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beem - light reflection puzzle game
Tube
Registered User admin
Registered User admin
My name is Blake Davis, and I am an independent developer who has made a game called beem.
beem is a puzzle game based around directing a beam of light through targets and around obstacles to power a mysterious machine called the light engine. You can reflect, filter, and split light with a toolbox of mirrors, prisms, and crystal shards.
so whats the big deal?
* a beam of light follows laws of optical physics. light can be reflected at arbitrary angles, you can place a mirror anywhere you want, you can filter and split colors out of white light, you can go nuts with the reflections.
* character is important to me in games I like to play, and I tried to instill my own style in two ways:
* a creature called the gremlin helps the player along and guides them through the story as the player discovers secrets about the light engine. In short, he's a smartass who can't spell.
* created all the art, music, and sound effects, to make a mysterious and ominous mood.
* it was built for touch - it feels great, you can use one or two fingers to unscrew, ratchet, and fine tune.
* i released it aiming to make major content updates based on player feedback, and so far its been a blast!
i play a lot of games, and I wanted to create something new that puzzle fans would like.
its on the appstore now for for iPhone and iPad for $0.99 and there's a free lite version for your demoing pleasure!
website: http://thebeamoflight.com
twitter: @thebeamoflight
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beem/156257484487154
appstore link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beem/id524301680?mt=8&uo=4
gameplay videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=LLf1qSDpWrSz-eUaaYRHO8JA&v=wuadI5ZLPUo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=LLf1qSDpWrSz-eUaaYRHO8JA&feature=player_detailpage&v=KMWvadmTwiM
screenshots:
beem is a puzzle game based around directing a beam of light through targets and around obstacles to power a mysterious machine called the light engine. You can reflect, filter, and split light with a toolbox of mirrors, prisms, and crystal shards.
so whats the big deal?
* a beam of light follows laws of optical physics. light can be reflected at arbitrary angles, you can place a mirror anywhere you want, you can filter and split colors out of white light, you can go nuts with the reflections.
* character is important to me in games I like to play, and I tried to instill my own style in two ways:
* a creature called the gremlin helps the player along and guides them through the story as the player discovers secrets about the light engine. In short, he's a smartass who can't spell.
* created all the art, music, and sound effects, to make a mysterious and ominous mood.
* it was built for touch - it feels great, you can use one or two fingers to unscrew, ratchet, and fine tune.
* i released it aiming to make major content updates based on player feedback, and so far its been a blast!
i play a lot of games, and I wanted to create something new that puzzle fans would like.
its on the appstore now for for iPhone and iPad for $0.99 and there's a free lite version for your demoing pleasure!
website: http://thebeamoflight.com
twitter: @thebeamoflight
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beem/156257484487154
appstore link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beem/id524301680?mt=8&uo=4
gameplay videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=LLf1qSDpWrSz-eUaaYRHO8JA&v=wuadI5ZLPUo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=LLf1qSDpWrSz-eUaaYRHO8JA&feature=player_detailpage&v=KMWvadmTwiM
screenshots:
Tube on
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http://www.desura.com/games/beem
desura freebie codes! - please grab a key and check it out! i only ask for your thoughts and a rating on desura if you give it a go.
H2VDT-398AK-NJF1Y-K2SHF-520UU
X4GM9-R7HPT-EC1Y4-MXQKY-NCPFB
TWVNL-NO6P4-TS8ND-AUQFN-FKZ8V
OE1VD-ZWBKE-1XTAI-OUQRU-QMWXC
HQ8VS-K4V0Z-Y2HEY-88FID-1WJWW
i hope you guys dig it! i am a software developer by day as well, so i like talking about the technical stuff if anyone is interested. i wrote it using the MonoGame open source project, which allows game developers to write once and build to many places. the two biggest games i can think of using it are Armed! for windows phone (soon to be iOS), and Bastion, which was just released for iOS. i hope to have an android version working soon, and ultimately windows phone and xbox.
latest release: the black lantern
new trailers:
I wish more indie games like this would be available on plain old vanilla Windows PC. Not having a smartphone cuts me off from a whole universe of games, especially since I also don't have a 360
Here's hoping I'll get to play this someday, though, the gameplay trailers make it look definitely worth a look.
heh, the funny thing is i do all my development and testing as a windows application, then worry about optimizing for devices. windows is the easiest platform to develop for in my environment. the main reasons i haven't planned for windows immediately are:
1. it was originally designed for touch (not a show stopper, but a mouse doesn't feel as good)
2. distribution for windows is daunting and i'm not really sure the best way to go about it.
the options as i see it:
1. sell it myself on my website (then i have to worry about some sort of licensing key system or something - i just don't know a ton about it)
2. something like steam (but that sounds like a nightmare - especially with all the greenlight stuff lately).
since i update often, i also have to worry about some automatic version updating system or something. honestly, i've never done it and don't know much about it. i spend most of my time on web servers.
i will definitely have to do some reading up on it though, maybe its not so bad these days.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
in other news, i am trying to get set up in desura, and i'm curious as to how much would be a reasonable amount of $ to charge for it. most puzzle games are in the $1.99 - $3.99 range i'm noticing.
windows is happening soon too via desura, which will make it a ton easier for me to do beta testing, so i'm pretty excited for that.
I do not envy the daunting task of level design.
in other news, i just released on desura! i put some freebie keys up above, so please grab it and tell me what you think. thanks!
Edit: Small note- Your instructions still say "tap to continue" when you probably should change that to "click"
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
I minimized the game, brought it back up, and all of the obstacles were invisible (although still blocking the beem). I was, however, then able to place meers again. (After playing these levels over again, I notice that it is a bit difficult to get it to register your clicks in the toolbox. Actually, this again appears to be the same bug as the one with clicking on things in the menu, as I describe below. Clicking on the space below the toolbox works :P)
In fact, it looks like minimizing the game at any level causes the obstacles to appear.
I left the game, and started up the game, and hit Escape. The menu went away, and all I see is that intro screen with the giant crystal above the hole. Can't seem to do anything? (Edit: Again, I figured out I can click on the space below the icon to get back to the menu.)
When I start the game and go into the Play menu, the furthest level I see is "Entry Doors 01," which I've already moved past (clearly, since I reached Juncture Uninteresting :P). I see the arrows to get to the second "stage," the Antimatter place, but it seems like I definitely can't see all the levels in a stage. It does not give me the tutorial again when I replay the levels (starting with Entry Doors 01) that I've already done, so it knows I've done them. Am I just missing something on how to see more levels?
Also, it looks like the names of the levels do not align properly with the actual underlying menu, or something like that? As in, I move my mouse to "Entry Doors 01," but the level above it is still selected until I move down more pixels. And "Entry Doors 01" stays selected for a noticeable distance after my cursor is clearly below it. etc.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
yeah i thought i updated the 'tap' thing in that version but apparently not!
1) Minimizing the game and then bring it back causes the obstacles to disappear.
2) Clicking on things in the menu and toolbar and such has that offset where to actually get a response you need to click a bit below it. I dunno, resolution issues maybe?
Both of those bugs happen on all levels. And on the main screen too with the second bug, for that matter.
Uninstalling and reinstalling the game did not solve anything. If it's not occurring for anyone else, I can try installing the game on my laptop and seeing if that fixes anything. But probably won't be able to do that anytime soon.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
PM me details on your system and maybe i can figure something out (windows version, XNA version, and anything else interesting).
the main thing i've heard from the latest release is that players want more challenge, so i'm working on a hard mode.