Release Forget Me Not - new shooter/maze game from Nyarla Labs

[Link]

I just hit 127K., and @ Dunny, high score posting would be cool.

 

[Mr_Loon]

Still loving this game Dunny, from a personal perspective this is my favourite non emulated game on Pandora.


There is one little tweak I'd love to see and that would be to increase the time limit for completing levels before it goes dark and that damn ghost appears, to compensate for the slower movement speeds on the Pandora version. I actually prefer the movement speed on the Pandora version (when running at 800 Mhz) compared to my desktop PC version which is too fast IMHO.


Not sure if this is a bug but I only seem to see one challenge level, when reaching level 5, even if this is successfully cleared I don't get another challenge level come level 10.


As for online hi scores, this would be great to see but would probably have to take into account the game mode as it's possible to score significantly more points on non chunky mode due to the score multiplier for constantly eating the dots.


FWIW my hi score on chunky mode is 87K

 

[Link]

I do have a bug to report. If you put the game on pause and go into low power mode, the game locks and a soft-reset must be done (Pandora button & Power Switch).

 

[sebt3]

I do have a bug to report. If you put the game on pause and go into low power mode, the game locks and a soft-reset must be done (Pandora button & Power Switch).

This is a known issue with the 3d driver, Dunny wont be able to fix this one sadly

 

[Link]

^


Oops. I guess I haven't been paying attention.

 

[ZXDunny]

There is one little tweak I'd love to see and that would be to increase the time limit for completing levels before it goes dark and that damn ghost appears, to compensate for the slower movement speeds on the Pandora version. I actually prefer the movement speed on the Pandora version (when running at 800 Mhz) compared to my desktop PC version which is too fast IMHO.

I'm glad you like the speed - it's probably not going to get any faster


How long would you like the ghost to wait? Would you like to be able to turn it off completely, say in shuffle mode? Something like that?

Not sure if this is a bug but I only seem to see one challenge level, when reaching level 5, even if this is successfully cleared I don't get another challenge level come level 10.

Challenge mode sets off from level 5, and the next appears at ten-level intervals. So 5, 15, 20, 25 etc.


D.

 

[Mr_Loon]

...


How long would you like the ghost to wait? Would you like to be able to turn it off completely, say in shuffle mode? Something like that?


...

From a personal preference it would be great to be able to turn off the ghost in the game settings menu for all types of levels, I've always been a big fan of games that let the player play it the way they want to play it, but I think that if the ghost is on it should wait for at least half as long again before appearing.


Good to hear there is no problem with the challenge levels, guess my next challenge is to get past level 15.

 

[milkshake]

shame mr_loon I always thought you were meant to play the game the way it was made? u lose the excitement without the ghost anyway.

 

[ZXDunny]

shame mr_loon I always thought you were meant to play the game the way it was made? u lose the excitement without the ghost anyway.

This. I can of course change it no problem, but the game was not invented by me, and aside from the speed (and the addition of the challenge levels, which were already there and just tweaked by me) it's the same game logic as on the iPhone/PC versions - the ghost isn't "timed" in terms of seconds since the start of the level, but by the number of game loops executed so you get the same amount of playing time, as the frames/second on the Pandora is lower than on the iOS/PC version.


I do agree however that occasionally the ghost does get in the damned way, but there is a way to kill it, if you're careful and plan properly. Maybe a non-scoring mode which just blasts levels at you one after another with no ghost might be fun... to my mind that was how survival should have been played - possibly on a much larger, scrolling map (or a basically infinite map procedurally generated like a minecraft level) with difficulty ramping up as you kill more bad guys... I dunno, there's a lot I'd like to do, but it's moving away from Nyarla's original vision for the game!


D.

 

[nyarla]

hey.. honestly, feel free to tweak stuff, add new game modes, add your name to the credits, etc! this version is freeware so it's totally cool. just so long as the main concept of the game is the same i'll be happy.


i do think without the ghost some franticness would be lost, on early levels especially, since there'd be no reason to move to the next level but it could be an option or something... more options is good.


in the update for the ios version i'm working on now, i've added something like a difficulty mode setting - you can play all game modes on either "original" or "arcade".. arcade being mostly the same as the PC/Mac/Pandora version. in original mode, which is all the current release ios version has, the ghost does appear but the levels don't go dark...


another thing you could do is make the ghost only appear when all the flowers are gone (or maybe, when there is only one left)... hmm i like that idea, now i want to put it in the ios one somehow


[edit: well it shouldn't *always* appear as soon as the flowers are gone, but rather the ghost timer should start counting down then]


i added a couple new modes, seed and arena. seed only really has a point when competing for scores against people - everyone in the world gets the same set of generated levels, which change once per day. (you can replay them as many times as you want, until they change at midnight).


arena mode is cool.. you only get a single level (always at the maximum size).. there's no door, and all the flowers are replenished every so often.. more and harder enemies keep spawning in, walls get more and more destroyed, and you just have to survive for as long as possible. i really like it... good for much shorter games than the other modes.. i usually don't last more than a few minutes. i'll send the updated source to Dunny once it's finished, for if he wants to add this stuff to the Pandora version (might be hassley though - this source is based off the ios version rather than the pc one, it will be slightly more complex than just plugging in the new code).

