Lunar Gravitar wip

[Shockman]

See release thread.

 

[Shockman]

Version 0.6.3_HD REQUIRES 1920X1080p

Mission - Planet one on the top right

-Fly down the opening and destroy all the turrets and collect fuel as needed. Return through tunnel and fly up and out into space. If you wish to play the Lunar Lander game, tractor the lander and fly it up and land on the pads. Fly it down through the tunnel and land beside the fighter, and fly the fighter up and out.


testing cheats
- L key switch to lander above surface
- G key switch to Gravitar ship but no longer opens door above surface
- D key open door anywhere
- K key toggle keyboard / joystick control anywhere
- J key Jump to above the door above surface
- F key add fuel anywhere
- I key bullet proof anywhere
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F1 - Info
F2 - Options and configuration screen (blank)
F9 - screen shot
P - Pause / Play
Esc - Exit to title screen. Exit the game from title screen

Press F1 for controls

 

[Shockman]

Both versions have been updated.

The next update will have physics and mission work, and more levels, and will be set up as a game (scoring, lives, game over, etc.)

 

[kristian]

Pretty cool...!!

Will give it a shot.

F1 gives me a white screen though...can't redefine the keys.

 

[Shockman]

Sorry. You are right. This version did not have the key controls in the info screen ( F1 ). It was just info on what keys and stick inputs do what, it does not have any key mapping code yet.

Until these are updated I will post above the key and stick function.

The to do list is so very much, but what shows now as badly needing done includes,

- More basic controls. only the landers thrust needs to be analog. However with only two hands holding a stick for just that is awkward. Set it beside the keyboard. The Gravitar ship actually has analog thrust right now as well.
- Gravitar ship control and physics.
- Turret rotation limit which might be different for each. Timing here as well.
- More logical ship swapping. Like I had before. A gantry with the Gravitar ship will be landed beside with the lander and a tiny major havoc type boarding. Then the lander will not have a tractor beam.
- Orbital gravity.
- Presentation as a game loop.

Later,

- More levels with different gravitational force. Many more. All original, but in Gravitar style.
- Key and joy mapping.
- Refined and balanced graphics. The tractor and thrust needs flicker, sizes need balanced, and most ground elements need redrawn.
- Missions. Gameplay will be made as close to Gravitar and Lunar Lander as possible, and I think it's totally possible, but it will not be a clone, there will be much more that has to be done. There may also be much more influence of other games making just as prominent a showing. Perhaps asteroids, major havoc, lunar rescue, defender, star castle, or whatever. I want to make it as big and epic as possible.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

dunno if you still need this, but some feedback from the previous version:


- hitting 'N' definitely fixed the problem with the close-up view. game jumped right to the view in which i could see the subterranean stuff.
- the '1' key to start, and other keys seemed to work as you had described.

i forget if i missed anything. my energy and concentration is pretty inconsistent from day to day, so i'm not necessarily the best nuts-n-bolts tester.

 

[Shockman]

Thanks. That means the version in the first post which is updated might work for you without needing to hit the N. That's why I made it, so please give that a try.

 

[kristian]

The standalone EXEs are pretty cool. Great idea...!!

What are the exact keys of the game... keyboard only? And when the ship goes off the screen surface (up) it doesn't come back down?

I've never been a big fan of Lunar Lander though... the flying motor is just downright annoying.

 

[Shockman]

The only keys working now is the cursors to rotate. Next demo will have keys for everything except the landers' thrust.

I need to create a wrap around for the ship, like the attract mode lander has, or a witch space sequence when you go out. In the end you will of course enter the system map if you leave the orbit. Inside the rocks you can not escape though, except through the same opening you went in from (a more difficult task for sure). You will crash into the walls. Same with up. It will come back down into the screen now though, if the vector allows it. It will come down anyway, but you will not see it. The screen will change though as that function is triggered by altitude alone.


If you don't want to play the lander sequence, as soon as the game starts press Ctrl, this will change the ship and physics to Gravitar, and open the door to the inside. You could also land on the pads on the surface with the Gravitar ship, much harder though.


I have fixed the missing instructions in the F1 screen, added an invisibility testing mode, and changed the Gravitar ship to look like a Gravitar ship and made it just a bit smaller.

