Dodger Dog

Showcase
#1

Hey guys, I made a little game play trailer for the game I’m working on called Dodger Dog. It is a platformer with some sidescrolling, where you play as a dog who has gone on vacation with your owner and got lost, and must find him to get home, while “dodging” various things and collecting bones along the way to throw at the dog catcher. The first level is going through the city, the second level under development now is on the beach, the third will be forest and the fourth will be the mountains. I got the character sprites online, but all the backgrounds, platforms, etc are drawn using pure java. I’m hoping to have a demo for you guys to try out soon, but I’ve been having issues with the export. As soon as that’s fixed I’ll throw a demo up here. Until then, here is the trailer and I would appreciate any feedback you may have:

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http://www.fabulousfellini.com/games.html

*I do not own the music used in this trailer. The game has original music made by me.

#2

Hey all, I put together this demo of the first level of Dodger Dog for you guys to try out and give me some feedback.
I use JInput, so you can use a gamepad, or if you don’t have one you can use the keyboard. The controls are as follows:

Gamepad:

DPad is move around
A is jump
X is throw (when available)
Right Trigger is fly
Start is pause
Start + Select is quit

Keyboard:

Arrows move around
Spacebar is jump
Control is throw (when available)
V button is fly
P button is pause
Escape is quit

If you play with the keyboard, you must click on the screen before you start playing (which is kinda tricky since the mouse is being hidden).

Not gonna lie, the controls suck on the keyboard and are way better on a game pad, but I’m working on making them better.

There is no music because I don’t pay enough money to my website host to upload anything larger than 10MB, and with the music tracks it was like 30MB, so I just took them out. The sound effects are still there.

There are four acts in the first level. The first is you’re scaling up and down buildings, the second is you’re running through the city, the third is you’re crossing the street (think frogger), and the fourth is an auto scroll over the water. You have to battle the dog catcher a few times. After the last time, the game should just quit.

Hope you guys like it, and please let me know of any bugs or problems you come across. Thanks!

#3

Here are a few screenshots of level 2, “The Beach”.

Next up I’m going to try to make a third person surfing level. I’ve never done that before so it should be interesting. I’ll keep you guys posted on the progress.

#4

Screenshot of the surfing part of the beach level. You have to avoid the sharks (which are the gray things coming at the dog in the picture), while collecting bones. The lines in the water give it the 3rd person feel, but it doesn’t come across to well in the picture. I’ll try to post a video of it soon.

#5

Add an easter egg which transforms the sharks into mines.
The easter egg is only reachable by some means nobody does.

#6

That’s a cool idea, but I don’t know about mines. It would have to be something found in the ocean.

#7

Okay. How about mines. Mines are found in the ocean.

#8

Can’t do mines as I want this family friendly. And you can’t be family friendly blowing up a lost pet with a mine lol. Maybe some kind of sea monster.

#9

#10

I still don’t know about those mines, Hydroque. Maybe they could turn into giant squid tentacles. Or the ghost of pirates. Or Moby Dick! But no explosions. Thanks for the feedback tho!

#11

Hey guys :), I made a new demo for the game, with two complete levels. The platforming mechanics are much better than the previous version which makes the game play a lot more fun. This version also has all the music. I would appreciate any feedback, especially about the game play! It supports a controller, as well as the keyboard. Here are the controls:

Controller:
DPad = Move around
A = Jump
X = Throw bones (when applicable)
RT = Fly
Start = Pause
Start + Select = Quit

Keyobard:
Arrows = Move around
S = Jump
Spacebar = Throw Bones (when applicable)
A = Fly
P = Pause
Escape = Quit

#12

Made a new demo with some various updates. Fixed some collisions, and some jumping mechanics. You can download it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fkqfrw05qa9aihw/DODGER_DOG_DEMO.jar?dl=0

Any feedback is appreciated! Controls are the same as in the above post.

#13

Screenshot of one of the acts in level 3, “The Woods”.

Obviously there is nothing yet except the terrain. Next up, adding badguys.

Edit: Forgot to post the newest demo with better collision detection:

#14

Update on the woods level.

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Screenshot shows squirrels, rabbits, and the birds (who are all bad guys), mushrooms that you can spring off of, and bones. Below the ground are caves, so you can play the level either above ground or below ground. Moving platforms transport you up or down in certain parts of the level. I’ll post a screenshot of the caves soon, as well as a new demo.

EDIT:
As promised, here is a picture of the caves:

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And here is a new demo with that part included:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f82b4ttt8wsmmvr/DD_DEMO.jar?dl=0

It would be cool if anyone can test it out and tell me if it works!

If you’re playing on the computer, you have to click on the screen before the keyboard will work. I thought I fixed that, but apparently not. I’ll fix it next time.

EDIT # 2:
Implemented a “bash attack” so Dodger Dog can now kill and get rid of the enemies. Now instead of just “flying” by using the right trigger, you can “fly” and “bash” into things. I’ll put a demo up soon.

Here is a new demo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6tpvw3silmza5lr/DDTest.jar?dl=0

#15

The art looks like it could do with some more consistency. Either do the whole thing in programmer art or the whole thing with proper sprites. Mixing and matching doesn’t look that great.

#16

Cool, thanks for the feedback! I always had that in the back of my head. I think the dog looks okay, but the squirrels and rabbits definately look out of place. I’m gonna mess around with some pixel art and see if I can make anything good to match the simple backgrounds.

#17

So I’ve spent the last week or so re-doing my art into pixel art (and it was hard). I know it doesn’t look super good, but do you guys think it’s better and more consistent? I think it looks a crap load better, as this is the style I was going for in the beginning. The random pixels in some of the screen shots are explosions and other effects.

Edit: Link to most recent build. Xbox 360 controllers work with it now.

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#18

I made a little demo video of my progress on Dodger Dog. It covers up to about half way through level 3. Some of it is a little jumpy due to my computer but you’ll get the idea. Here’s the video:

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And here are some jar files if you want to give it a try. There’s no game over yet so you can just keep restarting from the last checkpoint. It will end about half way through level 3. You can use a controller or the keyboard, and you can view the controls at the main menu. Lemme know what you guys think!

Full Screen jar: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7fhxw1mxbhd4kso/DODGER_DOG_FULL_SCREEN.jar?dl=0

Non Full Screen jar: https://www.dropbox.com/s/px4klqim9opooo5/DODGER_DOG_NON_FULL_SCREEN_WINDOWS.jar?dl=0

#19

Wanted to post some new screen shots of level 3. Level 3 is now pretty much complete, so only one more level and I think the game will be done. Level 3 has 4 acts, 2 of which are sidescrolling platforming, one is running up a hill and dodging avalanche rocks, and one is a pac man clone (this one still needs a little work).

Also, here’s a link to the newest version:

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#20

Lookin good but the color contrast of the sprites hurts my eyes.