Space Paranoids 2D4K [updated]

[StephR]

Coming soon...

I'm really sorry as people will loose their time reading this useless message, but my wish was to post some pictures of my game, and I failed at using the "img" tags... I will try to fix this in a way or in other this evening.

[zeroone]

Is that the game from Tron?

[h3ckboy]

you can just upload a picture. just go to additional options.

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

[StephR]

Yes, Zeroone, my project is an attempt to remake Flynn's arcade game in 2D and 4 Ko. You know your classics !

And thank you for your suggestion, h3ckboy, however I'm too tired this evening to try to understand how to add pictures to my posts here... I find simplier to let you a link to the game demo !
http://stephr.110mb.com/

It is really far from being complete, and I'm afraid it will take a lot of compression and optimization to get this game to the state I wish. Here is my to-do list :
- compress most of the graphics ;
- implement level progression ;
- improve enemy IA ;
- add explosions.
...

[zeroone]

I can't seem to launch the game.  Anyone else have better luck?

[TheMatrix154]

Hi,
great game so far. Runs very smooth on my MBP with java 1.5. Here is some feedback for you.

• nice retro graphics, reminds me of the Tron movie
• movement feels right, a big heavy tank 
• it's too hard, one hit and you are dead
• maybe implement some kind of life / armor
• controls are not user friendly imho, maybe control tank with Arrow-Keys, turret with A and D (wasd ftw) and shot with Space
• a minimap / radar would be cool

Keep up the good work. I want to try the next version 

[StephR]

*** Zeroone, actually I experimented some problems with the hosting server... But in your case, where was the problem exactly ? Did you see at least the texts surrounding the applet, or you just fail to download the internet page ? Anyway thanks for reporting this problem...

***TheMatrix154, thanks for all your feedback on my game ! Alas I must warn you that I still have very few octets left to finish it, so don't expect great changes upon its final release... I'm currently processing a lot of in-code compression and optimization, but I'm not sure it will be very successfull. And now to answer your comments :

- concerning the graphics, Tron was indeed the source of my inspiration ;
- the level of difficulty set in the current demo ( v0.34 ) is not the definitive one, and will belong to the highest levels of the final version. Tuning it is one of my remaining tasks ;
- nothing is planned to implement some life bar or armor - it will be some "one shot, one kill" ;
- controls could indeed be improved... However I'm using an AZERTY keyboard, so I'm still looking for some user friendly controls on both AZERTY and QWERTY keyboards ;
- implementing a radar would be a great, however will I have enough octets to put it in my code ?

The next interesting demo should be online this coming week-end only, as I repeat it, I'm busy working at compressing and optimizing the existent code.

[zeroone]

For me, the page loads, but there is a red X where the applet should be.  A popup displays:

Several Java Virtual Machines running in the same process caused an error

I don't usually have problems running Java applets/applications.  Can you provide a JNLP instead?

[zeroone]

I got it running now.  Cool graphics.  Very Tron-like.

But, it's difficult to play.  The other tanks seem to be able to kill me too easily.

[StephR]

Fortunately you made it run, Zeroone ! Otherwise I would have been obliged to try to make this JNLP file. I'm still a novice programmer in Java, and for now I only know how to make an executable jar with a manifest inside...

And thanks for your appreciation. The enemy tanks kill me very easily too - they will definitely need to be nerfed into the final version !

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

[zeroone]

I watched the segment of Tron (via youtube) to verify that this is indeed Space Paranoids or at least a 2D version of it.  I doubt that there was real hardware at the time the movie was made that could render that 3D version. 

[StephR]

Please help ! I've got some problems for creating the jnlp file of my entry !

The link to my jnlp file is at the bottom of my internet page :
http://stephr.110mb.com/

And the jnlp file itself is here:
http://stephr.110mb.com/SpaceParanoids2D4K.jnlp

Here is the error message I get when I click on it :

"404 Error - You've reach a page that does not exist on 110mb hosting. Please go back."

And now here is the complete code of my jnlp file :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<jnlp
  spec="1.0+"
  codebase="http://stephr.110mb.com"
  href="http://stephr.110mb.com/SpaceParanoids2D4K.jnlp">
  <information>
    <title>Space Paranoids 2D4K</title>
    <vendor>StephR</vendor>
    <homepage href="http://stephr.110mb.com/index.htm"/>
    <description kind="short">Space Paranoids 2D4K</description>
    <offline-allowed/>
  </information>
  <security>
  </security>
  <resources>
    <j2se version="1.5+"/>
    <jar href="http://stephr.110mb.com/S.jar"/>
  </resources>
  <applet-desc
    documentBase="http://stephr.110mb.com/"
    name="S"
    main-class="S"
    width="500"
    height="500">
  </applet-desc>
</jnlp>

[h3ckboy]

you jnlp works....

[StephR]

This is crazy, the jnlp can't start on my computer... I have also added to my page a link to another jnlp I found in a tutorial, and this one works ! I tried to replace the tutorial jar by my game, and then I got another error...

[h3ckboy]

I just click on the jnlp and it loads the game and runs it.

[Hsaka]

It works for me.

If you've recently upgraded to Java 1.6 update 12, it may be related:
http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/java-1-6-update-12/19989/view.html

[StephR]

Actually it seems that the java web start version with the jnlp file doesn't run on my computer which has Java RE 1.6 Update 11 on it... Anyway thank you for your help, h3ckboy and Hsaka.

[StephR]

The final version of my game is online on my website :
http://stephr.110mb.com/

Now the difficulty is much less harder on easy and medium modes, and the agressivity and speed of your enemies increase slightly at each new wave.

