious if the last days of the contest will spawn many awesome levels. I guess I have to hope for bad weather..