Release Candidate 4 Available

[Pazolli]

Release Candidate 4 for Hooptie's Second Milestone release is now available for download as a compressed disk image at:

Inkubator's Website (http://inkubator.idevgames.com/hooptie-cocoa-0.2.dmg.tgz)

This release candidate is expected to be the final release candidate before the Second Milestone is publicly announced. That means it will probably be your last chance to offer feedback on the release candidate. While this release need not be perfect because it is a developer release not an end-user release. It is important that it be stable enough to give potential developers a positive impression of the project.

You are strongly encouraged to download this release candidate, complete the above poll and attach your feedback to this thread.

Enjoy,
Mark Pazolli

[DaFalcon]

I like it! And the splash screen does go well, if I dare say so myself :p I've always wondered why the "transporting in" animation displays when a transporter is destroyed. Is that leftover from when it was an egg hatching and it made sense to "crack open" when the egg was destroyed? And is level 4 new? I like it :-) Hooptie just keeps getting better and better, and with that bug squashed, I haven't encountered any problems in my playtesting yet!

[Kjurtyl]

I took Release Candidate 4 for a spin. Everything looks and works great for the most part.
I find the game flow to be much more fluid this time around.

But, I also spotted a new bug - unfortunately. :( Sometimes, when I push a large column
of blocks around, a Scoutbot will sneak into the file while I'm pushing the blocks.
I can then push the entire column right through the bot (keeping the appropriate key pressed down.)
After the column goes right through, the bot usually kills my penguin.

Despite this minor problem, however, I consider the general state of Hooptie to be very positive and ready for release.

-Kjurtyl

[Pazolli]

Originally posted by DaFalcon
I like it!

Excellent! :-)

And the splash screen does go well, if I dare say so myself :p

It does.

I've always wondered why the "transporting in" animation displays when a transporter is destroyed. Is that leftover from when it was an egg hatching and it made sense to "crack open" when the egg was destroyed?

No, it's new and entirely deliberate. I always thought it looked good way, like the teleporter was screaming out for help. Though, I'm just one person and I'm more than happy to change it, if you feel it should be changed, just say (if you're reading this and have an opinion please post it too as we need another perspective on this).

And is level 4 new?

No quite old actually, though the levels in this version are just for demonstration, I plan a lot, lot more in the final version (obviously).

I like it :-) Hooptie just keeps getting better and better, and with that bug squashed, I haven't encountered any problems in my playtesting yet!

Cool though I wish some more people would reply to the poll so I could verify that it is ready for release. I guess there might be quite a few who have downloaded it, and are just waiting till they get back online to offer feedback.

Thanks for your feedback,
Mark

[Pazolli]

Originally posted by Kjurtyl
But, I also spotted a new bug - unfortunately. :( Sometimes, when I push a large column
of blocks around, a Scoutbot will sneak into the file while I'm pushing the blocks.
I can then push the entire column right through the bot (keeping the appropriate key pressed down.)
After the column goes right through, the bot usually kills my penguin.

Eeek! That is a rather significant bug. I will see what I can do.

Thanks for your bug report Kjurtyl,
Mark

[Kjurtyl]

About the teleporters and their death sequence...
I find it is so similar to the normal way aliens beam-in that it is misleading. Whenever I play and walk over the teleporters, I have the impression an alien is popping in as I do this. I don't dislike the animation, but maybe it should be at least distinguishable from the beam-in, otherwise it is confusing.

-Kjurtyl

[Chris Burkhardt]

The splash screen that is displayed at the beginning of each level (with the story of Hooptie on it) should stay up until the user clicks the mouse... I get through about 4 words each game :cool:
I think the animation when a teleporter is killed looks good... but any animation would probably do, so, if Falcon is up to it, a new animation couldn't hurt (esp. if the current one is confusing people :cool: ). Maybe animate the teleporter beaming up.
I haven't been able to reproduce the above bug... but I'll keep trying. I think we should hold off on the Milestone II release until that one has been stepped on, too.
I think some of the documentation needs be updated before MS II

[Chris Burkhardt]

And is level 4 new?Wow, I've never made it to level 4... I've only been to level 3 twice :)

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Chris Burkhardt

I think some of the documentation needs be updated before MS II


I agree with holding off Milestone II until Kj's bug is fixed, but what documentation in particular do you believe needs updating? Documentation (as you might appreciate) is not particularly fun to write/edit and even worse if it is developer documentation.

