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Work in Progress / Megaball clone

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Lucy
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Posted: 13th Nov 2007 05:04
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There's an old Amiga game that I happen to love called Megaball 4. Over the last week I've been working my butt off on this. I'm not ready to release any binaries to the public, and the source code is likely to stay closed, at least for a while.

This is a gameplay video featuring the game's current final level. It's a bit of a hell level, very difficult.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sx7XYxnGYg

This is not the final look but more of a preview.

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tha_rami
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Posted: 13th Nov 2007 05:14
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It looks quite good, but I'm a bit confused about your level design. It surely looks like a hell level, although I'm getting the feeling that is mostly due to boredom: 90% of the time you're not doing anything at all.

I like the trail and the speed of the game! Looks interesting for sure


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Osiris
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Posted: 13th Nov 2007 05:37
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Yeah lol that level must be from hell. That ball just wont freaking go anywhere half the time.

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
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dark coder
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Posted: 13th Nov 2007 07:13
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The engine looks good but as said above that level looks insanely boring. What happened to the good old days of arkanoid .

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Lucy
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Posted: 13th Nov 2007 08:57 Edited at: 13th Nov 2007 09:23
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This will probably my first actual video game. I'm breaking out, if you will (pun not intended), of app development and into games. The only games I've made before this have been tabletop rpgs, not quite the same thing.

Well, Megaball was always a puzzler/breakout hybrid. This level is more about skill in maneuvering the ball into the tiny little hole... I chose it because it showcases the particle trail pretty well. Another reason I was using this level to test is mainly stress testing the hand coded discreet stepping collision code.

I'm also not using any of DBPro's built in collision code and everything is in 3d (not 2D). The orthogonal appearance is thanks to an FOV that's smaller than 0.01 degrees.

Oh, and the game has an in-game level editor.

My small team (It's basically me programming, and a friend who does art and music.) is actually thinking about doing a tounge in cheek platformer next. We have no plans after that.

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Cash Curtis II
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Posted: 13th Nov 2007 09:38
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The video shows a well made game that looks and sounds very nice. I have to agree with the other comments, it is a poorly designed level. You have absolutely no control over most of the level, you put the ball in the hole and the computer has to do the rest. I'd likely quit out of boredom.


Come see the WIP!
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Lucy
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Posted: 13th Nov 2007 09:43 Edited at: 13th Nov 2007 13:01
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Hey, I didn't design the level, it's a straight clone from level 20 of Megaball 4. No, I'm not going to include hell levels like that in the final version, nor am I going to include any content copied from any games. Just inhouse stuff

In retrospect, you're probably right. I should've chosen a faster paced level, one with more user interaction than one made for trying to break the collision code. I suppose stress tests only impress the developer.

I'll likely release one more video (once I finish the power ups) and then once those are all polished and my music guy gets back with me with some freshly composed Amiga mods, I'll release a small demo for the game free of anyone else's IP.

To The Rami, actually, you're pretty much on target with your assumption. I am bored a lot and do have most of the day. The way I see it, boredom is a measure of how alive someone is. The more chances you have to be bored, the better off you are. Boredom is a drive to be productive, whether the productivity is constructive or not is another story. Basically, what it comes down to is that boredom is you time. If you don't have time to be bored, then you don't have time to live, and you're probably already dead, just don't know it yet.

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tha_rami
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Posted: 13th Nov 2007 13:29
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Hehe, well, me, tha_rami; I'm afraid I have zero seconds per day to be bored. I work on TGC Heroes, Seadome, Wartorn: Battlefields, a blog, webdesign (just learned a lot of php in seven days), chatting with contacts and then I've got my girlfriend too. I haven't seen a TV in weeks, I've had a sleeptime of 4-5 hours a day at some points.

But heck, I enjoy it - I feel pretty alive.

I liked your code stress-test, it's just not really an introduction to a game. Go follow some PR-lessons, you won't need any coding ones, it seems . Great work .


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Digital Awakening
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Posted: 13th Nov 2007 15:05 Edited at: 13th Nov 2007 17:34
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Lucy:
That's got to be the best "Breakout type" game I've seen anyone do in DBP

Since the game is 2D I would have gone with pasting sprites (AdvancedSPRITES makes it even faster) and code my own 2D collision algorithm. It's nice to work with pixels too. BTW, I noticed that when the ball hits the corners of the unbreakable blocks they don't flash.

I agree with you, I think it's partly my lack of boredom that makes me less productive. Introverted people (Meyers-Briggs term) gain energy from thinking, not from doing. Extroverted people are the opposite.

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Mr Tank
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Posted: 13th Nov 2007 19:09
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Looks solid and pretty. I look forward to playing.