 

[Shockman]

This witch space I mentioned is a term I got from Elite. What I mean is the sequence where the space is clear and you are fighting the two alien ships, which happens on the surface as well. When you leave an asteroid you are going to be in the familiar system screen in Gravitar where you select the next place you are going to go. The alien ships are there as well. When you encounter them you enter a zoomed in mode (if you do not destroy them at a distance). This will also happen in my game. But it is also going to happen without the pestering aliens approach. At that time it may be an asteroids sequence, or star castle, or something else with the Gravitar ship. This only within the travel to the planet, or asteroid you are heading for. Once there it is going to be all Gravitar, and sometimes Lunar Lander, or a mix of those two like this demo destination is.

 

[Shockman]

Work log update,

-Witch space is preliminary, but in.
-You will wrap the screen on the lander sequence. Going up and out takes you to witch space.
-In witch space you will wrap, either with or without scrolling, depending on the scenario, as it is in what I put in, dropping down will return you to the surface. This is not final, but will prevent testers from getting lost off screen.
-The readout viewport which the surface has, both zoomed and un-zoomed, is in the subterranean level too now.
-While not very much zoomed, there is now scroll in the subterranean level.

 

[Shockman]

The viewport enabled version has been updated and is in the second post.

The thrust is so integrated into the analog pot. reading that it is going to take some work to get it to work with the keyboard. It will require another algorithm which might require it be put to it's own object. I am working on it. It will default to the Z key. Then shoot will default to C, but now shoot is cursor UP to keep a grouping for one hand. The DOWN cursor is the tractor beam. This means all action so far is set to the four cursor keys with a joystick for thrust. The thrust is the Y axis, so the only time you have to set the mode on your gamepad is if you use the pad for everything. With the key set, a single analog stick would work.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

i'll test later tonight when i get a chance. one thing i wanted to suggest is that like other versions of lunar lander, the default amount of thrust for an analog device should be a small flame shooting out. in other words, pushing in one direction will cut it down, pushing in the other will increase thrust, but the middle should have a small amount going, not a zero amount going as in the last version i tested. you might have fixed this already, though.

 

[Shockman]

Really?
Unlike MAME I am able to use half the axis like the arcade version, which half way would be half throttle and all the way down would be zero. It works as a throttle, which half way UP is 50% not zero. The upper half of the y axis is intended to be the complete control range.

I will make you a version like you describe if you want.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

hmm, maybe i mis-remembered. possibly it was the 8-bit PC conversions i was thinking of. the apple ][ one in particular is a particularly jolly show.

also, logistically, i think using the full axis is a distinct improvement. because even though these sticks CAN do analog, that doesn't mean their control is anywhere near that of a paddle. extending thrust to a full axis helps alleviate that problem by doubling the input range. every little bit helps, you know.


like i swas saying in the other thread, i really wish MAME and other games could take the mouse scroll wheel as an input source. it's the closest thing to a dial for the average user. in particular, this trackball i have is wonderful for precision control in scrolling:

it's a little hard to tell because the ring (grey) is almost the same color as the body, but the ring does rotate. really cool for laying back with the trackball in one's lap, as you're able to quickly but precisely scroll around web pages. you can even build up momentum by spinning the thing, something that's beyond the scroll wheels on mice i've seen.

sorry for all the gushing.

 

[Shockman]

I can use the mouse wheel using this development kit.

You are right about the full axis doubling the resolution and I can certainly do that. To have no thrust would require pressure on the throttle though while using just the positive half means you don't have to hold a throttle in a zero position, and letting go means none instead of 50% (not just a little bit)

Not that half the axis is perfect either, though I think it has plenty resolution. I think a perfect controller would be a flight stick throttle, which stays where it is set (no centering)

As far as results, a mouse wheel would be closer to real control than a centering stick, but in action a stick more.

I will make the mouse wheel an option in the end and a mouse axis too. Everything else will be automatic, just pick a function and move the joystick, press a button, or a key on the keyboard, like Mame.

 

[Shockman]

I figured out orbital gravity using point_direction(x1,y1,x2,y2).
I now have a working version with orbital gravity. It changes up gameplay alot. Now I will have to play Gravitar in MAME until I can nail down the right force. I can not set up the physics of the ship until the gravity is set, setting gravity to physics would change those physics, but the physics, just talking the right thrust and rotation rate, would not change gravity.

