Slightly Magic Day!

slightlymagic.uk

Slightly Magic Day: 7.7.14

Counting down to happiness...

Only now can it be told, Slightly Magic is returning on 7.7.14 on a number of formats. How many formats exactly, you may ask. At which point I mumble 'loads' and point at an imaginary distraction just over your left shoulder.

But what the heck. You've taken the trouble to come to this blog post, and it might be a little interesting, so here's where Slightly Magic really is today, and how I dare come to challenge the Fates and predict an exact launch date - that always used to be for publishers to worry about, after all.

It's just over a month to release date, and I've personally played Slightly on PC, Mac, iOS, Android and OUYA. I have complete confidence that the game runs fabulously on Linux too - I'm just not too sure exactly what that is. Hey, what is that over your shoulder, anyway?

All this, of course, doesn't guarantee that my magical friend can jump through all the hoops and dance routines necessary for successful app store releases. Matter-of-fact I wouldn't be surprised if sticking to the original screen ratios (of which there were 2) might cause some problems on certain formats. Time will tell.

But today, as we speak, even now, at this moment in time, there is at least one format ready and waiting for a final press of an on-screen 'release now' button. Other submissions will be attempted this week, but the majestic freedom and speed of the Google Play store submission process means that at least the Android version is sure to be out on 7.7.14. Unless I sleep late, of course.

And I figure that a month should be enough to get a respectable number, judged as a mean sample of all available format ratios, of versions out for Slightly Magic Day. Also, I'm itching to start work on the sequel, Slightly Spooky, and I've finally found that tin of magic beans that's been hiding in the back of my cupboard for the past 20 years. More news here soon, but I should seriously take a look over your shoulder. That just looks weird.

www.slightlymagic.co.uk

How I wasted a month of my life on an ancient epic...

Ah, progress. It can sometimes creep up on you. Which is what happened to me earlier this year.

Maybe I got a bit carried away with app development, maybe I got a little overexcited.

'Wouldn't it be great' I thought, 'to publish my audio book Mabinogion, the Four Branches as an app?' Yes, of course it would, and a month later I had such an app, complete with artwork by legendary US artist Howard David Johnson. It was big. 5 audio CDs worth of music, plus generous album artwork. Still, it looked and sounded great.

Then I looked at Bandcamp, the company who handle the downloads of the original audiobook. Lo and behold, they now have an app - an app to let anyone stream music from their site (including my splendid audiobook) direct to their phone or tablet. Not only that, but direct to their Sonos system too. Streaming, so no long downloads, and the utter convenience of instant delivery. Take a listen here:

www.themabinogion.com

How did this even happen?

Slightly Magic has got to the point where it's being playtested within an inch of its life. What I've noticed is:

1. The touch controls on phones and tablets work pretty well, without taking up any screen estate. 

2. Allister's music is as fresh as ever, and has never sounded better. 

3. Joystick control on consoles is, erm... a joy. 

I think I've remained faithful to the original, although there are one or two extras included.

I'll be spending a few days next week recording the audio commentary, then it'll be a matter of negotiating the numerous app stores and finally plumping for a release date. I love a good plump.

www.slightlymagic.co.uk

Slightly Magic will return...

Thanks to everyone who tweeted, blogged, facebooked and wrote about the campaign to bring back Slightly Magic. I’m pleased to say that work has already begun on the classic edition of Slightly Magic for OUYA, Mac. PC, Linux, iOS and Android. Slightly Magic will be released in June/July 2014.

www.slightlymagic.co.uk

‘Slightly Magic does what few other games do. It takes a garbage truck full of fun and makes daily deliveries!’
89% Sinclair User
‘The graphics and presentation are excellent too – full of colour and some nice bits of animation… All in all, Slightly Magic is, well, absolutely ‘magic” Your Sinclair 94%
Your Sinclair Readers Top 100 Games of All Time

And so begins a month of rhyming tweets...

The day has dawned, the time has come...
My Slightly Magic Kickstarter has begun!
Help Save Slightly Magic!

The Return of Slightly Magic?

Hmm, this looks interesting. A Kickstarter campaign to resurrect the classic 8-bit game Slightly Magic, and even possibly the 'lost' follow-up, Slightly Spooky? Not to mention the third game in the trilogy. Hang on, didn't I write those?

My Big News is that all rights to Slightly have now returned to me. On Monday I'll be launching a Kickstarter to bring Slightly back into this timeslot. I think we need him.

www.slightlymagic.co.uk, or seach Kickstarter from Monday.