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Program Announcements / FIREWALL: Your Computer's First Defense

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Xander
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Posted: 20th Jan 2004 06:54 Edited at: 20th Jan 2004 06:57
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I am redesigning the menus now, and am thinking for ideas to vary the robots, since more than one person requested it
Here is what I thought of, tell me if you like it:

-When you build a robot it starts out as a poster, but you can change it to whatever type of robot you want. Select it, click on a button, and it will quickly convert to whatever type of robot you want (Poster, Hacker, Wrecker).
-You could lock robots so they never change type, or set them on auto so they change to whatever type is best at the moment.

I also fixed it so that Hackers move automatically, like Posters, and am working on the Wreckers right now. Sorry I am taking so long, but you guys will like it when I am finished

Hey Philip: you can click on the radar to move to whatever location you want, doesn't it work? Left click only, I will change that though...

I am also changin it so in the options menu you can change the right mouse button to build and the left mouse button to select.

This should satisfy you all

I will post a picture of the new menus in a couple days, maybe possibly hopefully tomorrow

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense - Real Time Strategy game
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walaber
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Posted: 20th Jan 2004 07:22
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looks good. but personally I don't think you should allow robots to change type (although it would make for less adjusting of the models/graphics ), because that takes away the entire element of unit management, which I think is a big element in RTS games. keeping track of your posters/hackers/wreckers should be part of the strategy of the game!

Go Go Gadget DBPRO!
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Xander
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Posted: 21st Jan 2004 04:29 Edited at: 24th Jan 2004 06:24
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Well, so much for that idea... Now I have to really think hard to make more robots As long as it will make the game better, I am willing to do it.

I am finished with the new menus; here is a screen shot with the new interface (the picture is a little bit low quality, but is quite small so it loads faster for people with slow modems):
http://www.dbspot.com/bolt/newmenus.jpg

This is a picture of the new robot type, the Hefty (I am thinking of unlocking it in a future demo, since it is so fun to use ):
http://www.dbspot.com/bolt/hefty.jpg

[EDIT] I changed the images to links. Just click on them to see them. The forum page loads faster this way.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense - Real Time Strategy game
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Philip
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Posted: 21st Jan 2004 11:43
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@Bolt

I know you can use the radar to move about but when time is of the essence that can be a bit cumbersome. I'd much prefer to have as an alternative (not as a replacement) the ability to click on a place on the map and have the camera move to it.

I personally think having more robot models would be better than robots evolving to fit the circumstances. The advantage to the former is that the player then has to make a strategic decision as to which robot type (hacker, wrecker, etc.) to build. However, its your game, please do whatever you'd prefer. The key is just to make sure there is some form of quick visual differentiation between the types of robot.

Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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Xander
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Posted: 22nd Jan 2004 06:17
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Yup, I trashed that idea of mutating robots. However, I have a new idea :

I will make the tops of all robots the corresponding color of the type that they are (white is posters, grey is hackers, black is wreckers.) Robots already have this on them, but it is not so obvious. I will make the entire top of the robot that color so it is easily discernable.

Oh, I see what you mean by clicking on the board to move to that spot. I didn't think of that. Which mouse button would it be? One of them builds stuff, the other selects and deselects. It would be quite annoying to have the camera jumping when you are desecting robots. I have another idea :

I will have the middle mouse button be able to be used for things like clicking on the board to move there and zooming in and out with it if it is a scroll wheel. This way, it is not neccasary to have a third mouse button, but it can still be used in a useful way.

How does all that sound?

I have gotten the alternate mouse buttons done, now I just have to get the Wreckers to move automatically and color code the tops of all the robots, then I will release the next version.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense - Real Time Strategy game
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walaber
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Posted: 22nd Jan 2004 10:02
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sounds great! being able to distinguish robot types will make the game infinitely more playable! I'm excited to see the next version

Go Go Gadget DBPRO!
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Xander
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Posted: 24th Jan 2004 06:06
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I have completed the new Firewall version 4.21 Demo. Because all of you have been so nice to me and given me great feedback, I am releasing all of the robots in the demo. That's right, they are now all unlocked. Now you can play with all 10 robot types.

