i'm creating a multiplayer 2D shooter called OUTCLASS. currently i've done own menu system and i want you to test it.

first of all some screenshots:

main menu:
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audio settings menu:
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video settings menu:
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credits screen:
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console:
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download:
windows installer - 2.13 MB
source code [no music and datafiles] - 260 KB
binary lite version - 2 MB
binary lite version [no music] - 535 KB
music only - 1.51 MB

more info:
you can't play a game. this is only the core system test.

what you can do in this version:

• create multiple user profiles, each can have own password and settings.

• use menu system, to move around use keyboard or JOYPAD. mouse can be also used, but it's support is experimental.

• change video settings on the fly, like switching resolution, changing between windowed and fullscreen modes.

• change audio settings [OUTCLASS is using BASS] at run time.

• define controls [not many yet]. works keyboard + mouse + joypad/joystick/gamepad/whatever.

• use console to change all settings mentioned above and more. use command var_list for command list.

• change language, but you need to create a language_*.ini file on your own [in /ini dir].

• more, you need to discover it!

final notes:

• documentation is NOT included, sorry.

• music included in this release is 'stolen' from the MODARCHIVE website.

THANKS FOR ANY COMMENTS about this release. i'm going to bed right now, to get some sleep.
tomasz grajewski

Very polished and professional looking! I liked that the menu responded to common conventions like using TAB to move between different elements. As far as input is concerned: when I made my first player it asked for a country/flag. A nice feature, but also rather irritating that I had to scroll through the entire list. I live in the UK, so I feel hitting U should have really jumped to that alphabetic section.

As a side note, the texture behind the menu didn't really scroll that smoothly.

It looks very impressive so far. Keep up the good work.

It crashes on my system, refresh rate not supported.

to change refresh rate manually, please edit the file ini/outclass.ini and add or edit this line:

vid_refresh_rate = 160

but this is very strange, that game crashes at this moment. can you tell me more about this crash? any message boxes appear, or something?

Sorry! I meant my monitor doesn't support your game defualt refresh rate!
Added that new line, it works now, but I can't control the menu because is constantly changing from one option to another, like if it were a key pressed down, perhaps the refresh rate change did this, not sure.

EDIT
I set it to 60fps

maybe try to run it in windowed mode? add or edit this line in ini/outclass.ini:

vid_fullscreen = false

and please tell my, if your problems with keys are still present.

Would it be possible to also get "music and datafiles [no windows installer]"?

added another link for download. it's in first post or here.

BTW miran, are you trying to run OUTCLASS in linux? please tell me if you succeed.

No way, not even close. Your code is too platform dependant.

as you said! added this functionality and it will be in the next version. thanks!

so anybody downloaded OUTCLASS and has some problems running it, or maybe any suggestions what can be improved?

I downloaded it and tried it out. It worked fine, and looks really good.

Nice graph, wiseguy.

I lost my net for a while, and I don't post unless I'm asking or answering a question

VERY impressive; it has a very professional look and feel to it. I can't wait to see the finished game.

Very nice and polished! However, I am not sure why, but on the audio settings menu, the menu would periodically stop responding to the keyboard. It would work perfectly for a few seconds, and then would not respond for a few seconds, and then, after a that, it would "catch up" with the keypresses while "frozen." This only happened in the audio settings menu.

As said before, it looks VERY polished and I can't wait to see the finished game be up to par with the menu!

[edit]

Actually, this thread looks like it is discussing the exact same problem, but it only seems to happen on the audio settings menu for me.

[/edit]

Very nice indeed as posters above said.
I had the same problem with refresh rate, maybe you should lower the default to 60 and override it to whatever you want to use yourself with the .ini

As Nial said its somewhat irritating to get the flag (Sweden for me), then again, you said that it will be fixed so its all cool

When selecting a profile, its not obvious that you should enter your password, instead you get the error prompt. At that point I got the aha-moment ... need to provide password.

Does the mouse do anything else than move the menus up and down? It would be cool but not necesary to be able to affect the sliders with the mouse, or at least select the menuoptions.

