CloneShooter

[macboy]

Here's my new game, CloneShooter. It started out as a clone of those arcade shooters where you have a handheld plastic gun and you aim and it shows up on the screen, etc., but it's progressed into much more. Many thanks to Shivers, who gave most of the new graphics and some ideas, for it wouldn't be this good without him. Give me some feedback on what you think of the game.

Download It (1.5 MB) (http://homepage.mac.com/davis.ml/.Public/cloneshooter10.sit)

P.S. We (Shivers and I) are seriously thinking about changing the name of the game.

P.S.S. It might become shareware too.


Oh, and thanks to GreySnake59 for hosting this on his .mac server. :)

[DoG]

I am sorry, but it is unbearably slow on a G4/400. The graphics don't justify it running slower than RTCW. What did you write it in?

The game is really unplayable, with framerates about 1 fps. :um:

- D.G

[macboy]

It was written in MetaL BASIC. Sorry about the slowness. I really used some badly optimized code. I'll try to speed it up. :argh:

[macboy]

New update, same link.

New stuff:
- Smooth movement
- Optimized code
- Male hostage
- and some other stuff I forgot :D

[Fenris]

Hi!

I just gave it a quick spin, and the only problem I spotted was that it was unbearably quick for me: QS 733, 256MBRAM...

Good work, though!:ninja:

[Holmes]

yeah, its actually not slow anymore, but quite fast.

Its a bit strange though...it looks like your shooting at miniature people. Also the menu's need work, the text is quite ugly. I don't see how its become "much more" than a clone of an arcade shooter, but maybe I didn't play for long enough. Finals, yikes. :blink:

[macboy]

Originally posted by Fenris
I just gave it a quick spin, and the only problem I spotted was that it was unbearably quick for me: QS 733, 256MBRAM...I know. I removed the FPS Limiter to see how fast it can get. Let me know what the FPS is recorded as in the upper-right corner.

[macboy]

Originally posted by Holmes
yeah, its actually not slow anymore, but quite fast. I replied to that issue above.

Originally posted by Holmes
Its a bit strange though...it looks like your shooting at miniature people. Well, that makes it harder... and more realistic, because if you were shooting in real life, you might not get very good range. :sorry:

Originally posted by Holmes
Also the menu's need work, the text is quite ugly. It's temporary, don't worry! :D Shivers is making more of a GUI.

Originally posted by Holmes
I don't see how its become "much more" than a clone of an arcade shooter, but maybe I didn't play for long enough. Maybe it's just my point of view because I'm a programmer :lol: I see it as much more because when I started it really sucked! :D

[Zachary]

It's a good game, but it needs to be improved a lot to be shareware-worthy.



P.S: Why are the smilies changing on a daily basis? :ninja: :ohmy:

[macboy]

Originally posted by Zachary
It's a good game, but it needs to be improved a lot to be shareware-worthy. Yeah, we're working on it. :cool:

Originally posted by Zachary
P.S: Why are the smilies changing on a daily basis? :ninja: :ohmy: I think the most recent change is because people were complaining about the pale ones (which I also think really sucked)

[Zachary]

yeah, well when I requested a blob smilie, Camacho said that he'd only put in smilies that convey emotions, so what's up with this one? :ninja:

:p

[DoG]

Originally posted by Zachary
yeah, well when I requested a blob smilie, Camacho said that he'd only put in smilies that convey emotions, so what's up with this one? :ninja:

:p

The ninja is about your zen, and conveys inner peace and power :D

I like the new smileys. very :cool:

Anyway, the game still only runs at 10-15 fps on my machine, and sometimes I can't shoot people, because they hide behind the scores or go to where i have to reload. The speed is really not acceptable. Also, you should do something about the blacks screen at startup.

- D.G

[macboy]

Originally posted by DoooG
Anyway, the game still only runs at 10-15 fps on my machine

...

The speed is really not acceptable.Well, after optimizing the code, there's not much more I can do. You'll just have to get a faster computer :p

Originally posted by DoooG
and sometimes I can't shoot people, because they hide behind the scores or go to where i have to reload. I'll try and fix that. Sorry.

Originally posted by DoooG
Also, you should do something about the blacks screen at startup. Not much I can do about that either. It's a MetaL thing. :sorry:

[macboy]

Originally posted by me (macboy)
Not much I can do about that either. It's a MetaL thing. :sorry:Well, part of it is. I added a loading screen so you know it's doing something while you wait. I haven't uploaded it yet because I'm going to wait for a more major update.