I have color coded the tops of the robots that were hard to tell apart from eachother (Claws,Dozers,Peppers,Hovers,Domers,Heftys) so now they are easily discernable from eachother. It does make it easier to play.

I have also made all robot types self-transport as needed: Posters will transport to locations with no posts on boundary (it was like that before), Hackers will transport to loactions with virus memory nearby, and Wreckers will transport if you are being hacked. It makes it much easier sometimes, but not too easy.

Make sure you all visit the Options screen, especially if you haven't before. You can disable some special effects if you have to (lowering the screen resolution speeds it up a lot) and turn off options that you may not like (bugs, explosion cam), and you can now switch the left and right mouse button functions. That should please many of you.

Even though I unlocked the new robots, I still managed to get the file size down from 11.5 MB to 11.1 MB (yipee).

Have fun with the new robots, believe me, they add a lot to the gameplay and fun of the game.

I am still working on updating the website, but the new version is uploaded, you can download it now.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense - Real Time Strategy game
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Rwilson
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Posted: 24th Jan 2004 09:21
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Just a quickee note, you need to change your website address within your TGC account. If you try to use the website button on any of your post, it fails and with good reason. Look at this:

http://darkbasicpro.thegamecreators.com/www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware

Just letting you know. I'll be testing the new version in hte next few days.

Usermlsra - Causing Havoc with a Smile
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ched4r
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Posted: 24th Jan 2004 18:29
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Started to run a little slow on my machine but i think it's almost commercial quality. Congrats!
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Jess T
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Posted: 26th Jan 2004 12:55
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Quote: "When I am ready I will email you the code."


Alrighty.


Team EOD :: Programmer/Logical Engineer/All-Round Nice Guy
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heartbone
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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 05:51
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Outstanding presentation. So far I am overwhelmed and can't properly absorb it yet to push it to find any bugs.
But I recognize the work of a master programmer.
Sweet.

In your docs you state the min requirements as Direct X 8.1 or above. It really is Direct X 7 or better.

Peace, the anti-Bush.
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walaber
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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 08:23
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finally had a chance to play the newest version a little last night (will play more again tonight I hope), and just wanted to say that the new robot models are fantastic, and it's now easy to distinguish between the different kinds- great!!

this is a really impressive game you've got here, one of the most complete I've seen in DBC/Pro. the effects are just outstanding!

Go Go Gadget DBPRO!
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Philip
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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 17:33
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I'm still having trouble d/loading it - groan! :-(

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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walaber
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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 18:20
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yeah, it took me like 3 hours to download it, and I have a really fast connection... obviously Bolt's server is just plain slow.....

Go Go Gadget DBPRO!
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Xander
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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 19:51 Edited at: 28th Jan 2004 19:52
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Yeah, thanks for all the positive feedback. I am sorry about the slow downloads. The next version will be uploaded to my dbspot.com account so that the downloads will hopefully be faster.

Actually, maybe I will upload the current version to dbspot.com so that it can be downloaded faster for those who haven't downloaded it yet. I will try tonight, but it should be done by this weekend.

I will share how I did the effects and anything else anyone wants to know about. A special effects demo that I made, which uses very similar code to Firewall, can be found in the Code Snippets forum.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense - Real Time Strategy game
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Jess T
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Posted: 29th Jan 2004 13:29
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Bolt, hope you don't mind, but I uploaded you're demo onto my server so that other's can d/l it at a bit faster speed while get set up in your DBSpot account.

Here's the link;
http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~jessticular/boltsoftware/install.exe

I get d/l speeds of about 47 - 50 KB/s on my ADSL connection, so it won't be as painfull for those that aren't used to 1KB/s d/l speeds

Jess.


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Xander
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Posted: 30th Jan 2004 03:34 Edited at: 30th Jan 2004 03:39
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Wow, thanks Jess. That was unexpected.

I was just starting to upload it, but now I don't have to, yay. Don't worry, I will upload the next version myself.

Did everyone see the above post? You can all download it from that link.

How does everyone like the extra robots?

Thanks again Jess.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
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Jess T
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Posted: 30th Jan 2004 10:55
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That's cool, just trying to help

Depending on what your d/l speed is for your DBSpot account, you can keep on using that space if you like ( I'll never need it I don't think )

Jess.


