[RELEASED 8/22] Gerk the Gherkin

[EddieRingle]

UPDATE: Gerk the Gherkin is now available in the Android Market! Please take some time to check it out! :D

My first (real) game is getting pretty close to completion. I was approached a few months back with a graphics artist who needed a programmer for an Android game concept he was working on. I agreed, and this is what we've created:



It's gotten a bit more polish since the video was made, but the basic gameplay is there.

Let me know what y'all think.

[dandymcgee]

Wow, that's quite a professional looking game. Nicely done!

[Ginto8]

If I had an android phone, I'd buy it, and gerk all day long

[Milch]

Cool :D
I think I saw this on moddb/indiedb some time ago, right?
btw. what framework are you using? or did you code it all by yourself?

[k1net1k]

can you tell us how you made this, and yeah like other guys said, what framework are you using. Would be interested to hear about your dev process and the tools you used.

[EddieRingle]

Thanks for the comments!

I think I saw this on moddb/indiedb some time ago, right?

That was probably put up there before I joined as the developer, but yes, that's the game.

btw. what framework are you using? or did you code it all by yourself?

can you tell us how you made this, and yeah like other guys said, what framework are you using. Would be interested to hear about your dev process and the tools you used.

We wanted to get the game going easily. Rather than continue work on my own OpenGL engine (which still needed tons of work), we opted to use AndEngine along with it's Box2D wrapper. I modified the engine source code a bit to add features we wanted (example), but for the most part it had everything we needed. Getting things up and running was pretty simple, and if you just need to write an Android game for the purposes of writing an Android game, AndEngine is definitely the way to go.

[EddieRingle]

Just wanted to give an update on Gerk the Gherkin. We're planning to release this Friday. It would have been last Friday, or even two Fridays ago, but we decided to hold off because we felt it wasn't polished enough.

Here's some screenshots with some newer features:

slicedgrater.png (66.51 KiB) Viewed 4766 times

The first level got a bit of an artwork refresh, as well as some new features that make things a bit more challenging (e.g., you see a sliced grater in the screenshot, which gives the player a point bonus; there's also a new plum score multiplier, so the more plums you collect, the more points you earn).

level2.png (51.19 KiB) Viewed 4766 times

The second level is now completely randomly generated. Previously a group of 40 obstacles or so was generated before the game started. Now that it is more random, it's more fun (and even a bit faster, as well). In addition, a golden plum mechanic was added. Collecting all four golden plums will result in the player gaining an Open Feint achievement.

bombpattern.png (41.95 KiB) Viewed 4766 times

The random generator also allows us to do some pretty cool things. This screenshot probably isn't the best example (the level is pretty fast-paced, so it's hard to get a good shot). The screenshot shows off a new obstacle for the second level: bombs. The player will have to maneuver through different bomb patterns as he progresses through the level.

Again, Gerk the Gherkin is scheduled to be released to the Market this Friday for $0.99. That's all I wanted to say.

[dandymcgee]

Great work dude. Congrats on the release! Keep us updated on sales statistics.

[EddieRingle]

Great work dude. Congrats on the release! Keep us updated on sales statistics.

Ah, well it's not out just yet, but we're really pushing to get it out tonight. If not, it'll probably be out tomorrow or something.

Thanks though.

[dandymcgee]

Great work dude. Congrats on the release! Keep us updated on sales statistics.

Ah, well it's not out just yet, but we're really pushing to get it out tonight. If not, it'll probably be out tomorrow or something.

Thanks though.

Well grats on the perspective release. Get it done so I'm not a liar.

[EddieRingle]

Just an update, Gerk the Gherkin has been released to the Android Market! I've updated the first post as well. Please take some time to check it out! :D

[dandymcgee]

Just an update, Gerk the Gherkin has been released to the Android Market! I've updated the first post as well. Please take some time to check it out! :D

If only I had an android compatible device. :P

[k1net1k]

its definitely a cool looking game, I just dont know if I can tell anyone about it (in person) without getting tongue tied and sounding like an oddball.

[Falco Girgis]

Damn dude, that is a REALLY polished looking game. Is this Java and OpenGL ES?

[EddieRingle]

Damn dude, that is a REALLY polished looking game. Is this Java and OpenGL ES?

Thanks.

We were in a bit of a hurry, so we used AndEngine, which itself uses Java and OpenGL ES. It's a nice engine that makes it easy to start working directly on the game instead of the foundation. I'd still like to write my own native engine for Android, of course.