Stupid Human Castles

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#1

Stupid Human Castles

Hi all!

I’ve released my first android game using libGDX. This game started as an entry for a one month game competition that I missed the deadline for. I decided to flesh the game out over the next 5 months and finally released it a few days ago. Learning Java, Android and libGDX was a pretty steep learning curve but overall I’m pretty happy with the result :smiley:

It’s basically a variation of a certain old puzzle game…you know…that one? Each level you get new units and the castles start to get new defenses.

Browser Demo: http://spectragate.com/stupidHumanCastles
Free Android Demo: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spectragate.stupidhumancastles_free

Hope you guys like it :slight_smile:

#2

This is cool, I will certainly play it.

#3

Thanks zngga :smiley:

#4

I tried loading the browser versions via Firefox (24.0) and Chrome (30.0.1599.101 m) but only got the brick wall art (and offer to download Android version). What browsers are need to run the HTML5?

#5

It worked for me on Chrome Version 30.0.1599.101 m. It took a few seconds after loading the page, but it worked!

#6

Yeah, using latest Chrome too. Took a bit to load, but worked relatively well. (using arrow keys with browser means the page itself is moving)

#7

I got a little farther this time, but it is too much for my computer. (Pentium IV, Windows XP, 3.2 MHz, 3MB Ram)
:frowning:
I hit the “Attack” button a minute or two ago and nothing. CPU is up at 95% and I’ve turned off sound and all other apps except this browser window.
Some of the buttons (e.g., navigating to “How to Play”) take 20-30 seconds to respond.
:frowning: :frowning: :frowning:

#8

I assume by 3MB you mean 3GB?

I did some profiling and it seems the game takes up around 30-35MB of RAM. If you’re running a P4 with 3GB of ram, you might be hitting a combination of WebGL trying to offload too much to your video card and Chrome eating up a bit too much memory.

Out of interest, what happens if you try and run these demos? It may be a good indication then if there is a bug in my game or GWT being a bit of a resource hog.

WebGL water demo
GWT animation test.

#9

Yes 3GB Ram :clue:

The GWT Animation Test seems fine (doing this in Chrome).
The WebGL Water Demo has horrible response.

Happy to help with any other tests you have. But I suspect the problem is the lack of capabilities on this computer.

#10

Hi, I tried the demo version on my Note 3.

Feedback:

  • The textures were a bit pixelated for me but nothing too annoying.
  • A good amount of the GUI wasn’t aligned perfectly. For example: the health bar text seems like it could be shifted to the left by half of the text’s width. I had a black bar to the right of the down buttom but it was more wide than the black bar that is to the left of the left button. (I could post a screenshot if that would help).
  • I would have liked to be able to move the blocks left, right, and rotate them with touch controls.
  • I was able to rotate the block for an infinite amount of time, if I recall correctly the block should eventually land regardless of if you are still rotating the piece.

That’s what I got from playing the demo, good work, it’s very inspiring as I’ve recently started my own project with LibGDX intended for Android.

EDIT: That WebGL Water demo is insane :o!

#11

Thanks for helping out philfrei :slight_smile:

I was just looking at the specs - wow the screen resolution on those things are crazy. The Android emulator doesn’t even go that high! :smiley:

To respond to your feedback:

The textures were a bit pixelated for me but nothing too annoying.

To be honest I didn’t know screen resolution went that high on phones :). I tested it up to about the Nexus 4, which comes out looking ok. If screens are getting that hi-res, I think I’m going to redo the graphics. I’ve been meaning to redo the resolutions for a while so this is a good motivator.

A good amount of the GUI wasn’t aligned perfectly.

Good catch. I definitely need to go back through and clean up some of the UI work - it’s easy to get so fixated on the graphics themselves you stop noticing how it aligns with the rest of the screen.

I would have liked to be able to move the blocks left, right, and rotate them with touch controls.

You can swipe downwards to simulate the down arrow, but that’s about it right now. Touch controls on tetris like games is a tricky problem. I went through just about every android tetris game with touch controls I could find when I started this game and nobody seemed to have it working correctly. The best I found was one where left, right and down where touch controls but the rotate action was still a button in the lower right. I’d love nothing more than to kill off those buttons, but I’ve never been able to figure out how to go full touch controls. I think I’ll make a new thread about it and see if anyone else has some good ideas on this.

I was able to rotate the block for an infinite amount of time, if I recall correctly the block should eventually land regardless of if you are still rotating the piece.

I’ve gone back and forward on this for a while. On one hand having it rotate forever makes it a bit easier to land your piece, which helps compensate for the lack of vertical height on the board. However, it might just look silly after a while so maybe I should add a time-out for that :slight_smile:

I’ve recently started my own project with LibGDX intended for Android

Cool! Before you start, the most helpful article you could read (IMO) are these two links. It’s a great tutorial on screen size and aspect ratio from the guys who ported Clash of the Olympians to android:

our-solution-to-handle-multiple-screen-sizes-in-android-part-one/
our-solution-to-handle-multiple-screen-sizes-in-android-part-two/

#12

Really nice and polished game!

you don’t like the “original”/EA tetris touch-only control sheme? it’s quite good imho.

controlling everything via button is a little bit uncomfortable. but may be better for new players.

#13

Thanks! :smiley:

As for the EA controls, I read some reviews and it seems that (if I understood it correctly) your not really playing Tetris, your just clicking boxes and the game places the pieces for you. At least, that was the way the reviews made it sound. It certainly makes it easier to play, but to me it doesn’t look much like Tetris anymore. Unless that’s just a special mode or something. Do they have a more traditional Tetris mode you can use?

#14

that’s just some beginner mode. i don’t like it either.
but the normal mode is just regular tetris with touch-only controls.

#15

Ah I see. Ok I’m going to look into touch controls. I have an idea that might work…

#16

So after it seemed that the most common bit of feedback I got was 'add touch controls you fool!", I’m happy to say I was able to get touch controls into the game :smiley:

I’ve uploaded the newest version to the store (0.0.1.7) with the new control system. The next time you start a match you will be prompted to choose between the new touch-controls method or the old button-based method. All the controls are explained on screen.

I really hope you guys like it. If you have any feedback or tips, please let me know :slight_smile:

#17

What’s the idea behind your version numbers, like 0.0.1.7? It gives the impression of very early stage of development. Which is wrong when game looks very good and polished.

Be proud and call it 1.x :slight_smile:

#18

Haha, you’re right the version numbers are a bit weird :slight_smile:

I had originally started them very low while the game was in early stages of development, but I guess I should take the leap and finally call it version 1.8 :smiley: