Zenith - a development inspired by The Sentinel (Crammond)

[compsci]

Free download available for Windows (98 to XP) with OpenGL, at http://www.johnvalentine.co.uk/m00014.html

About Zenith

Zenith is a first-person immersive action game of skill and strategy where you use the landscape's resources to gain height, and ultimately depose the Sentinel at the Zenith.

http://johnvalentine.co.uk/i/m00014_015.jpg http://johnvalentine.co.uk/i/m00014_016.jpg

Gameplay

You start with your consciousness occupying a robot shell at the bottom of the landscape. You can create objects on flat parts of the landscape that you can see, but that costs energy. Likewise, you can absorb objects to gain energy - trees are useful as your basic energy supply.

To gain height, you create a robot shell in a higher position, and 'transfer' your consciousness to it. You can build a stack of boulders, then occupy a robot shell that stands on top of the stack, and from there you'll be able to see more.

But where would a game be without the bad guys? At the highest point of the landscape is the Sentinel. Like a lighthouse beam, it casts a scan across the landscape, and depletes the energy of any object worth more than one energy unit - including you and the objects you create. The energy is not lost forever, but scattered around the landscape as trees.

http://johnvalentine.co.uk/i/m00014_009.jpg http://johnvalentine.co.uk/i/m00014_003.jpg

You win by deposing the Sentinel from its pedestal (by absorbing it - something you can only do if you're above the pedestal). On the way, you'll need to avoid the scan of the Sentinel (and its helpers, the Sentries), and absorb anything you can to maintain your energy and help your ascent to the Zenith.

If you find the game plot a bit complicated, the game provides you with hints as you go.

Game Design

The game itself is played in first-person 3D. The lighting is atmospheric, and the game should play well on low-spec machines. In designing this, I opted to go for smooth control and an interface that lets you play quickly (useful in the difficult levels). Landscapes are generated randomly, and you can enter a landscape number to repeat a game.

http://johnvalentine.co.uk/i/m00014_013.jpg

Download

Download the game now at http://www.johnvalentine.co.uk/m00014.html (use the 'Download' link on the left of that page). A Player's Guide is included in PDF format.

Written using Delphi and GLScene (OpenGL component for Delphi).

[Huehnerschaender]

Hey! Looks very interesting!

I surely give it a try after finish playing the PGD compo entrys, which has priority for me atm to have an idea of what the others did (and so understand judges decisions).

Greetings,
Dirk

[compsci]

Huehnerschaender,

You'll want to download it again, if you downloaded previously - improvements have been made since your post.

[WILL]

Give us a brief synopsis of your game/gameplay and it's story/plot. Give us something juicy to chew on until we are able to download it. :)

I've never heard of Sentinel before so odds are you'll have to sell the game a bit to people to get them interested enough to try it out.

[compsci]

Will,

I've posted a brief write-up of the game (edited the first post in this subject)

J.

[Huehnerschaender]

Hi Compsci,

I found some time to give your game a try today.

Indeed, your game uses very smooth and fast graphics! I like that, for the game itself has no need of overpowered grpahics.

I got stuck in the first level. Since I remember playing sentinel on one of my first computers (I guess it was the Amiga) I was able to find quite fast into the game and the gameplay idea. But somehow the game stuck and I was not able to "grow" higher than the sentinel.

But I will try it again later on, for now I have to go to bed and get some sleep.

Anyhow, very nice work from what I have seen yet.

Greetings,
Dirk

[compsci]

Huehnerschaender,

Occasionally, you'll encounter a level that can not be completed. The occasional few might not have enough trees to give you the height you need. The levels are randomly generated, so try another game at the same level.

Almost all landscapes can be completed; you just need to make clever use of energy, or look carefully at the opportunities presented by the landscape. For example, if you're standing on a boulder, its two units of energy are committed to that boulder. Sometimes one large step is better than two small steps. I'll leave the rest for you to figure out. :wink:

[AthenaOfDelphi]

Hi compsci,

I used to love playing The Sentinel, even if I wasn't very good at it... was a neat concept and very original... I've actually been looking to get it on an emulator, but so far, I've no had any success, so I'm really pleased to see a game based on it.

I've tried the demo and it looks pretty good... plays fine on my older machine. Does it have sound btw? If so, then I had a problem with that as there was no sound.

