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Work in Progress / Zone 0.99

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C0wbox
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Posted: 20th Jul 2009 08:20 Edited at: 29th Jul 2009 23:06
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It's been a long time, since I made a WIP. The reason is shown in that the last 3 all failed (Marvin the Magician, Vision, Urban Renegade) but no matter, Soharix pressed on, making secret projects and resisting the temptation to make formal WIPs. - until now.

This game may not be, the greatest game on earth, it also may not be everyone's cup of tea. But I can safely say: it's a darn sight better than the some of the other crap Soharix has spewed out over the years.

Basically this game is passively themed on Demonstar, but rather than moving up a scrolling level, you are free to move around within the level.

This game is practically finished (I mean, I nearly released it before remembering I should probably make a WIP first) but now making the WIP I realise there are still things I would like to do to it and I should be ticking these off as I go.

This link has been updated and now bares version 1.2, as Zone has been released and is in the Program Announcements.
: .rar
: .zip

And here are some screenshots to illustrate the game design (and so I don't get shot for not posting screenshots in my WIP ):

Starting screen (showing credits and controls) ([b]EDIT: changed to make the space bar and shift key shoot as well)[/b]


Exploding some fuel storage tanks


Being shot at


Facing quite a few enemies


Showing the new terrain and level title


Showing off the boss level (which has moving lava under the terrain )

Enjoi

For those interested in the true credits to the game:


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TheComet
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Posted: 20th Jul 2009 12:33 Edited at: 20th Jul 2009 12:46
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Quote: "enjoi"


lol

I found this game quite amusing and entertaining.

The controls were comfortable and easy to use, except for the fire button. I think it would be easier to fire if you made it the space bar.

The background is too detailed. Brighten it up a bit, fade and blur it, then it will look much better.

my rating : 6.5/10

keep it up!

TheComet


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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 20th Jul 2009 12:48 Edited at: 20th Jul 2009 12:50
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Not too bad, but man, choose a different Windows theme! Doesn't that hurt your eyes?

I think this game needs two things; one, a bit more variance in your terrain and two, some sort of compass on the minimap.

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C0wbox
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Posted: 20th Jul 2009 15:46 Edited at: 20th Jul 2009 19:06
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@ TheComet
Good good, I'm GLaD about the controls, usually I make my games far too complicated. I will make it so that control, shift and space are fire, so everyone is happy.
Yeh, the background is a tricky one, because it seems sometimes that its too obvious, and other times it's not obvious enough. I'll have a play around with it and see what I can do.

@ NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
Hah, my Windows theme is chosen purely for speed and because I've been used to <Windows 2000 for too long now. (It doesn't detract from the game though, lol

With the terrain ^^^, I'll see what I can do.
And yeh, I thought it needed a compass so I'll see if I can fit that in as well.

EDIT:
I've updated the terrain and some of the issues raised here, there are new screenshots on the first post and a new version uploaded to the same links.

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Dr Tank
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Posted: 20th Jul 2009 19:58
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Nice. I like this. Reminds me a bit of my game. Actually it reminds me of "Seek and Destroy" on the Amiga", which i was inspired by.

Controls took some getting used to. I am used to having WASD for movement, and rotation as left, right arrows. Perhaps i should put a control system like yours in my game as an option, because it would seem at least one person sees that as more natural.

You really need something to show the player's direction on the minimap. Or you could rotate the whole thing.

Craters and destroyed ships are a really nice touch. Some explosions would be nice.

Some option to retry. Had to quit at game over. Don't want to go through all the easy levels again to have another stab at the one i lost on.

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C0wbox
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Posted: 20th Jul 2009 21:42
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@ Dr Tank
Hah, I'll probably make acceleration=up+w-s-down so you can use either. (Didn't think about that)

Yeh I've not gotten round to the arrow I'm going to put on the minimap.

Well, there are little explosions, but I have an idea for when the building blows up (I also need to make some more sounds)

I forgot about when you lose, I'll have a go at sorting that in a bit too.

@ People
Keep the feedback coming people, it's quite helpful actually, because they're all things that are really easy to solve.

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Dr Tank
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Posted: 20th Jul 2009 22:34
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Quote: "Hah, I'll probably make acceleration=up+w-s-down so you can use either. (Didn't think about that) "

More like (up or w)-(s or down). Otherwise you'll have people cheating to get double acceleration.

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C0wbox
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Posted: 20th Jul 2009 23:10 Edited at: 21st Jul 2009 00:57
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@ Dr Tank
xD by that I didn't really mean acceleration, I meant the variable "UPMOVE" which I have as a positive/negative/zero type thing which then controls the acceleration. (So it won't matter if its +2 or -2)
Well spotted though.

EDIT:
Haha, come to think of it, yeh this game is a lot like Super Badass Spaceship X. Oh well, it's hardly competition, mine's a quick project, I'm sure yours is made to perfection.

