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 Geronimo Tech Demo - Training - UPDATED 10th Jan
Author: DeadmanDines Submitted: 9th January, 2009 Favourites:2
Genre: Demo Downloads: 352
Rated:
49th Place     (4.56 / 5)


Edited By Rikus on 1/17/2009

Edited By DeadmanDines on 1/12/2009

Okay, so you may remember the tortoise. Well he's back, and this time I want you to test his training level!

This level also allows you to slow time down, which will eventually be a feature found later on in the game, but for now it's here to be tested.

Controls and other hooplah are explained in-game.

It's only quick, but I need some comments to get my inspiration up again

I will not be held responsible for people who compulsively purchase pet tortoises as a result of playing this game. You have been warned.

BUGS REPORTED
(Bold = not yet fixed)
Sky graphic - is it better now?
Dithering on rocks - better? It feels a little too grainy now...
Added detail on background rock columns.
Camera speed adjusted - had to keep the vertical speed the same because otherwise the player can fall out of view. Horizontal camera speed reduced by more than half.
Falling off screen on left side, fixed.
Jumping through gap in first metal barrier, fixed.
Fixed bug with jumping while standing on the stone bridge.
Slowdown caused gaps in fire, finally fixed.
SSBM theme too loud - removed for simplicity, this will be fixed later.
Fullscreen should be optional
Make a puzzle where rocks bounce across balloons
Pelt other tortoise with stones
Add some enemies
Add an inventory
Add more varied hazards

Review This Download



  


http://www.4shared.com/file/79817734/ab4cdc84/Geronimo_-_GC_2009-01-09.html (3.49mb )



Posted by W3R3W00F 10th January, 2009

Ohmewordit'sthegamewiththeturtlefrumthetutorial.
 
Posted by Ski 10th January, 2009
Rated :

Nice gameplay with the stone throwing and what not, but for me the camera movement felt quite fast, especially with it being fullscreen.

Also please sort the some of the artwork out >_<; the sky mainly, and if time perhaps some of the platform art itself. You seem to spend time putting details into the jump targets and main character, but some of the rock work looks kinda rushed IMO.
 
Posted by W3R3W00F 10th January, 2009

I agree, but still a nice game.
 
Posted by OMC 10th January, 2009
Rated :

Holy goshcowbiscuits! If it weren't so late and I weren't so tired I'd download it. ;__;

<3 El Tortoyse.
 
Posted by 10th January, 2009
Rated :

Wow, that was pretty sweet. I wish I had that kind of smarts to work in all those fancy physics stuff. If you don't finish the full game, AT LEAST you should release the source. It's nice to see all those mathmatic formulas and calculations, but it's even better to see how they can apply to the games themselves.
 
Posted by -MacAdaM- 10th January, 2009

Awe, no swimming?
Other than that, really awesome Dines!

I would slow down the camera a bit like -Adam- said, but thats a small detail.

Really solid engine, and I actually had fun whipping rocks around
 
Posted by aphant 10th January, 2009
Rated :

Bleh, fullscreen. Really hate it. Makes it hard to play a bit, alt-tab to write what I think of the game, and alt-tab back in to play some more. This should really be an option. Also, the music at the start (SSBM theme) is far too loud and even worse, sudden. The background music ingame is rather catchy, though; I like it!

I really like the stone physics, and how they bounce. And that they can be piled up. I'm going to collect every stone and try to make a triforce out of them!

I'm not so keen on the balloons, though. It seems like if you're holding down the jump button, you should be able to bounce higher off of them. I also don't like how stones bounce back off of them. Well, I like that they bounce back, but I don't like that they can't be skipped across the top of the balloons. That would make for an interesting puzzle! Maybe have blue balloons that can be popped?

Slowing down time is pretty cool, too. I like that the music gets warped, but I don't like that animations and movement become choppy. I also found it fun to rapidly tap control near the fire hazard, and make a VERY big gap in it. If I had the patience to keep it up and move around, I could have danced in the fire pit for a whole five seconds! Speaking of the fire pit, I noticed that the generation of fireballs is initially slowed down, but then it resumes normal speed regardless of time.

