Didn’t get much feedback from my post in Game Design so I thought I might try here. Its still eary on and currently its windows only (waiting for LWJGL builds).
EDIT: Linux builds now available.
http://67.18.194.226/kev/grav2/grav2pg.jnlp
Controls:
EDIT: Controls are now fully configurable
Thurst - cursor up
Turn left - cursor left
Turn right - cursor right
Fire - CTRL
EDIT: Still looking for level ideas!
Looking for feedback, ideas, problems.
Cheers for any responses,
Kev
Java 2 Runtime Environment: Version 1.4.2_05 by Sun Microsystems Inc.
Logging to file: F:\javaws.log
Failed to start controller
Unable to find level data file
Well, I have a controller… but I guess it’s just not implemented yet.
The game itself works great and the controls feel also just right. Good work 
Some things (add salt were needed):
[]The now loading font looks ugly (like trashed alpha).
[]Color code the time (or something else) right now it’s easy to run out of time without noticing (until it’s too late).
[]Some people might “not like” the shape of the ship (I don’t mind - it’s just a ship… but there are people which takes everything as offense as they can).
[]The light effect (level 3 and above) is pretty neat. However, I would make it brighter, the spot itself smaller and the falloff as wide(and dim) as it’s right now. It won’t make a big difference except higher contrast between the lit and shadow areas. A nice addition would be having additional light from the flames (makes some spots easier, too)
[*]And… uhm… the last level. You can reach the “end of the world” there at the top of the level. It stops scrolling and you can collide with the world bounds. Thinks like that should be avoided were possible, because they don’t match the usual flow. It’s hard to explain, but you can trust me there. Once you’ve etablished some kind of rules you shouldn’t break them - at least not for technical reasons (like end of the map).
What is it with you peoples minds! You’re the forth to imply that from the shape and I’d not even thought about it. Hopefully all the graphics will be getting updated in the future when I find the cash to buy some.
Erg, yes, ah… the level actually has a row of wall tiles at the top that you can’t quite see (well actually I’ve just upadted it so you can scroll that far now :))
Other ideas gratefully recieved, thanks.
Kev
collisions seemed a little backwards to me.
If you’re moving right and down and you run into a horizontal wall below you, it bounces you back left and up… Shouldn’t, in an actual collision, it bounce you up but not affect your horizontal momentum?
As a side effect of this unrealistic effect, if you run into a corner facing up and left, and you try to get out, if you go up, since you’re touching the right wall, it bounces you back down. Then if you try to get out by going left, since you’re touching the bottom wall, it bounces you right. It doesn’t follow physics and it makes it take a while just to get away from the wall.
I happen to like the art and graphics effects
I like it!
However:
First time I navigate a menu symbol, it feels like it takes 200ms, while it only takes 50 ms after that first initial move. Sounds starting or ?
Ok, next thing on the list is to get collisions resolved. Least I have some direction now…
Graphics: Ari Feldman, at least for now. Yep, they’re originally designed for 320x200 but the res thats running is 800x600.
Probably is the sounds loading on the menu, I’ll see if I can cache them without playing them at the same time.
Music, agreed. Still trying to source some longer loops of the same style. I guess this will get sorted when I find cash to buy the resources (art/music)…
Brialliant feedback tho, thanks… especially the detail on the bouncing.
Cheers,
Kev
Great from what I can see!
Some observations/questions/thoughts -
If you go to the botom of Lvl2, the screen keeps scrolling up and you see the background image.
Same as above on lvl 3 at the top right (near one of the lights)
Love the light effect on lvl3. Maybe puts lights on the ship and then make a center cone in front of the ship to show where the lights verlap, making it brighter there.
The bullets seem to be affected by gravity. If they are ‘physical’ bullets, makes sense. If they are ‘lazer like’ weapons, then I don’t like it as much. I wasn’t sure from the graphics which one you intended.
Add a radar like display. It doesn’t have to have all the terrain in it, just something which gives you a rough idea of where you are and where the baddies/goals/etc are.
You’ve already heard about the physics/bounce thing.
The asteroids in lvl2 were grey, but the goal asteroid (with the # remaining to blast) was yellow. Should probably be the same color.
Nice end of lvl effect with the rotating text.
Nice lvl selection screen. I like the layout and transparency effect you have on them.
Controls seemed responsive all the time.
I didn’t understand the spaceship theme with some grass terrain. The graphics were fine and all, it just seemed odd to have green grass in space.
The jws screen shows (PG) in the title. Does this mean there’s a version rated R or maybe G with more/less violence?
I’d echo the sound comments. You said it was very early on, so no real negatives.
HTH,
Dr. A>
Yep, this is actually how I’d intended it, althought I want the background to scroll a little more. You think it looks too ugly I take it?
Tooing and frowing on this one, probably going to make it as you say dependant on the weapon you’re using.
Yeah, it proving to be more of a problem than I’d thought.
THe PG stands for PuppyGames, since its hosted at Cas’s place at the moment. If I do get as far as releasing it as a game proper I’ll be doing it under the PG banner.
I love the radar idea!
Kev
Mad, just had to post it somewhere. Just tried GB on my work machine. It has a onboard Intel graphics chipset of some sort that reports to support OpenGL.
Runs better than on my old GF2 32MB! Whys that then?
Weird, but cool.
Kev
i also don’t understand that. the graphics look perfect for me.
Kev - about the background being visible. I think it would be ok, but only if it did it everywhere or in a specific place.
When you start lvl2 for example, you are at the top of the area. The wall is at the top of the screen. It ‘looks’ to the player like this is what should happen when they get to the ‘edge’ of the arena. Then when you play, some places do this and others show you alot of the background.
What I would do is make it so that normally you don’t see the background. Then make a ‘tunnel’ where you are going maybe left or right and the background is all around you. Here is some ASCII art to try and show you -
* * * * * |---------------------
* * * * * * |
* * * * * |
-----------------------------|
<=(Ship)
-----------------------------|
* * * * * |
* * * * * |
* * * * * |---------------------
The ship is going left and the * are background image. Castlevania on the Playstation makes great use of this effect, where you are in a castle and when you get near the towers at the sides of the castle you can see a little bit. Then they have ‘tunnels/bridges’ where you can see alot of the area.
In the above you could go to the top and bottom of the big area, but it would only show you a little of the background. It kinda makes it more of a wow factor for when you get to see alot of it. Like - Woooa, I wonder whats out there?
My 2 Cents.
Dr. A>
PS - I don’t mean to get rid of where the background comes through the ‘holes’ in the board, just at the edges.
nice game
the ship bounces off the walls when the shieldradius touches them, you could change it to a lower radius or ship-pixel-collisions, so its less bouncy.
here a game I used to play a lot:
http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/game/132
has less physics than yours but runs smooth on a 286
crashed here.
the app started, tried to change the resolution of the screen and then crashed.
I had the time to see “failed to…(?)” in the console before it disappeared, but that’s all.
running on XP with jre 1.5 beta 2
Have to put the crash down to 1.5 beta.
Do people really not like the bounce back? I know currently the physics isn’t right (fixed locally) but is it too annoying generally?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I had a version on my commodore 64 that ran perfectly fine too… 
Kev
[quote]Do people really not like the bounce back? I know currently the physics isn’t right (fixed locally) but is it too annoying generally?
[/quote]
I find it annoying atm. I would like to be able to skip on surfaces - this isn’t currently possible.
Right, what exactly do you mean by “skip”? Do you mean slide along them?
Kev
Just had a feature thought, how about some surfaces that bounce and some that don’t?
Hmm, maybe not… since the shield is implied to be the thing causing the bounce…
Kev
Purty Good.
Learn the laws of physics though.
Sorry, it’s true.
You need to.
Write on!!!
Hey Kev very good job!
I like the kind of game. It’s very smooth and the visual effetcs are really good.
I think what I like most is the changing gameplay level after level.
I agree with a previous post about the collision. I think if the ship collides at the bottom then it shouldn’t bounce a lot. You should try to make it realistic as much as possible concerning the gravity force. This way your game will be even more engaging.
Do you support joysticks? I tried the game at work so I only have a keyboard. I imagine playing with a joystick would be a lot more fun.
And yes the music is too repetitive but I like the style.
Keep up the very good work and I think that what will make the real difference compared to other games of this genre is the originality and variety of the game play. We want to be surprised you know.