Here I will always post the latest versions of ToB Remake. If you discover a bug or have gotten ideas, post here.
Older versions, which i posted here, will be removed from my webspace after some weeks.
Test version from 5th February, 2005:
www.tower-of-babel.info/temp/TestVersionen/Tob20050205-1714.rar
Right. Yesterday I snaffled some stupid game from a friend of mine (some Vampire Masquerade Bloodline first-person stupid run around and slay em all piece of useless software) and installed the required version of DirectX so I could, finally, take a look at the remake.
The test version in question was the next to last one, i.e. the one you had linked in the other thread; I put the ini-file in the game's main directory before starting it and it seemed to work fine.
In fact, everything worked splendid - very smooth and really fast.
Remember I only use to play the original version.
I few remarks:
- Menu/Console
First, I hope you're going to implement an old-style menu for picking towers and the like. I suppose you just didn't get around to it yet. Being able to start each and every tower without having to solve the current group first is a bit of a spoiler. Plus you have to pick towers blind - no directory, no group menu - I guess it's all in the works.
The console is the only thing not running smooth - typing was real slow.
Oh yeah... the mouse pointer is moving veeery slow - is that just my computer?
- Editor
Editor is a separate piece of software?
- Playing Towers
Towers cannot be solved yet. Right? Once you implement finishing conditions, remember to put in an appropriate jingle. I recommend using the original one, because it's non-annoying... and it's hard to get that right.
The first-person-perspective with freely movable camera is GREAT. It makes life so much easier. Have you thought about implementing side-stepping ("strafing") as well? Like in Dungeon Master; you'd just need to more small buttons, and it would save a lot of work while playing.
- Graphics
Graphics are VERY nice. The background is cool (though I'd love to see some WATER background as well), effects look great, and I really love the way Pushers and Zappers are labelled so you can tell them apart. Hell, Zappers even got WARNING DECALS on them!
What really blew me was the fact you can see the CAMERAS!!!
(Here follow lots of small, useless, silly remarks)
Tiles look great, but the corners and edges are a bit too neat. It's very difficult to distinguish tiles when colours are close to each other.
http://www.archinoah.de/modules.php?name=Textures
has some nice tiles in "Fliesen".
Well, that's nitpickery.
I'd really love to see the spiders walk a bit less smooth. Camera perspective ought to wobble a bit (you could make it optional), and when seen from the outside that smooth look makes them appear artifical and unreal. Perhaps everything is a bit too fast... If it was a bit slower, objects and spiders would appear heavier and more real.
This was the main difference in feeling when comparing between original and remake.
The Hoppers look a a bit too stiff - they should really compress when hitting the floor, so they look like springs being compressed.
It's hard to tell active Freezers from non-active ones from recharging ones. Make them flash, or have active freezers spin their spike (hey! good idea - they sound like a wind-up toy anyway. You should see them moving!)
- Sound
I noticed this very annoying tssp tssp sound pinging away all the time. Is this the modern version of the olde drone sounds?
I also noticed you went for mechanical sounding effects for Lifts, Forcers, Freezers... takes some getting used to, but the idea is nice. The Freezer sounds like something that has to be wound up with a huge key and then runs down... very funny.
The sound effect for picking up Klondikes is a bit disappointing. It should sound gratifying..
- Resumee:
My first impression: You did an excellent bit of work. Congratulations! The best are the freely movable cameras and the command keys for moving and programming. Now you can play it Dungeon Master style - great.
(Wish list: Just add some realistic thudding effects for the spiders' steps and make things move a bit more "heavily", more realistically, less artificially smooth. Plus add a group-oriented menu, and make the control panel opaque instead of transparent. The panel obscures too much of the field of view. Make it a bit smaller or make it opaque and shrink the camera display to a smaller window. You should always see EVERYTHING the spider can see; when in panel mode as it is, you can't even see wether you're standing on a lift or not.)
Thumbs up! Keep up the good work.
I realize I won't be able to help you in any way requiring computer skills. However, I'm pretty good at writing stuff. If you want to, I can lend a hand with the manual.
And I'll do my best at playtesting. Where's that editor?
--
Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.
(... I just decided to do a bit of editing on the above post. Yesterday I had another, much closer look at the test version, and some of my remarks didn't quite hit the target.
Hmm... Mayo - ich schick dir am besten ne Mail auf Deutsch, oder?
...
Unterwegs!)
--
Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.
Zitat: - Z -
First, I hope you're going to implement an old-style menu for picking towers and the like. I suppose you just didn't get around to it yet. Being able to start each and every tower without having to solve the current group first is a bit of a spoiler. Plus you have to pick towers blind - no directory, no group menu - I guess it's all in the works.Hey, this is a DEVELOPMENT version!
User interface usually comes last. And a console is best for testing.
Zitat: - Z -
The console is the only thing not running smooth - typing was real slow.
Oh yeah... the mouse pointer is moving veeery slow - is that just my computer?Very important point! Typing "tower" and then just seeing "oer" on screen isn't really funny. There must be some bug in the console code.
Can't remember if mouse movement was particularly slow on my machine, though.
Zitat: - Z -
Have you thought about implementing side-stepping ("strafing") as well?I had the same idea, too. Would be a very nice feature and make the gameplay much more comfortable!
Thanks for your mail, Z (and the translation to german ) . There are quite enough points to discuss But it was a hard day of work, and now I'm lazy to write You wrote about of some bugs. Can you find out, which situation causes bugs (where did occur the bugs?)
