[Complete] Thorenzitha

[programicks]

Thorenzitha - the mad perished - episode 1

:: I will only be posting to this one post for each episode

If you have any serious problems running the game, please let me know.

Instructions can be found on the main page.

http://www.btinternet.com/~m.j_hall/Thorenzitha.htm

Thanks,

Programicks/MichaelUK

[trogdor458]

baf, only one problem, i dont like the level of fluidity
it feels bulky

[walnoot]

Didn't start loading in firefox as well as opera here, did in IE.

[renderhjs]

can´t load it- could you make it in a way others (browser, os,..) can acess it too? IE is no option here

from the screenshots it looks interesting

[programicks]

I have fixed the problem and should now load in Firefox. I am unable to test with Opera here as don't have it installed.

I didn't ask at the top of the post but was wondering if I could get some feedback on the game in general. I'm wondering if people are ok with the target locking, how survival objects are picked up, harness and things like this.
Would people rather target using the mouse?

Cheers trogdor458 for your comment. When you said fluidity, does the camera move around too much for you?

Thought I better mention, I have altered the intro screen to look more like a future windows style bar as it was looking too much like Star Trek tng

Thanks.

Programicks

[programicks]

I have fixed some problems found and added one or two things with later testing...

Skip message added to abort intro screen

help info message for new users

Fixed problem with not being able to target enemy when first entering view. I was so used to moving forward first that I missed this.

Fixed problem with plasmaball coming up from behind wall.

At the beginning commentary, 'another' group of these things is mentioned. This means that the cyborg has seen these creatures before in earlier episodes not an earlier part of this episode.

Killing the second group of enemy creatures in the first area (before loading next part) seemed to be very hard. I would have to keep going back to earlier view too ofter.
I have made killing the creatures easier (I kill these off and end up with health at red when done).

Please let me know what you think.

http://www.btinternet.com/~m.j_hall/Thorenzitha.htm

Thanks,

Programicks.

[The Helmsman]

Looks promising.., but a little bit frustrating for me
I think a map will be helpful for people like me.

[agentdylan]

nice game, cool 3dness however... I didn't really know what i was supposed to be doing, game play was slow, enemy bug things when you attacked them they didn't look like they had just been shot, perhaps they could flash red? and maybe the enemy things could have a healthbar too so you knew if they were about to die.

Game also didn't quite fit in the pop-up window. Browser: Safari

[ImprisonedPride]

I remember when you first started this project; it's come a long long way! Good work. Glad you could follow through with it. Sadly, I have to agree with others, the first time I loaded it in FireFox, nothing happened. It was only after refreshing the page did it load entirely (got stuck the first time at like 11% or something). Another thing that I noticed about gameplay. Based on your perspective, shouldn't the robot move on a slight angle away from the center of the screen? See the attached photo:



When you press "down", the character, (who originated at the green circle in photo), follows along the green arrow. However, given the perpspective of the camera, to retain reality, the robot should follow the path suggested by the red arrow. Just a suggestion. Hope it helps.

[programicks]

Thanks for the comments guys

I was thinking indicators to let you know where you came from, but yes, some kind of map system.
I was also thinking about lighting the baddies red agentdylan as you suggested but yes, perhaps an healthbar next to the baddie or similar.
The game pace is baced on survival horror like resident evil, but resident evil at the start so I guess it could be faster. Later in this episode, there are faster female
creatures instead of the males at the beginning and a looped music. But this looped music is to create suspence rather than speed.
I think I may have made the game a bit boring at the beginning and not sure if anyone is playing upto area 3 (with indoor corridor) with the music.
About Firefox, I have noticed the preloader is slower in Firefox even after it has loaded into the temp internet files. I need to look into this.
Yes, I have been thinking about the 3d perspective as you say ImprisonedPride. I thought it would be ok after seeing very similar in other games like The goat in the grey fedora, Exodus core and Warner Bros Steppenwolf. I thought, it's ok, not the same as moving on the red line in your illustration but I could do it later.
ImprisonedPride, do you think it would look ok if I simply moved the cyborg in the direction of the red line with the cyborg as is? or should I alter the cyborgs angle too.
Since I load the game in sparate parts, I might get away with the extra frames of animation without too much work/too bigger file size.

[ImprisonedPride]

I don't know how easy it would be for you, but the robot would need to be slightly rotated--which creates a problem--everywhere on the screen except for dead center. If you look at my screenshot and move the robot slightly to the right, you'd need to rotate the image less. Basically the most rotation is along the outsides, and there's 0 _rotation at dead center. You'd also have to run it the other way too for when the robot walks away from the camera.

[scheletro]

Little strange the change of the views

[mr_malee]

i really liked this idea when it came out many months ago. But i feel this thing is just not completed, the movement doesn't seem correct, like ImprisonedPride said, the perspective has to be correct, i'm not sure what your using to move but you really need a simple 3D setup, it will honestly save you alot of headaches. If your faking 3D now (which i think you are) like guessing scales and movements then it just lets the game down. Look at these tutorials:

http://www.kirupa.com/developer/acti...pt/3dindex.htm

you've got all the graphics, you just need a good movement and collision system which is stable throughout the whole game. It just feels kinda hacked together right now. The shooting is very weird too, i'm never sure where i stand with enemy's and how my angle effects the shooting. I really think this game is worth the extra trouble, you've got some nice backgrounds there, so i suggest read up on the 3D stuff, find the correct 3D settings for your backgrounds (should be all the same) and update it.

I can help out if needed

[programicks]

Hi mr_malee. You are correct in saying that the 3d is hacked together.
For example, I don't use x y z, I just find what the character should be scaled depending on what the y offset is. Before that, I simply scaled as the key was down.

I don't use arrays on the views, no nested movie clips, I just use array on the particles.
I guess I should be pleased I have it run as quick as it is but it needs fully optimizing.

I was once told by a member of the Adobe Atmosphere users that I am innovative

If I want to add a jump, oh boy, I will have to turn off the cyborg scaling for the duration of the jump.

I just thought I would pull something together first and learn the better stuff later. Just incase I don't have time later

Thanks for the 3d link. I will be looking at that now.

[arawkins]

I think the key to a good survival horror game is creating a strong sense of immersion. You're well on the way with the graphics and sound, but the experience is a little too rough to be truly captivating.

trogdor mentioned fluidity and that's a biggy. People should be getting creeped out, not wondering too much about cameras or control schemes. Make it smooth and easy to play. Maybe try limiting the number of reverse corners and 180 camera spins if possible.

Also, being a flash game, there's a good possibility that people will try it without sound, which is also going to hamper the immersion. To get past that, you could try adding some audio elements to the gameplay (like creature sounds that get louder as the creature gets closer to the player), and then make sure you let the player know about them (eg. AUDIO SENSORS DETECT LIFE FORMS or something..?).

Finally, you may want to consider using a larger stage size, or even creating a fullscreen version of the game using a projector tool like Zinc or Screenweaver. If you can get people interested with the browser version and then get them to download and try it out fullscreen, you'll have their full attention, free from the 10,000 other things that they might be doing in their web browser.

Everyone's already said it but I'll say it again: It's looking good and there's lots of potential, you just need to keep at it and polish it up.

[programicks]

The next episode of Thorenzitha is online with a lot of changes baced on what people here and at Newgrounds have said.
I have added perspective code that makes the character walk slower then further from the camera he is when walking forward/backward towards and away from the camera but the character still doesn't walk at the correct angle at the edges of the camera view. I didn't see this as a priority as I had so much other work to do designing the new episode in 3d and then writing the new code for all the new systems I have going as well as trying to sort out why it wasn't working when published to Flash 8. It wasn't easy for me but boy, the rewards where there when I finally worked something out, in the form of self satisfaction.
Anyway, the link is at the top but here also...
http://www.btinternet.com/~m.j_hall/Thorenzitha.htm

Thanks for viewing.
Programicks.

[mr_malee]

i still can't play it because of the weird controls, however i really liked the first person mode, that was cool.

i guess its way to late to re-do the engine. I've always had hopes for this but you never seem to have addressed the movement or collision, which makes it very unplayable for me. Adding in simple pseudo 3D code isn't that hard and would make this allot better

[EvilKris]

The mood in this game is superb. It has an atmosphere that truly drags you in from the get go. But like they say, you screwed up the controls and the perspectives. We must've told you a million times before you need to sort that out. And pressing a key every time to change the camera angle is annoying.
Still, pretty good effort for a first game.

[programicks]

Hi guys. Thanks for the replies. Yes, I am still learning
About changing the camera angle by hitting enter. I am unsure why it is annoying though as with point and click games you have to click the mouse every time you want to change a view.

With the camera perspective, I thought it would be ok for now as 2 other games use this technique and I just wasn't sure about having the cyborg look like hes walking forwards when hes going at a slight angle.

I am now thinking about using the keyboard to move at the same time as mouse to point and click to switch views since ppl are used to point and click with the mouse.
This has been done in a game that is very successful, Blue rabbits climate chaos.

Oh hell, I might even make the character walk with mouse click but I just wanted the feel of a 3rd person 3d game with keyboard

Thanks

Programicks