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Program Announcements / FIREWALL: Your Computer's First Defense

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Xander
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Posted: 4th Jan 2004 02:49 Edited at: 4th Jan 2004 03:35
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Firewall is back! Some of you may remember it from months ago, and I have not discontinued work on it. I have completed a demo version of it, and will submit it to a publisher as soon as I am positive that it works on many systems.

Firewall is a real time strategy game in which you must battle viruses that have invaded your memory. Build robots, bases, and drones to battle the viruses and delete them.

Features in the demo:
-7 Robot designs, and 3 different types of robots, making 21 different robots available in the demo
-4 Different types of bases to defend your memory
-8 Different drones to defend your memory and boost your robots' abilities
-Full control over your robots' actions. Make them target enemies, make formations, transport them, and even sacrifice them to destroy virus robots.
-Awesome special effects including explosions, smoke, sparks, debris, and 360 Matrix-style camera pans of mass explosions

http://www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware

On the website there is screenshots, a forum, and you can download the demo. It is 11.4 MB, sorry, it is a little big. However, I can only connect at 19.2K, and it only took me about 2 hours to upload it. You guys shouldn't have a problem.

Here are direct links for the screenshots for all of you who enjoy seeing screenshots:
http://www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware/screen1.jpg
http://www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware/screen2.jpg
http://www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware/screen3.jpg
http://www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware/screen4.jpg

Check out the screenshots, play the demo, and please give me feedback

Xander - Bolt Software

Don't pat yourself on the back too often, you might hurt yourself
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Xander
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Posted: 4th Jan 2004 03:30 Edited at: 4th Jan 2004 03:33
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Yeah, actually I am still uploading it.

I didn't expect anybody to look at the post so quickly.

By the way, you can't hot link to pictures on freewebs...that's why I didn't

There, I am finished. Try it now.

Xander - Bolt Software

Don't pat yourself on the back too often, you might hurt yourself
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Ian T
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Posted: 4th Jan 2004 03:59
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Looks very intersting ... will grab the demo ASAP.

--Mouse: Famous (Avatarless) Fighting Furball

I am the chainsaw paladin.
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walaber
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Posted: 4th Jan 2004 07:26
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fantastic game!!! very addicting, superb gameplay, original concept.

one of the best DB games I've ever seen!!

more people should be praising this game!

Go Go Gadget DBPRO!
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Xander
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Posted: 5th Jan 2004 00:29
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Thank you very much!

I guess they are too busy playing it

Hey Transworld Punk 69, could you please do me a favor and edit the above post and take out those picture links... Thanks

My post has over 500 views...but only 3 people responded so far...I will check again later.

Oh yeah, for a large speed inscrease, lower the screen resolution in the options screen, if you need to.

Xander - Bolt Software

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Hamish McHaggis
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Posted: 5th Jan 2004 00:45 Edited at: 5th Jan 2004 00:48
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Quote: "My post has over 500 views...but only 3 people responded so far"


They're obviously too busy playing the game . I remember this from ages ago, it looks good, downloading now...

BTW, is this made in DB or DBPro?

Do you bite your thumb at me sir?

Athelon XP 1600 Plus - Nvidia Geforce MX400 - 256mb RAM
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spooky
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Posted: 5th Jan 2004 00:57
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I downloaded it but took one look at the help file (which makes your head hurt) and gave up until tomorrow! Had a quick play and can say that game looks REALLY nice, specially the little robots.

Boo!
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Xander
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Posted: 5th Jan 2004 01:15
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Thanks...

I made the game in DB Classic. I started it in April, last year, so it has been about 9 months now. It is actually my first 3D game I ever made. I can remember the days when it was cones, spheres, and boxes moving on a plain matrix...

The game is really not that hard, I should write a simplified version of the manual. There is some in game help. The learning time shouldn't be more than 10-15 minutes.

Here is a little basic help for you guys:

-Left click the mouse on your territory to build robots, drones, and bases.
-Right click to select robots, you can click and drag and then let go to select groups of robots.
-Left click on a space to move selected robots. They will keep their formation as best as possible. You can only move robots onto your territory.

