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nanopod V1.2

I think this is it now. The firing issue in the previous version is gone (I hope, because I can't replicate it on my machine). and I redone some of the graphics and audio. you may find the min specs are a little higher this time. the explosions are a bit bigger, and some of the texture maps are larger, I just can't help it.

I'd really like to know what people like and dislike about this game in order to help me write my next one. PLEASE post your thoughts and findings etc in this thread. feedback is important in helping future development.

Screenie:



und der file.

http://members.thegamecreators.com/geecee3/programs/nanopodv12.zip

thanks, and have fun. grant.

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Cool stuff. Send me an email if you're still interested in my buying non-exclusive distribution rights.

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Much better! I can confirm firing problem is no more.

Much more pleasurable to play now. I like the screenshot in above post showing my name!

Glad to see some instruction screens in there now and the scrolly font is much easier to read now.

Even on my pc which is Athlon XP2000+ with a 128MB Geforce Ti4600 everything moves silky smooth even with hundreds of baddies moving at once. Have not seen any sudden pauses or anything. Amazing!

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@ Ali, Expect a mail tomorrow man.(late on, about 8.00pm)

@spooky, thanks for the feedback m8, it's much appreciated. I never realized i had captured the title screen LOL. it was supposed to be in-game, but what the hell. beh. Glad you likes it m8. and even better the firing is ok. there will be one more graphically heavy version of the game 1.3. well, it's actually a step backward as I wrote an overloaded version first. LOL.

cheers, grant.

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Wow - gotta go, 24 is on TV, but... wow!!!!!!!
WILL COMMENT 2MORO

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Okay, wow;

Very slick, very fast, very fun, very responsive... very hard (but that's the way you meant it to be, so mission accomplished)

I suppose the best things about the game were it's simplicty and fun and it's slickness. The front end and the game blended seamlessly together for a excellent game. The particles were also of the highest order and I know that you put alot of time into this game - it shows.

Finally, the music and sound adds up to make this seem like a truly "retro" game; which is good - reminds me of good old' Playstation, even though it is similar to games from before that time.

In summary, extremely well done - this deserves more than a mere 2 replies, excluding mine.

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[edit] nice! got pretty far then had to minimize the window...when i un-minimized it the game crashed so i lost all my progress

but i'll have fun playing those levels over again!

great game! shooting has a nice feel to it and the bad guys blowup nicely

(oh, and i did figure out the custom skins pretty cool)

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cheers guys,

I had a lot of fun making this, and i am gald you guys likes it.

thanks millions, grant.

PS. even just a few replies makes it all worth while. thanks again.
mabey i'll start on my MMORPG now, Behhhh, NOT. LOL.(arcade forever)

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hehe, got to level 12...but started it with 9 power...so i died

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hi peter!

nice as pie, I can only get to level 9 using the keys, just because you can write them, it don't mean you can play them. well I try. LOL.

Glad you like it, keep bashing them buttons m8.

do you have a new pc then? or are you still using that PCI Ge-force MX420? i'm very curious, it should struggle on a MX420. please let me know what your running it on m8.

thankee kindlee, grant.

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I got to Level 4, bah...

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hey Drew, i thought you were faster than Neo m8, Don't think you are, know you are!

BTW. that time ship game of yours rocks man. Thats the sort of thing i'm looking to make for my next project,but with a bad ass haggis instead of a boat. So if you don't mind, I may seek some advice from you at some point on 3d world building and mapping as you seem to have it pretty much down to an art.

cheers, grant.

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yeah i'm still using the GeForce 4 MX420

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It would be my pleasure ...

drewcameron@ddrw.com

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cheers m8, much appreciated.

grant.

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Look it's me!

That is the best screenshot I have ever seen, of any game.

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especially for you jimmy. I'm you NUMBER ONE FAN

yeah it is the best screenie ever. LOL.
always first in the scroller man.

cheers m8

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oooh, stickied. that's nice. LOL.

thanks mr sticky person.

grant.

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Looking Great!, I am glad to see you got a sticky!

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Hey, hey, geecee, that's one Seexaaayyy sticky you've got there .

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just wait till it gets it's kit off m8. LOL.

it looks like something from the Aphex Twin's Window Licker video.

grant.

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rofl, I didnt see Jimmys name in there

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tehz jimmehz, iz tez leetz coderz, andz hez madz az tehz brushez.

nowz bowz eddiez, andz worzhipz, andz thouz willz beez blezzed whitz thez wizdomz.

LOL.

