[Mario] Shrooms!

[kevglass]

Shrooms is an entry for the Super Mario Programming Contest. The details/screenshots are available here:

http://www.javaunlimited.net/mario/view.php?id=0

Play Via Webstart

Instructions:

Left Click = Activate block / use tool (depending what the mouse is over)
Right Click = Change tool.

Click the question mark squares to release the mushrooms. Guide the red mushroom to the red star and the green mushroom to the green star. Don't the let the mushrooms hit the bad guys or fall off the screen.


It's a simple little game - only 5 levels currently. I'd be interested to see how people find the concept since I might use it later on for something non-mario related. Level design is currently done with an image file with some data in a properties. Considering whether I should add a level design mode at the moment.

Thanks for any feedback.

Kev

[Malohkan]

Wahoo!  I got through all the levels.  Great challenge!  I think you're on to something here kev, this is a real neat puzzle.

[CommanderKeith]

Good mix of strategy & action.  Once I have all the blocks in place its always a high-adrenaline trip to get the damn mushrooms to go the right way  .

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[me]

Hi Kev,

Great work as always!

Personally I liked the way the first version wend more. The unlimited placement of blocks was not as frustrating as the limited actions.
But this is a personal preference one, so you can easily discard this comment.
Maybe a suggestion to make a mode: easy mode gets unlimited tool-action, normal mode gets limited tool-action?!?

Technically: My machine at work has a nice mouse-cursor going on but my home computer has a lower machine specification and the cursor movement is a bit jumpy.

Your work is inspiring!

Best regards from

[oNyx]

>Technically: My machine at work has a nice mouse-cursor going on but my home computer has a lower
>machine specification and the cursor movement is a bit jumpy.

Its a hardware cursor. You can use this app for checking the sampling rate of the mouse:
http://kaioa.com/jws/jnlp_na/MouseBench.jnlp

serial: 40hz
ps/2: 60-200hz (default 60)
usb: 125-1000hz (default 125)

100-125hz is alright. Everything below that is sorta meh. With ps/2... if you're using some win2k-ish OS... go to system properties->mouse->hardware->properties->extended something and change the polling rate to 100hz.

[kevglass]

I think the limitation on tools is what makes it a game - if you could place whatever you liked there wouldn't be any challenge.

Re: Mouse speed - yeah, what he said

Thanks for playing, more levels on the way.

Kev

[me]

The MouseBench worked fine on my home computer. Both home computer and work computer reached the same target (125).
The refresh rate of the cursor in Shrooms looks odd. But hey it isn't a big issue

Never mind about the easy mode. Just that if you maybe target the casual market with it, it could be that people find it too frustrating! Ah... I don't know .. Just guessing ...

The idea is great and you have some nice levels already! The option to advance to the next level  is helping me anyway! Ha ha ha ha

Good for you that you find time for multiple projects!!!!

Kind regards from

[kevglass]

The MouseBench worked fine on my home computer. Both home computer and work computer reached the same target (125).
The refresh rate of the cursor in Shrooms looks odd. But hey it isn't a big issue Smiley

Ok, I'll knock a FPS counter in next dev loop - maybe it's just running really slow or something - or maybe it's not throttling.

Never mind about the easy mode. Just that if you maybe target the casual market with it, it could be that people find it too frustrating! Ah... I don't know .. Just guessing ...

Ah, got ya - right now the game is *only* for the mario contest. You're right if I was going to try and sell it out there - I'd probably just have earlier levels with no limit on certain tools.

Good for you that you find time for multiple projects!!!!

Just good timing - Tilt is coming to an end so it's not zapping up my time anymore. Not to mention so far this game has only been a couple of evenings work - the wonders of Java game development!

Kev

[oNyx]

The MouseBench worked fine on my home computer. Both home computer and work computer reached the same target (125).
The refresh rate of the cursor in Shrooms looks odd. But hey it isn't a big issue
[...]

Uhm... alright. Well, it is a hardware cursor, but that doesnt mean that its accelerated.