Robots:
-Posters-will automatically walk around and build posts. When four of your posts are around a space, you control that space. They will even transport around automatically if you leave that option on.
-Hackers-Hack at enemy posts so your posters can build posts there.
-Wreckers-Destroy enemy robots.

Bases: All bases affect a vicinity of about 5 squars in diameter
-Drag-will slow down enemy robots
-Stealth-will keep your robots from being detected
-Anti-Zap-will prevent your robots and posts from being destroyed by enemy zapping robots. Enemy robots also can't build posts.
-Anti-Ammo-will repel enemy ammo so it can't hurt your robots, posts, and enemy shooting posters can't build.

Drones: You can't control drones once built. Click on a robot to build that drone on that robot. Speed, Range, Shield, Power, Miss, and Aim drones all are built on robots.
-Speed: Make your robot move and shoot faster
-Range: Make your robot see and reach farther
-Shield: Increase your robot's shields and recharge rate
-Power: Make your robot stronger
-Aim: Make your robot (only Wreckers) miss their target less often, and their ammo will become homing
-Miss: Make your robot harder to hit
-Implode: Build one near a group of enemy robots to deal them damage, or build one on your base to protect it from explode drones.
-Explode: Build one near an enemy base to blow it up, or build one on your robot to protect it and nearby robots from implode drones.

That wasn't too bad, was it? Whenever you click on something to build in the game it will tell you what it is for on the bottom of the screen.

Oh yeah, if you see a little white guy circling your robot, recycle your robot. These are bugs They make your robots extra powerful, but very stupid

Hope you all like it!

Xander - Bolt Software

Don't pat yourself on the back too often, you might hurt yourself
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Hamish McHaggis
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Posted: 5th Jan 2004 01:31
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I played the tutorial mode, it is very cool, I really like the effects, models, and the game play is good and fast so you don't get bored. Definitly at the top of the good games made in DB list .

The only thing I found annoying was the fly round slow motion when the explosions were big. By all means keep it, iots a good feature, but make it shorter, you get bored sitting there waiting for it to zoom around, or at least make it so that when you click the mouse it exits it.

Do you bite your thumb at me sir?

Athelon XP 1600 Plus - Nvidia Geforce MX400 - 256mb RAM
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Xander
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Posted: 5th Jan 2004 01:41
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Oh yeah, I will do that. You can also turn that feature off in the options screen. I will make it so you can click out of it.

I also have to fix the bug where when you are selecting robots it won't jump on the map when you drag your mouse onto the radar!

Thanks for the compliments

Xander - Bolt Software

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D Man
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Posted: 5th Jan 2004 21:57
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This definitly a very good RTS, if not the best ever finished in DB .
Congrats on that.

God is real, unless declared integer.
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Cras
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Posted: 6th Jan 2004 01:02
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i cant do it lol. embarassing considering im ranked in the world on various RTS. i cant even make a poster. It wont let me. I click posters choose one then try to place it and nothin.

uk.geocities.com/maniacimagine check it out. ill soon be formally opening it.
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Xander
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Posted: 6th Jan 2004 05:20
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Thanks, D Man

Hey Maniac:

Did you change your robots? If so, you may have deselected the original poster. If it is selected as robot number one, then one will automatically be built for you. Basically, you have to have the Basik robot type as robot number one. If not, you will not be able to get enough points to build anymore robots. That is why you can't build any robots: not enough points.

To fix that, I should make it so you have to have the Basik robot type as type number one. Thanks for bringing that up

Xander - Bolt Software

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Jess T
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Posted: 6th Jan 2004 11:45
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Quote: "By the way, you can't hot link to pictures on freewebs"


True, but you can get around it, make the images .png's and you can easily hot-link to your images.

Hope I Helped...

Btw, I'm d/ling your game now...


Team EOD :: Programmer/Logical Engineer/All-Round Nice Guy
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Xander
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Posted: 6th Jan 2004 19:29 Edited at: 7th Jan 2004 04:12
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Great! Now I don't have to get a domain name or better server yet.

Hope you like the game.

I uploaded them as .png's. My logo is black, but if I save it and open it in Photoshop it looks okay. Can anyone else see my logo or banner?

If this doesn't work, I will just use my internet service providers webspace. It should be able to hotlink. I forgot about it.

Has anyone else tried the game yet? You can download the patch from the main page, but you also have to download the demo from the demo link. If you have any questions, ask here or on my forum.

EDIT: Darn, it is just a link for the picture I wanted on the bottom. How do it get it to display the picture?

http://www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware/banner.png
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Xander
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Posted: 7th Jan 2004 19:30 Edited at: 7th Jan 2004 19:32
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There is a new patch for Firewall.

It fixes a few bugs, including the one where selecting robots and touching the radar screen causes you to move. You can now click to get out of the explosion camera too. I also fixed the ammo sounds, since they were kind of screwed up. The sounds are much better now.

Enjoy, please give feedback, thanks.

http://www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware
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Jess T
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Posted: 8th Jan 2004 05:25
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to have an image in your sig, use the [ img] tag.

[img ]url here[/img ]
( without the spaces )

Also, I get a sever exception just after your intro has come up ( the spinning bolt thing ). so i can't play it.
It happens with and without the patch.

sys specs;
P4 1.6Ghz ~ 756 MB RAM ~ TNT2 nVidia 32MB ~ Win XP Pro SP1


Team EOD :: Programmer/Logical Engineer/All-Round Nice Guy
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Rennekon
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Posted: 8th Jan 2004 18:08
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I think you could improve by adding keyboard functions. (a: attack, d:defend, etc.) It would make gameplay more efficient in my oppinion. Otherwise the game is great. (except i can't figure out how to make drones or bases)

John "Dark Lord of Angel Destroying Destiny" Pringlebee, maybe?
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Xander
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Posted: 8th Jan 2004 19:33 Edited at: 8th Jan 2004 19:35
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Actually, there are keyboard shortcuts
I forgot to mention that...

Severe exception, huh?
Darn, I think that it is your video card. I made the program load all the images into the video memory. It didn't improve performance, like I wanted it to. I will set it back the other way, and hope that it will run then.

Thanks, actually I figured it out yesterday

I will release the next version in a few days, probably this weekend.

It is simple to build bases and drones, simply click on the type you want, and click to build it, as long as you have enough points. See above in this thread for instructions for what all the drones and bases do. It is also in the manual

[EDIT] NOOOOOOO!!! I thought that my pictures would work I uploaded them to yahoo photos, but it doesn't work. I will have to wait until my webspace works from my ISP.

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Rwilson
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Posted: 8th Jan 2004 22:20
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Out of curiosity, are you using Darkbasic Classic, or Pro? From my own (limited) understanding of the two, speed was supposed to be one of the major enhancments from Classic to Pro, so that could be the source of the speed issues.

On another note, I found Firewall to be quite enertaining. I did notice that the drones have a tendancy to sometimes overlap one another. Pretty good game, otherwise!

Usermlsra - Causing Havoc with a Smile
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Xander
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Posted: 9th Jan 2004 01:16
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Thanks, yeah, I will fix that drone problem tonight.

I am using Dark Basic Classic. However, it is nearly impossible, and would not work correctly. I have both, and have tried to convert it. For one thing, my program is over 6500 lines long, and uses many methods that Pro cannot handle. For example, DB Pro cannot create objects fast enough for on-the-fly object creation. The scale issue is also very annoying, and not the mention I would have to stop using .3ds files. Thanks for the suggestion, but, as you can see, it doesn't work.

I should have a new version uploaded tomorrow night.

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Jess T
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Posted: 9th Jan 2004 05:45
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You know if you cnverted all your objects to the .dbo format ( there was a converter released the other day for this very process ) and then load them into DB it will load MUCH faster.

And for the on-the-fly object creation, for DBPro, you can load them all at the start, then clone them, or instance them. Reduces load times as new objects aren't loaded.

For example, for tree's etc, you load a tree.x file, then simply clone it and posisition all the clones.

When you say "The scale issue" what issue is that?

Thanks for looking into fixing up the error.

Hope I Helped...


Team EOD :: Programmer/Logical Engineer/All-Round Nice Guy
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Arkheii
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Posted: 9th Jan 2004 10:23
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You did this in DBC? How did you do the shadows?

