Subby and the Fishes

[Darrin]

Hey guys, finally got something about done.   Thanks for all the help and tutorials.  Amazing how long even the simplest of games takes.  I'd love some feed back especially if anyone can get it to play on linux or mac.  Haven't tried to downgrade things to 1.5 yet.

You can play <a href="http://www.playfulminds.com/sub.html">here</a>.


Awesome feed back guys, thanks!  per your feedback

Ok new version up

1) changed color of obstacle to make easier to see.
2) added moving a obstacle.
3) added some more purty fishes.
4) added some inertia.   
5) added instructions to main screen.
6) compiled it using java 1.5 for the mac folks.
7) speed things up a bit to make a tiny bit harder.
added space bar move option if you don't want to use the mouse.
9) adjusted hit rectangle to bring things closer.

Outstanding issues:

1) Not my type of game... yeah me too but I wanted to complete something.  It does grow on you though for a simple time killer.  It also help me build my frame work without frying my brain too badly.

2) Movement is bad/choppy?  Can you tell me what your frame rate is?  It should be 32-33 constantly.     

Thanks again guys!

[bobjob]

running on XP. fun game and works well.

I kept dying at the start, until i worked out that you have to hold left mouse to go up.

[oNyx]

Looks great and runs fine.

Issues:

1. The hitbox is too big. About half of the deaths didn't feel fair, since the boat wasn't touching anything.

2. I died once hitting one of those rock thingies, which happened to overlap the cave entrance graphics... I didn't notice it at all.

3. The controls are pretty weird. There is no inertia whatsoever. The movement looks like a saw tooth. Adding inertia is fortunately very easy:

a) Introduce a delta variable (e.g. dy).
b) Always add gravity (e.g. dy+=1).
c) When the button is pressed subtract some value from that delta. If up/down should be equally fast, multiply the gravity thing with 2 (e.g. dy-=2).
d) Clamp the delta. E.g. ensure that it's <=5 and >=-5 (terminal velocity).
e) Add that delta to the player's position.

That's all. With that stuff in place you'll get more natural looking smooth movements.

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[gouessej]

Hi!

I kept dying at the start, until i worked out that you have to hold left mouse to go up.

Me too.

It works nice under Mandriva Linux 2007, AMD Sempron 2600+, ATI Radeon 9250 Pro. I get 30 FPS. Nice job.

[zammbi]

Ran fine here.

1. The hitbox is too big. About half of the deaths didn't feel fair, since the boat wasn't touching anything.

Agreed.

2. I died once hitting one of those rock thingies, which happened to overlap the cave entrance graphics... I didn't notice it at all.

I had noticed that, it was hard to pick up.

3. The controls are pretty weird. There is no inertia whatsoever. The movement looks like a saw tooth. Adding inertia is fortunately very easy:

Yeah I found the movement a little bad.

I kept dying at the start, until i worked out that you have to hold left mouse to go up.

I was just about to quit, till I worked out that clicking moved the ship.
You should add keys too.

I got to 55 fish then got bored. There needs to be enemy's say like sharks, or even whales(they act as moving walls).

Maybe some kind of power ups and more exciting tiles 

[Markus_Persson]

Nice graphics! I've never been a fan of these games.. it seems like I'm fighting against the controls instead of trying to play the game.

[SimonH]

Looks OK, plays fine (32fps) but it wasn't long before I was thinking 'Why am I doing this?'
Needs a bit more to it, maybe!

[h3ckboy]

pretty good!

I could tell about the rocks.

[Darrin]

Awesome feed back guys, thanks!  per your feedback

Ok new version up

1) changed color of obstacle to make easier to see.
2) added moving a obstacle.
3) added some more purty fishes.
4) added some inertia.   
5) added instructions to main screen.
6) compiled it using java 1.5 for the mac folks.
7) speed things up a bit to make a tiny bit harder.
added space bar move option if you don't want to use the mouse.
9) adjusted hit rectangle to bring hits closer.

Outstanding issues:

1) Not my type of game... yeah me too but I wanted to complete something.  It does grow on you though for a simple time killer.  It also help me build my frame work without frying my brain too badly.

2) Movement is bad/choppy?  Can you tell me what your frame rate is?  It should be 32-33 constantly.     

Thanks again guys!

[Markus_Persson]

Yeah, this is much more fun. =)
Nice!

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

[fireside]

Nice game.  You should list it at Java Game Tome. 

