Downfall - diary of a game...

[Graham Humphrey]

What config do you use? I should probably state at this point that I use an A1200 with an '040 accelerator and 32MB Fast RAM for developing the game.

[mihcael]

Originally Posted by Graham Humphrey

...
You'll notice one or two changes - I've added a copper graduated blue background ...
I'll crack on with adding some new level designs as well as trying to fix the little niggly problems...

I find the background a little off-putting because its not scrolling at all. If it gradually went from blue at the top to black at the bottom, it could be used as an indicator of your progress through the level.

I just had a look at your code and the level design map. How difficult would it be to make the level data loaded from a txt file so that way it would be easy to craete and test level designs.

[s2325]

Thank you but I tried different settings, with same result.

[Predseda]

Originally Posted by s2325

Thank you but I tried different settings, with same result.

On my configuration (A1200/030) the game is launched, shows the light grey screen for a split second and the the graphics is normally shown. So you have that light grey only? I will also test it on A600 tomorrow.

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by mihcael

I find the background a little off-putting because its not scrolling at all. If it gradually went from blue at the top to black at the bottom, it could be used as an indicator of your progress through the level.

I just had a look at your code and the level design map. How difficult would it be to make the level data loaded from a txt file so that way it would be easy to craete and test level designs.

That would be quite a cool effect to achieve - the only problem I could see is that all the levels are 'joined up' so there's never really an end, so it would perhaps look a bit strange if it suddenly jumped back to blue when some new platform graphics scrolled onto the screen.

As for the level data - I have considered various methods of storing it, and a text file was one of them. I think it would be a bit too fiddly for me to implement though and although coding it straight into the game is probably a bit crude and will make the executable bigger, it does work. However, if anyone wants to design their own levels - either by coding them straight in or just typing them up and sending them to me - feel free and I'd love to include decent levels submitted by people on here. Ideally I'm looking at having ten levels (with perhaps four different designs for each level, selected at random each time you play the game - this is to make up for the fact that there isn't a random generator like in the Jaguar version - but I'm still considering this) at about sixty 'rows' each. It would also get people credited in the game and more importantly, save me a job

Originally Posted by s2325

Thank you but I tried different settings, with same result.

Could you let me know what config you tried to load the game with originally please? I'd like to see if I can replicate the error.

[mihcael]

Originally Posted by Graham Humphrey

That would be quite a cool effect to achieve - the only problem I could see is that all the levels are 'joined up' ...

I see, not really familiar with the game style so i wasnt sure how things would work.

...or just typing them up and sending them to me - feel free and I'd love to include decent levels submitted by people on here.
...

I might have a go at one and send it through to you.

edit - i would like to host the 'official' Downfall website too (if you would like)

[Predseda]

Originally Posted by mihcael

edit - i would like to host the 'official' Downfall website too (if you would like)

Yeah, another opportunity for additional graphics

[s2325]

My settings were 68020, adjustable between cpu and chipset, AGA, chip 2MB, slow 512KB, no fast mem

[jimmy2x2x]

There is a similar game on android smartphones, might be nice to look at the scoring mechanics

You get extra points for falling through a hole without touching a platform

[ Show youtube player ]

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by mihcael

I might have a go at one and send it through to you.

edit - i would like to host the 'official' Downfall website too (if you would like)

Feel free to have a go at designing a level - I'd love to include contributions

And a website would be a terrific idea, I'd love that!

Originally Posted by s2325

My settings were 68020, adjustable between cpu and chipset, AGA, chip 2MB, slow 512KB, no fast mem

Thanks! I'll have a look later and see what happens.

Originally Posted by jimmy2x2x

There is a similar game on android smartphones, might be nice to look at the scoring mechanics

You get extra points for falling through a hole without touching a platform

[ Show youtube player ]

Cool, cheers! I will be looking at optimising the scoring system soon to keep things interesting

[cosmicfrog]

still moving in the right direction Graham

[Graham Humphrey]

Well, today I finally got round to changing the code that DJCruicky suggested, which was a bit tedious but in the long run that will help me greatly. It will certainly save some headaches when it comes to adding a second player.

In addition, I think I've sorted out the 'fruit appearing in platforms' bug, and I also hope I have fixed the score problem Predseda pointed out (it happened to me this afternoon for the first time) but only time will tell on that one.

Big thanks to Wilshy who has kindly volunteered to produce some sound effects too. As soon as I get them I'll work them into the game. Everything's looking good at the moment.

[dazzleman]

I think I've found why you get the feet sometimes buried in the platforms.

It is because the screen is scrolling up at a constant rate (2 pixels at a time I'm guessing), but the player is falling at a different rate. Because these values aren't always divisible by each other you get the effect we're seeing.

To solve it we need to get the player's y position to always finish on an odd number (I assume your positional counting starts at 1 rather than 0), and to do this we just need to insert one line in the .moveply function just before the final EndIf. The end of that function should now read:

If \y MOD 2=0 Then \y=\y-1
EndIf
Next n

Return

And hopefully that'll do the trick for now !!

[Graham Humphrey]

Nice one! I'll definitely give that a whirl, cheers!

[mihcael]

Originally Posted by Graham Humphrey

...
And a website would be a terrific idea, I'd love that!

ok, Downfall. Do whatever you want with it, i can give you FTP if you need it or simply tell me what to do. So far it is simply based off this

[cosmicfrog]

Brutal n where the ribbits



how about some links to s232s vids to show how its progressed ???

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by mihcael

ok, Downfall. Do whatever you want with it, i can give you FTP if you need it or simply tell me what to do. So far it is simply based off this

Great, thanks! Obviously I don't have much to add at the moment but will let you know when I do If I get a pic of the title screen or something could I email it to you to put on there?

[Predseda]

Mihcael, could you PM me the FTP access? I think I can perform a lot of site uprades myself.

[Graham Humphrey]

Predseda has already started work on sprucing up the website

Also, big thanks to dazzleman for his advice, it has certainly worked! I'd like to know what the MOD command actually does, just so I have a better understanding of it.

There's still an issue in that you can still land some way 'in' the platform if you approach it from an angle. Also it is possible to run across a small gap onto another platform on the same row - which happens in the Jaguar version and makes the game more tricky so bonus!

Despite what I said before the fruit problem hasn't been totally fixed yet - and strangely you can actually land on top of some of them and walk on them like they're platforms! This suggests the collision detection is not as accurate as it should be.

Also added - the score counter goes at a quicker rate when you're close to the bottom or the top of the screen. And I've made it slower than it was originally when you're in the middle.

I've also designed a brand new full level to play on - it's very easy but then it is the first level. I wonder if I should make the scrolling a bit quicker to toughen things up a tad...?

[dazzleman]

The MOD command stands for Modulo and returns the remainder from a division. So in my previous statement:

If \y MOD 2=0 Then \y=\y-1

is essentially saying If the remainder of \y divided by 2 is equal to zero then reduce \y by one. It is used here to determine if \y is odd or even, an even number divided by 2 will have a remainder of 0 while an odd number divided by 2 will have a remainder of 1.