Basically I would just have my SoundManager class (or whatever you have), have its list of AudioClip’s (or however you’re doing it), and at the start you tell it to preloadAll(). preloadAll() does this:
private HashMap<String,AudioClip> sounds;
public void preloadAll()
{
new Thread(new SoundLoader()).start();
}
private class SoundLoader implements Runnable
{
public SoundLoader()
{
}
public void run()
{
sounds.add(getNewAudioClip("shoot.wav");
sounds.add(getNewAudioClip("hurt.wav");
sounds.add(getNewAudioClip("music.aif");
//etc.
}
}
public void play(String sound)
{
AudioClip c = sounds.get(sound);
if (c != null)
c.play();
}
That should give you the idea. Basically the sound manager chugs along trying to load the sounds and you continue to call play() as usual from the rest of your program, but it will obviously only play if it has been loaded already. In SoundLoader you would want to put more important / smaller sounds first, then stuff like background music later. getNewAudioClip would just be a method that loads your clip from your resources however you would want to do it and then returns that clip.
Well I would rather have everything that the game needs loaded at the beginning. Besides its usually a one time load since it goes into cache. So I made a loading screen, without the loading bar, and it just displays what its currently loading instead.
java.lang.NullPointerException
at TestShooter.stop(TestShooter.java:256)
at sun.applet.AppletPanel.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Guest 683e05145631de62822f746e53f8d892 Loading Maps/titleScreen.data map.
On IE it works but it’s like there’s no verticle sync.
Speaking of reminding of Metroid, I think part of what’s missing here is character design. The main character is very boring, in my opinion. Just sort of a robot thingie. Could your artist flesh it out a bit more? And/or give it a backstory / high rez imagining?
Yes, the graphics are rather low res. Maybe that’s intentional due to supported bandwidth? About character design, well I guess that’s subjective. I’m fine with it.
Yea that character was originally made as a base character. We were planning on having equipment that you customize your player with. Different helmets, chest plates, leg armor, and boots. Each would have different stat improvements. I’m about to go find a new pixel artist. My latest one is not returning work.
Ah I’m still working out the loading screen. It will load while it says its paused, and once it says Loading complete… then you click inside the applet and it should run. The loading might take a little bit initially but once you do the initial download it will run fast the next time around.
Dude, virus effect is an awesome game, I really enjoyed playing it (#8 on leaderboards lol), but here are some quick things off the top of my head that you might want to consider changing:
You should give the gravity gun some other effect so that users are tempted to use it. Other guns, such as the grenade launcher, are just much more useful. You could add a bunch of secret areas to make it worth while, or upgrade it so that it paralyzes the hit enemy units.
Next is the flamethrower, which also feels a bit watered-down. You should give it a higher base damage if it has one, as catching an enemy on fire is fairly easy, but it takes for them too long to die. Another effect that might be good is that fire will continue travelling after it hits a target, so that you can really create the apperance of a fire storm. This would be great on that intro level with the huge mass of boxes.
You might want to tone down a bit how much an enemy flies back when shot, or make it based on the weapon strength and the enemy weight, since rapid fire weapons seem to send enemies flying (especially the last boss on level 7). You could also add some code to remove some of the stacking that occurs when several enemies are chasing you at once, which is especially noticable with blobs. That’s basically it for monsters ;D
Some other things I’ve seen are that the mouse scroll will move the page, that the background music heavily impacts the game’s performance, and that often times those health and armor powerups get stuck under a stack of boxes, which gives it an unrealistic feeling.
This game is already great, but imo with some of those things buffered out, it can really get popular. Your ‘X’ version is comung along great too, can’t wait to see it.
Great game, but a problem i have a lot, is that when I am logged in, it stills says I can only go into training mode and says I must log in… Happens pretty much 90 percent of the time I try.
Thanks, my method for getting people to help is by telling them they can work on a real indie game that is actively progressing and that they will be credited publicly. That and giving them freedom to create stuff they want to see in the game.
