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Traveler
12-02-2003, 10:13 AM
This is a screenshot of a tiny game I've been working on for the past 3 evenings. The goal in the game is to shoot all the balloons before they leave the screen.

It features some nice graphics, silly sounds and a lot of balloon pieces :)

The download can be found at my website (http://www.gameprogrammer.net) in the side-tracks section.

Let me know what you think of it. I welcome ideas, comments and any bugs you may find...

Oh, before I forget. At the moment it's exe only, but I intend to release the source when it's finished...

http://www.gameprogrammer.net/pics/outside/popballoon.jpg

Andreaz
12-02-2003, 01:50 PM
I't just dont seem to work for me, it starts ok but i can't shoot the baloons with the lmb, nothing happends =( Othervise cool game =)

Traveler
12-02-2003, 02:04 PM
Strange :? I'm not sure what could cause this. It's just a standard click on DelphiX' DXDraw component, with an additional check to see if the mouse is on top of a balloon.

Can you perhaps post your system specs? What kind of DirectX version are you using? (I've only tested it on 8.1 NT2000 and XP, both worked fine)

Andreaz
12-02-2003, 07:17 PM
Yeah, it's kind of stange. I have:
XP 2100+
GeForce 2 TI
DirectX 9.0
Win XP SP1

Eriken
12-02-2003, 07:40 PM
Same problem here, works fine exept the part where the shooting is supposed to happen :?

WinXP
AMD 750Mhz
GeForce II GTS
DirectX 8.1
_____
Eriken

Crisp_N_Dry
12-02-2003, 08:43 PM
Very addictive little game you got there. Even runs on my dad's old timer
of a machine

p233 mmx
128mb
8 mb gfx
Win 95B (Don't laugh)

Only [problem was that in 800x600 the window was in the bottm right hand corner, I guess it is permanently configure for 1024x768. But other than that very cool game. I'm sorry to critique your work, I know I hate it when I show people stuff and they are more interested in telling me what's wrong with it than what's right but I guess it's the only way to learn.

Traveler
13-02-2003, 09:44 AM
Thanx for the replies. :D

I've fixed the positioning of the screen when at a resolution other than 1024x768. It should now always run at the center of the screen. Thanx for mentioning this Crisp_N_Dry.

I'm still uncertain about the mouse problem, though :(
I have made some changes to the code, but because I'm unable to reproduce it, I can't really say if it's going to work :scratch:

Btw, when you say "(..) shooting is supposed to happen", are the balloons disappearing and do you receive points when you click on them or doesn't this happen either?

A new version can be downloaded from here (http://www.gameprogrammer.net/zip/popballoon.zip). I'd appreciate it if you could give it another try...

What about ideas? I was hoping to I get a bit more of those :roll:

Eriken
13-02-2003, 10:16 AM
Well, nothing happens when I press the mouse-button, no points, no baloons explode. So when the first 5 baloons are gone, the game is over. It looks like it never gets the mouseclicks.

If you make a box somewhere which flares with the coordinates of the mousebutton when we click it, we might be able to see if it gets it at all.

Ideas:
- Highscore list
- Different difficulty (as in, baloons go faster)

With these 2 things, I'll guess I can make my dad play it forever :twisted:
_____
Eriken

BlueCat
13-02-2003, 10:25 AM
Works fine for me, nice game :)

Traveler
13-02-2003, 11:10 AM
With these 2 things, I'll guess I can make my dad play it forever

Hehe, if that's all I need to do, then consider it done :)


Works fine for me, nice game :) , thanx Bluecat!


I have made a few changes in the code to test where the problem occurs.
The old code uses the DXDraw1MouseDown event but without a button check, I've changed this. When you click the right button it should give a messagebox saying you've clicked the right mousebutton.

I have also added a simple DXDraw1Click event with should process the old code.

I'm also displaying the mouse coordinates on the screen now. Perhaps you can see some odd things there...

here's the zip (http://www.gameprogrammer.net/zip/popbalexeonly.zip)(exe only, you need to copy this one over the old to make it work) Thanx for testing this :D

Andreaz
13-02-2003, 11:47 AM
It works for me now..

lithander
17-02-2003, 01:11 PM
cool! It's quite an intense gameplay! ;)


However I'd have two and a half suggestions for improvement!

-make it fullscreen! it would look better and I wouldn't spoil my best games with klicking beside the window.