EDIT 2:
Just another update. - I've updated the download links.
This version includes:
* Being able to pause the game
* Being able to use W and S as well as the up and down arrowkeys
* A rotating minimap
* Improved graphical quality
* Building and ship explosions (sadly no sounds for them yet)


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Dr Tank
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Posted: 21st Jul 2009 02:36 Edited at: 21st Jul 2009 02:37
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Much better. You work fast! There aren't enough rotate-and-thrust type of games these days. Mine is a long way from perfect BTW, but thanks for the vote of confidence.

Explosions look better now, and rotatey map makes the game a lot better- you don't have to worry about figuring out where you are. With WASD i found it a lot more natural to play. I finished it this time! Even though the boss is pretty easy, it's also quite epic and satisfying. Nice music.

To improve, i suggest making the radar less jerky, and putting flying enemies on it as well. You could also put the no fly zone on the map.

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C0wbox
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2009 06:14 Edited at: 23rd Jul 2009 17:13
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Another update; download links updated.

This version includes:
* A pause between levels
* Returning to the start screen after Game Over
* A counter showing how many you've killed out of the total
* An edited building explosion crater (I'll do the boss and ship ones later)
* Fixed a bug on the last level that means dead turrets could be seen under the lava
* Fixed a bug where it put the mouse in the middle of the window every new level you started (I really don't know why that was even in the code: right from the start I'd pretty much established this game wasn't going to use the mouse at all.)
* Redone craters for the ships and the first boss
* Got the no fly area to show on the minimap
* And I decided against the retry option when you die simply because, it's how I designed the game to be played. (But at least this time it doesn't quit when you die, you can just go back to the start screen)
* And I decided against the higher minimap resolution (to reduce jerkyness) because a higher res means it can see further, seeing twice as far, makes the levels look too simple and boring. (Attached is a picture to illustrate this)

Still to do:
* More levels
* More bosses
* More buildings and ships
* And I'll look into a method for putting the flying ships on the minimap - but this is difficult as the map simply draws pixels of according colours onto a bitmap in accordance with where a grid-array has entries - if a ship flies across said array, I can make it enter into the array but it won't clear up after itself once it's left a gridsquare it once occupied. (So you'd end up with a horrible white trail across the minimap.) Any suggestions welcome... but I have a feeling it would be easier to just say, the ships have radar-jamming capabilities.

Oh and the only person to have completed the game, according to the Soharix database is someone by the name of "Ed". - Either the rest of you aren't completing it or aren't entering your name at the end

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Dr Tank
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2009 18:08
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Ed just completed the game again.

on new version, can't see no fly zone on radar.

You could put the enemy planes on radar the way you have it. To be efficient, you'd want to keep track of the number of planes in each map pixel, and the map coordinates of every plane. Then each loop, check what map pixel each plane is at. If it has changed from last time, reduce the number of planes in the old pixel, and add one to the number in the new pixel. If the number in the old square goes from 1 to 0, switch off the dot. If the number in the new square goes from 0 to 1 switch it on.

To properly "switch off" dots to show the right colour underneath, you'd need a separate array to remember the underlying colour- ie due to ground stuff etc.

Alternatively, you could use two images - either a ghosted image on top of your existing map, or combine with blendmapping.

Another option, which i use in my game, is to have separate objects, limbs or whatever for each radar dot for moving objects. It's not as slow as you might expect.

BTW a retry level option would be nice - it's not like the player has an unfair advantage. It's just frustrating to die on a high level and have to plod through the easy stuff all over again. On ont level, you start facing a load of enemies. I went into it with "forward" held down, and got obliterated in about a second. Would have been nice to be able to retry the level.

Anyway you seem to be progressing. Good luck, good speed etc.

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C0wbox
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2009 18:27 Edited at: 23rd Jul 2009 18:35
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@ Dr Tank
Hah, you must be Ed. (Zone's only player)

Oh? Are you sure you can't see a big yellow box around the map when you fly over to the no-fly zone? (Please screenshot yourself inside the no-fly zone so I can see there is no yellow line (also tell me what level it is))

I may try the option of having 2 images, 1 over the other. It would be very difficult to control the map with 1 image as the map is basically refreshed by putting down a big brown box, then putting dots all over it, so there's nothing to say "draw brown" when there is nothing in a square.

Alright, I'll re-consider the retry option.

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Dr Tank
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2009 19:28
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I wouldn't worry about the no fly thing for now. Perhaps you upped the wrong version or something, or i downloaded the wrong thing. In any event presumably any new version you up should have it.

I like retry options, as long as they're not abuseable - like when you can save at any point and so take stupid risks. If the game is such that a player can effortlessly and consistently reach a high level and be undamaged, getting the player to repeat the whole game from the beginning is a bit much. It doesn't matter that much at the mo because the game is quite short and not that hard, but if you make it longer and the latter levels harder, i think it's important to address this. Maybe you could put "checkpoints" every few levels or something.

