[ALPHA] Parallax - Space shooter RPG Development

My short term goal is to create a simple space shooter with RPG elements.

I have spent the last 2 months working on my game engine, a few hours a night. I think I've reached the point where I could start getting some feedback on how it plays.

Link
http://www.philip-radvan.com/paralla...llax_v043.html
Arrow keys - move
Left click - shoot
Circle around player is the weapon range

Feedback
How is the performance?
Is this type of game fun?
Am I the only one in to space RPGs?
Is this game too complicated for someone to play in browser?
What features would you like to see?

Screenshot
http://www.philip-radvan.com/paralla...x_screen01.jpg

Planned Features
Galaxy Map - Allows player to travel to different zones.
Zones - Zones will feature different enemies, missions, etc
Missions - Sends player on a mission in a specific zone to kill or collect something
Ship - Player will be able to buy better ships with more equipment slots
Equipment - Player will be able to get upgraded ship equipment from loot drops or vendor

To Do List
-Interchangeable ship equipment
-Shields
-if enemy within followRange, follow player
-Fix PlayerTracker - stops working next to edge of map
-Fix ghost enemy ship (can't shoot it)
-UI Screens
-Preloader

KNOWN BUGS
-Going to the edge of the map screws up player tracking, resulting in weird enemy ai/enemies not appearing
-some enemies disappear
-unable to pick up some loot

If you're curious, you can see previous game engine builds and how the game has changed. Link is in my sig.
For example, version 4.1 had projectile bullets but it lagged the game to hell.

I like it. Everything so far looks and feels great.

What was the problem with projectiles? From a quick test they didn't lag for me.

Have you played Weird World: Return to Infinite Space yet? It might give you some ideas if you haven't.

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/digital...d_worlds/1.htm

very nice

I never liked this control system. I would prefer either:
*pressing arrow key moves you in that direction
or
*mouse controlled movement

The game is also too large for my screen, only discovered armor and energy bars and those other buttons by looking at your screenshot.

Cool, I like the idea. The game obviously requires much work. I also am working on a sort of space RPG type of game. I won't say much now until I have more to show, but I am definitely a huge fan of any space shooter. Actually...I cannot seem to find any good ones lately. Anyone know of some links? I just played Starscape and it was an amazing game...I like stuff like that.

I would change the arrow keys to the AWSD control method which works better with the mouse for most people.
How about a story too? An RPG without a story is like a book with a great cover but no text inside.
I liked using the mouse to aim every direction within the range sphere though.
Generally it's a great start. On a final note I'll say I think calling it Parallax is a little cheeky since it doesn't at all resemble the C64 game of the same title, it's almost like false advertising.

Thanks guys! Positive feedback is always good.

Projectiles did slow it down a bit. It just didn't feel right. Plus it was pretty hard to hit stuff while you're moving. Maybe I'll add a projectile gun as an add on.

As far as the controls, well, I'm not a big fan of pressing arrow key moves you in that direction. That control theme always bugged me out. I never liked the "moon lander" control feeling.

With this control system I also have more flexibility when it comes to ship systems, like the engine. Which will control acceleration, turn rate, etc.

Mouse movement is also not an option as I want the player to be able to shoot all around instead of just infront of the ship.

I will change it from arrow keys to AWSD though.

Screen size is currently at 800x650, which I was afraid would be too large. I guess I'll have to shrink it down. What resolution are you running tonypa?

Game Story; well, I don't really have anything set in stone as I'm only working on the technical aspects but it is definitely something I'd like to add. Missions is one way I can introduce the story.

Weird World: Return to Infinite Space is pretty sweet! I love these types of games :lovers:. Looking at it I also got some ideas for my game. Thanks for the link!

There's also Armada Online, pretty sweet RPG space shooter. http://www.armadaonline.com/

And last but not least, I had no idea there was a game called Parallax :( I did a quick search and didn't see any games with that name. The reason its called Parallax is because that's what I called the game engine. Since I couldn't come up with anything better, it kind of stuck :P

Again, thanks for taking your time to look at this. I appreciate all the feedback, good or bad.

I like the new shooting system much better than projectiles. I also liked the arrow keys (WASD will be better) once I got used to them.

Today being a holiday, I did a bit of work on the game :) Here is the latest version:

http://www.philip-radvan.com/parallax/parallax_v044.html

Version 0.44
======================
-more interface updates
(currently the player screen is crazy. it will all make sense soon!)
-added dynamic radar range to radar window
-added shields
-added shield explosion effects
-added armor explosion effects
-added enemy shields

After spending 6 hours banging my head on the desk, I finally converted all the player stats to XML. All the ship equipment is now loaded through XML files. Woot!

Also added some nice graphical touches, like engine trails and smoke.

Ship Info screen also cleaned up!

http://www.philip-radvan.com/paralla...llax_v045.html

Version 0.45
======================
-HUGE Update; Ship equipment data loaded from XML

-added engine trails to player
-added smoke damage to player

-added smoke damage to enemies
-added shield damage animation to enemies
-added armor damage animation to enemies

---

Drag and Drop inventory system is next. This is going to be a tough one :crazy:

That was fun. I look forward to the drag and drop inventory system :)

Are the invisible scout ships supposed to be cloaked?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Taels

That was fun. I look forward to the drag and drop inventory system :)

Are the invisible scout ships supposed to be cloaked?

---

Cloacked? That sounds like a bug.

This inventory stuff is going to be complex. Does anyone have any samples or theories on how its done?

This is what I have in mind for the drag, drop & snap inventory system;

Bag Slot Variables
--------------
slotType (type of items slot accepts)
-bag(accepts all items)
-radar(accepts only radar items, so on)
-armor
-shield
-reactor
-engine
-weapon
-special
slotItem (current item in the slot)
-empty
-item ID

Item Variables
--------------
itemType
-misc
-radar
-armor
-shield
-reactor
-engine
-weapon
-special
currentSlot
-slot ID
itemData
-all the data the item holds

When player is on "hangar" screen;
-----------------------------------
Create movable itemsArray
(currently draggable Items)

Create slotsArray
(ship slots & bag slots)

Make Items buttons
(run for loop on array)
-itemButton onPress > startDrag
-itemButton onRelease > stopDrag, checkSlot

checkSlot
-if slot it empty > checkType

checkType
-if type matches > dropItem

dropItem
-Save slotID & itemID in playerItems array
-Update data associated with item

...

Any comments/suggestions are very welcome!

Yeah, I figured the cloaked ships were probably a bug.

I saw several red dots on the radar screen where there was no ship, and near one of those dots, an enemy ship would appear and disappear, like it was cloaking and decloaking every second or so.

This is looking really awesome. A game that you can look at that this reminds me of is www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/ I'm sure that you'll love this.

@Taels; yeah, there's an issue with enemies disappearing... still trying to pinpoint the problem

@swak; thanks man! I like evn's galaxy map, i might have to borrow it ;)

Drag, Drop and Snap Inventory system
Here is an early prototype;
http://www.philip-radvan.com/paralla...tory_v0.2.html

It's not pretty but I guess it does what it's suppose to. Next I'll be adding item types and slot types. Along with a visual hint of where the item can be dropped.

Here's the code;

PHP Code:

---

var slotsArray:Array = new Array(slot1, slot2, slot3, slot4, slot5, slot6, slot7, slot8, slot9, slot10, slot11, slot12, slot13, slot14, slot15, slot16);
//

//sets slot settings
var slotsArrayLength:Number = slotsArray.length;
for (i=0; i<=slotsArrayLength; i++) {
    slotsArray[i].itemID = "empty";
}


//updateAfterEvent for smooth dragging
function updateDrag():Void {
    updateAfterEvent();
}
//start dragging
function dragItem():Void {
    trace(this+" slotID "+this.slotID);
    logText.text += this+" slotID "+this.slotID+" \n";
    logText.scroll++;
    //save old pos
    this.nowX = this._x;
    this.nowY = this._y;
    //drag
    this.startDrag(true);
    this.onMouseMove = updateDrag;
}
//stop dragging
function dropItem():Void {
    this.stopDrag();
    delete this.onMouseMove;
    //run loop on slots array
    var slotsArrayLength:Number = slotsArray.length;
    for (i=0; i<slotsArrayLength; i++) {
        //set temp slot var
        currentSlot = eval(slotsArray[i]);
        //check slot hittest and slot itemID
        if ((eval(this._droptarget) == currentSlot) && (currentSlot.itemID == "empty")) {
            //place item in slot
            this._x = currentSlot._x;
            this._y = currentSlot._y;
            logText.text += "1currentSlot.itemID "+currentSlot.itemID+"' \n";
            logText.scroll++;
            trace("1currentSlot.itemID "+currentSlot.itemID);
            //update current slot itemID
            currentSlot.itemID = this;
            logText.text += "2currentSlot.itemID "+currentSlot.itemID+" \n";
            logText.scroll++;
            trace("2currentSlot.itemID "+currentSlot.itemID);
            //update previous slot itemID
            temp = this.slotID;
            temp.itemID = "empty";
            //update current item slotID
            this.slotID = currentSlot;
            logText.text += "Moved '"+this+"' to slotID '"+this.slotID+" \n";
            logText.scroll++;
            trace("Moved '"+this+"' to slotID '"+this.slotID+"'");
            //item moved, end loop
            return;
        } else {
            //return item to previous position
            trace("else "+i);
            this._x = this.nowX;
            this._y = this.nowY;
        }
    }
}

