Mushroom Stew (aka ProjectX)

edited January 2010 in Projects - Tools
As you might have seen on orx's news page, I've decided to pause all my developments on orx for about a month and spend my free time to work on an entry for the latest TIGSource compo.

The entry's current codename is ProjectX and the corresponding thread is here.

I plan on using this opportunity to relalize a fullscale test of Scroll before publicly releasing it. Today I created the stub for a small sidescroller platformer.

All the assets have to come from the first part of the compo.

In order to release a nice looking and impressive game, I'm currently looking for someone willing to form a partnership with me as a designer.

Of course, if you want to code you're welcome to do so but I currently lack ideas and that's my main worry. :)

If you know someone who would be interested by such a partnership, please let me know! :D
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Comments

  • edited December 2009
    Sounds cool, good luck. It could probably generate more interest in orx aswell.
    I'd love to help but I've been busy lately and I'm starting a new job next Monday so I'll probably spend my free time NOT programming :).
  • edited December 2009
    Thanks!

    Good luck with your new job! =)
  • edited December 2009
    I've been playing around with the 0.6 version of ProjectX and it looks really good.
    Here's just a little list of what I've discovered and my ideas:
    When you have an object selected for placement (ie through mouse up/down) and then press any of the buttons the editor places the object behind that button. I know you can clear the selection first, but it's still a bit annoying.
    Not having a player object in a map seems to crash the game.
    Having to cycle through all the objects gets quite tedious. Some sort of object browser would be great. But I guess it's not on the priority list for the compo?
    Are melee attacks implemented? The dragonprincess characters attacks doesn't seem to have any effect now.

    I haven't looked at the source code that much, but it looks pretty straight forward. It seems like Scroll does a lot for you, which is nice. Also, you write very spacious code :).
    How locked are Scroll into creating side scrollers? Would it be possible to create someting isometric? Like for an rpg or a rts?

    Anyway, that's a few thoughts from me. I hope I don't sound too critical :).
  • edited December 2009
    ekerik wrote:
    I've been playing around with the 0.6 version of ProjectX and it looks really good.

    Thanks for having taken time to test it, it's really appreciated! :)
    Here's just a little list of what I've discovered and my ideas:
    When you have an object selected for placement (ie through mouse up/down) and then press any of the buttons the editor places the object behind that button. I know you can clear the selection first, but it's still a bit annoying.

    Definitely, I thought I got rid of this issue but I must have reintroduced it somehow. Will fix it asap!
    Not having a player object in a map seems to crash the game.

    Erm, probably bad player handling in ProjectX, I'll look into that today! :blush:
    Having to cycle through all the objects gets quite tedious. Some sort of object browser would be great. But I guess it's not on the priority list for the compo?

    Yeah, as cycling is annoying I tend to use a lot of copy/paste in the editor. I'm not sure how to organize the object browser yet, but it's definitely something I'll do later, not for the compo.
    Are melee attacks implemented? The dragonprincess characters attacks doesn't seem to have any effect now.

    Nah you're right, I didn't finish the Dragon Princess, I need to finish this part. My focus was to have a common interface for PCs and NPCs and I was having more fun playing with the mushrooms. I'll get back to the Dragon Princess when I'm done with all the other core features. For now I'll probably just remove her from the editor set list. I wanted her for coop play, but I don't think I'll have time to do this before the end of the compo.
    I haven't looked at the source code that much, but it looks pretty straight forward. It seems like Scroll does a lot for you, which is nice. Also, you write very spacious code :).

    Ahah, yes, same coding style than with orx, with slightly less permissive test writing convention. :laugh:
    How locked are Scroll into creating side scrollers? Would it be possible to create someting isometric? Like for an rpg or a rts?

    Beside the parallax (differential) scrolling option, there's nothing aimed toward side scrollers in Scroll. And this option is actually part of orx, not of Scroll itself.

    Scroll's purposes are three-fold:
    • Allowing to edit maps and load them + having the editor embedded in your game, allowing to test the map you're working on on-the-fly;
    • Simplifying object managements: C++ classes are bound at init to config IDs which means you don't need to explicitely create your C++ classes, they'll be created/deleted for you;
    • Using virtuality for the most useful callbacks/events. This way your game will be notified when it starts, stops, map is loaded and your objects will be notified directly when changing animations, when a custom anim event is sent (in ProjectX I use this for shoot & footsteps sync), when colliding, etc...none

    Actually, the small test I wrote for Scroll is a top down action game, not a side scroller at all. However, for 3D iso, you might want to add a new way of snapping on grid, having an iso grid instead of the standard ortho one. And that's not very hard to do. :)
    Anyway, that's a few thoughts from me. I hope I don't sound too critical :).

    Not at all! Thanks a lot for this feedback, it's very helpful!

