Dropple for iPhone and iPod Touch

It's here! I've been working with a great group of developers the past few months to bring Dropple to the App Store, and I think we've put together a stellar product. I honestly feel like this is the best iteration of Dropple to date; it plays wonderfully, even better than the Flash version. We've got lots of updates planned, including new levels and new features, so if you love Dropple, this is the version to get!

In the works: Dropple on the iPhone!

More details to follow...

Dropple 2 level editor available!

The level editor/level share feature for Dropple 2 is now available FREE to all registered users on SinisterSea.com. Enjoy!

Dropple 2 has dropped!

After a grueling week, Dropple 2 is finally live. I initially thought about taking Dropple in a completely different direction for the sequel, but eventually decided (for the best, I think) that the best plan would be to keep what worked in the original Dropple and make it better. I hope I accomplished that, and hope that you find the game enjoyable!

P.S. It includes a steel drum version of the 'Dropple' title theme. Seriously. Check it out.

Dropple 2 is coming...soon!

The new server is finally up and running, and development on Dropple 2 is in full swing. After some initial missteps, the scope for "Dropple World" has been scaled back to something much more reasonable, and thus the title has been changed to the much more sensible "Dropple 2".

Despite keeping the same basic game format, I still decided to go ahead and rewrite the whole game engine to make it easier to add new types of blocks and to make it easier to create and share levels. I'm also experimenting with a new art style that I think looks pretty cool.

Should be a fun game! Look for it sometime in the next 2 weeks.

More Muzak

Download the theme from 'Avalancher'

Here's another tune for download, the theme from Avalancher. This one's a little more ethereal, imagine a synth preset with a name like 'Ice Cave' or 'Crystal Bells' or something equally Enya-esque. It's also got some subtle glitch-beat action going on if you listen closely. Enjoy!

Funky Bugs

Dang it Google Images, I asked for a picture of a bug in a pimp hat and you let me down :(

One complaint a lot of people had about the original Dropple is that the controls felt "buggy" at times - sometimes Dropple would shoot off at weird angles when hitting the corners of the blocks. This is something I was aware of, but couldn't figure out how to fix easily.

I think I've got this issue licked for the new Dropple - my solution is extremely hacky and convoluted, but early tests are looking promising.

Part of the reason the bug is so tricky to fix is that Dropple uses the APE physics engine (http://www.cove.org/ape/ - in my opinion the easiest actionscript physics engine to use, if a bit limited in functionality), and approaching the problem head on would involve diving into the guts of the engine. My work-around involves selectively ignoring changes to Dropple's horizontal velocity for certain types of collisions.

In retrospect, given the limited amount of physics simultation going on in the game (basically just Dropple bouncing off of things), using a third party physics engine could probably be considered overkill. Oh well, live and learn...