//create items array
var itemsArray = new Array(object1, object2, object3);
itemsArray[0].slotID = "slot1";
itemsArray[1].slotID = "slot2";

//make items buttons
for (var i = 0; i<itemsArray.length; i++) {
    var item = itemsArray[i];
    item.onPress = dragItem;
    item.onRelease = item.onReleaseOutside=dropItem;
    item.onRollOver = function() {
        logText.text += "itemID: "+this+" \n";
        logText.scroll++;
    };
} 


---

Keep in mind that the itemsArray and slotsArray will be populated dynamically when I add this to the game.

Any comments/suggestions on how to improve the code are welcome.

PR

Why specifically are you doing an inventory type of setup? Why not do something similar to evn?

Love it, but I completely agree with Tony, navigation is a serious gameplay issue.. It's really hard to steer when your steering direction changes all the time.

You could overcome this by rotating the entire playing field, by having the directional keys move in that physical direction or by using the mouse to steer.

I don't see it as a problem. You guys should check out evn from ambrosia. They do the same thing. One thing though is the space ship moves like a car. You need to change it so it will accelerate in the direction it's facing and continue to move in the direction it has accelerated at. I have some code where I have this figured out but it's kind of messy. I can look for it if you like.

@swak; I'm doing an inventory system because I want the player to be able to equip his ships as his likes. Buy bigger ships, which will have different slots, etc. Buy better equipment. Get equipment drops from enemy/boss kills.

I'll be honest, I haven't played evn. I only had an opportunity to look at the screenshots from work (which i really liked btw). Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to play it a bit.

@lesli_felix; I'm glad you like it. It's also good to see that tony is not the only one that doesn't like this type of navigation. Rotating the entire playing field is a possible solution, but as it stands now, it would break my whole engine. Either way this is good feedback to cosider for my next game.
About the steering with the mouse; how would you shoot? How would you press interface buttons? Wouldn't that potentially fly you where you dont want to go if you tried to press something?

@swak; you are obsolutelly right, it does fly like a car. Compared to other types of controls though, I think this one is the simplest in terms of game play. The control system you speak of confuses the crap out of me and is hard to control.

I think you're talking about this;
http://moock.org/asdg/codedepot/moti...meadjusted.swf

Here's the fla for that if you're intereseted;
http://moock.org/asdg/codedepot/moti...meadjusted.fla

That's pretty good except for the fact that it's jumpy and it is in *shutters* as1. I am talking about the example you gave. Here's something that I've made that works well: http://www.typhoonent.com/nt/nebulatribes.html EV:N does have it so you can equip your ship with stuff. The idea behind an inventory is you can quickly swap out stuff as you go. The idea behind a space ship game like this is you only change it when your in a shipyard. The one problem with evn's engine is if you are at a planet that doesn't sell the outfit then you can't take it off. When equipping stuff you have a certain amount of mass that prevents you from equipping something like a planet destroying item on a fighter. Or so you can't have a fighter with an armada.

wow swak that engine is pretty sweet! Is there a limit on how far you can fly? how do you track player position?

Yup, thats how I want to make the "ship fitting", only when you're docked. But wouldn't you need an inventory system for that anyway?

Also, how about when you're in space and you open your cargo hold to see loot you picked up, throw away junk, etc...

With the mouse....

Fire in mouse direction when you hit fire, move in mouse direction when you hit forward.

