JumpTheGun Beta 2
Aaron Santiago

Because the TIGForums are down and I need some feedback on this:
WELP,LOOKSLIKETHISISTHEFINALVERSION
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WOOT TITLE SCREEN
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First game with A5, in the process of creating for the TIGSource competition themed "Versus."
It's not the best, but it's pretty fun. I hope. ;D

Mark Oates

"The program can't start because libstdc++6.dll is missing"

Aaron Santiago

Ah, forgot some stuff when building to Release. I'll fix that in a bit.
[EDIT]
Still uploading...I didn't realize this thing was such a monster. I'll move to rar's now.
...and done. Link updated.

AMCerasoli

Your game is too big, most of the time I'm using a GPRS internet connection (phone).

But that isn't all. You should find a way to reduce the amount of "media" in it, or implement algorithms to reduce its size.

For example I downloaded another game of yours (which also had a size around 20Mb) and all its content was almost just wav files (which are very size-expensive). I'm telling you this because I think you're going the wrong direction, tomorrow you could want to add even more media, and your games are going to be really big.

You could use ogg files instead of wav, think there is completely 3D games out there which size is less than 20 mb and they are full of media, Graphics Sounds 3D models etc...
Even when you use ogg files you could reduce the size of the song by spiting it.

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As you can see, in that image, the same waves are repeated 3 times (it's like you are distributing your game with 3 repeated files) if you split that song and create an algorithm to reproduce it, you could reduce the size of your song even a 70%, of course isn't necessary but you could think about it, if someday you want to use a lot of media data.

Your current game should be less that 3 Mb.

Aaron Santiago

Just converted to OGG, and OH GOD does it make a difference.
Thanks for the tip, I wasn't really paying attention to it.

Neil Roy

Another size optimization would be to use PNGs for your images. They look just as good, support alpha but are quite a bit smaller. For example, your map2-preview is 45K as a TGA, after saving it as a PNG it's only 8.6K. Multiply that over all the PNGs you have and it adds up. You could also store all your graphics and sound in a ZIP and then access them using PHYSFS library (Allegro 5 supports this). It's simple to set up, you can store all your game data in a file, name it whatever you wish (data.pak for example, doesn't have to have .zip) then use code like this:

   PHYSFS_init(argv[0]);
   PHYSFS_addToSearchPath("data.pak", 1);
   al_set_physfs_file_interface();

   image = al_load_bitmap("logo.png");


   // etc

You just need to install the PHYSFS library (easy to do) and recompile Allegro 5 so the support is added. Well worth the effort.

then you just zip up all your graphics and sound into one zip, rename it to whatever you wish (data.pak in this example, but it could be whatever you wish). The size would be reduced and your game data would be hidden from view.

MiquelFire

Here's a question, would using a zip with png and ogg files be more space saving than using a zip with tga and wav files?

Neil Roy

I'm not sure what the difference would be in the zip. I was thinking that you could actually store wav and tga's in a zip this way, but would larger files effect the game when it loads them? I would opt for the smaller ogg and png files myself, then zip them. Just to keep them grouped in a single data file (you can use folders in the datafile too, do you could have data.pak then access them inside the zip from folders so it would even be better organized. graphics could be in a GFX folder, sound in a SND etc... then access using image = al_load_bitmap("gfx/my_image.png"). I'm also thinking that once they're loaded, they would still have to occupy more memory before they're converted I imagine.

I just tested it, I stored the PNG without compression and it was a little more than 8.7K, I compressed it in a zip and it was 8.6K, so there was some space savings.

Interestingly, the TGA version zipped up to 5.61K compressed, so you could go that route, but I would make copies of all your files in the new format under consideration and zip them all up to see the difference. And like I said, there's also the memory required to actually load in larger files, so you could compress or simply don't compress but store files in uncompressed zips just so they're all in one datafile.

EDIT:

Okay, just played the game a little. Looks promising. You need some sort of intro/title screen and some more information on what to do. When I am selecting characters and what not, I don't have a clue what the differences are between the characters, and it took me a little while to figure out both players had to press start (and which keys start). I went and customized the keys because there was no information on what keys done what. When I customized them and got the game started, I picked space for player one to jump... space also happens to restart the game, so you need to have some checks in there so it warns the player when they customize a key that it is already in use (and what it is currently used for). Perhaps show a listing showing what keys are currently used for what.

I'm not sure what you're developing this game for, but would it be possible to have larger scrolling levels and perhaps a split screen for each player. Or maybe just larger levels with more places to run to.

Looks like fun anyhow. nice work. I like the music and sound effects you have and the way players interact with each other.

I also noticed, once you get 10 kills or more, the number no longer fits in that little box that shows the number of kills. Perhaps widen it to two digits or set it so that once you get 10 kills you win the match and it starts a new one, perhaps with a snazzy message with an announcers voice saying player one or two is the winner, you could even rate how well they done by how far ahead they are over the other player. If the score is 10 to 0, you could say they "OWNED" them, if they're say 10 to 2, they could have "DOMINITATED" them etc... 10 - 9 "GOT LUCKY"... :)

Matthew Leverton

Here's a question, would using a zip with png and ogg files be more space saving than using a zip with tga and wav files?

Yes, because using an OGG is better (smaller) than a ZIP+WAV. But putting an OGG in a ZIP won't help much in terms of size because it's already compressed...

