I really like your idea about a linear 3D game, but I think the best would be to actually use both linear and non-linear maps, that way the game becomes more variated, don't you think?
and for those who praised the music, Thank you ^^
Commander Keen 64 Demo
Ok, I think I found a solution to the menu loading problem. I made it so all of the graphic loading happens before the menu loads, so when you first start the executable it should take a few secs to load with a black screen, then the menu should show up. So once you press enter it loads the game quickly, rather than loading all of the graphics when you press enter.
If this solves the problem I might, in the next update, add a "Please Wait" graphic just so you know it didn't crash. But that's if I even know this has solved the problem, if it has, please someone tell me. It didn't solve the problem or made it worse, it's ok, I'll just go back to the original design.
So when you start the game, as mentioned, the screen will be black for a few secs, and if it doesn't seem to be loading the menu, please wait at least 30 secs, at the most, to see if it would load.
What platforms does Keen go through? Because before I released the game I thought I had fixed him getting stuck on the ones by the gun, then he started getting stuck on the cylinders, so I fixed that with v 0.2. But it seems like there are others he gets stuck on as well.
Yeah the overworld maps will definitely be non-linear (except for the few levels that you have to complete to get through like the big ice one, the big green city, the first level, etc).
And the idea behind the future level design is to have the levels have multiple paths, which is what I tried hinting towards in the demo's level. I made it so you could go up the cylinders to get the gun, rather than like the old games where usually you'd go the same path as before but just up high to get the gun.
Or when you have to get to the exit, all of the old Keen games usually had only one path to get to the exit, I made it so there could be an easy route and a route (with the pizza) that was harder, but you get a reward. So that's what I would like to do with the full game, but on a larger scale and mix things up a little.
If this solves the problem I might, in the next update, add a "Please Wait" graphic just so you know it didn't crash. But that's if I even know this has solved the problem, if it has, please someone tell me. It didn't solve the problem or made it worse, it's ok, I'll just go back to the original design.
So when you start the game, as mentioned, the screen will be black for a few secs, and if it doesn't seem to be loading the menu, please wait at least 30 secs, at the most, to see if it would load.
Thanks Mink alot!Mink wrote:This is a vast improvement over the beta. Its coming along nicely. I really like the Mars scenery, the rotating "This is neat." sign, and the cute yorps and gargs. The music is fantastic. Also, I hope some of the later levels integrate the scenery with the platforms.
Here are some bugs I noticed:
- The controls window flickers when the F1 window is brought up.
- Keen goes through the bottoms of platforms.
- I also had the problem of having to press enter quite a few times to start the game.
Excellent work. Can't wait for more levels!
What platforms does Keen go through? Because before I released the game I thought I had fixed him getting stuck on the ones by the gun, then he started getting stuck on the cylinders, so I fixed that with v 0.2. But it seems like there are others he gets stuck on as well.
Thank you so much ZidaneA!ZidaneA wrote:Amazing! Truly. This game is just so loveable
I really like your idea about a linear 3D game, but I think the best would be to actually use both linear and non-linear maps, that way the game becomes more variated, don't you think?
Yeah the overworld maps will definitely be non-linear (except for the few levels that you have to complete to get through like the big ice one, the big green city, the first level, etc).
And the idea behind the future level design is to have the levels have multiple paths, which is what I tried hinting towards in the demo's level. I made it so you could go up the cylinders to get the gun, rather than like the old games where usually you'd go the same path as before but just up high to get the gun.
Or when you have to get to the exit, all of the old Keen games usually had only one path to get to the exit, I made it so there could be an easy route and a route (with the pizza) that was harder, but you get a reward. So that's what I would like to do with the full game, but on a larger scale and mix things up a little.
Well I've found this on the web about X360 controller: http://forum.mininova.org/lofiversion/i ... 90208.html
Hopefully that will help a bit.
Btw now is much better with reduced sliding.
Hopefully that will help a bit.
Btw now is much better with reduced sliding.
Ah ok, thanks for link. Looking at it gave me an idea of how to figure out the start button.