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Xander
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Posted: 31st Jan 2004 03:10
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I have exceeded my bandwith on freewebs, oops. My site doesn't work there. Tomorrow I am going to get a bank account, then I am buying my own domain name.

Until then, use the above link to download the newest version. Sorry guys.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
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Philip
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Posted: 2nd Feb 2004 07:31
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@Bolt

I've been playing the latest version quite a bit. I've spotted a couple of bugs and I've got some thoughts on game play balance plus an idea.

Bugs

1. if you go out of the game temporarily back into windows and then back to the game again all the graphics are totally screwed up. The screen flickers madly and all the objects leave trails behind them. I realise this may not be a fixable bug in that it may be a windows issue. I also realise that the player probably isn't supposed to nip out into windows momentarily either - the reason I do that is because sometimes I am forced out to close down those annoying pop ups that sometimes appear (despite my frequent sweeps with my spyware killer software).

Anyway my feeling is that this may be linked to the backdrop. I say this because my project occasionally did that when I had its backdrop off. Does your game have its backdrop off?

2. Sometimes the posters and wreckers all cluster around a particular post and because they are all jammed they can't get there. It may be better to implement a "change target post" routine if too many bots are too close to the post and they all have the same objective.

Game play thoughts

Overall my feeling the more I play it is that the different values of the robots and their costs are very very slightly out of kilter. Not much - just a bit. Just that bit that you notice it after you play the game quite a bit. I say this because after lengthy experimentation the Z-tanks seem to be head and shoulders above all the other robots in terms of bang per buck. A couple of Z-tanks can quite easily see off a veritable legion of rings. That doesn't seem quite right.

I like the way that robots retreat to regenerate if they take a lot of damage. However, I'd like the option to switch that off and leave them in suicidally brave mode.

I think the colours you have put on the tops of each robot really adds to the game. It makes it much easier now to see which type is which - a real benefit. Also, I like the new method of map scrolling. It might be even better if the map scrolled faster the closer the cursor got to the edge rather than, at the moment, only scrolling when the cursor is at the edge of the screen. So for example if the cursor is within 10 pixels of the edge of the screen the map (camera) scrolls at speed 1, at speed 2 within 5 pixels and at speed 4 when its at the edge of the screen. Something like that.

Sometimes the opponents build an emplacement thing. This causes all your hacker and wrecker robots to auto target it. Its very awkward to tell them all to de-target it and target opposing posts and wreckers respectively (and when they destroy their targets then revert back to the emplacement again). I'd like to suggest that the default behaviour should be to target opposing posts and wreckers with the user ordering his/her robots to target emplacements.

One other point I have noticed - selecting the flying hovers and domers can be a bit of a hit and miss affair as you have to click on their relative ground position rather than their actual "flight" position. It'd be better to be able to select them by clicking on their "flight" position I think.

Finally, I mentioned an idea: how about a robot that acts as artillery? It fires a long distance but has inexact aim?

Overall, as I've said before, this is a really good game. Its just getting better and better the more you work on it. Please count me amongst your fans.

Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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Xander
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Posted: 7th Feb 2004 04:52
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Thanks for the feedback, Philip.

I have been working on converting Firewall to DBPro. I actually got it working, but disappointingly. It actually runs slower than in Classic, even after adjusting stuff to make it run faster.

Hey Jess, have you done multiplayer before with Classic? Has anybody? I think I will get a story mode in with more robots and battle modes, then sell it.

Sorry my website is still down. Stupid freewebs. I am now buying a domain name to host my website on.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense - Real Time Strategy game
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Jess T
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Posted: 7th Feb 2004 11:11
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I'm afraid I've never used the Multiplayer/FTP commands in either DBC or DBPro.

Sorry man.

But, My offer for helping you convert Firewall to DBP still stands.

Jess.


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heartbone
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Posted: 9th Feb 2004 09:03
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Bolt: Hey Jess, have you done multiplayer before with Classic? Has anybody?

