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Program Announcements / FIREWALL: Your Computer's First Defense - New Features

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Xander
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Posted: 7th Sep 2004 14:34 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2004 10:47
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I have been working on completing Firewall for publishing, and the demo has come to this point. There are now many added features including voice overs, a new pause menu, 40 chipsets, 3rd button mouse support, and better intelligence for the viruses. You can get the new demo from my website:

http://www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware

Please give all the feedback you can, good or bad. Thanks everyone!

Here is a screenshot:


And another one:


Xander Moser - Bolt Software - Firewall
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Hawkeye
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Location: SC, USA
Posted: 8th Sep 2004 03:02
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Oooo, cool I'll d/l it as soon as I get a chance... Probally this afternoon

Bring out the mercenary in you!
http://www.davidtattersall.me.uk
Mercenaries2 Community (not yet, anyway, but coming soon! right?)
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Enclosed
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Posted: 8th Sep 2004 13:32
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Magnificent work. I like how you have stuck with this one.
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Xander
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Posted: 9th Sep 2004 03:00 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2004 10:48
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Thanks guys. Is this version any faster than the last version? Remember these speed up tips:

1- Lower screen resolution from the options menu, then restart Firewall

2- Turn detail to low and the lights, smoke, etc. off

3- If you zoom out then the shadows and some lights disappear, speeding up the program.

4- Large maps are much slower than smaller maps

Have fun, give feedback

Xander Moser - Bolt Software - Firewall
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Rennekon
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Posted: 9th Sep 2004 06:21
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Once again, a great job by Bolt. Keep up the good work!!

John "Dark Lord of Angel Destroying Destiny" Pringlebee, maybe?
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Xander
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Posted: 9th Sep 2004 07:56 Edited at: 9th Sep 2004 07:57
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Thanks Rennekon

New banner and link test...

Okay...that didn't work. Can anyone help me make my banner link to my website when it is clicked? Thanks

Xander Moser - Bolt Software
<a href="http://www.freewebs.com/boltsoftware"><img src="http://www.dbspot.com/bolt/banner.jpg"></a>
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Philip
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Posted: 9th Sep 2004 10:08
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Bolt, I'll be downloading the latest version at the weekend. I can't look at it beforehand - too much work.

Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P3.2ghz / 1 gig / GeForce FX 5900 128meg / WinXP home
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walaber
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Posted: 10th Sep 2004 03:19 Edited at: 10th Sep 2004 03:21
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these forums now allow the "url" tag, so:


should work in message text and sigs.

Go Go Gadget DBPRO!

Athlon XP 2400+ || DDR-SDRAM 1GB || Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti4200 AGP 8x 128MB
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Xander
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Posted: 10th Sep 2004 08:45 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2004 10:48
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Thanks Walaber, but the guys in the General Talk forum helped me out with my sig. I am testing it now...

Can't wait for your guys' replies

Xander Moser - Bolt Software - Firewall
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Dot Merix
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Posted: 10th Sep 2004 09:12
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I'm having a problem with this, i downloaded the install file. And after going through it and watching the progress bar progress and finish the setup program. Firewall was no where to be found on my computer whatsoever. It's like it did nothing while the setup program worked.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

- Merix

Athlon xp 2400+, 1.0GB Ram, Radeon 9800PRO 128mb
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Xander
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Posted: 11th Sep 2004 00:14 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2004 10:49
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Someone else mentioned it on my website forum. I guess it wasn't just him then. I will rebuild the setup program and reupload this afternoon.

Sorry. Just wait a couple hours and redownload it. I am not sure what happened...I will test more thouroughly from now on.

[EDIT] I have rebuilt and reuploaded the setup program. I hope this one works...

Xander Moser - Bolt Software - Firewall
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fog
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Posted: 12th Sep 2004 07:07
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I think it's about time I gave another version of this a go as the previous one was superb.