(Oder besser mal auf deutsch: Also bei bugs, die die Spiellogik/verhalten betreffen, würde ich gerne "reproduktiv" wissen, wo diese auftauchen, also in welchen Situationen, und am besten dann so beschreiben, dass ich sie zuhause auch dann sehe. Neben dem ganzen kosmetischen Kram will ich in erster Linie, dass die Spiellogik keine Fehler mehr hat).
Did you notice, that all disabled camera buttons are dark and not clickable? This was a one of your suggestions, now I've implemented it (in the latest version).
Strafe steering is an interresting idea, but it's difficult to implement now, because all spiders are walking in the direction, in which they are looking. (see programmed moving).
The mouse is slow, i know. I can't find out the reason. In the configuration file "tob.ini" there is a setting like "MouseSpeed=100". This value means the mouse speed factor in percents. You can try other values, but on slower machines there's no difference, i think.
All right... a short note on faulty Pusher behaviour.
(I'll do it mostly in German)
1. The Slippery Slope
It's no longer possible to make headway towards a fixed pusher with 2 spiders walking one behind the other.
Man nehme: 1 fixen Pusher, 2 Spinnen hintereinander. Wenn man die 1. Spinne mit "1 Forward" progarmmierte, konnte man früher gegen den Pusher anarbeiten, indem man die 2. Spinne rechtzeitig nachzog (Also 1. Spinne starten, 2. Spinne los, 1. eins vor, 2. eins vor usw).
Der Pusher kann jetzt die 1. Spinne bei Erreichen des neuen Feldes zurückschieben - und zwar so, daß die 1. Spinne die hinter ihr stehende Spinne gleich mit zurückschiebt!
Früher hat die 2. Spinne die 1. komplett abgestützt.
Jetzt kommt man nur 1 Feld vorwärts - die Stärke des Pushers schein zuzunehmen bzw. die Reaktionszeit abzunehmen.
Dabei ist es auch zu dem Bug gekommen, daß die Spinnen DURCHEINANDER hindurchgelaufen sind.
(P = fixed Pusher facing S; 1,2 = Spiders; X = Square)
P
X
X
1
2
Walk 1 F :
P
X
1
X
2
At once, walk 2 F:
P
X
1
2
X
Finished. This is no longer possible.
2. Priority Wrong
When fixed Pusher and Pusher Spider (facing each other at right angle) try to push an object, fixed Pusher wins.
(P = fixed Pusher facing the Block, S = Pusher Spider, B = Block)
P
S B X
X
Beim Start des Turms durch Betätigung der P.Spinne sollte der Block von ihr weggeschoben werden (hier nach rechts); jetzt ist der feste Pusher schneller (hier: Block landet unten)!
Dadurch werden einige Originaltürme unlösbar.
Bzgl. der Orientierung bin ich nicht sicher, d.h. ich weiß nicht, ob die Kompaßausrichtung irgendwie eine Rolle spielt, aber der eine Turm, dessen Nummer ich jetzt vergessen habe, basierte auf dieser Anordnung.
--
Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.
So, last weekend I hacked on RToB and fixed some bugs:
1) Better input routine for console
2) Toggle between minimized and original panel by pressing right mouse button
3) Floor textures with thin black border (and higher quality -> RToB texture library is 2MB bigger)
4) Extra shader for rendering shadow volumes (maybe it raises up FPS on graphics cards with shader support)
5) Fixed bug with grabbed klondike on grabber's back
6) Changed grabbing sound
7) You will be blinded if you're looking into the sun (fade into white)
8) Added some nice lights to spiders
9) Spider's camera view is wobbling while you're walking on the floors
10) Made panels smaller (without stretching it)
11) Added small "messagebox" for some briefing/tutorial/mission/game messages (not implemented yet)
@Z, thanks for your detail bug report about game logic errors (with pushers and spiders), but it will take a while to fix them, because it's difficult to find out.
And here is the latest link:
www.tower-of-babel.info/temp/TestVersionen/Tob20050220-1938.rar
Nice...
I feel honoured.
Honestly.
(Off to download the latest version)
--
Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.
After some weeks, now there's a new test version downloadable on
www.tower-of-babel.info/temp/TestVersionen/Tob20050403-1321.rar
It's not playable, but it shows the OPTIONS screen with most settings for video, sound, input and effects. In the background you can see some demo sequences (like in the original ToB).
If you press the OK button all settings will be changed and saved in the ini file.
Later there will be some background music playing but currently I've no ideas for the songs (I want to compose myself some songs for RToB)...
I've now tried out the Options screen. Pretty neat stuff - I like the activity in the background! A few points I thought I'd mention:
(1) Why are all the increments/decrements (+/-) that way round? Normally games and software in general have the "-" first - it's an intuitive thing. Examples include the early Xcom games (buying/selling/transfer screens).
(2) A lot of the graphical options are a mystery to me. I appreciate that they may not even do anything in this front end example but I have no idea what they are. I'm not an overly technically minded computer user and there are probably many other people who know even less than I do, so unless these options are merely for development it might be good to reduce the number. Or at least explain what they do in the manual.
(3) I think you need to indicate that the list of keypresses goes on further. F-keys for the spiders seem to cut off quite naturally and newbies may not realise there ARE other keypresses! Perhaps instead of a scrolling list, you could divide the list into "pages" with groupings of similar options (eg. main controls, camera keys, programming keys).
Prost!
Artinum.