(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-18-at-07.31.39.png?w=750)
Well... It's now got a name!
Let's see how far we can get it...
Two things:
- the bevel effect on the "steel/granite" looks very cheap (maybe use a more chiseled one ... to make it more "rocky")
- the black parts of the bevel are transparent (look at the most right side -- the green lines)
- the yellow + blue always works (Transformers - or my GW website :D), nice blue color choice
- the inline glow of the text is .. working OK but the outline glow ... looks rather cheap like the background block bevel
if the background is a kind of "granite" one ... you might tinker with the text outline glow to be more "sprinkled" ... so in other words, add more "texture" to the glow (make it a separate layer and fill above).
Edit: the right side looks a bit ... too ... "straight" ... I dunno how it looks, but maybe cut the "E" diagonally too to ressemble part of the diagonal movement of the "A". You already tried it with the diagonal right side cut of the blue bar (which btw is a different angle than the rest of the "angles" in the shape).
But keep the yellow + blue combination. it pops out - and is almost guaranteed to work nicely.
bye
Ron
Quick mockup:
(https://imgur.com/Ic8cOkC.png)
I used some "inner glow" with overdraw and "distortion" (dunno the english term now) to add a bit of "pixel dirt" (maybe over the top already here). Maybe it can also be seen as effect on a "non flat surface" ... some grainy ground.
(https://imgur.com/ppciMOF.png)
(https://imgur.com/0Yz2Dgn.png)
I had the background 2 times - one for the shape and bevel - and another one with "canvas opacity 0%" for the dirt-inner-glow.
the background consisted of the font + outer glow (100% overfill) black as the font. Then made this a smart group (so I could add another effect on the shape including the outer glow). This was then filled with the cast iron texture + bevel.
And then a copy of this smart group was done, no canvas fill (so only "effects" rendered). There I removed the texture and bevel but added an inner glow with distortion for a "growing dust" effect.
The text just received an outer glow with the same dust-effect to emphasize the rough texture/ground of the iron.
bye
Ron
mmmmm I learn every day :)
I assume the "pixel distortion" thing of the glow (and other effects) would well suit to your overall graphic approaches (Honey Things had similar stuff if I remember).
BTW: I always wonder how some stuff in Photoshop is done ... so much beautiful artwork out there ... not to talk about vector magicians in inkscape, illustrator, ...
PS: one thing I forgot to mention: The bevel effect on the background layer has a "structure" enabled too - I tried to play with "only structure effect on the bevel part" but it did not look as I wanted it to do ... so maybe some "hand crafted" cuts and cracks will do (make it look less "template"-based)
PPS: I can send you the psd file if you want.
bye
Ron
Got it sorted :)
todays peek is adding graphics and starting to create the first level map:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-18-at-11.45.29.png?w=471)
map collision also done and works. Bloody ell!
Looking good, although some of those tiles don't blend, so they look like separate tiles with a clear join.
I think that's because he's drawn the grid over the images
Quote
I think that's because he's drawn the grid over the images
No, here's a couple of tiles without a grid...I'm sure Adam will sort it before the deadline though.
Yep. Agreed. ATM I'm getting everything working before doing the housework :))
So today I got some funky little animations going on with the ma, just to brighten things up.
I thought I'de share my approach:
5 frames with the frames being controlled by the gametime plus their y location:
182+int(MSin(yp*0.1)*5)
Where MSin is the function:
method MSin:float( in:float )
Return (Sin(in)*0.5)+0.5
End method
So why link it to the ylocation and sin?
1. the frames go 0,1,2,3,4,3,2,1,0 - so if the animation is something appearing. reversing it with sin makes it also go away
2. linking it to the ylocation means that every occurrence in a different y position will have a different time offset. so all the animations are not showing the same fame
3. you can slow down the rate the map moves - this also means the animations slow down too
and what does it look like:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-19-at-12.24.06.png?w=338)
See those plant things - they move and open/close etc 8)
now what in the world is going on here then?