See the message in this thread that was posted: 14th Jan 2004 23:36

Peace, the anti-Bush.
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AnDrEy
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Posted: 9th Feb 2004 14:50 Edited at: 9th Feb 2004 15:19
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no need to buy a web account, the work in progress has a WIP project hosting thread with lots of good (fast big memory) hosts
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Xander
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Posted: 14th Feb 2004 23:41
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I have completed version 2.5. There are many new updates, many of which Philip suggested.

-You can now select robots by their absolute positions, not the positions on the ground
-Smoother shadows and better base textures
-More intelligent robots and AI
-New Defense mode causes robots to hold their positions and never retreat or transport

I am uploading the new version to this link:
http://www.dbspot.com/bolt/firewallinstall.exe

My freewebs site is magically up again! I will update the site this weekend. For now you can download it from the above link.

Tell me what you think of the updates, and please give feedback if you try my game.

Thanks

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
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Philip
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Posted: 17th Feb 2004 19:13
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@Bolt

I've already played about with version 2.5

This is sort of an interim report as I am busy until Sunday. Anyway my early thoughts are as follows:

1. the new intro is good (although the mouse click test to skip it seems to be a little bit variable);

2. you've rebalanced the game really well - the Z-tanks are no longer overly good and building lots of them is no longer a sure way to achieve victory;

3. I see what you mean about Firewall running much slower under DBPro - hopefully the advice from Walaber on Instance Object deletion will fix that;

4. I am getting the occasional Runtime Error 7 crash. I am trying to duplicate this in a stable way to allow you to bug test it;

5. the bug I reported in my earlier post (see in post made on 2 Feb above) is still present I'm afraid;

6. when the computer is doing a lot (lots of objects, explosions, etc.) this can make the mouse pointer leap about a bit - not sure what can be done about this;

More considered comments soon.

Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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Xander
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Posted: 17th Feb 2004 20:35
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Okay,

-The mouse button clicking to skip the intro is bad, I will add something to fix that.

-Good, I am glad that it is better balanced. I also make the zapping robots more powerful

-I have fixed the "error 7" and will upload a fix (small, just the new exe), it was because of some bad error when the intro was quit to early.

-Which bug? The one with robots targeting certain objects before others? I didn't exactly get that, sorry. You can email me about it if you want.

-The mouse jumping is because it is going too slow. I have attempted to fix that by moving objects only every other frame, which has been in all the versions for weeks. Hold down "space bar" to check your frame rate. I will convert it to Pro with th new instance objects to see if it goes faster.

Thanks for the feedback

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
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Xander
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Posted: 20th Feb 2004 04:11
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I have uploaded the patch. It mostly just fixes the "runtime error 7" bug, and is only a new .exe file, so it is quite small. You don't have to download it, but otherwise Firewall will crash if you exit out of the intro too fast after it starts.

The demo is nearly complete, I have added and will add a couple more features which will appear in the next demo version:
-The robot's range is shown with a circle if you are holding control or tab when you put your cursor on the robot (all robot's energy levels are shown if you hold down tab or control already)
-I will hopefully convert Firewall to DBPro before the final demo version for speed and graphical reasons.

If anyone is getting tired of me posting new info on Firewall, please tell me. The people still interested in my game could check my forum instead.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
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Philip
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Posted: 24th Feb 2004 16:51 Edited at: 24th Feb 2004 16:51
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Bolt, I think you ought to keep posting here. Your game is very impressive and most definitely deserves to remain in the limelight of this forum.

I haven't got to the latest patch yet. I'll get to that this weekend I think. Still, keep up the good work mate. I'm looking forward to seeing whether your turning your code to instance object increases the speed back to the speeds Firewall managed under DBC.

Philip

**EDIT: I see your game is going to be mentioned in dispatches in the next Newsletter. Well done mate!

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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M00NSHiNE
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Posted: 26th Feb 2004 18:57
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Wow, this looks fantastic. Can I ask how you did the buttons in the interface on the first picture further up?

This one [href]http://www.dbspot.com/bolt/newmenus.jpg
[/href]

Are these sprites or planes?

Cheers

Currently thinking of a new company name
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Xander
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Posted: 26th Feb 2004 19:36
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Moonshine: To do the buttons on the menus in the game, I just created a jpeg in a paint program. That texture is then applied to one plain and locked to the screen. It is just one plain. I just manually found the locations of the buttons and used the mousex() and mousey() variables to see what button the mouse is on when clicked.