 

[unclewilly]

Hey shockman.
What engine do you make these games in. I haven't played any yet but i look at these threads and they seem really cool

 

[Shockman]

It's Game Maker 8. You would have no trouble using it. Anyone that has experience with just about any programming or scripting could easily make just about any type 2D game. Even people that can't program makes games with it using the property sheet method. It does this drag and drop type code building, scripts, or you can write in 100% code when you learn the language (GML). I have not seen a good Pinball game made with it though, but it is what I used to make ICE COLD BEER. Using .libs you can use extensions written in many languages like C.

The new version makes games for many hand held devices and HTML5, and you can use java scripting built in. It's $100.00 and most of the extensions are free and made by users.

http://sandbox.yoyogames.com/browse

I have seen games I have made show up at PC World and Softpedia. Of course there are better games than mine for the taking, but there is 10s of thousands of POS's out there too.

There are free versions out there that are limited and leave a watermark, but are fine for evaluation.

 

[Shockman]

Updated. This might be more often than I let on. It is certainly happening faster. Download a new version when you want to. Nothing major here, mostly the gravity and some minor changes.

You now must take the lander down the tunnel and land beside the Gravitar ship. If you succeed in a soft landing on the small pad un-zoomed, you will then control the Gravitar ship.

I'm thinking Leave a flag on every pad then the door will open. But for now, leave one and get the fuel.

Started on the interface. Pause on any level and escape to title screen where escape will end the game.

 

[Shockman]

Work log update.

-Created a zoom for the landing pad inside. After the switch that area will not zoom again.
-Other zooming work
-Fuel tank orientation when empty. The upside down ones would flip when empty.
-Both rammers are in. They shoot and get shot. They appear above the surface when you exit the subterranean section with the Gravitar ship, but they don't bother the lander.
-Mission 1 detailed in the info page (F1).
-Fuel tanks on blue framework, to better match the blue squares, and an empty tank is darker.
-Play out Lunar Lander, (place all flags) to open the gate to the inside.
-No longer an overabundance of fuel to start. You will need to collect some to finish the mission.

 

[unclewilly]

Thanks shockman.
Ill check it out.
The games are pretty cool
and i have some experience with vb c++ and java

 

[Shockman]

Work log update,

-Keyboard thrust option. The Lander uses a key for thrust up and a key for thrust down. The gravitar ship uses the same thrust key, but thrust is cut off on the release of that key. The thrust key defaults to X and the thrust down key defaults to Z.
-Nearly full clipping. This means the thrust will not show through the landscape. Neither will the tractor, ship on ship, alien ships eclipse thrust, etc.
-Messages. Appearance placement and timing.
-Some physics improvements and bullet speed.
-Add fuel testing cheat.

 

[Shockman]

This game, I forgot to mention, REQUIRES 1920X1080

It does however scale, but it will require another build to work at lower resolution that does not use the view ports. Ideally, it should have it's own resource set (the graphics) which can be swapped out using this dev. kit. I will do that in the end, But until then I will make a build like the one in the first post that uses no view ports. The graphics will not be as sharp though.

Anyone that plays this at anything less than 1080p will have the problem Ike Savage has, which is a game killer. I will sync the zoomless build to this one soon and upload it.

The picture shows the game map. It is perhaps zoomed out too much, but thats what it is so far.

 

[Shockman]

Updated,

-Keyboard thrust
-some surprises


In figuring out a way to make a lower resolution version, I was able to make one and have the zooming viewports. In fact the only difference is going to be the resolution. It is made for a minimum resolution requirement of 1024x768 and will work properly on that or any higher resolution. It is not going to look as sharp because of, well, the lower resolution, but it's not going to look as nice in 1080p either because the port on the screen is still 1024x768. In that resolution the picture is scaled down form the surfaces sizes which some are even much bigger than 1920x1080, some surfaces are almost twice that big, at least tall. Those are not scaled down to the monitor res though, the viewports are never bigger than the monitor resolution. What I'm trying to get across is that at 1024x768, the effect is a scaling down from 1920x1080 which for lines makes it tough. And if you play it at higher resolutions than that, on a lcd then it is going to be scaled to the resolution of the monitor, solely by your monitor and that process is not going to bring the sharpness back. I could force your monitor into the 1024x768 and return what you had when you exit the game, but there is really no point in doing it.

I will add thickness to all the graphics though and it will look like it was drawn in 1024x768.

The screenshot shows this. This is the lower resolution version. This is what it would look like 4/3 it looks better 16/10. I expanded the text with a viewport, so it is fine. you can see that the graphics need to be thickened, something I can do almost automatically and in batches for much of it.