FoodBomber

WIP games, tools & toy projects Archived Projects
#1

Hi,
I finally got a domain and decided to release some of my late-night-projects.

One of them is a game called FoodBomber.

Basic Plot:
A small defensless country has been invaded by an evil terrorist regime. You are a red cross chopper pilot that has to deliver food to starving villagers while dodging missiles and bullets. Be carefull and watch the time and fuel!

Some intresting keywords:
WebStartable, J2SE 5.0, Fullscreen, full source code.

If you got the time, please try it and tell me what you think.

To run the game you should only need to surf to the location and press the “WebStart me now!” button. That is if you have J2SE 5.0 installed.

http://arainyday.se/projects/java/FoodBomber/

#2

Hi,
Did anyone try this?

I have seen some downloads but havn’t got any feedback at all.

Was it that boring :wink: or was it to big to download or…?!?

/John

#3

Whoops forgot to reply :stuck_out_tongue:
It’s really fun game and looks professional :wink: like a ding dong game :slight_smile:
I had some troubles with the landing tho at first, always got a crashed landing :stuck_out_tongue: then I notice I must slow speed when landing, very good.
What I see is, the game is frame rate dependent, when in windowed the game is playable, but when in fullscreen it’s too fast.
You need to cap the fps or make it frame rate independent.
Overall, it’s nice game :wink:
Great job.

#4

I’ve tried it now. The reason for the little feedback is probably because you’ve made it for 5.0, alot of people here hasn’t installed that version.

Anyway the game felt a bit too easy, played through the first 4 levels before I quited.

The game world feels pretty static, add some animated objects like for example little people cheering round the houses when you’ve droped food and clouds that drifts in the sky.

Otherwise I had no performance problems or bugs and the GUI felt polished.

#5

It’s good, although you may want to add something along the lines of “press space (or any key) to continue” at the end (Beginning) of each level; I sat there waiting about 10 seconds for the game to start and nothing. :-[

Lol, good work. :slight_smile: Nice graphics, gameplay is fun.

#6

I got one bug, when in land zone (when starting the game or refuel), pressing up and right key (both key pressed) won’t lift up the helicopter.

And yes why do you target for 1.5? Is Java 1.5 has a really good features so you have to target it for 1.5?

PS to the forum: why this forum reply notification most of the time not working!! >:(

#7

I love this game. I specifically installed 1.5 just to play it! Brilliant! Definetly one to stay in the webstart cache…

I dont know about you, but when i got to the tank level, i freaked out and i lost there, so it wasn’t easy for me…

DP

#8

First of all: Thanks for your feedback!

I was a little afraid there for a moment that I’ve made the worst game ever. :wink:

[quote]Role:
What I see is, the game is frame rate dependent, when in windowed the game is playable, but when in fullscreen it’s too fast.
You need to cap the fps or make it frame rate independent.
[/quote]
Hmm…intresting. I thought my code would prevent fullscreen if it couldn’t get 60fps. Hmm…need to look in to this, thanks!

[quote]DrBizzar0:
The reason for the little feedback is probably because you’ve made it for 5.0, alot of people here hasn’t installed that version.
[/quote]
Oh, I thought people on this forums would be the first to embrace a new version. :wink:

[quote]DrBizzar0:
Anyway the game felt a bit too easy, played through the first 4 levels before I quited.

The game world feels pretty static, add some animated objects like for example little people cheering round the houses when you’ve droped food and clouds that drifts in the sky.
[/quote]
Actualy the first 4 levels was intended to be learning-levels. But maybe thats too many learning-levels before it gets tricky. And yes, good point, there should be some more nice fluff and anims. smile.

[quote]Role:
I got one bug, when in land zone (when starting the game or refuel), pressing up and right key (both key pressed) won’t lift up the helicopter.

And yes why do you target for 1.5? Is Java 1.5 has a really good features so you have to target it for 1.5?
[/quote]
Yes, I knew about this “feature”. The reason is that when you go right and up at the same time. You are too close to the landing area and the front wheel will hit the landing pad and prevent you from taking of. I’m going to write this down on my need-to-fix-list, thanks.

I really love the new Java2 5.0 language features. And I got some improved fps with it too. But maybe, in the future I will try to release games for the current and last major releases.

[quote]darkprohpet:
I love this game. I specifically installed 1.5 just to play it! Brilliant! Definetly one to stay in the webstart cache…
[/quote]
OH! I gonna put this on a t-shirt and wear it at work!

Once again, thanks for the feedback!

/John

#9

Forgot one reply:

[quote]Virum:
…you may want to add something along the lines of “press space (or any key) to continue” at the end (Beginning) of each level; I sat there waiting about 10 seconds for the game to start and nothing. :-[
[/quote]
You’re absolutely right. I’ll add both a text and timer. :wink:

/John

#10

[quote]Oh, I thought people on this forums would be the first to embrace a new version. :wink:
[/quote]
We are, normally.

which underlines how unpopular java 5 is. Especially when you consider that several of the java 5 features are things many of us need.

