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Thread: Another idea for a community game

  1. #1
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    Another idea for a community game (Emerald Mine)

    What do you thinking about making a game like this:

    http://www.artsoft.org/rocksndiamonds/
    (you can download and play all old maps)

    good old Emerald Mines. this is really good for a first (advanced) game. if we get this working we will be able to make an iso game.
    Last edited by lopez1_de; 02-15-2005 at 07:01 PM.
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  2. #2
    A Senior Newbie - How Odd ForumNewbie's Avatar
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    This sounds like a great idea, and I think the slightly easier concept means you could divide the work up a bit more easily than the Toga game. I loved the idea of the Toga game, but I wonder if it should be tackled once the community has built up a bit of practice working together. It was a pretty ambitious plan for a starter, and probably meant that the pool of people who could get involved might be a bit small. A simpler project might let more people get into it.

    Some initial thoughts on how the work could be divided up on a game like this, so more people can get involved. I tried to break it down to discrete chunks:

    1. Someone can do an introduction (Non user-interactive) animation to get the game started.
    2. Someone can do music to go with the intro.
    3. Each level could have 7 or 8 different tile types, and a different backdrop that would need designing. Each level could be themed. Different people can design each tile, or one person could take on all the tiles for 1 level to get some consistency.
    4. Somebody could design different main character sprites, and different animations for the movement in each direction.
    5. Somebody could write a 'level designer' option, so that players could design and upload their own levels to the game server, keeping the game fresh, as new levels can be coming out all the time. (You'd probably have to use existing tiles and sprites, but you could lay them out however you wanted). If this level designer was done early on in the project, people could be creating levels with this whilst the other work is going on.
    6. Somebody could design the main game engine with the pushing and falling of tiles.
    7. If I remember right, you'd need somebody to design the explosions of rocks etc.
    8. Someone can do music for each level.
    9. Someone could do an 'end-of-level' non-interactive animation, or we could have multiple ones designed by multiple people, so you could choose what end of level animation fits the them of each level best.
    10. Somebody could sort out interaction with high score tables, and creating and managing accounts on a game server. eg. E-mail registered players when new levels become available, or when high scores have been beaten.
    11. You could perhaps have a multiplayer version, where you battle to do a level in the lowest number of moves.
    12. Someone will have to take technical responsibility for importing all the work into the master game in 3DFA.
    13. Someone will have to control posting the swf and any server side scripts onto a suitable server somewhere.
    14. Somebody will have to be a tester, giving honest feedback on what works, and more importantly, what doesn't. It might be best for this not to be someone doing the creating, so that it's as objective as possible.
    15. Somebody could try and get sponsors on the site, and try and make some money.
    16. Somebody could publicise the game once complete.
    18. Someone will need to take responsibility for managing what everyone else is doing, and dividing up the jobs carefully, so there's no duplication of effort, and so that nobody's hard efforts are wasted, making sure everyone feels involved.

    Numebrs 15 and 16 might be getting a bit ambitious, but it's nice to have a goal to work to ;D

    Fingers crossed that this practice on this will help everyone build their skills ready to take on the Toga game

    I'll certainly help where work permits, although since I spend all day doing number 18 in the office, I'd prefer to stick to some of the lower numbers personally. 14 sounds easy to me, but I'll see if I can sign up for something after a few other people have had a go

    Anyone want to put their names down for a chunk of work?

    Morgan.
    Please note that my domain has changed to http://www.morganmultinational.com

  3. #3
    A Senior Newbie - How Odd ForumNewbie's Avatar
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    PS - Anyone who noticed there's no 17 in the list, and was about to post a note to tell me about it, automatically qualifies for task 14
    Please note that my domain has changed to http://www.morganmultinational.com

  4. #4
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    yeah. sounds like a genius master plan

    PS - Anyone who noticed there's no 17 in the list, and was about to post a note to tell me about it, automatically qualifies for task 14



    i'm working on this (just for fun):
    6. Somebody could design the main game engine with the pushing and falling of tiles.
    Last edited by lopez1_de; 02-14-2005 at 11:39 PM.
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  5. #5
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    this is the an early first version of what I want to do.
    it's fast until I want that the rocks fall down if no sand is under them.

    advanced programmers question:
    how do a make a very fast code that let the rocks fall down? without velocity. the informations are stored in an array like this:

    PHP Code:
    lev[0] = "@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@"
    lev[1] = "@###################G#@"
    lev[2] = "@####.0###P####G######@"
    lev[3] = "@#####0#####0##0######@"
    lev[4] = "@#####################@"
    lev[5] = "@#####################@"
    lev[6] = "@###G######G###1######@"
    lev[7] = "@#####################@"
    lev[8] = "@#######0############G@"
    lev[9] = "@G####################@"
    lev[10]= "@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@" 
    I convert this array into a two dimensional array.
    not only the rocks must fall. the emeralds and other things also.
    (don't say it's impossibly in flash, thats not the truth)

    If you are not confused now and want to help me, I'll send you the source.
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    Last edited by lopez1_de; 02-14-2005 at 11:37 PM.
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  6. #6
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    have no idea in the moment.

    the way I choosed is very lame:

    PHP Code:
    for (i=0;i<lvl.length;i++) {
        for (
    j=0;j<level_width;j++) {
            
    st i*max_level_width+j;
            if (
    lvl[st] == "0"){    //if stone
                
    if (lvl[st+max_level_width] == ".") {
                    
    //stone falls down
                    
    el[st].el[st].tile_size;
                    
    el[st+max_level_width] = el[st];
                    
    el[st+max_level_width] = null;
                    
    lvl[st] = ".";
                    
    lvl[st+max_level_width] = "0";
                }
            }
        }

    it's lame because I cycle through the whole level to watch for a rock.

    Bret, give me a usefull idea please.
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  7. #7
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    I can't get any sleep. (in germany it's 5am)

    the for-loop needs to much time. I tried all to get this running fast.

    the only way to speed it up seems to be that I hold the stones in an extra array.

    any other idea?

    edit:
    I think that a string comparsion is not the fastest way. I should create an one dimensional are containing two dimensional data (like I did before) and fill it with 0 and 1.
    0 = no rock/no sand
    1 = rock

    but there are so many other options:
    - stone fall on emerald
    - stone fall on dynamite sphere (will explode)
    - stone fall on nut (the nut contains an emerald)

    maybe use more then 0 and 1. like:

    0 = nothing
    1 = another stone
    2 = emerald
    3 = dynamite sphere
    4 = nut


    I'll give it a try tomorrow. Now I'll go to bed.
    Last edited by lopez1_de; 02-15-2005 at 12:10 AM.
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  8. #8
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    YEAK. I got the stones falling down with a good speed. I did it like I explained above. I'll gove you the example, but first I must add something.

    The trick is to don't use a string compair. I use a number compair instead.
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  9. #9
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    watch this

    is anybody interested to help me with this project?
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  10. #10
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    a new version for you all.

    now the player can be hit from stones.

    I know there is a bug if multiple stones fall down like this:

    0 = stone
    # = sand

    PHP Code:
    ##0 0##
    ##0 0##
    ##000##
    ####### 
    the problem is that both top stones will fall together. I'll fix this sometimes.

    And what do you thinking about this? I got no reply. The base engine is ready. Enyone interested to help?
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  11. #11
    A Senior Newbie - How Odd ForumNewbie's Avatar
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    Gee Whizz Lopez you've been busy

    I've been to work and back, and it looks like you've nearly cracked it already !

    I'm afraid I'm going to be tied up till at least the weekend with work, but should have time to take a look then

    Anyone else interested yet?
    Please note that my domain has changed to http://www.morganmultinational.com

  12. #12
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    I'm ill in the moment, so I have much time to spend for this.
    I'm working on some animations in the moment to give a better feeling.

    As next big project I will add explosions. Sounds easy, but don't forget the reaction on other level elements, like other exploding things, the player, enemies.
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  13. #13
    A Senior Newbie - How Odd ForumNewbie's Avatar
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    Wow

    I decided I had time to take a look, and I gotta say, that's pretty darned impressive for a days work.

    How are you holding the details of the level layout, so that someone could start thinking about a level designer? Is it just a big array containing 'r' for rock, 'e' for emerald, 'b' for bad guy, 's' for sand, etc?

    Does anyone think they could generate a level designer where you could drag and drop these items into a screen, and that will generate the array needed for a level? If so, I can see if I can write a script to save this to an SQL database on a game server, and another to retrieve the saved level.

    Does anyone fancy having a go at some cute player characters?

