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Baby Ghost Engine Release
Author: Jon Lambert Submitted: 17th July, 2008 Favourites:0
Genre: Engine Downloads: 605
Rated:


On March 13th, 2006, I submitted a demo of a game called Baby Ghost. While some things were thought nice, there were many criticisms. The primary complaint of the game was that it used the default platform movement. At the time, I hadn't known how to make a custom platform engine in TGF, but I did eventually learn.

On March 21st, 2008, if memory serves, my computer's power supply ceased function, and the motherboard burnt out. Eventually I got a new computer, and just recently, I was inspired to restart work on this game, with a custom platform engine. I started work on this engine on June 1st, 2008. For this game, I've made a platform engine that trumps the default platforming engine at many turns. It runs on 11 active objects, not including the character sprite. The objects are one eight directions object limited to left and right, one bouncing ball object limited to up and down, 3 colliders, 2 objects to prevent sticking in walls, 3 objects used to hug the ground, and 1 object used to detect NPCs.

So what I'm doing here is posting it for feedback, criticisms, anything that can help me improve it. Once I feel comfortable with the engine, I will begin work on the rest of Baby Ghost.

So far the engine features these capabilities:
- Walking
- Running
- Variable height jumping
- Climbing and descend 22.5 degree slopes
- Climbing 45 degree slopes
- Does not get stuck in walls, floors, or ceilings
- Hugs the ground
- Rides vertically, horizontally, and diagonally moving platforms
- Bouncing from attacks

What it does not feature is:
- Ladder climbing
- Jumping through platforms

In addition to those features, it also contains Baby Ghost's new repetoire of moves. The controls for the platform engine are:

Left and right arrow keys- Move left and right (double-tap to run)
Up key- Talk to NPCs, read signs
Down key- Stop talking, stop reading
Fire 1 key- Jump (hold to jump higher)
Fire 2 key- Shoot (use up and down keys to aim)
Hold Up and press Fire 3- EctoTorch (use arrow keys to fly, float over blanket and press Fire 1 to return to normal)
Hold Down and press Fire 3- EctoTorch (do this again to turn it off)
Hold Fire 3 at zero velocity- EctoShield (let go to turn off)

Fire 1 is the comma key, Fire 2 is the period key, and Fire 3 is the forward slash. Fire 4 is the Enter key, but it isn't used in the demo. You can change the controls with Ctrl+Y.

Finally, the download also features my world map engine. The engine runs on 1 bouncing ball object for movement, 2 objects for collision detection, a series of static objects that change the player's direction, a series of objects that enable and disable movement in different directions, and spots that denote different areas. The controls for the world map engine are:

Up key- Move up where applicable
Down key- Move down where applicable
Left key- Move left where applicable
Right key- Move right where applicable
Fire 1- Enter a level (you can only enter levels that are marked red (incomplete) or blue (complete).
Hold Fire 2- Move camera to look at map

One last note, the second most common complaint was that the graphics were too small. Deciding that I didn't want the graphics any larger, I have included two resize features: full screen (not recommended, use alt+enter) and a magnify feature (press + on the numpad to double the window size, - to half it, num lock must be on).

Known issues:
- The game has rendering issues in the center of a scrolling frame at normal resolution (not at 2x, 4x, or full screen, the problem is caused by the Resize display to fill window size property).

Once again, taking all comments and criticisms, as long as they will actually help.

Review This Download



     
 


http://jonhlamb.googlepages.com/bgengine.zip (1.11 mb )



Posted by falkon 17th July, 2008

Its nice but you need to add WASD capability because it is kinda awkward with arrow keys and ,./

Because they are really close to one another on a laptop.

BTW you can post on a non-public download if you change the asp id
 
Posted by Jon Lambert 17th July, 2008

I'll probably put WASD in later, but for now you should be able to change the controls with Ctrl+Y.
 
Posted by AndyUK 18th July, 2008

It all seems to work fine so far.

I'm not a fan of small windows though, i guess that resizing option takes care of it though.

The jump is a little bit floaty, even though he kinda is floating anyway lol, making a bit more attack in the jump would be better.

you appear to sink into the ground a bit, which stops you dead if you're walking.

hmm, it's a bit harsh to get hurt when walking into the side of spikes, and its quite hard to jump over them too.
 
Posted by Jon Lambert 18th July, 2008

I noticed the jump as well. I could simply double the vertical speed of the jump and make it subtract speed when going up faster.

I might just make the side of the spikes work like a normal wall if damage is too cruel.
 
Posted by Toadsanime 18th July, 2008

This game seems to be going in a grand direction, and I honestly can't wait for anothet update on it.
As for the window being small, it doesn't bother me.
 
Posted by AndyUK 18th July, 2008

well you could just change the spikes to look like they'll damage you from the sides too. That way there is no confusion.
 
Posted by Zezard 19th July, 2008

The turn while jumping was a little bit too hasty for my taste. If the ghost turned slower it would both feel more floaty (like the other ghost moves) and it would be easier to land right.

The graphics are very pretty, and animations are smooth. I missed pick-ups, something to collect while investigating the environment would be fun.
Comment edited by Zezard on 7/19/2008
 
Posted by -Adam McMillan- 8th October, 2008

ooh goody! i'm eager to see your new and improved engine
 
Posted by dndfreak 12th January, 2009
Rated :

I kinda like it but you seriously need to make it bigger. He doesn't really jump high enough either. As for the spike thing, a rotating ball of spikes would work well too.
Comment edited by dndfreak on 1/12/2009
 
Posted by Jess Bowers 27th January, 2009
Rated :

Great stuff!
 

 



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