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Cras
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Posted: 9th Jan 2004 17:52
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Finally figured out how to play it, and it was what u sed that caused me to make no money. Excellent game, played for over an hour which is good for me Besides making sure others dont make my mistake, here are a few things you might condsider:

Robot designs shouldnt be usable in 3 different types. I had a mass of pebble tanks at one stage and couldnt figure out which were offensive, which were hackers and which were posters. You should make a few more models even if they do the same. It would make it more playable and the people who go for perfect games (eg no deaths) would like it.

On the main screens, before you enter games, there should be more details about your robot selections, even if its just naming thier type. When I went to change the robots i couldnt tell what i had picked. Perhaps put a name and have little bullets eg: Cost *** Damage ** Range **** Speed etc.

unit selection could be beter. double clicking a unit could select all of that type
holding shift and clicking should add a unit to current handful.
there could be 3 different buttons, one to select all of each type.

When u hover over cetain buttons in main game, a description could come up so you know what it does and how to use it. Possibly even have hotkeys which could be displayed here.

You mentioned u would send off to publisher. Training seems to be a battle so is battle mode the same? If so there isnt enough gaming variation. Perhaps ahve a quest mode where u goto various computers of sizes. Maybe battlijg vs diff virus groups. And if you can, experiment with multiplayer. This game would be awesome vs real people because its so fast.

Loved the game. Best DB game ive ever played. There again I love all RTS. Very good job.

ps. if you need a writer to write stories behind viruses or anything, or just for menu stuff, im your man. I noticed in exit screen u wrote excruciating detail. To me it sounded wrong... I doubt ne1 else cared. id use one of these words:

Synonyms: conspicuously, exceedingly, extremely, greatly, highly, notably, outstandingly, prominently, remarkably, strikingly, suitably, surpassingly, very

uk.geocities.com/maniacimagine check it out. ill soon be formally opening it.
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Rennekon
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Posted: 9th Jan 2004 18:40
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Well I've figured everything out except for one thing... How in the world did the viruses get those huge robots that throw discs or something?

John "Dark Lord of Angel Destroying Destiny" Pringlebee, maybe?
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Rennekon
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Posted: 9th Jan 2004 22:55
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When will the full version come out anyway?

John "Dark Lord of Angel Destroying Destiny" Pringlebee, maybe?
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Xander
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Posted: 10th Jan 2004 23:14 Edited at: 10th Jan 2004 23:15
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I am almost done, I just need to add some better robot selection stuff. I made 14 more chipsets (really cool ones), fixed some bugs, etc...

I made the shadows by applying a pre-rendered shadow texture to a flat plain and dark ghosting it. Looks pretty good, huh

The full version will probably be out in a month, when I get everything done. Just a guess, no promises.

I fixed the drone overlapping bug.

Sorry about the huge robots that were blowing up yours. Those are supposed to be locked for the computer too. They are Domers. I fixed the bug.

The Battle modes are very unique and fun, but I disabled them in the demo. They add a large amount of variation to the game. In the battle modes, it is not a normal game. Some examples of them are:
-All of the viruses attack you and ignore eachother.
-One virus starts with half the board.
-Everyone starts with 500 points.
-You must control all memory possible before finally destroying the final virus.

Another thing that I disabled in the demo is components. They are electronic pieces (Capacitors, Resistors, Transistors) that give you extra boosts if you control them (can hold more points, posts are tougher, points go up faster.)

Maniac-I recently remodeled all of the robots, and don't feel like making any more. Thanks for the suggestion, and I will fix the problem by adding more obvious labels to the robots or something.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO DOWNLOAD MY GAME, PLEASE WAIT A FEW HOURS IF YOU WANT THE NEWEST VERSION.

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Rennekon
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Posted: 11th Jan 2004 03:06
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Thanks for disabling the big robots... they were killing me! I noticed that if the basic robot is not in the first slot when you're selecting your types no robot will be posting at the beginning of the game and you end up losing. You might want to fix that.

John "Dark Lord of Angel Destroying Destiny" Pringlebee, maybe?
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Xander
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Posted: 11th Jan 2004 03:13 Edited at: 11th Jan 2004 03:40
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THE NEW VERSION IS UPLOADED. PLEASE DOWNLOAD IT AND TRY IT OUT. FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED.

