3DU: A Tack!

[MattDiamond]

This probably won't be the final build, but please give it a try.

http://pawns.purestatic.com/ATack.dmg.zip

I'm especially in hearing from anyone who is having frame rate problems. Let me know what your system is in that case. Other feedback is also welcome, of course.

* The Story:

1:30am. Not a good time to start a lengthy homework assignment, particularly in your current state of exhaustion. You'll start writing your first sentence just as soon as you can get your eyes to stay open by themselves... But what's this? One of your pencils has started doodling on your paper! "Hey! I was going to use that!" You grab a nearby push-pin tack and fling it at the pencil. Now the other pencils have joined in!

Your homework assignment is doomed. But you aren't going down without a fight! Move your mouse and shoot tacks at any objects that are writing on your piece of paper. The game ends when the paper reaches 50% full.

Enjoy.

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

Nifty, Matt. My only thought is that keyboard control would be preferable to the mouse since I can only move left and right.

I don't suppose you could make it a sheet of graph paper so I have a better idea where I'm aiming?

[funkboy]

I like it :)

Very fun idea! It would be great if there was a bottle of white out that would delete some of the ink... or is that in there already? I was unsure.

Very fun idea, and well executed, especially for a contest game. Two big thumbs up 8)

[MattDiamond]

I like it :)

Very fun idea! It would be great if there was a bottle of white out that would delete some of the ink... or is that in there already? I was unsure.


Yep, there are bottles of correcting fluid (brand name "Correcto!") in the game. Also, bottles of ink. I recommend not shooting at the ink though. :-)

Keyboard control: easy enough to add. But note that there is no lag in the mouse movement currently. Whereever you place the mouse cursor, the tack instantly follows. You are going to be handicapped with the keyboard unless I place limits on the mouse movement as well... But you are right, I've inadvertently locked out laptop players and I should probably at least give them a way to try the game.

Thanks for the comments!

[MarkJ]

Very nice, but may I second the request for keyboard control?

[KittyMac]

Impressive as always Matt, good job!

Now only if mine looked half as good... :ninja:

(Just for you funkboy: Bocce Classico (http://www.idevgames.com/forum/showthread.php?p=123801#post123801))

[funkboy]

Which entry is yours, Kitty? We need a thread for your in-progress!

[MattDiamond]

I will try to add keyboard control tonight. I may also attempt to add a high score list.

Does the lack of music (or much sound at all) bother anyone? I threw a simple music loop on it last night but I wasn't entirely happy with it and it just drowned out the sound of the pens bursting. I think I need a loop with the right mood and I don't have one ready. I could grab one from one of my older contest entries I suppose. Also, as soon as I have music I have to add an Options screen to control the volume.

At this point I have only a few hours remaining that I can put on it before the deadline, so I have to be picky. I had a new enemy I wanted to add too.

Noone has complained about frame rates yet. The pens and pencils can get big gaps in their lines if the frame rate isn't good- I can fix that, but that would take much of my remaining time.

Thanks for the comments so far- they've been encouraging and helpful.

[DoG]

I was able to play the game fine with a trackpad, don't see why that would be more difficult than with a mouse in the given case.

[HiggyB]

Nice work! I mentioned a few thoughts in response over on the Unity forums:

- I still have one of my original desires, a faster rate of fire

- I'd also like to have some sort of position indicator on the bottom of the screen after I fire. Often I shoot a tack then move the mouse, but you have no idea where you've moved to until the next tack appears. Perhaps something like a faded out tack that only becomes fully opaque when it's ready to fire? That way you can aim while watching a tack fire...


And also as said elsewhere, sorry for the nitpicking, overall it's a fun game, good work! :D

[MattDiamond]

Version 1.0 Released! Note: new download address.

http://home.comcast.net/~mpdiamond1/files/Tack.dmg.zip

Improvements:
- Lighting now looks good on older Macs/low-quality settings
- Keyboard can be used to play
- Misc bug fixes

This is probably the final contest version, unless the rules let me tweak it later on... But all comments and suggestions will still be appreciated, and of future use to me.

[JonTrainer]

Nice creative idea. I don't think I've seen anything like this before. +1 for originality.

[Joseph Duchesne]

Can you upload a windows build? My girlfriend wants to give it a try.

[MattDiamond]

Can you upload a windows build? My girlfriend wants to give it a try.

Okay, but I need to test it first. I tested an earlier version on a Windows laptop and it looked really bad, but I've since improved the lighting on low-end video cards so it may be okay now. And things are a bit busy in my household so I might not get to it until Sunday evening. With luck she can try it soon.