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-20-at-12.16.48.png?w=495)
Isn't that the imageworks logo? Something to do with the bitmap brothers? Looks familiar, although not coloured like that.
Yeah, that's The Bitmapped Brothers Logo, with a Max Headroom twist?
maybe.... ;D
OK, for todays treat. it's all about the curve
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-21-at-07.03.07.png?w=699)
you start with a 10 point line - the darker one
and you end up with a 680 point curve
smoothed 6 times 8)
why smoothing ... just use something like a catmull rom spline ... and define the corner points?
bye
Ron
because I want the point data :)
which means I've now got paths for enemies to follow:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-21-at-08.27.28.png?w=769)
So for any enemy position it is a simple task of deciding the path and it's orientation.
just update the path position and the enemy moves - the code becomes uber simple:
draw(sprite, path, position)
@Derron's catmull rom spline :-*
The problem there is you need to define the spline and the points, etc to make it work. then you need the math to make it work. Guess what I do?
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-21-at-08.43.22.png?w=1024)
Just draw a quick approximate path
paths.Load("asset::paths.mx2vector2d")
paths.ConvertToXY( 512 )
paths.SmoothXY( 6 )
the convert scales the result
the smooth add's the points (I need) and smooths as it goes
Even the smoothing code is simple:
add a new point at the center of a line
take three points and make the inside point the middle
any point on the curve is just _x[position], _y[position]
Well I thought it was a cool solution... :'(
The curve preview (on the left) overlaps its area (indicator of wrong dimensions reported?)
bye
Ron
What proggy is that?
custom one I wrote for my editor
I did a path thingy that just consisted of turn left/eight go up/down for a galaga style shooter. It worked ok for those simple movements. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXAx3zr9lHs)
Like the "mother bug" :)
bye
Ron
nice :)
well today is all about UI's...
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-22-at-08.55.59.png?w=321)
Final in-game screen showing one of the UI's. This also shows the 3:4 orientation as well :o
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-22-at-12.50.03.png?w=466)
Looks very sleek. 8)
Thanks - today was not a good day >:(
3d had to be captured and then transported via bitmap (DON'T ASK). so the 3d is now actually 2d!
But with all that said, here's the doors:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/bart.gif?w=388)
Looks excellent! What was the issue with the 3d?
Monkey2 vs apple - the ongoing (i'm going) saga
Buffers not being allocated correctly - with latest Catalina update...
Looks superb! :)
Did you create the GUI component tiles yourself?
Very swishy looking, like it a lot ;D
Awesome palette
I do like a vertical shoot-emup. I have a couple of crackers on my phone that I play while on the train.
Interestingly, the graphics style look exactly like the old Xenon2 Megablast and/or Xenon2000 PCF game.
Any inspiration from those?
Yep it''s a love letter to Xenon2 :o
This is one of the fonts and palette I created for it :)
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-24-at-05.42.47-1.png?w=287)
You can see at the bottom graphics for 16 different enemy flight paths...
and the shop in development:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-24-at-08.28.39.png?w=708)
That looks very nice.
been rewriting the enemy sprite manager code so it adds and removes sprites keeping the list count optimal
now linking the enemy position to the path code:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-26-at-08.18.22.png?w=418)
Correct me if i am wrong but that looks threeeeedeeeeeeee
I assure you it is actually 2d!
But... I did use my own 3d editor to construct the robot and some of the sprites:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-26-at-08.58.18.png?w=1024)
These were then converted into 2d and the sprites created from them.
All the UI elements were hand pixel created 8)
That enemy sprite
Quote from: blinkok on September 26, 2020, 12:12:47
That enemy sprite
You mean these 3 ones?
(https://imgur.com/NgwEBJb.png)
The bottom right one ... looks a bit "odd" ...
a) there are two of them on the same position
or
b) IWasAdam combined multiple single sprites for each enemy - some kind of "parallax" 3d effect
Edit:
or
c) the enemies are "rotating" (he somewhere dropped that enemy sprite frame is depending on coordinates) ... in that case the red "ball" on the bottom right seems bigger than the other ones (taking rotation and the little required scale change into account)
bye
Ron
very possibly two being drawn on top of each other.
This is the original 3d model that was imported and painted:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-26-at-14.08.26.png?w=303)
QuoteYep it''s a love letter to Xenon2
8) Cool 8)
I look forward to playing this one in particular.
and what's the recipe today?
Animation comes in many forms...
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/screenshot-2020-09-28-at-18.01.52.png?w=316)
Loading screen? I hope that disks being inserted like the old boot-up sequence from an Amiga :)
hehehehehehe
I'm not saying anything.... Except "Hmm how do you track and sync audio?"
oh, getting hard now :(
OK. I've got my sprite, but I need a version that can be turned into black and white. that means a shader:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-01-at-07.14.38.png?w=229)
But it's not a simple task of coloring pixels - you need to make some sort of sense about it while keeping the same look as the colored version
ooo. does this mean i can take the new graphics recolor them and make a spectrum next version????
De-saturate it in you gfx proggy or just de-saturate the palette in the game
You've missed the point - the above image of the 2 ships is using only a single sprite
getting the second result is actually quite hard in a photo app as well.
The above is live and controllable :)
and todays nugget is drawing more enemies:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-02-at-10.55.47.png?w=122)
and oodles of animation frames as well :(
ok. so lets talk levels and enemies:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-02-at-14.15.44.png?w=440)
Above shows the data for powering level 1!
the columns are as follows:
1. far left number = map references, the color is the background color being used
2. next set of numbers = the path the enemies for that map part will take
3. block of four enemies
each map section can have 4 different enemies along the same path. the icon shows the enemy and the color is how to follow the path. Which gives great flexibility :)
so looking above you can see for any level there are ten sections, each with enemies. you can also see that the bottom 3 sections are yet to get enemies - or maybe the enemies are built directly into the graphics map as well....?
Anyway. it gives an idea of how I am tackling the enemies and not using anything nasty like xml etc. Just a nice simple visual map 8)
nothing much today just implemented enemy shots:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-03-at-08.26.03.png?w=388)
They can hit the ship and do damage - nothing spectacular...
Thought you'd like to see this - the first enemy. lots of reference photos used and one attempt that got trashed after an hour of work :(
100x100 pixels
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-03-at-14.58.39.png?w=419)
so what nuttiness have I been up to today... ? :o
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-04-at-11.57.53.png?w=584)
nuttiness? I would call it "mixing pixel sizes".
Also one of the space egs is below that... uhm... prehistorical giant thing - and the one next to it, is on top of it. I assume the space eggs also move in the z-direction (so "to the screen" and "away from screen") - and that giant thing is "inbetween".
The most right space egg exposes some black outline which is "inconsistent" - dunno for what reason it exists. If it exists because of "scaling" you might consider doing smooth scaling. If smooth scaling is to avoid (because of "pixel effect") then maybe do the outlines in a different sprite image - and draw them scaled+smoothed behind the "scaled pixelated" actual image.
bye
Ron
Quote from: Derron on October 04, 2020, 13:10:40
nuttiness? I would call it "mixing pixel sizes".
Hmm, I kinda like it as it's a retro method of making something look bigger without having to draw it bigger. For example in the classic C64 Ghostbusters the marshmallow man was an enlarged sprite and that worked well I thought as I didn't do a WTF! about it.
You don't really notice with all the other stuff flying around. and there's loafs of that...
for today I have been mostly working out IK
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/text.gif?w=415)
and the final result 8)
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/enemy.gif?w=415)
This looks nice indeed.
Handles of the ik path...are a bit offset in the editor shot... Not something important for the overall look but maybe there is a wrong offset error lurking around in your code (when it needs to be exact...).
Bye
Ron
Quote
nuttiness? I would call it "mixing pixel sizes".
Nice looking alien and good animation, but yeah everything is very high res compared to the pixelated alien...Looks odd, like the art was drawn by 2 different people.
As for scaling to enlarge a sprite, even then it's too much of a leap from super crisp to super pixelated.
yep you are correct. The main ship and the blobby things were drawn ages ago and at a different resolution.
I'm redrawing them all to better fit with everything else now :)
nothing to show just working on some sound stuff
Are you using the graphics from Xenon II and redoing them a bit? Just wondering as Rebellion ( who acquired Bitmap Brothers ) may use you as a trampoline if it's too close :o - careful not to infringe on things ;)
no bitmap brother graphics were used - just the style 8)
Jolly good, carry on ;D
Xenon 2 was one of the few good scrolling shooters for PC in the 80s/90s - there were dozens of good ones though for other systems....
I remember playing many of these in the Arcade and on friends' C64s and other computers from then...
The version of Xenon 2 I had had a cheat which was that if you pressed I think it was letter 'i' on the graphics choice menu before the game began you would never lose health throughout the game.
interesting to hear about the cheat - hmmm.... :P
so not much to show apart from a full shop:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-10-at-08.13.49.png?w=800)
It's not as many items as in Xenon2, but there's lots to buy and get.
Last few days has been trying to get them all working...
The sprites are offset .. two times:
1 - they are visually offset (as the "inner shadow" of the background and the "left border" of the frame share the same color ... the left border looks "thinner" then).
(https://imgur.com/ByvDO0O.png)
2 - the robot is offset (maybe it is animated and "shaking" around?)
(https://imgur.com/NZ9VYei.png)
bye
Ron
Another thing I noticed - and mentioned one or two times in the past already : your scaling algorithm does not take care of equally sized pixels.
(https://imgur.com/QFEJ9CI.png)
Maybe add an option for "black border"s and then ensure that width and height of the "content" has a fixed ratio and is a multiple of your "original resolution".
bye
Ron
And (please correct me if i'm wrong here), but haven't I said the scaling is fine, it just depends on how openGL does it's thing and the window sizes. It's not really an issue :)
I'll give you the offset though :)
But I think you understood what I tried to explain with the fixed aspect ratio thing? -- some people prefer black borders "all around" but a perfect square "pixel". If not drop a line and I will come up with some pictures :)
bye
Ron
Sorry Derron I couldn't resist:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-10-at-14.18.26.png?w=665)
Still running at 800x1024 - with borders as requested...
if that is needed ... some might even be ok with the stretched pixel look of some C64 games - but you should then ensure, that all pixels are "equally" stretched (so eg 3*2 pixels for each "original" pixel). Having different stretching on the pixels ... just looks odd.
Also it should not be too difficult for you to implement (as your engine is surely already capable of doing so).
Edit:
(https://imgur.com/6soSNSl.png)
Seems the space ocean monster gives a piss on what we discuss here :)
PS: If it is ok ... you could ... have the option to rotate the whole image by +-90 degrees? So people with a "pivot" screen (can be rotated) could play it in full glory :)
(attention - you should not need virtual input then for gamepads and mices ... normally the OS already rotates the whole desktop then)
bye
Ron
Busy trying to get it together...
Got the base shop working:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-13-at-11.52.22.png?w=795)
Stunning
Looking superb!
One pretty shop.
hehehe - and it finally works too...
Today is about menus:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-14-at-12.27.24.png?w=798)
today is all about input:
getting the joystick to function as the keyboard
getting the keyboard and joystick to control menus as well as the mouse
getting everything loaded and saved correctly
Today is all about music and balance...
Got the difficulty setting working, so that's something...
New enemies - lets just call them all "lil' basterds"
New level but it needs a boss...
oh crap, oh lordy. Where's me icon? What was that... Where did I put the zip app... :'(
It's finished: :o
Can you get to the top of the scores...?
https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite (https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite)
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzQ0MzU3ODEucG5n/original/znRRSo.png)
Hi Adam,
I'm having a go at the game now but there appears to be some issue with the shop that's preventing me either selecting anything to buy or be able to exit the shop - unless I press esc which quits the game. I thought it was something to do with the configured game pad controls so I disconnected that and switched back to the default cursor keys and space bar to play. Sometimes I see a green bar under one of the icons in the shop and sometimes it just tells me the price of something that I can't afford yet, and it looks like nothing is selected at all. Can't play any further than this as you can't exit the shop even without trying to buy anything.
