SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

General Category => Showcase => Topic started by: Qube on October 14, 2018, 21:11:20

Title: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Qube on October 14, 2018, 21:11:20
(https://www.syntaxbomb.com/TankMania/TankManiaLogo.png)

Downloads :

Windows 64bit ( 93MB ) (https://www.syntaxbomb.com/TankMania/TankMania-Win.zip)
Mac ( 100MB ) (https://www.syntaxbomb.com/TankMania/TankMania-Mac.zip)
Linux 64bit ( 106MB ) (https://www.syntaxbomb.com/TankMania/TankMania-Linux.zip)

Outline : Guide your tank around various mazes blowing up enemy tanks. Starts off easy and progressively gets harder. Collect pickups along the way to aid in your mission.

Keys : Cursor keys left / right to turn your tank. Up / down to move forwards / backwards. Space to fire and ESC to pause the game.

Notes : On startup you can choose to run fullscreen, windowed, choose resolution and quality settings. To users of integrated laptop quality video cards, you may need to reduce resolution and / or quality as it's quite graphical intensive. There are options to reconfigure the keys but these are ignored.

I have not been able to test the Linux version as I do not have a native boot option. Mac and Windows version have been thoroughly tested though.

Video :



Screenshots :

(https://www.syntaxbomb.com/TankMania/TankManiaSS01.jpg)

(https://www.syntaxbomb.com/TankMania/TankManiaSS02.jpg)

(https://www.syntaxbomb.com/TankMania/TankManiaSS03.jpg)

Have fun :)
Title: Re: TankTastic - The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Steve Elliott on October 14, 2018, 21:21:54
Another game that looks great and plays great.   :D
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Qube on October 15, 2018, 20:55:13
Got contacted to say that TankTastic is a registered trademark :o

So my game for this comp is now called TankMania which is generic enough. New download links if you really must have the exiting new name :P
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Derron on October 15, 2018, 21:43:43
Trademarks... only are of interest if they are trademarking stuff in your country ;-)

Nonetheless it is no hassle to rename a compo entry and it avoids trouble or sad :-[ "tanktastic"-authors.


@ title
If you only had "old tanks" you could also call it "blast from the past" (which is surely also used somewhere else).


@ trademarks
While I tried to write "used" in the sentence above, I had a typo where I switched U and S: sued. Hah... used? sued!



bye
Ron
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Xerra on October 15, 2018, 22:26:12
I know copyright is copyright and all that but it's not like this game is up for sale. They won't lose any money from it. Unless they are worried about web hits finding your game instead of theirs, or something. Yours is probably better anyway :-)

Shit, I hope Mastertronic don't come after me for reusing "Rockman" !!!!!!

<hides>
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Xerra on October 15, 2018, 22:27:51
Also should have mentioned great game by the way. I got to level 5 first go /flex.

I've only played Tanktastic, RockNRoll and The Young prince so far until I fire up the PC. Already impressed with the entries so far.
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: therevills on October 16, 2018, 02:07:30
Quote from: Qube on October 15, 2018, 20:55:13
Got contacted to say that TankTastic is a registered trademark :o

You got to be joking!?! How did they even find out about your game?

Wonder if they contacted Blizzard: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/character/ragnaros/tanktastic
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Qube on October 16, 2018, 03:00:58
QuoteYou got to be joking!?! How did they even find out about your game?
It was some guy commenting on the YouTube video. He linked to the trademark ( it's genuine ) and his channel was all about TankTastic. I thought it was such a silly name that it wouldn't be branded anywhere, guess I was wrong :P - Only took 20 minutes to redo the graphics, recompile for the various OS's and edit the video. He was nice about it but I guess he wants to protect his brand.

QuoteIf you only had "old tanks" you could also call it "blast from the past" (which is surely also used somewhere else).
Damn!, missed a trick there. Perhaps I'll get a chance to do an aircraft version ;D

QuoteAlso should have mentioned great game by the way. I got to level 5 first go /flex.
Thanks, glad you like it :) - Getting to level 5 on your first go is good going.
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: therevills on October 20, 2018, 01:52:21
Love the over the top explosions! Got to maze 5. Runs fine on my PC (as it should :) 7700K, GTX1080 GTX, 16GB).
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Qube on October 20, 2018, 04:24:02
Quote from: therevills on October 20, 2018, 01:52:21
Love the over the top explosions! Got to maze 5. Runs fine on my PC (as it should :) 7700K, GTX1080 GTX, 16GB).
Yeah they are totally over the top :P but it's funs to watch so I kept it in ;D

Lol, I would hope a GTX1080 would be barely yawning while handling a game like that.