Some of the artwork could use some work. The sky looks bad. It's got a variety of colour, which is good, but the brushwork looks terrible. The mountains are good. The tileart and rocks could probably use a bit of dithering; they seem out-of-place compared to the background mountain. The background rock walls (that you can walk in front of) also look kind of shoddy. A bit of detailing would work wonders for them, I think.

The level itself is not without flaws: You can hop through the first wall that you're supposed to throw stones through. You can walk off the left side of the screen at the start. And, it's a shame that you can't get back to the other turtle and pelt them with stones.

All in all, it's a solid demo. The physics are the shining star, I think, but the time slow mechanic can be improved upon (mostly making movements and animations more fluid). I'd definitely like to see how this plays with actual enemies, and maybe different kinds of hazards.

I've taken a number of screenshots to illustrate some points:
Hopped through the first wall, http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/4995/dithertilesho4.png

Background walls that need details, http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/1466/wallrz8.png

Fell off the left side of the screen, http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/135/skypd3.png

Playing with time makes gap in fire, http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/3527/thegaprv3.png

I want to throw stones at this turtle, http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/9562/throwstonevu1.png
 
Posted by -J- 10th January, 2009

A few things I think need fixing:



First of all, some of the graphics as previously mentioned by others.



Secondly, a little glitch I found was that you can't jump while standing on the bridge that appears once you hit the target across the gap.



Also, a way to implement the slow time effect into the gameplay rather than just as a cool feature might be to make it so that everything EXCEPT the turtle slows down... Maybe you could have the fire pit spurt out fire every millisecond, making it impossible to pass, but when the player holds the slowtime button the fire spurting slows down and the turtle can easily get past. Unless of course you're thinking of a different use for the slowtime effect.



Anyway, it's a very nice platform game with some great physics! Image



PS. Must... Purchase... TORTOISE >_O
Comment edited by -Julian- on 1/10/2009
 
Posted by aphant 10th January, 2009
Rated :

When I went to go see this no bridge jumping glitch for myself, I found another strange one: I used the time slow to get to the very edge of the cliff on the rounded part, and jumped/threw the stones. When the bridge spawned, I was warped forward!
 
Posted by Blue66 10th January, 2009
Rated :

I think the slow-motion is pretty ingenious, I like that a lot. For a tech-demo it's a real nice and fun little thing. I would have put at least one little enemy in it, and I think the 'real time' is a little too fast, but what the heck. Keep up the great work, this could get really awesome!
 
Posted by Knockturnal 10th January, 2009
Rated :

Awesome download. Liek seriously radical ragdollish graphics on that tortoise and very retro and nice graphics on the targets.

4/5 since this is a "demo" and some of the graphics weren't quite as good as others. I expect the best graphics from you
 
Posted by UnknownAlly 10th January, 2009
Rated :

What a cute lil turtoise.

Everything was great. I hope to see a full game. This is like Super Mario, turtoise style.

One bug, which is pretty obvious, is that in the beginning, you can walk to the left and fall off the game. You should put an event to lose a life just incase a glitch like that happens anywhere else.
 
Posted by DeadmanDines 10th January, 2009

[looks at comments]

Woah, plenty to work on then!!

Thanks for all your comprehensive replies! I'll get to work on the graphics and stuff and repost later to see what you all think, as well as sorting those minor bugs.

The fire/slowdown thing could be tough, for some reason it's not acting like it should. Could be because the code is in a behaviour maybe.

Just some replies to give an idea of the full game:

The game's called Geronimo & The Golden Clock - You basically meet a clock who has accidentally stopped time in your village. You must collect some gems in the first level and charge them up by beating subsequent bosses in the following levels.

Gradually, the clock's powers grow, enabling you to slow time more and more until you can stop it completely. And yeah, eventually you can break the time barrier and walk around as normal!

I need to practice coding enemies, so I'll see if I can throw one in at the end of training, I also need to add a bit about using your inventory (he can hold items in his shell).

Thanks for all the comments!!
 
