And how do I reproduce that? 
It's better, it's harder, it has sound and more boss. Download it. [win32, installer] You will love it.
http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/597174
(Alternate download [win32, zip] -- same content, but a zip)
]]>It froze when I was fighting the first boss.
]]>And how do I reproduce that?
It has become quite a bit more hectic than your first release. I found myself constantly repairing my turrets. I didn't have the time to watch, which I really liked in your previous version. The boss was really cool, though.
Unfortunately it froze for me too, when I clicked on the "upgrade fire rate"-button of a laser turret. I was at Level 16-18 or so... didn't have the time to check the exact level either. 
I think I've fixed this bug now. Try again.
]]>Nice! I like the graphics. The interface could use some keyboard commands (or if they exist, some hint as to what they are).
One for each action (notably repair) would be nice. Maybe you could make it so that holding down ALT or space displays all turrets current health?
Great game, made harder (in a bad way) by a cumbersome interface 
I'm on linux so I can't try it now but....
DUDE!!!! I love this game, YOU should make this into an iPhone game ==> PROFIT!!!!
Hell, I'll do the coding if you do the graphics and we can split the profit...
]]>This thing looks awesome. Haven't had a chance to get past the first level, but I'll play it more over Thanksgiving. Now you just need a cool music track.
]]>Played it some more. Awesome game The controls still bug me a bit (repair and destroy are a bit too close to each other btw), but whatever
One thing I would have liked is a defensive structure of some kind... maybe a shield (which protects nearby turrets) or a point-defence laser (which shoots at incoming projectiles) or something. Something to make it less "most DPS for money" and more tactical.
]]>The interface could use some keyboard commands (or if they exist, some hint as to what they are).
Yeah, I'd like to set a weapon to a number (click turret, press CTRL+#, afterwards, pressing # selects that turret), and then a hotkey for repairing the turret. It's not much fun to select a tower and then select repair over and over.
Nonetheless, a very well-rounded (minus the lack of a music track), polished and addicting game. Kudos.
]]>I love this game! It's good to see it again. I think point defense a/o shield would be awesome.
The bullets make lasers die sooooo fast...the only things I could afford to keep were a pair of missile turrets on either side. 
edit: WHAT IS WITH THESE GIANT BOUNCING RED BALLS OF DOOM I CAN'T KILL THEM
edit2: I need a way to see all health bars.
]]>I'm on linux so I can't try it now but....
The game runs fine in wine.
Its pretty hard.. I got to wave 10.
]]>YAY ! Another release !
I was thinking you will never touch it again, X-G :-)
I'll try it when I'll have some free time today :-) :-) ( BTW I am so happy !! :-)
]]>This game kicks ass.
I made it past the first boss, and about 4 levels after that, when I clicked on a missile turret, the sound started looping and the game hung up. I was clicking on the second missile turret from the right :
http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/597178
Excellent game and great graphics, I never knew you had a game in you.
One thing I found would be of benefit is to see the status of my weapons just by hovering over them rather than having to click on then, or something similar.
]]>Tried again, this time it was level 25 I think, and I lost a laser tower so I went to add another one and clicked twice in a row quickly - once to place it and the second click was kind of by accident, but it hung again on the second click.
http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/597179
I got up to wave 19. Good game, its a good update to the old game. Good graphics. And the sound is awesome too, I love the retro feel it gives you.
But now, to the ranting!
One thing that bothered me was that life bars weren't always displayed. I had to constantly click on each gun to see if it needs repairing. The repairing didn't bother me, the clicking did.
Another thing, the red ball, if it explodes on the ground it hurts your life. Its acceptable if the aliens hurt you when they come to the ground, but the red ball? I can't even hurt it! What am I supposed to do, put turrets all over the ground to stop it? That would cost me even more for repairing.
Well, those are about the only two things that bothered me. Great game!
]]>I managed to make it all the way to level 35 but it hung again.
Wow! Talk about War of the Worlds! Major armageddon going on. 
I couldn't look up, and it was all I could do just to keep clicking on each turret and trying to move quickly over to repair without clicking on destroy. I lost a few really nice missile launchers that way. 