The biggest bottleneck is I've left every texture at 2048x2048 which is a frame killer on lower end hardware. Stupid mistake on my behalf. I'll release a more optimised version after the comp is over. I wouldn't class the crazy texture size as a bug but more of a silly mistake on my behalf.
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Derron on October 20, 2018, 07:18:41
2k textures are killing the performance? I only have two main textures - a 1k one for the ground stuff and a 2k texture for the wall and item materials. Should fit on a 1k texture (but needs a whole messy reorganization of the UV layouts...). Is this really a performance killer?


bye
Ron
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Qube on October 20, 2018, 09:01:44
@Derron - What I mean is every single 3D object is using a 2048x2048 texture which is way overboard. I forgot to change that before the comp, hence why the game currently needs a decent GPU to run.
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Xerra on October 20, 2018, 09:17:53
Quote from: Qube on October 20, 2018, 09:01:44
@Derron - What I mean is every single 3D object is using a 2048x2048 texture which is way overboard. I forgot to change that before the comp, hence why the game currently needs a decent GPU to run.

Another argument for why my main computer is a Mac. I'm using a mid-2010 Imac here and your game runs just fine.

Also I'm too scared to go and buy another PC now as I'm so out of date with what's actually a reasonable spec machine at a good price. I'm playing competition entries via Parallels for now.

Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Derron on October 20, 2018, 11:33:07
Quote from: Qube on October 20, 2018, 09:01:44
@Derron - What I mean is every single 3D object is using a 2048x2048 texture which is way overboard. I forgot to change that before the comp, hence why the game currently needs a decent GPU to run.

My single 3D objects use the 2048x2048 texture too - but of course only a portion of it. So the same texture needs to get bound, transported to the GPU etc.
I wanted to use multiple UVs on one texture to avoid "swapping". Think with proper organization they would easily fit on 1024x1024 without loosing much detail. As it was a "compo" I left it in - seeing it as a learning thing (how to reorganize manually adjusted UVs ... to a new texture without having to do this for 20+ objects one by one).


bye
Ron
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Derron on October 22, 2018, 23:05:02
First try, level 5 - recognized there that I keep my HP when progressing to the next level (seems I did not loose HP in the first ones). In level 5 I tried to find some flaws, looking at models etc:

- tracks to not move, tanks look "sliding" - I think in a 6 weeks compo time you should be able to animate tracks properly (and emit dust, break tiles when heavy tanks move over it - you get it, I don't mean it serious)
- flaw: you can pretty easily wait in a corner, targetting the only entry and kill one after another without getting hit (takes out the fun, but would allow "surviving")

There is a "game guide" but hmm, I was not sure what items I collect - the "rocket" makes me fire 3 shots parallel, the clock brings back time, the "+" health, and whats then there is this shield thing ... I guess it helps me for ... 1 hit?
Maybe add a little "overview"-page in the help guide with "symbol + short description" ?

Buttons on the start screen could have a "hover effect" when selecting. Also Cursor-wise selection might be a possibility (so you do not need your mouse then).


Else: presentation is nicely, polished, ... think it just needs more varying tanks and maybe some cool voice-overs ("come and get some!").

Good job for the time frame.


bye
Ron
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Qube on October 22, 2018, 23:34:15
QuoteFirst try, level 5 - recognized there that I keep my HP when progressing to the next level (seems I did not loose HP in the first ones)
Your health is not regenerated each level so you have to collect the health pickups.

QuoteIn level 5 I tried to find some flaws, looking at models etc:
OK, go....

Quote- tracks to not move, tanks look "sliding" - I think in a 6 weeks compo time you should be able to animate tracks properly (and emit dust, break tiles when heavy tanks move over it - you get it, I don't mean it serious)
Lol, that was on my to-do list along with damage marks on the maze walls from missiles and explosions. The enemy tanks are sliding when turning because I didn't get time to do a more bezier curve path for them. It was a case of just leaning the very basics of Unity's NavMesh / Agent thing. In fact all the game was based around learning basic "How do I do this?"

Quote- flaw: you can pretty easily wait in a corner, targetting the only entry and kill one after another without getting hit (takes out the fun, but would allow "surviving")
You can camp in a corner but you run the risk of running out of time in the later levels. Also in later levels you'll get hammered if you try that strategy.

