Port My Game?

[Awakening]

I only played the 2nd one. First game I tried multiple choppers passed by without dropping a single bomb, once I had 3 on screen at once and none of them fired.

Well, I guess it's an individual taste thing. Personally I would always reward players for doing long combos, that's also what's the most fun to do in the game.

BTW, I tried Shift. I was thinking "Wow, wouldn't it be cool if I could move inside the black areas too" and the next level I pressed shift... The game seems very good and solid but it's not my type of game so I only played a few levels.

 

[lulzfish]

How do you spawn enemies? Is there a timer of some sort? Or multiple timers? Or does it roll dice every frame / few frames?

 

[got_wot]

How do you spawn enemies? Is there a timer of some sort? Or multiple timers? Or does it roll dice every frame / few frames?

In the first one is was jsut a random event, with the likely hood of spawning each enemy type increased with each upgrade, once theres something major sorted with this all I'll comb through the sourcecode and give out the precise codes that do everythgin, to ease the transistion

Sorry to be a big Noob, but you said you'd consider using QT before, what exactly is that?
-Tony

 

[Exophase]

Pythagorus

for(var i:uint = 0;i<enemyArray.length;i++){
if(pythag(TANK.x,TANK.y,enemyArray.x,enemyArray.y)<50){
return true
}
}

Where Pythag is just a function that returns the distance between the points, I probably did it in a similar fashion, I'd have to go look back, it was over a year ago.
Nothign too complex or anything

So you're doing collision circles.

If you do a lot of these you should consider doing a version without the final square root and squaring the value on the other side.

 

[lulzfish]

Sorry to be a big Noob, but you said you'd consider using QT before, what exactly is that?
-Tony

Qt is a GUI toolkit. It's hard to explain, but it has a lot of the same basic drawing functions as Flash (For drawing vectors, bitmaps, transforming things), but it's an open-source C++ library rather than a browser plugin, it should work fine on the Pandora, and it might be able to use OpenGL acceleration.

So my version would be a standalone application. Somebody who knows more about Java than me could probably make a Java applet port, which would be good if you want it to be browser-based.

 

[got_wot]

Pythagorus

for(var i:uint = 0;i<enemyArray.length;i++){
if(pythag(TANK.x,TANK.y,enemyArray.x,enemyArray.y)<50){
return true
}
}

Where Pythag is just a function that returns the distance between the points, I probably did it in a similar fashion, I'd have to go look back, it was over a year ago.
Nothign too complex or anything

So you're doing collision circles.

If you do a lot of these you should consider doing a version without the final square root and squaring the value on the other side.

Well until now, it wasnt important for it to be optimised, since everyoen playing would have a mroe than fast enough CPU to do it hundreds of times a second (and thats way more than needed).
If Flash Player came to Pandora, optimisation would be much more important, especially in the redrawing of the frame.

 

[Zoxc]

I'd say OpenVG is a decent candidate if you want to use vector graphics, but the game seems pretty simple (and it's using raster for all the graphics?) so SDL + GLES2D is probably easier.

 

[fusion_power]

Flash 10.1 should run on Pandora, once it's out. I would hope sometime this year, I have played quite a few really good Flash games lately (been following the Bytejacker show) and it would be great to have these running on Pandora as well as see new games made that supports the Pandora controls.

About the game:
The start is a bit slow, most of the time the choppers pass by without dropping a bomb and when they do there's rarely more then 1 on screen.

The game is quite fun once you have leveled up a few times.

Having to land and end the combo before the fuel runs out was a bit disappointing. I was doing a 30+ combo and then my tank blew up because I ran out of fuel, had I done worse I would have gained the experience to level up and refuel. Personally I think the tank should blow up if you are on the ground with no fuel, that way a last second big combo can save you rather then kill you. More in the spirit of the game if you ask me.

Intentional

My favourite part of the game is when the challenge switches around and your aim is to try and hit the floor before you run out of fuel and judging it right...
The slow start is a pretty big problem with the original, the follow ups all fix the problem by starting faster and having more consistant enemy spawning.
Theres so many FLash games I'd love to play on pandora, I just hope it/Flash player is fast enough to play them well...

Yes, I also wondered, why I ran out of fuel while doing great combos into the air. ^^
I thought it could be a bug, that a scoring i only counted when you hit the ground...but it seems that it's a feature.

my max was 25 Combos, 1313Combo-Score, 179FT height and EXP of 1513 (but this seems to be wrong)
Can't see the score-boards, they don't load for me.

 

[got_wot]

my max was 25 Combos, 1313Combo-Score, 179FT height and EXP of 1513 (but this seems to be wrong)
Can't see the score-boards, they don't load for me.
[/quote]

The scoreboards are no longer hosted because it was developed years ago, there will be a new version this year, Indestructotank 3, with tonnes more stuff, people have been pestering me for it for years

 

[bzar]

Sorry to be a big Noob, but you said you'd consider using QT before, what exactly is that?
-Tony

Qt is a GUI toolkit. It's hard to explain, but it has a lot of the same basic drawing functions as Flash (For drawing vectors, bitmaps, transforming things), but it's an open-source C++ library rather than a browser plugin, it should work fine on the Pandora, and it might be able to use OpenGL acceleration.

So my version would be a standalone application. Somebody who knows more about Java than me could probably make a Java applet port, which would be good if you want it to be browser-based.

Just nitpicking here, but Qt is actually an application framework with a GUI toolkit. You can use a lot of Qt's assets without touching the GUI module.