“Java 5 - so bad that java developers refuse to install it!”

/me wishes a mole within sun would insert that in their press releases, instead of the self-fellating “we’re so great, we’re so clever” bullsh*t

Most people don’t upgrade until they are forced UNLESS the upgrade has no downsides. Someone at Sun decided to make 5 non backwards-compatible, therefore developers can’t use the new features. Sun also failed to make java 1.4 autoupgrade to 1.5, so most non-developers were (are?) still on 1.4 simply by default.

Because java 5 has no new features of any real mass-market value, most people have no NEED to upgrade and would lose out (at the very least, have to jump through hoops to fix things) if they did - so they don’t. Like 1.3, 5 has plenty of new features but they’re practically irrelevant to the vast majority of games devs (I don’t count “saves me typing 1% of characters” as a “relevant” feature when deciding whether to upgrade!).

So…in summary, java 5 is poor and unappealing to most people, so you can’t afford to make a game 5-only. Java 6 may well add some killer features so that everyone has to upgrade to it anyway, in which case you’ll see most people supporting 6 only (this happened with 1.4).

There are no hard and fast rules, I’m afraid :frowning:

#11

So do I. Since nobody has mentioned it yet on this thread, check out retroweaver (http://retroweaver.sourceforge.net/) - it is amazing!

-Sam

#12

[quote]Forgot one reply:

You’re absolutely right. I’ll add both a text and timer. :wink:

/John
[/quote]
Thanks! I felt stupid sitting there staring at my screen that long. :wink:

@ blah^3, what about the system timer that’s actually accurate? That’s why I upgraded to Java 1.5 (it’s still 1.5 to me for some reason. :P)

#13

please use retroweaver or make a 1.4 compatible version :wink: Then I can test it

#14

Oh, forgot to mention…if you start he game and let it stay on the title screen it will flip to highscore, then back to title screen and then it shows a demo play of one of the levels. When coming back to the title screen you can wait another loop to see another level.

#15

I really like it - especially the title screen(!) Really nice old-school feel to it, but please - work a bit more on that music score (make it longer!) and keep it in demo play.

However, I would like the chopper to be more responsive, and everything a bit faster. If this is done, a lot more enemies can be put in so there is more action. Also, make some “swing-door” type obstacles etc!

/M

#16

I think this is a very neat game now that I’ve figured it out! :slight_smile: Darn those bloody choppers shooting me down!

I have an idea. Vary the volume of the chopper sound based on the force it’s exerting against the wind. Right now having the propeller sound play at an infinite loop gets annoying really quickly. I think a volume variation would make it feel more like it was a part of the game and not just an ambient clutter device.

#17

[quote]I really like it - especially the title screen(!) Really nice old-school feel to it, but please - work a bit more on that music score (make it longer!) and keep it in demo play.

However, I would like the chopper to be more responsive, and everything a bit faster. If this is done, a lot more enemies can be put in so there is more action. Also, make some “swing-door” type obstacles etc!

/M
[/quote]
Thanks for you input!
I’m sorry to say that the music hasn’t been composed by me so I can do little about it. The length of the tune is also connected to the size of the total jar file (because it’s wav).

The response of the chopper is configured to make it feel heavy (at least that was my intention). I’ve actualy made it a little bit quicker than it was the the first time a released it to some beta-testers.

The “swing-doors” idea has been written down on my todo-list. :slight_smile:

Thanks
/John

#18

[quote]I think this is a very neat game now that I’ve figured it out! :slight_smile: Darn those bloody choppers shooting me down!

I have an idea. Vary the volume of the chopper sound based on the force it’s exerting against the wind. Right now having the propeller sound play at an infinite loop gets annoying really quickly. I think a volume variation would make it feel more like it was a part of the game and not just an ambient clutter device.
[/quote]
Thanks for your input!
I have to think about the sound idea and need to have a talk with one of my beta testers (a real chopper pilot) to maybe get the sound a bit more realistik. Not sure that just changing the volume will do the trick…might need to vary the pitch or something. Good point anyhow!

Best regards
/John

#19

Nice game! I would prefer more colourful mountains in the background though! Also I would prefer a larger sprite for the helicopter.

Is it all Java2D without any acceleration?

#20

[quote]Nice game! I would prefer more colourful mountains in the background though! Also I would prefer a larger sprite for the helicopter.

Is it all Java2D without any acceleration?
[/quote]
Yepp, only Java2D… standard, out of the box.

The trick is to make sure that images are in no other format than the destination surface. This is to avoid all draw-time conversion.

/John