Very playable and gameplay was pretty well balanced. Very difficult on something like this and even some commercial games get it totally wrong.

Still love those graphics too......very distinctive.

And you have my total respect for sticking with something for so long. How do you do it?

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medwayman
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Posted: 12th Sep 2004 07:17 Edited at: 12th Sep 2004 09:20
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Just downloaded

I had the same problem as Merix. I discovered that the colon in the folder name was causing the problem. “Firewall: Your Computer's First Defense” just Remove it and you’ll be ok
I’ll have a go of your game now - looks Awesome!

EDIT: You have to change it twice: once on the Choose Destination Location screen, and again on the Select Programme Folder screen.

Forgot to say: if you change the “Destination Location” the installer removes the folder name from the path.

Yet another Edit Thinking about, it it’s probably the illegal folder name that’s causing the above problem.

EDIT 3:

I don’t think I’ll have time to play a full game tonight, need to read the instructions fully before I try that, but I did have a quick go, and it’s pretty damn good!

The menu is nice. I like the way it swings onto the screen The game itself is great. Nice models, the special fx are great, and the game control seems to work really well. Couldn’t test the sound as someone is watching the TV but I’ll check it out tomorrow.

Nice work

This is turning into a very messy post

Based on Amiga PD game Squigs. Currently being re-written.

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Xander
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Posted: 12th Sep 2004 11:35 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2004 10:49
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Thank you so much for all your feedback.

Ohhh...the folder name, oops That is what was screwing up. Thank you so much for figuring that out. I will reupload it again with a fixed setup file.

Just a second here...then I will respond to the questions

How did I stick with this so long? Just the thought of selling my own game keeps me going I started this game because I just wanted to make a game like Gridz. I don't like to admit it, but my game isn't totally original. Gridz was a very old (like 1993 or so) RTS game for the Mac. Well, sort of RTS. There was barely any unit control, horrible camera view, and not much gameplay variation. I just wanted to make a game like it, but better. And I sure did, but I don't mean to brag. I just never actually thought that Firewall would be such a complete and sellable game. When people started telling me I could make money with it I just went nuts and pumped out robot models and new graphics and 3D menus. Now that I am almost finished it is really getting difficult to stop. I always want to add something else...

Anyway... thanks for the feedback, there shouldn't be any more problems with the installation.

Remember that there are a lot of "hidden" features in Firewall. Stuff that you might not figure out if you don't read the manual. Like drone fields, groups, formations, and guarding. There are many advantages to reading the manual

Xander Moser - Bolt Software - Firewall
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Xander
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Posted: 19th Sep 2004 05:58 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2004 10:50
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Just a little update...

I have created a 3.21 patch for Firewall, it is available on my website.

It will make the computer AI more aware of your bases and will speed up the action in the arena. It also makes heavily damaged robots start on fire and smoke. It looks pretty cool. Oh yeah, I also made it so that all teams start with 20 extra points, it speeds up the beginning of each battle.

There has to be more opinions about my game...c'mon...tell me what you hate about my game so I can fix it.

Xander Moser - Bolt Software - Firewall
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Jess T
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Posted: 19th Sep 2004 18:43
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Quote: "c'mon...tell me what you hate about my game so I can fix it."


You asked for it...

The GUI... It is... Quite frankly... Crap.

The main menu, and all the 3D GUI is really nice, and is unique.
But the ingame GUI is quite lacking.

It is blury, he buttons are all over the shop, there is nowhere for descriptions, the minimap is evil, and the whiteness of all the menu items makes the game itself look quite dark and gloomy.

