3D Minigolf--Single Playe or Multiplayer

[jobemjobem]

Hi Guys,

We at Electrotank.com are in late beta for a very cool game we have been working on, minigolf. Please check it out:

http://www.electrotank.com/lab/miniGolf.html (single player, and has a link to the mulitplyer version)

***There maybe a few bugs. I am fully aware of some minor bugs but I really need some testing on the multiplayer version. I am looking for what I call "game stopping" bugs, a bug that would keep you from finishing the game. If you find one please either post here or send me an email ( jobe@electrotank.com ).

If you find a bug this is what I need to know:
-which hole
-single player or multiplayer. if its multiplayer were you playing yourself or another person
-what was the bug
-what platform (windows 98, 2000, mac....)
-what browser and version

There are some known issues that I am trying to work out. Overall the bugs seem to be getting more and more rare the more testing I can get done and fixes implimented.

Thanks guys!

[mark_horsell]

very cool!

one thing, when i clicked to turn the music off, i trigered the golfer to play.

[roland_s]

extremely good. VERY good. cant belive it's Flash.

[Olorin]

after logging in:

"Waiting for response" I've been waiting for about 10 minutes now

(I've seen the game before, and it's absolutely amazing, but I guess the server is just overloaded now or someting)

Olorin

[McChicken Nuggets]

that game kicks ass, excellent work

the game is brilliant, and i know it is in beta, so when you finally release it just a little imporvement in graphics would just make that game a little more asthetically pleaseing and enhance the gaming experince.

well done

i have a question but i do not have time to post now. again well done

[lesli_felix]

Hey Jobe,
Nice to see someone raising the standards of flash games a tad, the graphics are impressive and the physics is pretty awesome too. Played single player and multi(same computer). Found these few little snags:

1.Turning the music on/off - causes the player to strike.
2.On hole 6(and maybe others)it was possible after finishing a shot to have the ball land so near the edge of the movie that you couldn't go to full power on the next shot, this happens after the screen has scrolled.
3.On multiplayer, if your'e behind the other player and then catch up, it still reads "2nd" and "1st", where it should read "tied" on the scoreboard. It doesn't switch until you go into the lead.

Not gamestoppers, I know, but judging by the standard of your work I'd say you're aiming for perfection.


Oh btw, Win98 and IE5, didn't play true multiplayer.

[Edited by lesli_felix on 05-29-2001 at 10:48 AM]

[jobemjobem]

thanks for the feedback everyone.

lesli_felix:Yes, we are firstly looking for game stoppers since those are the most annoying to people, no one likes haveing to restart but they can live with score being slightly off. But we *are* going to perfect this so your bugs are noted and will be fixed!

Thanks

[jonbetter]

the greatest flash game i have ever seen

[Threebrain]

Wowowowowow! fantastic!

I got a 24 ;-)

anyways. Changes i'd make in case you wanted feedback:

1) random music loops change per hole
2) hole 9 is kinda busted cause the cliff is awkward and it doesn't scroll out when the guy is near the hole sos you can't control the power of the swing
3) I love the cute character, are you gonna make more of them to choose from?
4) you gonna have a windmill?
5) you gonna have a wild monkey that comes out screaming and flailing its arms and eventually beating lil' fatty over the head with a banana?
6) you gonna have a monkey golfer? or a dopey look'n hippo or sompin?
7) you gonna have a godly voice like the one in Gauntlet that goes "Warrior, you may not shoot other players... yet."
8) Lasers?





[Edited by Threebrain on 05-29-2001 at 05:50 PM]

[lesli_felix]

EXCELLENT!!!
IMPRESSIVE!!!
HEAD SHOT!!!
KILLING SPREE!!!

No Wait, what about a BFG? and a frag limit??
Hang on a sec, how come you never die in this game????

Booorring!

>;-)

[ironmallet]

I played single player and found no snags. Great shading! Great physics. It even loaded quickly! The power meter could be eliminated by making the arrow get longer and shorter, but I like the power meter too, I liked it all. I yelled loud when I parred the second hole! I'm going to show my girlfriend when she gets home, she's a great bete tester, if she can't make it crash, noone can !

[McChicken Nuggets]

hi as i said before excellent game

however as i have just found a game stopping bug

on hole 6 i sank the ball on the 4th shot, the game showed the birde sign then just stops, nothinkg happens

game type single player
windows 98
browser IE 5

i think that is all you need to know

this has not happend before, i have played through about 6 times, so maybe it was a freek.

anyway good game congratulations

[Ray Beez]

Great job (yet again. you guys always make good games)

Anyways, no bugs, but the game needs a way to scroll the screen to preview what's ahead.

