Yet another advert, woo hoo!
Warlock is a simple sprite game, which will hopefully be the first of “40 hour projects”. So far I’m up to 20 hours, need some more ideas, more levels…
Check it out at : http://www.cokeandcode.com/warlock
Any feedback appreciated…
Kev
Hi!
This game is pretty well done ! The only bug is that I can’t go in fullscreen mode (black static screen…).
Otherwise, the game is funny. The music is great (but there’s only 1 track, so it becomes a little bit boring after 15 minutes…).
The sprites are very well done, but the world is a little bit empty. You should add some more details.
I’ve played all levels, but something dispointed me : The character is very slow to move :-/
++
Chman
Fullscreen bug? What JVM are you running on?
I’ll be adding more music as soon as I find some as good as the current 
Sprites were mostly stolen from RPG maker sprite sheets… but I liked them so much…
What sort of details? I was thinking of adding little torches on the walls as grates on the floor, that sorta thing…
My original concept was the character was intentionally slow, thats what makes it more difficult… but soooo many people have said that now, I guess I can speed him up a bit…
Got 20 hours (ish) of development left, so plenty more to in yet,
Thanks for the constructive feedback,
Kev
JVM 1.4.1
Yeah small details like this would add more fun !
Yes, but it makes the game boring after a while…
++
Chman
I’ve just uploaded a new version to:
http://www.cokeandcode.com/warlock
Kev
404 
Damn it, sorry about that…
I’ve updated so it points at the right zip file now…
Thanks for reporting,
Kev
Very nice game! Like the added torches etc. Full screen doesn’t work for me (flickers madly) but that’s just my computer!
The added speed up makes it a lot more playable - before I only got two or three levels in before giving up. This time I played 10-15 or so?
The gems have gone from level one! I know why they were there (to make you run out of time, unless you got the trick), so please re-time and put them back! The level’s pretty redundant without them, and while small, it was an interesting level because of the time constraint.
One level I couldn’t beat and had to skip. There was a long, thin (2 wide) corridor near the bottom, and every time I played the randomly moving monster would get in there and wander around so much that there was no way through. It became annoying that there was nothing I could do about it and I just kept dying, so I skipped the level.
When different monster sprites get too close, it’s clear that they’re not being depth-sorted. People behind obscure those in front.
There was some kind of trophy on one level behind some barrels. I couldn’t work out how to get to it - is it possible?
Even with the added speed, there are parts where you just want to hurry things along, like the enclosed maze level. You know you’ve got to get from one end of the screen to the other, the monster’s going to follow you, and the timer’s going to tick down. But boy it takes a long time! It would be nice to be able to speed up (2x?) the whole game (warlock, enemies, timer etc) by holding down shift or something? To let you decide when you just need to get somewhere.
The clown level was fantastic! Especially the switch trick. By the way, the first two clowns appear to set off in the wrong directions, but settle down after bouncing off the first couple of walls?
The “up door switch” graphic looks too clean, too blocky. Need a bit of texture on it just to make it fit in a bit better.
Nice job! I look forward to seeing what the next 20 hours produces. ;D
Ok, cheers for the feedback, I’ve added the features you suggested. Mostly I’m concentrating on adding more levels at the moment…
The statue is an extra life, and there is no way to get to it at the moment, its just there to annoy
Kev
I am a musician (and java a developer). If you are interested in more music for your game, let me know and we can talk about formats, styles, etc.
Hey, thanks for the offer!! I’d be really grateful for some bespoke music and sound since I’m currently reliant on what I can free online
you can get me at kevin@newdawnsoftware.com
Kev
[quote]Full screen doesn’t work for me (flickers madly) but that’s just my computer!
[/quote]
Weird, mines doesn’t flicker at all! (Windows XP and Java 1.4.1_01). Smooth gameplay even in fullscreen mode. 
Suggestions: maybe you could add some teleportation scrolls and some spells/weapons (just to make the game more exciting). Oh and also could you add a life counter? Because sometimes i die a lot and suddenly it says “Argh, you’re dead!”. It came as a big surprise. :o
EDIT: Whoops! Now I see the life counter. ;D
I tried Warlock on Linux with Java 1.4.1_01. The fullscreen mode caused an exception. The windowed mode seemed very sluggish.
I think the performance problem is because of the lack of memory on my computer. Does anyone know how to disable certain unneeded processes (cannaserver, etc. etc.) on Linux?
Great game! Runs great on my Mac with JRE 1.4.1 . I could learn so much from the source. Any plans on releasing it? Did you make your own sprite engine or use a pre-made one?
Source is available at:
http://forty-hour-dev.dev.java.net
I wrote my own sprite lib (with inspriration from jbanes’ GAGE). The source for that is also in available in the CVS at the site above.
If you can’t access CVS (already talked to someone who can’t) I can make the source available seperately. Let me know.
Kev