    M.
    Please note that my domain has changed to http://www.morganmultinational.com

  14. #14
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    I already wrote it above:
    level design is easy to do and made with arrays like this:

    PHP Code:
    lev[0] = "@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@"
    lev[1] = "@###################G#@"
    lev[2] = "@####.0###P####G######@"
    lev[3] = "@#####0#####0##0######@"
    lev[4] = "@#####################@"
    lev[5] = "@#####################@"
    lev[6] = "@###G######G###1######@"
    lev[7] = "@#####################@"
    lev[8] = "@#######0############G@"
    lev[9] = "@G####################@"
    lev[10]= "@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@" 
    @ = wall
    # = sand
    . = nothing
    G = emerald
    1 = enemy
    0 = rock

    the tile size is 32x32 pixel

    but in the moment I'm not sure how big the levels could be and how to scroll them.
    Last edited by lopez1_de; 02-15-2005 at 04:52 PM.
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  15. #15
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    ok here we go:

    levels are fully dynamically
    the only limit for level size is the power of the computer.
    you only must feed an array like described above and the rest is done by the engine. it does no matter how man tiles you have in width or height. it's all dynamic. each level can have another size.

    scrolling works now
    the level can be larger as the screen now. scrolling is completely automated in engine. does no matter how big the size is.

    added some sounds
    if stones or emeralds fall on the floor, you'll here it.

    and now I'm going ti bed.

    it would be nice to here all your opinions, ideas and so on...
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  16. #16
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    Re: Wow

    Originally posted by ForumNewbie
    Does anyone think they could generate a level designer where you could drag and drop these items into a screen, and that will generate the array needed for a level? If so, I can see if I can write a script to save this to an SQL database on a game server, and another to retrieve the saved level.
    Level designer is a must have. User should be able to create there own levels that others can play. That's fun and not to much boring over time. To create a level designer should be no problem. All is stored in an simple array.

    maybe you can write an php script which stores each line of the array seperatly into a sql table like this:
    PHP Code:
    Table called for exampleEM_Levels 

    Level_ID  
    Row Value                     |
    ---------------------------------------------
    1         1   | @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@   |
    1         2   | @###################G#@   |
    1         3   | @G######0#####G#######@   |
    and so on 
    I'm interested in passing this characters over html/php. I think you can't easily send @,# chars. maybe I must change it to numbers and letters only.
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  17. #17
    A Senior Newbie - How Odd ForumNewbie's Avatar
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    Thanks,

    I would recommend using normal numbers and letters. I'm sure we could make it work with symbols, but we're only going to create problems for ourselves, which we could avoid early on.

    If nobody else volunteers on the PHP/SQL part, I can do some stuff with this at the weekend. Shouldn't take too long. If someone can do something with a nice tool to generate the data strings, I can set up the server interaction and database parts. I have a generic 'SQL Interaction Movie' that will work perfectly with this. It might not be pretty at first, but it'll work. (Presentation is never my strong point)

    Looks like we're still lacking volunteers though

    Morgan.
    Please note that my domain has changed to http://www.morganmultinational.com

  18. #18
    Senior Member zoranvedek's Avatar
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    I'll take another look at this later this evening, and get back with some tiles, and/or characters as time permits. Feeling a bit hungover right now though, and headed out the door...........

    -J

  19. #19
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    Originally posted by zoranvedek
    I'll take another look at this later this evening, and get back with some tiles, and/or characters as time permits. Feeling a bit hungover right now though, and headed out the door...........

    -J
    nice to hear that you would help me/us.

    but the tiles are from a clone of the original version of Emerald Mine on Amiga. http://www.artsoft.org/rocksndiamonds/
    All grafics are saved as PCX pictures and can easily be ripped.
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  20. #20
    Senior Member lopez1_de's Avatar
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    new playable version with first level

    OK. I have added:

    - the first moving enemy (jamjamjamjamjam)
    - nuts. if a stone fall on them you got an emerald
    - doors and keys. added 4 door types (red/blue/green/yellow)
    - exit of a level if all emeralds are collected
    - fixed some bugs

    And now I'm happy to show you all of this in a first level.

    It seems to be slow. But it isn't. I can speed all more up with adjusting the framrate of the movie. but the better way is to smooth the scrolling and movement of all elements. but this is very tricky. don't know how to do that in the moment.

    hope you have fun playing this first level
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