The project is getting good! I want to get a lot more features done before I can consider uploading it here.

See some awesome screenshots here: https://imgur.com/a/XxYEUrE

Even watch this short clip: https://imgur.com/IukvanP

I think when I have something of worth that can be posted, I will re-submit the game for review. Since so much will have changed, the current eviews just wouldn't reflect these changes.

Luckily, I backed up the original game before making a V2.

Anyway, I updated the game, fixing an oversight.  ALL IS OKAY NOW.

Back to making V2...

Still been working on Drop Factor on and off.  I really want my themes to mesh well in the menus before I get into the gritty coding of Classic mode.

As for Power mode ideas... I went back to my list of Powers and kept thinking about the Sift Power from Chain Factor, because I really wanted to do something with numbers that involved removing discs.  I don't really want a Power that just multiplied points.

So I eventually came up with something similar, and I call the power: Scrutinize.

Defintion of Scrutinize: To examine or inspect closely and thoroughly.

So, here is what it will do. It's almost like what Factorize currently does in the game right now, but instead of checking if the row or column equals a very specific number that I pulled out of a hat (7,11,21?) , its checking if the values of the row/column add up to the current number of discs on the grid, which I feel makes for a much better power.

[Description in game that I plan to have]

Scrutinize (Energy Cost: 22)
Scrutinize removes numbered discs.  It analyzes the total value of discs in every row and column, and if that row or column adds up to the total number of discs currently on the grid, those numbered discs are removed.  Gray discs and Bomb discs do not count towards the total value of a row or column and are ignored.

So yeah, just popping my head in to say Hi to all, broken bones are slowly healing in my foot.  I reeeeally hope to keep pushing myself to get this game going again.

Some powers are being replaced in Power Mode with new ones.  Currently, I have 15/16 powers.  The problem I have is, I can't think of what the 16th power would be.  It has to be a Calculation power.

This is currently my list:

========================================

[Calculation]

TRANSMUTE (Energy Cost: 17)
Transmute looks at your current score from right to left and turns it into the next sequence of discs to drop.  (8s, 9s, and 0s are skipped.)  Transmute can be used multiple times to add up to 15 discs to the queue of upcoming discs.

PROMOTE (Energy cost: 40)
Promote adds 1 to every numbered disc.  When this power is triggered, all numbered discs in the grid are increased by 1.  All 7s become gray discs.

DEMOTE (Energy cost: 40)
Demote subtracts 1 from every numbered disc.  When this power is triggered, all numbered discs in the grid are decreased by 1.  All 1s become gray discs.

????? (Energy cost: ???)
????????????????????????????????????

[Destruction]
ERODE (Energy cost: 85)
Erode weathers every gray disc one level.  Solid gray discs are cracked, cracked discs become numbered discs.

CULL (Energy cost: 31)
Cull will eliminate 1 gray disc of your choice.  Upon activation, click on any gray disc to remove it from the grid.

DETONATE (Energy cost: 35)
Detonate turns the currect disc into a bomb disc that you can drop into the grid.  The bomb will explode sometime between 1 and 6 turns from when you drop it.

BLOCKER (Energy cost: 47)
Blocker prevents a new row of gray discs from being added when you level up. (This power will be stackable up to 4 times.)

[Provision]
POSTPONE (Energy Cost: 0) (PASSIVE)
Postpone increases the starting drop counter by 50%. This is a passive power and does not need to be triggered.  It works automatically.

LURE (Energy cost: 0) (PASSIVE)
Occasionally, a Bonus Diamond will appear on the grid.  Drop a disc on it, and you will earn bonus points and 1 energy.  When you hit it, you also increase its value.  If you miss it, or activate a power, it will disappear.

THRIVE (Energy cost: 0) (PASSIVE)
Thrive increase the amount of energy generated by chains by 20%. This is a passive power and does not need to be triggered.  It works automatically.

SOLAR (Energy cost: 0) (PASSIVE)
Solar generates 0.5% energy with every disc you drop. This is a passive power and does not need to be triggered.  It works automatically.

