SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

General Category => Worklogs => Topic started by: iWasAdam on May 17, 2018, 06:14:40

Title: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 17, 2018, 06:14:40
Needed to really get my ideas down for this.
so, It's going to be retro/strategy:
base concept is turn based strategy island defence.
You have up to 3 'teams' and must defend the island from an invader

progress - no graphics, everything is currently flat 2d. I want to work on the mechanisms this time around.
1. base island map - complete with height maps shown in different colors
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-17-at-06-09-37.png)

2. 3 teams with initial click and find optimal path to reposition using a*
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-17-at-06-10-57.png)

next task to actually 'move' the individual units
Title: Re: Pink and Gold - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 17, 2018, 07:05:08
added block ability to map and a*. this is a separate layer and allows for things like trees and rocks
Title: Re: Pink and Gold - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 17, 2018, 08:06:41
added ability for a* end nodes to pick the nearest best node
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-17-at-08-12-59.png)
You can see the green a* route avoids the x and finds a new end point (the original being the center or the green frame which is occupied by an x)
Title: Re: Pink and Gold - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 17, 2018, 12:42:28
Here's the first peek at things in motion.
Basically you click the flag (the hollow orb) and click the new position. The 'men' will then make jup their own mind how they get to their new positions, clustering (generally) around the flag.

(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/move.gif)

The key thing that is being shown here is the a* avoidance system and making sure then 'Men' follow a valid path: They can go up one height level and down up to 2 heigh levels. So will avoid cliffs, etc. but you can never guarantee where they eventually end up!
Title: Re: Pink and Gold - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Xerra on May 17, 2018, 17:03:56
Are you doing two games for this competition, Adam?

#Dedicated :-)
Title: Re: Pink and Gold - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on May 17, 2018, 17:11:50
Quote
strategy island defence.
You have up to 3 'teams' and must defend the island from an invader

I much prefer this idea to another platform game you were considering.
Title: Re: Pink and Gold - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Xerra on May 17, 2018, 17:20:07
Is it just me or does this concept remind anyone of Megalomania? Not a bad thing, I hasten to add, as that was a great game.
Title: Re: Pink and Gold - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: round157 on May 17, 2018, 22:42:47
The screenshots are quite nice and quite attractive. Well done.
Title: Re: Pink and Gold - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Matty on May 17, 2018, 23:18:27
This looks good Adam. I like it more than the platformer.
Title: Re: Pink and Gold - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 18, 2018, 06:09:13
Thanks guys. it definitely a completely different thing from anything else I've worked on. The plat-former is great, but was coasting and didn't meet the strategy part at all.

I do have a concept for how it could look visually, but again I want to really work on the mechanics first and think about other stuff later...

Todays update is per pixel/cell movement. so the units can now move smoothly

Next up will be to think loong and hard about health/attack and how it should all fit together
Title: Re: Pink and Gold - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 18, 2018, 11:50:56
Here's the current base UI with a slight focus towards geometry:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-18-at-11-46-54.png)

When you click a flag - you get the bottom left UI showing the color and shape of the units. It also shows how many units are 'alive' - In this case four.
Each unit can also show how much health is left by a slider - the block interior decreases with decreased health.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 19, 2018, 08:38:57
title now chosen:
Sacred Lands
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 19, 2018, 11:52:55
So today I thought I'd spend time talking about data and maps.
first is a color palette:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-19-at-11-33-05.png)
- the first 3 blue colors denote water
- the next blocks of 4x5 colors are the height maps:
- tan = beach
- green = first height level
- red = second height level
- orange = third height level
- purple = highest height level

so looking at a map with just color you can know how the heights function very quickly:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-19-at-11-33-14.png)

'units' can go down 2 small jumps in color and up in one jump in color. so cliffs, etc are very easy to see as well.

Lastly we can now use data on top of the colors to denote other things:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-19-at-11-33-22.png)
The first thing to notice is there are 3 base types of data being used:
- wiggly lines = water
- filled blocky thing = land
- characters denoting other stuff:
- - hidden numbers to be used when constructing enemy data
- - X is a block
- - 4 unit type starts: hollow circle, hollow triangle, hollow square + multiple hollow x - these are the potential start points for enemies

This gives you a really nice way of working. no map editors need writing as I just use the current fontmap editor. it make for very fast testing and designing of levels. You just need to write small parsers to transfer to map data into whatever format you need to use...

Put it all together and you get:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-19-at-11-51-02.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 20, 2018, 08:35:58
Today it's going to be all about the attack landing paths.

So, for any attack we need 2 things:
1. the final location where the enemy lands
2. a path for the enemy to follow to get to the landing point

so. we have the landing point from the imported map.
Lets create a set of base paths:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-20-at-08-31-27.png)

a path consists of 1000 separate x,y location. When the window resizes, we need to smooth the paths:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-20-at-08-28-45.png)

depending on the location of the landing point the x,y values are flipped, so in use the actual path has 4 variations giving the player lots of difficulty figuring out the actual landing point <sneaky>
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 20, 2018, 14:39:05
And finally a pic of it all in operations:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-20-at-14-33-45.png)

Currently there is no movement or fighting, but you cen now get a feel for the arrival patterns.
Watching it is sort of like a to down view of missile command - If you can think of that?
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Matty on May 20, 2018, 19:40:48
Very good.

