Flesh Snatcher

[N_I_C_S]

Hello everyone !

I’m a french developer (I specify to explain my awful english…) and I’d like to present the demo of a game I work on since the end of 2009 :

Name : Flesh Snatcher
Type : FPS / Survival
Players : 1
Engine : JMonkey 2.0
JVM : 1.5 and more
OS : Windows / Unix / Linux / MacOS
License : Open source / GPL

Download : http://sourceforge.net/projects/fleshsnatcher/

Unzip flesh_snatcher.zip and read the instructions.txt file to see how to play.

I must inform that some elements are yet temporary, like ennemies (you’ll understand why ), or the second level which was a test-map but which I kept to make the demo a bit longer !

A little screenshot ? (it could be called “precarious balance” )

Of course, I wait with joy your comments, to help me improve the gaming experience, be merciless !

Thank you for your attention !

[Cero]

very very nice

I really like the music in the first level, rock kinda
but the second one is awful
taste =P

please use WASD and not RDFG, never seen a game do that

Other than that not much negative, its quite good.
Sounds are good and explosion effect when you destroy these spawn machines is nice
even the AI is not too dumb, trying to evade occasionally

Got a sense of tension on the roof at level 1 when all of the sudden flying enemies gang up

the sky image is a little blurry and bad, obviously its not final so whatever

the hud is okay, the top left skull is awesome the gun hud is alright

generally I think you’re too close to the ground - sometimes you think you are crouching, however many shooter have this problem

I got an error(warning) when the game couldn’t load some texture, level 1, after the roof, after the hallway with the red light; but it was right before I died, it was frantic and I couldn’t pay attention.
some face texture couldnt be located, but the game went on normally.

Just a side note: Is using jME fun, easy, nice ? What can you say about working with it ?

[N_I_C_S]

[quote]very very nice
[/quote]
Thank you very much !

[quote]I really like the music in the first level, rock kinda
but the second one is awful
taste =P
[/quote]
Ha Ha ! Ok, I note it down .

[quote]please use WASD and not RDFG, never seen a game do that
[/quote]
Yes, it’s a french problem because here we have AZERTY keyboards, and these keys work in QUERTY as well as in AZERTY. But in the future I’ll make a keys configuration menu !

[quote]the sky image is a little blurry and bad, obviously its not final so whatever
[/quote]
That’s right, I picked it up from the Sauerbraten game, but it’s a temporary feature .

[quote]the hud is okay, the top left skull is awesome the gun hud is alright
[/quote]
Thank you, I’ll transmit to the author .

[quote]generally I think you’re too close to the ground - sometimes you think you are crouching, however many shooter have this problem
[/quote]
Yes, maybe some environments are too big, which makes this effect… I note it down .

[quote]I got an error(warning) when the game couldn’t load some texture, level 1, after the roof, after the hallway with the red light; but it was right before I died, it was frantic and I couldn’t pay attention.
some face texture couldnt be located, but the game went on normally.
[/quote]
Yes, I had to deal with the textures path, so JMonkey writes errors but it finds them anyway .

[quote]Just a side note: Is using jME fun, easy, nice ? What can you say about working with it ?
[/quote]
Yeah ! I found it very nice, It’s very object oriented, and there’s a lot of example source codes to learn how to use functionnalities ! But personnaly I use it only as 3D engine, space partition and collisions, for example, are from myself . Anyway, I think it’s a good engine, fast and easy to use . But at the same time I must say it’s the only engine I know !

[Demonpants]

Could you make an applet please? :-*

[Cero]

@N_I_C_S

[quote]please use WASD and not RDFG, never seen a game do that

Yes, it’s a french problem because here we have AZERTY keyboards, and these keys work in QUERTY as well as in AZERTY. But in the future I’ll make a keys configuration menu !
[/quote]
Yeah I have a german layout where Z and Y are swapped. Can be annoying aswell. maybe you can get the KeyboardLayout of the user and then map the keys accordingly: RDFG for french WASD for others, or something.

@N_I_C_S

[quote]generally I think you’re too close to the ground - sometimes you think you are crouching, however many shooter have this problem

Yes, maybe some environments are too big, which makes this effect… I note it down .
[/quote]
Like I said, many shooters have this problem, and it might just be me. But when I am next to a column, looking at it, I just think: am I really this small ?

@N_I_C_S

[quote]Just a side note: Is using jME fun, easy, nice ? What can you say about working with it ?

