Happy Holidays from Suzy Cube!

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity

Suzy and I want to wish all of you a great holiday season and a safe and happy new year! We both look forward to seeing you all next year for more updates and lessons from Suzy Cube!

Holiday Break From Updates

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity  
This update is a non-update, if you will.

Suzy Cube Update: Friday December 11, 2015

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

Well, this is embarrassing! After last week's paltry update this one will be even slimmer. 

Starwhal now Available on Xbox One!!

That's right folks, Breakfall's massively popular game Starwhal is now available for the Xbox One! Starwhal is, bar none, the premier aquatic space mammal jousting simulator! If you have friends and own a couch, you need to pick this game up! Also available for the WiiU, PS3, PS4 and Steam.

Twitter Milestone: 200 followers!

As of today (and for the time being) I've got 200 follower on Twitter!! *Self back patting*

Suzy Cube Update: Friday December 4, 2015

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

This week was spent on completing the draft of Level 1-2, knocking some easy stuff off my to-do list and getting started on the World 1 boss fight.

Suzy Cube Update: Friday November 27, 2015

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

One more level draft in the can and another well under way! After a slow and self loathing start to the week, I managed to kick myself in the butt and end things in a good place.

Suzy Cube Update: Friday November 20, 2015

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

Been pretty "heads down" this week, not much in the way of exciting gifs and what not. So what have I been up to!?

Suzy Cube Update: Thursday November 12, 2015

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

Gonna be a bit of a slim one this week, folks. Also, I'm not going to be able to post the update on Friday, as usual which is why it's coming a day early.

Suzy Cube Update: Friday November 6, 2015

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

This week I worked on the first user experience, tester flow and a new level!

Lessons From Suzy Cube: Improved Mobile Performance Through a Custom Culling Solution

#suzycube #indiedev #gamedev #madewithunity 

Regardless of your target platform, having a good way to control which parts of your level are active at any particular time is tremendously important to achieve the best possible performance.

Happy Halloween From Suzy Cube

#suzycube #halloween2015

Suzy Cube Update: Friday October 30, 2015

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

Despite a new Halo game releasing this week, I still got stuff done! Ok, to be honest, my crappy Venezuelan internet connection had me wait well past the release date for my download to complete. 

Lessons from Suzy Cube: Mobile Controls That Feel Great

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

When people find out that I'm working on a 3D platform game for mobile devices, many immediately ask me what I'm doing to make it feel good to play on a touch screen. Well, in this instalment of Lessons from Suzy Cube, I hope to answer that exact question.

Suzy Cube Update: Friday October 23, 2015

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity  

This week was kind of bi-polar. I started out feeling pretty crappy about the game and my progress in general, but by the end of the week I had made huge progress on a new level that's already proving to be pretty darn fun!

Massively Marvellous Multiplayer Mayhem!

#indiedev 

Starwhal, Toto Temple Deluxe and Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes are all available now! What an amazing time to have friends!

Suzy Cube Update: Friday October 16, 2015

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

Contrary to last week's update, this one will be rather slim. I spent an exhausting Thanksgiving weekend visiting Angel Falls with my wife and colleagues of her's then took Tuesday off to recuperate. And, by recuperate, I mean spend the day playing Rayman Legends, which is fantastic, by the way!

Suzy Cube Update: Friday Octobre 9, 2015

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

Oooh! This is going to be a meaty one! Lots of work done on the boss this week. It's pretty much done except for polish items.

Suzy Cube Update: Friday, October 2, 2015

#suzycube #indiedev #gamedev #madewithunity 

Aaaand we're back! Skipped the update last week as I was working on a wedding card for my cousin who's getting married.. um, this weekend, I think.

Lessons from Suzy Cube: Level Variety

#suzycube #madewithunity #indiedev #gamedev 

If you don't want your player to burn out on your game, it's important to keep things fresh! Let's have a look at two very different approaches to tackling the issue of variety in your game levels and the impact this can have on your game as a whole.

Suzy Cube Update: Friday, September 18, 2015

#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

This week has been all about the boss monster redesign. Got it modelled up, textured, rigged and even got started on the animation!

Suzy Cube Update: Friday September 11, 2015

#suzycube #indiedev #gamedev #madewithunity

Yep, the picture pretty much sums up how I feel about this week... It's been a rough one folks! The first couple days went well with the completion of the whitebox for Level 3-3 done and ready for testing and some small but long overdue tweaks to Level 1-1 behind me, I felt ready to take on the final boss! No really, that's what I spent most of the week on, working on the game's final boss, which, incidentally will be the template for all five boss fights in the game.

Lessons from Suzy Cube: Measuring Up

#gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity #suzycube

I hate ambiguous jumps in games! If your game involves jumping, then you owe it to your player to make sure it's easy to get a feel for what heights and gaps can be traversed. And as a designer, all it takes is a little measuring up!

