[NdMan]

Ulpalix v.00001



Not too much in here yet, just the basic framework of the game. The reason I am posting this game at such an early stage is with your help to guage how much I can add without slowing it down the game too much. This demo should be pretty accurate to the final speed of the game as everything is rendered except for most of the scenery which will be pre-rendered anyway.

Controls
Directions - control tank
Mouse Click - fire shot
Escape - pause/exit
Z/X - add another enemy
F4 - toggle fullscreen
Shift - change light (cycle through day)

Basically what I want to know is how many enemies you can add before the framerate drops below a reasonable rate (maybe ~50 fps) - provided it reaches that at all... The framerate and number of enemies can be find in the titlebar.

Screenshots
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3

Notes
This is just a first demo so a lot is missing (very basic sound, menu only half works, you can drive off the screen, night is pitch black etc.), please don't try and point this out to me and I do know how to solve these. If you do find any obvious mistakes please do tell me and I'll see if I can sort it out and any suggestions are welcome. Don't ask for a gm6...

Link
http://members.aol.c...lix/Ulpalix.zip
OR http://rapidshare.de...lpalix.zip.html

This post has been edited by NdMan: 02 October 2005 - 09:51 AM

[Zarthas]

Link doesnt seem to work Looks fun though. Try http://www.rocketsof...cc/RSUpload.php

edit: OK, new link I like the use of the draw functions, gimme some more of those snake dudes to fight. The lighting effects look cool, tank looks cool, looks good in general. Gameplay is sorta scant right now but it seems you were focusing on getting the graphics down. Make sure you have lots of powerups and baddies, this could be a cool arcade style game.

This post has been edited by Zarthas: 29 September 2005 - 12:52 AM

[NdMan]

Okay both links should work now. Thanks for the feedback but what I really want to know is how many enemies you can add before it starts to get below a decent framerate (about 45~50). You can add extra enemies by using the space bar.

This post has been edited by hpapillon: 30 September 2005 - 06:55 PM

[NdMan]

UPDATE]

>New enemy added
>Shadows improved
>Basic sound added
>Enemies now hurt you
>Colour changes
>Bugfixes

Some feedback would be great, thanks

[seic]

aww thats a really nice engine, i like the particle effects and the shots of the tank!
please make a full game out of it, it look very cool! good work!

[Tarik]

Just remember that you shouldn't cancel concepts like the shadow if the FPS seems to be lacking for most players. Cause you can always have video-options where players with strong computers can turn on the advanced graphic effects.

Not downloading right now, I'm pretty sure there aren't any bugs in the pretty small engine. And the FPS shouldn't matter if you programm the video-options. Screenshot looks great, I'll download the next demo if it has some content and write a little review

Keep it up!
-Tarik

[pinguinpanic]

Wow great graphics, I like the shadow really using the stance of the sun. I get an fps of 34. It dropped to 24 when I added 14 snakes and 14 insects.

[NdMan]

Thanks for the feedback, I didn't think the fps would get as low as 34fps... guess I'll definately have to put shadows as optional. And I'll doubt they'll be any updates for a long while, got a lot planned for this

[pinguinpanic]

You call 34 low??? don't you understand what fps stands for:How more FPS you have the faster it runs

[JJProductions]

Wooh!

4fps is the r0xxor!

[end sarcasm]

[NdMan]

pinguinpanic, on Oct 2 2005, 11:49 AM, said:

You call 34 low??? don't you understand what fps stands for:How more FPS you have the faster it runs

It goes on a smooth 60 on my laptop ;\

This post has been edited by NdMan: 02 October 2005 - 05:02 PM

[JJProductions]

60fps on a laptop?!

My computer is only 2 years old and it runs at only 4 fps.

[hpapillon]

It's not just what kind of computer you have; certain cards and drivers behave badly with GM even if they are new. It's a very tricky business. Which is why a lot of commercial games have player options to enable and disable all sorts of functions so they can get the best playability.

[OpticalLiam]

great engine, constant 60fps for me

[Tankhunter1]

Amazing graphics, but i only got 8-10 FPS

[NdMan]

I'm beginning to doubt this will actually be workable with such huge fluxuations in speed

[Tarik]

Oh it will be once you make some futures like the shadow optional. Then some can still play it easily, while others have to set the effects down a bit

Edit----
Decided I'd check it out anyway!

The sound, well there's not much to say. Just that using the built-in sound-effects that you can apply to a sound in GameMaker often result in very resembling sounds. If you know what I mean. Heh...

The graphics. Very nice, but I'd love to see some textures. Right now the vehicle you drive looks like a plastic machine, not like one made out of (damaged) metal painted in various colors with maybe some decals(is that what they call em?) on it.
The sand could also use a texture.

The FPS, quite nice. But I don't really think it's a big issue. Like I said, good concepts shouldn't be cancelled but only be able to be turned off.

The shadow engine. Awesome, haven't seen something like it in a GM game before. It's really realistic, and should provide for some nice design elements.

Make sure that when you make options for turning off shadows that you leave the night/day thing. It shouldn't change the FPS to just draw a black rectangle over the screen with some alpha depending on the time of the day. Cause night/day effects can become a nice design element, like doing a night mission or a daylight mission, each having different themes, feelings, sounds, enemies, difficulties etc.

-Tarik

This post has been edited by Tarik: 02 October 2005 - 06:35 PM

[JJProductions]

"Make some Options Optional"
To have an option means to have something which is optional...

[Tarik]

Emh, yeah whatever you got my point. Ment to say make some things optional.

[SteveTheRobot]

Nd wtf hax

Awesome game. Apart from the fact that the snakes don't squish and die when the tank runs over. Rather silly imo.

Also 27 fps ftw.