Yeah ! I found it very nice, It’s very object oriented, and there’s a lot of example source codes to learn how to use functionnalities ! But personnaly I use it only as 3D engine, space partition and collisions, for example, are from myself . Anyway, I think it’s a good engine, fast and easy to use . But at the same time I must say it’s the only engine I know !
[/quote]
Good to know =D

[EgonOlsen]

I got stuck on the second floor. All enemies were dead, but that block didn’t go away. What am i supposed to do? Apart from that, i found it a bit too repetitive.

[N_I_C_S]

[quote=Eli Delventhal]Could you make an applet please?
[/quote]
Yes, I know there’s not a valid way of launching since now, so soon there’ll be a Java Web Start deployment !

[quote=Cero]Yeah I have a german layout where Z and Y are swapped. Can be annoying aswell. maybe you can get the KeyboardLayout of the user and then map the keys accordingly: RDFG for french WASD for others, or something.
[/quote]
Yeah, that’s a possibility, I’ll study it .

[quote=EgonOlsen]I got stuck on the second floor. All enemies were dead, but that block didn’t go away. What am i supposed to do?
[/quote]
Hmm, are you sure some ennemies didn’t fall in the 1st foor or something ? did the ennemies counter in top left indicates zero ? in that case, it’s an authentic bug …

[quote=EgonOlsen]Apart from that, i found it a bit too repetitive.
[/quote]
Yes, that’s the trap I’m afraid to fall in, but further in the level things change !

[ra4king]

Oh wow this game was really smooth and fun!! I was hooked the entire time. The UI, graphics, and the music were all awesome. The only thing that needs improvement is the path finding. If I’m in a room, the enemies only look for a straight route to me so they get stuck against the wall. Also I quit the game because I gave up looking for the red and green card! I only found the blue card. Where are the rest?

[cylab]

@Cero

please use WASD and not RDFG, never seen a game do that

Actually RDFG is MUCH better than WASD becaus there is a pimple on the F to help you find your keys in the dark. Nothing is more annoying than suddenly walking backwards instead of straving, just because your fingers slipped a key to the side…

Having said that, I prefer using ESDF, just because having more keys left to map for the left hand on ergonomic keyboards.

[gouessej]

Hi!

I’m glad to see you here, you did it

@N_I_C_S

Yes, I know there’s not a valid way of launching since now, so soon there’ll be a Java Web Start deployment !

I assume you received my email about that.

P.S: Some French developers do not have a bad English.

[EgonOlsen]

@N_I_C_S

[quote=EgonOlsen]I got stuck on the second floor. All enemies were dead, but that block didn’t go away. What am i supposed to do?

Hmm, are you sure some ennemies didn’t fall in the 1st foor or something ? did the ennemies counter in top left indicates zero ? in that case, it’s an authentic bug …
[/quote]
I’m not sure about the counter (i think it was 0, but i’m not 100% sure) but both floors were empty. However, i had several enemies stacking up and floating in mid air before…maybe that caused some of them to vanish or something…

[N_I_C_S]

Hello, sorry for answering late, I’m not at home …

[quote=ra4king]Oh wow this game was really smooth and fun!! I was hooked the entire time. The UI, graphics, and the music were all awesome. The only thing that needs improvement is the path finding. If I’m in a room, the enemies only look for a straight route to me so they get stuck against the wall. Also I quit the game because I gave up looking for the red and green card! I only found the blue card. Where are the rest?
[/quote]
Thank you very much for the compliments ! You’re right for the pathfinding, I thought I could do without it but it makes too strange behaviors, I’ll work on it for the next demo ! For the cards, in fact they are on some white crates, I advise you try to jump on them .

[quote=cylab]Actually RDFG is MUCH better than WASD becaus there is a pimple on the F to help you find your keys in the dark.
[/quote]
Yeah, playing the game in the dark, what a good idea !

[quote=cylab]Having said that, I prefer using ESDF, just because having more keys left to map for the left hand on ergonomic keyboards.
[/quote]
Yes, I didn’t think about that, it’s a good argument, I’ll change for the next demo .

[quote=gouessej]Hi!

I’m glad to see you here, you did it
[/quote]
Hey, thank you ! I vainquished my shyness !

[quote=gouessej]I assume you received my email about that.
[/quote]
Yes, I saw it, I’ll deal with it when I’ll be back, thank you !