Posted by DeadmanDines 10th January, 2009

Oh, and the time slowdown effect is available opensource along with a tutorial below. This example was built upon to form the game you just played, so the slowdown code should be fundamentally the same. Image



The rock physics are just a custom movement; when it hits a wall or floor, its X/Y speed is reduced by like 80% or something and then switched in the opposite direction. I think it's a formula like this:



OBSTACLE ON RIGHT/LEFT

--- X Speed = 0 - X_SPEED * 0.8



OBSTACLE ON TOP/BOTTOM

--- Y Speed = 0 - Y_SPEED * 0.8



Something like that. Image

http://theclickteam.com/epicenter/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=98255#Post98255
Comment edited by DeadmanDines on 1/10/2009
 
Posted by OMC 10th January, 2009
Rated :

AbsoLUTEly SPIFFTASTIC! The time control is absolutely necessary to get across the balloons and time the throwing right-- a nice touch. Chucking stones was really fun. I must say, though, that it was odd that it didn't throw the stone until well after the last frame of the animation was over. O_o That, and the stones didn't always bounce under the channel. One last thing-- you really ought to use unique music for the "title screen" even though it's just a tech demo.

Great download, can't wait for the full game! I can see this becoming one of my favorites!

<3 El Tortoyse
 
Posted by ben mercer 10th January, 2009

Found this pretty neat for a platformer (I'm not usually such a great fan of platformers) but the one thing that made me unable to stand playing for more than 5 minutes was the music. It is REALLY ANNOYING!
 
Posted by AndyUK 11th January, 2009

I found it quite entertaining to keep slowing down the music to make it sound weird lol.

It's all pretty good so far, didn't find anything horribly wrong with it.
 
Posted by Assault Andy 11th January, 2009
Rated :

I remember looking at your slow motion engine a month or so ago on the Clickteam forums. It's good to see you're making this into a full game! I'm looking forward to playing the final thing.
 
Posted by UnknownAlly 11th January, 2009
Rated :

This is going to win GOTW when it comes out...
 
Posted by AndyUK 11th January, 2009

it's not always that obvious...
 
Posted by creesee 11th January, 2009
Rated :

I like it
Slow motion is on FPS or Time X or what?
 
Posted by DeadmanDines 11th January, 2009

Neither, it alters the movement of the characters and animations to be a fraction of their former self.

It uses a time ratio where 1.0 is normal, 0.5 is half time and 2 is double time.

So if the player is running at 2px per frame, the normal routine is:

x position + 2px

But at half speed it actually does this:

x position + 2px * 0.5

Which reduces the on-screen speed by half. It's really simple, getting it to work on almost everything involves little more than multiplying everything by the time ratio!
 
Posted by OMC 11th January, 2009
Rated :

I still haven't been able to redownload and play it-- last time my computer died on me. ;__; Will soon though.
 
Posted by Rox Flame 12th January, 2009

Haha at bug list..
It says fullscreen should be optional twice, must be pretty damn important!
 
Posted by aphant 12th January, 2009
Rated :

I love how my "pelt other toroise with stones" made it on there. The stones leading back up were enough, as I found it amusing to just throw the stones past his dumb cranky face, and playing with time effects to make the stones go slower in an attempt to freak him out.
 
Posted by DeadmanDines 12th January, 2009

Lol, I will see if I can get a 'battle the grandpa' bit done, maybe a secret level. He's super fast cos he forgot to take his blood pressure tablets, and the only time you get a shot in is when he pauses periodically to take an angina tablet...

I *SO* have to add that!!
 
Posted by Liquixcat 13th January, 2009

Dines is back! I'll try when I get home.
 
Posted by DeadmanDines 13th January, 2009

Project page been uploaded
 
Posted by Hugo B. 18th January, 2009

Great fun!
 
Posted by CoxyofNewp 22nd September, 2011

Hi mate I know it's an old article! But link is dead! As a lot of your examples are!.
A shame!! as the reading of them are really good!
please re-upload if poss
 
Posted by DeadmanDines 26th September, 2011

I've done quite a bit more since this, so I may upload a new version instead.
 

 
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