R.O.C.K.

[Henrock431]

Hey everyone, I'm back with a rather substantial update!

Download Alpha 5!

Added the Status Screen as requested! Now you can see which keys you've collected, and all that good stuff. it isn't 100% complete as you will see every screen says that you are in the Ion Ventilation System. Also added lives, though you don't get a game over when they run out as this would only frustrate me during testing. It also keeps track of the viva things as you will see on the status screen.


Fixed the shooting bug that i didn't fix properly last time. Shooting on moving platforms should work better now too.

I tried to increase the timing window for the impossible pogo trick but i'm not sure it's any better... opinions on that?

To Do List:
-jump shooting from pogo
-enemies inconsistent speed on slopes
-menus
-remember what the episode story was going to be about...


Oh, and does anyone know at what intervals of points the game gives you an extra life? I need to add that too.

Also other ideas or bug that you find I'd be happy to hear about. Thanks for all the support guys, I probably would have given up on this a long time ago if it were for all you!

[Commander Spleen]

Oh, and does anyone know at what intervals of points the game gives you an extra life? I need to add that too.

20,000 * (2 ^ n), where n is the number of lives already acquired through points.

That is, it doubles after each life acquired through score.

Correct me IIdRK.

[Mink]

Nice update. The status screen works quite well, and the impossible pogo is easier to pull off.

The few bugs I noticed which haven't been mentioned yet are:
-It takes too long for the screen to move when Keen looks up or down.
-Keen can still move around on the map after entering a level.

The only feature I can think of at the moment that I'd like to see implemented is a "You didn't make it past ..." screen when Keen dies.

Other than those, great job. The physics are truly amazing for a fan game.

[Fleexy]

This is being made in Game Maker 7, right? That must be a pain. Game Maker is quite annoying when it comes to pull-down menus and good stuff like that. It's also annoying that you can't place 'infoplane' objects to target switches to bridges. Although I found a way to outsmart Game Maker. First, this requires a complete redesign of the switches' behaviour. Here's how I do it:

First, we need to make a new object called keen_flipswitch with a switch-flipping sprite. For normal Keen, for the key-press (UP) event, run a check to see if Keen is touching the switch. If so, change into keen-Flipswitch. Also, after keen-flipswitch is done, turn him back into normal Keen. Now for the good stuff. In the room, Ctrl+RightClick on the switch and choose Creation Code. Type this into the box:

Code: Select all

{
// If you want to turn a bridge ON:
change_sprite(switch_off) // or something like that
bthere = 0
// If you want to turn a bridge OFF:
bthere = 1
change_sprite(switch_on) // not sure if command is correct
// Now for the guts:
xa = ? // ? = x of bridge
ya = ? // ? = y of bridge
}

Now, for the switch's collision with keen_flipswitch, put this:

Code: Select all

{
if bthere = 0 {
instance_create(bridge,xa,ya)
change_sprite(switch_on) // ?
bthere = 1
exit
}
if bthere = 1 {
instance_create(bridgekill,xa,ya) // you'll need an invisible object called bridgekill to piece by peice destroy the bridge
change_sprite(bridge_off) // ?
bthere = 0
exit
}
}

lol, I forgot ;s at the end of intructions. Ah, well.

Hope this makes bridges easier!

[Ceilick]

The impossible pogo is now perfect!