I remember Missile Command.  Played it on my atari 2600.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 22, 2018, 08:55:48
So for todays peek:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-22-at-08-51-59.png)

This is still the exact same map from before, but in 3d!
You can see I have constructed a height map and color map (both shown). these are combined in a shader to give the final 3d version.
I ma going to be modifying the color map to include more detail later (possibly)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Matty on May 22, 2018, 09:24:38
I preferred the 2d version but the 3d version may come out good too.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 22, 2018, 12:07:40
yep. I'm still toying with it all at the moment.
Here;s the latest 'flat' version (which I prefer):
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-22-at-12-05-55.png)

You can see I've added an obelisk. this ties more with the sacred theme and gives a new objective (protect the obelisk)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: MikeHart on May 22, 2018, 15:14:57
I love the lowpoly look of your stuff, just saying.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Matty on May 22, 2018, 20:26:25
That looks better but the trees need some kind of blob shadow beneath them i think.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on May 22, 2018, 21:52:39
Maybe look at Zarch/Virus as this seems quite similar, but very flat at the moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALfnZjCiuUQ
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 23, 2018, 05:37:33
yep - virus/zarch was always on my hit list :)
It does give me an idea though...

I'll have to work on a quick shadow system now. Hmm bitmap shadow transferred into 3d whist allowing for different trasparency levels and heights - hmmmmm...

Initial Shadows now complete:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-23-at-07-29-40.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 24, 2018, 12:48:52
todays update is color grading:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-24-at-12-45-57.png)

Just a quick look at different color grading methods being built in.
Shadows now rendering correctly.

Your ship now has particles - not shown
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Xerra on May 24, 2018, 21:18:36
SENTINEL !!!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVTooU6KrzM
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 25, 2018, 08:16:50
Definitely got the same vibe going one, but not the same...

Been working on gameplay and getting the 'ship' movement correct and feeling more fluid.
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-25-at-08-07-06.png)

I've softened the shadows, made the ship smaller and enlarged the zoom view so you get a much better look at things. this also means the island is never fully shown.

I think I'm going to keep the models in their ultra low poly style as well...

Enemies next methinks
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 25, 2018, 12:25:59
Got lazers in now plus explosions with land and water.
Similar to Zarch, if you hit the ground with too much force - BANG!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 26, 2018, 12:38:16
Working on gameplay and planting of trees. I've decided that trees will play a big part in the strategy of winning :)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Xerra on May 26, 2018, 17:48:18
This is really starting to get me interested now. Potential to be a cracking little game.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: GaborD on May 26, 2018, 19:40:31
Looks really good, looking forward to it
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 27, 2018, 07:37:07
thanks guys - it's sort of getting itself together now...

Just been editing a font for the ui and other stuff.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Matty on May 27, 2018, 09:58:30
So is this still the same game with the pathfinding demo you showed us - will there be ground units walking around on the map?

Or is it more 'open/arcade' now?
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 27, 2018, 10:22:07
currently no - the pathfinding is not 'in'
But it is coming. in essence there will be the same initial path with a 'mothership' that will drop 'units'. these units will use the path finding to attack the highest point.
You will use your ship to pick up (in some way) and transport units to fight with the other units
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 27, 2018, 12:16:08
UI being worked on (this is a night-time view):
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-27-at-12-11-30.png)

You can see the new soft shadows and the initial UI.
- The vertical shows your height and the land height
- The horizontal shows the current fuel/power you have left

the amount of fuel/power you have relates to your engines/lazers, etc. and is replenished by cultivating trees... sort of... I think
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 28, 2018, 08:52:42
UI getting sorted.
Smoothing of landscape now turned off so everything is very sharp and low poly:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-28-at-08-50-15.png)
power bar operational and you can now plant trees!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 28, 2018, 15:10:26
We've got the first sighting of an alien!  >:(
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-28-at-15-08-31.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on May 28, 2018, 17:45:10
Some very nice visuals Adam, I hope the game play is coherent and fun too.   :)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 29, 2018, 06:10:43
Yep, keeping my finger crossed this time
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on May 29, 2018, 07:00:17
Smooth shadows ... what happens if you use simple blob shadows (circles/ovals) ?

If you really want to use these smooth shadows then you might also play with some kind of "simple ambient occlusion". Here is an example done in "Blender":
(https://abload.de/img/ezgif.com-gif-makereyut4.gif)

I have no clue how difficult this is to add (optionally, if you want to keep that flat-look for the retro-aspect until the compo finished).


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 29, 2018, 08:01:24
Yep I would love to add some AO, but this is a fully forward render system, so it can't ben done (AO is done with a deferred renderer and multiple offscreen buffers and combining the result)

It's not a difficult thing to do, just difficult because of the way Mark (S) devised the current render chain. It is something I can look into for the next render system. but currently I am quite happy with how far I am pushing this one  8)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on May 29, 2018, 09:15:49
Even with forward rendering you should be able to have some kind of "fake AO". You only use a small amount of faces (low polycount) per object, everything is flat-shaded - so simple geometric objects. For each of these simple objects you could calculate fake shading (the "AO shades") on its own faces - so ignore interaction with other objects for now. Then just render out this stuff together with what you do now.
As you do not have to take into consideration other elements, stuff can get precalculated and used over and over (and then, you can even use this precalculated stuff when doing the interaction thing).

It is similar to calculate gradients depending on normals and neighbour vertices (overhang versus horizontal ground). It's just to make the flat faces look a bit more "3D".

And yes, it is nothing of importance until the game works and there is time left to "play around".