Suzy Cube Update: Friday September 4, 2015

#gamedev #madewithunity #indiedev #iosdev #suzycube

I've been hard at work trying to finish up the first design pass on Level 3-3. Yep, still on it! I think, in the future I shouldn't get so hung up on isolated bits of polish.

Suzy Cube Update: Friday August 28, 2015

#gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity #iosdev

This week, I started work on level 3-3! I've got a fair bit of work done on level 1-1 but first levels are a unique beast. Level 3-3 is my first "typical" Suzy Cube level and also means beginning work on a whole new look for lava/cave themed levels!

Lessons From Suzy Cube: Which Level Comes First?

#gamedev #indiedev #iosdev #madewithunity

A lot of games split the action up into distinct levels. These are usually meant to be played in a fairly linear fashion from first to last. But is that the best way to tackle designing the levels? For Suzy Cube, I've decided that creating the levels out of order is the best way to go.

Lessons From Suzy Cube: Why Do a Master Study? (or Why Not Do Something Novel?)

#gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity #iosdev

So, some folks have been asking me: With the opportunity to finally work on a personal project full-time, why not make a more original game? Why devote your time to this "master study"?

Suzy Cube Update: Friday August 21, 2015

#gamedev #madewithunity #indiedev #iosdev

I was hoping to have a little more in this update, but I spent the whole morning moving the router and modem around the apartment trying to squeeze the most speed out of our, less than stelar, connection.

Say Hello to Suzy! A Master Study of Super Mario 3D Land

Hey, everyone! Say hello to Suzy, Suzy Cube! She's the titular character to the game on which I will be spending the next year or more working!

The Big Move

As previously mentioned, my wife and I have embarked on quite the little adventure and recently emigrated to sunny Venezuela! For my wife, it's a huge opportunity to start a career in the foreign service. For me, it's an altogether different career opportunity!

Eulogy for a Console, Part 3: XBox

This is the final entry in this three part series about parting ways with my first consoles.

I have moved away from my home town (more on that later) and that meant taking the opportunity to clear out the closets and rid myself of stuff I didn't foresee using much anymore. As a result I've recently sold my three oldest consoles. Now this was a pretty big deal as I've had them all since I was in school, however even I had to admit to myself that if I hadn't played with any of them in, at least, eight years, I wasn't likely to pull them out and play with them again in the foreseeable future.

Eulogy for a Console, Part 2: Sega Dreamcast

This is the second in a series of three stories about parting ways with my first three consoles. 

I will be moving abroad soon (more on that later) and that means an opportunity to clear out the closets and rid myself of stuff I don't foresee using much anymore. As a result I've recently sold my three oldest consoles. Now this was a pretty big deal as I've had them all since I was in school, however even I had to admit to myself that if I hadn't played with any of them in, at least, eight years, I wasn't likely to pull them out and play with them again in the foreseeable future.

Roll'n Bump is a Canadian Toy Testing Council Best Bet!

How did I just find out about this!? The Canadian Toy testing Council (CTTC) awarded Roll'n Bump it's top honours of 'Best Bet'!! 

Starwhal Is Coming to Xbox One!

Oh man! I've been holding on to this nugget since the Ottawa International Games Conference last month. It was announced this week at E3 that Starwhal, the best game about narwhals fencing in space, from the talented team at Breakfall will be coming to the Xbox One!

Eulogy for a Console, Part 1: Sega Saturn

This is the first in a series of three stories about parting ways with my first three consoles.

I will be moving abroad soon (more on that later) and that means an opportunity to clear out the closets and rid myself of stuff I don't foresee using much anymore. As a result I've recently sold my three oldest consoles. Now this was a pretty big deal as I've had them all since I was in school, however even I had to admit to myself that if I hadn't played with any of them in, at least, eight years, I wasn't likely to pull them out and play with them again in the foreseeable future.

Does Not Commute: A Delightful Find For Mobile Gamers

I'm utterly delighted by this game both by its core game play concept and its presentation. If you play games on your mobile phone or tablet at all, I highly recommend giving Does Not Commute a try on iOS or Android.

iOS version of Berzerker Bots now available on the App Store! Retro arcade FPS fun awaits!

PlayStation Owners, Get Your Starwhal On!

That's right PlayStation lovers, Starwhal is now available on the PlayStation Store for both PS3 and PS4! So if you have a hankering for a good old fashion competitive party game to bust out when you've got pals over, you can NOT go wrong with Starwhal. It is ridiculous fun and I recommend it for everybody! Also a reminder for folks who don't own a console of the PlayStation persuasion that Starwhal is also available for Mac and PC on Steam.

Space Grunt Available Now on the App Store!

Like platforming, shooting and jetpacks? Of course you do! Then check out Space Grunt, the latest game from my partner-in-crime, Phil Stroffolino. The game combines aspects of Jetpack Joyride, platform games and shoot-em-ups into a unique and challenging experience. You can even customize your character's skins, Minecraft style! So, check it out for the low low price of zero bucks!