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I am astonished that some people who are well known allegroits were not aware of the first release of that game.
]]>Wow, I've never thought that this game will get a new release. I'm pleasantly surprised.
I am astonished that some people who are well known allegroits were not aware of the first release of that game.
Agreed.
This is definatelly going to be a good time waster, I'm kinda scared to download it
:-( I got frozen each time before level 10.
Even gdb isn't telling me anything, what makes me think it's not a memory bug. More an implementation bug.
X-G, can you provide us some debug release, with some trace enabled ?
]]>I am astonished that some people who are well known allegroits were not aware of the first release of that game.
I was a fan of the first release.
I can't get past wave 36. I've gotten there twice. I had a strategy I thought was going to take past, but then it froze at wave 22 (sorry, don't have a way to reproduce it).
]]>After level 20 I got bored as it just repeats the same gameplay over again. More weapons and bosses would be nice.
And there's an annoying pixel in the wrong place of the space invader when it opens its legs
http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/597181
]]>
Another thing, the red ball, if it explodes on the ground it hurts your life. Its acceptable if the aliens hurt you when they come to the ground, but the red ball? I can't even hurt it! What am I supposed to do, put turrets all over the ground to stop it? That would cost me even more for repairing.
That, or kill the boss before he kills you, yes. It's the only way the boss can kill you, after all.
And there's an annoying pixel in the wrong place of the space invader
Who says it's in the wrong place?
Those of you who insist it still crashes -- are you sure you have the latest release? I fixed that bug.
Another thing, the red ball, if it explodes on the ground it hurts your life. Its acceptable if the aliens hurt you when they come to the ground, but the red ball? I can't even hurt it! What am I supposed to do, put turrets all over the ground to stop it? That would cost me even more for repairing.
You can place the cheapo* $140 turret right before the ball hits the ground, with no intention of repairing or upgrading the turret (you can demolish it after the wave is over to get some money back).
Another tactic is to build up cheapo* lasers in the middle with full upgrades by the time of the boss wave. The boss mainly floats in the middle, so this will kill him fast.
Those of you who insist it still crashes -- are you sure you have the latest release? I fixed that bug.
I think you should disregard my comment. I've played through several times without it freezing. I've always had this problem with allegro games freezing randomly for no reason (and I've started threads trying to figure out why this occurs).
*Guess I've dubbed it the "cheapo" laser. 
I made it past the first boss, and about 4 levels after that, ... the sound started looping and the game hung up.
Same here... just downloaded the zip version.
]]>
Those of you who insist it still crashes -- are you sure you have the latest release? I fixed that bug.
I suspect X-G to not have updated his first post links.
]]>No, I uploaded them in the same place.
]]>So it's still bugging there.
I tried the zip and the exe. Same effect. It does not crash, but freeze.
It would really help if you said where and how instead of being useless. >:|
]]>Haha, I can see X-G doing customer service:
Customer: "Hello? Yeah, um, my computer isn't working."
X-G: "Am I to be surprised? You're the one who isn't working.:P"
Don't go all Derek Smart on us X-G
Yeah XG, if you're going to sell this game over the iStore (and get rich from the iFans iMonies), you'll have to work on those customer service skills... 
I'm sure it would be rejected for being confusingly similar to iTunes.
]]>It would really help if you said where and how instead of being useless. >:|
Meh, a usefull trace ! gdb does not output NOTHING since the application isn't segfaulting but simply FREEZING. Got it ?
]]>You know you can still get the current call stack wherever its stuck right? Just break execution and get the backtrace.
Also, X-G is probably asking what you did to get it to hang.
]]>I also got the freeze on Windows. I think I just did a tower upgrade, but I don't remember which one. Starting with tons of money may make it easier to repro.
Edit:
I also managed to get a crash on level 2 or 3. My sequence was to build a missle tower at one end, then chain laser towers to slowly reach the other end.
Unhandled exception at 0x01d87434 in CosmicInvaders.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x01d8c000.
