New Game: Traffic Jammer JX

WIP games, tools & toy projects Archived Projects
#1

Its been a long time since my last post, as we have been working hard on our new & improved game:

Traffic Jammer JX
www.crystalsquid.com/games/traffic_jx.php

This is an updated version of our original Traffic Jammer, complete with vastly improved graphics, sound effects, and a full tutorial. It should run on any Java version from 1.1 onwards (thanks to Jeff & others the tips on software rendering!)

Newest interesting feature - the applet itself will try to make a cookie (if you have cookies enabled) that will store your game options and progress locally so you don’t lose you place. Java rocks :slight_smile:

I hope you all like it (and our new-look website!)

  • Dom

PS: We have fixed a few issues with Netscape & other browsers, so please post if you have any problems.
known issue: IE5.0 SP2 just displays a white screen on the game window. If you open 'tools/internet options/advanced/ and just check/uncheck the ‘show java console’ button, for some reason it resets the iframe and the game appears. Wierd…

#2

Javatm Runtime Detection FAILED - running MacOSX, Safari and 1.3.1 (I think). Will try on my PC later …

#3

Hmm not good.
It starts a small applet that should trigger a javascript function to set the iframe to point to the game window (so that you don’t just get a blank screen while waiting for the game to load).

We are considering getting rid of this cos it seems to be causing a few problems :frowning: It should work on your PC though :slight_smile:

  • Dom
#4

Quite an entertaining and professional looking game! Feels like Lemmings disguised as an edutainment program or something :smiley:

Ran fine on jre1.5b1, winXP, gf4, mozilla 1.6 until it crashed the whole browser after a couple of levels >:(
A Java webstart version would be most welcome since applets sucks…

#5

yo dr. - appletz rule!

#6

I’m glad you liked it :wink:
I suspect the crash is probably the sound - we’ve had some problems with it before but we thought we fixed them :confused: Thats next on the agenda to fix :slight_smile:

  • Dom

btw 1.1 applets are great. When we originally wrote our games with 1.4, only around 25% of visitors could play them. As 1.1 applets we get better than 75% which is a big difference. & there is something nice about having embeded games on pages, well at least I think so :slight_smile:

#7

Tried it on Mac OS X 10.3.3 JRE 1.4.2

It just sits at 0% when it is supposed to be loading 130kB of graphics and sound. last line in console says : Detected JAVA version: 1.4.2_04

I usually have problems trying to play a game from CrystalSquid… they all seem to do something odd to run the applet and thus fail.

edit Actually I should take that back now… it seems I can run some of the older ones that didn’t run before (BeeMania).

#8

Worked great on 1.5b2 (internal build) on SiS630.

Very nicely done!

I’d agree about the JavaWebStart version… You can offer both - applet and JWS versions. The good thing about JWS is that you can also play the game offline…

#9

Works great here too, although one time, after completing a level I accidentally clicked on the Buy link.
It spawned an instance of Mozilla, I quickly closed the new window, which caused mozilla to crash ???
(Both the instance that was spawned, and the instance containing the Applet)
It was a 1 off though - probably nothing to worry about ::slight_smile:

#10

Works great.
I already liked the previous version a lot, and I like this version even better. It’s the same game, but much more polished. Great job! :slight_smile:

#11

Im glad you all like it (except those with Macs - somethings definately up there) We will try to fix things next week so hopefully get it to work for you :slight_smile:

swpalmer - no idea why the load wouldn’t work - it should be doing exactly the same as BeeMania and the others :confused:

We were considering entering it into the Java game competition, but I’m not sure if it is the sort of thing they were after, especially as it is sort of a ‘demo’ version and the download is not Java… Any advice would be welcome :slight_smile:

  • Dom
#12

Tried again with the Mac and it is working now. Must have been a fluke… timing issue? I don’t know.

Love the game. My suggestions: background music and smoother animation.

I don’t see why you wouldn’t enter it in the competition. I’m also curious as to why the download is not Java?

#13

[quote]We were considering entering it into the Java game competition, but I’m not sure if it is the sort of thing they were after, especially as it is sort of a ‘demo’ version and the download is not Java… Any advice would be welcome
[/quote]
From the competition rules:

[quote]All Games that do not utilize java Web Start or are played in a browser must include an automated installation and uninstallation routine.
[/quote]
You can enter the exe as long as it’s a installation wizard. You can also enter the applet.

[quote]Incomplete Games in various stages of completion are eligible for the Contest, but at minimum, one level of the Game must be complete and fullly playable. All Games must be in a “beta” state or better. That is, the Games must be feature-complete as quality will also be a judging criteris
[/quote]
You don’t have to enter the whole game. A “demo” version will do just fine.

#14

We did have background music, but due to the problems we are having with the sound we had to take it out :frowning: Hopefully when we fix the sound it will go back in.
The download is an exe because of the problems we have had with people not having the latest versions of Java installed. With an exe, everyone with a PC should be able to play the game without having to download anything else. Add to this the fact that we are more experienced in C++, especially the DirectX & OpenGL interfaces. But this is largely a personal preference thing anyway, so I don’t want to go starting any more C/Java debates here… :wink:

  • Dom
#15

[quote]With an exe, everyone with a PC should be able to play the game without having to download anything else.
[/quote]
:o

#16

Not quite… e.g. if the judges are using Mac’s, then you’ll also have to supply them with a Windows PC each (according to the rules :)). :stuck_out_tongue: :slight_smile:

Seeing as they haven’t yet specified what hardware they do have for the judging (ahem; unless they’ve already updated that info and I just haven’t noticed it, in which case “Doh!”)…

#17

[quote]With an exe, everyone with a PC should be able to play the game without having to download anything else.
[/quote]
hmm, this “.exe” file seems to be corrupt:


anders@taif anders $ chmod +x TrafficJammer_v1_01_Win32_Setup.exe
anders@taif anders $ ./TrafficJammer_v1_01_Win32_Setup.exe
bash: ./TrafficJammer_v1_01_Win32_Setup.exe: cannot execute binary file

Strange ::slight_smile:

#18

[quote]Not quite… e.g. if the judges are using Mac’s, then you’ll also have to supply them with a Windows PC each (according to the rules ).
[/quote]
From the rules:

[quote]Special Equipment: If the Game requires special equipment or hardware, such as force-feedback hardware, stereo-vision glasses, other headgear, specific handheld devices or cell phones, graphics or audio cards, contestant must provide the necessary equipment and in such numbers so as to enable five judges to play the game. Sponsors may attempt to make reasonable efforts to obtain the necessary special equipment and hardware, but it is the ultimate responsibility of the Contestant to provide such equipment and hardware.
[/quote]
There is room for interpretation here, but I don’t see a PC being as excotic as stereo-vision glasses.

A can’t find any mention in the rules that the games have to be cross platform. The only thing closesly related:

[quote]All Games must be accompanied by documentation, including without limitation, …, OS version required to play, …
[/quote]
Wich again I’m sure can be interpretated in different way. I see at as you have to specify wich os and wich version it runs on.

#19

For some reason your quote didn’t include my smilies, but they’re in the original post. My comment was tongue-in-cheek, just in case they didn’t make it clear…

#20

Theres room for interpretation yeah, but I’m pretty sure submitting a C++/DirectX .exe for a Java game competition may be just ever so slightly out of place :wink:

anders - You’ll have to install the ‘Wine VM’ :stuck_out_tongue:

  • Dom