The only limit in my engine is one that I set but there doesn't need to be. Well, the only limit is how big the numbers can get. So if you move too far then you'll have a problem because Number can only hold so many bits but other than that you can go far. I set a limit though so you warp to the other side of the map. This is a rough solution but it works alright. I have this so the ship stays stationary and everything else moves. I have a global x/y and everything else is moved in comparison to that.
Edit: this engine is done in as3. I really don't like working with as2 anymore.

750 lines of code later, I finally added the inventory system to my game. I didn't realize how complicated a drag/drop, dynamic item, custom slot, inventory system would be :yikes:

The game is getting pretty big. Give it a sec or two before you click Launch. I will add a preloader soon.

http://www.philip-radvan.com/paralla...lax_v046b.html

The stats on the right are global stats for development purposes.

Version 0.46b
======================
-split loadItem to two different functions; loadItem / equipItem
-added playerEquipment array
-items added to playerEquipmentArray
-player can drag/drop all his stuff; on ship, in hangar, etc
-added static asteroids
-added zone background image to radar

Need to do
===========
-Highlight slot where item can be dropped (ex; if you pick up a radar, the radar slot will be highlighted)
-can only equip ship while docked
-Add base hangar
-Add buy/sell items UI & code

**Found a bad bug; If you fit/unfit then do it again, it breaks :(

I broke it. I took everything off more than once and their effects remained. The radar somehow got duplicated and the original became stuck. Also, the minimap becomes unaligned. I went to the dark spot at the top right. I couldn't pass the border between light and dark but on the minimap I went over.

Fixed the take off/put on more than once thing.

If you travel to the edges of the map, it screws up player tracking resulting in all sorts of weird stuff... I will try and fix that soon. Never really got around to it

Been working on this the last few days. Lots of new features added.

To equip/sell items, you must be docked at the carrier. I'll be adding unique loot icons and more loot next.

Link
http://www.philip-radvan.com/paralla...lax_v047b.html

Version 0.47b
======================
-Enemies now drop ship equipment!
-updated loot graphics
-added more item variations to xml

-added ship docking; when you’re on the carrier, dock button appears
-docking pauses game
-while docked you can equip ship, sell items, etc

-fixed load/unload/load/unload item bug
-updated ship info screen
-added station screen
-added ship legend
-fixed toolip errors

-added sell item feature
-if user sells equipped item, item un-equips
-added item prices to xml and game logic

-cleaned up loadItem, pickupItem functions

Added equipment store and more different types of equipment.

Equipment can be bought or picked up from enemy kills.

Should I leave the other power-ups the enemies drop like +5 shield, +5 armor, etc OR have equipment drops and let the player repair at the station?

Do you think that the equipment prices are affordable with the credits you get from enemy kills/loot selling?

Is the equipment "improvement percentage" fast enough?

link
http://www.philip-radvan.com/paralla...lax_v048b.html

Please allow it to fully load before you press launch. Will add a preloader next I swear.


Version 0.48b
======================
-added equipment store window
-added different equipment types
-added more items
-updated gui - store window opens next to station window

-moved tooltip code from player window to general GUI
-made tooltip code more dynamic - showToolTip(type, id);
-added item type to xml, removed hardcoded item type from loadItem/pickupItem

...


Other comments/suggestions arewelcome!

In v048b when I leveled to level 2 my experience and credits went to NaN. I was leveling every kill and could purchase anything.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Judakei

In v048b when I leveled to level 2 my experience and credits went to NaN. I was leveling every kill and could purchase anything.

---

That's a wierd bug I'm unable to replicate. It just happens sometimes. A reload fixes that but I really can't find what causes it :(

The bugs first:

1. When I dock, open the store and select Weapons-section, close the store, and open it again, the chooser shows the Weapons section, but the stuff are from armoury section. Small bug, eh?

2. There's an asteroid half way to the end of zone(leftside of the big ship), that shows as a red dot in radar. It is shown even if I am on the right side of the big ship.

(3.) If the second one wasn't bug, then this is: no else of the asteroids are shown in the radar.

Then some things to do better:

1. The background could be multilayered, look here to see how.

2. Do some wingmans able to hire. They should take something like 30% of looted money.

The basic idea was great.

Have fun! :)

Just pointing out the last post was five months ago. But at least the revival of the thread was with some constructive feedback.

