Test these controls and comment plz! (poll too)

[pyrometal]

Hello everyone, pyro here! I started yet another project which I've been keeping secret up to now that is... It has no official name yet and I am recycling Mazeman's tile and his style somewhat, but into a very different mix, this one is intented to be a pure plateformer of a more traditional type. I won't be using Mazeman's tile at all later, I just needed a quick plateform, and also, it'll be in color. The mechanics of the characters are complete (or nearly) and are essentially the same, but with slight variations and adjustments, which I will list later. Also, I like polls, so choose your favorite character at the top of the page! I'm posting this for feedback, and I mean anything you notice, big or small, or annoying, etc. DON'T HESITATE TO LET ME KNOW!

Cool fact: All the characters are actually the same actor! And even cooler, there is only one sprite sheet for all characters, and absolutely NO SEQUENCES whatsoever. The laser also uses the same system. The needed frames are selected through an algorithm which I created specially for this purpose. I call the concept, "frame shifting", if you want to know more or want a demo of this (very useful) technique, just ask!

There isn't anything graphically spectacular so I will refrain from putting up a screenshot this time around.

Heres a lists of character specs:

Dave: Slightly faster than average, fastest firing rate but weak shots, average jump.
Lory: Normal running speed, medium firing rate with good power, she slow her fall slightly if you hold the jump key (hard to notice)
Mike: Normal running speed but as very high traction and great acceleration, ok firing rate with good power, normal jump.
Mo: Normal running speed, good firing rate with medium power, jumps a block higher than everyone else.
Zack: Very fast running speed but has slow acceleration and bad traction, Slow firing rate but fast and powerful shot, normal jump.

Here it is!

Pyro's New Project.zip

Enjoy the testing!

(795.31 KiB) Downloaded 103 times

My favorite character is either Zack or Lory, but I haven't made up my mind yet, all the characters are cool in their own ways!

[stevenp]

can you post a window mode version plz, full screen doesnt work for me

[pyrometal]

Window version! (lol, again)

Window version!.zip

(795.28 KiB) Downloaded 100 times

[stevenp]

my fav are

1 dave

becuase he has the highest DPS ( damage per second ) rate

and hes fairly fast, ( fast enough to get away from enemys )

you might want to nerf him a bit, cuz he seems a litle bit over powered then the opthers. ( mabye make him stationary while shooting )

[pyrometal]

cool! Does it look promising? Anything to improve?

[stevenp]

ya i edited my post above

looks good so far,

you know that i love any game with alot of upgrades, options, or spells / attacks

[pyrometal]

I don't know about upgrades and stuff yet, that's still to determine... Dave's weapon should do less damage per shot when programed, so the DPS should be relatively similar, just dealt differently... Also, it should be undeads and ghosts as enemies, and they'll have different healths too, weighing in the balance. Thanks for commenting!

[stevenp]

ooh k i didnt know that, nice

[pyrometal]

Bumping, sorry... But seriously, I've had no feed back except from one person! So I feel somewhat allowed to, in order to possibly counter that... Still waiting!

[feral]

hi pyro

I hope i have been here long enough to qualify to give feedback

anyhow, i love the characters except i find mo ? a little hard to see on smaller resolutions maybe a hat ? if you are sticking with darker backgrounds.

also i find that i can occasionally get myself stuck against walls, tho I usually slowly slide down them.. ( holding jump keys and direction at the same time) not sure if this is a bug or intentional, but it would be cool to leave it in the game, but have the characters "scrabble" um don't know the word...but try to climb/grab the wall etc while they are sliding.. ie: a comical style "oops i am slipping"

also in these sorts or games with inertia at stop time, they often test to see how close to the edge the character is and do some sort of paniky "oops i am not going to stop in time" action, which would suit your game i think.

I can occaisionally get the characters to stick to a corner of a block if i jump exactly and hit the corner at about waist height.

and ' no offence' on this one, as it is more "my playing style", but I personally find that being able to change direction mid jump tends to make me feel like i am flying, and not jumping especially on the characters that can jump high.. but this is just me..

and another personal note, just an idea, but maybe in the first frame or two of the jump sequence they could do a down bob then jump up ie: bend the knees and push up (like we jump) don't know if that would work tho..

hope that helps

but is really cool looking and I can't wait to see more ! what are your enemies going to be ?
PS. love the expressions when they shoot..lol
cheers
feral

[stevenp]

hi pyro

I personally find that being able to change direction mid jump tends to make me feel like i am flying, and not jumping especially on the characters that can jump high.. but this is just me..