QuoteThere is a "game guide" but hmm, I was not sure what items I collect - the "rocket" makes me fire 3 shots parallel, the clock brings back time, the "+" health, and whats then there is this shield thing ... I guess it helps me for ... 1 hit?
The game guide was going to be a mini tutorial but I didn't have time to do that so ended up with that amazing version instead :P - The shield lasts for 15 seconds and deflects every incoming missile.

QuoteElse: presentation is nicely, polished, ... think it just needs more varying tanks and maybe some cool voice-overs ("come and get some!").
It has multi coloured tanks, what more do you want? :P - Cost me £5 did those tanks and maze walls ;D
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: RemiD on October 23, 2018, 19:44:11
Quotemaybe some cool voice-overs ("come and get some!").
like :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p1vVjIgUzk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwxjYFqP35A

i agree, i will totally try to add similar sounds in my 3d shooter 8)
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Derron on November 09, 2018, 09:50:26
Seems you are not alone with tank games - while content of the following (paid) tutorial might be interesting (painting stuff right in Blender) the output looks too much "papercraft"-like.

https://www.blendernation.com/2018/11/09/trailer-creating-mini-tanks-for-a-mobile-game-in-blender-2-8-alpha/

but they seem to do some unity stuff too, so might be of interest for you (Qube).


bye
Ron
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Qube on November 10, 2018, 02:32:43
Thanks for the link. I watched the first free video on "boxing out the tank" and I see Blender has some similar features to Cheetah3D ( which I use ).

Seems like a nice tutorial for creating objects in Blender but I think there are a whole load of decent YouTube creators these days which offer really good tutorial content for free ( ad supported ) which makes these paid for courses hard to justify. I think paid for courses need to be more specific and area focused.

If I was aware of this tutorial and just about to start on TankMania then I'd of bought this out of pure interest.
Title: Re: TankMania- The aMAZEing code a game comp sept / oct 2018 entry
Post by: Derron on November 10, 2018, 08:38:20
CGCookie had pretty cool tutorials (for certain/specific areas in Blender) but as you said there are more and more tutorials now - some still with bad audio, a bad cut or other annoyancies but people are aware that they could monetize stuff or that their tutorials are also kind of "showcases" for what they can do - means they put efforts into creating good looking, well narrated, well cut and efficient tutorials - eg. to get more "patreons" or more subscribers.

Still CGCookie groups a bunch of talented artists which brought a lot of helpful stuff to the blender masses. If you ever want to do "retopology" (means you sculpt your models like "clay" but at the end you create a way low-poly-ier mesh overlaying the high-detail-mesh and just bake details into textures then), then they created "RetopoFlow" which can be bought (to support) or downloaded on github for free.


I once modelled the "moving tracks" of a tank tutorial for my "Ape's Banana Conquest" game. There I used it for the factory production lane-thingy (dunno the right word now, excuse please). Once you tackled that hurdle creating a (simple, game-asset) tank is just a matter of modelling some bits and then send the whole thing to "Substance Painter" where you give it the used, grungy/dirty look with all the metal looking through here and there, bullet dips, ... While I am not a fan of "Substance Painter" being a closed-source-program it is pretty much the "have to use" tool of nowerdays 3d stuff generators. Of course a toonish tank would not need the help of this tool but could just get texture painted right within Blender (I did so for Maze Raider assets).

What is all the fuzz about? If you know Cheetah3D then the logical next step is - imho - to install Blender and start using it. It is _so_ powerful yet free/open source. It is extendible by a wide variation of addons - and it is scriptable via python (so you can create your own asset-pipeline which on execution renders all your different models/sceneries and puts them into tile sheets). Especially for the kind of games shown here you often can come up with decent looking stuff by "blocking out" your models. They do not need to be high detailled but could created in even the more simpler/beginner-friendlier 3D tools. This is the chance to learn how to use Blender - as the first steps in Blender are the hardest. But once you get used to R,G,S,B (rotate, grab/move, scale, border-select) shortcuts you will never go back to other tools. Not to talk about all the particles, hair, ... stuff or with 2.8 then evee as real-time-rendering-modelling-thingy.
Of course it exports to FBX too - so you can use your assets easily within Unity - and there are enough tutorials for it.

Give it a whirl - and if you want to know something without lurking around in the blenderartists forums / reddit / stackoverflow, feel free to ask some stuff here (others are using Blender as well, so others could benefit from questions too).


/end of advertisement ;-)


bye
Ron