Yup, I fixed that bug with the Basik robots having to be in slot 1

Do any of you mind if I quote you? I like what some of you said about my game, and I want to quote it on my website. Also, those of you who gave good feedback will be put in my credits (just about all of you )

New control features have been added also:
-Double right click to select all robots of selected robot's type
-Hold shift to add robots to selection

(Thanks to Maniac for the suggestions)

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Jess T
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Posted: 11th Jan 2004 08:47 Edited at: 11th Jan 2004 09:54
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I'm just downloading the updated demo now...

Curious if you fixed the problem with the Sever Exception i was getting?

And also, 11MB is rather large a download, have you tryed to compress it into a .rar or .zip or even .ace archive? As i believe that would reduce the size of the download ( although, you may have already, and it didn't, just a thought really ).

Thanks,
Jess.


[EDIT] Alright, After playing Firewall for about an hour straight, I have to say, I love it. It's a refreshing spin on the typical RTS with wonderfully thought-through gameplay.

Ok, yeah, I wrote that for a quote, lol. But, it's true...

I like the way the AI interacts with the environment, it's really quite good how you can move the units into the general vicinity, and they take it upon themselves to just go out and either delete the virus's or better yet, to take their bases.

One thing i found that frustrated me a little was the inability to move the camera with the mouse ( where it is in almost every RTS I've played ) Although, I could see how that might effect the way the buttons are set-out, how if you move the mouse to a button, and accidentally move the screen.

Also, I couldn't tell where I was on the map, there didn't appear to be a square etc on the map to show where the camera was.

And one last little complaint...
I got in trouble playing Firewall, because I was so wrapped up in it, I didn't go upstairs for dinner when I was called, lol.[/EDIT]


Team EOD :: Programmer/Logical Engineer/All-Round Nice Guy
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Xander
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Posted: 12th Jan 2004 01:16
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Thanks Jess

I am glad it worked.

I wish I could get it smaller, and I have tried compressing it into a zip, but it only compresses it 2% more. Not much. I probably could get it down to about 8 or 9 MB, but that would be without the self-installer that I am using, and I think that it is crucial for ease of use.

There used to be a spot on the radar that showed where you were. However, the radar is updated only once every 2 or 3 seconds for speed reasons, and it doesn't look very good when your mark is jumping around. Maybe I should have it redraw the radar every second, I don't think it makes that much difference. I will look into it.

You were moving the camera with the arrow keys, right? You can also click on the map with your mouse to move...
How about this: Move the mouse to the edge of the screen and right-click to move? That might not work so well though, if you are selecting robots and drag to the edge it will scroll, however, that might be a good thing...

Any suggestions on this issue?

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Jess T
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Posted: 12th Jan 2004 09:18 Edited at: 12th Jan 2004 10:08
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Quote: "I have tried compressing it into a zip, but it only compresses it 2% more"


Try'd UPX's exe compression? It's a dos based compression system, but is rather simple to use ( If you know at least the basic's of DOS that is )
Have a look Here ( http://upx.sourceforge.net )
[EDIT] Ok, I tried compressing the install.exe file with UPX and it won't work, but, there is a compression utillity DBAPack that uses UPX to compress DB.exe's and I figured you could use that to compress it, or possibly another approach ( if you want to keep the installer type thing happening ) make a self extracting exe file the will extract to the files you want them to, and compress that exe with the UPX compressor...


Quote: "You were moving the camera with the arrow keys, right?"


Lol, yeah... I figured that out pretty quickly, lol.

One suggestion that I can give, would be to redesign the UI... I don't know how much that'll help, but it's just a suggestion.

Because, if you look at most popular RTS games, most of the UI is all gouped together, and slightly away from the edges of the screen, thus, it's not very often that you accidentally move the screen across with the mouse when clicking a menu item.

A good way to do it, would be to hide parts of the menu untill you click the corresponding button, and it comes up in the blank spot in the UI block ( again, alot like other RTS games )...

I know you are probably trying to go for something unique, that's why I am only suggestion general ideas... ( a good way to fix it up IMO is to hide alot of the options untill a button is clicked )


Hope I Helped...


Team EOD :: Programmer/Logical Engineer/All-Round Nice Guy
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Rennekon
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Posted: 13th Jan 2004 04:00 Edited at: 13th Jan 2004 04:25
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Sure quote whatever you want. Its always nice to know Someone cares about what I say.