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: therevills on May 29, 2018, 10:01:02
Looking cool as normal Adam!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 29, 2018, 12:22:38
so, for today update:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-29-at-12-17-11.png)

- I've been updating the fidelity of the water so there are clearer color definitions and animation
- on the left UI I've added the diamond UFO icons - this tells you the current height of the UFO (and it rotates with hand animation too)
- the shadows have been improved. previously they were just blobs and blocks. now they represent the 'thing' casting them. You can just see the rotation of the tree shadows
- the UFO now has a 'ray'
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: chalky on May 29, 2018, 12:46:29
Terrific stuff - I'm loving the visual style and really looking forward to seeing the finished game.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: round157 on May 30, 2018, 01:22:43
Quote from: iWasAdam on May 29, 2018, 12:22:38
so, for today update:



Hi, iWasAdam, I am really surprised by the screenshots.

The screenshots make me think that this game will be a 3D game. Now I don't understand. Monkey2 is for creating 2D game only but Sacred Lands will be a 3D game. Is Sacred Lands still programmed in MX2(a fork of Monkey2)? Thanks.

Anyway, good luck!!!

Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 30, 2018, 06:26:40
yep, this is all MX2 (a monkey2 fork). Monkey 2 does have 3D, but it is still unfinished!

MX2 has it's own custom written 3d engine. This is a cross platform/high model count engine. unlike other engines it is NOT scene based - you just load in the models and use them where and when you want.
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/screen-shot-2017-10-29-at-14-17-54.png)

The render details are all shader based, and once loaded models cant be reloaded or edited. the render is (currently) forward only which means there is no screen based occlusion or shadows.
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/screen-shot-2017-10-30-at-15-04-15.png)

You also have the complete MX2 2D stuff and UI stuff to play with as well:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-30-at-06-20-11.png)

The last one shows both the 3D and 2D
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 30, 2018, 08:18:40
So... What's todays interesting topic?
Paths and path finding.
First step is to load in the initial base vectors, smooth the result, scale the result.
Now we need to check if all the previous stuff has worked - the only way to do this would be to show the path in situ in 3D. so lets use a cube and put one at each point on the path...
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-30-at-08-14-06.png)

Yay! it works. I can see the cubes and they are showing a curvy path!

Just need to get the UFO to follow the path!!!!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: round157 on May 30, 2018, 22:27:22
Quote from: iWasAdam on May 30, 2018, 06:26:40
yep, this is all MX2 (a monkey2 fork). Monkey 2 does have 3D, but it is still unfinished!

MX2 has it's own custom written 3d engine. This is a cross platform/high model count engine. unlike other engines it is NOT scene based - you just load in the models and use them where and when you want.



Hello, your explanations are clear. The explanations help people further understand MX2 and your entry. Thanks.

Maybe more time is needed for creating a 3D game and time management is tough. However, I expect that you will have good

time management skills to finish an awesome entry before the deadline.....yes. 
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Xerra on May 30, 2018, 23:45:00
Dear Adam,

Please can you start screwing this game up else the rest of us aren't going to stand a chance.

Best wishes,

The competition

:-)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 31, 2018, 12:44:43
I'm really sorry about that  ;D

but just for you:
current update is 'in dev hell'

rewriting the input controls - they weren't working well
rewrote the initial monster movement - there were jumping :(

lots to do...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on May 31, 2018, 13:05:48
> rewrote the initial monster movement - there were jumping

This is what I try to avoid right at the beginning - leading to some basic stuff working pretty well and being uber-extendable but no time to do the rest :-)


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on May 31, 2018, 14:31:26
yep. all taken care of now :)
for todays pic it's the unit movement system and falloff map:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screen-shot-2018-05-31-at-14-25-36.png)

The reason for the dev hell was using int instead of float! Very basic error, but one that kept me thinking for a while (movement is float based not int based!!!)

So you can now see the falloff map with trees shown as red x. Basically the ufo comes in at a random position and path, drops the units, the units then make their way to the highest point. Your task is to stop them!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 01, 2018, 07:34:10
for today - nothing to show. bug hunting and working on making tree impassable to enemies

The first tree has been removed!  :o

Now I need to get evil trees working (they kill enemies) !
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 01, 2018, 12:35:28
ok, so we've got a pic today :)
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-01-at-12-32-39.png)

what can we see?
- 2 aliens
- 1 power tree
- 1 power tree shooting death bolt towards the aliens
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: col on June 01, 2018, 13:27:42
Looking through the screenies... I like where this is going :)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 01, 2018, 13:51:38
i'm always open to suggestions ;)

Latest:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-01-at-14-20-16.png)
Here you can see 3 different colored 'fire' trees. (green in foreground, red just behind it and blue to the right.

So... a 'fire' tree will kill up to 4 aliens - and then explode. with each killing it changes color. so you have a visual indicator.

You could also shoot the aliens or the UFO first...

I think this make it sort of tower defence?
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 01, 2018, 14:35:00
Zarch and Tower Defence gameplay?  I like the sound of that!    :D
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 01, 2018, 15:19:38
let me know any thoughts on gameplay, etc :)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 01, 2018, 16:06:36
Well I would go for more tension and struggle - rather than Zarch arcade action.  Zarch graphics rock though.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: col on June 02, 2018, 14:25:08
Whats the gameplay idea now? You're the 'good guy' or the 'bad guy'? I'm up from playing the alien ( as bad guy ) to open the flood gate for all kinds of 'unrealistic' ideas. If you play as the 'good-guy' ( usually human in these kind of scenario? hehe self appointed appraisal :D ) then you could possibly be limiting your ideas of weapons/tools etc to be a bit more realistic in fitting in with known technology.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 02, 2018, 14:35:48
Alien 2
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-02-at-14-33-32.png)

@col mmm, there's no real designation as such (good or bad) currently it is about protecting the island...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Qube on June 02, 2018, 15:42:22
Looks like it's coming along really well. Don't forget to include a clear strategic element in it :)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 05, 2018, 15:45:52
hmmm. strategy - what's that  :P 8)

Nothing to show for a while...
But here's something really interesting.

I've been dealing with sound and loops. waveform all fine. loaded and looped - CLICK!
Hmm, something not right with mu wav file methinks
check wav file - nothing. make new 'empty' wavefile. CLICK!
Hmmm. something screwy going on?

Checked my wave editor to see how I originally loaded stuff.
ignore sound.load - use audiodata and then load that into sound
WORKED?  :o ???
Guess that there is something wrong with Marks original loader! I kept saying, and yelling, and then screamed, and then posted other code and then posted more code and to no avail... And now another bug!!!!!

Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Qube on June 05, 2018, 22:06:14
QuoteGuess that there is something wrong with Marks original loader! I kept saying, and yelling, and then screamed, and then posted other code and then posted more code and to no avail... And now another bug!!!!!
Keep bumping your error report until he addresses it :) or ditch Monkey 2 and use something that works ;D  :P
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 05, 2018, 22:21:23
lol  ;D
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 06, 2018, 05:07:50
I have given up even attempting to address him. by the time he 'gets around to it' we have a new (insert something).
I think the last time a tiny code suggestion was added it was around a year!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 06, 2018, 08:27:11
sound now progressing well  8)

dealing with strategy and gameplay.
you have a top position you must protect - when it's gone it game over!
and (up to 4) other positions of interest (the more left at the end the higher the score)
ufo's arrive with aliens, aliens are attracted to a position on interest

So where is the strategy?
- you can shift the aliens target between the main position to the other interesting positions at will
- you can plant trees - trees block aliens (for a while)
- you can plant power trees - these destroy a certain number of aliens
- you can shoot ufos - shooting ufos may bring on a bombing campaign though which will destroy some of your trees
- you can shoot aliens, but you might shoot trees as well
- fuel is limited, and decreases. landing increases fuel
- planting trees and firing decreases fuel

basic gameplay (ish)
takeoff, shoot, hover, plant, move target, shoot, land, plant
repeat :))
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 07, 2018, 10:47:22
OK, we got a screeny today...
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-07-at-10-43-40.png)

Now comes with built in scanner!
sort of overlayed elite type thingy where the enemies are shown with their heights. This is good for enemies that have landed but are hidden from view. at least you will have an idea where they are now ;)


plus new alien: grabber...
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-07-at-10-48-26.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 07, 2018, 10:51:39
This looks better and better, just spend as much time on the game play - or more!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 07, 2018, 15:02:27
Gameplay, Gameplay, Gameplay...

Got my first win situation today  8)
Also got completely overwhelmed and got my butt kicked across the room  :-[

now need to add the other enemy types to mix it up a bit...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 08, 2018, 06:48:10
Basturds!!!!
There I was, planting some trees. getting rid of the pesky aliens, and an uber hoard approached and sneaked up. Then krept up the side of the hill and destroyed my horns!
GAME OVER DUDE!

My heart is still racing.. sad, but true!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 08, 2018, 08:50:31
shot the ufos  ;D
the bombers approached  :-X
...!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 08, 2018, 10:41:45
Here's a shot of my garden island :)
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-08-at-10-32-51.png)

The updated UI shows how many trees are on the island (24) and the minimum number of trees needed (12)
This also shows the new HUD (the graph thing). this rotates with your view. the white blobs are aliens, the yellow is your ship.

the obelisk (with the rings) is the current point of interest

When the aliens get to your tree or your points of interest - they prey with arms up-stretched!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 08, 2018, 10:43:43
Nice umbrellas  ;)

The colours vary too much, so look more like umbrellas than low poly trees.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 08, 2018, 11:21:09
no brollys here... Those are power trees - they charge your ship and destroy aliens... They are your only real means of defence - apart from your lazers.

Latest update. Bombers came exploded and killed all my trees!!!!!

Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 08, 2018, 12:22:39
Real power-ified trees have either a glow around them ... or wear christmas decoration and bulbs :p


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 08, 2018, 13:43:35
Blueberry Pie and Bus Tickets they do...
Power trees rotate, make sparks and shoot electricity at anything near - I thought everyone knew that??
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Matty on June 08, 2018, 19:39:51
If this is Monkey does that mean there could be a browser version or is it an executable?
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 09, 2018, 06:30:12
web is not something I support. So (currently) desktop only

Anyone call for a juggernaut?
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-09-at-08-30-46.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 10, 2018, 11:42:48
nothing to show today... Steve will be delighted  ::)

Been deep into play testing, and now starting to move into other areas such as the flight instruction manual and tutorial stuff...
Meh!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 10, 2018, 14:43:57
lol I'm looking forward to playing this game.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 11, 2018, 08:57:43
bloody flight manuals....
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-11-at-08-50-33.png)

So how do you teach people to play a game with simple but complex strategy elements?
break it down into 3 parts:
flight - how to fly
strategy - how to plant and move things
fight - introduce the aliens and how to fight them.

All while the game is running and predictable... ARGGGGHH!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: col on June 11, 2018, 09:15:51
Quote
flight - how to fly
strategy - how to plant and move things
fight - introduce the aliens and how to fight them.

