Pandora Pandora Panic

[_trabitboy]

Hi!
Downloaded latest framework to check if my minigame run on it,
and test the latest stuff, and I must tell I'm pretty impressed!
New frontend rocks, and there is already some decent content .

 

[PokeParadox]

If you want to setup up joystick handling in a no fuss manner, then just use the GP2XJoy class... all that is required is to switch the class to SimpleJoy as it's almost the same in structure.

Sweet. Are "isL()" and "isR()" the shoulder buttons? Any hints on which keyboard keys connect to which signals? Is the difference with SimpleJoy just that you will be able to modify it easily for the Pandora hardware? Is USB controller support unique to SimpleJoy? (I guess I should try it out with the current setup.)

L and R are indeed the Shoulders... basically I'm so used to the SNES introduction of them that I instinctively call them that.

Cursor keys are the DPad:
ASZX are the buttons (XYAB)
Start is the ENTER key and Select is right shift... I think
Vol+ and Vol- are the V and B keys... but these are only really relevant for GP2X Ah basically the difference with SimpleJoy is that it has stuff to make sure that code will cross compile using one Input class. it will compiel for GP2X or PC or Wii, etc. It's going to be relatively quick to add the Pandora keys in once the SDL port is ready. yes SimpleJoy is the first class I've written which will use USB joysticks at all, I would like to extend it to use all the buttons on a pad, but that could use a keymapper to do it sensibly... which is a headache It will let you test nub code on a pc though if you have a USBjoy with twin analogues...

I hope that answers everything! (And yes I'm just in from work...)

Hi!
Downloaded latest framework to check if my minigame run on it,
and test the latest stuff, and I must tell I'm pretty impressed!
New frontend rocks, and there is already some decent content .

Yes I have my fingers crossed we can get this game out nice and smooth and polished and on time! ^_^
There's a lot of effort gone into these minigames and it shows!

 

[todd]

Presenting... PanicAttack!

A few of notes.

1. It's UGLY. Help me, please! I need:

• a new button spritesheet
• a new level preview background (with play instructions beginning with "Don't Panic!" in big, friendly letters)
• a new gameplay background
• maybe some background music? Will the sound effects mix overtop of a music track?

2. All levels call for you to hit the shoulder buttons. Either button will do. It'd be nice to figure out a better way to communicate this to the user.

3. Right now, the game is too hard to play on a keyboard! I'm hoping it will be more reasonable with real controllers. Looking forward to SimpleJoy.h so that I can try it out past level 3! But I'm open to suggestions if you think it's just too hard, period.

4. Poke -- when a player presses a wrong button, I superimpose a big red "X" over the icon of the erroneous button. Sometimes, not always, it uses the red as the alpha channel instead of the other, so I see a big white non-X instead! Any idea what that's all about?

5. What I think would be very cool, if someone wanted a fun challenge, is to have an animation running in the background during the game. Just to distract the player. My personal choice was xrayswarm from the venerable xscreensaver project. Source is available with a permissive license. But I just don't think I'm going to get around to it.

Maybe more thoughts later...

--Todd

 

[todd]

Hmmm... in case someone happened to grab PanicAttack in the last couple hours (since my last post), please know that I have uploaded a slightly modified version to the same URL. The changes were minor.

If you're interested in this game and you want to see what play looks like at higher levels, just uncomment line 81 in file StatePanicAttackButtonsEvents.cpp and let 'er rip. It's fun (for me) to watch.

--Todd

 

[techrock]

Any chance somebody could make a quick video of the progress so far for the computer illeterate like myself?

 

[PokeParadox]

There is already a video from a few weeks ago on the wiki: http://projectinfinity.org.uk/doku.php/hom...orapanic#videos

Hopefully when the "final" build is ready I'll have some time to take another vidcap

Also apologies for the lack of updates, I've just been tired/busy and it's mostly the pubs fault(working not drinking :lol I'm trying to tidy up some loose ends and will make an update ASAP!

 

[trabitboy]

Hi,
while working on more mini games ,
and knowing that next week we should have finished something,
I made a little playtest with various gamer friends ( of different styles );
this amounts to 5 people.

The conclusion I draw from that is that gameplay wise,
it's not good enough, we need to better tune it.

Couple of constructive remarks:
- in wario ware, you are not forced to play the same mini game again if you fail ,
you go to the next one.
this has been frustrating to every player.

- in wario ware, failure or success is determined very fast,
for instance the pong game really looks finished,
but it takes ages to win !
first level of this game could have been: just return the ball one time
then each level gets faster and with more returns to do.

More over, the difficulty of the minigames doesn't go up at the same speed.

Bear in mind my critics are because I like this project and
I want it to become something useful/entertaining !

I think we are at an interesting point,
because now we begin to have enough material,
but we need to talk together , playtest and tune it

I played the original wario ware to death, and I'm usually very demanding
with arcade games towards pacing and difficulty:
it was simple, yes , but nearly perfectly tuned, and
you could go at really really high level before having say... rythm problems .

I'm very curious of the feedback of the contributers and possible playtesters ,
anyone played a bit the last build ?

 

[TheBrainSquid]

1. It's UGLY. Help me, please! I need:

• a new button spritesheet
• a new level preview background (with play instructions beginning with "Don't Panic!" in big, friendly letters)
• a new gameplay background
  
  
  
  
  I can easily recolor those buttons for you and make a new background. I don't know how to start up the game so I'm not sure what you need from the background. Just let me know that and I can make up a new one for you.

 

[todd]

I can easily recolor those buttons for you and make a new background. I don't know how to start up the game so I'm not sure what you need from the background. Just let me know that and I can make up a new one for you.

Awesome! Thanks! I'll PM you.

 

[MarkoeZ]

I can easily make my games harder according to lvl, but how fast do they need to get difficult? I can make the games allmost unbeatable at lvl 10 but i don't thing that's the idea as well.

But i like the general idea

Also, having to do the same game again frutrated me also, especially the bad vista before it was updated, man i could only win one in every 10 times or so

 

[todd]

Also, having to do the same game again frutrated me also, especially the bad vista before it was updated, man i could only win one in every 10 times or so

Ooops. Sorry 'bout that! I was surprised as well. "It ran fine on my box!"

Since you have admitted to actually playing the game, is it pretty reasonable for difficulty now?

I didn't originally have any plans to add levels to it. And I'm not entirely sure what would be a good way to do that. Or how effective it would be. Any thoughts?


OTOH, Panic Attack definitely has levels. Level 1 is pretty easy. Level 3 should be reasonably challenging with a real controller. It's extremely difficult for me on the keyboard, mainly due to "a" being "X" and "x" being "b"!!
Things get difficult after that but I think it should level off around level 7 or 8.

-------------------


I'm still looking for a musician for BadVista! I tried PM'ing someone from the Wiki but got no response. I had another person express interest, but he hasn't logged on in a week or two, now.

--Todd

 

[PokeParadox]

Also, having to do the same game again frutrated me also, especially the bad vista before it was updated, man i could only win one in every 10 times or so

This feature is now removed...

Since you have admitted to actually playing the game, is it pretty reasonable for difficulty now?

I didn't originally have any plans to add levels to it. And I'm not entirely sure what would be a good way to do that. Or how effective it would be. Any thoughts?

It seems challenging enough but for the first level you could do one of those indicators to show the best place to throw.
You could change the windup speed of the throw and also move the bin for hard difficulties. Also not have a guide of when the best time to throw is.

I'm trying to fix some bugs that have crept in... this could be a long night...

 

[PokeParadox]

Presenting... PanicAttack!


I'm trying to include this for the next update, but it clashes with your ButtonEvent class which I've added to PandoraPanic! already. Is this supposed to use that lib, or overload it, or be a replacement for it entirely?

 

[todd]

I'm trying to include this for the next update, but it clashes with your ButtonEvent class which I've added to PandoraPanic! already. Is this supposed to use that lib, or overload it, or be a replacement for it entirely?

Ack. I was afraid that was going to happen. I don't yet understand how to isolate namespaces in C++. The StatePanicAttackButtonEvents class began as the generic ButtonEvent class but was written to replace it (for this one game). It might be a good candidate for subclassing if I understood C++ inheritance (the PanicAttack version being a more specialized version of the original). But I intended it, in this case, to be a completely different class.

Please feel free to make changes. Or leave it out if you need to and I might find time later this week to reconcile it to the new framework.

As I recall, the chief source of conflicts is likely to be the button enum's. Maybe PanicAttack can reuse the enum from ButtonEvent? Or maybe I just need to rename the enum & its entries to be unique.

--Todd

PS Thanks for the ideas about levels in BadVista. I'll give it a look as I get time.

 

[trabitboy]

one feature that is missing from the current build
is the option to test a minigame alone with increasing difficulty
( selection box always does level 1 I think ).
It would be useful for balance , playtest;
would be nightmare to need to alter the build to be able to do that for each game.

so how should the difficulty increase be ?
considering the number of minigames could we consider difficulty only ramps up after a few one
( acceleration moments in true wario ware ? )
I think that would be a solution.

any other gameplay comments?

 

[trabitboy]

I can easily make my games harder according to lvl, but how fast do they need to get difficult? I can make the games allmost unbeatable at lvl 10 but i don't thing that's the idea as well.

Thanks for your answer!

in the first wario ware, boss was at level 10,
and first difficulty increase was half that ?
let's say increase difficulty every five and make sure games do not repeat themselves
within five ?

I'll make it tunable in my game : a define will tell that every X level a difficulty step is added.
So why not begin with each five level?

QUOTE
I didn't originally have any plans to add levels to it. And I'm not entirely sure what would be a good way to do that. Or how effective it would be. Any thoughts?


Thanks for your answer!

in WarioWare , levels seem simple, but there was plenty of variations within them:
display could be reversed, or rules could be slightly changed, or you should do the things more times
in the same short span.
This is why I found it more difficult than expected to do a game:
it's not only strictly about getting faster,
in WW , the slight changes kept the experience fresh.

In the case of bad vista you could :
- invert display
- begin with a VERY big trash, then put a medium , then a small
- then give 2 vistas 2 throws, even in the big trash ( successively )
- make it an arm throw, then a kick , then a head ( to add variety for the player )

 

[PokeParadox]

I'm trying to include this for the next update, but it clashes with your ButtonEvent class which I've added to PandoraPanic! already. Is this supposed to use that lib, or overload it, or be a replacement for it entirely?

Ack. I was afraid that was going to happen. I don't yet understand how to isolate namespaces in C++. The StatePanicAttackButtonEvents class began as the generic ButtonEvent class but was written to replace it (for this one game). It might be a good candidate for subclassing if I understood C++ inheritance (the PanicAttack version being a more specialized version of the original). But I intended it, in this case, to be a completely different class.

Please feel free to make changes. Or leave it out if you need to and I might find time later this week to reconcile it to the new framework.

As I recall, the chief source of conflicts is likely to be the button enum's. Maybe PanicAttack can reuse the enum from ButtonEvent? Or maybe I just need to rename the enum & its entries to be unique.


and voila: http://www.glenmccl.com/ns_comp.htm
The other alternative is to give the PanicAttack ButtonEvent class a slightly different name and... I'll show you:

CODE

class ButtonEvent
{
public:
int _X;
int _Y;
}

// We inherit ButtonEvent and take on all of it's members
class PAButtonEvent : public ButtonEvent
{
public:
int _extraVariable;
}


I'll poke around and try and get it to compile but I'm scratching my head trying to see the differences... hmmm

in WarioWare , levels seem simple, but there was plenty of variations within them:
display could be reversed, or rules could be slightly changed, or you should do the things more times
in the same short span.
This is why I found it more difficult than expected to do a game:
it's not only strictly about getting faster,
in WW , the slight changes kept the experience fresh.

In the case of bad vista you could :
- invert display
- begin with a VERY big trash, then put a medium , then a small
- then give 2 vistas 2 throws, even in the big trash ( successively )
- make it an arm throw, then a kick , then a head ( to add variety for the player )

The ability to select level difficult could be added to the SelectionBox, but we have to be agreed at how many difficulties they are going to be. There is a slot in Variables that I intended to store the difficulty level, now might actually be the time to use it

or also for Bad Vista, you could sit on Vista and take a *cough* core dump!

 

[todd]

one feature that is missing from the current build
is the option to test a minigame alone with increasing difficulty
( selection box always does level 1 I think ).
It would be useful for balance , playtest;
would be nightmare to need to alter the build to be able to do that for each game.

Actually, the way I implemented levels, you do get subsequent levels using the selection box. It's great! Levels only get reset when the root menu shows. So as long as you stay in the selection box menu, each game should be able to increment its level on each run.

so how should the difficulty increase be ?
considering the number of minigames could we consider difficulty only ramps up after a few one
( acceleration moments in true wario ware ? )
I think that would be a solution.

I'm not sure I understand. But I think the simplest solution is to allow each game to track its own level and increase its difficulty at its own pace. PanicAttack increments the level each time you win. Then, the next time it starts up, it checks that the game timestamp (variables[7]?) is unchanged. If it HAS changed, level is reset to 1 because we have started a new game.

Thanks, by the way, for the suggestions on increasing difficulty in BadVista. I remember getting everything to line up was quite painful -- making me reluctant go get in there and start changing things. But I will take your suggestions and have a look. Maybe I can figure something out. I can always play with the gravity, the friction, and the bounce elasticity. BadVista was never a strategy game, though. It's half luck and half hand-eye coordination. You can do it correctly 15 times and then mess it up.

and voila: http://www.glenmccl.com/ns_comp.htm
The other alternative is to give the PanicAttack ButtonEvent class a slightly different name and... I'll show you:
or also for Bad Vista, you could sit on Vista and take a *cough* core dump!




Thanks for the link: I'll read up!

If PanicAttack is the only thing stopping you from releasing an update, please just leave it out. I'll try to work on it when I get some time. I don't want to hold up the works!

--Todd

 

[MarkoeZ]

DistractedMath(s ; ) is UPDATED

Numbers gradually increase with the stages, earlier calcs are easier now, but especially the divisions get a lot more difficult as you go.

also every 25 stages there is one calculation more but no timer increase, so once you get above lvl 75, only one second to respond to the last calc, and still increasing numbers

I succeeded in passing up till lvl 80 or so, but not nearly every time. Should make things a bit more challenging.

 

[azmodean]

Another game idea, implement some kind of worms-like game where you fire (one, a small number of?) shot(s) at (a/some) target(s) in a 2d ballistic trajectory, with just a few seconds to get a hit. Increasing difficulty could include smaller blast from shot, slower moving shot, multiple targets, complicated terrain, altered physics (gravity, wind).

I'll post again if I get time to work on it myself, otherwise I'm putting it out in cas someone else wants to work on it.