Octropolis
June 19, 2014 9:54 AM   Subscribe

Octropolis
A fast-action scrolling maze game for Android, intended for tablets. Guide an octopus through a huge maze, collecting eggs and avoiding sharks. Consume "mega eggs" to attack the sharks back. Intended as a riff on classic Namco arcade maze games of the 1980s, including Pac-Man and Rally-X.

Includes three different kinds of touch controls. ("Travel To Touch Spot" is probably the best.) Clearing the maze is intended to be a great challenge, but it's easier if you use keyboard arrow controls.
Role: Creator, programmer, designer, artist, etc.
posted by JHarris (12 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

I totally wish I had an Android device now. Are the mazes randomly generated?
posted by ignignokt at 6:27 PM on June 19, 2014


They are not, they're hand-created. I think it works better like this for this, the game is sufficiently difficult that I think the player needs to be able to learn the layout to do well. For instance, there's some areas of the maze that are safer than others. Note, however, the (slightly misnamed) Master difficulty has a completely different maze.
posted by JHarris at 2:34 AM on June 20, 2014


I've updated it with a new touch control style, which I think is the best at the moment, and a variation of it.

The thing is, I HATE touch controls for a game like this, but for Android there's little choice. I don't have a Bluetooth game controller yet. I might pick one up tomorrow, but the cheapest here is $50. Can anyone suggest a good one? How prevalent are they?
posted by JHarris at 12:20 AM on June 21, 2014


(I say I hate them and I do, but I'm doing the best job I can in implementing them anyway. I just think there are no perfect solutions to this problem.)
posted by JHarris at 3:53 AM on June 21, 2014


I keep improving it, although it looks hopeless sales-wise. Fixed a high score bug, added a couple of cool little features, thinking about adding another, smaller maze for Beginner mode.
posted by JHarris at 2:12 PM on June 22, 2014


I might distribute a Windows version of this. Unsure how to market it though. Doesn't seem likely Steam would accept it.
posted by JHarris at 11:57 AM on June 24, 2014


Is this built in Unity? If so, would a web demo build be feasible?

I feel like Steam – without connections – is basically a lottery at this point.
posted by ignignokt at 8:44 AM on June 29, 2014


It might be. It costs $100 to get in Steam Greenlight, which I can't afford for such a simple game.

I've got a total of six purchases so far on Play, and a grand total of zero on Amazon. I'm not very good at promoting things unfortunately, I always shy away from it. I did just post an update now making it a bit more suitable for phones -- the default scale of the game is now user adjustable.
posted by JHarris at 1:01 AM on July 2, 2014


Oh, it's actually built in Game Maker, which has its drawbacks, but I can work in it very quickly, and on the plus side it can be exported in many different formats (some require buying an additional filter though). I can try to make a HTML5 version, but the one time I've tried it so far didn't work very well. GM's HTML exporter doesn't seem to like Firefox....
posted by JHarris at 1:03 AM on July 2, 2014


Just tried it, I just get a black window unfortunately. I don't know how a web browser would handle it's dynamic scaling effect anyway.
posted by JHarris at 1:08 AM on July 2, 2014


(That is, it gives a black window as an HTML project in Chrome.)
posted by JHarris at 1:09 AM on July 2, 2014


The Windows version, with much better graphic effects and some gameplay tweaks, is now available for $3 on itch.io. I've also posted a YouTube video of me completing the Expert-level difficulty, which even now I can only do about one time in eight.
posted by JHarris at 11:18 PM on December 7, 2014


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