Also the aiming is kinda cool yet kind sensitive. Maybe it should have a couple steps to it. 1. you aim, then click and then you do 2. Strength. Cuz it's easy to screw up the aim while trying to get a particular strength.

I'd also recommend getting a more illustrated look to the graphics. That would be the crowning touch.

_RB

[sermad]

as everyone said its really nice to see better flash games! so good work fella. just one design issue!

1) The aiming and rotation systems is kind of clunky as sometimes the angle you want to shoot in coupled with the power u want to shoot in...makes the cursor go off screen! and you can't make your shot you want because the focus is off the swf.

I can see why you went down the mouse interface route but i would suggest your try (if you havent already) making the putting a 2 click affair. So you rotate to choose the angle then click to start a power bar - then click to shoot at that power. it makes the game harder for one as your game is very easy after a couple of goes.

oh and your co-efficient of restitution on the walls is too low as the ball's just seem to die when they hit a wall and in real life mini golf is all about crazy wall slapping action!

and don't forget to update the in game chat!

[Threebrain]

I agree with sermad, i got par the first time i played yo. I likes the 2 click idear on the mad tip

[jobemjobem]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, keep it coming!

Ray Beez: we are going to solve the "not being able to see everything" issue. we have several separate ideas but are trying to decide which is best.

Sermad: There is zero decay on the walls, any perceived decay is an illusion. Thanks for the UI tips, we are taking them along with many others into consideration for a revsion!

Our main priority right now is getting this multiplyer XML server on some better hardware to support the insane number of people coming to play!

Talk to you guys soon, thanks again

[sermad]

Originally posted by jobemjobem

Sermad: There is zero decay on the walls, any perceived decay is an illusion. Thanks for the UI tips, we are taking them along with many others into consideration for a revsion!

[/B]

really! hehe sorry! must be the grass friction then!

again wicked work man!

[McChicken Nuggets]

Hi

I think I’ve found another bug, maybe not game stopping like the last one I posted but not good never the less. On the 8th hole I hit the ball on to the sand trap then tried to hit it down the gap toward the hole. However the ball just rebounded without getting close to the wall. I hit the ball back up into the sand trap and tried again, same thing happened. So again I hit the ball to the sand trap, and use almost full power the ball gets between the gap rebounds of the far wall then disappears and reappears out side of the walls. Then the golfer appears next to the ball, which is out side of the boundaries of the course. Then they both disappear, and continue to the scoring screen.

Never the less this is an excellent game, one of the few flash games I keep coming back to.

[jobemjobem]

Mr. Chicken,

Thanks for the report. Just a little explanation here: The problem is that Flash is frame based and this is running at 24FPS. What this means is that say the ball is going along the x-axis at 30 pixels per frame. Frame 1 the ball is at x=100, frame 2 the ball is at x=130 but the ball never existed anywhere inbetween 100 and 130!! See the problem? What if you have a wall there? So ifyou hit the ball full power near edges or corners that is most likely where you will see this trouble. If Flash was able to perform 120 FPS and have it be similar on a wide range of machines then that would come close to eliminating this problem, but until that day we are limited.

But as for the ball bouncing a little too early, I think I have seen that too and I can just move the invisible boundary back slightly to help out with that one. thanks for the report!

[Ray Beez]

Jobe!
"If Flash was able to perform 120 FPS and have it be similar on a wide range of machines then that would come close to eliminating this problem, but until that day we are limited."

Nuh uh! No excuses fella. Great programmers find work-arounds. They create solutions to problems that don't appear easy.

With your kind of thinking, the video game industry would have never developed beyond Pong. ;-)

The problem you are describing has always existed in all games, but there are solutions. Console video games run at 60 fps (I'm talking about Nintendo, super nintendo, and those systems), with 3D systems capping at 60 fps, but typicallying running as low as 30. So, your excuse is just that, an excuse. (What do you think we did back in the 80's? Tolerate games where sprites just passe through each other? No way!)

What you need to do is figure out a method whereby even though you are updating the ball once per frame, and it makes long distances, your code determines what was inbetween those two points. It could be something like setting up a bounding rectangle that is as long as your maximum distance increase, (as wide as the ball) and angling it in the direction the ball will go. Do a hit test to see if anything is in the way. If not, proceed as normal.

This is just one un-tested suggestion. There are surely other ways. Perhaps you need to define different "zones", with rules, like "it is impossible for the ball to enter zone 3 from zone 1, but it can enter zone 3 from zone 2"...

You could also thicken your walls and obstacles, and pump your frame rate to 30.

Hope this inspires something! :-)

Ray B