9 replies to this topic

[JPTeasdale]

I made a game for the 2011 Java 4K competition. If you play RTS games you'll know the basic controls, just make sure to use the spacebar.

Check it, and the other games out.

http://www.java4k.co...od=view&gid=333

Edit: Press the spacebar to start each level

[tobeythorn]

doesn't load properly on my machine (Win 7 x64) with latest 32 bit Java.

[JPTeasdale]

tobeythorn said:

doesn't load properly on my machine (Win 7 x64) with latest 32 bit Java.

That's odd, do the other games on the site load for you?

[tobeythorn]

yes

[tobeythorn]

ok, pressing space bar seemed to make it work

[JPTeasdale]

A lot of people have been having trouble with that. I thought that pressing spacebar was a well known convention for starting online games, but I should have been more descriptive.

[rouncer]

its a cool game, took me about 10 seconds to work out to press the space bar tho, you should put it in fat text "PRESS SPACE BAR".

Sorta reminds me of some old 2d top down shooters ive played, good work! I hope you had fun making it. :)

[mezzodaemon]

did someone say S P A C E B A R ?

[tobeythorn]

JPTeasdale,
Its does have that nice oldschool topdown shooter feel. It could use some refinement though. Fix the space bar issue (it now says "spacebar" permanently in the middle of the screen), make it feel more responsive (the dogs can run way faster than the men, which makes it not so much fun), prevent the dogs from getting lost in the trees, prevent the men from stupidly trying to shoot through the trees, and make the weapon fire look cooler, and for sure, give it some nice sound.

[JPTeasdale]

Tobeythorn,
Thanks for the feedback, I will address your suggestions by category.

tobeythorn said:

prevent the dogs from getting lost in the trees, prevent the men from stupidly trying to shoot through the trees, and make the weapon fire look cooler, and for sure, give it some nice sound.

As far as graphics and sound go, I have to be able to pack the game into a file smaller than 4096 bytes for the contest, and there just wasn't room. The beasts in the trees is a problem, but I haven't experienced it often, and only on Google Chrome.

tobeythorn said:

Fix the space bar issue (it now says "spacebar" permanently in the middle of the screen), make it feel more responsive (the dogs can run way faster than the men, which makes it not so much fun)

Just like people not being able to start the game, this is another example of how not having enough instructions can break a game. Text is pricy byte-wise and I guess I simplified my intended directions beyond understanding.

I meant for the text 'Spacebar' to hover over the screen for level 0. It was supposed to remind the player that pressing spacebar activates the active spawn, which it the main mechanic used to get away from the much faster beasts. I'll play with the wording to see if I can make this more obvious.