    Also I put the 0.7 online containing a title screen (ok I admit I liked playing with it shader but it probably won't stay like this ^^) and music/sound integration (first pass). Any new comments/thoughs are more than welcomed! :)
  • edited January 2010
    Just tried the 0.7 (link to 0.8 didn't work for some reason...) Awesome so far = D. A bit hard though... as you have to shoot at ennemies while they also shoot at you... Or maybe I missed something. I would have been interrested in helping you with the game desing, but I hadn't dropped on orx-project in a while. And I still need to hang out more on tigSource... I guess that will be my resolution for the new year. Have an awesome one, by the way!
  • edited January 2010
    Hey Blarg!

    Happy to see you around!

    You were a bit too fast for the v0.8, I was packing it, I didn't think someone would have tried to download today it that's why I updated my post on tigsource before uploading. =)

    The v0.8 contains the first mini-level.

    Also, in the first levels you can only shoot (and you need to learn enemies' patterns) but in the late ones you'll have a special weapon: either the time weapon or the gravity one, depending on the one you chose mid-game. =)

    There's still a bit over a week left if you want to help me with ProjectX, I've been post-poning the level design as long as I could as I'm terrified by it! ^^

    Thanks again for having tried ProjectX and posted about it here! :)
  • edited January 2010
    Ok ok, got to test this more in depth now. I have a few suggestions regarding the general design. I know very well that this is W.I.P. and some of these things would most probably have been fixed anyway, I'm just mentionning everything that crosses my mind.

    First, I like the idea of mini-levels. I don't think they need to be very complex or large. Right now you can see almost every enemy at once and try to figure out how to proceed to kill them all, which is fine.

    However, I think the game has a bit too much of a "static" feel to it. When you hit an enemy, there's no reaction except for the health bar that decreases. This isn't necessarily bad, but here it lead to kills that feel like tedious tasks. The best example is the mushroom enemy that is standing on a 1 tile-wide platform and you have to double-jump then shoot him once, again and again and again.
    Another thing I've noticed is that crouching isn't very effective, since enemies shoot at you endlessly when they see you and you don't have time to shoot them without taking damage.

    I'd suggest...
    - For enemies in this kind of situation where killing them is going to be repetitive, just give them 1 or 2 hp.
    - Even better, have ennemies kicked back when they're hit (probably wouldn't be great for all of them of course) and make them explode when they hit the ground after falling from their home platform.
    - Exploding enemies should hit other enemies >=D. General friendly fire would be interesting too. I think I've read that you were planning that.
    - I think enemies shouldn't see you on both sides. Instead, have them flipping side regularly and/or there should be a delay before the enemy flips to shoot at you when you're behind him.
    - Enemies should need to reload after a certain amount of bullets. This was the case in 0.7 but apparently now they all have infinite ammo.
    - Speed up crouch/uncrouch
    - The explosion when impacting on the ground should happen more easily and actually hit and push ennemies. It could be usable manually by pressing down while landing.
    - Generaly speaking, don't be afraid to make the game "too easy" for the player. I personally tend prefer a game when you can go a bit crazy and there isn't just a single, careful way to handle things. If things are dynamic, the fun will come from watching them happen. Besides, you can always implement a score system based on time taken etc.

    And that's about it. I hope some of these points helps. More ideas coming when I have them. I think I'll try fooling around with the level editor/ini files later and see what I can cook!
  • edited January 2010
    Blarg wrote:
    Ok ok, got to test this more in depth now. I have a few suggestions regarding the general design. I know very well that this is W.I.P. and some of these things would most probably have been fixed anyway, I'm just mentionning everything that crosses my mind.

    Excellent, thanks for having taken the time to analyze it! =)
    First, I like the idea of mini-levels. I don't think they need to be very complex or large. Right now you can see almost every enemy at once and try to figure out how to proceed to kill them all, which is fine.

    Good, I came with that as mini-levels are the kind of level design which is the less out of my grasp. :)
    However, I think the game has a bit too much of a "static" feel to it. When you hit an enemy, there's no reaction except for the health bar that decreases. This isn't necessarily bad, but here it lead to kills that feel like tedious tasks. The best example is the mushroom enemy that is standing on a 1 tile-wide platform and you have to double-jump then shoot him once, again and again and again.

    I totally agree for the static-ness. Actually, now the non-patrolling NPCs will turn around when hit, but I could also do that for patrolling ones + a pause after reorienting.

    As for the guy hiding, he's meant to be taken out with the special weapon. =) That's a guy that won't appear in early levels, only late in the game. The strategy is:
    either go on the left platform, activate the time weapon a shoot a lot of bullets, then come close to him so he stands up and all your bullets will hit him. Or with the gravity weapon: use it so as to remove it from its platform. I'll also add death for NPCs falling from too high.
    Another thing I've noticed is that crouching isn't very effective, since enemies shoot at you endlessly when they see you and you don't have time to shoot them without taking damage.

    You're totally right about this. I was planning on having NPCs think you're dead if you stay down for a second or two.
    I'd suggest...
    - For enemies in this kind of situation where killing them is going to be repetitive, just give them 1 or 2 hp.