Skip step 3 or change step 3 to: introduce the mechanics to show that you have a weapon, possibly how to change the weapon if you offer others. Leave the player to discover who are the aliens - should be easy learned if they shoot back or show some kind of hostility.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 11, 2018, 09:26:27
@ predictable

Use Mersenne Twister Random Numbers for everying which needs "predictability" (so no particle effects, graphic effects...).
Now just use a fixed random seed at "simulation start" and it should behave the same everytime.

Exception: your simulation is somehow based on your "60fps" or whatever you use (so based on "millseconds" - including floating point determinism trouble - insteadt of "ticks").
Problems here are things like reaching a grid cell after 59 updates (59,6 casted as int) or maybe 60 updates (60,1 casted as int). So things can get out of order.
If you do not have such "out of order" stuff, the mersenne twister will lead to a "replicateable" game.

Things would be easier in games like "tetris" with their "state machine"-esque game play, but with so many units, each doing their own decisions depending on grid state (occupied fields), other units ... you would need some kind of "tick"-system (which does run independent from frame times). Hmm, I know that my thoughts are not perfect here, I am surely missing something - especially as I need to tackle that problem too (multiplayer without client correction/"undo" system). Maybe somebody is willed to chime in here with their own ideas - or experiences.

Some months ago I asked a similar thing to a project member of a "mmorpg" and they did not use such correction stuff (at least he was not able to explain such a thing), so they seem to just have hoped for a low-latency game to not run into "condition races" - who killed a mob first).



@ Col
Yes, give someone arms and they will find out how to use them - and against whom.
If you gave them a bomb, add a visual "count down" over this bomb. If someone accidentally places/drops a bomb, then do a "3 *click*", "2 *click*", "1 *click*" right on top of this bomb, so plays will rapidly find out: hurry up, move away, else this will not end nicely.

bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 11, 2018, 10:30:04
thanks for the replies :)
There are no changeable weapons, either shoot (never a good long defence strategy), or place trees that will shoot for you.
It's up to you have you approach the problem ;)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 11, 2018, 13:46:52
and now those manuals are (more or less) finished. I can turn my attention to tightening up movement and adding environment controls...

Here's two working shots of the same map with different fonts showing data embedding:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-11-at-13-44-01.png)

(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-11-at-13-44-11.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 11, 2018, 14:54:17
ohh, ohh, ohh.....
It's got rain and thunder now - in stereo! Very atmospheric  :-X ...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 13, 2018, 08:16:21
nothing much to show of late.
Here's a slightly modified ship design with modified alien2
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-13-at-08-12-38.png)

Alien2 is a faster meaner version of alien1. It also destroys power trees when hit!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 13, 2018, 10:02:05
add a "breeding alien":

- looks like a spider alien
- stops movement somewhen (kill it then!!!11eleven!)
- starts pulsating (scale it up and down "0.7 + 0.3*sin(millisecs()*scale)"-based)
- after 2-3 seconds it plopps/"explodes" and spits out x-y little spider aliens
- spider alien babies grow after X seconds and then start pulsating too.
- spider alien babies are easier to kill / have lower attack dmg


- spider aliens might have a "web attack" next to this pulsating-birth-thingy
- web attack disables a power tree for x seconds (while web is active)


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 13, 2018, 10:28:05
Had some other alien ideas:

Diggers (maybe have them some big claws at the top - like hummers/crabs)
When near a tree they digger themselves into the ground and are "fortified" then - means harder to kill
They that way attract the attention of the power trees while other aliens might walk by "unattacked"


Boulders (with little "bumps" or so)
Are slowly creeping, heavily fortified enemies. They ignore trees and just move over them (destroying the tree once they pass them).
Use such aliens as "boss"


Overlord
They motivate other aliens nearby - different overlords, different effects.
Overlords should look a bit like a "magician" or "humanoid". So a "tall" creature with some kind of cape.


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 13, 2018, 11:13:20
Added swarmers - they don't do anything, just lots of them and they home to you... if they get near... BANG!
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-13-at-11-10-08.png)

(sorry for the dark pic - it was raining!)

Love the idea of tiny spiders. possibly drop an egg that pulsates and then lots of little spiders come out...

I like the way this has morphed into a mashup of Zarch, The Sentinel and probably Defender  :))
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 13, 2018, 12:02:01
"Tentacloid"
water alien with long arms ... attacking trees built too near at the waters


"Morphoid"
Can morph into "ground/trees/..." to cover from attacking trees. while morphed/covered it cannot get attacked by automatic attacks. They cover every x seconds for y seconds.


Lumber Jacks
They wear some kind of saws at their arms - with them they can attack the trees (faster). Their only aim is to remove trees from the island


Night Walkers
They benefit from dark skies (night, rain) and gain red-moon-power during that times, making their damage poisoned (slowly removing health from attacked trees). Poison adds (weakened) poison-effect to directly-neighbouring trees.


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 13, 2018, 12:28:08
Spider 'mite'  ;D
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-13-at-12-26-38.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 14, 2018, 07:20:48
Broken Egg with mites:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-14-at-07-18-14.png)

They are a bit dumb (not too dumb) but there are lots of them and they are quick
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 14, 2018, 09:52:06
Dunno how good they (baby spiders) are able to get distinguished from the grown up ones.

As I see these "green rocks": you might consider having some "randomness" on them. Eg you could mark vertices as "randomable" - if they are not random, they become "normal" to the surrounding 4 vertices (so it looks "flat"). Randomess would allow a bit of varying surfaces of the rocks - or just create small "pieces" which clump together to form a "rock formation".

bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 14, 2018, 12:24:44
Tweaking and refining now. recoded the height system so it is calculated once per map and all enemies, etc get their height from this. Means the walk smoothly up and down the sides of hills now :)

When an obelisk is 'eaten' an egg is laid. and mite come out of eggs... mites walk sideways...