[quote=gouessej]P.S: Some French developers do not have a bad English.
[/quote]
Ha ha, that’s right ! I’m not a good example…

[quote=EgonOlsen]I’m not sure about the counter (i think it was 0, but i’m not 100% sure) but both floors were empty. However, i had several enemies stacking up and floating in mid air before…maybe that caused some of them to vanish or something…
[/quote]
Ok, thank you for these precisions . It’s true that the enemies stacking up are pretty ridiculous, but I don’t think the bug came from that. Maybe I know where it comes from : In my Map class I add ennemies and player in the same list, it’s not very clean and maybe can cause this sort of bugs, I’ll try to separate them…

And thank you all again for having tested !

[N_I_C_S]

Hello,

just to say that the game is now playable by web browser at this adress :

http://fleshsnatcher.sourceforge.net/demo/

The demo contents is almost the same, except some improvements, like :

• new blood textures
• correction of a gravity bug
• enemies more agressive
• screen shaking effect when we shoot
• inventory displayed in the HUD
• new display system of taken, needed, used objects

I must say that the save system doesn’t work since now because of the deployment, but I’ll try to repair that quickly .

I wish you a good test .

[charlieg]

Hi N_I_C_S, this is a really good start! I hope you keep developing this a bit more. Obviously the current enemies are a bit strange looking but the game runs very smoothly and is quite good fun for what it is.

[gouessej]

Hi

I finally gave it a try on a very fast (64 bits Intel Xeon, NVidia Quadro FX) machine. The installation only takes 2 minutes, that is fine. The menu is quite beautiful, you have a real theme, it is homogeneous. I like the progress bar too. The sound works fine, the whole game seems to be fluid. I see that you use the same enemies than in Tesseract. I will test your game on slower machines.

I have just noticed one bug, you don’t call System.exit() at the end, the process does not stop. Best regards.

[N_I_C_S]

Hello !

@charlieg

[QUOTE]Hi N_I_C_S, this is a really good start! I hope you keep developing this a bit more. Obviously the current enemies are a bit strange looking but the game runs very smoothly and is quite good fun for what it is.
[/quote]
Oh, thank you very much ! Yes, I’ll continue to develop it, the demo shows the first level and there will be 10 ones ! I think it will take 1 year yet to complete the game !

@gouessej
Hey, I’m glad you could have tried ! Thank you very much for the compliments .

[QUOTE]I see that you use the same enemies than in Tesseract.
[/quote]
Ha ha ! Yes, that’s one of the only “human” models I have yet .

[QUOTE]I will test your game on slower machines.
[/quote]
Glp… I’m afraid of the result.

[QUOTE]I have just noticed one bug, you don’t call System.exit() at the end, the process does not stop.
[/quote]
Oh thank you, that’s right ! I simply forgot it !

[charlieg]

Also since this is open source, you could post it in the FreeGameDev forums as well for extra feedback:

http://forum.freegamedev.net/viewforum.php?f=22

If you want art or models or music, there’s plenty on OpenGameArt that could be suitable:

http://www.opengameart.org/

[gouessej]

I have just tried on my other computer (AMD Sempron 2600+, Nvidia 7600 GT). When I save my progress, I cannot load it, it displays the following message “no file to load”, maybe I did something wrong. I like the enemies of the second level and the textures. However, sometimes, they get stuck together and they do not move anymore.

The JOGL version does not work. I can send you the source code of the JOGL renderer I used some years ago. I don’t want to bother anyone here but I would prefer using JOGL.

[N_I_C_S]

@charlieg
Thank you very much for the links ! I didn’t know these sites, I already found a zombie model on the second one .

@gouessej
Thank you very much for testing again .

[quote]When I save my progress, I cannot load it, it displays the following message “no file to load”, maybe I did something wrong.
[/quote]
No, it’s normal, the save system doesn’t work in the Java WebStart version, I’ll repair it for the next version of the demo .

[quote]However, sometimes, they get stuck together and they do not move anymore.
[/quote]
That’s right, it happens when a “monter” spawns at the same place than the previous one, I didn’t succeed yet to solve this problem …

[quote]I can send you the source code of the JOGL renderer I used some years ago.
[/quote]
Oh yes, with joy, I’ve never been able to use it by myself !

[charlieg]

What do you gain by using JOGL over a dedicated 3D engine like Ardor3D? (Genuine question.)