[Holmes]

Originally posted by macboy
Well, after optimizing the code, there's not much more I can do. You'll just have to get a faster computer :p

I'll try and fix that. Sorry.

Not much I can do about that either. It's a MetaL thing. :sorry:

Metal should really kill that screen...its a real turn off. Its like "HI LOOK AT ME I WAS DEVELOPED IN METAL, LET ME DROOL ON YOU!"...Or something.

Don't mind me :?:

But now for some constructive critisism:

1. There are sprite drawing order problems. The hay bails (or whatever the are draw in front of the HUD for your ammo.

2. The backgrounds of actual pictures just don't work. It seriously looks like your shooting at miniature people. Tiles would work better.

3. The keyboard wouldn't work for some reason. Clicking still worked to begin the game.

4. Text is ugly, ugly, ugly.

5. I am a loud man with a very large hat. This means I am in charge. :sneaky: You there, stop crying, she's dead already!

But after actually playing this game through, I think it could end up working. It just needs polish polish polish polish polish.

[macboy]

Originally posted by Holmes
1. There are sprite drawing order problems. The hay bails (or whatever the are draw in front of the HUD for your ammo.

2. The backgrounds of actual pictures just don't work. It seriously looks like your shooting at miniature people. Tiles would work better.

3. The keyboard wouldn't work for some reason. Clicking still worked to begin the game.

4. Text is ugly, ugly, ugly.1. I know. It's better that than not being able to see them or the enemy, don't you think?

2. Hmm...I'll try to talk to Shivers about it. But he might not be too pleased :D

3. You're probably using Jaguar. MetaL has some new and growing incompatibilities with Jaguar. If you REALLY need the keyboard controls, run it in Classic by going to File > Get Info > Run in Classic Environment checkbox.

4. I know. Read the posts above.

[DoG]

No offense, but if you cannot get the game to run faster, you should seriously consider switching to another BASIC or another language altogether. Similar games used to have better performance on a quadra 700. Now, my current machine's CPU is 30+ times faster, and so are the graphics. I can imagine your game running at 400+ fps if it was coded with opengl, but currently, it is pathetic. I don't mean to be distructive, but you really limit the popularity of your game if it can only be played on high end machines.

- D.G

[macboy]

Originally posted by DoooG
No offense, but if you cannot get the game to run faster, you should seriously consider switching to another BASIC or another language altogether.First off, I have RB, but it is much slower than this. Second, TNT really puts me off even from the demo. All games have to be fullscreen and you can't customize the menu much. And it costs money. Third, I've tried C and C++ before and only gotten console games and stuff finished. And what if Apple makes some revolutionary programming shift? Then I have port every single line of code to that. I've also tried ObjC but it's way too confusing.

I'm really trying as hard as I possibly can to optimize it but it's not that easy. I'm sorry.

[DoG]

Originally posted by macboy
First off, I have RB, but it is much slower than this. Second, TNT really puts me off even from the demo. All games have to be fullscreen and you can't customize the menu much. And it costs money. Third, I've tried C and C++ before and only gotten console games and stuff finished. And what if Apple makes some revolutionary programming shift? Then I have port every single line of code to that. I've also tried ObjC but it's way too confusing.

I'm really trying as hard as I possibly can to optimize it but it's not that easy. I'm sorry.

I don't think you have to worry about apple making some revolutionary shift in languages for the time being, unless you are looking for a really cheap excuse ;) . I really don't know what the problem may be. It could not possibly be my setup, unless there is something about it which basic doesn't like. Maybe its Jaguar? I have not tried it in 9 (havent booted to classic for ages), maybe it would be ok there. And why not TNT? Your game is full screen anyway.

Since there is not too much feedback, yet, try to get some people with aging equipment to test it to see if I am special :wacko: or if its really your code. What is your dev machine anyhow?

- D.G

[macboy]

Originally posted by DoooG
And why not TNT? Your game is full screen anyway.Because it would be a waste of time and money for just one game that might not even (in the end) be the best I could do anyways.