    That's a good idea, I'll lower their HP.
    - Even better, have ennemies kicked back when they're hit (probably wouldn't be great for all of them of course) and make them explode when they hit the ground after falling from their home platform.

    I'll think about the knock back but for the fall, if it's a big enough, it'll damage them.
    - Exploding enemies should hit other enemies >=D. General friendly fire would be interesting too. I think I've read that you were planning that.

    Hehe, why not. I'm not sure for the friendly fire yet as it might make the level design more tricky and I already suck at it. =)
    - I think enemies shouldn't see you on both sides. Instead, have them flipping side regularly and/or there should be a delay before the enemy flips to shoot at you when you're behind him.

    I already did something about this. Some NPCs won't look back behind and some will only do it if you're not hidden behind something and within the vision range.
    - Enemies should need to reload after a certain amount of bullets. This was the case in 0.7 but apparently now they all have infinite ammo.

    I didn't think about the reload. I'll see what I can do in the time I have left. Good idea!
    - Speed up crouch/uncrouch

    You're totally right, I'll do this right away.
    - The explosion when impacting on the ground should happen more easily and actually hit and push ennemies. It could be usable manually by pressing down while landing.

    Actually the explosion was only there as there are no dust-like FX in the assets. I'm not sure if I'll keep it or not.
    - Generaly speaking, don't be afraid to make the game "too easy" for the player. I personally tend prefer a game when you can go a bit crazy and there isn't just a single, careful way to handle things. If things are dynamic, the fun will come from watching them happen. Besides, you can always implement a score system based on time taken etc.

    I totally understand this. I'd like to have the first half very easy and getting more and more difficult for the hardcore players. Not difficult for reflexes but pushing them to think of alternative ways of killing the NPCs, like using the special weapons in a good way.
    And that's about it. I hope some of these points helps. More ideas coming when I have them. I think I'll try fooling around with the level editor/ini files later and see what I can cook!

    Thanks again for your help! :) As for the editor, in the current online version there's a bug when loading maps (some objects might not be loaded). I fixed it yesterday but didn't have time to update the online version. I'll do this shortly today.
  • edited January 2010
    Ok, the version with the editor fix is online. It replaced the old 0.8 one.

    I also did this changes:
    - Lowered all NPCs' health
    - Crouching is 4X faster
    - When patrolling, NPC will reorient when hit. They'll then pause before starting to patrol again or before shooting (shorter pause)
    - Some NPCs will think you're dead if you're crouching
    - NPCs fire rate has been lowered

    Let me know what you think of these changes. :)
  • edited January 2010
    I just tried out this game. I like the simplicity. I would like to note that I couldn't compile it with the 10.4 SDK (not sure if you were intending for it to be available on that platform), but using the 10.5 SDK worked fine.

    My main issue was that the "Press F1" wasn't visible on my Macbook's 13.1 inch screen. I had to move it over to my external monitor to be able to determine what I should press.

    Overall, I think it's coming along nicely. I'm pretty awful when it comes to these games, so I keep dying when fighting that first red mushroom that shoots rockets (I think those are rockets). The logo screen does lag a bit for me and consume quite a lot of memory, slowing down my other processes; however, after that, my computer has no problem running the game and something else. I am using a Macbook from two years ago (well, almost... I got it two or three months from now, two years ago); so, that might mean the graphics card isn't quite up to par.
  • edited January 2010
    wow, how do i create something like that? I want to make that idea i mentioned earlier first into something like this then into a topdown 2d game then, if this evolves into that point, a 3d version.
  • edited January 2010
    smchronos wrote:
    I just tried out this game. I like the simplicity. I would like to note that I couldn't compile it with the 10.4 SDK (not sure if you were intending for it to be available on that platform), but using the 10.5 SDK worked fine.

    Good to know! Weirdly enough I'm compiling it with the 10.4 SDK here. What error do you get?
    My main issue was that the "Press F1" wasn't visible on my Macbook's 13.1 inch screen. I had to move it over to my external monitor to be able to determine what I should press.

    I moved it a bit higher, but the screen resolution can be changed in the UserConfig.ini file when 1024x768 isn't a good fit. The sprites will be scaled accordingly and it might not look as nice as with the 1:1 ratio. :)
    Overall, I think it's coming along nicely. I'm pretty awful when it comes to these games, so I keep dying when fighting that first red mushroom that shoots rockets (I think those are rockets). The logo screen does lag a bit for me and consume quite a lot of memory, slowing down my other processes; however, after that, my computer has no problem running the game and something else. I am using a Macbook from two years ago (well, almost... I got it two or three months from now, two years ago); so, that might mean the graphics card isn't quite up to par.

    Thanks for trying and for your appreciation! :)
    As for the logo screen, the brute force shadow shader (!) I came with is pretty inefficient. I tried to optimize it today and obtained a something 2-3 time faster code but still not satisfactory enough. As I'm a beginner with shaders, I'll have to get some doc about them in order to come with something better. :)

    You can try the new version from the new archive if you want.
  • edited January 2010
    milleja46 wrote:
    wow, how do i create something like that? I want to make that idea i mentioned earlier first into something like this then into a topdown 2d game then, if this evolves into that point, a 3d version.

    Erm, for 3D you won't be able to do it with orx in its current state, you know? :)

    As for Mushroom Stew/ProjectX, the source code is included inside (along with Scroll, a layer on top of orx for C++ level-oriented games).

    There isn't much code in the project and learning from it should be pretty easy. :)
  • edited January 2010
    I know it isn't in that state(yet!) but i have lots of ideas for my game and i am constantly working on it.
  • edited January 2010
    iarwain wrote:
    Ok, the version with the editor fix is online. It replaced the old 0.8 one.

    I also did this changes:
    - Lowered all NPCs' health
    - Crouching is 4X faster
    - When patrolling, NPC will reorient when hit. They'll then pause before starting to patrol again or before shooting (shorter pause)
    - Some NPCs will think you're dead if you're crouching
    - NPCs fire rate has been lowered

    Let me know what you think of these changes. :)

    Yup, that's better : ) And I like your new level 2 (the one in the desert). Its simple and it just works well.

    As for my idea of knocking back enemies this morning well uh... I don't think it's super relevant anymore. Except for big impacts maybe.

    And I see now, the solitary mushroom on the pillar makes much more sense with special weapons.

    I have tried to make some maps with scrollEd. I had no trouble figuring out how to proceed with this, thanks to the key bindings in the .ini. My little brother also had fun challenging me to his impossible levels xD (though some were playable and quite fun). A few good ideas came out, like a forest section that would hide enemies inside it (I don't recommend flipped over enemies, though ...). But I was pretty tired today and as such, I didn't made anything very solid. I want to try again later, but I'll also be back to work soon and it should be pretty intense this month and blah blah blah. At any rate, I think you're on a good way with your own levels yet. I think projectX could work well as a short, speed-runable game and for the score you could simply calculate the time taken minus damage taken * some multiplier maybe.

    And I have some minor things to report:
    - The boss mushroom acts pretty weird. Sometimes I can just stand in his face without him shooting me for a random period of time (often long enough to kill him). And then without warning he shoots me again. If that's supposed to create an effect of suspense, then it works =P

    -When bumping in a wall in mid air, you can double-jump forever... I guess the collision is interpreted as if you hit the ground.

    -Sometimes, sound effects are played a bit too late. for example, the mushroom makes its dying sound half a second after it's shot to death. I had noticed this when working on dragoncube actually. Just mentionning it while I've got it on my mind.
  • edited January 2010
    Good game, i just think it needs a story and a way to display a ending when you beat all the enemys in the game. And how do you make the maps you made? I wanna try to figure out how to do it for my game but can't find out how to do it with some searching.
  • edited January 2010
    iarwain wrote:
    Good to know! Weirdly enough I'm compiling it with the 10.4 SDK here. What error do you get?
    I get a message indicating that "GCC 4.2 is not compatible with the Mac OS X 10.4 SDK (file ProjectX.cpp)." My guess would be that Snow Leopard uses something that is a bit newer than it should be for your project. Since you said that you do not have a machine running Snow Leopard, you probably haven't run into this issue. Like I said before, selecting 10.5 or 10.6 makes it build, even though I do get 482 warnings. :/
  • edited January 2010
    smchronos wrote:
    iarwain wrote:
    Good to know! Weirdly enough I'm compiling it with the 10.4 SDK here. What error do you get?
    I get a message indicating that "GCC 4.2 is not compatible with the Mac OS X 10.4 SDK (file ProjectX.cpp)." My guess would be that Snow Leopard uses something that is a bit newer than it should be for your project. Since you said that you do not have a machine running Snow Leopard, you probably haven't run into this issue. Like I said before, selecting 10.5 or 10.6 makes it build, even though I do get 482 warnings. :/

    Wow, 482 warnings?? Damn, I presume I'll have to switch to GCC 4.2 to see what's happening! :)

    So far I have 2 warnings when compiling scroll. They're due to the use of the offsetof macro and I need to look more into it to find a way to remove or silent them. :)

    Can you send me the output with all your warnings so that I can try to clean a bit this mess?

    Thanks for testing!
  • edited January 2010
    Blarg wrote:
    Yup, that's better : ) And I like your new level 2 (the one in the desert). Its simple and it just works well.

    Great, I'll try to come with 2/3 levels a day if I'm able to, and then it'll give me a day to add score + end game display and all the polish in the levels (trees, houses, ...). Will be tight as the deadline is in a week. :)
    As for my idea of knocking back enemies this morning well uh... I don't think it's super relevant anymore. Except for big impacts maybe.

    Good idea, if I get enough time I'll try to see what I can do with that.
    And I see now, the solitary mushroom on the pillar makes much more sense with special weapons.