This is about the code where it segfaults:
01D87402 mov dword ptr es:[edi],eax 01D87405 add edi,4 01D87408 cmp eax,0FF00FFh 01D8740D je 01D87412 01D8740F mov dword ptr es:[edi],eax 01D87412 add edi,4 01D87415 mov eax,dword ptr [esi] 01D87417 add esi,4 01D8741A cmp eax,0FF00FFh 01D8741F je 01D87424 01D87421 mov dword ptr es:[edi],eax 01D87424 add edi,4 01D87427 cmp eax,0FF00FFh 01D8742C je 01D87431 01D8742E mov dword ptr es:[edi],eax 01D87431 add edi,4 01D87434 mov eax,dword ptr [esi] <<== HERE 01D87436 add esi,4 01D87439 ret With: EAX 00FF00FF ESI 01D8C000 EDI 01A45418
The call stack is:
> 01d87434() alleg42.dll!67a28e69() [Frames below may be incorrect and/or missing, no symbols loaded for alleg42.dll]
The code looks like a 32-bpp masked blit, with a loop inlined.
Edit2: Attached screenshot of crashpoint.
]]>You know you can still get the current call stack wherever its stuck right? Just break execution and get the backtrace.
How do you do that? I used the break key while the program was running out of gdb and it doesn't do anything and tried it with gdb in focus and it just quit out of gdb. CTRL C doesn't work either.
It hangs randomly as far as I can tell. One time it did it on the first level, other times other levels. It doesn't seem to matter whether I was clicking at the time or not. I think it gets stuck in some while loop somewhere. Invalid iterator? I don't know. My function tracer should be able to log up to the last function call before it hangs, but the tracelog will be at least tens and likely hundreds of megabytes large due to the length of time needed to run the program, and you'd have to compile a special version.
]]>It hangs randomly as far as I can tell. One time it did it on the first level, other times other levels. It doesn't seem to matter whether I was clicking at the time or not. I think it gets stuck in some while loop somewhere. Invalid iterator?
Exactly what I am experiencing.
]]>My first time I got to 21, and on my third try I beat 30 waves!
Incredibly addicting, I love it!
I put a whole line of "cheapo lasers" along the bottom and upgraded their firing speeds to max. After a while, I gave them all missiles too. After the level 20 boss, it became a repair-fest. Around 25-26 I started losing a couple, and the level 30 boss was crazy. At that point, the levels are actually harder than the bosses!
Just a couple suggestions:
-Hotkey R for repairing?
-HP bar on mouse-over?
Also, no crashes here.
See, Bob knows how to be helpful. :]
If a backtrace or disassembly is not available, the least you can do is explain what you were doing when it crashed.
The thing is, the crash-on-upgrading-past-the-maximum bug was fixed. I know I fixed it. You folk that are still experiencing crashes, are you using the .zip or .exe?
]]>I can't give you any backtraces - it hangs up and gets stuck in an endless loop. I don't know how you're supposed to break execution at that point.
I've been using the zip file.
The thing is, the crash-on-upgrading-past-the-maximum bug was fixed. I know I fixed it.
One time, it hung up on the very first level, so I don't think it had anything to do with too many upgrades.
Edit
Made it to level 36! It didn't hang up at all this time. <- Scratch that, I beat 41!
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However, I started over, and on level 3 or 4 it hung again. I wasn't doing anything at the time except moving the mouse pointer. Here's the screen at the time :
http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/597186
I can't download either version. I get randomly disconnected from the server partway through. I tried with Opera, FF, and even IE. I then downloaded GetRight, but had the same problem there, and resuming the download started from the beginning again with the same result.
]]>
> 01d87434()
alleg42.dll!67a28e69()
The code looks like a 32-bpp masked blit, with a loop inlined.
If you can tell that from a number and a couple of assembly lines you're either very clever or you need to get a life
If you can tell that from a number and a couple of assembly lines you're either very clever or you need to get a life
It's pretty easy to see if you look at the code, actually:
01D87415 mov eax,dword ptr [esi] 01D87417 add esi,4 01D8741A cmp eax,0FF00FFh 01D8741F je 01D87424 01D87421 mov dword ptr es:[edi],eax 01D87424 add edi,4
This section of code essentially repeats. What it does is:
1. Load the a 32 bit value from one location ([esi]) in eax
2. Advance the pointer to the source location to the next 32 bit value
3. If EAX is magic pink (00FF00FFh), skip the following instruction (4)
4. Set the 32 bit value at another location (es:[edi]) to the value in EAX
5. Advance the pointer to the target location to the next 32 bit value.
Repeat from 1.
