[GAME] Doodle Hockey « cocos2d for iPhone

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[GAME] Doodle Hockey

(17 posts) (4 voices)

Started 2 years ago by Acceleroto
Latest reply from Acceleroto

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Acceleroto
Member

Hey everybody. My new game Doodle Hockey is waiting for review at Apple. I took what I learned from my early App Store release "Air Hockey" and built a new game from the ground up. I tried to throw in "fun" at every turn. There's particle effects for high-speed collisions & goals, several different flame & smoke trails for fast-moving pucks, fun graphics & sound, and several Easter eggs. So far the response from everyone has been extremely positive. Kids and adults both seem to really enjoy it.

Like my original Air Hockey, Doodle Hockey has 6 different difficulty levels for 1-player games and lets you play with 1 or 2 pucks. It also has a Tournament Mode that starts at the easiest level and steps up in difficulty through the 12 difficulty/puck combos.

Doodle Hockey was built using Cocos2d 0.99.2, Box2d and Particle Designer. Brett Archibald from Not How It Looks did the doodle-styled graphics for it (he also did Parachute Panic). Tapio Liukkonen from Kaamos Sound did the custom sound design (he also did Zero Gear & many more).

Here's a quick trailer showing some of the gameplay & options:

Get the Video Plugin

As soon as the game's live in the App Store, I'll make this link point to it: http://acceleroto.com/getDoodleHockey/

If all goes well with Apple, I'm aiming for a release this weekend.

Cheers,
-Bryan
http://acceleroto.com

Posted 2 years ago #
Codemattic
Moderator

you know its fun... the fun meter needle is all in the red! Seriously it does look really fun - good luck in the store!

Posted 1 year ago #
finder39
Member

I am curious, how did you write the AI?

I am dying to learn AI but don't know where to start?

Posted 1 year ago #
Acceleroto
Member

Thanks @Codemattic! I've had a lot of fun making it. I've had lots of feature requests for Air Hockey over the past couple years, but it's really to the point where it can’t (shouldn’t) grow any more. It was great starting over from scratch. I built my last new game in Cocos2d & loved it. Cocos2d really made Doodle Hockey a blast to develop.

@finder39 For AI, I approach it similarly to any other programming task. To write AI for a new game, I try to capture my thought process for how I’d be that bad guy. In many games, your AI will have a set of different types of behaviors (like defend the goal, attack the puck, etc). You’ll need logic to decide which behavior the AI needs to perform. Then, you need to write the code that gets executed for each of the behaviors (i.e. defend: mallet moves back in front of the goal). Whiteboards are my preferred place to scribble down the flow of the decision logic & descriptions of each behavior…seeing the whole picture helps me wrap my brain around the “best” overall solution.

Posted 1 year ago #
finder39
Member

How do you actually go to implement it though? I mean is there a book you read as to how to write the code behind it achetechture wise?

Posted 1 year ago #
Acceleroto
Member

Hmmm, I haven't seen any books specifically on programming game AI. I haven't really looked though, so there may be some. It's no different than programming any other logic tree though. The hardest part is figuring out the step-by-step actions that you want your AI to do. After that, the programming is just programming.

That actually sounds like a good topic for a talk on game programming.

Posted 1 year ago #
finder39
Member

it is something ill have to look into. luckily (well planned too i guess) none of my games need any kind of AI to work

Posted 1 year ago #
Acceleroto
Member

My very first version of Air Hockey didn't have any AI - it was purely 2 player on the same device. That worked to get the game working, but people REALLY wanted a great 1-player mode for the game. Interaction within the game is key to people wanting to play it. :)

Depending on what you consider "AI," almost every game has some. Thing about Tetris...it's pieces "know" to automatically move down the screen at a given rate. When they get to the bottom, they stop falling & disable any user interaction. That's a type of simple AI.

When you get to it, maybe share some of your brainstorming here. I'm sure several others would join in on it to help you brainstorm for new ideas.

Have fun!

p.s. Doodle Hockey is still "Waiting for Review" at Apple. Grrrrr.

Posted 1 year ago #
Acceleroto
Member

Doodle Hockey hit the App Store today!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/doodle-hockey/id358985413?mt=8

Posted 1 year ago #
Acceleroto
Member

It got reviewed by Touch Arcade today. Woohoo!

http://toucharcade.com/2010/06/02/accelerotos-doodle-hockey-is-fast-paced-fun/

Posted 1 year ago #
Codemattic
Moderator

Congrats - did you send them a pr announcement / promocode - or did they just find it themselves?

Posted 1 year ago #
Acceleroto
Member

I sent them an email with a quick description & links to the trailer & iTunes. They've reviewed at least one of my games before (and like it), so that never hurts.

-Bryan

Posted 1 year ago #
asinesio
Member

Nice, looks like a well-done game.

Did you use Chipmunk, Box2D, or homegrown for the physics?

Posted 1 year ago #
Acceleroto
Member

Thanks @asinesio. The physics engine in Doodle Hockey is Box2d. I used a homegrown one in my first game & it worked very well, but Box2d worked just as well once I tweaked all the rigid body settings. It's certainly much easier than writing your own physics engine. :)

Posted 1 year ago #
finder39
Member

I bet. I am creating a doodle game now, just started the other day and is already well underway. (this is my second game and it amazes me how much faster, better, and more organized i can make a game the second time around) I will be using box2d as well but on animated sprites (which was a little confusing to figure out but i got it).

out of curiosity if you don't mind me asking, how are the sales going for this? it seems like it will be a huge hit, especially with all the publicity you got!

Posted 1 year ago #
Acceleroto
Member

Well, right now the only place it's ranked is in the Kids category in Germany. It's stilling some, but not many. As soon as I have time, I'm going to send out more press releases. I should also be able to pound the pavement a little bit at WWDC. Hopefully I can drum up some more reviews of it there. Once I get a Gizmodo or TUAW review, it'll take off. :)

Posted 1 year ago #
Acceleroto
Member

Doodle Hockey got featured by Apple in the New & Noteworthy and New Games categories! It's racing up the charts now. :)

Posted 1 year ago #

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