[oNyx]

Better.

But maybe it would be more fun if you'd drop the overused press=up/else=down control scheme. E.g. direct controls (up=up, down=down), you get faster all the time, you get more points for chainging catches, etc.

It's a rather drastic change, but surprisingly little work. Give it a try if you got some time.

[mh114]

Doesn't really work for me in Ubuntu Linux 9.04.. While the game works at first, it freezes when I collect a fish or collide with something else.. Presumably the game would play a sound effect there, and it crashes (or freezes, rather)..

[Darrin]

Doesn't really work for me in Ubuntu Linux 9.04.. While the game works at first, it freezes when I collect a fish or collide with something else.. Presumably the game would play a sound effect there, and it crashes (or freezes, rather)..

Mika,

So funny that you posted.  I really love your taste in art work.   A while back even before I started programming java, I was poking around on your website and  showed my wife your cute polys.   I really like those.   Maybe someday if I ever go 3d.   Very cool you are trying java.

As the sound crash, I stubbed out the sound to see if that is really it.  If you don't mind, could you try it again?  I want to see if that is what went wrong.  What JRE are you using?

http://www.playfulminds.com/sub.html

Thanks

[h3ckboy]

just so you know, it is better to have another site for him to go to. Because it lowers your game quality for all of us :/.

just like testsub.html would work.

[mh114]

Mika,

So funny that you posted.  I really love your taste in art work.   A while back even before I started programming java, I was poking around on your website and  showed my wife your cute polys.   I really like those.   Maybe someday if I ever go 3d.   Very cool you are trying java.

Hehe, cool. Yeah I'm experimenting with my platformer game project, to see how Java lends itself to game dev these days -- so far the results have been very nice. I hope to complete the game some day, and hopefully it works well enough I don't have to go back to C++..

As the sound crash, I stubbed out the sound to see if that is really it.  If you don't mind, could you try it again?  I want to see if that is what went wrong.  What JRE are you using?

Unfortunately the game still freezes. When I switch to another tab and then back, a white screen shows, so it doesn't even paint anymore. I'm using Sun JRE 1.6u13. It could be a Linux/Ubuntu problem, but other applets (not all, though) do work..

I guess I'll have to try it on Windows, the graphics look nice!

[Darrin]

just so you know, it is better to have another site for him to go to. Because it lowers your game quality for all of us :/.

just like testsub.html would work.

hehe sound version is back up.   

[Darrin]

Unfortunately the game still freezes. When I switch to another tab and then back, a white screen shows, so it doesn't even paint anymore. I'm using Sun JRE 1.6u13. It could be a Linux/Ubuntu problem, but other applets (not all, though) do work..

I guess I'll have to try it on Windows, the graphics look nice!

Thanks so much for trying.  I was kind of hoping it would be as easy as switching to AudioClip instead of clip.   But it sounds like something is going on with collision detection, browser, build etc.  Weird that it would work on one version of linux per an above post.   Not even sure how I would debug it.  *shrug*.   Guess that is the problem with being a slave to MS.

   

[teletubo]

Well I just played the newest version, nothing to complain about .... I found very nice the effect when you enter a cave, when everything turns to dark  ....

Congrats, waiting for the next one !

[Eli Delventhal]

Lots of fun, big problem, though: on Mac once a sound plays it continues playing repeatedly, even after I close the applet. Like they're still playing now, I just muted my sound. Also, it never really gets more difficult. Could you slowly add more obstacles or make the tunnel a little narrower?

[Darrin]

Lots of fun, big problem, though: on Mac once a sound plays it continues playing repeatedly, even after I close the applet. Like they're still playing now, I just muted my sound. Also, it never really gets more difficult. Could you slowly add more obstacles or make the tunnel a little narrower?

Demon,

Thanks for playing.  I just changed the audio code and implemented audioclip.  Could you retest for the sound for me?

[Eli Delventhal]

Demon,

Thanks for playing.  I just changed the audio code and implemented audioclip.  Could you retest for the sound for me?

Yup, problem solved! Works well now.

[Tobse]

Oh, sou sweet that little submarine 
Very nice graphics!
The first time I tried to evade the fishes. Maybe a a hint "catch the fishes" could make this clear.
It seems to be an endless game or does it become more difficult after 100 fishes? -I stopped with 25. I would prefer a leveled game where the it get more and more difficult -eg. every 10th fish.

Best wishes,
Tobse