[Transformation]
REDEEM (Energy cost: 60)
Redeem converts energy directly into points.  Spend 60 energy to get an instant 17000 points.

REVEAL (Energy cost: 2)
Reveal shows the number that a gray disc will turn into once it is converted.  Reveal affects all gray discs on the grid. Once a gray disc has had its number revealed, it remains visible.

TILT (Energy cost: 14)
Tilt rotates the grid 90 degrees clockwise.

CHAMELEON (Energy cost: 55)
Change the value of any numbered disc.  Trigger this power then click any numbered disc to change its value to what you want it to be.

========================================

The question is, what should be the 4th Calculation power be?  I wasn't very fond of the Factorize power and chose to replace it with Transmute.

So the power-up I would be replacing would be Double.  Should I keep the Double power?  If not, replace it with what?

Perhaps make it a Triple?  (Triple points for the current drop?)

Or make a power-up that can add to the drop counter to further delay level up?  What would I even call it...

So I popped open GameMaker Studio and... disaster!

Yoyogames, the developer behind the program has been updating the program, and breaking it as well.  This is probably a way to try and force people to buy the newer GM:S 2.

I simply couldn't use the newer 1.4.1804 version of GM: S, but thanks to some help, I was able to reget an older functional version of it on Steam and have made a backup of it.

Now I can resume Drop Factor (new name for my current game project).

Time to really push myself back into this!

Well then.  It has indeed been quite some time since my last post.

I got a part-time job back in march which has been going well.

As for my game project, I have been poking at it on and off, but it seems like something always distracts and delays me from working on it.  I will try to make time to keep at it.

Indeed.  It's been quite some... time, since I posted about things ongoing.

I did put Number Factor on the back burner for a while to simmer since I wanted to think about where to go with it.

One thing I plan to do, is... well, I suppose it is in a way, a huge overhaul of it.  I plan to change its resolution from 720x480 to 660x780.  This means, I need to resize pretty much every graphic image I use, as well as change a lot of code since the game does its checks of 40x40 cells instead of 60x60.  So yeah, a bigger resolution would be a good change.  It'll just take a lot of time to do it all.

I also want to give some visual choices in the game, such as the ability to choose themes to play with.

Theme Default: http://imgur.com/a/eGQvi
Another theme: http://imgur.com/a/wB9Wd

So you can kinda see what a 7x7 grid game (classic, power, hardcore, etc.) looks like.  9x9 and 5x5 is easy to visualize since the grid stays centered.

I also want to get some different disc set colors to pick from as well.  So you can customize the game in a way you want to see it.

Anyway, as for life stuff.  I been out and about.  Recently did a work assessment thing and did a great job with data entry, and they want me to try out a longer internship.  The experience gained is worth it, and it could even lead to a paying job there.  I hope.

That's all to report.

Man, it's been a while since I posted!

I have been having some small health issues with my feet, but I am hanging in there. :)

As for game projects.  I been on and off with Number Factor, but also, been hard in the works of an actual match-3 game.  Here is an animated preview of it:  http://imgur.com/Gzigjdv

It is actually pretty damn solid.  Gem swap and match correctly.  The generation of new gems and dropping them down is fast.  Especially, that thing when you run out of moves.  That was fun to make.

This update is kind of experimental.  I did some tinkering with Power Mode on how it generates energy from chains.  You'll also notice that Solar generates 0.5% energy, instead of 1%.

Let me know your thoughts on the changes.

So, a small update done for all game modes.

I added an extra bit of Disc Balancing.  For each game mode, if the game finds that you are given a specific amount of Gray Discs in a row, it will force a Numbered Disc after them.  The amount is different for each game mode, especially Marathon Mode.

I had one report where someone had gotten 20 or more Gray Discs in a row and I never expected that to ever occur.  That's way too many.  So that should be helpful to all players.

Another change I made is to Timed Mode.  Every 10 drops instead of 12 is now a new level and a new row of Gray Discs.

HAVE FUN!