Downfall - diary of a game...

[Graham Humphrey]

Okay then, so I've just found time to upload my latest version. Inertia is now implemented which is the biggest change - I'm not sure if this 'feels' right or not so I would especially like feedback on this.

Also you score a point every second you stay alive. One of the things I want to implement very soon is the pickups, which give you 100 points multiplied by the level number you are on. And possibly speeding up/slowing down the score counter too.

There are a couple of little problems I am aware of, one of which is the little bug where the player's feet is buried halfway in the platform, and some slight glitches when the player falls onto a platform just off the bottom of the screen.

As always, source code is included so do have a play around if you're that way inclined, and maybe do me a favour and help me fix any problems

There isn't a lot new to sink your teeth into here but as I said, not much work was done last week. Next week I'd like to get the pickups implemented, and perhaps a nice copper graduated background. And if anybody can recommend a suitable 8x8 proportional font to use in place of Topaz that would be nice too.

[prowler]

Wow! I'm gonna have some catching up to do when I get started on this!

As you might have seen, I've just been trying to get to grips with AmigaBASIC to get me in the mood.

[DJCruicky]

Hey Graham, you got yourself a nice little project going there. Really cool so far. I think you now know all the plan and suffering I went through making Alien Fish Finger . Now that was an inertia monster .
Well i'm not here to help you on your inertia problem , but...

I had a look at your code (hope you don't mind), found something that would stop your 2 player mode working.
You have used the command:
USEPATH ply(n)
Now I don't know if you will love me or hate me when I say this, but you can not use variables between the brackets with this command. Has to be numbers. When blitz2 complies the code, that number will never change.

A quick and painless way to get your 2 player working is to delete that command USEPATH ply(n) and add ply(n) to the start of every variable. eg ply(n)\fall (just use the find and replace all option, very quick)

also change all the 'joyx(1-numplayers) to 'joyx(1-n)

Don't forget to set up variables for player 2 also.

Hope I saved you from getting a on that one.

Have fun.

DJC

[mihcael]

Originally Posted by Graham Humphrey

... Inertia is now implemented which is the biggest change - I'm not sure if this 'feels' right or not so I would especially like feedback on this...

Starting off inertia seems a bit sluggish, but i think the stopping inertia is very good. Of course this depends on the surface, i assume this is a normal surface, not ice.

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by DJCruicky

I had a look at your code (hope you don't mind)

Well if I did mind I wouldn't have included it

Seriously, many thanks for pointing that out, I had no idea that was the case! I will modify that soon and save myself some headaches later on for sure. That would have totally stumped me later on otherwise so thanks!

If you get the time and inclination, I would appreciate if you could perhaps help me out regarding getting the character to always stand 'on' the platforms rather than being buried inside them half the time as I've had a few problems with that.

Originally Posted by mihcael

Starting off inertia seems a bit sluggish, but i think the stopping inertia is very good. Of course this depends on the surface, i assume this is a normal surface, not ice.

Yeah, it is indeed a normal surface. I don't really have any intention to include ice or any other surface (mostly because I can't stand icy surfaces in games) so I need to nail this one straight away. Thanks for the feedback though - it is probably slightly sluggish, and I'm really still trying to find the correct balance between the inertia being too heavy and too 'floaty'.

[Predseda]

I am always looking forward to Sunday nights!

Still not any volunteer for music?

[Graham Humphrey]

No musicians on board yet... if anybody knows of someone who like creating music (in .mod format) maybe they could point them in the direction of this thread

[Predseda]

Hey, viddi, do you read this thread?

Cool stuff.

How about making it a bit harder as you go on?

I was thinking things like 'sticky platform' that slows you down, or spikes?

Are you using sprites for the players? And fruit? That would allow you to have a dual playfield - 8 colours for the platforms, 8 for the background, to get a bit more of that Jaguar feel whilst retaining full colour objects.

[Predseda]

I was also thinking about the score system. I think time-based score will not work well for 2 players game, because it means both players will have exactly the same score until one dies. Maybe if you want to have the game very fruity, it could work as a fruit chasing competition. I'd suggest then to add many kinds of fruits with different values, to have lets say 30 kinds.

