Games – Page 3 – Ugolnik's blog

Solitaire

A classic solitaire game. At the moment, only the latest version is available – it features improved graphics, animations, and two dealing modes: draw one or draw three cards.

This solitaire was the first game I created at Synesis, using the very first version of our engine. You could say it was a real-world test of the engine’s capabilities.

The graphics, animations, and sound effects were handled by the rest of the development team.
The game supports both landscape and portrait orientations, and the layout switches automatically when the device is rotated, regardless of the current game mode.

Solitaire saves the player’s current progress, so you can pause the game and continue at any time.

The game also allows you to customize the appearance of the cards and the table. It keeps a full history of moves that can be undone at any point. Naturally, double-tapping cards works as expected. And if a player gets stuck, there are hints available to help them out.

Solitaire for iOS.
Solitaire for Android.

Flawless Hit

The first attempt to create a classic stacker game in an isometric projection was made at Synesis. The custom engine and game code, written in C++, allowed the game to run on multiple platforms simultaneously – Android, Android TV, iOS, and Apple TV. Development was done on macOS, so the game also ran perfectly on macOS. The engine even allowed the game to run on Windows.

This game belongs to the category of my creations that I’ve enjoyed playing for many years.

Snow Swords

I worked on the engine and game code while at Synesis. Graphics, music, animations, and all other non-programming aspects were handled by other talented specialists.

I can’t go into full detail about the development process or the internal structure of the engine and game. Both the game and the engine – as well as the toolchain needed to build the game – were written in C++.

The development process itself was similar to most casual games: we chose the game concept, the artist/designer created sketches, and we approved them together. Animators and integrators then got involved, while I focused on writing the game code and, when necessary, refining the engine.
Everything was then combined into a single project, resulting in a game for iOS and Android.

Cosmos Wars

This is a space-themed endless runner. Unlike other runners, it stands out with its setting. The game features a variety of ships, each with unique characteristics.

The game was also developed at Synesis. I worked on the engine and the game code itself, while other specialists at the company handled the rest.

King’s Valley on ZX-Spectrum

This is my version of the game King’s Valley for the ZX-Spectrum, which I wrote back in my school years. The game is not a clone of the original MSX title but rather inspired by it. The main character was copied pixel by pixel from King’s Valley 2 with the help of graph paper, a few keen eyes, and a pencil, thanks to my friend Yevgeny Yanushkevich. My brother Ilya and my friend Yevgeny also helped me design the levels. All the development of the game and its resources was done entirely on the ZX-Spectrum.

In the video, there’s quite a serious player – completing the game in just two hours.

In fact, the game turned into quite a long-term project, stretching out, if I remember correctly, for about a year. It was written right after I lost the disks with the source code of my previous game – a port of Knightmare from the MSX.

The game can be found in the World of Spectrum archive and on other sites.

Strangely enough, World of Spectrum claims that the game was released in 1994. That doesn’t quite match reality, since that was already my third year at the Academy, while I had actually written the game back in school.

To this day, I continue working on reviving the game for mobile devices (iOS, Android), TV set-top boxes (Apple TV, Android TV), desktop platforms (Linux, macOS), and the web. But I’m doing this VERY slowly – sometimes putting development aside altogether, and sometimes spending just a few hours a month on it.

King Valley levels map — King’s Valley Level Map

Toy Defense

Almost my first game developed for iOS. I worked on this game at Melesta. The company’s engine, written in C++, was used with my modifications to the renderer. For the UI, I created my own simplified polling-driven widget system. At the time, I thought it was a good and justified approach.

The game was developed between 2011 and 2012. I only worked on the iOS version; later, other developers ported it to Android and Windows. One of these developers was the excellent programmer Sergey Greshnov, sadly passed away prematurely. There was also a Flash version, but it was most likely written from scratch.

Development proceeded in bursts — first a feature would be implemented, then cut, and replaced by a new one. This happened quite frequently. When developing a game with a “floating” or completely absent design document, this can be considered normal. Still, the development of this game stood out compared to others. Not necessarily good or bad — it’s just a fact that stuck in my memory.

It’s worth noting the particle system used in the game. I won’t name it, but the library was quite well-known, with a Windows-only editor. The particle system itself was decent but very slow. Sergey Greshnov once tried to improve its performance, fortunately, the system came with source code. In my opinion, it would have been better to write our own particle system with proper architecture and cache-friendly data layout.

For this game, I also wrote an external level editor. I developed it at home on Linux using one of my older engines. Of course, the release version was for Windows, as the game designers were using Windows computers.

Toy Defense for iOS

Arkanoid: Space Ball

Arkanoid: Space Ball will be a surprise for the amateurs of unusual and picturesque games as Arkanoid and space games. Everybody who wishes to spend time perfectly will take a pleasure in Arkanoid: Space Ball too. A futuristic atmosphere, modern techno-style graphics, a dynamical gameplay and an excellent soundtrack give this game as a present for all Arkanoid’s admirers.

You have to clear a lot of platforms-levels soaring in space, and meteorites, spacecrafts and guns of enemies constantly will be threatened your life. Numerous bonuses dropped out from the broken blocks will help you to pass all obstacles: the laser, the rocket launcher, force fields and many other things. Game is distinguished by the features interesting and unusual for classical Arkanoid: horizontally oriented break block formation, moving and shooting bricks, Gravitational anomalies effects to flights of the balls and missiles, etc. In short, whether you are a teenager, student, parent or grandparent, you will instantly fall in love with this exciting game.

Main features

Level generator – non stop gameplay
Level editor – create your own worlds
2 modes to play – usual arcade mode and krakout mode
Original bonuses and power-ups – use it carrefuly
Unusual space objects – we are in space, who know what come

Downloads

Source code at GitHub – Arkanoid: Space Ball sources.
Playable web-version – Arkanoid: Space Ball for web browser.

Карты уровней игр ZX-Spectrum

Speccy Screenshot Maps – на сайте размещено более 1100 карт из игр для ZX-Spectrum. Владелец ресурса так же написал утилиту, которая позволяет делать снимки экрана игры в эмуляторе, и утилиту, которая склеит эти снимки в одну большую карту.

Between the Worlds

A hidden-object game with a mystical yet detective-style story. The player must move between the real and mystical worlds to solve various tasks.

The game features a range of logic and arcade mini-games.
The game was developed on a modified HGE engine using SDL libraries. Target platforms were Windows and macOS, while development was carried out on Linux. Versions for Windows and macOS were sent to publishers, but the Linux version remained on the development computer.

For a time, Between the Worlds was at the top of iWin’s publisher charts.

If memory serves, the game was released in 2008.