    I'll try to introduce advanced mushrooms slowly along the levels. I just needed a test level with all the bad guys to see if the code was working. I might not even use this level at all in this state. :)
    I have tried to make some maps with scrollEd. I had no trouble figuring out how to proceed with this, thanks to the key bindings in the .ini. My little brother also had fun challenging me to his impossible levels xD (though some were playable and quite fun). A few good ideas came out, like a forest section that would hide enemies inside it (I don't recommend flipped over enemies, though ...). But I was pretty tired today and as such, I didn't made anything very solid. I want to try again later, but I'll also be back to work soon and it should be pretty intense this month and blah blah blah. At any rate, I think you're on a good way with your own levels yet.

    Oh, excellent! I like to see that you could both take on the editor easily. It's far from being perfect but it's useable for basic needs, I think. If you want to send me both your levels and your little brothers one, I'd be more than happy to include them in your names! Even impossible levels can be good for challenges when a player has finished the basic game and wants more. :)
    There are a couple of new NPCs I haven't added to the editor list yest, basically with the use of homing missiles.
    I think projectX could work well as a short, speed-runable game and for the score you could simply calculate the time taken minus damage taken * some multiplier maybe.

    That's exactly my intent. I'd also like to have a bonus multiplier for people not being hurt at all. I wanted to add an online leaderboard, but I don't think I'll have time before the deadline. Maybe for after. Same for the coop mode. You'll find what I want to add in the TODO.txt. Any idea is welcomed! :)
    And I have some minor things to report:
    - The boss mushroom acts pretty weird. Sometimes I can just stand in his face without him shooting me for a random period of time (often long enough to kill him). And then without warning he shoots me again. If that's supposed to create an effect of suspense, then it works =P

    Ahah, I must have broken something lately. I wasn't aware of that, I'll look into it. :)
    -When bumping in a wall in mid air, you can double-jump forever... I guess the collision is interpreted as if you hit the ground.

    Argl, I'll try to fix that asap. For ground detection, I send 2 vertical raycasts around the feet, it shouldn't have detected vertical walls. I'll see what is going wrong, thanks for the report! :)
    -Sometimes, sound effects are played a bit too late. for example, the mushroom makes its dying sound half a second after it's shot to death. I had noticed this when working on dragoncube actually. Just mentionning it while I've got it on my mind.

    Yeah, actually it happens when sounds are not asked to stay in cache as orx needs to reload them from the disk. But here it's not the case, just a bad design: the sound was the one of the icon disappearing not the one of the NPC's death itself. ^^ I need to add a sound on the death/explosion of the NPC. =)

    Thanks again for reporting all this, it's very useful and encouraging! :D
  • edited January 2010
    Blarg wrote:
    -When bumping in a wall in mid air, you can double-jump forever... I guess the collision is interpreted as if you hit the ground.

    Can you give me some reproduction steps or a level to try, as I couldn't reproduce it on my machine? :S
  • edited January 2010
    milleja46 wrote:
    Good game, i just think it needs a story and a way to display a ending when you beat all the enemys in the game. And how do you make the maps you made? I wanna try to figure out how to do it for my game but can't find out how to do it with some searching.

    The maps are made with the embedded level editor. Just use ProjectXEd.bat or on command line: ProjectX.exe -editor :)
  • edited January 2010
    iarwain wrote:
    Blarg wrote:
    -When bumping in a wall in mid air, you can double-jump forever... I guess the collision is interpreted as if you hit the ground.

    Can you give me some reproduction steps or a level to try, as I couldn't reproduce it on my machine? :S

    Hmmm, well it happens whenever I :

    1-collide with a wall on my right or left (seems to be any type of block) so that I'm as a close as possible to this wall. At this point I don't need to hold left or right for the bug to happen.

    2-jump along that wall (or not if I hit it in mid-air)

    3-press jump again and double jump, repeat and double jump again and again =/
  • edited January 2010
    Blarg wrote:
    iarwain wrote:
    Blarg wrote:
    -When bumping in a wall in mid air, you can double-jump forever... I guess the collision is interpreted as if you hit the ground.

    Can you give me some reproduction steps or a level to try, as I couldn't reproduce it on my machine? :S

    Hmmm, well it happens whenever I :

    1-collide with a wall on my right or left (seems to be any type of block) so that I'm as a close as possible to this wall. At this point I don't need to hold left or right for the bug to happen.

    2-jump along that wall (or not if I hit it in mid-air)

    3-press jump again and double jump, repeat and double jump again and again =/

    Tried again for a couple of time without any success... Then I understood why! :)

    Try to do it on a map I did, I think you won't be able to reproduce it. The reason is very simple: you're probably using a lot of small 1x1 blocks to make the walls where as I use only one that I stretch (using the scale tool + T for activating the tiling mode on it) to cover the whole surface. So in the end I get only on collision box for the whole wall whereas you get one collision box for every 1x1 block. :)

    That being said it's still annoying and I'll try to find a way to fix this. :D

    Thanks for the repro!


