xenoclone :. blog :. xenoclone.com

new project in the pipeline
Posted by Chris on 4/16/2008

Soooo.... here's the status of the project pipeline:

Mini Chess - Currently being evaluated for the best publication situation.

Xeno Versus: Space Melee - Sitting on the backburner. We're looking to reduce its scope (again).

Xeno Sola: Tile Placement Game - Look out, Carcassonne lovers! This is a new project of ours. It is rapidly being completed and will be in beta very soon.

Here are a couple pics of Xeno Sola (captured in low-quality MS Paint):

mini chess beta over
Posted by Chris on 3/26/2008

Beta testing has completed for Mini Chess. Check back soon for details on its release, its sequel, and updates on Xeno Versus: Space Melee.

mini chess almost complete
Posted by Chris on 3/18/2008

Beta testing is about to wrap up. Here's the (projected) list of features:

Four game skins: classic, frosty, coast, and forest

Three rule sets: mini chess, mini makruk, mini shatranj

Five difficulty levels for challenging AI

Play as white, play as black, or local multiplayer support

The next step is ironing out the kinks in the self-publishing process.

mini chess gets some love
Posted by Chris on 3/17/2008
Garage Games Forum News has Mini Chess featured as a "Wicked Sweet Project."

mini chess beta 2.0
Posted by Chris on 3/14/2008
You know what? I'm liking how this mini chess beta testing is going. So here's a link to Mini Chess Beta 2.0. It expires on the 23rd... 1 week after Beta 1.0 expires. Try it out, email me, and give me your thoughts. Garage Games blog entry is here.

mini chess links
Posted by Chris on 3/11/2008

The Beta

The Great Games Experiment Page

The YouTube Preview

mini chess beta is here
Posted by Chris on 3/10/2008
The mini chess beta is here. It expires on the 16th of March, 2008. Try it out and let me know what you think by any of these methods:

Email Me: chris@xenoclone.com

Yahoo Group: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/minichess/

Garage Games Blog: http://www.garagegames.com/blogs/68928/14419

mini chess beta getting ever so close
Posted by Chris on 3/07/2008
Mini chess is about ready. Here's its status:

Two game skins (classic and bottlecap)

A challenging AI with 5 difficulty levels

Local multiplayer support

Three rule sets: mini chess, mini makruk, mini shatranj

Right now I just need to plug in the "about" screen and the "how to play" screen. The mini chess beta should be ready at that point.

After that, there's a fairly decent lineup of spinoffs built off the "mini chess engine" that I can pursue. One, in fact, may tie in with Xeno Versus.

mini chess beta coming soon
Posted by Chris on 2/25/2008
In about a week or so, I will release a beta for mini chess. It should feature:

Two game skins (classic and bottlecap)

A challenging AI with 5 difficulty levels

Both local and internet multiplayer support

So check-back soon, mini chess lovers!

project still very much alive
Posted by Chris on 2/13/2008
I haven't been able to update the blog much. A few non-game-related delays are at fault. I'm in the process of buying a house and moving. Plus, I'm writing my MS thesis, which --surprise, surprise-- is time consuming. But progress on the space melee continues. The character art is still being created by MauiZu, and I've got a new ship near-ready to insert into the game.

revised ship selection
Posted by Chris on 1/9/2008
The selection screen has been heavily revised. It now features a simple drag and drop interface for both ships and inputs.

This reflects several big changes. Specifically, the game is being scaled back in order to be finished at a reasonable rate. The changes?

12 species; 12 "scout" ships.... replacing 9 species and 27 ships

~4 levels.... replacing 9 levels

3 ships per fleet.... instead of 6 ships per fleet

No ship "previews"

No saving/loading fleets
Levels will not wrap.... a "soft" boundary instead

revised split screen HUD
Posted by Chris on 12/14/2007
The HUD's been updated with a thinner border around the energy and health bars. This will probably be the standard HUD I use for the next beta (along with a mini-map, of course).

Next up? A solution to the wrapping issue; either a visual cue for when wrapping occurs or a some type of physical boundary will replace the wrap.

xeno versus split screen width HUD
Posted by Chris on 12/4/2007
I've added a HUD to the split screen. Note that higher resolutions will be supported soon. So the HUD looks disproportionately big in the low 800x600 resolution.

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