Jeanmilost 2021-10-02 19:06 (Edited)
Hello everyone!
Some time ago I published my own isometric game engine (https://lowresnx.inutilis.com/topic.php?id=1640), and I promised to come back with a complete game written using this engine. This is now done.
In this game, you’re trapped in the office you’re working. You don't remember how you come here, and several things are unusual. Some rooms you know well and which are normally safe were replaced by stange and hasardous security systems, and robots invaded the place.
You need to find a way out to escape this trap. While your progression you will find several objects, which may help you, but you will need to find how they may be used.
I wrote this game entirely on my iPhone. It is available in 3 languages: English (to let it be played by many people), French (my mother tongue), and Portuguese (as I'm currently living in Brazil).
Of course, and as for my other published games and assets, the source code, the music, as well as any asset in this game may be used by everyone who would be interested, for their own game or project.
So it’s all for now 🙂 I hope you’ll enjoy, and have fun…
@was8bit As promised, I took care to include the diagonal direction mode you suggested for the pad in the game options 😉
Release notes
———————
v0.1 - first release
v0.2 - minor bug fix and improvements
v0.3 - fixed a bug which could cause objects mix-up when get and thrown several times
v1.0 - added improvement proposed by was8bit
CreatorJo 2021-10-02 19:12
This is neat!
was8bit 2021-10-03 05:20 (Edited)
Awesome :)
Thanks so much for the diagonal navigation :D
I get an error "OUT OF BOUNDS" for line...
INC BUCKETS(DISTANCE, 0)
It occured after i was picking up and dropping off several items ... this may not have caused the error though, as i got the error while in the security room where the floaty ball was moving around...
... also, i added REM in front of all commands that decreased my playerlife value... its a cheat, i know ;)
G-9 2021-10-03 12:40
omg this is so cool I remember playing the demo it was really cool and now this is a full game wow
Timo 2021-10-03 19:28
Looks amazing! I will need to find some time to actually play it…
Jeanmilost 2021-10-03 21:15 (Edited)
Thank to everybody for the replies 🙂
@was8bit no problem for the cheat, if it’s the way you like to play the game, It’s fine for me 😄
The error you get comes from the renderer, when a scene object moves too far from the playtield limits. While the scene is drawn, I use a PigeonHole algorithm to sort the sprites in a kind of z ordering (I wrote it based on this article: https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/3454/most-efficient-3d-depth-sorting-for-isometric-3d-in-as3/3532#3532). As the algorithm uses a max value as a reference to perform the sorting, this may cause a such issue if an object move too far in the scene.
However I assume that the issue happens because you bypassed the life count, which may cause - I suppose - the ball to move too far, because it will track and normally remove all the player life when hit, and thus stop its movement. It’s the only object which moves also on the z axis, and I think it wrongly continues to move down infinitely until moving too far, as it’s not supposed to move this way.
One simple solution would be to test the DISTANCE value before using it, and stop the iteration in case this value is out of the BUCKETS bounds, but a such test may cause visual glitches, even if it prevents the application to crash. I didn’t that because showing the error was more useful during the development phase.
I may fix the issue if you want, but I cannot reproduce the bug on my actual version. Can you please attach your modified version, in order to allow me to reproduce and fix the bug?
was8bit 2021-10-04 03:03
Now that you gave such a good description, i would like to try to find a fix .... its like a fun puzzle.... either way i will post what i have, and will let you know if i did or didnt fix it :)
was8bit 2021-10-04 03:57
Ok, so i was able to fix ball/glove issue... i also stop the robot after you touch it... but there is a repeatable error when repeatedly picking up and dropping off items, erros occur... i end up losing things and other items get duplicated ...
Here is what i have...
G-9 2021-10-04 05:02
the game Is actually hard, I can’t pass the poisoned room
Jeanmilost 2021-10-04 12:19 (Edited)
@was8bit thank you very much, I will take a look as soon as possible
@G-9 there is a gas mask somewhere, you need to find it, after that you will be able to cross the poisoned room without damages, as long as the item will be in your inventory 🙂
G-9 2021-10-04 16:08
awesome tip :D this should be an actual commercial game 😂
Wild William 2021-10-04 23:16
‘Pentagorat’ for the old vic-20 is what this reminds me of
Jeanmilost 2021-10-05 02:46
@was8bit I attached a fixed version of your modified game, which works on my side. However I added a cheat mode in the new version, which I suggest you to test 🙂 In the main menu, press on LEFT RIGHT LEFT LEFT RIGHT. The screen should blink to red, and you will no longer die in game, even if you life reaches 0
was8bit 2021-10-05 02:55
Cool, thanks so much... i will test and let u know how it goes.. :)
was8bit 2021-10-05 03:09
Oops... i captured a screen shot of the item swap messing up again... i had 4 items when i entered the room... i swapped back and forth... as you see i lost 2 items, and i; fact the first slot now has 2 items showing in it? :/
was8bit 2021-10-05 03:11 (Edited)
Slot1 had red and green together... slot2 has red, slot3 has green, and slot4 is empty.. lost the clock and pen drive...
was8bit 2021-10-05 03:20
V02 cheat works well... robits pinning me to the wall was abit annoying, but at least i was alive ;)
was8bit 2021-10-05 03:21 (Edited)
I am not sure what the round brown items are, i never picked up those, they just appeared in my bag after multiple pickups and dropoffs...
