It’s been a while since the last progress post on MahJong House. This was mostly due to the change in our store software, making the switch meant having to pause development on the game. Things are now back in full swing however, and there are many new features and ideas coming to the table. Some of the changes may seem small in the scheme of things, but I think they add to the overall feel of the interface and impressions of quality. Such as the improved text entry field for creating new players. In the next update it will now allow for text selection with either mouse or keyboard, not to mention it actually has a blinking cursor now. Other changes include a vast improvement in text rendering, allowing for proper letter spacing and kerning now. A recode of the video playback system that fully supports Vista/Windows7 and other minor improvements to the menu.
The big changes will be coming in the form of a remodeled room, several new reward items and most importantly a character interaction element. This is the biggest change to the game since it’s inception and will bring both meaning and purpose to the reward system. It will also help to flesh out the house and it’s occupants with story and artwork, which brings us to the current stage of development. I am currently working on the character design. This is a slower process than pounding out code and will delay the release of the 1.6 update by several weeks. I do plan to publish the new version before the deadline for the IGF contest as I will be competing this year with MahJong House. I’ll make sure to post more updates as artwork and story begin to develop more.
The new store is up and running – and I have to take a few minutes to share my adoration for our new software that is running it: Ubercart.
Powered by Drupal, Ubercart is a free, open source e-commerce solution that allows for endless customization and integration with nearly any site. Even better, it requires little knowledge of php or sql etc to implement. Granted, I do know some of this and that only made the setup faster and even more fluid.
Prior, I was working with OsCommerce. A nice cart to be sure, but just way too code heavy, and requiring massive amount of rewriting of full php pages to make even minor changes. After over a year of having it up, I still felt I wasn’t close to having it look or act how I wanted. It wasn’t that it couldn’t be done, it was that I couldn’t afford the time it would take to do it.
So for anyone venturing into the online market, I highly recommend this piece of software. It will save you time and aspirin!
I recently heard about a new social site specifically geared to gamers: http://raptr.com/
After poking around and signing up, I found I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a very well made site, and shock of shocks, it works as advertised! You can find me at: http://raptr.com/disjointedimages
One of the downsides to developing a game, is that actually getting to play any is difficult. I’ve got quite a few recent and/or soon to be released games that I’d love to sit down with. Hopefully you’ll see my status update as I get that chance, along with further reviews here. Here’s my short lineup:
Tales of Monkey Island – C’mon! A new Monkey Island game?! I love it right there, at the title. Seriously, though. It looks like a great setup, and nice to see developers from the previous games on board. Even better…
The Secret of Monkey Island – Special Edition – A revamp and release of the original “started it all” Monkey Island game.
The Beatles: Rock Band (9-9-09) – This just goes without saying. First, it’s the Beatles. An amazing selection too from the Abbey Road album. By far, Rock Band has been the best return for my money hands down. I have the ION drum kit, and a lot of DLC music too, and even with that extra investment, I still find it worth every penny. So I have no qualms picking up a standalone game to be able to have that kind of fun with some of my favorite music.
Forza 3 (10-27-09) – A really nice looking game, and it’s been a while since I’ve had a new racing title. I look forward to this one.
I added the iTunes widget on the side, because nothing gets done in my office without music. I’ve always been a music lover, one of those choir geeks since elementary school, and yes, I can’t resist belting it out along with the singer.
As you can guess based on the list that’s there, I’ve got some wide ranging tastes. One of my favorite radio stations is CBC Radio 2. Though, with the format change, I don’t get to listen to enough of it when I’m on my way to work these days.
It’s a station based in Canada, and covers every possible genre over the course of the day. Tom Allen delights me with his personal chatter in the morning. Tonic has some great jazz (responsible for the Oh My My on that list), and Nightstream is like your subconscious playing DJ. Some of my favorite songs started with me staring at my radio wondering what the heck was playing!
Got a favorite song that I have to hear? Post it in the comments.
We have a new store! This one is much cleaner and easier to check out. For anyone who may have had difficulties before, I invite you over to the new shop.
Grand Re-Opening!
We have a new account system too! Now you can choose an easy to remember username.
You do not have to create an account to make a purchase, but by doing so, you will be able to save your shopping cart, and have all of your billing and shipping information pre-filled whenever you come back. You’ll also be able to receive exclusive updates and discount specials.
I’ve completely lost track of how many hours Melanie and I have spent on coding the new site and shopping cart system.
The good news is that all of our pages should be updated soon, including the launch of a new store front powered by Ubercart (review coming soon). The bad news is that by working on the code I have renewed a burning hatred for Internet Explorer 6. It’s complete inability to render even the simplest of CSS properly is enough to make me and the vast throngs of web developers spit fire! That being said I believe we have fixed all of the things that are broken in IE6 (as long as you have javascript enabled) and can now claim full cross-browser compatibility.
I can’t wait to go live with the new shopping cart system. It is a vast improvement over our current osCommerce based site, and allows for easy customizability. Best of all it will now carry the same look and feel as our main site, a feat that would have taken untold volumes of effort and possibly a ritualistic sacrifice in osCommerce.
Now that we are close to finishing up this overhaul of our sites I will be able to get back to improving MahJong House! We have lots of updates planed for the game, but I’ll leave the specifics on that for another post.
The new demo is now available! I’ve updated it to allow you to try the Japanese hiragana tileset. I’ve also added multiplayer support, and the ability to save and come back to a game.
The new cd jacket cover art is done. Can’t wait to see it printed. 
I understand there has been some trouble with the checkout, and paypal not properly showing everything secure. This is NOT affecting your info! It was just the picture displayed in the top header, and has been fixed. Thank you for your understanding, and if you hesitated before, please try your purchase again.
I return, tired but pleased, from another year at GVSU in Allendale. Jafax is a great convention, with lots of friendly faces, and being smaller means we get to talk more to people.
I want to thank everyone who came by and played, and gave feedback. I love seeing the reaction to the camera system in the game (our 3D “tilt” is not what people expect in a casual game!) and the announcement that upgrades like tiles and bonuses will be at no charge.
I plan to have the next update up soon for the demo and the full game. Those of you on the mailing list, keep an eye out for the upgrade files!
Just a few updates:
The page was overhauled thanks to Melanie, and it looks very nice.
Currently I am implementing a save game system, so if you are needing to stop and come back to your current game you can.
Also, I am working on a player list, which will track up to 10 individual people. Maintain your own high scores, and saved games under a unique username!
Lastly, we’ve started adding in the unlockable animated items for the room. When you achieve a certain criteria, you’ll see a new object, and be able to interact with it.
The demo for MahJong House is now available on CNET.
I guarantee all of my software to be adware/spyware free and CNET confirms that. So if you hesitated before on downloading software from an “unknown”, please head on over and check it out.
