FBGD Retro 2008 Competition (closed; entries are being rated)

[ssjx]

Hi,
If it was going to be a bigger game i probably would implement a scenario/trail type system, kinda like outrun (i'm thinking of the xbox outrun).

On to the suggestions:

* Sounds - Sound is not my strong point but i may add some blips and beeps..

* Preset Scenery - I like random, makes things interesting but it would make sense if i implemented a stage progression system.

* Slower difficulty - This one is trickier, if it starts slower people will notice that the game is repetitive sooner, also as i am constantly testing i must be developing cat-like reflexes so am getting used to the difficulty which make setting it more difficult! (My screenshot shows >500, i hit 'S' moments before crashing!)

* Save the highscore - Hmm maybe..

* Fixed digits - Don't really see a need but i see where you are coming from though.

The difficulty does fix after about 200, this again relates to the point above.

I'll fix the clouds and invisible bike for the next release, had troubles with invisible trees too... The clouds were also moving at one point but i thought they were too distracting..

Thanks for the feedback, given that the deadline is still a while off i suppose i do have a bit time to make more drastic changes.

Anyway, i'm having fun making something for this comp so hopefully it will be the first of many! 

Update: It just occured to me that the difficulty problem is probably a frame rate related issue i.e. the game is slower on slow computers hence the overly high score. I'll fix that tomorrow by replacing the 'sleep' line with something better...

[Lachie Dazdarian]

Well, I would prefer scenery changes to be at least day-based, and that a new scene musn't be like the last one (ie. same scenery repeating for several times by chance).

BTW, SLEEP 1,1 should be pretty reliable. Try adding a FPS counter and send the demo to couple of people, ie. using Linux, Windows XP and Vista. The again, adding time-based movement for a game featuring such simple movement should be easy...and reliable too. Not sure where you found a machine where this game runs slower than it should, though.

Highscore save...please...just add a simple single value saving to an external file. I think people would prefer it mainly for their score to be saved for the next time they get to play the game. I personally don't have such good memory to remember my last score after several days/weeks. And it's nice to see my top score on the tile screen after getting back to the game.

[ssjx]

Last update for the moment, now version 0.4:

Changes from 0.3
* Dark bike
* Cloud over score fixed
* Improved frame rate control
* Score saved in score.dat

Get it from here: http://ssjx.co.uk/windows/racer.php

Thanks for looking!

[vdecampo]

ssjx

Hehe. It felt like I was playing my old Atari 2600 console!. Looks great. Hope you're planning on adding some cheezy buzzing sound effects.

-Vince

[Lachie Dazdarian]

Yeah. I agree.

My top score this time was 456. Second attempt. First one attempt was 246.

Maybe you can try to do something with obstacle placing algorithm, because when I reach the top game speed it depends on luck a lot. I think in my second attempt I scored extra 100 pts after 300 pts driving thourgh virtually open road. I don't know. Try to randomize obstacles a bit smarter. Or maybe try to increase the top speed just a little bit. I dunno.

I would agree here with vdecampo. Even a basic (but non-agressive) motor sound would help a lot. I enjoy playing this game with an mp3 track from WinAmp, but a single sound from the game would improve my experience a lot.

[Dr_D]

Well, I'm not done, but here's a preview of mine. There's a readme included in case you get confused... it is kinda hard to tell what's what at times.

EDIT: Updated with collision detection/response for the main character. Adding for the projectiles and enemies next. Also added a silly wobble for the enemies: walking animation.

download.zip

[Lachie Dazdarian]

If anyone is curious, this is the scoring I'll apply on the entries once the competition is over. To be honest, I don't find it much relevant to competitors before the final results, because these categories represent traits that every good game must have and should be self-evident. Perhaps it’s interesting to see that the highest scored category represents what to me is the idea of this competition – cool looking games in 80x60 graphics resolution. Some of these categories were copied from ciw's previous compo. Hope he won't mind.

Graphical design – 25 points
How well the game graphics were compiled within the 8x8 pseudo-pixel restriction? Extra points for innovative and effective solutions.

Game design – 20 points
How well was the game designed? Were the levels logically compiled? Is the game user-friendly?

Gameplay - 15 Points
How much the game is addictive and fun to play?

Presentation - 10 Points
How well was the game presented? Did it have a title screen, instructions etc.?

Originality - 10 Points
How original is the game? Was it just a copy of an existing game, or something typical of a particular genre? If it were based on an existing game was there an effort made to improve on the original and were there novel twists?

Controls - 10 Points
How well do the controls work? Are they intuitive? Are they responsive? Are they kept to the minimum required to be effective?

Progression - 10 Points
Does the game have a good sense of progression? Are there distinct, different levels? Is there a good sense of increasing difficulty? Does it present challenges to be overcome as the player progresses?

Replay Value - 10 Points
Does the game make you want keep going back for just one more go?

Sound/music – 8 points
Does the game feature any sound effects and/or music, and do they accompany the game well?

Personal likeness – 4 points
Extra points if I liked or disliked the game more or less because of my own subjective reason (will be elaborated).

Total: 122 points.

I'm open to complaints/suggestions.

[Lachie Dazdarian]

Less than 4 days left! Time to start wrapping up your entries. You still have one full weekend ahead, so if you are skilled and experienced you can even manage to pack something from scratch. But, it's final time to start working.

I will consider extending the deadline if I receive 2-3 requests (depends on the predicted amount of finished entries that will be submitted) preferably not later than 20 o'clock GMT on Sunday from people who will email me their WIP (or post/posted them in forum threads earlier). I will not extend the deadline for people who will start working on Sunday.

[Lachie Dazdarian]

The deadline has been extended to Sunday 21st, 18:00 GMT.

Several very cool entries are being developed but can't be completed before Monday, so the authors requested for more time.

I want to give everyone one more week, but want also to be sure I'll be online to close the competition and list the entries few minutes after the deadline. During work days I can't guarantee that. Didn’t think of that before. You have the entire next Saturday to wrap up your entry and Sunday morning to submit it, if you live in…I don’t know…Los Angeles.

[Mitchell]

Here's an update on T Tanks (mine):



Oh, and I'm mentat from Pete's site and FB.net .

I've got a couple bugs holding me up, but it's almost done.

[ssjx]

This was going to be my final entry but now i'm not so sure given the extension! No major gameplay changes just more tweaking:

Changes from 0.4
* Vehicle selection
* Unlockable bonus vehicles
* Some sound effects (which require fmod)

Here's the link: http://ssjx.co.uk/windows/racer.php

It now needs the fmod.dll which i have put a link to seperatly. I've added the sound effects just to claw some extra points! No engine hum yet as i have not found one that did not get annoying, maybe i'll find one by next weekend!

Oh and regarding bonus vehicles,  my definition of 'vehicle' is very loose

Cool looking game mitchell! Not sure from the image what the aim is but it looks very nice!

[Lachie Dazdarian]

Looks interesting Mitchell. I can't wait to play it.

[Dr_D]

Yeah, I agree!  They look kinda like tanks to me. Am I right?

[Mitchell]

Yeah, I agree!  They look kinda like tanks to me. Am I right?

 

Dr_D for teh score!

And the terrain is randomly generated. I have yet to figure out if it's a good thing or not, but at least it saves me work and it doesn't give me problems.

And debugging the tank graphics is like playing a game of wack-a-mole. As soon as I fix on thing, something else pops up. 51 tanks are displayed when there should be only 50? Fix it. WTF? Where did the computer's tanks go? Lemme fix that. OMG, now those 50 tanks became 100! Agh, let's go tweak that. For the love of god, I'm back to 51 tanks! Alright, lets do this. Compiling, running, pick a menu... MY EYES!!! Okay, don't try that again. Now what?

Humor is the only thing keeping me sane. At least everything else works. I haven't tested the AIs yet though.

[Lachie Dazdarian]

Remember, counting from 0 to 50 includes 51 element, while counting from 1 to 50 includes 50 elements.