feral

O_O! what ever you do DO NOT take out AIR CONTROL!! PLEASE! O_O!

lol.. not havving air control is my BIGGEST pet peve in ANY video game


castlevania 1-2-3 on the NES were amazing games, but air control was un commen back then, so it was not in the game

then came castlevania 4 for the SNES, which it DID have air control. and AHHH what a relife!


air control allows you to have more perssision with your attacks, also if you accidentaly jump the wrong way.. you wont have to suffer for those 2 seconds thinking. oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap,

its just like being in a car collision in the winter time, you see the car comming towards you for 15 seconds... but theres nothing you can do about it... by the time you land back on the ground the enemy has hit you 4 times already

this can also be bad if you DO have air controll, but to much air time ( the MIAN reason why i didnt like HALO 1 )

( btw i never look at my key bord when i type, and also i am ANTI spell check )

[pyrometal]

thanks for replying!

@ feral: You don't have to worry, your more than qualified to review any of my stuff feral! I noticed all the things you have mentioned while testing my game. The wall sliding is an unintentional bug I have yet to fix, and Lory is the most prone to that I might add... My backgrounds will be very varied, currently in the demo I'm recycling an old sprite for quick test, but currently, I am building some tiles to use for this game. (I made some really cool red bricks!) About the "waist high" thing, I'll try my best to fix it, but its yet another bug I'm having a hard time countering. Your also right about some slidy animations of panic being suitable, but the problem is I don't have a good way of testing for any edges, so unless I find one, I don't think I could make such a thing without creating more bugs. The jump will most likely remain the way it is, otherwise people may get frustrated for not having enough control and landing in spikes unintentionally and stuff... I know it isn't realistic though, but thanks for mentioning it, I may do some adjustments on the speed of directional influence in the air! I'll also investigate the jumping proposition. The monsters are all gonna be undead, ghosts, monsters, etc. I already programed my first enemy, its a floating ghost that can't go through walls! Also easy to kill... lol, we NEED weaklings ya know! Thanks for all those propositions, they help steer me in the right direction. ttyl!

@ Stevenp: never fear! Air control will still exist, but I may end up diminishing it slightly to avoid people doing to many "crazy and impossible" stunts in the air.

[feral]

thanks for replying!
Your also right about some slidy animations of panic being suitable, but the problem is I don't have a good way of testing for any edges,

my suggestion would be to place an invisible ( read.. lower zdepth) block at the end of each ledge that he runs on ( smaller ledges wouldn't matter) ie: behind the last block on a ledge.

then have two types a left hand end and a right hand end..

then do something like

if running right AND stopping AND on a right hand edge
DO right slide
if running left AND stopping on a left hand edge
DO left slide

if you only want him to slide if he is very close to the edge do a smaller ( like half size block )

the other issues with the waist and wall stickies , I think are due to the head being larger then the body.. but... i will have a closer look at it for you, tho again probably a "invisible" block parented to the actor would make them "blockier" in collisions and they wouldn't get caught out on overhanging pixels cuasing collisions grabbing on corners etc.. i think..

hope that helps

cheers
feral

[feral]

OK, i just had another look for you,

the waist high problem is definately the head being larger then the body..

are the heads different sprites to the body ? they seem to be ? if so could you turn off collision on the heads ?

secondly you are right, the wall sticky seems to only be the girl character..(lori ?) .and the only thing i can see that is different is some of the pixels in here hair are differently placed then most of the guys hair .. i would try giving her a haircut and see if you have the same prob..

hope that helps

cheers
feral

[pyrometal]

I have to reveal a technique I've used for the collisions to explain this better. The Character sprite as a whole which includes every character and every one of their frames, but however, this sprite actor is not responsible for any of the controls or object interactions... Ther is another sprite hidden underneath the player sprite which is in charge of everything! This sprite is the same for all characters, therefore collisions are always consistent, and I do not have to worry about hair going out of bounds, which means Lory's hair is not the cause of wall stick, but rather her less than obvious "slow fall". The problem is do in fact to the way the collision sprite is shaped! I tried to reduce this problem in the past by triming away the head part, but, if I trim too much, I'll get other problems later, such as lasers not hitting when they look like they should have, etc. I have to review this code section, I may endup making wall collisions more "elastic" so people can't grab the edge without falling, which should solve the problem. Also I may end up modifying Lory's jump with some better and "more obvious" properties, and should solve wall stickiness (two birds with one stone! but not literaly...) Thank you once again feral! Your review is very appreciated! I'll post a more concrete demo soon (hopefully) with a better outlook on my design intent!

-- pyro