 

[Mr Rob]

hey.. honestly, feel free to tweak stuff, add new game modes, add your name to the credits, etc! this version is freeware so it's totally cool. just so long as the main concept of the game is the same i'll be happy.

You are awesome, by the way, just in case you didn't know.

 

[Link]

Almost 150k yesterday.


Here's a thought:


Bonus level every five stages, so level 5, 10, 15, rather than 5, 15, 25?

 

[bonapart]

ZXDunny: can it be ported to maemo(fremantle)? i can help (coding, testing, remote device access), software\hardware is basically the same (guess only changing key codes is needed)

 

[nyarla]

ZXDunny: can it be ported to maemo(fremantle)? i can help (coding, testing, remote device access), software\hardware is basically the same (guess only changing key codes is needed)

bonapart, i just saw and replied to your post on my blog awhile ago just chiming in again to say, this is fine by me. i could send you the PC version source code, but if ZXDunny is happy to send the Pandora source that sounds a lot easier, if the platform is mostly the same.


[EDIT: wait, wait! just looked up a bit about maemo - it is MeeGo? i actually have a contract with someone who is porting it to Android and some other platforms, and i think MeeGo is one of them.. so if MeeGo is the same thing as Maemo, please hold off on this until I check if that's part of the contract will post when I find out... either way, there should be some FMN on there some time...]


Mr Rob: ^___^


Link: my top score on the PC version was ~500,000.. BRING IT. 8)

 

[bonapart]

nyarla, maemo isn't the same as meego(harmattan), but should be compatible too(maemo have much common with pandora from my point of view)


we can't start pandora version due "unable to create egl surface, unable to initialize egl"

 

[Link]

Link: my top score on the PC version was ~500,000.. BRING IT. 8)

The game just gets evil at points. Ninja levels are insane when its just them, or the bomb levels. But let me try for half a million!

 

[Mr Rob]

nyarla, maemo isn't the same as meego(harmattan), but should be compatible too(maemo have much common with pandora from my point of view)


we can't start pandora version due "unable to create egl surface, unable to initialize egl"

Right, the Maemo devices are similar-ish hardware wise (ARM processor, 800x480 screen, etc). Though running different distributions of Linux (Pandora: Angstrom, Maemo: Debian I believe). So default libraries and the like may be very different between systems; I suspect 'unable to initialize egl' is a missing library issue....

 

[ZXDunny]

hey.. honestly, feel free to tweak stuff, add new game modes, add your name to the credits, etc! this version is freeware so it's totally cool. just so long as the main concept of the game is the same i'll be happy.


i do think without the ghost some franticness would be lost, on early levels especially, since there'd be no reason to move to the next level but it could be an option or something... more options is good.


in the update for the ios version i'm working on now, i've added something like a difficulty mode setting - you can play all game modes on either "original" or "arcade".. arcade being mostly the same as the PC/Mac/Pandora version. in original mode, which is all the current release ios version has, the ghost does appear but the levels don't go dark...


another thing you could do is make the ghost only appear when all the flowers are gone (or maybe, when there is only one left)... hmm i like that idea, now i want to put it in the ios one somehow


[edit: well it shouldn't *always* appear as soon as the flowers are gone, but rather the ghost timer should start counting down then]

I like the idea that:


1. The ghost appears for the first five levels after the last flower is eaten, as you suggest. After that... Normal ghost behaviour.


2. for the first ten levels, the level stays lit. After that it's dark time.


This allows you to kill the ghost on the harder difficulty levels by eating flowers, on the easier lower levels, the ghost isn't such a problem.


I like that, and that's what I shall do. TO THE LINUX VM! With nyarla's blessing, natch.

i added a couple new modes, seed and arena. seed only really has a point when competing for scores against people - everyone in the world gets the same set of generated levels, which change once per day. (you can replay them as many times as you want, until they change at midnight).