I just did the comparison with keen in dosbox and this open and here are my findings:
-Keen moves slightly too slow both on the world map and in levels in ROCK. He should move a bit faster.
-In the original Keens, the screen does not scroll when keen jumps or when he pogos (it scrolls a tiny bit when keen does an impossible pogo). ROCK scrolls the moment keen jumps. Can this be fixed?
-While bouncing with the pogostrick, in the original game Keen bounces a bit faster than in ROCK. The bounce speed should be increased slightly (probably the same increase as walking movement i'd guess)
-Keen should also fall from pogoing or jumping at the same speed that he goes up (or very near it, if less)

Again, this is looking so awesome. The best fangame to recreate the original Keen-Galaxy experience

[tulip]

Two little issues I might add:
- the game stops for an instant when the song is over and restarts. I don't know if this can be resolved.
- you have to stand still before you can look up or down. (I don't mean keen should be able to look up or down while walking, I only mean to say that the looking buttons don't respond before you stand still. for example: I have jumped, and I am on the fall, now I press the down button and hold it. In the original games Keen should now look down as soon as he lands. In ROCK however he does nothing, I have to re-press the button when keen stands still.)

[Henrock431]

Fleexy, i'm not entirely sure what you're talking about... this was made in GM5 and i'm pretty happy with the way my switch-bridges are working now, but thanks for the ideas.

The few bugs I noticed which haven't been mentioned yet are:
-It takes too long for the screen to move when Keen looks up or down.
-Keen can still move around on the map after entering a level.

The only feature I can think of at the moment that I'd like to see implemented is a "You didn't make it past ..." screen when Keen dies.

Ok, so i fixed the moving while entering a level, and added the "you didn't make it past.." popup. Also a complete overhaul of the camera follow system is brewing in my head and will soon be implemented.

The impossible pogo is now perfect!

I just did the comparison with keen in dosbox and this open and here are my findings:
-Keen moves slightly too slow both on the world map and in levels in ROCK. He should move a bit faster.
-In the original Keens, the screen does not scroll when keen jumps or when he pogos (it scrolls a tiny bit when keen does an impossible pogo). ROCK scrolls the moment keen jumps. Can this be fixed?
-While bouncing with the pogostrick, in the original game Keen bounces a bit faster than in ROCK. The bounce speed should be increased slightly (probably the same increase as walking movement i'd guess)
-Keen should also fall from pogoing or jumping at the same speed that he goes up (or very near it, if less)

Again, this is looking so awesome. The best fangame to recreate the original Keen-Galaxy experience

Glad the impossible pogo is better! Hey, thanks for doing those comparisons for me, i'll be tweaking that for the next release.

Two little issues I might add:
- the game stops for an instant when the song is over and restarts. I don't know if this can be resolved.
- you have to stand still before you can look up or down. (I don't mean keen should be able to look up or down while walking, I only mean to say that the looking buttons don't respond before you stand still. for example: I have jumped, and I am on the fall, now I press the down button and hold it. In the original games Keen should now look down as soon as he lands. In ROCK however he does nothing, I have to re-press the button when keen stands still.)

The music thing is, I'm afraid, what it is, and I have no known way to fix it. And again I'll be redoing the camera soon to work much better

Thanks for all the feed back everyone! Oh, and Levellass I started adding cheats too!

[Levellass]

Hooorah!


This is shaping up to be something really incredible. This is really Game Maker 5?

[Henrock431]

Sure is!

[Dynamo]

Something tells me that the red alien is a bit lost.

Anyways very good update. It's getting better and better. I like the new levels.

[Henrock431]

Hahaha! yeah... something needs be done about that!

Great news everyone! I found the part of my GM5 code that GM7 didn't like and was about to fix it! I'm now working in GM7! it's soooooo much quicker. Mostly because of the ability to copy and paste multiple code objects at once.

Also since converting I've found that the game no longer lags when the music tracks restart!

Oh and I've redone most of my ground tiles to have more depth, screens of that coming soon!

[Roobar]

Now that's really great news!

[Henrock431]

As Promised, here are some screenshots for you all!
As you can see the tiles now have much more depth and look more like something from the original games.

[Fleexy]

Wow!

Can you use my extra-versatile bridge system now?

[Henrock431]

I'm sorry Fleexy, I honestly don't understand your bridge coding, but it's ok, my bridges work quite well as it is, so I really don't see the point in reworking it all. Right now I'm focusing on fixing bugs and things not yet implemented.