Also took a while to find CTRL and Q to quit as I was playing in full screen mode. Might be worthwhile making esc do that on title screen or have menu option to exit game?
Other than that, the ships I have been destroying in the first wave before the shop have been most satisfying so I want to see the rest :)
Oh, I'll just add that the game asked me to give it access to keyboard functions when first launched so I did that and it still asked the next time. I don't think that's related as the shooting section of the game is working fine - just the shop that doesn't seem to be reading them.
Use the mouse in the shop
QuoteI'll just add that the game asked me to give it access to keyboard functions when first launched so I did that and it still asked the next time.
it's related to monkey2 - don't ask. this is the last program to be built with it as I'm leaving it behind...
I'll consider the shop issue a bug and fix it for you :)
Seems your time was running out ... you hurried through your "teaser"-image: the ship was bluntly pasted into the image - including its background...
(https://imgur.com/WjvWNHq.png)
Were not able to test the game yet - has to wait until the kids are in bed.
PS: and "we" have to improve the logo after the competition (it is too smooth compared to the "pixel" look of the others - so maybe it is time to improve our photoshop->pixel-gradients skills :D). For ideas, go back to reply #2 in this thread :)
PPS: Hope sooner or later there is a linux binary too (as with your other games)
bye
Ron
Just tried it with Wine ... starts up... plays music, displays stuff etc ....
- the floppy drive is not horizontally centered ;-)
- difficulty: noob, brutal ... and snowflake (and others) - for me "brutal" sounds more difficult than "snowflake" (so .. innocent!)
- when selecting the entry to start the game I hit "space" to activate...
- - the "mechanic walls" come from top and bottom in a "slow pace" (so not snappy fast)
- - while this happens I can hit "space" again and it restarts the animation
- - can "space" "space" ... again and again
- - same for escape key ... it would over and over start the animation again
- - but letting loose "esc" for a while then starts the game :)
bye
Ron
Very nice. 8) Plays well, looks great. Apart from the fried eggs which look out of place and a bit naff.
For me the craft feels a bit heavy on the controls, like I'm dragging it through sand. Apart from that gameplay is smooth and fast though. I don't like the use of a plain mouse pointer in a game of this sort (arcade shooter). Everything should be selectable with the gamepad, except maybe inputting your name into the high score. And how do you do that exactly? I'm told I get highscores, but wasn't prompted for my name or initials. The creatures in the walls seem invincible, it would be more fair if you could kill them and therefore stop them shooting at you.
fair points
to make the ship mucj more responsive you need to shoot and collect 'FAST' bonus or wait for the shop...
I can certainly look at making the side enemies on level 3 shootable for you :)
The shop is the only place you need a mouse (working on a fix for that) everywhere else the joystick/keyboard will work fine :)
ok - and how do I enter my name/initials for a high score?
I didn't have time to enter initials. :-X
I can work on it as a bug/request ;D
Took me a while to get off the high scores list. I was fooled by the "..." thinking I was having to enter my name. Clicking the mouse seemed to be the only way to get off that screen.
What seems to work well, and I'm not sure you've done it deliberately but fair play if so, is getting back into the game after you've lost a life and are thrown back into the fray with all your power ups gone. I could recover more often than not as a couple of speed ups and shot booster usually wasn't far away. What did annoy me was in the second level where the big guy comes down and his bullets seem to move with you when you're trying to avoid them so you can really do nothing but take the hits and go down.
I've not got much further in the game yet but I'm trying as I really like it. Would prefer it without the mouse input as well as just using keys or pad - especially in the shop.
consider everything being sorted - particularly the keyboard/joystick input for menus, etc :)
Okydoke. I'm now happy ;D
All suggestions, fixes etc have now been done and upped:
https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite (https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite)
V1.01
First update. this focusses on adding full keyboard and joy support on all menus including the shop!
