Downfall

[peterbone]

This is a game I've been making based an a game I used to play on the Atari ST. Please copy and paste this link - don't click on it because geocities don't allow remote linking.
http://www.geocities.com/peter_bone_uk/Downfall.zip
Sorry if that link doesn't work - hopefully I'll upload it somewhere else soon.
It's a 2 player game. It would be good if I could make it into a game to play over the net - but I don't have the skills. You'll need to read the ReadMe file to learn how to play.

Peter Bone

[peterbone]

http://atlas.walagata.com/w/peterbone/Downfall.zip

[Traveler]

Say, that is really a cool game! It somehow reminded me a bit of lemmings. Don't ask me why though :roll: . Too bad there isn't a cpu playing against me. Are you planning on implementing this?
Anyway, heres a few things I noticed while playing.

- When I move the cursor all the way to the top, the screen starts to flicker.
- When I cut through a large pile of 'snow' (upwards) a line up black pixels went also upwards.

- A customize keys option would be nice 'cause I found the player1 keys a little bit uncomfortable to play with.
- Also a pause key may be handy

[WiZz]

nice game, fun gameplay.

[peterbone]

- When I move the cursor all the way to the top, the screen starts to flicker.

Yes, annoying isn't it. It happens because the cursors are transparent images and when they move over the edge of other components they cause flicker.

- When I cut through a large pile of 'snow' (upwards) a line up black pixels went also upwards.

That's the 'bubbles' moving up because you erased the line, so snow has to fill that space so snow moves down and bubbles move up - unless I'm thinking of something else.
There is a bug with the snow somewhere. Sometimes piled up snow doesn't fall when it should do after erasing a line. it only happens near the top of the screen and I can't work out what's causing it for the life of me.

I've thought of adding AI to play against but it would have a major advantage in control but I suppose I could slow it down or something.

Anyway, glad you like the idea.

Peter

[Harry Hunt]

Yes, annoying isn't it. It happens because the cursors are transparent images and when they move over the edge of other components they cause flicker.

If you're using the canvas functions for your game (and I assume you do), draw the cursor on the canvas instead of moving components around and use double-buffering to avoid the flicker.
To draw an image with transparent areas onto a canvas do this:

[pascal]
Image1.Picture.Bitmap.Transparent := True;
Image1.Picture.Bitmap.TransparentColor := clRed;
Form1.Canvas.Draw(CursorX, CursorY, Image1.Picture.Bitmap);
[/pascal]

and if you draw on an off-screen buffer (e.g. another TBitmap) first and then Blt that onto the form canvas it shouldn't flicker anymore.

[peterbone]

OK thanks. I'll draw the cursor on the canvas and draw the 2 screens on seperate bitmaps before drawing them on the form. Will there be much reduction is speed if I draw them to an offscreen bitmap and then onto the screen? I'm not using DirectX or anything like that.

Also there's another problem with the game that I need help resolving. On some computers certain key combinations don't work at the same time(like Ctrl, up and right). I'm using GetKeyboardState. On different computers different key combinations don't work and on some computers there's no problem. Is the problem with the keyboard driver, or the keyboard, or what?

thanks

Peter

[Harry Hunt]

Drawing on an off-screen buffer won't make your game slower. It will use more memory but that's about it.
As for the key thing: I blieve this is a windows problem. I'm not absolutey sure though. You can bypass this by allowing the user to customize the controls.
I dunno if DirectInput would fix your problem, but you could try that.

[peterbone]

I did the graphics improvements you suggested and the screens no longer flicker.
http://atlas.walagata.com/w/peterbone/Downfall.zip
However, the cursors still flash on and off using the transparent bitmap and draw method you suggested above. I even tried using a mask with the CopyMode method but that made no difference.

Peter

[peterbone]

Also, I want to add customizable controls as you suggested, but what's the best way to do the interface for that? I could have a combobox with all the keys in for each control. Or another way is it could ask you to press the corresponding key for each control in turn.

Peter