FatMan in StrangeLand

WIP games, tools & toy projects Archived Projects
#1

decided to make a quick game the other day to take a break from my current larger project, my goal was to finish a game ‘based on pac-man’ in 2.5 days. I pretty much finished it in time but I liked the game so I fixed some bugs and created some better graphics (though still not very good) and added sound afterward. Its in applet form for those of you who can bare it :slight_smile: let me know what you think and whether I’ve finally written a game that will run on mac and linux.

http://www.cyntaks.com/projects/fatman

oh yeah: the maps are randomly generated so if you want to see a few without having to bother with beating levels, you can press ‘R’ to generate a new one.

edit: webstart version is now up on jgf: http://javagamesfactory.org/views/view-game?name=FatMan%20in%20StrangeLand

#2

Works fine on OS X 10.4.1 with Java 1.5 using safari.

One problem with applets is that they often don’t get the focus (as in this case), so you have to click on them before they will respond to key presses. From previous experience (not checked here), Internet Explorer on the PC has that problem too and I’ve not found a workaround, apart from saying ‘Click to Start’, which gives an odd UI when everything else is keyboard based. On Firefox, the applet usually does get the focus. (Javascript doesn’t seem to be able to force the focus in these cases, unless I’ve missed something).

I played through a couple of levels. The monster paths felt quite pacman like. A difficulty select feature would be a worthwhile addition.

Alan :slight_smile:

/Edit I had another go, and did get an occurrence of a burger appearing on top of a ‘barrier’ square. I pressed ‘R’ a few times, but it didn’t occur again, although one time an inaccessible island appeared.

/Edit 2 The latest changes are great, particularly the keyboard controls ;D

#3

good point on focus, I may switch over to click to start. As for the weird things you noticed with map generation, I’ve seen both of those things but only once or twice before and I’ve run the game many many times. I realize this is something that would have to be fixed in a commercial app, but I probably won’t bother since this was just for fun and I want to be done with it :stuck_out_tongue: another problem I’ve seen is that you will start out in a situation were a ghost has a direct path to you and you have nowhere to go… also only seen that once or twice, but its there.

Pleased to hear that it works on a mac :slight_smile:

#4

Well, I love it! :slight_smile:

Fun, simple, and um… Fun!

Kev

#5

Not bad… but it would be cooler if the fat man wore a sombrero and had a mustache.

#6

for some reason I am compelled to agree with you…

#7

heh pretty clever clone of pacman! I also like how the map is built right before our eyes :stuck_out_tongue:

#8

It’s also pretty awesome how the edges of the map are rounded in the appropriate places…

#9

Nice variation on the pacman theme! One minor issue which may well be my fault: In mid-game, when I click into the applet area, the game area is replaced by a completely green meadow plain, with only the monsters being visible. Neither the paths nor my player icon is visible anymore. What’s wrong?

Using JVM 1.5 and Firefox under Windows XP.

#10

hmm, appears I broke something when adding ‘click to start’, I’ll have to fix that.

edit: done. Although it appears something else is wrong, I just got
a nullpointer exception at javax.swing.SizeRequirements.expandedTile(Unknown Source) on startup, so I’ll have to figure that out when I wake up…

edit2: also fixed, and this time it wasn’t my fault! there is a bug in swing (bug_id=4294758) that shows up when using BoxLayout with an applet. Fortunately it was quite simple for me to switch over to a BorderLayout.

#11

Very cool! I too like how the map is built right in front of you!!!