Those are some great suggestions. For the Anti-Gravity gun I was thinking of having an impact speed added to enemies, so if you slap them against something they get hurt or die. I’ll try out the stun effect also.
The thing with the weapons, I initially thought I was gonna make enemies drop weapons and have different stats for them Diablo style. But I haven’t gotten to that point so i’ll raise they’re power like they used to be. I’ll try out the flame still moves past what it hits idea.
Lol the hit fly back power. Yeah I threw that in there one day when I was bored, the algorithm that I used to calculate how much it flies back is poor. Heh, i like the stacking, makes them look smart when they’re trying to reach you at a high platform, lol.
Yes in internet explorer when you scroll the whole page scrolls. Does anyone know how to fix this, is there some kind of grab mouse method in applets?
Yes the music playing does affect the game, I’m using a .wav as a sound file, played in a thread. Does anyone know of a better method?
Hmm, I wonder how I could fix the power ups getting stuck under boxes. I always hated how that looks, I assumed gamers didn’t notice or care since no one said anything.
When ever you’re logged in and you go to the game page. If the loading of the applet takes too long, the authentication timer expires, so you have to refresh the page to be authenticated. If the 90% you speak of is still after refreshing, then that’s a problem I need to fix.
Thanks again everyone. ;D
Edit: I just put up a new version that contains more balanced weapons. The Anti-Gravity gun can now be considered a weapon, through the use of accelerating enemies to the point where a sudden stop against, lets say a wall, does some damage. The flamethrower and dual shot have increased damage given.
Oh and i came across a problem, on the third part of the third stage, when all those enemies attack your right out of the gate, if you go back to the second part to escape for a second and try to go back sometimes the enemies block the door and you get stuck in the second room.
also about the log in problems it worked today (it works randomly sometimes) but other times even if i refreshed it still would tell me to enter training, but idk seems like a problem just on my end since nobody else experienced it
I expanded upon Episode 2, although I don’t know if its easier than episode 3. I edited room 3 episode 3, but there are probably other rooms with the same blocking issue.
I increased the authentication timer by a little bit, please tell me if you still get the issue so I can increase it more if needed.
I quit. Level 6 is just stupid if the enemies don’t collide with you. You’ll easily get overlapped by 8 or 10 at once (that you can’t see until you’re already mobbed) and then you die instantly. It’s huge problem when: 1) There are enemies below you and there is no way to look. Holding down should look downwards a lot further so you can see what you’re jumping to. 2) There are enemies directly on the next screen when you walk over. There is no time to react to this so it also gets stupid.
Plus, when you’ve got the new way of collision, both of these occurrences will totally screw you. When an enemy is close quarters hitting you it can’t be shot (at least not with the AK-47), so you have to jump away to even hit something that is already totally point blank, which typically leads you into even more enemies and therefore is the end of you.
Other times I get annoyed is when there is literally no way not to get hit… a lot. Like in level 6 at the beginning of the second screen where you’ve got to jump up the shaft with the gravity gun, no matter what you will have 4 or 5 slimes dropping down onto you from the top spire. There is no way to “react” fast enough because they’re already on you by the time you’ve landed. There are quite a few instances like this in the levels. I think the design could be worked on a bit.
I really like stuff taking collision damage, though, that’s pretty sweet.
Yeah, the old map maker was crazy on making levels super hard. We are in the process of implementing the story, which will practically have nothing to do with the current episodes. The new style in which I envisioned originally will have all areas connected, and not episodic.
I moved back the rifle bullet a couple pixels hopefully this helps a little bit. The only reason I don’t start the bullet in the center of the player is because the bullet starts out with a initial random direction with constraints. And the most extreme angle, if the bullets starts far back it will not look like its coming out of the barrel.
I don’t use the Anti-Gravity gun for that part. If you jump and then crouch in the air, you can make on top of the platform. I will have an in depth training area in the story version.
Yea, i’m gonna expand on this to include the wooden boxes.
Really addictive. I’ll create an account from home since I’m now addict. This reminds me the goodness of Metroid. 