When you go into Window's controller properties in the control panel and it shows the button circles with numbers on them like this, what number lights up when you press the start button? Because Blitz's button mapping usually correlates to the numbers that Windows gives them.
When you go into Window's controller properties in the control panel and it shows the button circles with numbers on them like this, what number lights up when you press the start button? Because Blitz's button mapping usually correlates to the numbers that Windows gives them.
Keen doesn't get stuck in any platforms, he is able to go through the bottoms and sides of the red platforms (screenshot).Lava89 wrote:What platforms does Keen go through? Because before I released the game I thought I had fixed him getting stuck on the ones by the gun, then he started getting stuck on the cylinders, so I fixed that with v 0.2. But it seems like there are others he gets stuck on as well.
Unfortunately, I still have to press enter quite a few times before the game starts. I don't think loading the graphics when the game starts up has anything to do with the problem. Once the game realizes that I pressed enter, it starts immediately. The problem is that most times when I press enter, nothing happens. It doesn't freeze, it just doesn't recognize that I pressed enter.
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GoldenRishi
- Vortininja
- Posts: 229
- Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:20
Well, it's been about a week since this demo has been delivered.
Well, full review --as promised-- a week late. =P
All right, let's begin with:
Controls. MUCH better. This is vastly superior (though still in need of work) over the beta. The increased movement is good, it allows for a lot more flow in the movement. Flow is always a must in gameplay. Again, the turning is still slow; I'm not sure how to find that happy medium between too fast and too slow rotation of the camera, but once you do find it, you'll be golden. Now, you have a limited degree of freedom in your camera.
What do I mean by this? You remember back in calculus III when you learn about the azimuth (on the XY-plane) angle and the zenith (coming off the Z-axis) angle?
Well, right now we have the azimuth angle, it'd be awesome if you could add the zenith angle, too. I know some programmers use the alpha, beta, gamma angles --those are workable, too. Basically I'm asking if we can "look up" or "look down". Those features would make this game even better. Or pan out a bit, because it's hard to make a lot of these close-nit jumps without being able to see where we're landing.
Animation/Modeling. Well, I must say, I love all of it. A lot of it is N64 type of gimmicks with irrotatible objects (like the grass in the secret level) and such, but I really like it. The Gargs have a lot of character to them with those eye movements, as do the Yorps. There's a lot to be said about making a Yorp retain its odd cuteness in a 3D world, and I'm impressed.
Keen looks 10^100000 times better, haha. The last one was good --in a stand still frame. But it looked blobbish when moving. This one looks good moving, and there's a lot to be said for that as well.
Those backgrounds of the mountain scapes, yes, as I told you when you first showed them to me six months ago, those are just awesome and add a HUGE HUGE HUGE level of fun to levels. They make the levels seem so much larger and inviting than just a blah (or even cool looking) background.
The main level, BWB rocket, (especially the graphics in the hidden level I loved). It's like these places I've always wanted to travel to in the Keen universe, all of a sudden they've popped out and come alive. It's really, really cool.
Sound and Music. To get this out of the way quickly, there's a huge group of Keen music'ers who deserve a lot of props for the music they make. I know I intended to use some of it in my game, and I'd love to shake the hands of the people who make the good stuff. If you're bored, you can sit down and find a fair few songs that are pretty cool.
Now, at first, I was really apprehensive about you using Commander Keen 1's walking, cheesy PC sound effect. But really, I like it --a lot. It adds that amount of cheesy Keeny-ness that works for the game. I've got some more sound effects from Keen Dreams that I think might work for you, next time you get on AIM.
Level Design. I know you were not intending to focus on this, but while the main, non-map level is a first try and fairly clever implementation of a 2D world projected into the 3D world... It is lacking. The objects need re-programming. It's annoying to sit there and trying to jump again and again for candy and such. I would suggest that for the items, you find a way to work on those "candy arcs". Those are way cool (and trust me, I know, in 2D alone they are way hard to work). Now, however, the two new levels you have designed are brilliant. The secret level looks just like I would have expected that "place" to look. It was really a treat to walk around there (but seriously, LET US JUMP IN THERE! Come on!). And that world map?
Oh man, I love that world map. It looks really cool with those mountains moving with you; it reminds me of that level in Zelda: OOT where you're in that court yard.
Physics. Much, much better. Again, the friction for some objects is slightly off, but it's not bad. I addressed a lot of the physics above in the controls section. One sentence, though, is crucial:
Aristotle was wrong, gravity is accelerates, it is not a velocity!
Haha.
I cannot think of anything else, to be honest. Good job, chat me up on AIM again, I have something I'd like to discuss.
Well, full review --as promised-- a week late. =P
All right, let's begin with:
Controls. MUCH better. This is vastly superior (though still in need of work) over the beta. The increased movement is good, it allows for a lot more flow in the movement. Flow is always a must in gameplay. Again, the turning is still slow; I'm not sure how to find that happy medium between too fast and too slow rotation of the camera, but once you do find it, you'll be golden. Now, you have a limited degree of freedom in your camera.
What do I mean by this? You remember back in calculus III when you learn about the azimuth (on the XY-plane) angle and the zenith (coming off the Z-axis) angle?
Well, right now we have the azimuth angle, it'd be awesome if you could add the zenith angle, too. I know some programmers use the alpha, beta, gamma angles --those are workable, too. Basically I'm asking if we can "look up" or "look down". Those features would make this game even better. Or pan out a bit, because it's hard to make a lot of these close-nit jumps without being able to see where we're landing.
Animation/Modeling. Well, I must say, I love all of it. A lot of it is N64 type of gimmicks with irrotatible objects (like the grass in the secret level) and such, but I really like it. The Gargs have a lot of character to them with those eye movements, as do the Yorps. There's a lot to be said about making a Yorp retain its odd cuteness in a 3D world, and I'm impressed.
Keen looks 10^100000 times better, haha. The last one was good --in a stand still frame. But it looked blobbish when moving. This one looks good moving, and there's a lot to be said for that as well.
Those backgrounds of the mountain scapes, yes, as I told you when you first showed them to me six months ago, those are just awesome and add a HUGE HUGE HUGE level of fun to levels. They make the levels seem so much larger and inviting than just a blah (or even cool looking) background.
The main level, BWB rocket, (especially the graphics in the hidden level I loved). It's like these places I've always wanted to travel to in the Keen universe, all of a sudden they've popped out and come alive. It's really, really cool.
Sound and Music. To get this out of the way quickly, there's a huge group of Keen music'ers who deserve a lot of props for the music they make. I know I intended to use some of it in my game, and I'd love to shake the hands of the people who make the good stuff. If you're bored, you can sit down and find a fair few songs that are pretty cool.
Now, at first, I was really apprehensive about you using Commander Keen 1's walking, cheesy PC sound effect. But really, I like it --a lot. It adds that amount of cheesy Keeny-ness that works for the game. I've got some more sound effects from Keen Dreams that I think might work for you, next time you get on AIM.
Level Design. I know you were not intending to focus on this, but while the main, non-map level is a first try and fairly clever implementation of a 2D world projected into the 3D world... It is lacking. The objects need re-programming. It's annoying to sit there and trying to jump again and again for candy and such. I would suggest that for the items, you find a way to work on those "candy arcs". Those are way cool (and trust me, I know, in 2D alone they are way hard to work). Now, however, the two new levels you have designed are brilliant. The secret level looks just like I would have expected that "place" to look. It was really a treat to walk around there (but seriously, LET US JUMP IN THERE! Come on!). And that world map?
Oh man, I love that world map. It looks really cool with those mountains moving with you; it reminds me of that level in Zelda: OOT where you're in that court yard.
Physics. Much, much better. Again, the friction for some objects is slightly off, but it's not bad. I addressed a lot of the physics above in the controls section. One sentence, though, is crucial:
Aristotle was wrong, gravity is accelerates, it is not a velocity!
Haha.
I cannot think of anything else, to be honest. Good job, chat me up on AIM again, I have something I'd like to discuss.
