Jack Flowers (shareware edition) beta tests

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#21

OK, yep, the front screen works fine now. 1Ghz OS X laptop, game runs fine.

#22

Actually, I did hit a weird bug where collecting the falling flower from a bee on the invaders level actually killed me once :(.

A bit annoying since it was the very last bee too!

#23

thanks for testing !

I’ll upload a new version tomorrow with this bug (and others) fixed.

I’m currently working on reducing the download size and improving gameplay.

Lilian

#24

* blahblahblahh swears at OS X java

If the webstart updates, you CANNOT overwrite the desktop shortcut saved version you’ve already got. Stupid bloody half-arsed OS integration :(.

#25

another porblem: on the space invaders scene, if the bees go underground, you cant die and you cant escape. You just ahve to quit the game.

#26

Doesn’t the existing shortcut always start the newest version?

#27

Sorry for the response delay.

Windows XP Pro and Java 1.5.0_06

#28

I’ve updated the old web start link to redirect to the new one. Don’t know if it’s enough but I should have done it before…

About the bonus level : thanks for reporting, I’m going to add a ‘floor’ parameter to the space invaders engine. :slight_smile:

Lilian

#29

Mmm this is weird… I’m going to add logs to try and detect where this comes from. I’ve got a computer here that’s nearly the same config and it works perfectly…

#30

Good news and bad news.

Good news: I figured out the problem. I now run at about 90-130 fps on my slower computer at normal settings (850 mhz, ti-4200). My faster computer gets 130 fps when the “Stage #” text appears and the plants are growing, then jumps to about 280 fps when the game starts (I can move Jack), with best quality enabled. Fullscreen and windowed has no discernable difference in performance. Framerate is FLAWLESS! :slight_smile:

Bad news: The music caused it. Disabling the music on either machine improved the performance phenomenally. What’s more, it seemed to slowly degrade the framerate over time on my slower computer (though I didn’t play for very long) and it got down to 20 fps soon with the same jerking problem occuring. I tested the faster computer again and had the same situation as I described earlier.

So there you go. Any ideas?

#31

Thanks, I’m going to have a look at sound management again (it’s just plain javasound).

Lilian

#32

Updated.

Fixed reported bugs (except the one related to music grabbing too much CPU) and improved a little bit the rendering (same gameplay though).

Pack200 is back, so download is now around 10Megs for java 5 and 13 for java 1.4.2. I still have to work on the download size…

Now I’m going to improve the appearance of the game, and refine gameplay (I should post updates as improvements are added).

Any feedback is still appreciated from those who haven’t tried the game yet…

Lilian :slight_smile:

#33

Have you thought of using SuperPackME for your images?

http://jgcwiki.datadino.com/jgcwiki/index.php?title=Image_Compression_Technology

#34

Hmm, this format is for paletized images, mine are true colors.

May be I could apply it to some backgrounds, I’ll have to check if some images could still benefit from it…

thanks for the suggestion

Lilian :slight_smile:

#35

The game has been polished a lot since I last looked at it, looks great!

About your concerns for the download size:
-Like suggested earlier, I think many elements are suited to be generate procedurally (backgrounds, mountains, textures etc)
-The music could as well be in a sampled format (mod / s3m etc) or midi synthesized. As the tunes sound retro, you might get about the same quality with these smaller formats for this type of music.
-Maybe it’s an idea to stream/cache some data runtime (like resources for levels you wouldn’t need right away)

Looking forward to the next release :slight_smile:

Thijs

#36

Hi, I’m testing the installation process, could some of you test the following link and tell me if the game installs/uninstalls/runs well (windows only) ?

Many thanks !

http://www.javapause.com/download/jackflowers_b5_setup.exe (small updates since last time : faster startup and minor rendering improvements)

Lilian :slight_smile:

#37

Tried it and it installed / played / uninstalled just fine 8)

#38

Updated !

(last update before some weeks of quietness…)

  • ultrasmooth animations (thanks to Xith and its Morph node)
  • new backgrounds (reducing download size : now it’s 10 megs)
  • Jack moves faster…

I’d like to know if the frame rate is still high (more computations now)
… and if you have other comments, don’t hesitate !

web start here : http://www.javapause.com/games/jack

(installer version : http://www.javapause.com/download/jackflowers_b6_setup.exe )

Lilian :slight_smile:

#39

friendly, polished game :slight_smile:

but: after level 2 the background music started playing in a loop, it restarted every 3 seconds. The screen didn’t fit anymore, like 50 pixels were missing on the left and right.
Starting a new game (ingame) did not help. My taskmanager told me that your game used 285 mb at that time.

Maybe that was because I started your webstart chat before your game was loaded (I killed that task after selecting new game) and I alt-tabbed once?

(webstart version, java 1.6 beta)

#40

Hmm, fps stats anybody ?

I’d just like to have your fps counter for the first level, once the plants are grown, and of course your computer specs…

Many thanks !

Lilian :slight_smile: