Hoping to get my Indie retro game to run on the Pandora.


BaDToaD

BaDToaD

"Very" Old Timer
Joined
Jan 31, 2004
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Location
UK
Website
cwhippogames.wixsite.com
Hi guys. I've not posted here in a while but I've been keeping an eye on the Pyra's progress. Some of the old timers here will remember me :)

So, what have I been doing with my time? I've started an Indie games studio, Clockwork Hippo Games

I've been making a retro style arcade game that's difficult to describe. If you think along the lines of Lunar Lander with feathers and collecting eggs you still won't know quite what to expect. I've made the game in Construct2 and there's a demo up on the scirra arcade HERE

Construct 2 basically wraps HTML5 code up for different platforms but the web version should work on any HTML5 capable browser and device with sufficient power.
https://www.scirra.com/arcade/action-games/baby-bird-27270
The game struggles on my CC Pandora but I think it's mainly a memory issue, so I'd be interested in seeing if it run's on later Pandoras. The Pyra should have no trouble running it.

If later versions of the Pandora struggle with this version I will make a lightweight version with no music and try to find somewhere to host it. What I'd like to be able to do is give you guys access to the full game for free.

I hope to have native versions for PC,Linux & Mac. The demo will always be on the web too.

I'm also after feedback before I release the full version of the game, so let me know what you think. I'm hoping you guys will be into the hard core skill based gameplay as many people seem to find the game too hard. Those nearer my age, that love 80/90s arcade and computer games seem to love it though.
 
Gave this a little spin on my x86 laptop, and it ran quite well there with only 2GB of RAM. If you can build a native linux version, the pandora version is likely a cross-compile away.

In terms of gameplay, I found it a little frustrating, but knew every time that I died it was either down to my own overconfidence, or my mixing the W and S keys in my fumbling with the keyboard. It fulfulls that risk versus reward mechanism that influences my enjoyment of a game pretty well, although to my mind it could do with a scoring system that suggests if you've done it in a suitable time having collected all of the eggs for example. And with that you could have some sort of hub whereby you could redo old levels, and maybe once you're out of the tutorial levels, skip tricky levels to unlock future levels.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately I can't compile natively to Linux. Construct 2 wraps it's HTML5 in a JS layer from what I can tell. I'm not a great coder hence me using Construct 2 in the first place :) As for a level hub, I really want to keep to the arcade formula from back in the day. To that end I don't want any type of continue other than the C to continue that's there already, where you lose your score to continue from last level reached. I'm from an era where there were no continues and tbh that's how I like my gameplay. Hard and unforgiving. It is doable though. The demo only has 8 levels but the full game has 22 so far and I can complete that on Extreme. Obviously it's my game, so I have a huge advantage but I am a reasonable arcade player, not a great one. Some people have told me the game is too easy! They must be arcade gods...

One thing I will say that has been said several times is, decent gamers are better on skills 3, 4 or even 5 whereas casual players find 1&2 easier.
 
Yeah, the compiling on Linux will have to wait until you've coded up a native port, which is a whole set of learning different to what you've picked up using the library you are using (although bits and pieces will be transferable).

The game is quite easy if you can temper your patience and navigate slowly. My trouble is I want to ramp things up too quickly, then find myself unable to stop in time. I didn't find the time limit at all of a challenge during the handful of levels I tried.
 
The time limit is only there for bonus points anyway but the levels get a lot harder. Level 7 and 8 in the demo give an idea of what's to come. I thought it was too cruel to have a time limit that stopped you finishing the levels. Equally, harder skill levels have less time available.
 
Has anyone tried this on a 512MB pandora yet? I'm interested to know if it runs. It's choppy and almost unplayable on my CC pandora but I'm guessing memory is a big issue on a CC.
 
128MB is a little small for a swapfile in this day and age. Even though it's half of your system RAM which might have been a sensible setting once upon a time, I usually make mine a couple of gigabytes just to be sure these days, to at least twice your system ram, whichever is larger.
 
@TeDaDeS Right, I need to sort out a larger swap file and try again. Busy working on the game at the moment but I might see if I can get on it this afternoon.
@ levi 2GB Strewth rules have changed over the years. I'll try a Gig maybe. Mmmm tries to remember how to use Gparted ;)
@ rygD Indeed. I still use mine CC pandora a lot, although since the nubs died mainly for music or 8 bit emulation.
[doublepost=1520848086,1520847822][/doublepost]BTW I've also decided the name "Baby Bird" doesn't suit the hard core 80's style gameplay and I'm trying to come up with a better name. Any ideas welcome as long as they don't use the word Flap in them as I don't want the game labelled as a Flappy Bird Clone which it bears no resemblance to.

Ideas I've though of so far include:
Fly 'n' Crash
Nest Lander
Fly or Die
and Nest or Bust. I'm leaning towards the rather boring Nest Lander at the moment but it does at least describe the games main mechanic.

Latest idea from my dev community is Eggcelent Landings

Looks like Nest Lander - Eggward's Adventures is leading the names atm.

And the winner is Nest Lander! - Eggward's Adventures

Not that any of you guys got a chance to have your say :)
 
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I like Nest Lander; it hints at a lunar lander type game, which in some ways when you're trying to land on a nest is exactly what it is.

FWIW, I still never got round to creating a swap partition; I use swap files these days almost exclusively. I don't know the benefits of a swap partition, but in terms of usability I find a swap file gives me the flexibility I want. I guess a swap partition would be quicker, as it's operating at the raw block level rather than on top of a filesystem, but for my purposes a swap file has done enough for me so far (although I usually have to invoke it for big compilations rather than anything real time). It should still be quicker than a browser being forced to delete temp data and recreate that later which is what it'll have to do if short on memory.
 
@ levi I'll try a swapfile first before I create a swap partition :) If it works, great, if not I'll see if I get a boost in performance via a dedicated partition.
@torpor Not a bad name suggestion :)
 
I like * or Die, because those are classic games. I guess the new name is ok and fitting. It needs more pun. Maybe the sequel can have a punny title.
 
The adventures of Daily Figher Commander Hoot Alpha X Warrior strikes back
in
Everyone's a Nest Lander Super Galaxy Madness .. or die.
 
lots of fun, I am a huge lunar lander nerd though. I just played the first three levels as I am at work atm...
 
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