    [EDIT] It's been fixed! :)

    I also made a couple of adjustments based on your feedbacks.

    I added 2 new types of mushrooms (orange, equipped with homing missile launcher and purple ones, mini bosses with lightning ball gun) and swapped the yellow and greens. Now their difficulty is based on color progression: green -> yellow -> orange -> purple -> red

    I'll post all this later tonight with hopefully one or two additional levels. :)
  • edited January 2010
    Excellent!

    I get it now... I had not used the tiling mode indeed. Cool option, and it makes it less painful to move a section of terrain somewhere else than doing it tile by tile.

    I can't wait to see these homing missiles hehe.
    "Split screen" multiplayer from the TODO list sounds very good too, especially since it should be quite easy to do with orx viewports system =)

    I just uploaded 3 maps. The first one (Blarg_1.map) is made by me today, while the 2 others (Luco_1 and Luco_2) were made by my little brother yesterday while we were playing around. I fixed some tile problems in these 2 maps but didn't change anything else to preserve their weirdness =P.

    Feel free to use them, or not!

    orx-project.org/users/blarg/ProjectX_maps_3jan2010.zip

    *note: the param of these levels in ProjectX.ini are copied straight from those of SunRiseMap.
    So you'll need to add
    [Blarg_1.map@SunRiseMap]
    
    [Luco_1.map@SunRiseMap]
    
    [Luco_2.map@SunRiseMap]
    
    after the [SunRiseMap] section

    Also (Iarwain knows this but it's not really obvious for others), in order to see the levels you need to add them to MapList, in the [Game] section of ProjectX.ini
  • edited January 2010
    Blarg wrote:
    Excellent!

    I get it now... I had not used the tiling mode indeed. Cool option, and it makes it less painful to move a section of terrain somewhere else than doing it tile by tile.

    Exactly. That and copy/paste are your friends till I add multiple selection! ;)
    I can't wait to see these homing missiles hehe.
    "Split screen" multiplayer from the TODO list sounds very good too, especially since it should be quite easy to do with orx viewports system =)

    That's definitely something I've been wanting to do for a looong time now! :P I wanted also a splitscreen separation a la ToeJam & Earl, with the nice camera move when splitting. :)
    I just uploaded 3 maps. The first one (Blarg_1.map) is made by me today, while the 2 others (Luco_1 and Luco_2) were made by my little brother yesterday while we were playing around. I fixed some tile problems in these 2 maps but didn't change anything else to preserve their weirdness =P.

    Excellent! I love them! I wasn't expecting the icy forest at all and the mushroom on its head surprised me as much as the "mushroom rain" I experienced in your level! :D
    Feel free to use them, or not!

    I will definitely use them, they really are neat! =) I might just do slight cosmetic changes in some places if you allow me to do so, such as puting the flying houses back on the ground. ;)
    orx-project.org/users/blarg/ProjectX_maps_3jan2010.zip

    *note: the param of these levels in ProjectX.ini are copied straight from those of SunRiseMap.
    So you'll need to add
    [Blarg_1.map@SunRiseMap]
    
    [Luco_1.map@SunRiseMap]
    
    [Luco_2.map@SunRiseMap]
    
    after the [SunRiseMap] section

    Also (Iarwain knows this but it's not really obvious for others), in order to see the levels you need to add them to MapList, in the [Game] section of ProjectX.ini

    Great. I also added a UserConfig.ini, so feel free to just add an include line such as @../data/map/Blarg&Luco.ini@ and distribute your own ini file along the maps, making it easier to play them. I'll try to come with a system so that you won't need to overload MapList manually. I need to think about it. :)

    Again, great job to both of you, it really made my day! :D That was so funny playing those and I can't wait before seeing more of this! :P
  • edited January 2010
    All the above mentionned changes + your 3 maps are part of the latest build available here.

    Tomorrow I'll try to focus on level design as I failed today, but doing the scoring system looks so much appealing to me right now. ^^
  • edited January 2010
    Cool build, I see you improved these death sound effects.

    But... it seems I can't use the new enemies (homing missile and mini-boss). If I place one of them, it won't move at all and the game crashes (windows has encountered an unexpected error bla bla bla) when I shoot it =/
  • edited January 2010
    My very bad, I somehow managed to release a build without the updated enemy list in ProjectX.ini. :(

    The archive has been updated with the correct .ini, everything should be fine now. :)
  • edited January 2010
    Yup, it works : )

    Nice missiles. But to create more variety within the different weapons, I think you should either have them fired upwards, or slow them down. It would then give the player different dodge manoeuvers to think about than the classic "jump or crouch" pattern. I hope that makes sense.
  • edited January 2010
    You're totally right! I've slowed down the homing missile and buffed their damage! ^^

    I also merged the 2 special weapons so the user can switch from one to another as much as he wants. However their refill rate is now very low. I'll put a new archive online later today as I want to create at least 2 simple levels beforehand. :D

    I'll also try to add the gauge for the special weapons.
  • edited January 2010
    Latest version available here.