[MattDiamond]

Someone mentioned that screenshots in each game's thread would be nice...

Here we have a game of A Tack! just beginning. The clean white paper is being despoiled by a gang of rampaging pencils. You aren't going to let them get away with that, are you?

http://home.comcast.net/~squarebin/screenshots/scrn_Tack2.jpg

[MattDiamond]

Can you upload a windows build? My girlfriend wants to give it a try.

The problem I'm having is that it runs poorly on the only Windows machine I have available, a laptop with a Radeon Mobility x600. The paper is translucent, and the quality must be turned way down... the lighting is also too bright, but I threw in some code to reduce the brightness on Windows boxes.

I suspect Unity has a shader problem with this particular video chip, it wouldn't be the first time. So the game may run fine for most people. If she doesn't mind playing a beta-quality Windows build, she can get it here:

Windows v1.0b1: http://home.comcast.net/~mpdiamond1/files/Tack_Win.zip

I'd appreciate hearing how well it runs, if anyone is willing to try it. Again, the Mac version is the official contest version. The Windows build has no icon and hasn't been tested to my satisfaction, but there it is.

No changes to the Mac version yet, though I have some tweaks I'd eventually like to get to.

Mac v1.0.0: http://home.comcast.net/~mpdiamond1/files/Tack.dmg.gz

[MattDiamond]

Version 1.0.1 released. Change list:
Increased firing rate a little.
New tack will not accidentally fire when previously fired tack hits an object close to the bottom of the screen.
Bottles stay more over the paper, won't run into un-fired tack at the bottom of the screen.
Improved lighting on Windows Radeon Mobility chip, possibly others.

Mac 1.0.1: http://home.comcast.net/~mpdiamond1/files/Tack.dmg.gz
Win 1.0b2: http://home.comcast.net/~mpdiamond1/files/Tack_Win.zip

(The Windows build is labelled beta 2 because it's not as well tested as the Mac version and doesn't have an icon. It should work though.)

[BeyondCloister]

Can I just check that it is not the official contest download you have updated?

The reason I ask is that updated my game but released it as a separate downloaded link from the submission one since the contest deadline had passed.

I would not like to think I'm shooting myself in the foot by not updating my official entry and others were. If your update is a different link then no offence intended.

[MattDiamond]

Tidying up loose ends...

Version 1.0.2 released. Change list:
Pens and pencils now draw lines instead of points. They look nicer (especially at the highest quality setting) and bad frame rate won't cause the paper to just be covered with dots.
Made the collision detection a little more forgiving. (But if you have a very bad frame rate, the tacks can go through things. Run at a lower window size/quality setting if this happens.)
Fixed a subtle problem with missing faces on the tack model.
Windows build released.

http://home.comcast.net/~squarebin/A_Tack.html

[igame3d]

A little stiff with mouse control. Could be my mouse.
Keyboard is noticeably smoother switching directions.

What a cool game.

If the next missile fades in, or cranks into place
it would provide better feedback that says "one at a time".

[AlStaffieri]

Neither of the 2 download links worked for me. Did it move again?

[MattDiamond]

Neither of the 2 download links worked for me. Did it move again?

Very sorry about that. Thanks for letting me know!

I changed the compression method on the dmg, hence a new file extension. Bad idea. It broke old links in this thread, people seeing cached copies of my web page, and possibly VersionTracker's links.

I'll restore the old name tonight. In the meantime, you should be able to download from the web page, but you may need to manually reload it to clear any cached version.


A little stiff with mouse control. Could be my mouse.
Keyboard is noticeably smoother switching directions.

There's a tradeoff between smoothness and "twitchability". Maybe it should be adjustable by the player.

I agree with you about having a reload animation. Original idea was that you'd see the rubber band shooting the tacks, and that also suggested some new enemies (scissor?) and powerups (multiple shots, stiffer bands to fire faster). No time to implement everything, as usual. But I may do a version 2 one day with an eye towards getting it on an online game portal.

[MattDiamond]

FWIW I've decided to stick with the new file name after all. Corrected a few of the URL's earlier in this thread. I hadn't put it up on VersionTracker yet, and figured not many people would have my page cached after so long. (Maybe one day I'll have a more dynamic website, with the ability to redirect download requests at will.)

[igame3d]

But I may do a version 2 one day with an eye towards getting it on an online game portal.

Yes it certainly belongs on a game portal.
I can see internet advertisement rip offs
of this game in no time at all.

"Stop the pencil and win a free iPhoneWiiBox3"

Edit, version 2 should be an FPS.
ATack3D