Also added is ability to add initials to your hiscore.
Some graphics have been changed - made slightly bigger and colors altered
general bug hunting
re balancing of game to make it a bit fairer - but don't worry it's still as brutal as ever.
Difficulty setting are now numbered so you can see which is the lowest and highest etc.
The game levels have been tweaked a tiny bit to make the fairer and give more bonus items. But nothing has really been added - the 3 maps remain the same.
The mouth and lazer shooters (on level 3) can now be shot...
No extra enemies or levels has been added as this is just rebalancing and correcting stuff.
Pressing F1 or 1 on windows will enable fullscreen! MacOS just use the system ctrl+cmd+F
V1.02 will get new levels after the competition finishes \o/
Better...I still don't like gravity in space though ;D The constant need to thrust or you descend to the bottom of the screen. After the comp option perhaps?
I can look into that ;)
- hitting "ESCAPE" after confirming "game start" leads to the menu becoming blank (while the "closing door" animation happens)
- hitting "ESC" more and more ... then wait, you see the highscore menu
- animation finishes and the game starts ....
- hitting escape while the "disc read" sound is played ... sound crackles and the main menu music sounds ... "garbaged" (like through a metal can) and a bit "slower" -> maybe something is not "restored" properly
- glad to have keyboard setup ... "two cursor keys + space" are not working on my keyboard here (while lctrl works ... cheap signal routing in the keyboard)
edit: made a video:
[youtube width=800]https://youtu.be/a8C6GygHwkk[/youtube]
Each time the animations of the text (menu) restarts, I have hit "ESC"... same for the moment we start the game, or "exit" the game.
Video does not show the distorted sound I experienced once.
bye
Ron
Yeah sound seems a bit off this version, what else was changed?
@ Derron - what os are you running it on?
escape confirmed (if you keep hitting it) - will get that sorted :)
I'll check the sound routines too - What OS are you both using there?
Windows 10 (I haven't checked it on MacOS or Linux yet). But I did run fullscreen this time, not sure if that would make a difference or not.
I was running Linux (wine) ... but as your other games did run there I and am knowing you use some custom sound engine... with your own samples etc.
So I thought ... this error looks like some stuff like "pitch information" or "speed/tempo settings" were not correctly reset (maybe the "escape key" and the following abort of the animation lead to something - maybe your engine runs in a different thread or so).
Can run it on a mac or windows too.
Edit: tried to replicate the sound issue - and in one of my starts with a mouse click right on the fresh opened window resulted in a MAV:
(https://imgur.com/OOkLtEz.png)
(Edit2: replicated it multiple times: starting the app - window with black screen is created, rapidly clicking on it ... MAV ... - I assume it wants to go to the next screen but did not have the ressources created).
bye
Ron
Ok ... regarding sound issue:
- Start the game.
- When it plays the "floppy disc drive" sounds - click the "ESC" to skip the intro
- the main menu appears and in the background you still hear the "floppy disc drive" sounds (together with the music)
- the music volume fades down a bit because of the floppy sounds fade out too
- music might now sound a bit more "mechanical"
- is reproduceable here (so I could create a video for you)
If this is a bug - then not a game specific one, but from your backend/engine - as sound1 should not affect sound2 (except desired).
bye
Ron
yep - confirmed related to the esc. I'll get it sorted checked and a fix ready
all the sound stuff I would be careful about trying to work out what is going on - there is nothing that 'this suggests, etc' that really works as the sound system is doing a whole load of things. E,G, sound volume goes quiet is actually programmed into it and not an issue.
Remember that the sound engine is not a simple sample playback system. it's a whole synth engine, so what you think you are hearing might not be the reality... <grins>
But it does point to code issues that need to be addressed with a new audio core and shift to NG ;)
Quote
need to be addressed with a new audio core and shift to NG ;)
Adam you produce some good stuff, but you seem to be fighting a whole lot of instability by basing your codebase on a version of an abandoned Blitz BASIC Language...Oh wait you're moving onto... ;)
Quote from: iWasAdam on October 20, 2020, 15:22:31
E,G, sound volume goes quiet is actually programmed into it and not an issue.
