[WIP] tank move (working title)

update:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_07.jpg
demo:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashkit/tank_move/demo9/

- tire marks (not yet in correct direction though), they even cross each other even from different tanks even you can´t see much of it yet as they are all placed in the same direction
- new camera system and scroll behaviour. when you place a move action the camera will follow that tank, otherwise move the mouse towards the edge to scroll into that direction. Feedback on speeds & sensivity please
- improved GUI : heart containers [no tank damage function yet], big star icon on the lower left displaying the available action points

for now if you press the "s" key it will switch to the next player and the camera focus will go to that player- though of course later it will cycle automaticly once your points are all used.

Nice, nice:) I like the new camera system.. Sensivity, okay I think..
You probably know this, but when the tank is making a right turn, it rotates 270 degrees ccw instead of 90 degrees cw.

I sure you realize this as well, but I'll state it. If you shoot the other tank once his "power" goes down one point ... except for visually the game considers him not there, cannot shoot him and can get in his spot.

I really like the way this looks by the way, when i saw the first few mock-ups i thought you were re-creating the tank game that is on the "WiiPlay" disc for the Nintendo Wii. I like where you are going with it much better. VERY impressed with it so far.

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Originally Posted by Quit

I sure you realize this as well, but I'll state it. If you shoot the other tank once his "power" goes down one point ... except for visually the game considers him not there, cannot shoot him and can get in his spot.

I really like the way this looks by the way, when i saw the first few mock-ups i thought you were re-creating the tank game that is on the "WiiPlay" disc for the Nintendo Wii. I like where you are going with it much better. VERY impressed with it so far.

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I actually just LOVE the tank game on my Wii.. The best minigame ever for wii!

no demo this time:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_08.jpg
- added end round button on ones own tank
- 2 tank colors
- automaticly ends round if all stars are up
- started on designing 4 individual characters, each tank a user to transport emotions and little dialogue

@Quit: yes I am aware of that- those are things I like less to fix and this will endure a little bit.

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Originally Posted by renderhjs

no demo this time:

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:(

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Originally Posted by Xploder

:(

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but therefore I have some character illustrations:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_09.jpg
I really love the colors together so far (orange-red, warm ocker-yellow, cold blue) and now those grey illustrations _ I really love it all together (color wise).

here a orginal size of the chars
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...ion_char_1.jpg
one is still missing - I´ll do him tomorrow

What the hell is the world coming to? How did these kids manage to end up on floating islands with tanks? ;)

The drawings are really nice.

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Originally Posted by tidenburg

What the hell is the world coming to? How did these kids manage to end up on floating islands with tanks?

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Zee one guy seems Russian. Maybe its that US tank that had a nuke as a shell. Or was it that nuke rocket launcher? This could be a scene from WW3. Hey... I could do the voice overs for Russian/German - accents or speak it.

This game looks great, and I love the tank model :)
One thing though, if you mouse over an area where your tank can't go (like a single sand tile surrounded by water), it lags for about a second. That was back in demo 7 or 8 though, maybe you've fixed it already.

Can't wait to see the finished game :D

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Originally Posted by T1ger

I actually just LOVE the tank game on my Wii.. The best minigame ever for wii!

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Same here! I have a platinum medal in it for a reason :P ... just didn't want to see it recreated by someone with as much talent as renderhjs ... unless it was recreated with even MORE addiction gameplay ... maybe someone with less talent like myself should undertake this task.

sorry for the off tipic.

Looks great renderhjs, ... from what you said it sounds like you are keeping the characters gray scale. I'm not sure if I personally am keen on this idea ... I was expecting more bright vibrant colors like you have used so far.

Visually they do stand out, but is that because of good design or just because they don't fit in at all?

But either way, they are nicely designed an portray a lot of character in such simple illustrations ... just wish they had color :).

they will stay greyscale for now,- perhaps it´s not so odd to someone who reads on a regular basis mangas ;)

update:
a set of new tiles:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_10.jpg
tiles in editor view:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_11.jpg
automatic shadow generation
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_12.jpg
casts a shadow if the tile is higher as the cell grid height. But you dont notice them very much or did you noticed them on the green pipes from that shot?

besides from visual updates and the things I wrote before:
- fixed the tank rotation issue

demo:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashkit/tank_move/demo10/

Nice, this just keeps getting better and better:)

About all the details you add: good job! I just love all those small little details, it's those that add up to make a great game:)

One thing though.. when I tried to drive to a far away tile, nothing happened, and i didnt understand why. You should add something to visualize that you dont have enough actionpoints to go there:)

Looks very nice. Reminds me of the bright cartoony colors for the game I am working on. And it makes me so green with envy since I know mine will not look as nice, certainly not animate as nicely.

I love the big red arrow showing the movepath, is that drawn dynamically with lineTo's or is it made up of tiles?

My only real complaints are just things that are obviously not finished yet.


I am curious how you are doing the tank movement, as it is a somewhat similar task that I have in my current game. For me if I have a ship turn right, if first moves 1 forward, then rotates right, then moves one forward. I decided to put all assigned but not yet executed moves in a string called movequeue, so turnright assigns movequeue to something like: "move(1),rotateright(),move(1)". The move(1) method sets a 'beingmoved' flag to true, then moves the ship, and then when it arrives sets the being moved flag back to false. The movequeue handler checks every frame if the ship is not being moved and the movequeue string is not "". When that happens it cuts out the next move from the string and calls it with some dynamic evaluation and 'apply'. Just curious if you run your path similar or if I am way out in left field.

My biggest problem as a newb is trying to slow things down so they don't all happen at once. Small delays make things flow so nicely, but it is a constant struggle for me to not have things happen too fast.

Awesome stuff as usual Render. As T1ger already said it keeps getting better. Are you planning on making it an online multiplayer game? Would be cool to play and I'd love to help. The tracks didn't connect into a correct path but that should be easy to fix.

See now THIS is pimp-worthy.

looks really good ! I can't wait to play the whole thing once finished !

yeah, its looking great. I did find a bug however, not sure how it happened, was clicking frantically all over the place, the explosion gfx played on a wall, the wall stayed and then the tank moved ontop of the wall.

I'll try to re-create it and explain the problem better.

thx guys,

@Alluvian:

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I love the big red arrow showing the movepath, is that drawn dynamically with lineTo's or is it made up of tiles?

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tiles because as you can see they are depth sorted meaning they have interact with the other tile groups (shadows, marks, tank,...).
Everything that has to do with the surface is tile- based
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data wise a simple array holding the coordinates in movement order each element with just X & Y cell coordinates. The rest goes through a renderer (that´s what I call methods that are executed with the framerate interval) and manages rotation, position & sprite assigning (because the angles are pre rendered I need to display the correct angle).
Before it can pass an array element the position and rotation have to match (with snapping mechanics) then it automaticly goes to the next array element.
From my expierence with such stuff (and I played alot with such) it´s best to leave the data itself as simple as possible (no command queue,...) and rather write the function more complex. As it gives you the flexibility to add features (like adding sparks when turning a curve)- without having to alter other methods that execute the same data.

@mr_malee: the space key is a cheating button, of course it can cause issues because it is hacked. Only shooting with available stars and on mouse click will destroy later on elements, the space key will be removed.

anyway the last hours been watching TV and:
- adding a mini map wich you can drag (fast map access + overview of map status)
- working on display for available star moves (shows cells colored on wich you can make a move)

update
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_13.jpg
- added visualisation for movement range,- they show how many fields you can move (not shoot yet!)
- mini map (dragable & scrolls with actual map scrolling)
demo:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashkit/tank_move/demo11/

Hey, really nice minimap.
Like the movement regions but something doesn't seem to always work.
Its probably the distance calculation:
http://www.devkiwi.com/pictures/bug.jpg

na it´s just the display right now,- not the checking will be fixed propably next

smal update
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_14.jpg
- no lags anymore with the pathfinding! because the pathfinding now only works on the green fields
- bridge tiles started
- xxl map in map1 slot

demo
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashkit/tank_move/demo12/

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but if you shoot a tree, you can then move onto that square but the tree is still on the screen.

Just out of curiousity, what will be the objectives in the final game? Trying to find some secret object by shooting buildings down and such? Bit like BattleShips but with tanks. Sounds like fun.

Sometimes at the end of a move, the screen jumps/skips to correct position, so the camera movement is not smooth.. Just so you know:)

skipping is something I want to fix soon and add some smooth transition or perhaps a black fade in/out effect wich looks then seamlessly.

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Originally Posted by ChaseNYC

... if you shoot a tree, you can then move onto that square but the tree is still on the screen.

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that has nothing to do with the engine,- it´s rather because I defined it for those maps in each map. The reason is because I simply dont have yet tiles for the destruction states

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Originally Posted by EvilKris

Just out of curiousity, what will be the objectives in the final game?

