Pipe Extreme

Contests 4K Game Competition - 2007
#1

Hi All,

Just submitted Pipe Extreme. Hopefully it’ll be a bit more popular than my previous (boring) Space Inversion entry! :slight_smile:

I’m still making changes to PE (submitted version is 0.9). I still plan to add another level or 2, and to add some more square colours and maybe another effect.

I’m a bit concerned that it may not run quickly enough on slower machines. If you have any problems in this regard, or have any comments at all, please post them here, and I’ll see what I can do (still have 100 bytes or so :slight_smile: )

Cheers, Tim.

Pipe Extreme (v0.9)

Jump and roll your way along the pipe. Score points for speed and for “picking up” yellow squares. Watch out for those other coloured squares though (and the holes)!

Webstart: http://javaunlimited.net/games/launch.php?type=jnlp&id=131

Download: http://javaunlimited.net/games/launch.php?type=file&id=131

Controls.

  • Left - Accelerate left.
  • Right - Accelerate right.
  • Up - Accelerate forwards.
  • Down - Accelerate backwards.
  • Control - Jump.
  • 1 - Start playing.
  • Escape - Exit from game.

Screen shot:

http://games.7sun.com/4k/pipex/scr-0.9-440x440.png

#2

Wow, that’s pretty cool. Runs plenty fast on a core duo e6400 at least :slight_smile:

Are you just using graphics.fillArc() or implementing your own methods through pixel editing? Either way you’ve implemented it pretty well, no complaints graphically at all.

The game is a little difficult to control however (first impression, maybe it will get easier for me?) and I have yet to have been able to get through that loop. It’s a bit easy to make (or neglect to make) sudden movements that will then result in your losing or slowing down. Maybe shorten the red distance required for those jumps and widen that loop a little?

#3

Very nice 3D stuff. Too hard to enjoy :frowning:

#4

Well, I don’t think that counts as a “slower computer”, but it’s nice to know. :slight_smile:

graphics2d.fill( new generalPath(…) );

OK, I’ll consider toning it down a bit. it’s tricky as I wanted to be able to jump from left to right without landing in the middle 3 squares (not used in a level yet, but I was planning to).

The loop is possible, or you can cop out, and simply jump the gap. :slight_smile: Perhaps I should move this to a higher level though.

Thanks for your comments, Tim.

#5

Thanks for your comment. As I replied to nva255, I’ll look at making it a bit easier (and more fun too, I hope).

Cheers, Tim.

#6

I really like this game… a great improvement to “Tube Blazer” (from one of the very first contests). the only thing that strikes me as odd is the control. like when the ball is at the top of the pipe, I would expect pressing the RIGHT arrow key would make the ball move LEFT… but direction seems kinda… absolute?

also, increase the speed! (speed-up squares even?) :slight_smile:

#7

My first version did as you expected… but then what would you expect while the ball was in the air? tricky I thought, so I changed it to function this way.

I’ll think about it. So far people have said it’s too hard, and making it even faster would make it harder still. Speed squares that speed up for a short time would be good I guess (you don’t have to go on them :slight_smile: ).

Cheers, Tim.

#8

Nice graphics :o
Litlle bit hard to play, but maybejust a thing of “training”.

The Highscore is hard to read.

My Highscore is: 15608280
Don’t know if thats good, but i got when i replayed the first level 3 timnes, as i always died in the end ;D

#9

yeah i thought about that after i posted, there’s not many ways around it. i’ll just have to get used to it :wink:

#10

Here is how it looks on my machine:

http://server1.conquer-space.net/~ulf/pipeextreme.jpg

Seems like you found another bug in sun’s jvm. :frowning:

Other than that, the game is pretty cool, except…

  • I always die on the loop, even when I try to jump it, which is totally frustrating, because I have to start all over again.
  • more speed!!!

It reminds me of the old sonic the hedgehog games - there was one game where you have to run down that pipe and collect coins - and you could go faster and faster.

#11

Looks really slick, but far, far too hard to be fun IMHO. I think it’s that the momentum of the ball is so high, you end up pressing left and right for ages just to get it to start to move, and you always overcompensate and end up swinging back and forth. :-\ Tighter, snappier controls and it’d be great to play.

#12

Nice and cool looking game!

I don’t really think it will make it harder, since you just give the player the ability to go faster. That doesn’t mean that the player has to go flat out all the time. Have a look at trailblazer. That was quite fast if I remember correct.
Pretty much agree with all previous posters. Would also be nice to have a few restart points in each track, so one won’t have to restart from very beginning. Levels are quite short, so maybe not a must if controlls and levels get a bit easier. Lvl 1 was hard, lvl 2 way too hard way too early, then I gave up…

Make it easier for a few more levels and I’ll definitely will play it some more :smiley:

#13

Thanks.

I’ve made some changes to the levels now, for v0.91. They’re a bit easier.

I’ve changed the font to be bigger, and moved the scores to the corners. Hopefully this will make them easier to read.

It is possible to get around the corkscrew… but it seems that people do find it a little hard… so I’ve moved it to level 4 now. There’s now an easier version of it (where you can’t fall off :slight_smile: ) in level 2.

Cheers, Tim.

#14

Wow, slick game. I’m really impressed with the creativity and simplicity of the design.

#15

I think it may work if you can’t control the ball while in the air at all, with the change that you can control how hard it jumps. I’m going to try to add this jumping control anyway, so once that’s done, I’ll try the other control method again and see what I think.

Cheers, Tim.

#16

I guess that there are 2 problems here:

  1. The score and level info is obscured by the Java banner. This is 'cause I’m drawing directly on the Frame I guess. I’ll have a think about it and see if I can work out a way around it.
  2. There are black dots where the tiles touch. This is a graphics glitch that I guess I’m probably not going to bother with trying to fix.

Loop is gone now (well, moved to L4 anyway). I’ll look at the more speed thing over the weekend.

Me too. I used to play them a lot (on my old Sega 16 :slight_smile: ).

Cheers, Tim.

#17

I’ve made the 1st couple of levels a bit easier now. I’m still working on the later levels.

It’s probably feels that way as the right/left control is acceleration based. Maybe if they were a little more speed based it would be better. I’ll look into this over the weekend.

Thanks for your comments, Tim.

#18

A good point. :slight_smile: I’ll change this over the weekend.

I’ve thought about it… but I’m counting those bytes. :slight_smile: I’ll try to fit something like this in.

Space, space, space :slight_smile: I’d love to have longer levels, but as you say, short ones are ok if it gives a restart point.

OK, OK. :slight_smile:

I’ve made the 1st 2 levels eaiser now.

Thanks for your comments, Tim.

#19

I’ve switched my own game to use JComponent (inherit JComponent).
JComponent already gives you double-buffering, so you don’t need to implement it yourself.
Dunno if it works for fast games (my aichess4k is round-based).

#20

The new levels are pretty cool! ;D
After training the loop in (dunno, level 3?) I actually made it through the more difficult one where tiles are missing.
However, let me suggest you do the levels in a different order. First the really easy, short ones, and later the longer and more difficult ones.

Btw. do you happen to know Trackmania Nations? It’s actually available for free, so grab it and try it if you want.
Trackmania Nations is a stunt car racer and the levels are kind of similar to yours. TM starts of with a really simple straight road. Then it adds a curve. Then it adds a jump. Then you get more complicated jumps. And so on.