Icejump4k

Contests 4K Game Competition - 2006
#1

I decided it was time for another game, so here goes. Behold Icejump4k.

Icejump4k
Being the infamous yellow dart (that looks nothing like a dart, or anything approximating one), you have to defeat the monstrous monster that is your enemy. The only way to do this is to take him to the north pole, and get him cold. From this day, everything relies on you. If you succeed, you will become a hero. If you fail, the world might never be the same again.

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Features

  • An exact replica of “Iceworld” described in Icetales.txt
  • Stunning view of the clear northern sky
  • Amazing physics engine capable of handling massive amounts of objects
  • Photorealistic graphics that’ll stun even the most critical viewers
  • A multitude of vicious-looking fiends to scare you
  • Fantastic AI will not leave anyone disappointed
  • Massively multiplayer support
  • Wide array of configuration options
  • No gore - entirely safe for children
  • Fun for the whole family!

Gameplay

  • Left and right arrows move player one.
  • A and D move player two.
  • Enter or space starts multiplayer or singleplayer, respectively.
  • W and Q changes game quality so that it’ll run on different computers.
  • Escape or close button to exit.

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The Truth

Okay, I’ll admit, this game was heavily inspired by woogley’s Goomba4k (go play it, now - he’s done a really good job!). I basically wanted to change the concept a bit and add multiplayer support, so I did (with woogley’s kind permission). The game currently weighs in at some 4076 bytes, but I have several functions that aren’t really neccessary and sort of a lot of long strings, so any suggestions are welcome and very appreciated! The main issue at the moment is a feature that’s yet to be implemented and graphics for the players, that aren’t the best. :slight_smile:

Play the game!
(Click here to download JAR)

#2

Ooh, I like it.

The addition of the computer (or human) opponent really made the game idea lots more fun!

#3

LOL @ features.

Nice game tho :slight_smile:

#4

Thanks ;D. Oh, could somebody please try this on unix/linux and Mac OS X?

#5

Nice gameplay as well as graphics.

#6

Looks good and runs fine on on my Linux box.

#7

fun game! I like the cheap player graphics. You could make the player sink slowly into the ocean (and turning face mode to ‘sad’) when dying instead of adding new graphics.
Or changing the eyes of the player when they bounce each other would be cool. (if you make them procedural)

#8

Great game! I tried 2 player mode with myself… and I’m not sure who won :stuck_out_tongue: I think both of me lost hahaha. I need to make friends… sigh

Just kidding, well done :slight_smile: I agree with Hansdampf on the face change ideas. That would be halarious!

#9

Thanks. I’ll try out the face idea, and see if it works out :slight_smile:

#10

Hi,

[quote]Thanks Grin. Oh, could somebody please try this on unix/linux and Mac OS X?
[/quote]
Sun Ultra 10 (UltraSPARC-IIi 440MHz)

Solaris 10

Java version “1.5.0_01”
Java™ 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_01-b08)
Java HotSpot™ Client VM (build 1.5.0_01-b08, mixed mode, sharing)

Running quite slowly, both java -classpath Icejump4k.jar Icejump4k as well as java webstart.

Hope it helps anyway …

Regards from

ME

#11

Not that surprising, considering the relatively high CPU intensity of this game (I guess it’s the four semi-opaque BufferedImages drawn upon each other). Did you try the low quality mode (switch modes using Q and W)?

#12

I played with a friend on Linux, and it was really fun! There is a surprising lot of skill in the game. We found that when we had 15 and 17 jumps, the game picked up to like double the framerate, making the last few jumps really intense. Was that intentional? It looked as if the first few minutes of the game were kind of slow in frame rate, but at that last few seconds it was smooth. On my windows box it runs faster and smoother. By the way on Linux we had to play on the low quality mode for it to be playable but it was still slower than my Windows box with Intel integrated graphics. Here on Fedora we have a GeForce 5200.

#13

Wow mahlokan, thanks for the constructive critique, that really helps. The increase in framerate wasn’t intentional, but I could create an intentional speed increase if you liked it - just tell me. Also, since it’s so CPU intensive even when in low quality mode, I’m considering entirely removing the sine waves for the water (those are bufferedimages that seem to be very heavy to draw) and instead drawing rectangles, making it lots less intense but with far inferior graphics. What do you think?

Thanks again for constructive, and very kind critique :slight_smile:

EDIT: Laundon suggested I use ONE entirely opaque sine wave in front of the blocks in low quality mode. Not sure if it’d look better or worse than rectangles though, as the waves get sort of uniform with only one layer. Any thoughts?