(Used to be LordofGlobox)
Iv4n: Thanks man, it looks like 8 is also the button for my R trigger, so what I might do, is when you set the controls to gamepad it will ask if you have a start button, if so, #8 will be the start button, then I'll see what do with the L and R triggers. Then if you don't have a start button button 8 will be the trigger.
Rishi: Wow...thanks for the review Globox! I appreciate all your feedback-- both criticism and compliments. I'll look into the turning. It's hard to say about being able to look up or down, with the FPS version it can, but with the classic, I'm not sure where I can want to go in terms of camera design, being I mostly made the classic version for those who just want to play and not have to always adjust the camera, and I did put in a system that looks down for you if you fall so you can land your jumps better, then it goes back to normal once you've landed. But I might make looking up or down optional, kinda like how I have the Q \ E keys set.
And yeah, once I start working on the full game I should have a working editor, so I can edit the levels visually instead of putting the items in "blind" by having to set coordinates and test the game over and over again to make sure they're in the right place, like I did with the level (hence the big clumps of everything, that and I went nuts with the new dimension "it's free-dee!!".
Rishi: Wow...thanks for the review Globox! I appreciate all your feedback-- both criticism and compliments. I'll look into the turning. It's hard to say about being able to look up or down, with the FPS version it can, but with the classic, I'm not sure where I can want to go in terms of camera design, being I mostly made the classic version for those who just want to play and not have to always adjust the camera, and I did put in a system that looks down for you if you fall so you can land your jumps better, then it goes back to normal once you've landed. But I might make looking up or down optional, kinda like how I have the Q \ E keys set.
And yeah, once I start working on the full game I should have a working editor, so I can edit the levels visually instead of putting the items in "blind" by having to set coordinates and test the game over and over again to make sure they're in the right place, like I did with the level (hence the big clumps of everything, that and I went nuts with the new dimension "it's free-dee!!".
Ok here is an exe...
In the code I took out a command which forgets key commands when you exit the menu, I was thinking that might be part of the problem, maybe.
In any case please tell me if it works.
To use it: Just download and put the EXE in the demo's folder and it start up from there.
I am just releasing this as a temporary patch, if it seems to fix the problem it will be included in the next update as part of the main game.
In the code I took out a command which forgets key commands when you exit the menu, I was thinking that might be part of the problem, maybe.
In any case please tell me if it works.
To use it: Just download and put the EXE in the demo's folder and it start up from there.
I am just releasing this as a temporary patch, if it seems to fix the problem it will be included in the next update as part of the main game.
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DaVince
- lazy/busy Keener
- Posts: 1476
- Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 15:34
- Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Contact:
This game is starting to come together real nicely! I enjoyed playing it a lot more than the last version, and the graphics are pretty awesome. There isn't a lot of ammo, though, and controls are sometimes still a bit stiff, but that might be because the map requires some precision in places. Try finding a way to make these platforms a bit easier, maybe try reducing the "slide" effect as much as possible (meaning sliding off edges of platforms, etcetera).
By the way, I managed to climb one of the mountains in the main map and then get stuck in a hole in one of the mountains. Try going around how possible it is to reach places, or maybe add a secret somewhere in the mountains.
Oh yeah, things got a bit slow around tons of goodies, are you putting your models through a "reducer" (program that tries to minimize the amount of polygons without decreasing model quality)? Also, it's a chore picking up that many goodies in one place, spread them around a bit more.
There isn't a lot of ammo, though, and controls are sometimes still a bit stiff, but that might be because the map requires some precision in places. Try finding a way to make these platforms a bit easier, maybe try reducing the "slide" effect as much as possible (meaning sliding off edges of platforms, etcetera).By the way, I managed to climb one of the mountains in the main map and then get stuck in a hole in one of the mountains. Try going around how possible it is to reach places, or maybe add a secret somewhere in the mountains.
Oh yeah, things got a bit slow around tons of goodies, are you putting your models through a "reducer" (program that tries to minimize the amount of polygons without decreasing model quality)? Also, it's a chore picking up that many goodies in one place, spread them around a bit more.
Wow look at me I'm lurking