Quoridor Board Game - Online Challenge feature

No doubt, the Online Challenge feature is getting more and more attention. To fully 'gamify' the entire world, the Android games designed have to be able to connect to someone from different corners of the world to some extent.

So, allow me to have a new post to make this big announcement for my Quoridor Board Game - a Beta version of the Online Challenge is available now!

Previously, i promised that if the number of ratings have reached 100, the Online feature would be added. But to everyone's surprise, the feature comes earlier. A beta version of the feature has been integrated.

Something to note is that, the initial stage of the Online Challenge could only connect you to a randomly assigned opponent. In each game, in order to avoid some monkeys who spend too much time idling, each side is required to make a move (pawn moving or wall placing) within 90 seconds. Furthermore, if you are playing this Quoridor Board Game not at the peak time (when is the peak time ya?), you might have no luck challenging anyone...

A good experiment to prove the online feature works is to have 2 devices playing at the same time. Here, i assume that your internet connection is 100% stable. Else... you know... oops :) All i could say is that, it would be further improved in the future.

This is my first time featuring a real-time turn-based game. Of course, all the dirty back-end stuffs are implemented through a third party API. Let's see how this magic goes...

Cat War 2 Walkthrough

Cat War 2 - a game product by the West River Software.

This is a quick walkthrough of this game (if you don't want to pay like me).

First, i have to say Cat War 2 is a well designed Hero Tower Defense Game, as compared to the Brave Heroes, both Heroes and the troops play important roles in the war against the enemies (and hence, they have to be upgraded as well from time to time).

Goddess of Life casts spell of healing to all nearby allies

From the perspective of Heroes, i personally favor the original Duncan (Greatspear Fighter) and the Vivian (Goddess of Life). The former have the special skill of cleaving attack, effectively strike the enemy armies. While the later has the ability to heal the allies, giving them extra time to hit and defend (this is especially crucial when playing the Boss Mode, as the Duncan can survive much longer).

Then, the troop unit. After unlocking the flying Hera unit at around Stages 30+, i discover that he is a very special type. Hera effectively strikes the ground units with the range attack, while avoiding the counter attack from the melee enemies. Most of the time, after my Duncan Hero has been killed, i will summon Vivian accompanying with the troops of Hera to attack the enemies. So, no doubt, upgrading Hera is my first priority.

Basically, items play the MOST CRITICAL role in the overall game play. Since the items like ATTACK attribute increase, HP attribute increase, RESOURCE and MOVE SPEED increase affect All the units, purchasing the items is an effective alternative in case your heroes or the troops levels are too low, else you may end up consuming more than 15 mins per game play, as shown below:

around 20 mins without using any item on stage 46. Ouch!

The only way to earn more Gem / Diamond resources, is to 'repetitively' play the first stage (15 Gems per around 40 seconds). I know this is slow. But it is the only FREE approach here.....

Overall i love this game. Just that i may stop by 40+ stages with FREE play. Otherwise, it may take like weeks to gain sufficient resources (to upgrade the troops) to play the subsequent stages.

Workaround for adjusting image brightness in the Starling Framework

In the Starling Framework, there isn't a property of 'brightness' for the Image Class. As a result, there is no straightforward approach when adjusting the image brightness.

However, we tend to have the feature of image glowing or flickering to attract the users, especially in the games. How to achieve the effects? Fortunately, with the understanding of the onEnterFrame function, there is a simple workaround here.

First, you need to define another class (extending Sprite) in which the images (that you want to flicker) are added. Here, ONLY 2 images are required: a normal image and a brighter image of the identical objects, as shown below:

Then, inside the onEnterFrame function, all you need to do, is to add a harmonic function (sine, cosine or tangent) to adjust the transparency (alpha) of the either one image, as stated here:

      public const FLICKER_FREQUENCY:int = 1000;
      public var yourImage1:Image = new Image(...);
   public var yourImage2:Image = new Image(...);
   
   private function onEnterFrame():void
   {
        var curDate:Date = new Date();
        yourImage.alpha = (Math.cos(curDate.getTime()*(1/FLICKER_FREQUENCY)));
   }

Simple enough. You can adjust the flickering frequency at any rate you want :)

Wish to see a real example? There you go. The effects of adjusting the image brightness is applied in my Match 3 Pop Saga game. The flickering balloons are formed when you perform matching of 4 balloons in a row.

Match 3 Game algorithm Part 6 - A real Android Match 3 Game demo

Sorry for the late. The release date for the Match 3 Game as stated last time might be delayed a bit.

HORRAY! The Match 3 Pop Saga is now available in the Google Play Store Now!

After several weeks of hard work, i have finally come out with a 'sample' of the Match 3 Game, with the Candy Crush Saga as the main reference, and the algorithms stated previously. (The "Saga" is imitated to gain some SEO points, hopefully... oops)

However, different from the Candy Crush, my Match 3 Pop Saga only has a total of 9 stages. Furthermore, it includes a bit of RPG elements: Level up. Basically, the more you play (popping more balloons), the higher levels you are. And the higher levels will reward you a higher score per pop (and time too!). Interesting huh? :)

Note that it is a balloon, not a colorful Easter egg.
I am not a graphic designer. The pictures are obtained from devianart.

Something to note is that, the 'striped candy' now is a glowing balloon (right, simple animation), while the 'wrapped candy' is something like this (bordered):

The maximum level in the Match 3 Pop Saga is 15 (which i think you won't need that for completing all the stages with 3 stars).

Finally, thanks for trying this game. Feel free to drop some feedback, either on the game flow, or the game experiences~

Running Man Quiz solution - Background music

In the Running Man Variety Show, each Running Man member has unique background musics that are played during the races. For example, when Lee Kwang Soo incurs bad luck / awkward situation, his music will appear. When Yoo Jae Seok shows some strategic skills, his Yoo mes Bond music will be played. If you have been watching the Running Man all the while, i am pretty sure you will be able to recognize them easily :)

Hence, in the Running Man Quiz, i purposely included some music clips to the 'Music' section. Be honest, i got some original sources from here. But to make it more complete (for the need of the 'solution' of the app), i re-organize the list here:

1. Yoo Jae Seok

• James Bond's Movie Theme
• Extreme Ways
• Pink Panther Theme
• Step By Step

2. Lee Kwang Soo

• Saint Agnes and the Burning Train
• Theme of False Emperor
• No Matter How i think about it 
• Public Enemy Main Theme  (This music appears when Lee Kwang Soo is in the Betrayal Mode)

3. Gary

* (All the musics of are from the Gary's self established Hip-hop duo LeeSsang)

• Woman who cannot break up, man who cannot leave
• You are the answer to a guy like me
• Our Meeting
• Blues

4. Song Ji Hyo

• Angry Bird
• Tears
• Hot Issue
• Cheesy/Ticklish/Ganjireobgeh

5. Kim Jong Kook

• What we need is a Hero
• This is Sparta

6. Haha

• Perfect Love
• Pororo
• Rosa

7. Ji Seok Jin

• The House You Live In (JYP)
• I Swear
• Angel (Romeo and Juliet OST)

8. Easy Brothers

•  Super Monkey Return Kidding

You may search and listen to the musics from Youtube. Then, you will be able to get 5 R stickers for all the quizzes :)