Very nice looking game so far - I'd say this has huge potential. I have to agree with the comments about the controls though - they just don't feel right. I think the problem might be this: the left and right keys make you rotate left or right, which is fine whilst you are just travelling through space, as you are looking at your ship, and you can see which way it is facing. When you are attacking an enemy, though, you are looking at what you are trying to hit, and therefore don't really see which way your ship is facing, as it's such a small sprite. You need to move down the screen, but you need to look back at your ship to see which way you need to rotate it. I'm sure that with practice (which you obviously have had) it becomes natural, but the initial experience feels very odd. I don't know the best alternative, but I would certainly try a couple of variations, and ask testers which they prefer. :)

I can't believe this thread was revived :yikes: and on top of that, the comments were actually constructive!

One of the reasons I let this little project die is because there was little interest/suggestions/comments and most importantly, constructive criticism. I did end up reworking a few things after my last post but never released the last version.

@ MyFaults@Here
Bugs:
1: I figured no one would notice that little bug and since its non game breaking, i didn't bother fixing it. Good catch ;-)

2: There is a problem with the way asteroids/enemies are created. Some enemies/asteroids become "ghosts". You see them on radar but they're not there. Pretty annoying bug that i never got around to fixing.

Ideas:
1: Reworking the background to be multilayered would be great... but, i would rather start the whole navigation system from scratch. The way it's built now, it would just slow down the game to hell (lesson learned).

2: I really like the wingman idea. Haven't thought of that

@_Ric_
You've managed to explain the problem with the controls pretty well. I guess I was so used to it, that i didn't see a problem with them.

I still don't know a better way to make them though. I really don't like the "press right, move right. Press up, move up" control system.

I guess I can release some samples of other control systems and see whats better.

--

Thanks for your comments guys, they really do mean a lot to me :)
-PR

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PRadvan

I still don't know a better way to make them though. I really don't like the "press right, move right. Press up, move up" control system.

---

Oh come on. Like there haven't been any top down games with that control scheme before? (GTA1 & 2, The whole micromachines series). I jumped right in there and didn't have to watch my ship, but instead watched my target. Your control scheme's fine.

Btw I liked the version with the ballistics better then the ones with the laser. The laser is hard to aim.

Quote:

---

One of the reasons I let this little project die is because there was little interest/suggestions/comments and most importantly, constructive criticism. I did end up reworking a few things after my last post but never released the last version.

---

There's not much to say about small updates, most people just read them. I think this could be a sweet game if you'd finish it.
Could you setup a .swf where you'd have a bit more high end stuff? Like 5 super cannons and tons of enemies.

@TOdorus
in the latest version there is no more aiming. You just have to target something, and if within range, it will shoot automatically.

@ hatu
Sorry I've been really busy with work. The latest version (0.5) you start off with more credits so that should let you experiment with more stuff. I'll try to setup some more high end stuff.

http://www.philip-radvan.com/parallax/parallax_v05.swf

Thanks!

after I got killed I got a flashplayer report saying that the movie would slow down my computer and I would like to abort it - and that on a quadCore computer.

perhaps you have some infinity loop in your flash movie?

Glad to find this thread. Stumbled upon Parallax the other day whilst Googling for some sample particle trail code, had a look at the game and (apart from the keys!) really liked it - so was sorry to see that it was a shelved project. Hope that the eoncouragement from here will push it back into development.

It's not too many steps removed from the project that I was planning to attempt next (assuming the current project gets finished soon), so if you're up for it Philip I'd be interested in comparing thoughts.

QT

@renderhjs
Yeah version .5 was buggy and untested. That's why I didn't even bother releasing it.

@QuantumTiger
I'm glad you like it :lovers: Even thought Parallax is done for good I'm not quitting. Coming to this forum always inspires me to work on my own stuff.

I've already started on a new, better engine. Fixed everything that was wrong with Parallax's engine right off the bat:

-true parallax engine
-fixed map boundary issues
-fixed projectile bullets so they don't lag the engine anymore
-everything is programmed in OOP
-runs nice and smooth
-changed controls to WASD, seems like everyone prefers it that way

file size is only 13kb too :)

Check out the new game engine here: http://www.philip-radvan.com/fpo/

If you're wondering how I did the thrust trailer and smoke trailer, the samples are below:

http://www.philip-radvan.com/actions...iler_smoke.swf
http://www.philip-radvan.com/actions...iler_smoke.fla

http://www.philip-radvan.com/actions...ler_thrust.swf
http://www.philip-radvan.com/actions...ler_thrust.fla

I'd love to chat some more. I'll PM you my email.