 

[lulzfish]

I threw together a prototype in Qt, with some delicious prototype artwork. (Note how the tank says "lol, tank" on it)

http://blip.tv/file/3164093
The FLV looks a little choppy, but the game itself is smooth, so it's somewhere in the record-encode-playback pipe.

It's a very rough prototype without the particle effects and such, and I don't know whether the Pandora's Qt will have OpenGL ES, so I can't say anything about performance except "the prototype runs fine on my laptop'.

 

[got_wot]

I threw together a prototype in Qt, with some delicious prototype artwork. (Note how the tank says "lol, tank" on it)

http://blip.tv/file/3164093
The FLV looks a little choppy, but the game itself is smooth, so it's somewhere in the record-encode-playback pipe.

It's a very rough prototype without the particle effects and such, and I don't know whether the Pandora's Qt will have OpenGL ES, so I can't say anything about performance except "the prototype runs fine on my laptop'.

Woah Woah woah, hold up there Tiger, I've still not run this through all the necessary channelsto make sure its all above board, don't go porting/reproducing anything yet!
On a seperate note, How would I go about running that file? I'm not on Linux at the moment, I'm on OSX, if theres anyway to make it compatible.

 

[lulzfish]

It's okay, it doesn't resemble your game at all, and I'm thinking about making something else on the side that uses similar code.
The link is to a video of what I have, a vague prototype, mostly to make sure that Qt can handle games.

Qt is write-once, compile-anywhere, but I don't have OS X here, just 64-bit Linux and 32-bit Windows.

 

[got_wot]

It's okay, it doesn't resemble your game at all, and I'm thinking about making something else on the side that uses similar code.
The link is to a video of what I have, a vague prototype, mostly to make sure that Qt can handle games.

Qt is write-once, compile-anywhere, but I don't have OS X here, just 64-bit Linux and 32-bit Windows.

I just watched it on VLC, very cute
So just how powerful would QT be on Pandora? Would you for example, be able to have it running comparable to the second link I originally posted, with zooming in/out Camera and lots of Particles effects at a decent framerate? Again, sorry for Noobishness but I'm completley unfamiliar with QT.

 

[dflemstr]

It's okay, it doesn't resemble your game at all, and I'm thinking about making something else on the side that uses similar code.
The link is to a video of what I have, a vague prototype, mostly to make sure that Qt can handle games.

Qt is write-once, compile-anywhere, but I don't have OS X here, just 64-bit Linux and 32-bit Windows.

I just watched it on VLC, very cute
So just how powerful would QT be on Pandora? Would you for example, be able to have it running comparable to the second link I originally posted, with zooming in/out Camera and lots of Particles effects at a decent framerate? Again, sorry for Noobishness but I'm completley unfamiliar with QT.

Qt is OpenGL ES 2.0-accelerated, so whatever you do with it, it'll be many times faster than anything Flash would be able to provide. It should be fast enough to do anything you'd possibly be able to dream of in 2D, and it can do full-3D stuff too.

 

[fusion_power]

OK, now I've testet the latest Version of the game. Much better graphics and nice effects, this is what I want to see onto the Pandora.
(The game window onto the PC Browser is to tiny by the way I think)

I don't know if flash onto the Pandora will be fast enough to do this game, especialy in the latest version, but I'm sure the Pandora would be fast enough to realize the game with a "stright" engine for our Handheld.

 

[got_wot]

OK, now I've testet the latest Version of the game. Much better graphics and nice effects, this is what I want to see onto the Pandora.
(The game window onto the PC Browser is to tiny by the way I think)

I don't know if flash onto the Pandora will be fast enough to do this game, especialy in the latest version, but I'm sure the Pandora would be fast enough to realize the game with a "stright" engine for our Handheld.

I agree that the Flash Player on Pandora simply wouldnt be able to keep up with the redrawing, judging by its performance on similar devices, is QT already compatible with the Angstrom build running on Pandora? If it is, and if it is as fast as you suggest, I'm very excited about using it, especially since I've seen how fast somethign can be prototyped in it by lulzfish

 

[dflemstr]

I agree that the Flash Player on Pandora simply wouldnt be able to keep up with the redrawing, judging by its performance on similar devices, is QT already compatible with the Angstrom build running on Pandora? If it is, and if it is as fast as you suggest, I'm very excited about using it, especially since I've seen how fast somethign can be prototyped in it by lulzfish

Qt is included per default in the Pandora's operating system.

It's not the fastest thing possible on the Pandora; there are a lot of systems that are faster for games (Normal OpenGL ES, or Irrlicht, or OGRE, or OpenSceneGraph etc) but it's extraordinarily easy to use.

Now enough talk about Qt; I'm starting to sound like some kind of salesperson.

 

[lulzfish]

I think the BeagleBoard already has Qt / OpenGL ES, and we're using the same chips and same Angstrom stuff as them, so it should work fine with GPU acceleration.

 

[trix]

I've never heard of this game, I just played it and am hooked! This game is really fun!

twice i've landed with enough xp to level, but ran out of fuel before it finished counting the xp ruining hours of play

I look forward to this on the Pandora!

Edit:

After hours more of intense indestructotanking, I have a great idea!

One of the most fun ways I've found to play, once fuel is infinite, is to try to kill enemies FAST, like, stop as many as possible from making it off screen. That would be a fun mode of play, even when levelling have a mode of play that adds like 10 fuel or something each chopper you hit. It's easy to ride the top of enemies and slowly rack up combo, but much more fun when there are a lot to try and hit them from the bottom allowing you to get all the middlemen you'd usually let pass.

Try playing like that once