That is if you're even talking to me.

One more bugish thing. If Ammo from lets say a Z-tank misses an enemy robot it will pass through other enemy robot in the line of fire, is there some way that a bullet or energy beam or what ever they use could hit another robot if it misses the primary target.

John "Dark Lord of Angel Destroying Destiny" Pringlebee, maybe?
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Xander
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Posted: 13th Jan 2004 04:32
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Yeah, I am talking to you Rennekon
You provided good feedback, thanks.

This is easily done, but it causes a little bit of slowdown. Probably nothing really, I should probably put it in. That would be cool. I will add it in the next version. Do you think that is should hit same color robots too? Or just enemy robots? Probably just enemy robots...

Energy beams are a little more difficult... I will try it and see how much is slows it down. Thanks.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall - Your Computer's First Defense
[href]www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware[/href]
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Cras
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Posted: 13th Jan 2004 13:51
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Once you get a final version up and running, you should definitely try to work on a multiplayer upgrade. Even if its just over a LAN. If you dont know how, there must be someone here who can help you. Im making a multiplayer game but i cant get my computers to talk to each other. Like I said, the game's longevity would be infinite with internet ladder play but thats a little distant. Just owning my friends and family would be enough for me. You could have a dozen wreckers causing havoc up the top while another dozen hackers and posters take the entire bottom side. The tactics would be infinite because of the way you can teleport all over your memory.

For single player I still think you should have some kind of story mode. Where you get money for eliminating viruses before they infect important components and other things for other missions and you have to get as much mney to buy new robots for your firewall. That could be in a version 2 release or expansion. Any news from publishers?

uk.geocities.com/maniacimagine check it out. ill soon be formally opening it.
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Rennekon
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Posted: 13th Jan 2004 14:51 Edited at: 13th Jan 2004 19:24
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I don't think It should hit same color robots unless you could put in a friendly fire mode or something.

I really like maniacs idea for a multiplayer and/or story mode. It could also be neat if at the beginning after it shows BOLT Software to have like a little staged scene of how the virus came. You could also have a little tutorial at the beginning of training, or even multiple tuts that were named according to what you would be doing.

I'm glad I get quoted!

Now for some more possible improvments (if they're even possble)

1) I just downloaded the newest version and I still notice the problem with the cursor. example: if selecting a base but then moving the cursor out of the select base area the cursor automatically moves to the center of the screen.

2) When my robots are being attacked they just keep doing their job. I really think they should run away. This would be especially useful if you were trying to do several battles at once. Enemies could also run away.

3) If you could put an outlined box on the minimap in the corner to show what region of the map you're in that could help.

and thats about it!

John "Dark Lord of Angel Destroying Destiny" Pringlebee, maybe?
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Xander
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Posted: 13th Jan 2004 19:36
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I will work on the mouse scrolling...

Rennekon:
Well, I was going to quote you, but this is all I found to quote:
"...the game is great"
Is that good enough?

That cursor "problem" is supposed to be there. It is quick to build one that way. It is kind of hard to do it any other way because you can position the mouse, but the cursor's position function is really difficult to tell it to go to a specific position.

There is a retreat function, and they do retreat, but not until their shields reach low levels. Especially Wreckers. I guess I should make it more sensitive...

Yeah, I am going to put a box on the radar, Jess suggested it too, thanks.

As to multiplayer, is it actually possible in DB Classic? I thought it was only possible in Pro, and I CAN'T convert it. Period.

Look above in one of my posts and you will see the description of battle modes. It is sort of a story mode, but I do want to add more of a story line and stuff. I will do that. Animated intros, etc... In the battle modes, which are deactivated in the demo, if you win a battle mode you unlock a new robot. I should make it more fun though, like something with computer chips on the board and points...

Next version should be out this weekend.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall - Your Computer's First Defense
[href]www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware[/href]
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Toothpick
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Posted: 14th Jan 2004 02:05
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Jess T
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Posted: 14th Jan 2004 12:39
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Multiplayer IS possible in DBC, but you need the enhancement pack, which requires patch 1.13.