Actually, Philip, this version is still in DB Classic. I haven't done a complete conversion to Pro yet, I am waiting to finish it first, then convert to Pro so I don't have two version. I am working on speeding it up a little right now for the next version.

Can anyone tell me their frame rates and computer specs? Check the frame rates at different times. Use the space bar to check frame rate.

My specs:
1ghz Pentium III
64 MB Geforce 4 MX440se video
256 MB RAM

My frame rate usually starts around 60 fps and drops to 30-40 fps during a normal game.

Thanks everyone

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
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Philip
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Posted: 7th Mar 2004 18:57
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Bolt, I just wanted to post an encouraging remark to let you know I and, I'm sure, a lot of other people are eagerly looking forward to the next version of Firewall.

In terms of the frame rate, your states are about the same for me. However, it can go down as far as 10 if I've got lots and lots of objects on the screen at once. See below for my 'puter's stats.

Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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Xander
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Posted: 7th Mar 2004 20:41
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I am glad you are looking forward to the next version of Firewall, I have been working very hard the past few days, and there are huge improvements coming, probably next weekend including:

-I got rid of the Drag and Stealth bases. They were not usable enough. They have been replaced with two new types of bases:
-Drain bases slowly drain nearby virus robots shields, stop their regeneration, and give you points.
-Attack bases fire ammo at nearby virus robots to destroy them

-Bases can now be selected, moved, recycled, sacrificed, and even upgraded.

-Much improved robot selection: 6 Posters, 6 Hackers, and 6 Wreckers can now be selected individually to be used in the game.

-Better robot retreating, robots retreat to points that will protect them the best, not the average of the memory controllled

-Better homing ammo so the ammo does not circle around robots

-Implode and Explode drones now only 25 points if used for defensive purposes (canceling out the other drone)

-Better speed as a result of combining objects and more efficient coding (don't expect too much, but there is some speed increase)

-Robots now have masses for more realistic damage and force values. This results in less of those huge masses of explosions, which occured too often.

-Place mouse on a robot while holding control or tab to see its range

I wish I could think of some other ones, most are just bug fixes.

If there are any suggestions, please post them.
Thanks a lot to Philip for all of the suggestions and help.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
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walaber
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Posted: 8th Mar 2004 02:10
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wow!! There hadn't been an update to this post in a while, so I was unsure if you were still working hard on the game... but... wow!

This games is one of the best examples of what can be done with DB/DBPro (which are you using now by the way)... it's the only complete RTS that I can think of made in the language.

looking forward to the nest version as always!

Go Go Gadget DBPRO!

Athlon XP 2400+ || DDR-SDRAM 1GB || Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti4200 AGP 8x 128MB
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M00NSHiNE
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Posted: 8th Mar 2004 02:30
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Sorry I didnt post earlier, I was playing last week and I got a freeze, then it quit back to Windows and said "Runtime error: error 72".

If its any use, my specs are:

AMD Athlon XP 2000+
nVidia GeForce FX 5200
512M SDRAM
DX 9.0b (doubt thats of use though)

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Philip
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Posted: 9th Mar 2004 07:44 Edited at: 9th Mar 2004 07:47
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@Moonshine, I suffered from that too. I think Bolt has fixed it already.

@Bolt, this all sounds excellent. I'd say I'm slathering at the prospect of the next version of Firewall but I realise that slathering bears tend to be a somewhat disturbing spectacle. Therefore, I shall content myself with saying that I am looking forward to this with eager anticipation.

Firewall is definitely THE leading DBPro RTS. I'm hoping that when its finally complete you can get the demo version onto a magazine coverdisk.

Incidentally, are you still running Firewall with "Backdrop off"? If so could there possibly be an option to put the backdrop on? The reason I ask is because of the bug I reported previously (when you exit the Firewall window and then go back into it again).

Cheers

Philip

**EDIT: The only problem is that with each new version of Firewall I lose about 3 or 4 days of work on my project as I'm too busy playing with Firewall. Damn you Bolt! Damn you!

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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M00NSHiNE
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Posted: 9th Mar 2004 11:55
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I thought this was DBC? BTW thanks for clearing that up I didnt know it was fixed.