    I added 3 levels (layout only), added a custom end of level summary (will add score soon), tweaked a lot of things, added gauge for special weapon. Now Z is to switch the special weapon type & X to use it.
    Game can be paused by pressing P or backspace. And... I don't remember what else I did! ^^

    No mac version available in this build, sorry.
  • edited January 2010
    Nice!

    I like the new levels, and homing missiles are perfect now. Makes a very interresting variety. One thing though.. I think I don't see the special weapon gauge, where is it supposed to be?

    Keep it up!
  • edited January 2010
    Thanks!

    I've added 2 new levels and I think I will only make 12 instead of 15 total.
    Your level and those of your brothers are challenge levels and can be added/accessed separately. If you have any new things you'd like other to play, feel free to send them! :)

    The gauge is now at the middle top, but I need to work a bit on it as it's not obvious which weapon is selected.

    Before the deadline, here's what I'd like to do:

    - 4 last levels + polish all the levels (trees, houses, ...)
    - A end game boss if I have the time (a magician invoking mushrooms)
    - Story between levels
    - Score system (will be saved for each challenge map + main campaign)
    - Clouds in the sun set levels + snow flakes in the night one and maybe rain in the sun rise ones

    Will probably be too much before the deadline:

    - Online leaderboard.

    Here's the last build, windows & mac! :)
  • edited January 2010
    But if you were to add the online leaderboard you would have to add a network layer wouldn't you? Since it will have to connect to the internet to post the score.
  • edited January 2010
    I don't need to add a network layer to orx, I'll simply use an external library for this purpose.
  • edited January 2010
    iarwain wrote:
    Thanks!

    I've added 2 new levels and I think I will only make 12 instead of 15 total.
    Your level and those of your brothers are challenge levels and can be added/accessed separately. If you have any new things you'd like other to play, feel free to send them! :)

    The gauge is now at the middle top, but I need to work a bit on it as it's not obvious which weapon is selected.

    Before the deadline, here's what I'd like to do:

    - 4 last levels + polish all the levels (trees, houses, ...)
    - A end game boss if I have the time (a magician invoking mushrooms)
    - Story between levels
    - Score system (will be saved for each challenge map + main campaign)
    - Clouds in the sun set levels + snow flakes in the night one and maybe rain in the sun rise ones

    Will probably be too much before the deadline:

    - Online leaderboard.

    Here's the last build, windows & mac! :)

    That's a pretty winner to-do list. I didn't even think you were aiming for that much levels : ) I haven't made anything new, but I'm tempted to now that missiles are in hehe.

    Anyway, good luck with the finition!
  • edited January 2010
    Mmh, I'm getting pretty dry for the level design. I'm missing levels 10 & 12 now. Maybe I should change level 12 into the boss one and work on the boss logic, it'd make more sense! ^^

    If you ever make new levels, let me know, I'll add them. I really enjoyed playing through the 3 levels you sent. Yours and your brother's forest ones were pretty imaginative! :)

    I'll add the clouds while polishing, as for the snow, I'm not sure yet as it might require more time than I currently have.
    I'll update a new build tonight. :)
  • edited January 2010
    I made a new map . Yay!

    I had fun modifying the player shroom with ini files. you'll see >=D
    http://orx-project.org/users/blarg/Blarg_extraMap_10jan2010.zip

    You'll just need to extract this in the Blarg&Luco folder. maps.ini contains info for an alternate version of the player mushroom. And you'll need to add "MushroomSoldierSpecialHuge" to SetList and PlayerList in data/MushroomStewData.ini

    By the way err... I still don't see the special gauge anywhere =/. I took a screenshot, in case this isn't normal -> http://orx-project.org/users/blarg/noSpecialGauge.jpg

    I've gotten more used to use special powers though. They're both awesome.

    Good luck for the last miles!

    Edit: Now that I think about it, I never saw that cool water effect that's on your screenshots, either.
  • edited January 2010
    Blarg wrote:
    I made a new map . Yay!

    Excellent, I'm gonna try this right away and probably pack it with the game as I'm in the process of packing the alpha: everything's here except the story and clouds/snow flakes, but I won't have time for those weather effects.
    I compiled all the version and I'll post a link very soon.
    I had fun modifying the player shroom with ini files. you'll see >=D
    http://orx-project.org/users/blarg/Blarg_extraMap_10jan2010.zip

    You'll just need to extract this in the Blarg&Luco folder. maps.ini contains info for an alternate version of the player mushroom. And you'll need to add "MushroomSoldierSpecialHuge" to SetList and PlayerList in data/MushroomStewData.ini

    Excellent, I'm going to look at this! =) I'll also update the lists with your new mushroom! =)
    By the way err... I still don't see the special gauge anywhere =/. I took a screenshot, in case this isn't normal -> http://orx-project.org/users/blarg/noSpecialGauge.jpg

    I've gotten more used to use special powers though. They're both awesome.

    Good luck for the last miles!