But, if you're quick, and you first install the 1.10 help files, you can access the help stuff on ftp and lan connections etc so you can learn it, then, install the 1.13 patch and you get the multiplayer commands for 30 days, so you can program it, compile it, and you'll be right ( but you'll need to buy the enhancement pack if you want to debug after that, lol ).

Also... You said "I CAN'T convert it. Period." I am assuming you are talking about converting to DBPro?

Well, I can have a look at your code for you like ( I don't want to steal anything at all, I'm just trying to be helpfull ) and see if i can get a working version in DBPro? ( I know that it's like 6000 lines or something, but I'm happy to go through it if you want help on it. Might take a while, but still, I'm up for it! )

Hope I Helped...

Jess.


Team EOD :: Programmer/Logical Engineer/All-Round Nice Guy
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Cras
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Posted: 14th Jan 2004 16:11
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yeah its worth the time for multiplayer. db dont have any multiplayer games worth playin yet.

uk.geocities.com/maniacimagine check it out. ill soon be formally opening it.
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Xander
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Posted: 14th Jan 2004 20:21
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Hey Toothpick, does that mean you like my game?

Yeah, I meant I can't convert it to Pro, even though I have it.

-First I will finish the robots, I am adding more so there are 12 total. Right now there are 9, the demo has only 7. I will put up some screenshots of the other robots soon.
-Then I will add the story mode with animated intros.
-Then I will work on multiplayer. I noticed that DB Pro has special multiplayer commands, and it also has the ftp commands. DB Classic doesn't have the special multiplayer commands, but has the ftp commands. One big problem: I already installed the 1.13 patch a looong time ago. That means no free multiplayer

I may need help later with the multiplayer, if I buy the enhancement pack for DB Classic.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall - Your Computer's First Defense
[href]www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware[/href]
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Rwilson
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Posted: 15th Jan 2004 00:20
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You know, you could always look into finding someone help you convert the code to pro. It sounds like you already have the pro version in-fact! Why spend 20-50 extra dollars on something that, with some effort and help, could not only allow you to use the Multiplayer commnands, but could alos improve the performance in general, not to mention that there are amny features in pro that classic will never have, and there are still more to come. If nothing else, let someone else look it over and see just how complex a task it really would be.

Just suggestions, however. It's obvious you know what your doing, or else you wouldn't have been able to make such a Kick-A** game!

Usermlsra - Causing Havoc with a Smile
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Xander
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Posted: 15th Jan 2004 02:21
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Perhaps I am being lazy...

I will attempt to convert Firewall to DB Pro again, once I am finished with the new robots and story mode. Dang, this may take longer than I thought, but I think Firewall would sell much better if it had multiplayer. Too bad I can't test it very well, though. I only have a modem connection, and live so far out in the country that I can only connect at 19.2K

I better get working on those new robots now...

Hey, I finally got my avatar and banner working How do you guys like them? If you need some web space for hotlinking pictures, Jimmy is the guy

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense - Real Time Strategy game - download from my website
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Rwilson
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Posted: 15th Jan 2004 05:50
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One thing to remember whilst you try to convert from Classic to Pro: the forums are ripe with both archived post of those whom have converted before, and filled with users who have been around since Classic, thus knowing the various work-arounds and such between the two. If you ever run into a problem, ask and ye shall receive!

Just be careful what you ask.

Usermlsra - Causing Havoc with a Smile
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heartbone
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Posted: 15th Jan 2004 06:36 Edited at: 15th Jan 2004 06:51
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Bolt I tried twice before to D/L this but I got the file was not found on server error from my D/L manager. This time I finally figured out that it is a conflict between your host and the GetRight D/L manager and I have started the download using the default Windows downloader. 48K dialup conection But it could be worse, at 19.2K this 11 MB must be a ouple of hours.

This seems like an excellent non violent (to lifeforms) game, and I know that I'll like it. Thank you. A few months back I wrote a 3D DBC game and then converted it to DBP. One reason that I converted it is because when adding the multiplayer I discovered the network code implementation in DBC wasn't as smooth/error-free/capable/hardware-friendly/??? as it is in DBP. It wasn't an easy port from classic to pro and I understand your reluctance to redo it. Lot's of gotchas and when taking a massive amount of working code and then trying to "fix" it all, it can be formidable.