Go to... display properties->settings->extended(?)->troubleshooting(?)

And there is that hardware acceleration slider. If its one notch before max (or even lower) the cursor isnt accelerated.

[me]

Go to... display properties->settings->extended(?)->troubleshooting(?)


And there is that hardware acceleration slider. If its one notch before max (or even lower) the cursor isnt accelerated.

On my home computer I had to put it in the middle. But yeah. It slowed the refresh rate of the cursor so it was pretty stable.

Just good timing - Tilt is coming to an end so it's not zapping up my time anymore. Not to mention so far this game has only been a couple of evenings work - the wonders of Java game development!

Right, wonders of Java game development! 
This contest and you inspired me to try to make one also. I hopefully will make a little framework to be used for future projects. I think you have a similar thing going on.


Best regards

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[oNyx]

>On my home computer I had to put it in the middle. But yeah. It slowed the refresh rate of the cursor so it was
>pretty stable.

Uhhhum... what I ment is that you should check if its on max and not pull the slider down from max if its already (still - actually) there.

(If this response doesnt appear to make any sense, ignore it.)

[me]

Uhhhum... what I ment is that you should check if its on max and not pull the slider down from max if its already (still - actually) there.

Ha ha ha! 

It was on max ! Now in the middle.

Machine spec:
Fujitsu-Siemens C1010 (Windows XP Home)
Celeron 1.5 GHz
Ram: 256 MB
VIA ProSavageDDR P4N266  with default Windows XP drivers

It runs fine with this setting so I'm not worried about it anymore. I have to remember this setting when there is another application that requires maximum hardware accelaration

Thanks for your help oNyx!


Regards from

[kevglass]

Added a level editor.

From the main game screen use the "Editor" link at the top right. Theres a palette of tiles to be placed on the right. Click "Options" to control attributes of the level like name, time, number of each tool availabe. Also from the options you can save/load/clear levels. Clicking "Back" from the main editor window - gets you back to the back game.

The game now scans for a subdirectory in the user's home directory called ".shrooms" which is created by the game. The game looks for files with the suffix ".lvl". Levels places in this directory will be loaded into the main game to be played like the built in levels - so playing custom levels should be reasonably easy.

Kev

[kevglass]

New version is up -

* 5 new levels added - they get a bit harder
* Editor now has 3 new tools
* Various bits of polish

Kev

[benjamin]

For some reason the game will not start after downloading the game. Is there any way to check for error messages for java webstart application? I really want to try this game.

[kevglass]

You can bring up the java console in webstart. Can't remember how you do that though - I thinkk it's maybe a Java Plugin option.

Kev

[magemog]

Hey, it might be nice if you made it so you can only cycle through tools that you actually have. It's a little frustrating having to cycle through all of the tools if you pass the one you want to use.

Looking pretty nice though 

[kevglass]

Updated so you can only choose tools you have some off, also fixed a mouse cursor bug.

You can also use the number keys to select tools btw

Kev

[woogley]

k so I love making custom levels. here's 2 very challenging (but possible) levels. the second one is called "Sound Off!" because.. well, play it with your sound on and you'll know why

download these .lvl files, copy them to your .shrooms folder, then fire up Shrooms! and it'll automatically load it on the main level selection screen. (but it doesn't scan the .shrooms folder except at initial startup..)

[size=25pt]London Bridge[/size]



[size=25pt]Sound Off![/size]

[kevglass]

Wow, the first levels - nice.  For those who don't know the .shrooms directory can be found in your home directory - on windows xp this is at:

C:\Documents and Settings\<usermame>

Kev

[woogley]

and yet another..

[size=25pt]The Gap[/size]

[kevglass]

Source (such as it is - read uber-hack) is released:

http://www.cokeandcode.com/node/496

Kev

[DeX]

Here's my level:

[size=15pt]Multiscape[/size]

Might be a little tricky. Timing is quite important. Tip: Let the red shroom lead the way.

Have fun!

[DeX]

Another level.

This one should be a little easier and perhaps a little more fun:

[size=15pt]Squeek[/size]