    Edit: Now that I think about it, I never saw that cool water effect that's on your screenshots, either.

    Argl, sounds to me like the shaders don't work on your computer then. :/ What's your configuration? Do you see the real time shadow on the title screen? Or does the title look like a plain old white text (with 2 mushrooms for the Os)?
  • edited January 2010
    The alpha version is available!

    It includes win32, linux & mac os X binaries as well as Blarg's fireball fest! :D

    Small reminder:
    You can change the controls in MushroomStew.ini.
    You can have a list of the controls + basic game hints by pausing the game with escape.
    There are .bat/.sh files to run in editor mode and the edited map is specified in ScrollEd.ini. I'll add a readme with all the info soon.
  • edited January 2010
    iarwain wrote:
    Blarg wrote:
    By the way err... I still don't see the special gauge anywhere =/. I took a screenshot, in case this isn't normal -> http://orx-project.org/users/blarg/noSpecialGauge.jpg

    I've gotten more used to use special powers though. They're both awesome.

    Good luck for the last miles!

    Edit: Now that I think about it, I never saw that cool water effect that's on your screenshots, either.

    Argl, sounds to me like the shaders don't work on your computer then. :/ What's your configuration? Do you see the real time shadow on the title screen? Or does the title look like a plain old white text (with 2 mushrooms for the Os)?

    Yeah, I see it as a plain text with 2 mushrooms. My computer is a 7-or-so years old 2.4 ghz with an ATI Radeon 9000 series graphic card (haven't changed it since I got my computer). I'm not really surprised that it doesn't support that kind of effects =/. Do I miss the special weapon gauge because of this?
  • edited January 2010
    Blarg wrote:
    Yeah, I see it as a plain text with 2 mushrooms. My computer is a 7-or-so years old 2.4 ghz with an ATI Radeon 9000 series graphic card (haven't changed it since I got my computer). I'm not really surprised that it doesn't support that kind of effects =/. Do I miss the special weapon gauge because of this?

    I'm afraid so! :/ Next week I'll add a plain gauge so that it can be displayed without shaders.
  • edited January 2010
    All right, no hurry : )

    I'm trying the alpha right now, by the way. I really like how polished the levels are now. The horizontal parralax of trees and buildings is just great. I just found the SpecialWeapon© hehe. Kudos!
  • edited January 2010
    Hehe, thanks! I was in a bit of a hurry so I couldn't polish as I wanted to (mainly the weather effects).

    Also the texts look cheap because I'm using a free but cheap font. Orx doesn't support old school bitmap fonts yet. But I'll try to make sure it'll be taken care of! =)

    Also, I just realized: you don't see the time/gravity weapon effect around you then?? The time effect is a black/white sphere whereas the gravity one is embossing the visuals around you.
  • edited January 2010
    Oh... no, I don't see that either. Would love to.

    Just beat the game! That boss really made me smile : ) Loved it. I guess it's normal that when the magician is dead, nothing happens?
  • edited January 2010
    Well you should have the last summary text then space will quit. Also I'll add a death FX to the boss tomorrow.

    I went for the simpliest idea I got for the boss as really I didn't know what to do! ^^

    [EDIT] Ok, end of game is broken. I'll fix this right away! ^^
  • edited January 2010
    Played around with the latest alpha, and it looks really good. It's really fun to see how fast a game can be developed with orx. I guess what takes time now is to create all the assets, i.e. the boring stuff :).

    Oh and Blarg, your level is ridiculously hard :D.
  • edited January 2010
    ekerik wrote:
    Played around with the latest alpha, and it looks really good. It's really fun to see how fast a game can be developed with orx. I guess what takes time now is to create all the assets, i.e. the boring stuff :).

    Oh and Blarg, your level is ridiculously hard :D.

    Thanks! =)

    I have to admit I'm pleased to see how fast I could come with a small but modular game.
    I spent more time updating Scroll/orx than actually coding for Mushroom Stew, but now it's done it doesn't have to be done again! :D

    The most annoying and time consuming task is still integrating all the assets. But if at some point an editor is made for that, it will then be a blast to develop games with orx in a matter of hours! ^^

    There aren't a lot of lines code either, here's the report cncc made for all the 14 files of Mushroom Stew:
    All files                --- Summary Report (numbers) ---
    All files                =====================================
    All files                |               :   Lines :   Chars |
    All files                |-----------------------------------|
    All files                | Code Only     :    2719 :   72354 |
    All files                | Code+Comment  :       8 :       - |
    All files                | Comment Only  :     917 :   17645 |
    All files                | Empty         :     800 :   25874 |
    All files                |...................................|
    All files                | * Total       :    4444 :  115873 |
    All files                =====================================
    

    ~2700 lines of code isn't too bad for this kind of game. :)
  • edited January 2010
    Fixed the wizard's death, added some trees to its level + "proper" death for the wizard (there's no anim available, so I went for the best I could come up with! ;) )

    From now on, I'll keep updating this archive.
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