Messenger, Paddington, and BeepMini

It’s the 1st of December already! We put up the Christmas tree this weekend and started making things more festive.

I’ve been working on BeepMini this last week. I wanted to make a path editor to help with my stealth game. I originally planned to have an interactive tool that allows you to place waypoints and draw paths, but that was going to be a lot of work. Instead I realised I could use a simple text-based language to define paths. This turns the act of creating paths into a game of its own, so now I can define paths quickly without needing a complex UI.

This means I now have characters walking around my levels, which is a big step forward (literally). There’s lots to do to make this more usable in games. The characters don’t collide with the environment, the player, or each other yet. But it’s a start!

I will probably release this as is and then continue to build on it. The path code is built into BeepMini itself so anyone can use it in any game they make.

This week I want to tidy up the code and add some extra features like making the paths loopable. Then I might go back to the stealth game, or I might try to add combat to the adventure game editor. I shall have to see how I feel!

---

Messenger - a 3D Browser Game

Since it’s December I’m going to showcase a browser game rather than an app. For this issue I wanted to take it easy and have a bit more fun.

Messenger is a really clever 3D browser game where you control a 3D character who runs around a tiny spherical world. The goal is literally to be a messenger, doing fetch quests for the various inhabitants of the world.

The game is packed with charm and personality, and the 3D graphics are impressive. What’s more impressive is that it’s multi-player, and whilst you don’t interact with other players directly, you can see them running around the world doing their own quests. It makes the world feel alive.

It did come out a couple of months ago, so the number of other players is a bit hit and miss. Sometimes there are lots of people running around, and other times it’s just a few. But that’s part of the charm, and it still feels like a living world even when it’s quiet.

The game has a really lovely art style. It looks like a manga/ graphic novel come to life. The characters are all unique, and the world is full of little details to discover.

I haven’t tried it on a touch device yet, but I imagine it would work really well. The controls are literally just clicking (or tapping) on the screen. Click at the top of the screen to move forward, and to the left or right to turn. It’s a little clunky at first but you get used to it quickly, which means it should work on almost any device.

Play Messenger

---

Paddington the Musical

Watch the trailer

I love the recent Paddington Bear movies - they capture the joy of the character perfectly. So when I heard that Paddington was getting a musical in London, I had to look it up.

Paddington in the news

Watch the news clip

I first saw the Paddington Bear character on the news and was stunned. He obviously isn’t a real talking bear, but the costume is so well made, and the actor inside it is so good, that he looks like he could be.

This is clever stuff, and early reviews of the show are very positive. I’d love to go and see it sometime, but as with many musicals, tickets are expensive and hard to come by. Maybe one day!

How the Paddington Bear Costume Works

Here’s a look at how the costume works.

See how the costume works

I remember the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie had a similar approach, with actors in suits. But the Paddington Bear costume looks way more advanced, and the fact it’s being puppeteered live every day adds an extra layer of magic.

Note: I’m not actually affiliated with the Paddington Bear musical - I just think it’s magical! 🧸

---

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou