[Journal] The Bender - NEW CONTROLS

[rdcarvallo]

This is the continuation for the development journal of The Bender entry for JGO09.

Today I inserted Duke in the game, is already following the platform, but there are some poblems when the bending is near to 90 degrees.

Also I set viewport to center on Duke (translatng the mouse events for the cursor).

The spikes where added but they have no interaction with Duke.

A screenshot of the current game:

And the link to The Bender - v0.004

To do list, copied from the JGO09 thread:

• Resources (Sprites)
  
  • Duke DONE
  • Background
  • Obstacles Half Done(spikes and java beans)
  • The Bender DONE
• Programming
  
  • Bending Platform: DONE
  • The Bender DONE
  • Duke 70%
  • Level Editor

All kind of feedback is welcome!!

[size=8pt]Edit: Thread subject[/size]

[GOL-Ole]

when I play it its flashing all the time.
I will get Eye cancer if I watch that for a minute or two.

I am using Java6

[rdcarvallo]

I didn't catch this problem since in my home PC there aren issues.

Clearly is the buggy non buffered drawing to the screen (newbie error # 1).

When I get home I'll correct this. And will continue with the features planned.

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

[Eli Delventhal]

That looks great, I like what you've accomplished with the platforms. Can't play it at the moment, but I'll try a version that's further along later, anyway.

[rdcarvallo]

Here goes the bugfix for the flickering.

No new features, I'm trying to solve when Duke hits the plataform as a wall.

The Bender - v0.0041

All feedback is welcome.

[Eli Delventhal]

Here goes the bugfix for the flickering.

No new features, I'm trying to solve when Duke hits the plataform as a wall.

The Bender - v0.0041

All feedback is welcome.

I tried this one, it's a cool idea!

Feedback -
I don't know if it was my machine or not, but Duke moved at a snail's pace and it all seemed a bit twitchy. Speed it up!
Add in powerups and things that you can actually try to move Duke into.
Make the control a little more obvious. Maybe since you only have one path you can change, if you click above it then it should bend up, and if you click below it should bend down?

[rdcarvallo]

I tried this one, it's a cool idea!

Feedback -
1.- I don't know if it was my machine or not, but Duke moved at a snail's pace and it all seemed a bit twitchy. Speed it up!
2.- Add in powerups and things that you can actually try to move Duke into.
3.- Make the control a little more obvious. Maybe since you only have one path you can change, if you click above it then it should bend up, and if you click below it should bend down?

Thanks for the feedback,
1.- I want to nail out the control conditions before adding speed to Duke.
2.- The Java Beans will give energy to The Bender, so the game is not only avoiding obstacles.
3.- It's programmed this way, the bend will be determined by the side of the platform from where The Bender is approaching.

I'm trying to find a good background for the game.. "Sky & Clouds", "Trees in a Forest", "Deep in a Cave"?

[rdcarvallo]

New version is available. I think that Duke's movment is ok, so I need your comments about it.

Also there is a new background perspective.

The Bender - v0.0042

I will continue to add the features needed to make the game playable.

[Eli Delventhal]

1) His speed is pretty good - it works all right.
2) I don't really get the background... I think I see what you're going for but it doesn't look quite right, maybe partially because Duke is a bit transparent.
3) Getting the bending working is still really counter-intuitive, and rarely seems to bend how I want it to.

On my first try I accidentally made Duke walk up through the roof, then he turned around and started walking backwards. I blocked him to make him turn around again, and now I'll be getting the highest score of all time because he's walking on top of the level and has no chance to hit anything. 

[rdcarvallo]

On my first try I accidentally made Duke walk up through the roof, then he turned around and started walking backwards. I blocked him to make him turn around again, and now I'll be getting the highest score of all time because he's walking on top of the level and has no chance to hit anything. 

Don't worry. the desing of the stages will not allow you to get into the top or bottom of the play area (black rectangle)

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

[rdcarvallo]

Here is the first playable demo of The Bender, includes one stage to test your bendiing abilities.