The Mites got me - ship just exploding...
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-14-at-12-19-49.png)
You can also see the scanner now has colored blobs for each enemy type
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Xerra on June 14, 2018, 13:03:07
Can't wait to have a look at this game Adam. Just have a feeling it's going to be fantastic.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 14, 2018, 14:12:32
Thanks for that Xerra. It's certainly going to be something different.

The only thing I can now say is testing, testing, testing...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 15, 2018, 08:23:08
Currently working on the loose situation: :o
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-15-at-08-20-33.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 15, 2018, 14:59:03
now working on UI bits:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-15-at-14-52-46.png)

The main ship is called 'Sacred'
so the title Sacred Lands becomes a pun. as in the lands that are sacred and also the ship that lands...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 16, 2018, 07:37:27
Sacred UI complete:  :D
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-16-at-07-35-53.png)

(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-16-at-07-46-48.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: col on June 16, 2018, 07:52:53
I have to say that this is looking pretty damn awesome  8)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 16, 2018, 08:27:06
How about some audio straight from the game - i'm not saying where though...
https://soundcloud.com/mavryck-james/sacred (https://soundcloud.com/mavryck-james/sacred)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 16, 2018, 08:40:58
Regarding outline-screenshot:

I think it might look better if the hull was not totally outline-only but some kind of "semi transparent" (just 10% opacque or so).

For now it looks too "blunt" or hmm "base color"ish (hard to describe). Having the individual lines "shaded" (different colors) does not make it look better imho.


Underline of "thrust vectors" is shorter than the text (while for "sacred" the line is longer) - maybe increase length to "max length" of the texts at the end. That "indicator line" could be skipped at all - just start a bezier-curve left of the text and end at the desired spot. or do some "circle line circle" thing

o-------o thrust vectors

Skip that line altogether if you cannot select other parts of the ship (means "thrust vectors" is always displayed).


@ font choice
Remember to only use this "harder to read scifi-font" only for captions. Text blocks should be written in a more standard font face to ease readability.



Enough nitpicked. Have to prepare for a wedding now (not mine, have had mine some years ago already :-)). Booze time.


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 17, 2018, 10:48:00
Text sorted :)
we've now got a win situation. Where the trees all bloom and everything looks lovely...
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-17-at-10-46-25.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Xerra on June 17, 2018, 12:14:21
Adam, not sure if you've spelt Dimention deliberately like that or not but it should be Dimension.

I'm hoping Qube disqualifies your entry for that so the other games have a chance :-)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 17, 2018, 12:30:19
No problem 'Dimension' changed  :-[

Been working through all the text changing fonts and other stuff.

Furyo has been lost!
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-17-at-12-10-10.png)

still lots to do to get it all finished, so you might get your Wish Xerra ;)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 18, 2018, 07:55:40
Menus and other nice stuff  >:D

OK, so I've switched over to looking at all the connecting stuff. I'm not posting a working pic, but a dev pic of what I am thinking about for the main menu (this is photoshop btw)
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-18-at-07-52-35.png)

But it give an idea of the concept I'm trying to go for...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 18, 2018, 09:08:07
the "logo text" uses some kind of "chisel hard" bevel effect. Maybe make the "bright" and "dark" values of the effect a bit more "high contrast" to simulate the shading you use in your game (which isn't as "soft" as in the logo text).

Maybe you can bring in an alien ship too - somehow. Replacing a letter with a ship - or having one of the "mites" crawl through the "D" or over the "C" in SACRED.
Aim of this is to break the "text based" logo approach and make it a more "combined" logo (I am aware of the top of the mountain tree which already tries to break into the "text only" area). The added creep could become part of the application icon too.


The bottom tree of the mountain trees has a bright green grass color... why? it looks a bit odd if the top ones are dark green and the more-shadowy-located tile has a bright green - was it a selected tile?

Even if you do not want to add an alien to the text-area of the title screen, you might at least add one at the ground level of the mountain ("I want to climb to that tasty trees").


BTW: Thanks for keeping us updated about progress, thoughts, plans ... I enjoy reading such stuff.


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 18, 2018, 14:34:26
Yep, All sorted. The above pic was the design shot.

Here is the real thing:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-18-at-14-31-53-1.png)

complete with wireframe graphics, new island, and moving UFO.

I definitely like the meshing of the 2d with the 3d, giving it a nice modern but retro feel.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 18, 2018, 19:45:06
Things could slowly animate - if it is a "procedural" done title screen (not static but dynamically created by draw-commands).

So eg. the island could rotate slightly (attention to the top tree to not "cross" the letters around). The Ufo could swirl around ... and the classic "80s/90s"-light-flash could move along the title-text :-) (eg. old "sega" logo had it in).

UFO / selection bullet in the menu list looks a bit "non antialiased" (has some dark pixels on top) - maybe it is the still of the screenshot while the UFO is animated and just on the way to hide the "dark colored" flat face ?


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 19, 2018, 06:09:31
well ahead of you there... Everything is in motion...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Matty on June 20, 2018, 06:18:02
It does look good.  Will be nice to see it in motion.  We seem to be getting some good and varied entries.