My only really complaint is the mouse movement/look... drove me crazy in the short space of time I was playing, other than that, its pretty good.

Good luck with the project... I wanna play :-)

[compsci]

AthenaOfDelphi,

Yes, mouse movement options are personal preferences, and so far, you're stuck with the one method. I have a 'switch' that can lock the mouse cursor when looking. If it helps, I could bring that into the Configuration interface, together with the sensitivity option.

What exactly was the problem you had with the mouse look?

No sound yet.

[Huehnerschaender]

My problem with mouse look was that every direction was inverted to what I am used to.
And setting "invert mouse" in the option didn't do anything.

Forgot to mention the mouse thing in my earlier post.
It was very annoying to me. Always looked in the wrong directions like an idiot :) :lol:

[AthenaOfDelphi]

The problem was largely that without a reference point, I lost where I was looking and so I couldn't work out how to look back to where I wanted.

Its hard to say, I think I'd personally prefer the option where you push the mouse at the end of the screen and it scrolls, otherwise, the cursor just moves around in that view.

[compsci]

Huehnerschaender, AthenaOfDelphi,

Mouse look is now the reverse of the previous configuration, to conform with the convention for FPS games.

The configuration options 'Reverse Vertical', 'Reverse Horizontal', 'Reverse Zoom', and 'Sensitivity' have been enabled, and can be found in Configuration > Control.

[compsci]

AthenaOfDelphi,

'Scrolling' when the mouse cursor enters the margin, as you suggest, certainly is possible. The closer to the edge, the faster the movement. I could offer it as a control preference, without it impacting game performance.

My concern is that it would lead to slower gameplay (try playing with a difficulty above about 40, and you'll need to work fast), and be difficult to make 'tidy' in a windowed game.

Thinking in terms of design, there are so many ways that the camera could be made to move. At the moment, cursor keys and mouse dragging are used (did you know about the cursor keys?). For me, dragging or 'throwing' the camera worked, so that's how I made it - but I'm not eveyone. While I'm eager to innovate to make the game better, I don't want to alienate players who are accustomed to other games.

Being disorientated is, oddly enough, part of the game! Every game starts with you looking towards the Sentinel, because chances are, that's the first thing you'd want to locate when you start a landscape. After that it's up to you to learn about your immediate surroundings and use them to your advantage. Try studying the map before the Sentinel is activated - plan you first few moves. If you're getting lost looking at the sky, then the first place to look is down to the horizon, where you can get your bearings.

If you're generally just lost, then perhaps remembering how far you turned, or trying to mentally complete a wrap-around picture outside the screen would help?

[AthenaOfDelphi]

Hi compsci,

Nope, didn't know about the cursor keys... will give it a try.

Having had a think about the problem, it wasn't so much getting disorientated, it was I think that when I moved it didn't do as I expected... net result... confusion in my lil' ol' head. It may also have been the fact that I needed to click and drag the view rather than just being able to scroll.

If you can tweak this kind of thing later on, then don't worry about it at this stage. Finish the game 'cos I wanna play :D

[compsci]

I've made a minor adjustment (synchronising cursor keys with Mouse Reverse options), which will be my last published 'tweak' for a while, unless anyone points out any big bugs.

For the future, I'll be releasing less often. Here's what I plan:

Release a 'self complete' Freeware version (June 2006). This will have the functionality you see now, with the unimplemented options removed, and some of the console options removed. You didn't know about the console? Try pressing F9 in the game! Type 'HELP' for console documentation.

After the Freeware release, work will be dedicated to extending the game.

I'll be considering exactly how much more I want to add to the game - I have several game ideas that will work beyond the concept phase; it's just a case of making a roadmap for realistic commitments.

Beyond the Freeware path, I'll look at the scope and policy for charging for software (unlocked and voluntary, limited functionality, limited time, or a transaction to deliver a completely separate build). I hope to reach a decision in July 2006.

I don't think this is going to be Open Source for the foreseeable future. Although I like Open Source, I don't feel this title is ready for that.
All of the above is subject to change (ahead or behind schedule), and is intended as a guide only.