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not very clear yet but it´s basicly a duell game with some hidden traps/ items like in bimberman but round based.
I was thinking of adding dropable mines and buildable barricades to block the opponent and forcing him to take a different path.
A friend of me suggested taking the pipes as play element so that you for example can shoot in the pipe and the shot will move through that pipe and exit the end piece that way one could attack another tank without a directional attack.
Anyway a design goal will be that the player needs the impression that his choises are valuable thus all the gfx stuff for the arrows, area fields ect. Another thing is that environment plays a very big role because the battle ground changes not just visually but will have impact on the tanks as well (recovery areas, hiding spots, explosive fields (chain reactions,..).


anyway update:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_16.jpg
I added little stars on the path preview so actually can count the star credits that are required for that path by just looking at them as a collection.

http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_15.jpg
changed accessable areas to dar orange wich I think works till now best on all tiles - earlier styles were hard to see or detect on tiles such as grass.

http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_17.jpg
perhaps you already saw my new dynamic shadows, they now have an angle to give the whole style more depth. But not all tiles do automaticly draw shadows - you´ll notice that if you shoot for example on vertical walls.
I really think it improves alot the general visuals I mean look at the screenshots they have more complexity and fullness wich is great as it means less work for me painting/ rendering tiles.
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki.../shdw_expl.gif
Then I thought about improving the explosions since some of you already said it is to fast - so I tweaked that somewhat and... :D
added dynamic shadows that deform based on the explosion without slowing down.

demo:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashkit/tank_move/demo13/
new shortcut: "w"- key is to enable/disable shadows

nice thread render, its nice to see an evolution like this of a game!

Very nice stuff :eek:

Could I ask you how you got the tank to follow the path? I'm having some trouble with that on a project I'm working on.

In the last example, the shadow from the tile directly 4 tiles below the tank should not be there. Also, in case of an explosion, the white light emitted by the blast would for a moment be point of reference of all the shadows. The way they ease in is nice, but the angles just seem wrong because they only do it in the event of an explosion.

@ImprisonedPride: that´s called orthographic projection ,- each position is euqal in terms of depth so are the shadows and it´s angles. It´s a visual style like seen in command & conquer, warcraft 1 &2 , simcity 1 ect - and it helps to simplify the scenario and to give a structured overview.
They change only within explosions because the light source on the surface is brighter as the sky light source - or one could say that the light source is at that moment on the surface.
It´s wrong for you because you compared it with photo reality, anyway works for me.

I really don't like the shadows. They completely defy the laws of physics.

http://ian.janasnyder.com/tm.gif

Personally, I think your game is better without them.

I concur with 404

I´d rather prefer comments with suggestions, anyway seems that I have to come up with them myself, lets see...
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...soft_shdws.jpg
I blended the alpha channel of the shadow with a gradient so it fades out and changed the angle slightly more towards the up direction, that should damp most critical spots. Is that better?

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not even sure why this is here

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http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...shdw_expl2.gif
because the shadows are resulting from the clipping parts (yellow) of the tiles that dont fit within the grid (red lines). I copy the alpha channel and scale it so that you actually see it (otherwise it would be behind the tile in front of it).



http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_19.jpg
dust smokes on track marks - so that it looks more as if the tank moves within the environment

http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eenshot_18.jpg
experimental dust clouds in the explosion animation aswell- but these take alot of tweaking time

some other changes:
- minimap shows players (enemy = white, player = black)
- added some bitmap caching so that it runs slightly faster
- new stone tiles

no demo for now, I want to fix some older things before another demo goes online

Ok, what 404 said "not even sure that's supposed to be there" is the exact same shadow I was referring to, except you gave to completely different responses. :p

hmm,- I understood it as removing shadows at all (as suggestion),- but I really like them thus my first response as something to defend the stlye

2nd response was after I came up thanks to you with a different approach

I didn't mean completely rid the game of shadows... they are probably the best feature that adds to the realness of the game. I understand it is still in beta; I'm not just picking it apart before it even hits the runway. My suggestion before was concerning the blast. Watch it. See how light it gets in the center? This blast should create a secondary (if not change the primary) shadow dynamically based on the light source (bomb or sun).

i think you have a problem with the shading on the objects not matching the direction of the shadows.

update
demo:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashkit/tank_move/demo14/
like mentioned before:
- gradient shadows +changed angle
- smoke while moving
- explosion smoke + additional blooming on explosion (though hardly noticeable)
- track marks work basicly
- readjusted scroll movement if you move the mouse in the directions,- should be slightly faster now


a timer is in the make (ugly fgx right now)- wich will countdown a timer if the time is up it switches control to the next player. I felt that this needs more action elments so I decided on a timer.
I also plan to not include shooting to the star credits but rather let each player only shoot once per round but additionally at a unlimited distance though the angle limit will remain the same.

Here is some GFX stuff that´s beeen done recently:
finally a 4th character "simon":
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...ion_char_2.jpg

and the logos for the characters:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...move/logos.jpg
(flash is a superb tool for quickly and preciese tracing logo sketches)

Render, I just want to say you are a brave, brave soul.

There is no way I would let ANYONE see my early work in progress stuff. It would be like dancing naked in front of a crowd. Of dance critics. Who also don't like nudists. And the room is VERY cold.

I like the shadows, and find it interesting how you did them. The way they start partway up the tree is distracting though. The alpha blend you added to make them less stark did help though.