10 days to go.....might be worth getting some play testers in before the comp ends to finalise some polishing? (but don't let them alter your artistic vision)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 20, 2018, 08:48:13
still working away :)
for todays peek. it's all about the UI and global maps.
basically you need a map showing the islands and their connections:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-20-at-08-42-36.png)

You can see at the top is a (sort of) tube map of the islands with their possible connections. the orange is your current path. so at an position you can choose to go in a different direction to get to the end.

I havent quite got my head around things, but the three layers (top middle bottom) should relate in some way to the difficulty, top being easier to complete, bottom being more of a challenge...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 22, 2018, 12:29:53
and....
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-22-at-12-28-33.png)
everything changes...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 22, 2018, 12:44:19
@ dangers
Maybe desaturate colors depending on difficulty/danger (so reduce "vibrance" of the color if it is not that dangerous) ?

What's the name in the bottom of the screenshot: "Trenzd" ... edit, ok, according to the "back" button it is "trenza". As said, font is a bit hard to read.

Allow yourself to use some more colors - especially a contrary color for the orange you use in many elements (so something like the orange-teal effect over-used in movie posters).

bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 24, 2018, 07:37:56
Thought I'd post some interesting code findings...
I've had long running issues with monkey2 sound on MacOS (all reported and ignored by Mark). In a nutshell there is something badly borked in his code that means it really isn't 'fit for purpose'

But I've now come across another weird one:
In previous games with lots of sounds I've noticed that some of them 'click' or have clicks! This is a random event, you can't predict which sound (when loaded) will have the click! At first I ignored it, as possibly down to bad sound files.
But I can load and examine sound files down to the byte level, and noticed that when checking, there was nothing wrong with the sound file itself. But on loading (with monkey2) sometimes a click would appear in the data stream when loading! Weird huh?

Currently I will live with it, as the remedial step would mean writing importers with known results.  What I really want to do is write a new sound sub-system, so maybe that will be the next step...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 24, 2018, 08:43:28
And here's an in-game shot of a won level:  ;D
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-24-at-08-41-17.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 24, 2018, 09:04:48
Is the water surface animated a bit ? (just move the vertices ... a slight bit)

the 3rd burger menu line looks truncated/cut (and design wise the line height should meet the line width of the letters/characters - so it looks as if it was just a letter in the font).

The tree of the power tree symbol shows the bright green on the left and right side - which looks a bit jaggy. Maybe use a precreated icon there instead of a "3d model" ?. But hmm - I somehow think this tree might be rotating/animated and therefor it is just the screenshot which looks this way.


Same for the orange thingy in the top of the screen. Why am I telling you this? The fonts you use are using anti-aliasing and they build up your "HUD". The icons are "HUD elements" too - so they should share the visual presentation style. Same could be said about the "power level indicator" (also non-antia-liased).
On the other hand it might be also worth to try getting rid of anti-alias on the fonts too (use some more "blocky" ones).

I would prefer some anti-aliased lines look (I know this is harder to implement  - like rendering everything 2x scaled) as it creates some "cartoonish low poly look".
But you seem to prefer the "sharp edged" look - which is contrary to the anti-aliased-font look.


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 24, 2018, 14:47:16
yep water all moves...

Here's a little something for you...
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/sacred.gif)
For that original retro feeling  :o ;D
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Derron on June 24, 2018, 14:54:26
Nice :-)

- add how many (floppy) discs it contains ;-)
- side-title is not centered - intention?
- "video gaming system" - isn't it a game rather a system/console?

You might consider rendering a "packshot" (with some glossiness, reflection - like current pack shots). Fake promotion stuff. Hehe.


@ game
in Sacred Lands 2 you might consider "choose your side"-ability (multiplayer!!). ... But until I was able to play it I might suggest to create a "Megalomania"-Multiplayer-Clone-Thingy with your visual style.

bye
Ron
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 25, 2018, 07:40:51
sort of like this: ;D
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-25-at-07-38-53.png)

OK. Stop this. I've got a game to finish...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 25, 2018, 14:44:13
getting close now.
Options screen more or less done:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/screen-shot-2018-06-25-at-14-42-27.png)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 28, 2018, 15:19:05
It's finally finished!!!

https://adamstrange.itch.io/sacredlands (https://adamstrange.itch.io/sacredlands)

(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/sa3.gif)
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/sa1.gif)
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/sa2.gif)
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/sa4.gif)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 29, 2018, 11:18:40
Windows 7/8/10 support now added  :P
https://adamstrange.itch.io/sacredlands (https://adamstrange.itch.io/sacredlands)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 29, 2018, 14:09:05
Had a very quick go, just to see if there were any obvious bugs for you to squash in time.

When I fire a laser I don't see the laser at all.  Be nice if the mouse pointer was turned off too, or rather a unique game-related pointer.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 29, 2018, 14:34:52
Re lazer - were you flying at the time or not?

hide mouse pointer - noted :)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 29, 2018, 14:59:23
Flying.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 30, 2018, 06:22:49
mmm. the lazers are in batches of four.
have you rebound the keys? if so what are you using :)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 30, 2018, 12:04:08
The ship doesn't show either.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 30, 2018, 12:49:43
mmm. ok. Just done a quick download check from itch.io. everything there is fine - unpacked and ran.

Might I suggest re-downloading and report back to me...?
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 30, 2018, 13:30:58
I tried that before, but will download again later.

However, I installed Linux yesterday (Windows 10/Linux MInt dual boot) and the game runs without those bugs on Linux  :D
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on June 30, 2018, 13:56:11
weirder and weirder....  :o

What is the graphics card like on the windows machine?
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 30, 2018, 14:13:01
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 (2Gb) runs smoothly - but no ship or lasers!
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on June 30, 2018, 14:44:24
Adam the major difference between the Windows version and the Linux version is Linux is currently running in software mode, because I haven't been able to get the Nvidia Drivers working yet.
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Matty on June 30, 2018, 21:04:47
I played it - very, very polished, but outside my skill level to be any good at it...will take considerable practice.