A screenshot of the current game:

The link to The Bender - v0.0100

• Resources (Sprites)
  
  • Duke DONE
  • Background
  • Obstacles Half Done(spikes and java beans)
  • The Bender DONE
  • GUI 40%
• Resources (Sounds)
  
  • Duke
  • Background
  • Java BeansDone
  • The Bender DONE
• Programming
  
  • Bending Platform: DONE
  • The Bender DONE
  • Duke DONE
  • Scoring NONE
  • Bending Energy NONE
  • Sound EffectsNONE
  • BG MusicNONE
  • Level Editor60%(creates code)

All kind of feedback is welcome!!

[derhannes]

I like your idea, but would suggest a different control scheme:
right-click: "bend up"
left-click: "bend down"

[GOL-Ole]

I agree with "derhannes". That would be the controls I tried first.

Maybe you should implement a maximum angle for bending.
Duke fell through the path as I tried to make a circle. He then fell through the path.

Also he sometimes turns around and walks to the left which is bothersome because you always bend the complete path at the right of the mouse.
I could not figure out when exactly he does turn around.

It would be cool if there where some obstacles that are running on the same path as the duke, so you need to keep them from hitting duke.

greets,
Ole

[rdcarvallo]

Thanks for the feedback, but changing the controls would make the game very easy.

I changed the distance where The Bender modifies the platform. Now is more clear that using The Bender in each side of the platform bends it to that side.

I could not figure out when exactly he does turn around.

It is the angle of the segment of platfrom, when  dy > 3*dx, it's assumed to be a wall/cliff.

Now I present a new Demo, with 3 stages (last one is experimental). The Bender - v0.0200

[rdcarvallo]

New Demo!! This time with GUI and Sounds.



Also, I changed the bending logic, now the platform doesn't break in three pieces, only two.



To dowload: The Bender - v0.0300

Work status

• Resources (Sprites)
  
  • Duke DONE
  • BackgroundProcedural, pixels at 30%
  • Obstacles Half Done(spikes and java beans)
  • The Bender DONE
  • GUI 80%
• Resources (Sounds)
  
  • Duke
  • Background
  • Java BeansDone
  • The Bender DONE
• Programming
  
  • Bending Platform: DONE
  • The Bender DONE
  • Duke DONE
  • Scoring DONE
  • Bending Energy DONE
  • Sound Effects50%
  • BG MusicNONE
  • Level Editor90%(creating file, load and save)

Awaiting for feedback, critics and comments.

[Eli Delventhal]

Definitely an improvement over the last versions, feels like a game now! My only problem remains the controls. I can't ever get the bending to do exactly what I want it to do, which is quite frustrating. If I were you, I'd put the challenge into the speed rather than the controls - i.e. increase Duke's running speed a lot and do something simple like left click is always up and right click is always down.

There's another problem here with the controls which is that the screen scrolls as Duke walks, so you can't just hold down a specific spot to bend it - having to track along with the walking totally breaks it with your current control scheme, because that of course changes the direction of the bend.

[rdcarvallo]

Demonpants, thanks for the feedback, I'll try to make a new control scheme based on your comments.

Don't know if you got to stage 3, the bend up/down has no meaning on a vertical platform. So I call it positive and negative bending (Think cross product).

The new controls would be something like:

• Button decides side to bend, button_1 is always a positive bend,
• When a "node" is bending, it doesn't matter if the mouse move (screen scroll), it will bend until mouse released.

I'll have to add an options screen to select the controls (normal / easy).

[rdcarvallo]

Demo Updated

By popular demand, the easy controls are in, select them in the options screen.

The new controls would be something like:

• Button decides side to bend, button_1 is always a positive bend,
• When a "node" is bending, it doesn't matter if the mouse move (screen scroll), it will bend until mouse released.

Two more stages to test your bending skills (stage 5 is unfinished).

To dowload: The Bender - v0.0350

Also, here is part of the manual for the normal control scheme.

All kind of feedback is welcome.

[Eli Delventhal]

Cool! I like the new control scheme better. Make him walk a little bit faster and if you lose a level restart that level instead of the whole game, and I'll be happy.