Jeanmilost 2021-10-05 12:47
@wild william indeed it’s very similar 😄 The most fun is that I didn’t know this game at all. I was most inspirated by Crafton&Xunk on Amstrad CPC…
@was8bit very annoying this mix-up issue, above all I can’t reproduce it. I will continue to track it, however. The brown item is a clock, it will be useful in the last room. But normally it appears only once 😉
was8bit 2021-10-05 12:56
Well, the first thing i pick up is a green clock... i NEVER found and picked up a brown clock... the brown clock only appears when i try to repickup a key... so at that point the keys begin to disappear...
was8bit 2021-10-05 13:08 (Edited)
... all that i do is load my bag up with 4 items... then then when i find a 5th item, I get a message prompting me to choose an item....
... then, i choose an item...
1) then, i move off that item and immediately move back and get the message te choose an item
2) i choose an item
I keep repeating steps 1 and 2... eventually i will end up with only one item, all other items will eventually disappear...
was8bit 2021-10-05 13:25
It might be meaningful to say that i do the swap while the full message is scrolling across the screen... perhaps that is throwing things off...
Jeanmilost 2021-10-06 02:28 (Edited)
@was8bit thank you very much for you detailed description, I was able to reproduce the issue, and this time I think I catched and fixed it 🙂 I released a new version, I hope this will be fine now.
Ah! And for your info, the green item is a gas mask, not a clock 😉 (it was difficult to draw that with only 8x8 pixels and 2 colors 😄)
was8bit 2021-10-06 05:22
Ah, gas mask... makes more sense ;)
... i will test and let you know :)
was8bit 2021-10-06 08:47
Pickup/dropoff now works perfectly :)
... also, i added a secret cheat that disables robot movement, using your existing cheat system .... if you use it it would be an egg (a secret unpublished suprise players are left to discover, like kids finding hidden easter eggs)
was8bit 2021-10-06 08:48
... i wont publish here how to activate it, but if you look at the code, you should be able to easily see how easy it is for a player to accidentally discover it ;)
Jeanmilost 2021-10-06 23:59
@was8bit I released a new version including your modification. Thank you very much for your participation to my game, and the time spent to test it 🙂
was8bit 2021-10-07 03:46 (Edited)
I love your game, and i also like adding cheats ... mostly because i cant play most action games without cheats...
I also enjoy being helpful when i can... u have a great game, and many thanks for leaving the cheats in :D
... on a side note, the game wildwilliam mentioned additionally has holes, to drop down a level... my thought isnt to directly copy that game... rather "maybe" if you are interested in adding harder levels, a drop hatch could be one way to let a player drop deeper down into harder levels... its an idea that treasures of tarmin uses (an old 3d game i have been trying to work on my version of for a long time)
Another thought... you are already using user input with the arrow keys... entering code with arrow keys is not uncommon, you could add secret (or maybe not secret) codes to get past certain points, kinda like your pen drive or keys... maybe the AB buttons might work better for this..
... just some random thoughts... what you have, as is, plays great... and sometimes i over complicate things, so keeping the game as is, in its greating working condition, is best... :)
Jeanmilost 2021-10-07 22:02
@was8bit thank you very much to share your ideas, they are very interesting. I myself had many of them which I could not include in the final release, unfortunately, because I systematically reach the available tokens limitation every time I create a game 😄.
I’m aware however that I’m not writing a small as possible code, because I prefer let it clear and well commented, in order to be able to understand it even 6 months later, and it’s not my strong point to write a very well optimized, and small as possible code.
However I progress, and perhaps in the next game I will use some of the ideas you shared here 🙂.
was8bit 2021-10-08 04:45
Your code is VERY well organized and annotated... it made it super easy for me to scroll thru and figure things out... i wish i could be as well organized a you :) unfortunately my brain isnt very cooperative, as it gets lots of good ideas, then gets tired and loses focus and sidetracked...
Jeanmilost 2021-10-09 00:36
@was8bit thank you very much. Having ideas is also a great quality from my point of view, and I liked several of your games for their originality 🙂
was8bit 2021-10-09 05:21
Thanks so much for the compliment :D I do enjoy trying to create with code :)
Greenpilloz 2021-11-11 21:44
Wouhou ! I finished without cheating ! Such a great game !
Jeanmilost 2021-11-12 00:24
Thank you very much 🙂