Seez tehz jimmehhhhhhhh in tehz skiez whitz diamondz.
(tehz beatlez I'z thinkz)

geecee3z.

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to tough for me... couldn't get pass level 5 =[
though it must be taken into acount that I played only 3 times...

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yeah, that's what i like to hear.

it's not hard!! it's solid!!.

cheers m8, grant.

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Damn good game geecee! I won't even tell you how far I got as it is absolutely embarrassing and I don't want the gang to find out

I would love to have 5% of your art skills presented here!

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Hi Jeku,

you must reveal, you must, you must... LOL.

glad you like it m8.

cheerz, grant.

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Grant,

I've tried to email you over the last couple of weeks but got no reply, sorry if you're just busy.

Anyway, I'd like to continue our discussion, so please drop me an email: webmaster@free-windows-games.com

Thanks!

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Hi Ali,

Sorry about the delay, I'm finishing off a couple of things and then i'll get stuck into the requests you made. Sorry if this is causing you any inconvenience. I am now on holiday for the next 4 weeks, so things should be a little less hectic.

thanks, Grant.

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Who's the Daddy...



Nice game!

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bjesus,

that's some score, and level 17 too, Damn I knew I should have made it harder. LOL. that's the furthest I have seen anyone get on this game, and personally I can't get anywhare near that.

I thought Jedi's were fictional LOL.

cheers, grant.

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What I didn't realise was that I was have to start back at level 1 if I ended the game

I worked out how the game has to be played. I won't spoil it for everyone, but next time you play, think about it before you go charging in, or running away. Sometimes, it's better to lose a few health for the cause. And work out who's actually doing you more harm, rather than who is easiest to destroy.

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Hi Grant,

did you ever get around to adding an option to turn off some of the FX? Love the game but it's still a little slow on my PC which makes some of the time limits impossible. Actually an option to turn off the time limits would be just as appreciated.

Here's hoping

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Hi fog, I'll try sort that out right away, I'll reduce the effects to a sipmle flash and i'll remove the timer in a FX lite version. I recently purchased a couple of lower end video cards to help me fine tune the stuff i'm making so as more people can play properly. the problem always seems to be with transparency and ghosting which I rely on for most of my effects. one other solution would be to make a reduced resolution game, which i'll also try.

btw, you being the sprite guru and all that, How big is the performance hit when combining 3d and sprites, I would like to make a vertical scroller (old school) but using a mixture of 3d and sprites. I have never used the sprite command in any code so i'm a complete sprite noob. I would like to overlay the sprites as explosion effects and bonus messages etc.

thanks, Grant.

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Here is a reduced resolution version of NP which runs in 640x480x16FSE, the explosion decal count has been reduced, although not by much, The drop to 16 bit colour should help those with GF2 range cards and GF4MX owners. the game now runs on a radeon 9600SE which is a fairly weak video card (no heatsink or fan jobbie) and the the colour reduction seems to have little effect on the look of the game, which is nice.

anyway, naberski filski :

http://members.thegamecreators.com/geecee3/programs/nanopod16b.zip

cheers, Grant.

PS. further reductions are possible, so if it's still not playing properly, just post and i'll reduce it further.

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Hi Grant,
sorry it took me a while to give this new version a proper test.....it's great.

As you said, it's surprising how little has been lost in the switch to 16 bit mode.

I also now realise just how slow it was running before. I thought it was only running slow when there were a lot of explosions on screen, but having tried the new version I see it was running slow all of the time.

I still get slowdown at times but it's infinitely more playable.

Cheers

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Very nice.

BUT, you really need to have the ability to DISABLE joystick all together, because i have a really sensitive joystick and it forces me in random directions at random times and i dont want to use it for this game.

but other than that, that game is really awesome! better than most retro arcades because you dont have to go thru levels 1-10 just to get some excitement!

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hi Joel, sorry bout that.

ny next game will be played with teh moose, so no worries about not being able to play the new one properly. oh and it's going to destroy Nanopod hands down.

grant.

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That is insane, I love it for all but one thing, the fact you can't move diagonally, it's crippling me since I'm used to playing games like this by moving diagonally!

The sound effects make me feel like I'm back in the 80's! Actually, that's a scary thought!

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Nice game, but it doesn't use the neutral position of my gamepad. The ship keeps moving up-left. Can you make a fix for that?

Edit: I'd also like to see a profile that would work with a gamepad that has A,B,C,X,Y,Z buttons (X=left, Y=up, A=down, B=right).