3DU: Not Asteroids

[Joseph Duchesne]

3DU Entry: NOT ASTEROIDS
Current Release Download:
NOT ASTEROIDS Beta 3 (http://server1.yellowdns.com/~staron/NOT_ASTEROIDS/NOT%20ASTEROIDS.zip) (8.9MB) Edit: Scroll Down for details.

Controls (from the readme):
Move: A,S,D,W (recommended) or the Arrow Keys(because nobody reads this)
Shoot: Space bar
Hyperspace: Hold Shift for 1/2 second
Change Camera Modes: C
Zoom In and Out: X and Z
Toggle Grid: G
Move Up/Down: Q and E
Center Vertical: 2

Not too much to say except that it's in early beta. Don't expect much of anything. I started coding yesterday so... :P ;) :lol: Comments? Which camera mode do you like best? Do you have any tweaks or Suggestions? Do you like the grid or the hyperspace function? Found a bug?

[DoG]

I am only getting blank rectangles where the text is supposed to be...on PPC, by the way

[Najdorf]

I am only getting blank rectangles where the text is supposed to be...on PPC, by the way

Same here, iMac G5.

[Joseph Duchesne]

Ok, so I think I fixed that one. It was loading the textures before it went fullscreen (which is run in another thread) which causes OpenGL to choke, but for some reason on my computer it didn't (maybe my computer is faster at going fullscreen?).

[DoG]

Works now. I find the way the bullets work to be awkward, though. I'd find it better if they were fired at a ship relative velocity.

Also, the buttons dont work in the splash screen? Other than that, keep up the good work, I like the style of it.

[Joseph Duchesne]

The buttons work, I've just disabled them temporarily because I'm not done with the places they go, so they'll send you to a black screen of nothingness. The bullets velocity has been changed and will be noticeable in the next upload (b3) once I have done something on the to do:
To Do:
Music/Sound
Highscores
Add something other than asteroids (powerups, aliens? etc.)

[Joseph Duchesne]

There. Dont. Version 0.99b3 is uploaded. All planned features are working. I'm just praying for no aweful bugs :P

Mac URL: http://server1.yellowdns.com/~staron/NOT_ASTEROIDS/NOT%20ASTEROIDS.zip (8.9MB)
Source URL: http://server1.yellowdns.com/~staron/NOT_ASTEROIDS/NOT%20ASTEROIDS.src.zip (4.2MB)
Windows URL: http://server1.yellowdns.com/~staron/NOT_ASTEROIDS/NOT%20ASTEROIDS.win.zip (8.7MB)

[diordna]

Look at me! I'm posting on my own entry's topic for the first time! :D

Great work Joseph, even if I haven't played the final build yet. (For the rest of you: I did things for this! I swear! I've just been SUPER busy...)

[leRiCl]

Great game!
Although I find it strange that I need to keep having the thrust on to go forward... Its not necessarily bad, but I would like some inertia happening here.... ;)

[macnib]

Worked fine on my g5.

The only odd things it seemed were some of the stars looked like lines. I think these stars were the ones closer.

When there are a few asteroids left it seemed like quite an effort to chase them down. The play field seemed larger. I figure the typical asteroids type game is limited to the visible screen -- but this is not asteroids. :)

He he, sort of reminds me of the game called Maelstrom I played in college. Think that was on my power mac 6100/60 .

[Joseph Duchesne]

it needs aliens and crazy guns /self critique
The stars look like likes because: (brace yourself)
THEY ARE LINES!
(bet nobody saw that one coming)
I did this to make the star streaks easier when you hyperspace. (I think, this was a long time ago).

I think I might add some stuff to this game at some point.

[Fenris]

I like it. It has got a lot of potential. A couple of gameplay notes, though:


The firing capacity has to go up. Some of the smaller stones are very difficult to hit without laying down a line of fire in front of it, and frankly, that's pretty fun to do. (As opposed to up-sizing the smallest stone fragments).
When the game starts, there is a bit of hunting for the first asteroid - that's not a very fun way to start the first 30 seconds of your game. Try to aim the first stone towards the player, so that it'll pass through the player's vincinity within the first 5-7 seconds of gameplay.
The radar needs a bit of work. The smallest stones are one pixel, which is close to invisible on my 20" iMac. Also, I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to navigate if the radar showed the entire playfield, and instead plotted the player's position on that, instead of centering on the player? The main view doesn't contain very much information to help me orient myself, and that's what the radar should do...
I love the music.
One small graphics remark - try to use hard, faceted angles for the asteroids. Rigth now they look like broken, gray fruit with the Goraud shading.
In opposition with leRiCl, don't touch the inertia too much. I know it's physically correct, but just don't. I like to be able to stop the ship and maneouver reliably.


Please keep this up! :)

[Duane]

I tried to build on linux, but it can't find Vector3D... any ideas?

[Joseph Duchesne]

You need this library for vector3D: http://www.shiffman.net/teaching/nature/library/

I should probably be non-lazy and just stick my own basic vector class in at some point.

Thank you Fenris for you list of suggestions. This motivates me to actually implement them :P I think I'm going to make the shoot speed a fast burst then slow down after a few shots to a slower rate, with the cooldown for the initial burst. Also, in the latest (not online yet) build, the asteroid/minimap problem has been fixed.

[Fenris]

Ah, that shot burst idea sounds like the best of two worlds - tricky timing, but with a possibility to score the hit.

[diordna]

The resurrection of this thread is an excuse for me to write it a second piece of music.