Currently thinking of a new company name
Sticking to a project idea for once
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Philip
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Posted: 11th Mar 2004 13:38
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Er... it is a DBC game at the moment. I don't know why I keep saying "DBPro" when Bolt keeps saying its not converted yet. I think I've sort of got stuck in some kind of infinite loop there.

But its stopped now. In future I will be more accurate. Sorry all.

Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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Xander
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Posted: 13th Mar 2004 23:28
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Firewall v2.6 is complete!

You can go to my site to download it. I have also redesigned the website. Hope you all like it. New screenshots too.

There are many fixes and additions in this version, most of which are listed in a previous post on this page. They are also listed on the website.

I inaccurately reported my fps readings in a previous post. This is because Firewall runs differently when compiled. From the source code the fps ranges from 75 fps down to 25 fps. After it is compiled it is slower, but more stable. On my computer is starts out at 42 fps, and goes down to 30 fps.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense - Real Time Strategy game
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Philip
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Posted: 14th Mar 2004 10:42
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2.6! Wooo!

Ok... I'm off to download and play it. Thats this afternoon gone then.

Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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Philip
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Posted: 15th Mar 2004 13:58
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I thought I'd post some initial feedback.

1. I see you've fixed the issue with the mouseclick to skip intro option in the previous version. In the new version the mouseclick "skip" works very responsively. Its a significant improvement.

2. The game feels even more balanced in the latest version than in the previous version - this is very good. I also like the extra information displayed about a unit.

3. Unfortunately, I've encountered a serious bug. The game keeps crashing for no obvious reason. The error that comes up is Runtime Error 7. I've been trying to isolate the cause of this but without much luck. My gut suspicion is that it may be triggered when one of the computer players tries to create a new robot. Possibly it is trying to create a DB object using a number which is already allocated?? Anyway I describe this as a "serious" bug as it tends to terminate the game at the very early stages and so far its killed every game I've started in v2.6. This means that I'm limited in the feedback I can give to things I've spotted until the game crashes.

In order to try to let you duplicate the problem, I am playing on a 1024 x 768 resolution with all the options set to their highest settings. I have 3 viruses and at the moment am playing at a modest difficulty level of "3". I am playing with a map size of 30.

4. I like the way you can now individually select robots for each of the poster, hacker and wrecker slots. But I can't help noticing that change the colour of your robot team no longer causes any change to the colour of the robots displayed in the window that appears when you click the "robot" button. Thats a bit of a shame. I quite liked that touch in the previous version.

5. The four coloured bars under "memory" on the left hand side of the screen and in the bars on the right hand side of the screen do not always reflect the colours of the different teams. Most of the time on my computer they don't. I don't understand why this is.

6. My average FPS is 19.

7. I think you should post more screenshots onto your website. I think ultimately it is screenshots that help sell a game. Your game looks great so more screenshots have got to help.

8. My download speed from your website (with a 10mbps line) was 70kbps. Thats pretty good I thought.

Hope this feedback is helpful!

Philip

PS: I can't help noticing that I have been quoted on your website. Marketing, huh?

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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Philip
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Posted: 15th Mar 2004 14:09
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PS: The elusive runtime error 7 bug is definitely not connected to the premature skipping of the intro. I've tried letting the intro run all the way through and yet I'm still getting it. Oh well...

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Xander
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Posted: 16th Mar 2004 03:12 Edited at: 16th Mar 2004 03:44
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There, I have fixed the bugs in this 2.61 patch. I am sorry for that bug, I guess I should have played it more before uploading it. I found the source of the problem and fixed it. Here is a small patch to fix it, and the other bug you mentioned with the robots' colors on the menu.

http://www.dbspot.com/bolt/website/firewall261.zip

-The colors for the point and memory menus are odd colors because they are ghosted. When they are placed over the colors on the map, they are changed because color1+color2=color3 Get it? Maybe I will turn ghosting off of that part of the menu... Or just make it darker

Thanks Philip

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
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walaber
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Posted: 16th Mar 2004 05:03
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nice. I wanted to try out the new version, but the bug Phillip mentioned made me wait.

I'll give it a try when I get home!

