This is just a demo.
Click here to start the game with java web start.
Arrow keys to move.
Use the separate gray chat window to talk if your connected to the server. Don’t close it.
screenshot:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/65453/game.gif
Your thoughts/ideas?
Cool idea. I tried to do that a few years ago: http://www.otcsw.com/jario.php
I never got around to coding the online multiplayer and the game was very buggy, but it actually turned out to be incredibly fun (New Super Mario Bros. did largely the same thing I did, except you can’t control enemies in theirs). So if you’ve got the drive to get an online Mario-esque platformer going, count me in.
At this point it seems like a very very young project. I couldn’t find anyone else to play with and the whole game seemed to move very slowly and had literally nothing to do. Also, the floor system didn’t seem to work perfectly - I was able to just mash the jump button and make it all the way to the top of the castle.
Yes the game is still very basic and young. This is pretty much the only exposure I’ve given it. I wasn’t really trying to make it into a nes mario-like game, I just used some of the mario sprites because i’m too lazy to draw my own.
I’m still thinking of what to make of it if I continue working on this. I was originally thinking of making it into more of an rpg/adventure game but maybe it would just be easier to turn it into a simple multiplayer platform fighter. Also, you ARE supposed to be able to jump on walls and stuff(where there are black pixels) but i guess it looks kinda weird. Thanks for the feedback.
Yeah, well being able to jump on the guard’s head and just the way it works is a little wonky. Like because the pixels were at different heights, I would sometimes slide sideways through a platform when it didn’t look like I should have (because it might be a diagonal incline and therefore the pixel at the correct height would be slightly offset and the pixel at too high of a height would be the one I was going for). I don’t know if that was coherent at all, but it’s what was happening. 
mine never connected to the server :P.
also, how did you make it request the server connect AFTER initializing the game?
I think my computer just went to sleep (running the sever from home).
The server connection runs as a separate thread.