Mark Oates

I like the graphics and sound effects.

It's tough for me to do anything because I'm playing with myself.

...

I also assigned the space key to jump, and it caused the level to reset each time I jumped.

Onewing

It's tough for me to do anything because I'm playing with myself.

That's what she said.

Aaron Santiago

NEW VERSION GO PLAY IT NOW WITH A FRIEND

Neil Roy said:

Okay, just played the game a little. Looks promising. You need some sort of intro/title screen and some more information on what to do. When I am selecting characters and what not, I don't have a clue what the differences are between the characters, and it took me a little while to figure out both players had to press start (and which keys start). I went and customized the keys because there was no information on what keys done what. When I customized them and got the game started, I picked space for player one to jump... space also happens to restart the game, so you need to have some checks in there so it warns the player when they customize a key that it is already in use (and what it is currently used for). Perhaps show a listing showing what keys are currently used for what.

I'm not sure what you're developing this game for, but would it be possible to have larger scrolling levels and perhaps a split screen for each player. Or maybe just larger levels with more places to run to.

Looks like fun anyhow. nice work. I like the music and sound effects you have and the way players interact with each other.

I also noticed, once you get 10 kills or more, the number no longer fits in that little box that shows the number of kills. Perhaps widen it to two digits or set it so that once you get 10 kills you win the match and it starts a new one, perhaps with a snazzy message with an announcers voice saying player one or two is the winner, you could even rate how well they done by how far ahead they are over the other player. If the score is 10 to 0, you could say they "OWNED" them, if they're say 10 to 2, they could have "DOMINITATED" them etc... 10 - 9 "GOT LUCKY"... :)

Ha, dominitated. ;D
It's just a small demo-ish thing at this point, but I've uploaded a new version that adds a ton of what you had asked for. Apparently I'm really good at foreseeing issues, seeing as I've only just now read your posts. Spacebar has gone away, character previews with some stats are up. Now there aren't any keys being used for other things except for ESC.
I've added a 3 kill limit, at which point you get a little message thing. I've added a pause menu, so you don't have to restart the game every time you want a new match.

Side note here, I'm making this game for the TIGForums Compo themed "Versus," (oh wait, I already said that... ;) ) amd it's due Monday, so no scrolling levels for me. Besides, if (when) I want bigger maps, I can just double the resolution. Right now the game is being scaled up 2X.

Neil Roy said:

You just need to install the PHYSFS library (easy to do) and recompile Allegro 5 so the support is added. Well worth the effort.

then you just zip up all your graphics and sound into one zip, rename it to whatever you wish (data.pak in this example, but it could be whatever you wish). The size would be reduced and your game data would be hidden from view.

OH GOD THERE'S NO TIME
I still need to relearn the voice functions for a5: sample->mixer->voice just so I can know when it's stopped playing? :o
If you didn't notice, I cheated a bit on the loading screen, and if the game loads faster than the intro music is played, it just keeps on truckin'.

Thanks for the feedback guys! ;D

Neil Roy

Yay, if I set my jump to space, I can win the game by jumping 3 times. ;) It still resets it, only now it gives me a win when it does.

Also, I had a hack of a time starting it, I tried starting it with both players and several times it jumped me back to the start screen.

Aaron Santiago
Neil Roy said:

Yay, if I set my jump to space, I can win the game by jumping 3 times. It still resets it, only now it gives me a win when it does.

Also, I had a hack of a time starting it, I tried starting it with both players and several times it jumped me back to the start screen.

For the first one, yeah, I just found out about that. I'll be working deep into the night to get this build of the game done, which will have a lot more on the aesthetics side.
Also, elaborate on that last one. Did you see the loading screen, etc? I haven't encountered a problem like that at all.

[EDIT]
New new version is up! Try it out, a lot of problems should have gone away.

Trent Gamblin

It's tough for me to do anything because I'm playing with myself.

:D

Mark Oates

Is anybody else having trouble because they have to play with themselves? ???

'Cause, it would be useful for the developer to know if you're playing with yourself. :-/

AMCerasoli

You want the developer to know if you're playing with yourself?

Anyway I called my sister so I can play with her, I know it's estrange to play this kind of game with my sister, but mine is big, so she was touching the left part and I the right, we finish very quick, it's a good game but needs to be improved.......

Mark Oates

Ok that was too far. :(

Aaron Santiago

It's alright Mark, I know it's impossible to get much out of this without someone else.
And Amcerasoli, you're going to have to elaborate more.
Next-to-final version is going to be up soon. Tons of glitch fixes and some kick ass new aesthetics. ;D

Neil Roy

Anyway I called my sister so I can play with her, I know it's estrange to play this kind of game with my sister, but mine is big, so she was touching the left part and I the right, we finish very quick, it's a good game but needs to be improved.......

LMAO, yeah, if you can't score with your sister, who can you? ;D

LennyLen

And Amcerasoli, you're going to have to elaborate more.

Please don't. Unless yours sister is very hot. In which case, elaborate with pictures.

Dizzy Egg

Performing oral sex on your sister is like drinking non-alcoholic beer; it may taste the same, but it's just not right.

J-Gamer

Back on topic:
Why don't you add some AI? It wouldn't have to be really complicated, but just to test the game out when not having another person with whom you can play.

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