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Lucy
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Posted: 14th Nov 2007 06:51 Edited at: 14th Nov 2007 06:53
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Quote: "Since the game is 2D I would have gone with pasting sprites (AdvancedSPRITES makes it even faster) and code my own 2D collision algorithm."


The main reason I went with 3D is because vector collision is easier than pixel collision. The fact is that 3D makes for better 2D than 2D.

Quote: "BTW, I noticed that when the ball hits the corners of the unbreakable blocks they don't flash."


That's most likely due to the fact that the video was recorded at 60fps and pulled down to 25fps. Any time the ball changes direction, the brick it hits is going to flash. It's a part of the collision code. The only time something won't flash on a collision is if a collision occurs and yet the collision in question was processed by the "brick was hit" rather than the "Ball needs to bounce" code. You see, it's only the "ball needs to bounce" code that causes the flashing." Once the ball deflection code is perfected, I'll move the "brick needs to be affected" code into the ball bounce code.

Quote: "I'm afraid I have zero seconds per day to be bored. I work on TGC Heroes, Seadome, Wartorn: Battlefields, a blog, webdesign"


How many of those are your idea though? I guess what I was meaning to say is that if you're bored it means you have time for you own stuff. It's even better when you keep yourself occupied with personal projects rather than falling into boredom. Boredom is terrific motivator, even when you're not bored, it's just the fear of boredom.

And thank you to all those who have complimented my efforts. To be honest, I was getting burned out after a week of all day programming. I really needed the encouragement you have provided. The people testing the game for me have stopped "wowing" and started actually reporting bugs.

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tha_rami
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Posted: 14th Nov 2007 07:37
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Four of them are my ideas: Seadome, Wartorn: Battlefields, a blog and the webdesign. Oh, and I forgot to add I'm also writing a trilogy.

Let's just say for me, the best motivator is not boredom but exactly the opposite. The busier I am, the more ideas I get and execute.


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Digital Awakening
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Posted: 14th Nov 2007 14:54
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Lucy:
Because the blocks and the ball are simple shapes to calculate collision on I would have gone 2D myself, but then I'm not a math genius of any kinds; all I do is apply logic and if I need any math I "invent" something simple

I thought it might be the video skipping frames, I only looked at the non flashing boxes for a little while and at that time it seemed like corner bounces didn't generate a flash.

Anyway, good luck finalizing the project, that's often the boring part as you have already worked out the gameplay (which is usually the fun part)

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Lucy
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Posted: 24th Nov 2007 05:59 Edited at: 24th Nov 2007 07:40
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Gigaball is a Puzzle/Breakout hybrid. Essentially a clone of Megaball 4. It's not completed but it's very solid and 90% done.

The in-game editor is disabled for the public beta. It works fine, it's just I don't want the editor leaking out right now.

If you want music, try going to modarchive.org, find some songs you like in mod, xm, it, or s3m format and drop them in soundsmusic. Also mp3 and ogg should work fine as well.

I hope you enjoy this little public beta release. I worked really hard on squashing a lot of bugs and making the game feel a lot more solid before making a public demo.

CHEAT CODES!
The following cheat codes can be used while the game is in motion.

ALT+Q Gives you the Brickthrough powerup. This turns your ball rainbowy and makes it plow through any and all bricks that aren't indestructable or locked

ALT+W Gives you the Laser powerup. Lasers can be fired with mouse button. They destroy any brick they hit. Lasers + Brickthrough = Super Laser

ALT+E skips to the next level

Spacebar not really a cheatcode, but it pauses the game.

Rashness is the characteristic of youth, prudence that of mellowed age, and discretion the better part of valor.

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dark coder
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Posted: 24th Nov 2007 10:21
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As said on IRC, other than a few issues with the power ups/downs it's pretty good. If the ball could have rotational velocity too then it would make the game more fun I think, so if you move the paddle quite fast as the ball hits then the ball hooks as it moves, this would make the game much harder once you add in multiple balls.

Also a game mode where the map vertically scrolls would be very nice, either to the next map or the map itself is very long. This way the unbreakable blocks would be obstacles for the paddle and would allow for faster paced and more frequent gameplay, as removing those last few bricks is always a chore.

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tha_rami
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Posted: 24th Nov 2007 13:17
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@dark coder: as in a mix between breakout and one of those vertical schmups? That actually sounds kind of supercool .

DOwnloading this.


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Van B
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Posted: 24th Nov 2007 13:35
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Looks like a pretty neat effort Lucy, personally I always found breakout to be boring, so in my clone I went a bit crazy .