Peace, the anti-Bush.
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Dostej
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Posted: 15th Jan 2004 11:14
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@bold

I tested your game. I think its nice.
I tested it on a 2400+ AMD with geforce 440

Pros: Good looking, nice animations of the robots, nice Menu, Even with few elements it allows different strategys, gameplay is smooth, it doesnt take too long. I like it - some kind of addiction (played it several times)

Cons: It took way to long to load after the selection (nearly 10 secs to see the "board")
In the selection menu the different robots are difficult to recognice as different (visually ). Some times the robots stand in the moddle of the memory and do nothing. Even selecting and moving them to an other aera doesnt work. Then they stand there and do nothing. (may I did something wrong).

Its a nice game. Worth to continue working on it

GALACTIC X - A very early demo is now available - comments very welcome - http://www.angelfire.com/droid/galacticx/
also my IDE - jaPROe and some snippets
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Jess T
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Posted: 15th Jan 2004 11:16
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Well, Bolt, if you want to give it a try, my offer still stands to help you try and convert it ( again, I want to do this to help you, nothing more, I just don't want you thinking I'm giong to try and steal your code ).

Just give me a buzz if you want some help, and I can have a look-see if you like?
sweet_prozack@hotmail.com

Jess.


Team EOD :: Programmer/Logical Engineer/All-Round Nice Guy
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Xander
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Posted: 17th Jan 2004 20:56
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Hearbone: Yeah, I don't really like games where you kill people either. It takes me about 2-3 hours each time I upload a new version, I usually watch a movie while it uploads I hope you enjoy my game.

Dostej: Thanks, actually in the full version there are more "elements" to the game to make it more interesting. Sorry, but I disabled them in the demo. There are computer components on the board that give you advantages if you control them, etc... What kind of robots where sitting doing nothing? Hackers won't do anything unless they see an enemy post nearby, Posters will move themselves, if they see anything, and Wreckers won't do anything unless they detect an enemy robot nearby. It is up to you to move your robots where you need them. All robots have a range where they can see, some can see further than others.

Jess: I understand that you won't steal my code or anything. I am just not ready to go into multiplayer yet. When I am ready I will email you the code.

Sorry that there is no update yet, I am a senior in high school and am very busy right now with finals and scholarship and college stuff. There isn't that much new stuff in the game yet, I will fix up the mouse scrolling, and I fixed some bugs and added a rectangle to the map. Remeber, if you notice something my game lacks, please tell me. Thanks everybody.

Xander Moser of Bolt Software
Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense - Real Time Strategy game - download from my website
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Philip
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Posted: 18th Jan 2004 08:30
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I played this game last night and enjoyed it a lot. Its very entertaining and very impressive. I would already say its a very good game. I think with a bit more polish it would go even further and be a very great game indeed.

As to "polish", I agree with Dostej. The two immediate "gameplay" things that struck me were, first, it is very difficult to differentiate between the three different classes of robots. You can only tell which is a poster, wrecker or hacker when they are in action. If you had the time I'm sure it would really pay if you modelled further robots and so had unique objects for each type. Secondly, robots who get too far away from the "front line" do tend to sit around and do nothing. I suppose this is ok but its a shame they don't have more AI and don't wander slowly in the direction of the "front line" again.

I also have a suggestion about the user interface. I think it would help enormously if you could move the camera by clicking on the board, ala recent RTSs, as well as clicking on the map. I also tend to prefer the alternative convention of left click being select and right click being "place unit" but that is only a personal preference.

But apart from those minor quibbles, very very well done!

I am citing this game to my pals as an example of what DBPro can do.

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: 19th Jan 2004 09:45
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yeah I played this game again for the first time in a few weeks, and i must say it's just a fantastic game! a simple idea taken all the way through to a nice completion.

however I agree with Phillip... I'm sure you're tired of modelling robots, but it really is a pain in the butt once you have a hefty population of robots going to decipher which ones are posters,hackers,etc. some way of telling them apart (besided clicking on them and reading the small text label) would really, really improve the intuitiveness of the game.

I tend to lose track of what robot is what, so I just make more to suit my immediate needs

Go Go Gadget DBPRO!
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