The VG Resource

Hi, I made this so that this can be an official development thread, instead of the idea one. I'll delete the other soon.

Puzzel (it's supposed to be spelled that way) is a Professor Layton-ish puzzle creator, editor, and player, all in one app. Having a type of double-screen interface, it will look like playing Professor Layton on an emulator. However, it is completely independent of Professor Layton or Level-5 and all graphics, music, and anything else (except for puzzle types, which aren't copyrighted) will be original.

-Main Menu-
The main menu gives access to the multiple functions of Puzzel.
The Puzzle Library is a user-chosen folder containing .puzl files. These can be selected and either edited or played. The Create Puzzle option allows a user to create a puzzle from scratch. The Settings menu controls multiple options such as input method for Input Text/Number puzzles.

-Creator-
The creator will allow you to choose from multiple puzzle types, each with their own answering method. You can also choose a name and difficulty (10-100) for your puzzle.
The question will be written in the top screen. The user can choose the background image in the lower screen, and can either choose their own music, or use the supplied sample. The user can also make up to 4 hints, although they are optional.
The puzzle is saved as a .puzl file, which contains all puzzle information, including the background image and music. Because of this, the creator must have permission to distribute the music to prevent copyright infringement.

-Player-
The player is basically just like Professor Layton, with the question in the top screen, and the answering interface in the bottom screen. Unlike Professor Layton, getting an incorrect answer or using hints will offer no penalty, although they will be recorded and noted upon finishing the puzzle. A sketch function (similar to "Memo") will also be available.
When a puzzle is being solved, an animation will play, showing if the player is correct or incorrect. As mentioned before, the number of incorrect answers is noted when finally solving the puzzle. (Note: This number is reset when quitting the puzzle. I realise this can be abused, but it's no big deal.)

==Progress==

Puzzel is currently in super-early stages of development. It is being developed as an Adobe AIR desktop application.

Current Features:

• None
  

Planned Features In Next Version:

• Base application
  
• Add following puzzle types: Input Text, Input Number, Multichoice
  

I think I can handle the graphics well enough, but if anyone else feels like helping that would be great. I'm also in need of someone to make the supplied puzzle music. Just a single track about 2-3 minutes long that loops would be perfect.

I absolutely adore this idea, wish I thought of it sooner. I'd love to help out but my skills in anything other than actually playing a game and not developing is null. Good luck to you sir, it'll be interesting to see if this actually works out. Hell, I'm tempted to play PL on my DS again (the first one).

By the way, will the graphic style be similar to PL?

Nice, someone finally noticed this

Yeah, I'm planning the art style to be really similar to PL, but more like the latest one (The Last Specter) than any other. Obviously, since I'm allowing people to choose their own background images, those sort of things will vary per-puzzle, but things like button sprites and menus will be similar.

If you could help in any way it'd be nice. What I really need is some music, since I think I can handle the graphics if I try. I haven't been able to find any suitable free-to-use tracks online, and if you're not much of a musician yourself I would appreciate any recommendations from sites like Newgrounds.

However, I've recently been working more on my other game, Fl1p, than this, so it will be quite a while until you'll see any progress with Puzzel. I'm also excited though, so I will try and get on with it.

In any case, once/if a beta comes out you can feel free to test it out, since you seem so eager

I'd love to try out beta! This seems to have so much potential, and I'm surprised no one posted here before. Shame that I haven't got any of the new Professor Layton games, I think I've stopped buying anything Nintendo. (Last game I bought was Super Mario Galaxy 2, heh. Want to try out Skyward Sword sometime soon though, maybe I'll consider getting some new games for the DS... if I can find it)

Funnily enough, I've been playing around with PXTone lately, well, trying too anyway. It's what the guy who made Cave Story used to make songs and such. I don't think you want .ogg chiptunes though and I'm not all that good at it, especially when my first priority on any of the aspects of game development is spriting.

I have to wonder also... how are you making this? Is this browser-based or a client-side program? What language (or lazy editor) are you using? What libraries, if any?

There is one thing I can do to help out, either if it's a flash application or program, and that's websites. If you ever want a simple easy-to-manage blog with all the features you could expect or a nice little advertising site, I'll be willing to help as long as you produce some good stuff. I'm intrigued to see what you can manage. I've (at least in the past) worked (kinda) with some indie developers from an old community (which is now spam ridden), and still keep in contact with some developers.

As mentioned in the OP, I'm developing this as an Adobe AIR desktop app, which is written in ActionScript 3.0. AIR is basically Flash, but since it's an application that you actually download and install (as opposed to embed in a webpage), you've got more features, such as loading and saving files. This is necessary since a lot of file loading, saving, and even compressing will be going on.

I've (unsuccessfully) used PXTone before, but as you said chiptunes aren't really what I want. In addition, the music will have to be in .mp3 format, at least for the initial release, so .ogg wouldn't work.

Websites... well, at the moment I don't need anything too flashy, a simple blog to record my development progress is sufficient at present. However, if this becomes popular enough, I might make a site with a puzzle database, documentation, forums, etc, where people can upload and download puzzles. Off the top of my head, I'd say it would work something like GooFans, which is a site based around modding World Of Goo.
If I ever get round to that, it would be great to have someone to help with the development of the site, and in that case you'd be welcome.

(03-04-2012, 08:48 AM)puggsoy Wrote: [ -> ]As mentioned in the OP, I'm developing this as an Adobe AIR desktop app, which is written in ActionScript 3.0. AIR is basically Flash, but since it's an application that you actually download and install (as opposed to embed in a webpage), you've got more features, such as loading and saving files. This is necessary since a lot of file loading, saving, and even compressing will be going on.

Completely missed it, sorry.

(03-04-2012, 08:48 AM)puggsoy Wrote: [ -> ]If I ever get round to that, it would be great to have someone to help with the development of the site, and in that case you'd be welcome.

I like your idea of some kind of database for a site. You could simply have a forum which people could use, but I think you would rather have something more sophisticated. Some hacking with Drupal could be a possibility. When you get round to that, be sure to ask and I can see what I can do. I have to say that I've only really done extensive work with WordPress which wouldn't really suit your needs though I'd love to venture into other software. Also... World of Goo

Hosting would be up to, just to warn you, depending on what can be managed, be it a top-level domain site or some noobish free hosting service. If you're not a web techy and unsure of what the hell I'm talking about, just ask.

Good luck to ya for the future anyway.

Well, I'd probably have a top-level domain site rather than something like Webs.com. I would probably use Drupal or something similar, since that's what GooFans uses, but I would definitely need help since the web and networking is one of my weakest points.

Anyway, I'll get on with my other game and such. Once that's done I'll try and work on this and hopefully have a beta up before too long.