This is what I meant ... you decrease volume of "complete output" - instead of the actually played "intro sound". Just think of 3 inputs and a mix table ... input 3 plays the intro screen stuff, input 2 the main menu and input 1 some overall SFX.
Now when going from "into" to "main" you somehow decrease "master volume" instead of decreasing "input 3"-volume (as it is no longer needed).
If "intro" and "menu" are meant to be "cross faded" - volume need to be manipulated for different "channels" (input2 and input3 in this case).
Maybe this works already and you just did something else - but sometimes it is just the most simplest "bug" people just do not think about in advance.
bye
Ron
Don't try to think what you think is happening. I know exactly what a mixer is, and have direct access into all voice channels. There in NO bug in the sound levels. They were deliberately programmed that way.
yet sound 1 ("disk") influences the volume of the menu screen music ... 8)
bye
Ron
NO - it doesn't! period NADA
You found a bug with the escape key - which will be fixed
and as for mixing desk stuff. guess what QasarBeach has:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-21-at-05.19.33.png?w=893)
In this case I know exactly what I am talking about - You don't!
Maybe give a little insight what the ESC key does / how screen transition affects sound voluume etc. Might help to understand :-)
Bye
Ron
V1.03 has now been upped: 8)
https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite (https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite)
Second update
removed ship drift for Steve
minor sound volumes tweak
sound issues with clicks fixed
crash if pressing keys at start fix
escape triggers menu when only in game
minor map edits
Been having a few plays this afternoon. Played on noob mode - definitely not a good idea as it's too long waiting for bad guys to shoot. Possibly maybe a different way to make game easier could be an idea in future, rather than the removal of some attack waves. Left me feeling that there's not a lot going on in the game that way when playing, which is obviously not the case once you select a harder level.
There looks to be a bit of a problem with some of the power up icons sticking inside the scenery when aliens drop them there after being shot. Some will work their way out but often too late to grab without wrecking half the ship in damage.
On level 3 I got jet-set-willy-ed at the part where I'm navigating between some walled areas with only small gaps. As I died once the respawn put me right at bottom of screen with a long wall directly in front of me and my exit to the left of screen was already covered with long vertical wall. Couldn't go backwards enough to prevent repeated deaths as I kept respawning at that point. If I remember rightly, the original xenon 2 actually let you move backwards a considerable distance over ground you'd already covered and only made it a bit slower, just so you could recover from scenario's like this. I'd recommend the same here.
The game is also much improved with the updated version, with better input handling of other areas such as the shop and intro screens. It's really good to play and I reckon I can complete the bugger with another few tries. I thought Syntax Bomb was your best game playability-wise, to date, but I think you've topped that now with this one.
This is so much better. Playability-wise, graphics and sound-wise, it's excellent. Very much a Xenon 2 version from SyntaxBomb - with some visual tricks. Well done. 8)
I'll see about the bonus situation just for you ;D
Now working on level 4! :o
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-22-at-11.11.56.png?w=764)
This will appear after the competition ends, as it is completely new with new enemies, etc :)
For your next game: maybe think of making tiles "repeatable" a bit ... or maybe have multi layer tiles: a more or less "tileable" pattern as background for overall shape - and then some "decoratives" which you can place on tiles + offsets (so they overlap tile boundaries).
This might result in a more organic look instead of the current "puzzled together" approach. In this "scifi-environment" you could have pipes or such stuff which come out of one tile on the left, go down a bit and finish a tile or two below. So stuff becomes more "connected".
Also ensure that the "outside" elements "end" - so another layer "on top" (if you did not need transparency - and so "transparency masks").
Think that would bring eg. this game to another visual level - Honey Quest was more "tied together" in this area. I assume it is because of the "size" of the levels and the amount of work to put in - but I know you are smart enough to be able to write your own "generator" which fills a given shape with something useful (as basement) and you then just doing some final arrangement changes here and there.