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BMacZero
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2009 22:49
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Tell that fellow who designed the fourth level he's insane and ought to be locked up



Diggsey: I have a spine and memory, but one memorable guy says he hates me. What am I?
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C0wbox
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2009 23:05 Edited at: 24th Jul 2009 04:37
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@ BMacZero
Lol, that would be me... xD

@ All

Well here's pretty much the final update. The only thing missing is the ships from the radar, but, it makes the game a little more challenging to have them off the radar, that way your actually looking at the screen to play and not working from the map.

Zone v1.1
: .rar
: .zip

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Dr Tank
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Posted: 24th Jul 2009 02:50 Edited at: 24th Jul 2009 02:52
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Oh man. I was doing quite well. Got up to the 2nd boss level, with the triple shooting things. And then i get

Collision Error

Error During Remove: Object (10001) Not Setup

I'm guessing you have an array going up to 10000 or something. Maybe you should make it a bit bigger!

New levels are welcome! Nice to see new units. Those triple shooting things are pretty tough. Mines are nice too. Even though you can abuse the knowledge that they shoot along the world axes, when everything gets hectic this becomes quite a cool feature- you have to concentrate on a lot at once.

Like you say, it's quite nice not to be able to rely on the radar for everything. Stealth is cool. I'm taking notes.

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BMacZero
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Posted: 24th Jul 2009 02:58
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Object Does not exist at line 448 - Aww, and I was doing really good, too! How many darn levels are there?



Diggsey: I have a spine and memory, but one memorable guy says he hates me. What am I?
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C0wbox
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Posted: 24th Jul 2009 03:14 Edited at: 24th Jul 2009 04:36
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@ Dr Tank
Hah, no. The first problem is caused by a clearup proceedure I put in to ensure the enemies don't fire objects of extremely high number. When the enemy fire object numbers reach above 10000, it resets the counter to 500. However, I'd made it so that it still removes the object the counter reaches when it gets above 10000 ... which is object 10001. Object 10001 is an entity seed for loading the buildings and ships on the map startup. The entity seeds are hidden, so aren't setup.

I've solved the problem by replacing:
if EFIRE>10000 with if EFIRE>9999
As well as that, I sorted out the similar system used for the player's fire. (Although there is no object 50001, it's still nice to keep things in order):
if FIRE>50000 with if FIRE>49999

xD, the mine's (which are large fuel tanks actually) are designed to explode in 4 directions and be quite hectic. A player is supposed to learn they fire in 4 directions and shoot them from an angle to avoid being hit. (I thought it would be a bit unfair to have it fire in 8 directions)

And, I'm GLaD to see my amazing game-creation techniques rub off onto others

@ BMacZero
Hmm, that is odd.
Can I get a level number and some sort of a situation report on when that error occured?
The problem being, line 448 is:
make object plain EFIRE,4,4
which isn't checking anything... :S
I singled out the number 171, by subtracting the amount of lines in the 2nd source file, and starting the counter from the top of the first, which takes you to the line:
xrotate object 11000,-90
which again, isn't checking anything... :S

Also, there are 10 levels. (You can see that if you go into the maps folder)

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BMacZero
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Posted: 24th Jul 2009 03:26 Edited at: 24th Jul 2009 03:27
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It was on the level with the two spread-shooting UFO guys. I was just strafing around blowing stuff up, doing nothing really in particular.

I just got another error on the same level - Collision Error "Error during remove: Object (10001) Not Setup". See attached pic, I was running away from one of the standard boss-type UFOs.

Edit: Oh, same one as Dr. Tank

On another note, man, circlestrafing does wonders in this game .



Diggsey: I have a spine and memory, but one memorable guy says he hates me. What am I?
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C0wbox
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Posted: 24th Jul 2009 03:55
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@ BMacZero
Well, alright, if it's the same bug. I should have fixed it now. I'm re-uploading version 1.1 because I realised the version I uploaded with a fix, didn't actually fix it (as I found out while was killing the last 2 bosses)

And yeh, circlestrafing is one of the main techniques players adopt in Zone, as well as the old, shoot-then-run-away business. xD

@ All
Man guys, haha, I didn't realise level 10 was so hard. I actually enjoy playing my own game !

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BMacZero
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Posted: 24th Jul 2009 04:13
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I'll try the fix and see if it works, thanks (later of course, my fingers are all stiff )



Diggsey: I have a spine and memory, but one memorable guy says he hates me. What am I?
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C0wbox
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Posted: 24th Jul 2009 04:23 Edited at: 24th Jul 2009 04:59
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@ BMacZero
Quote: "my fingers are all stiff"

Hah, yeh I know what you mean, I just made sure I played all 10 levels before releasing version 1.1 properly, and man, that was some difficult stuff. Here's a screenshot for proof xD:




By the way I'd like to make a formal request that discussions of Zone be taken to the Program Announcement thread, as this WIP is for <v1.0 and the current version stands v1.1


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