My suggestions are; Go for something more traditional ( If people know how to use your GUI instantly, then they will play for longer ), something like WarCraft GUI.
Put in somesort of "Selected Units" display, so you know which ones are selected, and their attributes when only one is selected ( without having to hold Tab ).
Kill the whiteness. If you want to do the whole team colour is GUI colour approach, and you still use Sprites, use Set Sprite Diffuse ( I am assuming that's in DBC ) to change their colours on the fly

Next thing is; There's not way to break the robot's formation.
By default the robot's keep their formation no matter what ( or so it appears ) which can be really annoying when you are trying to get them all to the one tile so they are closer to the enemies so they can attack them... *gasp* ( ran outta breath typing that one ).
Maybe you should have it so you have to set an option before they keep their formation, otherwise, they don't, and they all just huddle around where they were clicked to

That's all I can think of right now

Sorry bout the negatives, I was just doing what you asked

Jess.


Team EOD :: Programmer/All-Round Nice Guy
Aust. Convention!
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Zokomoko
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Posted: 19th Sep 2004 19:03 Edited at: 19th Sep 2004 19:05
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Quote: "The GUI... It is... Quite frankly... Crap.

The main menu, and all the 3D GUI is really nice, and is unique.
But the ingame GUI is quite lacking.
"


I also think so, i've played the demo and it was much fun.
here's my input on the gui :
too much stuff all at once, too much text (should be replaced to eye-friendly icons", and the white should be gone.

Quote: "If people know how to use your GUI instantly, then they will play for longer ), something like WarCraft GUI."


Warcraft GUI would be awesome !
it's easy, comfortable, and is just good !

Still, a good game.
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Xander
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Posted: 20th Sep 2004 04:15 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2004 10:50
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Finally, someone told me something negative about my game I knew there was something that needed fixing...

Jess: So, you mean that when you select the robots then click to move them, they keep their relative positions? You don't like that? How about this:
-Click normally to move them and they keep their "formation"
-Double click to move them into a tighter "formation"

You don't like the white GUI either? Okay, at least someone finally told me that. No one ever said anything about it before. Is it just the graphics of the GUI that is bad, or is it the entire setup? What if I replaced the names of the bases with pictures, removed the white borders, and put pictures up for the drones? But that wouldn't work too well because the drones all look pretty much the same...any suggestions? I will make it more graphics based though, like Warcraft.

Thank you both for being frank.

Xander Moser - Bolt Software - Firewall
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Jess T
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Posted: 20th Sep 2004 09:11
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Xander,
Yeah, that's what I meant about the formations.
It would be better ( and more traditional ) if if the units simply gathered at the point they were sent to ( a 'tighter' formation ) when single clicking, and keeping formation when double clicking.

Alternatly, when setting groups, if you are using the group to move the units, then they keep their formation ( ie, if all units, and only units, of a group are selected, then they keep their formation ).

I'll explain about the GUI a lil later gtg for now.

Jess.


Team EOD :: Programmer/All-Round Nice Guy
Aust. Convention!
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Xander
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Posted: 28th Sep 2004 06:23 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2004 10:47
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Sorry about not being able to download it...it is not really my fault. DBSpot is down, as you all know...

I am working with someone from Programmers United to get an account setup. It will not be long now.

Thanks for your support, check back soon for updates!

Xander Moser - Bolt Software - Firewall
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Bob 3456
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Posted: 1st Oct 2004 09:03
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you know you might want to consider a domain, with servage.net you get 1.5 gigs of sapce 80 gigs of bandwidth. I have a few domains its only $5 a month, just enter the coupon code dk3c.

and on on the game i dont have the new one yet but i think the demo was awsome and i cant wait for the full version.
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Xander
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Posted: 1st Oct 2004 11:35 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2004 10:47
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Wow, that is an awesome deal...Thank you so much for referring me to the site. I will be getting my federal aid for college next week, so I will have some spending money then. I think I will go for the domain...

Beta testing is in progress, then I will show it to publishers. (Please don't ask to be a beta tester, all positions are filled)

[EDIT]

Well, I finally got everything back up on the internet, using photobucket for the images, and a free hoster for the files. This is also a sig test edit...

Xander Moser - Bolt Software - Firewall
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