Originally posted by Dooog
What is your dev machine anyhow?Classic iMac 733MHz 512MB 10GB HD (60GB physically - Linux installed too) with Mac OS X 10.1.5

[Shivers]

Being part of this dev. team i should make a post:)

I agree that speed is a huge issue and macboy is trying to work that out, who knows. I think i will rerender the backgrounds from a different angle, or maybe make different ones to make the game look better. I agree that the scaling should be more uniform...and enemies should be on the walls. I have some good ideas about how to do this. When it is done the enemies and crates will hopefully look like they are actually in the terrain:D

As to the haystacks or whatever, I am not sure how to make those look right. They looked good when i rendered them but the transparency isn't doing much good for them. I love this feedback namely because I want to make the game worth my while. But even if we have great GFX we still need it to be up to par with speed (hint hint, nudge nudge macboy:p )

[David]

I would recommend rendering people popping up behind the boxes etc. ala quickshot, bloodbath etc.

[Shivers]

that sounds like a good idea, but alas the engine wasn't built completely with tiles so it is hard to implement. Great idea, but we will see.

[David]

Or you could re-do the whole thing with full-3d in opengl like Time Crisis :D That game is the best shooter...

BTW are there any real lightguns for mac? Somebody really should make a time-crisis-style one with the built-in recoil and everything... maybe it's just me but I think that would be really fun for taking out stress etc. As someone pointed out in another thread, no matter how good a shooting game is it's just moving your mouse around, but if you have a lightgun it's not :)

[macboy]

Originally posted by David
Or you could re-do the whole thing with full-3d in opengl like Time Crisis :D That game is the best shooter...I'm programming in MetaL BASIC. There's no OpenGL support. :?:

[Joseph Duchesne]

Macboy: You are sort of makeing a fool of MetaL, The speed can be fixed: use copyrect on Quickdraw mode 36 not copyrect masked!!! There 300% faster! All you do is use whit as the background color and it is masked out. Metal is intolerably slow when using copyrect masked, Come On Metal 2.0!!!!

[macboy]

Originally posted by Joseph Duchesne
Macboy: You are sort of makeing a fool of MetaL, The speed can be fixed: use copyrect on Quickdraw mode 36 not copyrect masked!!! There 300% faster! All you do is use whit as the background color and it is masked out. Metal is intolerably slow when using copyrect masked, Come On Metal 2.0!!!! Uhh... I don't use copyrect masked. :???:

[Joseph Duchesne]

Then it shouldn't be slow? All I tried it on was a G4 733 so I dont know what it is. PLEASE make a loading bar at the beginning. The black screen is not metals fault. maybe you should send me the code and I'll fix it up for you?

[Bachus]

I get around 60fps on a G4 867MHz. I *wish* I was getting 20fps as the game is quite unplayable at those speeds.

Recommendations: 1) you should be able to reload on any edge of the screen. 2) The graphics do need some some major work. The little tiny people just don't match up with the backgrounds.

BTW are there any real lightguns for mac? Somebody really should make a time-crisis-style one with the built-in recoil and everything... maybe it's just me but I think that would be really fun for taking out stress etc. As someone pointed out in another thread, no matter how good a shooting game is it's just moving your mouse around, but if you have a lightgun it's not

I've never seen a lightgun for the Mac *or* PC. I wonder if there's a technical reason (like the Monitor can't provide the right cues for the gun or something).

[macboy]

Originally posted by Joseph Duchesne
Then it shouldn't be slow? All I tried it on was a G4 733 so I dont know what it is.I use the built-in sprite masking feature.

Originally posted by Joseph Duchesne
PLEASE make a loading bar at the beginning.I told you I put loading text at the beginning I just haven't considered it to be very major so it hasn't been uploaded yet.

[macboy]

Originally posted by Bachus
I get around 60fps on a G4 867MHz. I *wish* I was getting 20fps as the game is quite unplayable at those speeds.I know. Sorry. I removed the FPS limiter to see how fast people could get it.

Originally posted by Bachus
Recommendations: 1) you should be able to reload on any edge of the screen. 2) The graphics do need some some major work. The little tiny people just don't match up with the backgrounds.1) I'll put that in. Thanks for a constructive idea ;)
2) Yeah. Working on it.

P.S. to all: Try not to repeat just what other people said unless I bluntly refuse to at least try it.

[Joseph Duchesne]

Oh yeagh! and the people don't mach the background:p . /badass mode