Go Go Gadget DBPRO!

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Philip
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Posted: 17th Mar 2004 15:12
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Hi Bolt

Great work on the patch. It seems to have fixed Runtime Error 7.

Heres a bit more feedback for you:

Bugs

1. I'm afraid the game occasionally crashes with Runtime Error 72. I'm trying to isolate this and make it duplicateable. It *seems* to be more pronounced when the map size is 40. More soon.

Tweaks

1. The ring shaped poster and hacker robots sometimes start (wrongly) circling their target posts rather than posting or hacking them as appropriate. I think what is happening here is that your rotate logic is also moving the robot each loop. So they are rotating around the post and not onto it. The result is that they can get caught in what appears to be an endless loop - until outside interference either by being "bumped" or "fired upon" fixes this. The problem is particularly pronounced with the ring shaped hacker robots.

2. The wreckers' default behaviour is to chase a fleeing enemy deep into enemy territory to try and catch it. I actually prefer your previous code. This is because if the wreckers are busily chasing that enemy they seem to ignore other more pressing problems. For example, they make an enemy flee, then they chase after it, but in so doing they ignore the enemy hacker which is close by and merrily hacking at your posts without interference.

3. Could we have an option to alter the speed of mouse cursor movement?

4. As regards the alpha blending issue for the "points" and "memory" bars, I can't speak to DBC, but in DBPro we have a range of different flags for the set alpha commands which allows you to diminish or heighten the alpha blending effect?

5. Ring shaped wrecker robots now feel slightly more powerful overall than the Z-tank wrecker. Perhaps the cost of the ring shaped wrecker should be slightly increased and the cost of the Z-tank wrecker slightly decreased?

Hope this is helpful. More feedback soon.

Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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walaber
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Posted: 18th Mar 2004 01:40
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ugh, still haven't had a chance to try out the new version... will get to it soon...

Go Go Gadget DBPRO!

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Xander
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Posted: 18th Mar 2004 05:06
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I have been quite busy lately, I have to finish a scholarship application before Friday, so I can't create a new patch until at least this weekend. I will play it somemore and find where the bug is so I can fix it. I will also balance the robots more...the Z-Tanks are a little too weak now... I will also make Wreckers find a new target if they are too far into enemy territory.

Thanks for the tips

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense - Real Time Strategy game
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Philip
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Posted: 18th Mar 2004 07:23
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@Walaber, the new version is fine. You should definitely download it and have a good long play. The Runtime error 72 bug I've mentioned above is not very serious. It only manifests itself in maps larger than 20.

@Bolt, please don't worry about releasing a patch immediately. I'm not rushing you in any way and I hope you don't think that I am. I'm just trying to lend a hand by doing some unofficial beta testing for you - I know from my own experience how an independent eye can often be very helpful. Definitely the main thing for you to concentrate on is that scholarship application - I believe American Universities are very very expensive. Can I ask what you are intending to study?

Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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Posted: 19th Mar 2004 05:45
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Hey guys,

Just as a side note, the speed of the game seems to drop quite a lot with large map sizes of 30 and especially 40. Just to let you know.

Thanks Philip, but I will have some time this weekend. My parents are picking up my sister from college, so I can work on my game uninteruped I enjoy working on my game and fixing stuff, I guess I am sort of a perfectionist with my programs. I hate it when other people are having problems with my games

I am going to a University in my state, Wisconsin. I am going to become a mechanical design engineer. It will take me 4 years and approximately $45,000 (US Dollars) over the four years. I am really lucky, though. I am getting a large scholarship because of the elementary school I went to, and the rest will be paid for with federal aid from the government.

That was kind of off subject, but oh well

How do you like the new bases, Philip?

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense - Real Time Strategy game
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MikeS
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Posted: 20th Mar 2004 02:56
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I like the new version Bolt.

I've spent the last hour&half playing your game. This might be the first dbc game I ever buy. It's just such a unique title. It's got appealing graphics and effects, and the hacker cancel poster, wrecker cancel both, bases cancel wreckers is sorta like Rock, paper, scissors. It never gets old, and there's unlimited strategy. (Well, if you followed my analogy )

Keep up the good work.



A book? I hate book. Book is stupid.
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