(Win 7 Home Premium)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Qube on July 01, 2018, 06:15:56
Only had a quick 20 minute play on this so far... Very well presented and nice work on the sound side of things and overall polish.

So far though I'm finding it hard to play and find it frustrating to try and aim and fire the lasers accurately while flying. Sometimes I get the laser sound but I can't see anything coming out from the ship ( MacOS 10.13.5 ). The ship also appears to climb at different rates?, sometimes the ship climbs quicker than other times but I'm not sure if that's intentional or something I've missed so far?.

Too early to give proper feedback as I think I need to spend more time getting to grips with the whole game mechanics. But from what I've seen so far, tip top work :)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on July 01, 2018, 07:38:16
very interesting about the skill level - this is similar to what people faced with zarch ( and I simplified how it works too)  ;D

ok. some inside details about how the flying works
nothing is strictly binary (on/off), when you apply power the longer you hold it the more power increases. so to hover, you will need to find the sweet spot and stop using power and just hit it occasionally to keep you sort of bouncing...

the same with left/right. you can only turn in flight (power or not) but it is cumulative. You are not really turning, but rolling left or right

forward and back will ONLY work when power is on. they too follow a curve, but the curve is parabolic, so once it starts to get faster/slower it does it more a more quickly -  forward is faster than backward.
the ship also points down as you go forward (that is what going forward is doing). and as you are pointing down, applying power will also go in the down direction too.
Similarly going backward angles the ship toward you with the nose pointing up, so the ship will also rise when going backwards.

Now for the real inside tip. The power trees are the main key, with the trees being secondary. lazers are used in reserve as they take up too much power. but do they...

sometimes flying might not be the best option...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Xerra on July 02, 2018, 00:19:40
I think it's a fantastic effort in all honesty. I've put a bit of time in trying to work out how to play this evening because, like the others, I have found it quite hard to get used to flying the ship. I think it's meant to be that way , however, so I think recommending practice rather than going in to try and make it easier would be the correct solution. I've made a few notes which I was going to put about the game when I've looked at all of them and created a voting post but you might want a look at these regarding a couple of bugs. Just in case you want to fix them or I've not understood something.

Was confused as hell at first but then found what keys did from options menu.

Love that the game has a tutorial and saves progress.

Reminds me of both Virus on the Archimedes and Sentinel - both great games for inspiration.

Found R key seemed to be a level skipper - perhaps that was meant to be disabled? :) Nice ending screen for winning the game.

Bug? Winning the game music plays as well as title screen music when you go back to it after completion for a while. Game also seems to keep title screen elements on screen and keep level skipping when starting again after seeing end screen.

Presentation of this game is excellent. Background graphics, menu's etc. Feels like a commercial game. You want to play it as soon as the title screen kicks in with all the funky displays. Love the Atari VCS box cover.

Seems very hard to play with keys but again I wasn't very good at it so no complaints.

Easily the most complete game for me. I kept wanting to play it even though I was rubbish at it.

Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on July 02, 2018, 05:39:37
ooh, press R to win!
Yup thats debug stuff. I'll get on and sort all of that out... I'ts interesting that it's still active - should not be - Will have to check that
(report: you found a low-level bug  ;D need to recompile and up the results now)

recompiled and upped :)

I'll look into all the other stuff as well. great feedback on that front.

It does seem that people are having trouble with control of the ship. (i know that was the issues with Zarch as well)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on July 02, 2018, 12:26:51
What would happen if this was taken a step further...
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/screen-shot-2018-07-02-at-12-23-59.png)

You would need a new ship, but maybe one with lots more detail...
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on July 07, 2018, 11:35:26
ok,
V1.02 is now ready for updating.

https://adamstrange.itch.io/sacredlands (https://adamstrange.itch.io/sacredlands)

The changes mainly address fullscreen and tutorial bugs as found above:
lots of minor bugfixes

added the current location of the rings to the grid display

fullscreen mode is now standardised across Windows/Linux platforms with correct resizing and saving.

Tutorial mode has been fixed - there were bugs that caused constant ship explosions.

Tutorial mode text has been changed to make it obvious which keys do what and how rings/horns operate

Tutorial mode bug fix to prevent 'next' tip/help from not advancing

Internal key scanning code changed to make it work the same across platforms

land height detection modified to prevent the ship from exploding when close but not actually hit.

difficulty slightly changed so that easy and medium give a little more fuel to make it not quite as brutal
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: Steve Elliott on July 07, 2018, 13:34:38
Cool.  Maybe after the comp ends we could have a week of testing to identify bugs before voting commences (no new features to be added).
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on July 07, 2018, 13:57:57
No problem on that front. Any bug hunting is always good...

The one thing which is really good is finding the cross platform issues and nailing them. These are then absorbed into any project that comes next  8)
Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: BasicBoy on July 07, 2018, 21:03:50
The Windows version of 'Sacred Lands' appears to be missing from the download page? Just the Mac and Linux versions are available. I'm a Windoze user!

I wanted to download and play the recently updated version v1.02 (I already have v1.01 on my system, so I guess it's no biggie).



Title: Re: Sacred Lands - Code a game competition - May 4th to June 30th
Post by: iWasAdam on July 09, 2018, 06:19:45
Thanks for that one. It's back up now  :o