-use some sort of a custom cursor! I think the little cross is a bit hard to see in the midst of the action! :shock:

-highscore would be cool two, but require a bit more work...

-lith

Traveler
17-02-2003, 03:35 PM
Thanks for the reply lithander. :D

Your ideas are much appreciated. I'll add them to the todo-list :

- An extra life after 10k points.
- Little presents that give extra points
- different/more graphics
- high score list
- different cursor
- fullscreen mode, (currently its 640x480)
- menu
- ... (your ideas here? :idea: )


I'm still searching for ways to increase the difficulty but apart from a speed increase, I'm out of ideas... :drunk:

Eriken
17-02-2003, 03:41 PM
I think there is 2 ways, either increase/decrease speed, or increase/decrease amount of balloons.

As in, some folks would like to have lots of things to shoot at and good time to shoot them. And others again could have few balloons very fast.

I got it to work at home after you fixed something, so things are good there. Only thing which seems to be abit weird is that sometimes I when I really truly think I hit the balloon I don't.. :twisted:
_____
Eriken

Eriken
17-02-2003, 03:51 PM
Maybe also the amount of people could set some sort of level.

How you're going to put in Highscore in all this is another problem ;-)

Other thoughts: There is always the cruel wind ;-) and random speed on the balloons.
_____
Eriken

Traveler
17-02-2003, 03:54 PM
Only thing which seems to be abit weird is that sometimes I when I really truly think I hit the balloon I don't.. :twisted:

Hmm, you got me puzzled there. :roll:

First, it worked for me the first time (at home/work). Then, some of you say, it doesn't work, so I make some changes, which make it work for some of you. But, as I realised last saterday, didn't work for me (only at home). And now you say it seems to work, but sometimes it doesn't...

AAAH!! :scratch:

Eriken
17-02-2003, 03:57 PM
Correction there, it does work all the time, but it's just a matter of me thinking I hit the balloon and expect the "pop", and the computer thinking I missed. So the Mouse-issue is solved as far as I'm concerned, it's more a matter of me having to accept that I miss when I think I don't, or check the "popping"-function :-)
_____
Eriken

Crisp_N_Dry
17-02-2003, 06:37 PM
Here's another improvement if you want it, if not just call me names and tell me it sucks, I don't mind either way.
What if you made it so that if the player pops ballons of a same colour in succession then they get a score multiplyer or something, this will leave the player with a choice, get the different colour ballon before it runs offscreen or quickly get in another same colour balloon and then go for it. It might make the play more interesting.

Traveler
18-02-2003, 08:57 AM
Thanks for the great idea Crisp_N_Dry, I like it a lot :D

Here's a new to-do list...
- bonus items that fall out of balloons when you pop them.
- catch those items for extra points or special events
- levels.
- extra lives when you reach a number of points
- more balloons with different shapes or colors
- wind which blow balloons in a certain direction
- highscore list
- menu
- bigger screen than 640x480 (fullscreen?)
- pop balloons in a special order for extra points
- a cursur other than the windows cross hair
- your ideas here(?)

Eriken, I've added your wind idea as well. :)
At first I wasn't sure how to do this because I rather don't see any balloons floating off the left/right side of the screen, but I think I can prevent that with a simple border check...

I've been working on new graphics, here's a tiny preview
http://www.gameprogrammer.net/pics/outside/popballoonng.jpg

A newer version is still not ready, but should be in about two days...

Alimonster
18-02-2003, 09:19 PM
I tried shooting the people but they didn't react :(. Maybe I missed 'em, though (goddawful computer at work ran it at very low FPS).

Traveler
19-02-2003, 08:16 AM
Hehe,.. this is a peaceful game Alimonster :lol:

Traveler
21-02-2003, 10:16 AM
I have placed a new version of the game at my website (http://www.gameprogrammer.net).

New things in this version:
- brand new graphics
- a new explosion system
- a new timer system: now timebased instead of framebased
- a nuke option which can be used to pop all balloons at the screen (1x).
- speed optimizations, it should run a lot smoother now...
- a different mouse pointer
- a menu
- a bigger screen 800x600
- an extra lift off place. 7 instead of 6
- various bug fixes

This is turning out to be a very interesting project. Especially because, up until now, I never had a project (they usually don't get to this stage :D)which is beeing tested by so many people.

The bugs and ideas you are all providing show many interesting points. Things I would have never thought of if I was doing this (production+testing) all by myself. I thank you all... :!:

http://www.gameprogrammer.net/pics/outside/popballoon2.jpg

Alimonster
21-02-2003, 10:45 AM
Make the people swear if you shoot them. It may not be a clean headshot with a railgun but I bet it would sting for a while! (Here's the direct link to the game (http://www.gameprogrammer.net/index.php?fuseaction=sidetracks.showsidetrack&st=4)).

Don't mind me - I'm just used to excessive violence in my games.

lithander
22-02-2003, 02:04 AM
you don't have a siemens cellphone in you pocket have you? ;)

but I've to admit that your game is cooler.... controlling a curser with numkeys is a pain!

-lith

Useless Hacker
24-02-2003, 10:58 AM
Cool game.

I found a 'feature', where if you click outside the window it pauses the game, giving you time to manoeuvre the cursor to the next balloon before it goes off the screen. :)

Traveler
24-02-2003, 12:03 PM
Thanks for the coments :D

Alimonster: I'll think of something nice for you 8)

lithander: hehe, I don't even have a cellphone, let alone a siemens :)

Useless Hacker: This 'feature' as you are describing it is new to me, and which (again) I cannot reproduce. I can only pause the game by hitting F3. To be honest, I don't have a clue on how to solve this thing :cry:

The next version of the game is going to be released a bit later as I'm giving priority to the platform tutorial I was also making.
I really need to finish this thing now :?

Useless Hacker
24-02-2003, 01:12 PM
Useless Hacker: This 'feature' as you are describing it is new to me, and which (again) I cannot reproduce. I can only pause the game by hitting F3. To be honest, I don't have a clue on how to solve this thing :cry:
The version I downloaded was the original one, maybe in the newer version it is fixed.

Traveler
24-02-2003, 01:17 PM
The version I downloaded was the original one, maybe in the newer version it is fixed

Pfew, I was kinda hoping you were going to write that. I checked the older version and I did have that bug. It's been fixed in the 0.9 version. (Still need to do something about the F3(pause) matter, though)

Alimonster
24-02-2003, 01:19 PM
The pausing is most likely caused by a timer with ActiveOnly set to true. This behaviour is a very good thing, though, and not a problem :).

(I think the DelphiX timer has this behaviour, although I've only ever used what appears to be a modified version of it, so I can't be sure.)

EDIT: or maybe not, judging from the post immediately above this one :roll:

Traveler
24-02-2003, 01:25 PM
The pausing is most likely caused by a timer with ActiveOnly set to true.

True, but the new 0.9 version of PtB doesn't use a timer anymore. So I was a bit worried when Useless Hacker mentioned the pausing thing...

Traveler
14-03-2003, 09:06 AM
After a short pause, I'm back in the balloon business again...

I've added/changed a couple new things in the game in the past few days
It's beginning to look quite qood now, if I may say so. 8)

Changes in version v0.93
- Added bomb feature which will destroy all balloons currently on the screen;
- Added slow down feature which will slow down the balloons currently on the screen;
- Added 'time flux' feature where balloons don't move for three seconds;
- decreased number of lives from 6 to 5;
- fixed a bug where a restart of the game resulted in unlimited game play;
- some changes in images;
- fixed a grammar error in the title screen;
- a menu has been added;
- a highscore system has been added (still has a few bugs though);

I'm sorry Alimonster, no swear option yet,... it's very hard to implement hehe. Perhaps in the next version :lol:

Have a look (http://www.gameprogrammer.net) if you're interested,... questions, ideas, comments they're all greatly appreciated

fitzbean
15-03-2003, 04:59 AM
No source yet huh?

farcodev
16-03-2003, 05:42 PM
Your game is cool traveler, good work ! :wink:

Traveler
11-04-2003, 10:40 AM
After quite a lengthy pause I finally updated the game.
I'm now at version 0.95, wit the following updates, changes, fixes

Changes in version v0.95
- Fixed a bug where you could get 65k points with one click
- Fixed a bug in the Hall of Fame
- Added combo feature
- Added two extra balloons
- Added animation when extra life is given
- Added extra life feature at every 10k points
- Changed the percentage of gifts coming from the balloons

I have not yet added Alimonster's request for bloodlust,... :oops:

Here's a picture displaying the latest changes
http://www.gameprogrammer.net/pics/outside/version095.gif