Quix - Early build

Orangy_Tang · August 15, 2004, 7:17pm

After dint of much effort, I’ve finally got a version thats complete enough to let people tinker around with. ;D

Gameplay:
Controls are dead simple: cursor keys for movement and space to jump.
Critters (the pink dimonds) will run away from you - touch them to catch and stun them for a limited amount of time. Catch all of the critters on a level at the same time to complete it!

Technical notes:
Windows version only tested on XP, but hopefully should be good everywhere.
Linux version won’t work 'cos I don’t have any LWJGL linux binaries. If someone could be kind enough to send me a current build I could add them.
Mac version is equally non-existant, sorry.

And you’ll need an OpenGL capable graphics card and drivers, natch.

I’d like to know the usual stuff - does it work, does it stay smooth, system specs etc. I’m also open for any gameplay comments.

Matzon · August 15, 2004, 7:59pm

1 - Black Line passes over logo (intended?)
2 - Weird lines at first screen
3 - Every time I start a game (load a file), it does its transition, and just when the game is about to start (looks interesting!) it crashes with an NPE - tried all 4 maps, same result

[quote]Set time @ 0 5 0 0
parentGamequix.gamestate.chaseplayfield.ChasePlayfield@1f3aa07 cur zone:quix.zone.Zone@1fc2fb
Exception in thread “main” java.lang.NullPointerException
at quix.zone.critters.Jumper.findNextTarget(Jumper.java:254)
at quix.zone.critters.Jumper.update(Jumper.java:155)
at quix.zone.Zone.update(Zone.java:619)
at quix.gamestate.chaseplayfield.ChasePlayfield.updateGame(ChasePlayfield.java:254)
at quix.gamestate.chaseplayfield.ChasePlayfield.update(ChasePlayfield.java:203)
at quix.gamestate.opengame.OpenGame.update(OpenGame.java:175)
at quix.QuixGame.update(QuixGame.java:357)
at quix.QuixGame.run(QuixGame.java:303)
at quix.QuixGame.main(QuixGame.java:166)
[/quote]

Orangy_Tang · August 15, 2004, 8:23pm

The lines are a graph of the FPS so its just a testing thing. Its that you’ll be seeing pass over the logo at the start.

The null heightfield is slightly worrying though. Do you see the heightfields being created in the output? Something like:

[quote]Heightfield heightfield.flat00 not already created. Attempting to create new…
Heights for heightfield.flat00:
[ 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 ]
[/quote]
Its almost as if I forgot to include the heightfields somehow, I wonder if my classpath is getting screwed up for some reason.

Edit: I’ve made a few code changes, I doubt it’ll fix it but theres more debug text so I should be able to see where its going wrong. Could you give it another try and post the console output if it doesn’t work? Cheers.

Matzon · August 15, 2004, 8:58pm

[quote]Stun on surface
Zone complete!
Playfield finished!
Playfield was completed sucessfully!
Destroying sprite engine
Fade to completed!
Loaded tex image.endingpic
Font created:com.shavenpuppy.jglib.Font@89cf1e
App.exit
[/quote]
Everything works fine now…

Matzon · August 15, 2004, 8:58pm

need to sleep - comments tomorrow

oNyx · August 15, 2004, 9:32pm

When running fullscreen an NPE is thrown. However, windowed works (win98se).

java.lang.NullPointerException

  at quix.QuixGame.main(QuixGame.java:135)

  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)

  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)

  at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)

  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)

  at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.executeApplication(Unknown Source)

  at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.executeMainClass(Unknown Source)

  at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.continueLaunch(Unknown Source)

  at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.handleApplicationDesc(Unknown Source)

  at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.handleLaunchFile(Unknown Source)

  at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.run(Unknown Source)

  at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Orangy_Tang · August 15, 2004, 9:45pm

That would suggest it can’t find a suitable display mode. It looks for anything thats 800x600@60Hz, what kind of setup/graphics card have you got there that doesn’t seem to support that?

I’ll put “better error messages” on my todo list.

darkprophet · August 15, 2004, 9:47pm

runs flawlessly. However, it does slow down noticebly when im stunning multiple “things” at the same time.

Machine specs:
2.26Ghz P4
512Mb Ram
ATI Radeon 9200 256Mb VRam
DP

oNyx · August 15, 2004, 9:48pm

After playing for some minutes… It’s pretty cool

That “over glowing” effect is really neat (how did you do that? ;D). I think it will be damn neat with real sprites. Good work

Oh and in windowed mode… it’s placed somewhat odd initially. Had to move it on screen with +->move (then moving it around with the cursor keys). I’m afraid most people won’t know that they could do something like that.

oNyx · August 15, 2004, 9:50pm

[quote]That would suggest it can’t find a suitable display mode. It looks for anything thats 800x600@60Hz, what kind of setup/graphics card have you got there that doesn’t seem to support that?
[…]
[/quote]
Well, win9x claims that all display modes are 0hz :-/

(and linux does the same iirc)

darcone · August 15, 2004, 11:19pm

It seems I cant download some jars when starting the webstart.

monkeyget · August 16, 2004, 7:49am

windows 98se
1.4Ghz
Gforce3

when i try Quix (fullscreen) i have this message (in a jdialog):
“unable to launch in fulllscreen”

Windowed mode on the other hand works fine, i didn’t see any slowdown.

The effects in the game look very cool( new level, end of level, when touching a ‘critter’,…)

the glowing effect is really impressive but it looks a bit buggy when it’s applied on the ‘blocks’ (the things you’r moving on) the glowing appears inside the blocks. The bigger the block is the more it i noticable.

The game looks fun to play. the concept looks fun, you must be able to move quickly and think at the same time to regroup the crittters

princec · August 16, 2004, 8:00am

Runs flawlessly. Very hard. I think it needs the Touch of Chaz, yes?

Cas

erikd · August 16, 2004, 9:44am

Runs great, if a bit slow in windowed mode. (Tested on ATI mobility radeon, winxp).

Orangy_Tang · August 16, 2004, 5:34pm

I’ve updated the code so it should (hopefully) be a bit better at creating the display now, it’ll automatically fall back to a window if fullscreen fails, and it’ll try 0Hz modes as well if any are found.

I only just noticed the glow ‘bleeding’ problem myself, looks to be a problem with the detail tiles. Think I need to do some non-power-of-two texturing to fix that…

kevglass · August 16, 2004, 5:53pm

Lovely! I mean, brilliant!

ATI 9000 Mobility
Win XP

Smooth, no stutters, fun too! Not too diffcult at all.

Kev

weston · August 16, 2004, 6:47pm

I could have sworn I played a game by the same name for my commodore64, but maybe that was qwix or qwiks or something (very different game btw)… I tried it out in fullscreen and it ran smooth, I didn’t notice slowdown at any point:
WinXP
jdk1.4.2_05
1.8ghz
768 megs o’ ram
GeforceFX 5200

That is quite fun once there are multiple critters to catch. I didn’t find it too difficult at all, beat all the levels within a few minutes. Very interesting idea, can’t wait to see more progress on it.

tafty · August 16, 2004, 7:07pm

@weston: you’re thinking of Qix the addictive area filling game.

I really like this! Can’t wait for more levels and some decent graphics.

Sys: JRE1.4.2_05, Win2K, AMD2400XP, GeForce4MX.

weston · August 16, 2004, 7:09pm

yup, thats it. This thread caught my attention cause someone suggested to me the other day that I do a remake of Qix.

tafty · August 16, 2004, 7:56pm

Do it! Qix is a wicked game ;D

And just to keep this on topic the 8-bit game this Quix game reminded me of was the Mastertronic ‘classic’ One Man And His Droid. Nice.