Hi have to disagree with a few of the comments, especially @DaDramaLlama "This is going to be a hit!" Your interface looks pretty good and the three space handling worked well. My only, ooh is the blocks button at the bottom. It seems to be dangling all by itself and in my opinion should be part of the other menu/control buttons. It appears to me in the video to be a major choir to build the simplest thing. Connecting pieces took several steps. I have a day job, and I don't want another. In all honesty this would get run once for the wow factor and most likely not again. Try and find a way to make it painless, because it appears you have had a lot of practice, but the rest of us would likey tire out, and get borred. Wishing you the best.
Is there an option to restrict movement to one axis (well, two... X & Y)? It might help with some structures if you were building on a 2D plane, then you wouldn't have to worry about whether or not they're alligned on the Z axis, until you enable it again (or just rotate the whole thing 90 degrees).
yes I am very aware of the games flaws. I was saying when all is said and done this will be a sleeper hit. Thts why I've been trying to help him get the beta out ASAP. I think that when the beta is all said and done and tweaks have been added this will be brilliant. I felt the same way about geared and look what happened.
Possibly - but this looks like it would be fun to play with. I happen to be a big fan of things like Toy Box and Physify - I don't know how well these apps do, but they are similar sandbox 'games' where you can just play... I look forward to seeing this, either as a beta tester or as a customer.
Yeah I think AddictArts' post was slightly self defeating since he wrote it after talk of beta testing began. The entire point of beta testing is to try and ensure the game does end up as fun, professional and successful as possible. It's too early to suddenly jump up and say it won't do well. Also, major choir?
I never really enjoyed 3D building lego games, I am a great builder with Legos , but using it in a program isn't really getting the good feeling out of it... Might want to try this though , if there are plenty of good reviews!
Yea I kno lol. It was very easy to back up my point. anyone that wants to beta test send redd ur usual beta info. He has already told me I'll be in the beta list and boy I can't wait! This will be a phenomenal game. Keep on pushing this thread to the top of upcoming games so mote people will buy.
I'll be the first one to write one once I get my beta! I keep on coming back to this thread like very second. I always loved legos as a kid and soon we'll have them on our iPods. Amazing!
I've been using Voxel to build stuff on iPhone, but it's really simple, only cubes... it might be useful for research though redd, and I think there's a lite version.
Regarding movement, and dealing with lots of blocks, etc. AddictArt's comment is a constant spot-on concern for me. Dealing with a 3D world and manipulating 3D objects on a 2D screen is always going to be difficult and/or time consuming, so I'm still exploring some different "auto-connect", rails (similar to the above idea of locking down axis) or better visual indicators features and ideas. Fundamentally though, the one thing I thought most important was that feeling of moving and dealing within a fluid and "touchable" 3D environment. Personally, I really enjoy just playing in the world -- moving objects, spinning in 3D, connecting objects together -- and that's something I wanted to convey without having too much UI interference. Still, there are tradeoffs. 1: With a potential for dozens of pieces, how do you easily and quickly present them so that it's not a tedious chore to get a new piece? Quicker access (ie., keeping some form of a a selection mode on-screen at all times, perhaps), while making getting a piece in play quicker, would reduce the visible workspace, and also increase the number of elements that need to be handled by the UI/graphics system at once. I'm hoping I've found a reasonable tradeoff, but I'm still tinkering. Also, trying to "read the users mind" when placing objects will only work, let's say, 50% of the time. That's great for that 50% that it works for. The other 50% are going to be really, really frustrated when the piece they wanted "over there", ended up "other somewhere else" instead. I felt one of the tradeoffs on that one was to just provide a consistent, if not exactly 100% optimized for everyone, method of dealing with "the piece drop". 2: This is a effectively an "unbounded" 3D environment, meaning that I, as the programmer, can't control what the user is going to do, and more importantly, how many vertices that user's going to put on the screen and where they're going to put them. At minimum I feel that the most basic of iPhone's should be able to easily handle a 200-300 individual pieces on screen with a minimum 20fps, and preferably closer to 30-35fps. To allow that, the 3D models need to be super simple and aggressive optimization (both internally and externally with the UI and what's being handled and displayed by the app) needs to be done. This puts some real strict limitations on what you can do visually for guides, unfortunately. As I keep telling myself every time I do something really cool (like a really cool XRay view I originally had that helped you line up objects in a build that ultimately crushed performance) it's still just a phone.... Nonetheless, I'm certainly open to any ideas!
well I sent you a great idea IMO. are you checking you're PMs caus I haven't had an email or PM reply. Btw I have high hopes for thus game. How is the beta going?
Just my two cents: I think a kind of floor, that is the downwards limit of the space, would be nice first for orientation and second for building multiple objects (maybe a whole scenery). I also got the feeling from the video that it will take ages to build bigger objects. My idea is to add a kind of "auto drop" function, which moves the currently active block in a specific direction until it hits another block. This way you can align a new block with the rest of the object in 2D and then "drop" it in the direction of the third dimension without having to rotate everything.
I would absolutely love to beta test this game if I meet the requirements! Second Generation iPod Touch with O.S. 3.1.2. What is a UDID?
Wow, I've been looking for an app like this for a while now. Then I've finally found this! keep up the good work, I'm definitely going to get this.
Something, search UDID on the app store to get an app to identify your UDID for stuff like, well, beta testing
For the UDID, plug in your ipod to your computer, then go to your ipod's summary page. From there CLICK on the words that say Serial Number, and they will change to your device UDID. Then Ctrl-RIGHT CLICK the letter/number area and that will copy it so you can paste it wherever you need. I had no idea what it was when I started beta-testing, so it was no problem.
Hi! Just to give an update (as requested)... My goal this weekend is come up with a good, intuitive and easy-to-use "auto-connect" or "auto-lineup" control scheme (no promises though; it's a surprisingly difficult thing to integrate into something like this without becoming more of a hinderance than a help.) In addition, I'm also looking finish up the design of the piece models. It has just occurred to me though (and yes, I am a bit dim sometimes) that perhaps the forum could be a real help on the second part! Here's the question to the group: As it stands now, I have 48 different models. These models cover the "basics parts" gamut from 1x1 bricks, flats and slopes to 4x8 flats and some of the more "fancy" sloping bricks. I would like to add at least 16 more bricks. What would everyone like to see for bricks? Keep in mind that I've already covered the basics, and mini-figs are off the table for the moment (just for the moment, though....) If your brick is not easily identified verbally, please also provide an image of it if at all possible. I'll pick the top of the submitted bunch and include them in the game! Thanks, - Corey