Your comments are welcome, as always: good ones make me feel good, and 'bad' ones improve the game; either way, I'll be happy to hear them. :wink:

[compsci]

Freeware v0.9.0 (Beta) Release. Improvements: Symbols in the energy display. Removed non-functional New Game and Configuration options. Refined rules for absorption. Landscape difficulty, and game balance improved. Removed non-functioning console options from Help. Persistent 'Hints' switch in Configuration. Landscape numbers can be used to replay games. Lighting and transitions more realistic and pleasing.
As usual, download from http://johnvalentine.co.uk/m00014.html

[Traveler]

Hi compsci,

I've tried your game today. I had never heard of it before so it was all quite new to me. At first I found it very confusing. How controls worked, how to get an overview etc. The manual helped though, but I guess it would hurt to have the controls listed in the options screen (perhaps even to customize them)

After a few games I got the hang of it and started doing some tougher levels. Its actually a pretty good game. The environment is a bit boring, and could IMO benefit from a few nice textures, but its not a real necessity.

The map algorithm could use a bit more work. I tried a few 40+ levels, but they all placed my in a impossible starting point. This is also where I realized that it might be nice to have some sort of signal to locate your character on the map. At the start of a level I found my self looking for my character for quite some time.

All in all a nice game though

:thumbup:

[compsci]

Zenith has been improved since my last post, and I'm about to lose the 'Beta' label.
<table border="0"><tr><td> Download:</td><td>http://www.johnvalentine.co.uk/zenith</td></tr>
<tr><td>Screenshots: </td><td>http://www.johnvalentine.co.uk/k00008a.html</td></tr><tr><td>Project:</td><td>http://www.johnvalentine.co.uk/m00014.html</td></tr></table>

[VilleK]

Cool! I always remember the original Sentinel-game as a work of genius.
Good choice for a remake!

[tanffn]

Great I’ll give it a try, I played your game a few month ago really enjoyed it. :)
One ~minor thing, I wasn’t able to play the game without reading the readme and as most end-users aren’t so patient I think you should add a tutorial mode of some kind.

Whoo and I love your website style :)

[compsci]

...I think you should add a tutorial mode of some kind.

It has a fairly basic tutorial in the form of a hints box that delivers messages. You're given the first actions: "Hint: drag the mouse to look around, [B] creates a boulder at the cursor, [R] creates a robot, [A] absorbs objects for energy."

Thereafter, hints are given when you perform actions, e.g. on creating a boulder, you are told what you can do with it.

http://www.johnvalentine.co.uk/i/m00014_016.jpg

A random hint is shown at the start of every landscape. Press [F1] for another random hint at any time.

When you're an experienced player, you can turn off hints with [F4].

[tanffn]

But from those messages the user don’t know his final objective and from what to be aware of.
Maybe you can prerecord a game and play it with some commentary, that will instantly show the principals of the game

[compsci]

I see what you're getting at now: make it playable without having the player read anything that looks like instructions! :D
I'll see if some captioned self-playing games are viable - it'll take a lot of code.

[compsci]

v0.9.9. Now with 3D sound (which was the most common feature requested). User-controllable game tweaks, some new animations, and other enhancements.

Zenith home page (http://johnvalentine.co.uk/zenith)

I'm using OpenAL (no freeware or commercial restrictions). I'm investigating a possible instability in the sound API (game freeze and processor hog at high priority, when starting to play a buffered sound?) - I've only experienced it once. News/support on OpenAL for pascal/Delphi is hard to find.

Next: Adaptive EAX environments, a more complete sound palette, and music (in-game adaptive mood music and effects, and out-of-game music).

Soon after: Re-factoring parts of the game to enable rolling demos and tutorials, optional graphics textures etc for those who want more than the lit polygon look.

[compsci]

Small tweaks are improving this game. However, I've had some users report application errors on Vista and XP SP2. No clues as yet, as I can't reproduce the bug on four different machines myself.

Anyone have any knowledge of OpenAL's reliability, or workarounds with Delphi 6? I've ensured that all capabilities are tested, that sound is not used when it can not be initialized, and where it is used, it's safely wrapped with exception handlers. Problem is, I think it's crashing in the OpenAL module.

This post is relevant to Zenith 0.9.9.r3, with the current test being 0.9.9.r5.

[compsci]

Some users experienced 'Unexpected Exception' errors as the game started. Thankfully, this has been resolved without changing any of the code.

Downloading the latest OpenAL support from Creative lets people play the game without errors.

http://developer.creative.com/articles/article.asp?cat=1&sbcat=31&top=38&aid=46