A little hack

WIP games, tools & toy projects Archived Projects
#1

Ah, I’ve discovered something very entertaining. Hacking together small games that takes at the most two days from idea to completion.

Usually I embark on projects that tends to be quiet big and I often end up losing interest in it a long time before it’s even playable. But when hacking together a game in a couple of days losing interest never is an issue :). Hopefully it will be fun to later on add features to the small games and by that be able to make something bigger, thus beating my lack of endurance :smiley:

Anyway, enough rambling, here’s the game I made today. The game-play is pretty simple, you move the character Zog with the mouse and have to avoid being hit by the rocks that flies around.

http://www.enormousgames.com/subsites/zogsrockingtrouble/zogsrockingtrouble.jnlp

I will probably put some finishing touches on it tomorrow.

#2

This is the error I get when it starts – using linux 2.6.1 kernel and blackdown linux 1.4.2

 java.lang.NullPointerException
      at com.enormousgames.database.mysql.DatabaseInterface.makeStatement(DatabaseInterface.java:110)
      at com.enormousgames.database.mysql.DatabaseInterface.<init>(DatabaseInterface.java:64)
      at com.enormousgames.projects.zogsrockingtrouble.logic.MainLogic.<init>(MainLogic.java:54)
      at com.enormousgames.projects.zogsrockingtrouble.ZogsRockingTrouble.main(ZogsRockingTrouble.java:21)
      at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
      at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
      at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
      at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:324)
      at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.executeApplication(Launcher.java:837)
      at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.executeMainClass(Launcher.java:797)
      at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.continueLaunch(Launcher.java:675)
      at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.handleApplicationDesc(Launcher.java:390)
      at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.handleLaunchFile(Launcher.java:199)
      at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.run(Launcher.java:167)
      at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:534)
#3

java.lang.NullPointerException

  at com.enormousgames.database.mysql.DatabaseInterface.makeStatement(DatabaseInterface.java:110)

  at com.enormousgames.database.mysql.DatabaseInterface.<init>(DatabaseInterface.java:64)

[…]

Same error. 1.4.2_03 win98se.

#4

/me is in the same league

#5

Hm ok, must have been trouble with the webhotel, it has been unreliable the last two months. On the otherhand the game shouldn’t chrash just because it couldn’t connect to the highscoredatabase :). I’ve made a quick change so it shouldn’t chrash, will look into it more seriously later on today.

#6

Interesting that you came to this idea, I reached the same conclusion about games a while ago and started doing 40 hour projects (http://www.newdawnsoftware.com/40hrweb/).

Thats where Warlock came from…

Kev

#7

AWESOME GAME! It’s just… brilliant in concept!
And I should hope so too, because it has a fundamentally very similar mechanic to Invasion of the Jellies! (Except you can’t shoot…)

Cas :slight_smile:

#8

Interesting game, but… didn’t I see this exact same game (but with simple coloured squares) in an applet a few days ago? Was that yours as well or did you happen to get the idea from it?

#9

Orangy Tang: no I stole the idea from a javascript version of the game.

Princec: look above ::slight_smile:

kevglas: nice to see that I’m not the only one with that problem :slight_smile:

I’m planning to add features to the game next, so the game won’t be a total rip-off and Orangy Tang can sleep well tonight :wink:

#10

Ok, I’ve uploaded a new version with bonus features.

A bonus feature pops up after a while and you pick it up by simply draging Zog over the feature. To activate the picked up feature you press a mouse button.

One of the features is evil so if you get that you’ll have to decide whatever it is an idea to use it and be able to get a new one or not. ;D

The features will need som tweaking so suggestions is most welcome.

#11

Cool. Nice game.

Did you use java2d or jogl or what???
Just wondering.

Oh yea, the guy yelling kinda gets on your nervs :slight_smile:

And by the way — I’ve got the high score – hur ra!!!

#12

Wow! I found myself playing repeatedly. It’s amazing how fun something so simple can be. Good job!

#13

Love this kind of game. Simple, quick and addictive. :slight_smile:

-ChrisM

#14

Conzar: It’s plain java2d. And damn you for stealing the firts place! ;D I’ll have to beat your score later today.

#15

84.64

Hm. The collision detection isn’t perfect. It’s just simple bounding box stuff right? Well, it seems to be a bit “off”.

However, it’s a nice game :slight_smile:

#16

Jupp simple bounding box. The rocks can go into the character a little bit, which is intentional to give more of a “I’m the king of the world” felling while playing. What exactly felt off?

#17

Hm… if you look at the character and asumes that the bounding box is just a box wich exactly encloses the character (image size heh)… it’s exactly that way in the upper area but it isnt that way in the lower area.

E.g. the rocks can flow through your legs but if they just came near your head you die :slight_smile:

Also the bounding box should not be able to leave the screen … I mean it should be always completly on the screen.

#18

Yeah I took a look at it, right now the boundingbox looks like this.

http://www.enormousgames.com/unpublished/zog.gif

So the head is indeed pretty exposed. :wink:

Maybe I’ll add some more advanced collision detection later on, it’ll have to do for now though :slight_smile:

#19

http://www.enormousgames.com/unpublished/zog.gif

Ah yea… that looks better… it’s as expected plus a little buffer zone :slight_smile:

#20

Oh…how I hate you for doing such an addictive game!!!

Argh…I…must…keep…playing!!!