[StephR]

As recommanded by Morre here http://www.java-gaming.org/index.php?topic=19997.0, you can find as an attached file to this post the jar of the final version of my game.

And later this evening I will post its source code on my website http://stephr.110mb.com/.  I don't do it right now because it needs a lot of cleaning !

[h3ckboy]

it says it is currupt for me

[StephR]

If you want to open this jar, you'd better rename it as a zip, then you will find the S.class and manifest.txt files into it, and you shouldn't get a "corrupt file" message.

If you want to launch the game within this jar, you must do it from a html file that will execute it as an applet. Here is the code for my own "index.htm" launcher :

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<html> <head> <title> Space Paranoids 2D4K version 1.00 </title> </head> <body> <center> Space Paranoids 2D4K version 1.00 will appear below in a Java enabled browser.<br><br> <applet   codebase = "."   code     = "S.class"   name     = "Space Paranoids 2D4K"   archive="S.jar"   width    = "500"   height   = "500"   hspace   = "0"   vspace   = "0"   align    = "middle" > </applet> <br> <br> Click once on the game window to activate it.<br><br> Use [Left] and [Right] to steer, [Up] and [Down] to accelerate and reverse, [C] and [V] to turn the turret and [X] to shoot. <br><br> <a href="SpaceParanoids2D4K.jnlp">Launch Space Paranoids 2D4K through JNLP</a> </body> </html>

And here is the code of the "SpaceParanoids2D4K.jnlp" file, not necessary at all to launch the applet but so you'll have all the files which are on my website :

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <jnlp   spec="1.0+"   codebase="http://stephr.110mb.com"   href="http://stephr.110mb.com/SpaceParanoids2D4K.jnlp">   <information>     <title>Space Paranoids 2D4K</title>     <vendor>StephR</vendor>     <homepage href="http://stephr.110mb.com"/>     <description kind="short">Space Paranoids 2D4K</description>     <offline-allowed/>   </information>   <security>   </security>   <resources>     <j2se version="1.5+"/>     <jar href="S.jar"/>   </resources>   <applet-desc     documentBase="http://stephr.110mb.com/"     name="S"     main-class="S"     width="500"     height="500">   </applet-desc> </jnlp>

[pjt33]

I completed one wave on Easy, and killed 5 enemies in the first wave on Hard, once. I would prefer to be able to tell from the mini-map which enemies are tanks and which the other thing; I think that would make it more strategic and less random-ambush-y. I'd also tweak the keys slightly - make X and V rotate and C fire. Good fun, though, all told.

[StephR]

I appreciate your comments, pjt33, alas the contest is over and it wouldn't be fair to make any new change to my game !

I wanted to make a very challenging game where the player would fight enemies with the same power and capabilities as his/hers, however it seems I succeeded too well as the level of difficulty is too hard... I only reached the 8th wave so far myself in easy mode, and the 23th in the hard one... Next time I will spend at least a full day at checking the balance of the final version of my game.

[pjt33]

I appreciate your comments, pjt33, alas the contest is over and it wouldn't be fair to make any new change to my game !

I wanted to make a very challenging game where the player would fight enemies with the same power and capabilities as his/hers, however it seems I succeeded too well as the level of difficulty is too hard... I only reached the 8th wave so far myself in easy mode, and the 23th in the hard one... Next time I will spend at least a full day at checking the balance of the final version of my game.

Nothing to stop you waiting a bit and doing a Director's Cut

UI is often one of the hardest things to get right. I know I'm still learning, and I would revisit some of my published games if I could to update them in the light of feedback.

I'm amused that you seem to find hard mode easier than easy. Difficulty is another thing which is very hard to get right, but I think it's better to err on the side of too challenging - less skilled players with a bit of patience can still get some sense of achievement, and highly skilled players won't be completely bored.

[StephR]

Actually I think that destroying a single enemy tank in the easiest mode of my game is already an achievement ! And to be more accurate, if I reached the 23th wave in hard mode, you must not forget that in this mode you start at the 21st one, so I defeated 7 waves in easy mode and only 2 in the hard one.

Also thank you for reassuring me about having a too difficult game instead of a too easy one ! And I will definitely make an improved version of my game once the reviews for the contest are published.

[StephR]

You'll find the source code of Space Paranoids 2D4K version 1.1 as an attached file to this post.

This new version is really MUCH easier to play than the previous one, yet it takes 16 octets less... Note also that the commands have been changed a bit. It is possible to play to it right now at the following address :
http://stephr.110mb.com/Space%20Paranoids%202D4K%20v1.1.htm

Thanks for your patience and your interest.

[pjt33]

This new version is really MUCH easier to play than the previous one, yet it takes 13 octets less... Note also that the commands have been changed a bit.

The curve's definitely a bit shallower, yes. I'm curious about the key changes. Were they intended to implement my suggestion? Because what I suggested was to have the firing key in the middle of the two turning keys.

Actually, on further reflection, SPACE would probably be better because then people who don't read the instructions (i.e. 90% of people) would still be able to play for long enough to realise that the other tanks can rotate their turrets and they probably could too if they went back and read the instructions.

[StephR]

Actually I wanted to implement your suggestion for the keys, pjt33, however it seems I read your message too fastly !!! And concerning the [SPACE] key, I met a big issue trying it, as having it pressed blocked some other keys to be pressed in their turn...

And I think you're totally right on the "90% of people don't read the instructions". For such small games it is preferable to aim the average casual gamer, concerning the level of difficulty as well as the commands of the game. And in the case of my game, one of my biggest mistake was certainly to make a game that would please me first, and not really thinking to other players... Yet if I hadn't done that, I doubt I would have found the motivation to finish it.

Now after all your comments, pjt33, I suppose I'm obliged to review your Gravitational Fourks soon !