[DJCruicky]

Originally Posted by Predseda

. . . . because it means both players will have exactly the same score until one dies. . . . .

Make it so you get more points if the player is near the bottom of the screen than the top.

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by Hattig

Cool stuff.

How about making it a bit harder as you go on?

I was thinking things like 'sticky platform' that slows you down, or spikes?

Are you using sprites for the players? And fruit? That would allow you to have a dual playfield - 8 colours for the platforms, 8 for the background, to get a bit more of that Jaguar feel whilst retaining full colour objects.

Thanks for the comments!

Not sure about spikes or things like that. The original versions don't tend to change very much from what I've played of them, just the layouts that get a bit harder (i.e. less gaps to fall through etc). So it will be a good test of my design skills when I come to put together the proper levels.

I'm not using any hardware sprites at all. Your suggestion would probably have worked but it never really occured to me to be honest. I might do an AGA version with parallax backgrounds later on though.

Originally Posted by Predseda

I was also thinking about the score system. I think time-based score will not work well for 2 players game, because it means both players will have exactly the same score until one dies. Maybe if you want to have the game very fruity, it could work as a fruit chasing competition. I'd suggest then to add many kinds of fruits with different values, to have lets say 30 kinds.

Originally Posted by DJCruicky

Make it so you get more points if the player is near the bottom of the screen than the top.

Interesting ideas. Without doubt the two-player mode will be the hardest feature to make worthwhile. As I said earlier, when you collect fruit you get extra points so it's not a total disaster but it needs a bit more than that. I was also thinking about powerups that either double or halve your current rate of scoring for a set time so that could work too. But I like DJCruicky's idea. I'd probably expand on that and say that if you're in the middle of the screen (where you're always 'safe') you get less points than both the top and bottom. But if you get more near the bottom then that introduces a risk/reward element which in a two-player game could make all the difference.

[Predseda]

Originally Posted by Graham Humphrey

AGA version with parallax backgrounds later on though.

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!!!!

[keitha1200]

It's looking pretty good (youtube clip)

I like the idea of going down levels, rather than up

[Predseda]

Originally Posted by Graham Humphrey

And if anybody can recommend a suitable 8x8 proportional font to use in place of Topaz that would be nice too.

I will try to create a font, I am not sure if I still have that handy font-editor that I used to use in the golden era, though

[Graham Humphrey]

It's that time again

You'll notice one or two changes - I've added a copper graduated blue background and Predseda has designed a new font especially for the game so you'll need to install it to your own Fonts directory to use it. If you don't, then the game should still work (though I haven't actually tested this) but you'll be stuck with bad ol' Topaz.

Also I've added the fruit pickups too. You'll only get one at a time and they'll give you 100 points multiplied by the level number (so only 100 points currently). It's not perfect - they occasionally appear in platforms and sometimes it'll flicker slightly when collected. But nothing that can't be sorted out (I hope).

None of the other problems have been fixed and nothing else has been changed (I really need to get around to changing the code DJCruicky suggested - in fact that'll be next), although all the graphics Predseda created are now in the shape files - even though not all of them are used yet.

I admit I haven't done a great deal of work in the last week but I have a bit more time this coming week so hopefully I'll crack on with adding some new level designs as well as trying to fix the little niggly problems...

[Predseda]

Great work! It even starts to be challenging! I like it, and the copper adds much to the illusion of movement.

I also confirm it works even without the custom font. There are graphic glitches, of course, but I am sure you will solve them easily.

I want to report an error in score counter: I played the game and the counter reached 700, then 800, then 900 and over and then when it should reach 1000, it jumped to 2000 instead. I continued to play to see what happens in next thousand and it jumped to 3800 instead of 3000. Then I quit.

[Graham Humphrey]

Thanks!

I'll have to take a look at the score error. I played it earlier and I didn't notice a problem but it's quite possible I've made an incredibly stupid typo or something.

[Predseda]

Strange. I tried again and it didnt happen, score counter worked normally.

[s2325]

In this version I can see only gray screen for some reason.