I like the idea of that - do you display the seed? Is it numerical, or can we use a generator that makes pseudo-english words of say, 8 to ten letters so we can remember them?

arena mode is cool.. you only get a single level (always at the maximum size).. there's no door, and all the flowers are replenished every so often.. more and harder enemies keep spawning in, walls get more and more destroyed, and you just have to survive for as long as possible. i really like it... good for much shorter games than the other modes.. i usually don't last more than a few minutes. i'll send the updated source to Dunny once it's finished, for if he wants to add this stuff to the Pandora version (might be hassley though - this source is based off the ios version rather than the pc one, it will be slightly more complex than just plugging in the new code).

Please, PLEASE send that source! I'd love to get Arena mode in!

Almost 150k yesterday.


Here's a thought:


Bonus level every five stages, so level 5, 10, 15, rather than 5, 15, 25?

Ok, but how often do you succeed at a challenge level? If we're making them more frequent then scores are going to go higher as a result if you're skilled enough to pass them. If that's the case then I need to balance them better. Suggestions for making them even harder would be gratefully received.

nyarla, maemo isn't the same as meego(harmattan), but should be compatible too(maemo have much common with pandora from my point of view)


we can't start pandora version due "unable to create egl surface, unable to initialize egl"

I'll hang fire until I've dicussed this with Nyarla. For what it's worth, I intend, again after discussion with Nyarla, to release the source - but only after a thorough code review by him, and after his contractual obligations have been met before I do.


D.

 

[nyarla]

I like the idea that:


1. The ghost appears for the first five levels after the last flower is eaten, as you suggest. After that... Normal ghost behaviour.


2. for the first ten levels, the level stays lit. After that it's dark time.


This allows you to kill the ghost on the harder difficulty levels by eating flowers, on the easier lower levels, the ghost isn't such a problem.


I like that, and that's what I shall do. TO THE LINUX VM! With nyarla's blessing, natch.

Try it out and see if you like it I've decided not to put the challenge levels in the iOS version, though I may still put them in a later update.. but yeah, go for it!

I like the idea of that - do you display the seed? Is it numerical, or can we use a generator that makes pseudo-english words of say, 8 to ten letters so we can remember them?

I don't display the seed no.. I had considered a mode where, like minecraft, you can type in your own seed.. but I ended up keeping it all really streamlined for the iOS version (since it has online scores, and apple's game centre is limited to i think 25 leaderboards, the more different modes available the more scoreboards it'd need, cluttering up the place..).. You could use a string-to-int type thing to give a random-seed-from-string-of-inputted-text style thing if you want though..


In the new update I've actually started using a custom random number generator which Madgarden sent me the source for... not only is it apparently more random than the standard C rand() function (according to an entropy testing program - also, subjectively, i swear i'm seeing different maze configurations than i've ever seen before!), but it allows for using multiple different random seeds, which was required to keep things consistent in the seed mode - because if everything is using the same random seed, things get out of whack... because certain things depend on the level size, position of sprites, etc... so now, level generation has its own seed, and other random things like colour changing etc just use C rand()... if that makes sense. I'll send the source when it's ready (hopefully in a few days).

nyarla, maemo isn't the same as meego(harmattan), but should be compatible too(maemo have much common with pandora from my point of view)


we can't start pandora version due "unable to create egl surface, unable to initialize egl"

I'll hang fire until I've dicussed this with Nyarla. For what it's worth, I intend, again after discussion with Nyarla, to release the source - but only after a thorough code review by him, and after his contractual obligations have been met before I do.

I'm waiting to hear back from my porting guy.. even though it's not quite the same platform, best to make sure everything's cool, because the ports he is doing will be paid ports of the iOS version, not freeware I'll let you know...

 

[Link]

Ok, but how often do you succeed at a challenge level? If we're making them more frequent then scores are going to go higher as a result if you're skilled enough to pass them. If that's the case then I need to balance them better. Suggestions for making them even harder would be gratefully received.

I would say 60% of the time I pass the bonus level. But I rarely make it to the second one, having one at level 10 would break up the monoanarchy occuring. I don't know if they need to be made harder, as the design of the board is extremely challenging and if you can't pick up the key quick, suicide becomes reality quickly. Also the bombs of various sorts are harder here because of the opposite side explosion can cause certain death.


Making a challenge level on say 20 a blue/pink ninja room would be a challenge as I've found that setup to be one of the most mind racking. Add a horizontal or vertical slicer or two to the mix as they seem to make challenge levels difficult.


The advantage of the bonus levels is getting a health boost regardless of the outcome, it also gives time to really get some points on the level leading into the Bonus because you can run health down to a heart or two before proceeding through the door.


Do eating multiple power ups for the gun make it stronger?


Thanks for all the work both of you!