Albeit I wrote a lot about it now it is not there to "nag" around ... as always I want people to improve to create even more stunning and interesting games for us to play - and enjoy.
bye
Ron
one things begin to move it smooths things out a bit :)
I also needed a mechanic boss for this level. And here is in all his parts and pixel glory...
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-23-at-11.58.00.png?w=1008)
Looks pretty cool that "mob".
Tiny suggestion: the cables and the "connector" - they look as if you copy+mirrored the same basement (same "pixel outline") - maybe move one of them to the center of the connector - at least magnified they look a bit "odd" (as if there was a second cable/tube missing below the other one).
that "arm"/claw looks similar to the clam/seamonster-boss ... let's surprise us how it "moves/behaves" at the end. Mechanical mobs could collect metal debris and fire it towards the enemy...
bye
Ron
Awesome work, love the graphics and the sound and how frantic it gets as you level up ;)
hehehe - thanks :)
Last level is almost done:
(https://vjointeractive.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screenshot-2020-10-24-at-08.59.10.png?w=528)
That looks superb. It's got a real donpachi feel to it
OOh - high praise :)
Last version is now out:
https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite (https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite)
This one has the new level 4. So either use 1.03 or 1.04 and don't play the last level :P
Adam, is there a pause button for the game? I want to show you an area on level 4 where you just get completely blocked and can't progress without losing all lives. I can't seem to grab it with Snagit unless I'm able to pause the game really.
Also when the game first comes up, or you finish a game and it goes back to the title screen then, unless you move up or down to activate the menu cursor then pressing space just jumps between game and high scores and they aren't visible. Not sure if this is intentional or actually a bug.
Obviously level 4 is nothing to do with the competition version of the game so this doesn't count as a "GNASH! NOW YOU. TELL ME!" report :)
yep the 'fire' on menu/hiscore is a toggle.
if you don't touch anything they will cycle between them. 'fire' will take you to the next/previous.
Yep with level 4 there are some very nasty little map tricks going on. I can remove them if that would help and not seem as nasty? 8)
Quote from: iWasAdam on October 25, 2020, 12:15:45
yep the 'fire' on menu/hiscore is a toggle.
if you don't touch anything they will cycle between them. 'fire' will take you to the next/previous.
Yep with level 4 there are some very nasty little map tricks going on. I can remove them if that would help and not seem as nasty? 8)
This one seems impossible to get past that's why I want to show you. Is there a pause button in the game?
Someone on youtube recommended this to me: (the algorithm)
https://youtu.be/YjQd6m7SJd8
Looks and sounds great.
\o/
Well I worked very hard on the sound going back to the original amiga libraries I've got and searching for good sounds to use.
It's also a very good demo of QasarBeach as I think this is a windows capture and the sound is perfect with no glitches. Not bad for live realtime sound engine - not streamed from an ogg file.
The soundtrack is 16 voices with mutivoices (more than one sound over a keyboard), the effects are another 16 channels on top of that. They are just being used as sample playback, but they could be synth too... :)
3.3mb for the soundtrack
One thing to note is the initial disk loading - the light flickers at the correct time. as does the shader on the menus - timed to perfection...
V1.04b upped for MacOS Catalina:
https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite (https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite)
This does not change anything apart from removing the security dialog when run. Please give it a test and let me know if it works - My fingers are crossed on this one :)
Quote from: iWasAdam on October 28, 2020, 12:25:04
V1.04b upped for MacOS Catalina:
https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite (https://adamstrange.itch.io/axonite)
This does not change anything apart from removing the security dialog when run. Please give it a test and let me know if it works - My fingers are crossed on this one :)
Yep, it's fixed now. What's the pause button, Adam? I'm going to set fire to your mailbox, if you don't tell me soon. :)
@ Xerra check out the itch.io page I've upped a new version especially for you :P
press P when in the game to more or less toggle pause everything...