That the loop is unrolled can be seen because the code repeats, rather than loop.
]]>On a different note, I've just discovered Google Translate.
X-G does your sig mean,
"To drive away evil spirits! To drive away evil spirits! Ghost,NO, when Doman trouble! SEMAN! Doman! SEMAN! Onmyoji RETTSUGO call immediately!"
or,
"
Elingtuisan! Elingtuisan! Ling resentment, no-blame, the storm shows that when ta wa Music Guide Multi Guide! Multi Center Music Guide! Multi Music Guide Guide! Multi Center Music Guide!straight called ma shi ni u Yinyang Shi Site Guide Rubber Heights Music!"
It never malfunctioned for me. On my first try I got to 28, is that bad?
Good graphics, heat-seeking physics seem sluggish. Not sure how shock tower is worth it's cost, not saying it's not unique, just not worth it.
heat-seeking physics seem sluggish.
This is intentional, to counterbalance the fact that, well, they're heat-seeking. And deal very solid damage.
Not sure how shock tower is worth it's cost
When upgraded it deals the highest single-target damage in the game.
X-G does your sig mean
Akuryou, taisan! Akuryou, taisan! Onryou, mononoke, komatta toki wa / Douman, seiman, douman, seiman / Sugu ni yobimashou onmyouji RETTSU GO!
Evil spirit, begone! Evil spirit, begone! When you're in trouble with ghosts or spirits / douman, seiman, douman, seiman / Call the onmyouji right away! LET'S GO!
(Douman and seiman are onmyoudou symbols.)
]]>That sounds like the japanese version of the Ghostbusters theme.
ON TOPIC: I'm just downloading your game. It looks nice.
]]>Sweet, downlaod works now.
No crashes here, and I tried the .zip and .exe version.
]]>Scratch that, I beat 41!
A challenger approaches!
]]>37 waves defeated on my first try. Really nice game.
EDIT: 44 waves defeated. At some point I tried to pause it to take a rest but it was impossible. A pause key would be great.
]]>If I could change anything I would speed up the shock tower ever so slightly and make it so the missiles fire at better angles to hit intended target, specifically when it is above them, they tend to just go in circles around it if it's above them. I only defeated 30 waves 
I forgot to take a snapshot when I reached Wave 45 and haven't been able to repeat it, so I'll post this snapshot instead.
I guess this is as far as I'll get without a hotkey for repairing... which, on the other hand, might make it too easy.
http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/597189
]]>A challenger approaches!
I bow to kenmasters1976. I'm not worthy. 
EDIT: 44 waves defeated.
That's insane. 30 thru 39 were madness, and 40+ is just absolute mayhem.
What was your strategy - missile launchers on the sides, and laser towers in the middle? My personal record of beating 41 waves was with the left half filled with missile launchers and the right half filled with laser towers so I could repair those more quickly (closer to the repair button).
]]>I got the zip version, and it crashed at the start of level 30, I finished 29 and it locked up with the sound looping. It was before the label for the boss appeared.
]]>Aw http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/597190
This might just be a problem in Wine, but I think it requires more sound channels somehow. Once the rapid fire upgrades kick in the sound effects keep getting cut off.
]]>Is there any hope of a Mac port of this? I'd offer to do one myself but am considering what I believe will be a similar game to this (based on the descriptions; I haven't played it yet) as a commercial iPhone project so would rather not have access to the source.
EDIT: more ports = more changes of finding that pernicious little bug.
]]>Thomas, it's space invader but you don't have a player - you just place objects and they fire.
]]>Well in my head I was thinking "tower defence, but from the side", but nevertheless it sounds like a fun game and I'd like to play it; and I definitely wouldn't want to risk any potential allegation of source theft.
I guess I'll just have to endure a Parallels Desktop session, though that never-quite-resolved bug in which Allegro - when using the DirectX driver - does not update its client window is quite acute.
]]>My brother... threw down the gauntlet: http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/597191
After about level 45, the boss wave is a reprieve from the repair-fest.
]]>What do the shock towers do, I got to about level 20 without knowing
Played two games, no crash (win 98)
My losses started when accidentally clicking the "sell button".
What was your strategy - missile launchers on the sides, and laser towers in the middle?
Yes, precisely. Also, when checking which weapons require repairing, I'd skip a couple on each corner since they're not likely to receive much damage, and you can check them only near the end of the wave, when things are calm. Well, that was my strategy, but seems that Peter Wang found a better one.
Thomas, it's space invader but you don't have a player - you just place objects and they fire.
I kinda think about it as "Space Invaders meets RTS".
Oh, and shock towers launch a ray that destroys an enemy with one hit. It's hard to see them working when there's a lot of things going on onscreen, but they do work.
[EDIT:] 50 waves defeated (same as Peter Wang). All weapons fully upgraded and yet you lose. I think it's not possible to go any further.
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I got 40-something once when I was bored. Didn't bother to remember the exact number.
]]>The basic game is good, but it gets boring once it turns into the "click-and-repair-as-fast-as-I-can" mode.
]]>This is a very limited form of gameplay. I was just thinking about Robotech/Macros how the giant robots would deploy onto the hull of the SDF-1. A bit of a similarity there. So how about adding different environments than just the Earth scene? Like the surface of an airship, space ship, an undersea city, etc... Hey, you can do all that art can't you?
Yes, I could, and I planned to do it. But, actually, the only reason I went and improved this (old and antiquated) version of Cosmic Invaders is because it's going to get some more mainstream distribution. Don't hold your breath for the deluxe version any time soon...
]]>(Edit: posted before I saw X-G's response.)
That would be one way to keep it interesting. After you play a boss, you go to a new scene, starting over with different enemies and weapons. Part of the strategy would then be to conserve as much money as possible.
But I don't want to get carried away with suggestions. He's only calling it version 0.2.1, so perhaps he already has ideas for improvements.
]]>Right, not particularly insightful comments from me that cut barely relate all to the game:
it would be nice to have an alternative to right clicking due to the usual ye olde Allegro versus trackpad issues*;
other than that the game is neat
in that most trackpads are set up so that if you have tap click set, when you tap the OS just sends a 'user clicked message'. Ye olde Allegro abhores message passing, so maps this to the relevant button being down for an absolutely tiny fraction of a second. If your application doesn't poll in that period then it doesn't catch the click. This affects all computers I guess, but is much worse for Mac users since two-finger tap is the de facto method of right clicking in the absence of a physical second mouse button.
Nice to see you're still working on this little great game. I just love its aesthetic style. BTW, can you release a new version of your other awesome game: KnightFall
Having now compared the new version to the 2007, I'm not completely sure about the bosses. In particular, the way the bombs cost you 1 of your life meter units if they don't hit an installation doesn't feel right — I appreciate that the point of a strategy game is to create conflicting interests, but it feels like the benefit of filling the floor to deliberately take damage that you can pay off just for boss levels doesn't fit neatly with the benefit of leaving the floor relatively sparse to avoid damage in the normal levels. But maybe that's just me?
]]>Have a 'repair all' button and the game will be 10x better.
]]>Perhaps not a "repair all" button, but if you hold down alt, it shows the health bar for all the units. So that its clear which need repairing, and which don't so you don't waste time clicking on them all.
]]>Perhaps not a "repair all" button, but if you hold down alt, it shows the health bar for all the units. So that its clear which need repairing, and which don't so you don't waste time clicking on them all.
Or maybe have the energy bar appear, deplete a little then disappear every time a base takes a hit? Or use some sort of colouring scheme so that bases that are more damaged slowly get redder (or whatever)?
]]>Heavily damaged objects will smoke, but that often gets lost visually in the missile smoke, and in the later levels, by the time you notice a building smoking, it may have been destroyed already. Perhaps a fire animation that gets larger with successive damage?
]]>I've seen a lot of flash games that have gotten away with having just one smoke animation and increasing the alpha value of it until its completely visible
]]>