Hope you don't mind me posting a video link, just want to show you how mad you can go with a breakout clone...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LomrqzX_Xc

You have a solid game on your hands, but I think you can push the idea further, add more puzzle and skill elements to bring it away from boring old breakout.


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Lucy
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Posted: 25th Nov 2007 02:05 Edited at: 25th Nov 2007 02:09
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VanB, how did you get the motion blur going? And my shiny Radeon x1600 just died I'm having to run on the onboard 64meg S3 chip. I just want to stab my computer in the face, repeatedly and without mercy.

Once I've got a complete, and solid Megaball clone going (I say Megaball because Breakout didn't have all the flashy stuff), I'll definitely be adding in more gameplay elements.

Here's a small update to the public beta. I've unlocked the editor but locked out all but the color bricks.

The title screen is now point and click. Hopefully, magnet and gravity pickups aren't superpowered anymore.

The save and load buttons on the editor DO infact work. They just don't animate or have a clicky sound. It saves the board to ".\boards\board#.brd" where # is the level number. It also loads. Think of "load" as a kind of "revert changes from disk".

Rashness is the characteristic of youth, prudence that of mellowed age, and discretion the better part of valor.

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Roxas
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Posted: 25th Nov 2007 04:27
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Quote: "shiny Radeon x1600 just died"

Aww... That really sucks!

Quote: "how did you get the motion blur going?"

If you are using 3d objects not sprites (Sprites dint work for me for some reason :S) then you can use the command make image from camera then make sprite from that image then adjust bit alpha and output it on screen every loop!
That works for me.

And this project looks awesome! I loved the DX Ball back then.


Click For Details!

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Lucy
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Posted: 25th Nov 2007 09:14
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It wasn't the video card afterall... It was some strange conflict arising from have the sound card in the top PCI slot in combination with the PCI-E slot being in use by the video card.

This wouldn't be detrimental if I didn't have only two PCI slots... Time to get a new motherboard...

Rashness is the characteristic of youth, prudence that of mellowed age, and discretion the better part of valor.
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Van B
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Posted: 25th Nov 2007 12:36
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The motion blur was done by disabling the backdrop so that the screen output is not cleared, then using a alpha transparent plain at about 25% IIRC, this plain covers the whole board and slowly clears the screen with it's own image. It's pretty good for performance as it isn't using any extra particle effects, just the overhead of having an alpha transparent plain covering the screen - I'm sure the same technique was used in Echoes. If you use a plain bigger than the screen and move it you can get some nice effects.


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Roxas
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Posted: 25th Nov 2007 17:00
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Quote: "The motion blur was done by disabling the backdrop so that the screen output is not cleared, then using a alpha transparent plain at about 25% IIRC, this plain covers the whole board and slowly clears the screen with it's own image. It's pretty good for performance as it isn't using any extra particle effects, just the overhead of having an alpha transparent plain covering the screen - I'm sure the same technique was used in Echoes. If you use a plain bigger than the screen and move it you can get some nice effects."


Hey thanks! You learned me a new way! And i think this is faster.. And easier way to disable! Thanks a bunch, and have a beer


Click For Details!

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demons breath
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Posted: 25th Nov 2007 19:26
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Woah! Both games look awesome!

Lucy, your game looks amazing, but like they said, there's not much control over the actual ball in the video. I'll download the demo you uploaded though and give that a quick bash...

VanB, that is actually crazy. It looks just like bonfire night, when you run round throwing fireworks at people

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Lucy
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Posted: 26th Nov 2007 01:16 Edited at: 26th Nov 2007 01:19
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VanB, I tried that right when I first started development. That's what stripes.png is about in the images folder on that first release I made (forgot to clean it since it's not used anymore). I found that it left a trail that never went away. Did you notice this? If so, did you manage to find a way to get rid of it, or did it just not bug you?

Rashness is the characteristic of youth, prudence that of mellowed age, and discretion the better part of valor.
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Van B
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Posted: 26th Nov 2007 08:28
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I noticed the trail when the alpha on the plain is too low - when I get a chance I'll check the setup code I used for the plain. One thing that may make the difference is I didn't use alpha transparent images, I use standard images then alpha faded the plain itself - that way it's easy to control how fast the motion blurring is.


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Lucy
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Posted: 2nd Dec 2007 09:18
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Quote: "I didn't use alpha transparent images, I use standard images then alpha faded the plain itself - that way it's easy to control how fast the motion blurring is."


That's what I was doing initially.

Rashness is the characteristic of youth, prudence that of mellowed age, and discretion the better part of valor.
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kaedroho
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Posted: 2nd Dec 2007 17:30
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Very good, but youre going to have to make that much easier as the user will get very bored.

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