Mark.

[Pazolli]

That's me above :-), just in case you were wondering.

As for the bug you mentioned Kjurtyl it would be helpful if you could provide us with some more information.

By my interpretation of it, sometimes, a Scoutbot (one of the red enemies) simply slip in behind the centre of a moving row of ice blocks being pushed by yourself. As you continue pushing the ice blocks keep moving over the Scoutbot and when Hooptie hits the Scoutbot he dies.

If...

* The Scoutbot only slips in on the tile where Hooptie is moving to.

or...

* The Scoutbot slips in to a space and is not crushed as the ice blocks continue to move.

These are important distinctions I need to know about. Also any information you can provide on the frequency of the bug and when it occurs might also be helpful.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Mark

[DaFalcon]

I will see if I can create a 'screaming for help' teleporter sequence :-) Actually, If I remember right, there was hope that I'd have "destruction" animations for all dying objects :) ... perhaps in time, though the dissolve effect looks great and is already done :p

As for level 4, I guess I'd just never gotten that far before! lol Hooptie is fun, but rather difficult (I like that, but think it will work better when we have a full set of levels.)

I agree with the story sequence needing to wait, especially with so much text!

I also wondered if the scoutbots deliberately face down (south?) when stopped because you wanted it that way, or because it is just their default rest state. It isn't an obvious thing, but I guess it confuses me like the teleportation graphics did :D

[edited to fix some lousy typos, mostly]

[Pazolli]

Originally posted by DaFalcon
I will see if I can create a screaming for help teleporter sequence :-) Actually, If I remember right, there was hope that I'd have "destruction" animations for all dying objects :) ... perhaps in time, though the dissolve effect looks great and is already done :p

I'd put the screaming for help teleporter as a sort of low priority, I like it as is, and really, really want more uniform screens first.

As for level 4, I guess I'd just never gotten that far before! lol Hooptie isfun, but rather difficuly (I like that, but think it will work better when we have a full set of levels.)

Exactly Hooptie is difficult at the moment because I just wanted levels to test out Hooptie's functionality. In time the levels will be varied (including puzzles) and of slowly increasing difficulty.

I agree with the story sequence needing to wait, especially with so much text!

I also wondered if the scoutbots deliberately face down (south?) when stopped because you wanted it that way, or because it is just their default rest state. It isn't an obvious thing, but I guess it confuses me like the teleportation graphic :D [/B]
Glad you agree with the story needing to wait. Generally everything I do is deliberate, (I'm a step away from taking Micro$oft's policy, "it's not a bug it's a feature" :D). Yes it is marginally easier for the ScoutBots to face down when resting (it's also easier not to have a disappearing sequence which is why I'm not too keen on the new teleport out idea), but I also think it looks somewhat more menacing. If the ScoutBot continues to face in the direction he stops the screen becomes less orderly and in my opinion less attractive. But you're welcome to disagree.

Mark

[Feanor]

Well it looks fantastic and plays very smoothly.

I only have to point out the obvious -- no sound. That might limit its appeal.

My high score after four games is 49000 or so. I think I made it to level four. Who is the reigning Hooptie champion?

Brent

[Kjurtyl]

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Nope, I haven't managed to take a screenshot of the bug in action, but here's a few diagrams:
Remember: I am pushing the column of blocks downwards.

H=Hooptie, X=Iceblock, S=Scoutbot, W=ScoutbotInIce

Step 1: Step 2: Step 3:
H H W
X X XXXX
X XXXX X
XXXX W X
SX X X
X X X

And Hooptie's days in the sun are over.

I didn't try stopping the column. I was trying to replicate the hooptie death bug, therefore I had a few apps open in the background. Happened twice on level 2 (you may recognize the block formations they're on the right of the screen.) The bot clearly merged into the column and failed to be crushed by the subsequent iceblocks.

Does this help any?

-Kjurtyl

[DaFalcon]

I'll buy the menacing thing :-) Scoutbots look better facing down than up anyway ;) And I agree about the priorities, and of course I make all my suggestions/comments with a complete disregard for what it means for the programmer... not to be evil: I'm just ignorant :D