Keep up the good work!

thanks for a good word! and also thanks for some feedback.

it's true, especially on slower PC's, not only in audio settings, but i don't know yet why it is happening. i've read this thread, that you've mentioned and i hope, that i resolved this problem, but i'm not sure, and need some time for testing...

this problem is already resolved, i fixed it and it shouldn't be a problem in a next version.

well, as i said in the first post, the mouse support is rather experimental. you can use it to move trough menus by third mouse button and wheel. pointer is displayed only for testing purposes.

Here are the specs of the laptop I was testing it on (in case it helps you):

Intel Pentium M 1.5 GHz (*Running at 595 MHz*)
512 MB RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 32 MB
Running at 800 X 600 Fullscreen (when I noticed the problem)

Microsoft USB Wireless Optical Mouse

i forgot to ask about the soundtrack (if you downloaded 2 MB version, 1h 13min). it is good? this soundtrack is not made by me, but if tracks are good enough, i plan to contact with the authors to get the permission for distribution with OUTCLASS.

so, how do you rate the tracks (1 - bad, 10 excellent)?
A - "ACIED" [6:49] B - "B4STARD" [3:36] C - "BIG BASS" [6:01] D - "DEEP SPACE" [3:34] E - "FUTURO" [7:17] F - "MISSION GOA" [6:39] G - "NATARAJA" [8:56] H - "OVERDRIVE" [2:05] I - "SCORPION TEMPLE" [7:14] J - "SOME OTHER WORLD" [4:20] K - "THE STORM" [4:53] L - "SWEET DREAM" (remix) [7:30] M - "THEYEAROFLIGHTYEAR" [4:53]

I'm really terrible at rating stuff on a scale, but there are some thoughts.

If your game is going to be a fast paced game with instant action, most of the songs have too long intro (around 1 minute). Sometimes thats 1/3'rd of the total song???

I didn't really like was Mister E - Sweet dream, its changing "style" too often IMHO, probably made for a scene-demo. The problem is that once the song get to a intensive part, maybe your game is just sending a few enemies to shoot at, and when it easing down there are overwhelming with enemies to some "You are number 392"-telephonequeue-tune.

In short, I'd try to find tracks that are rather intensive from the begining to the end, that way you make sure the player is on his/her guard at all times.
OTH, most of the songs (besides Sweet dream) would work as soundtrack for the menus.

Most of the tracks are really good (8 or 9 if I must use a scale), but perhaps not for your game.

Just my thoughts on it

ps. You should provide a zip with the songs since the demo you gave us doesn't allow to fast forward. And its less to download for those who havent got the demo yet

added a zip with the music only. it's in the first post and here. tracks are in the .mo3 format, to play them you can use XMPlay.

EDIT:
and about the game. it will be a mixture of the well known worms and less known soldat so expect fast and furious action, with destructable terrain and gibs falling from the sky... or something like that

Just tried it out now.

Very slick interface. Good music to boot. Well done.

Soldat is the greatest bestest game evar!

probably yes. i haven't played it too long, maybe one hour few years ago. i liked the idea of this game.

and about OUTCLASS. maybe some more comments about it? anyone had any problems running it? any crashes, system lock-ups? please post if you had any of these!

BTW, i made the home page for OUTCLASS. it's rather very simple, but will be updated, as the game will evolve.

I listened to a few of the songs (not all of them though) and I mostly agree with ixilom. The ones that I listened to were all not very suitable for a game. If the game is fast, then the progressions are too slow and if it's a slow exploration kind of game, then the dynamic range is too big (goes from soft and slow to fast and loud and then back) which creates too much distraction. Maybe if you really like the style, you could contact the author(s) to have them make new music for you, specially designed for being used in a game. Judging by the screenshots in this thread, you should have no problem getting people's interet in this.

this thread is dying, but i must ask again to be sure: did OUTCLASS crashed for anyone? any problems running it, other than those already mentioned?

if no one will reply, then i assume that it works perfectly (the bugs and mis-features mentioned above has been fixed for the next release).

SO THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT! i hope that all of you will check the next version, which is coming soon

EDIT:
about the music - probably the next release will contain a different sountrack (maybe more guitars?). i'm still searching for more music, which will be better than current