Hi,
I made a game whose graphics is based on SI(RD)S - single image (random dot) stereograms.
SIRDS are also known as magic eye images, and are autostereograms, so you can see three dimensional objects if you squint/cross your eyes.
The game play itself is simple: You move a space ship through a side scrolling world of obstacles and other objects, but it is real 3d (with a very simple software renderer).
If you’re curious how it works, you can read the GPLed source.
The game is in its late beta stage, probably I will change some things, but I’m not sure about it yet. (e.g. more levels)
That game is way too hard, even in grey-scale mode, let alone when crossing your eyes, which takes a while to adjust to. I die within 3 seconds, which is not enough to focus, at least, not for me.
When I finally saw what was onscreen, I read “YOU DIED” :’(
Actually it feels pretty easy for me, but of course I memorized every detail of every level and could probably play it blind.
Probably it needs an easy/normal/hard selection.
But you’re absolutely right about the focus time (although you can practice it with the game to change the focus in milliseconds),
I changed it that the ship will not move, before you pressed a key.
Also the start screen always shows the word SIRDS, so you can try it there already and choose the frame images you can see the best .
And some hints:
The ship can move along the z axis, so you have to dive below the cuboid in the third column and fly over the large block in the fourth (but not the small ones).
If you die, you can press space to repeat the level.
That’s bad
But you could buy expensive prism glasses Or try to see it blurred on both eyes (there are no details to see).
Also, you shouldn’t ever make ctrl + arrow keys the required controls, as it is an OS-tied function for Mac OS X that makes the game completely unplayable.
You can also use a and s instead of shift/ctrl. (at least in the updated version of the last post, you could still have the slightly older version in the java cache)
Yeah, that’s pretty much impossible to play I’m afraid.
I think that’s down to:
You introduce a new gameplay mechanic (going in/out to avoid objects) but without any warning or training for the player. ‘near’ and ‘far’ objects aren’t easily distinguishable, even in heightmap mode. Start out with a vanilla shooter and then add some very easy depth dodging in one direction so the player can get a hang on it. As is, I’m so focused on trying to dodge that I can’t even think about trying to shoot anything.
The 3d effect is neat, but it’s not really practical to distinguish between three different depths quick enough. Maybe restrict things to high+low rather than low+middle+high?
Repeat after me: never never never never put momentum on the player’s ship in a scrolling shooter. Ever. It makes precise moving and shooting impossible. Go play some classic shooters and you’ll see.
You’ve compounded number 3 by making the collision detection very, very unforgiving, and then you’ve compounded it even more by starting the player on an incredibly tight starting level with almost no room for error. Most shooters have a player collision box that’s about a quarter of the size of the ship. Again, go play some classic shooters and try and get a feel for what they use.
I think if you remove the momentum and make the starting level much, much easier you’d have something unique and playable.
Neat idea, but it was for me impossible to play I’m afraid…
It took me a long time to adjust my eyes until I could see the 3D effect, and as soon as the screen changed (i.e. restarted the game) I lost the effect and had try to adjust my eyes again. The only thing I’ve seen is basically the ‘you’re dead’ text.
Well, if you all think it is too difficult I’m going to change something.
The only other tester so far was my little brother, and it is rather funny if he dies there…
Thanks for the detailed review, but I don’t agree on some basic points.
The game is no shooter, you can finish every level without shooting once. (you can always either fly below or above a mine)
And the height map mode is much more difficult than the SIRDS mode, once you learned to move your eyes parallel.
Also I don’t think the collision is strict. In the classic games (not shooting, but dodging games), you die when you slightly touch the wall.
Here it will just remove the touching pixels (the collision detection is pixel accurate), and you will die only when almost half of the ship is destroyed.
And finally, I can’t remove the momentum without changing every level, because it is a major part of the game play, e.g. with the black holes which will attract the ship.
But I will add a training level.
This is already possible in the option menu with the first checkbox.
But crossing eyes is much more straining, you will get a worse headache.
Doesn’t work too well for me either. I can see everything in 3D until it moves. Then, i’m seeing some kind of ghost images…still in 3D, but definitely not playable.
Sorry, I forgot to mention the alternative keys in the English translation of the game description.
Sadly there are various reasons for ghost images:
The algorithm is not ideal, and almost creates small ghosts, especially with certain depth gradients . But it is the only(easiest) algorithm which works in real time.
It also doesn’t work so well with integer coordinates. I also wrote a lwjgl SIRDS renderer which looks much better and has less ghost, but I couldn’t merge it with the game so far.
Have you enabled the flickering? That will erase most of the ghosts.
Do you really squint in the correct way? Since the image repeats itself, there is a row of 15 SIRDS and only one of them is the correct one. 7 of them are before the monitor and inverted, one is the displayed image, one is the real 3D SIRDS, and the other six lay behind the real SIRDS and full of ghosts.
So, since you all said, it is too hard, I added a new difficulty mode.
In this mode it is much more difficult and the collision detection is really sensitive. ;D
Okay, that was the impossible mode and the other new difficult modes are:
Hard: As it was before, but the collisions hurt a little bit more.
Normal: As it was before, but the ship will slowly repair itself over time.
Easy: The ship repairs itself fast and if you die once, a time travel gate is activated, which moves you three second in the past.
Very easy: The ship repairs itself very fast and the gate is also activated if you die a second time.
And which frame rate do you get when playing the applet?
While creating the videos, I noticed that it is very difficult to play if the frame rate is slow (below 25), perhaps that is the problem; perhaps I should make it faster.
