2011-05-10 18:02:41 (edited by Aprone 2011-05-23 06:04:35)

Lunimals is officially out of beta.

Here is the story:

In the not so distant future, a new symbol of social status has emerged among the upper class. Fancy sport cars, sparkling jewelry, and huge mansions are no longer the preferred way to show off one's wealth. An innovative company, called Lunar-tech, launched hundreds of machines in to space and landed them safely on the moon. These remote controlled machines linked together to form massive stereo lithography machines. In everyday language, these were giant 3D printers capable of building things a layer at a time from the ground up. Huge containers of chemical resin, sent along with the machines, could be mixed with moon dust to form a concrete-like substance that was both strong and air tight. After robots dug out a foundation, the huge 3D printing machines would center themselves over the pit and begin working. These machines were genius in the simplicity of their design. Scaffolding formed a huge open square which allowed an arm to slide anywhere inside it. A series of hoses on the arm would drop the correct type of material as it formed each layer. Once dry, the arm would raise up slightly and begin again on the next layer until eventually a huge dome was created. During construction the machine would switch between concrete, moon sand to take up space, clear molten plastic, and dirt from earth. The 3D printer unfolds itself and moves slowly off to the next construction site while other robots move in to outfit the dome with accessories. Machines install tracks along the ceiling inside the dome, and on those tracks are fitted an assortment of robotic arms and cameras. On the outside, battery banks and solar panels are put in place. In the end, the dome is a huge airtight structure filled with dirt and dotted with thousands of plastic windows to let light in. These bio domes on the moon, or lunar domes as they are most commonly called, are the ultimate toy for the super rich. Constant video feed lets the world watch as life exists, against all odds, in a place as harsh as the moon. At first, billionaires would buy these and use them only as gardens. When Lunar-tech sells a dome, they pump water, oxygen, and seeds inside before sealing it up with a special kind of door. The dome's owner was left to actually tend his lunar garden by remotely issuing commands to the robot arms within it. As you might expect, quite a few people never got the hang of it and their plants would die off. Years passed and Lunar-tech kept everyone on their toes. More rockets to the moon included specially bred insects along with the usual supplies. The rich might have their lunar gardens, but the richer got to show off by having living colonies of bugs on the moon! Since that day, Lunar-tech has expanded to the use of small animals selectively bred to be smaller than normal. Due to the difficult nature of maintaining these complex eco systems, many dome owners hire big companies to handle the normal day-to-day operations. Wealthy corporations have even jumped in to the dome craze in an effort to turn a profit. Because shipping animals from earth is astronomically expensive, most people buy ones that have been bred right there on the moon. Lunar-tech shipped up a huge fleet of transporting robots that will quickly move animals from one dome to another, for a substantial fee, of course. No where else, will a person pay 2 thousand dollars for a mouse, and pay 20 thousand dollars for shipping!

This is a life simulation game, where you attempt to create, and maintain, a complex eco-system on the moon. This rough beta has 5 missions, each with their own set of quests. Unlike my previous games, this one is not self voiced with me speaking. The game should work with your preferred screen reading software, and I have personally tested it with NVDA. Please give it a try and let me know what you think. Once the suggestions start pouring in, I plan to add in more missions and a sandbox mode that will let you play without any quest restrictions.

Download link:
www.kaldobsky.com/audiogames/lunimals.zip (v3.0, 2.5MB Last uploaded 9/29/11 7:20pm EST)

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
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2011-05-10 19:18:00

Hmm, very very interesting. Will be trying this when I get chance.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2011-05-10 19:54:00

sounds very interesting, your mind never fails to come up with original and great ideas.  will give this a go once my work is done.  oh my god, i'm not procrastonating! o looky... it downloaded! never mind... smile

2011-05-10 20:25:35

the download link give me an open and save option, i tried save, calling the file lunimals, it said the file was corrupt and unreadable, and that i had to run a utility, the name of the utility was complicated. Sorry for the trouble, but sounds like a good game, and i would like to give it a go! Thanks.

2011-05-10 20:29:41 (edited by Aprone 2011-05-10 20:31:25)

Thanks dan_c.  Ideas have never been my problem, my problem has always been not having the time to work on them.  I don't need to rewrite my whole "side projects" post from a while ago, but I always find myself juggling a bunch of projects.  This morning I came up with another game idea that I'm tempted to make.  I hate delaying Daytona 2, but it is another idea that I think I can produce really quickly.  We'll see if I have the will power to ignore the new idea lol.

Added:
Ivandrago, try downloading it again.  I just tried and the file worked fine, so perhaps it was just a bad download.  If that doesn't work, let me know and we'll figure it out.

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
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2011-05-10 20:42:09

Hi,
Another idea? Goodness! Keep that up and you'll have more games than the created than there are games in the audiogaes daatabase!
big_smile

Best Regards,
Hayden

2011-05-10 20:55:06 (edited by Braille Bookworm 2011-05-10 20:57:00)

This sounds like a lot of fun!  After my comprehensive exams, I'm definitely going to try this game out first.  There was an ecosystem game (I think it might have been called Earth 2.0 or something) in which you get to play an animal and try to survive, but it was inaccessible.  I really wanted to play that one so this game will definitely give me my life sim fix.

Best Regards,
Tiffany
My ultimate gaming goal in life is to find or develop an accessible version of the Oregon Trail.  Man, that game is awesome!

2011-05-10 23:18:29

hi aprone, i finished up the demo!
i like the fact that the storyline progresses, i wonder what will happen
in the next missions, hope you add more things to it.
as i said in the klango topic(i'm alian btw)
the game is great, i never saw a game like this, you always
bringing new concepts and ideas to the blind community.
i don't know if the bug that makes the game hide if you press alt tab
has been fixed, i'm still running the version that was posted yesterday

contact info
email:
matrheine at gmail . com

2011-05-11 00:09:02

wow, I'm still on mission 5. I think what really is missing in the audio games community is a game like the grand theft auto series.

I'm probably gonna get banned for this, but...

2011-05-11 02:22:21

I agree with that. They should make games with lots of guns and explosives lol.

2011-05-11 02:41:15

drg, I think I fixed that alt tab hiding bug, because so far no one new has reported it.  I've been unable to do much coding today, but I'm really looking forward to releasing a new Lunimals version that has bug fixes, new features that have been suggested, and lastly more levels.  I'm hoping people will be happy with the new things I intend to add.

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
Aprone's software

2011-05-11 03:16:25

Another addicting and challenging game man, keep em' comin'! smile
Having trouble with the second mission with the rabbits. I think it's the second one anyways, the one where you need to raise eight rabbits? Anyone have any tips on beating this mission? The grass goes so fast, and the rabbits keep disappearing. lol

"I've learned that this life's not just a game, just a line, between the pleasures and the pain." - Aaron Lewis

2011-05-11 03:25:03

I believe that is the 3rd mission, but I'm not totally sure either.  The rabbits actually prefer moss, and they will eat acorns, so the strategy I used was to add a lot of trees.  The trees helped in 2 ways, they produced acorns and also helped promote moss growth.

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
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2011-05-11 06:24:36

Hi guys.
Wow man. you really are a wizard when it comes to programming. a interesting consept.... grins. I can't spell it but I hope you get my point. I will be looking forward to new levels and such.Even though I haven't tryed the game yet!grins. don't worry will correct that oversight soon.Thanks,and keep it up.Grryf.

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
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2011-05-11 15:36:46

anyone know how to get rid of the active x can't create object error?

Silly Gohan, animals don't eat people. People eat animals.

2011-05-11 15:51:17

death, when does that error occur?  If it happens right when you try to run the game, please copy the contents of your debuglog.txt file, which is in the game's directory.  Based on what is inside it, I might be able to help solve your problem.

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
Aprone's software

2011-05-11 16:31:52

Hi,
We might be able to fix that right here, actually. What version of Windows are you running and if so, have youo installed any previous titles written in VB6?

Best Regards,
Hayden

2011-05-11 18:39:14

thanks for the help.

2011-05-11 18:52:34

I'll be posting an update soon, which will have a handful of bug fixes, and a new mission.  Right now I'm trying to beat the mission myself before I post the update.  I want to be sure it is actually possible to win, and boy it is harder than mission 5.  Once I beat it, I'll post the update for you guys to try.

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
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2011-05-11 19:25:46

when i want to start the game a runtime error opcurred. i've looked in the debug file but there stands nothing interesrting in it.

i use windows 7.
i've another pc with windows xp. does this make any difference?

aprone, do you know this problem?

ciao

pelantas

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2011-05-11 19:32:15

Pelantas, can you paste the contents of the debug file here for me to see?

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
Aprone's software

2011-05-11 20:33:15

Ok guys, Lunimals version 1.2 beta is now posted.  I have fixed a few things, but most importantly, when you press escape it won't automatically unpause the game.  Mission 6 is now available, which lets you experience a few interesting changes to managing your dome.  I'm planning to add mission 7, and custom games, to the next update.

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
Aprone's software

2011-05-11 20:37:16

wow, the game's style is awesome

it's my first time playing one of your games.

nice job, really.

it's a bit adictive though.. hee

twitter: @hadirezae3
discord: Hadi

2011-05-11 22:15:52

A bit addictive?  Hahahaha, that's a bit of an understatement!  I knew I shouldn't have taken a study break to play it!  smile

I got to mission four and man, trying to maintain a dome with mice and twenty snakes is difficult!  I calculated something like 400 mice needed to keep them fed at any one time (unless my calculations are just way off-base) and I couldn't even maintain 100 in my dome for more than a short period of time.

This is an awesome game.  I think it could even be used in a science class, because it uses animals that are still around today, (despite it's backstory), and also uses the principles of the food chain and so forth.  I want to give you kudos for this one.  I'll just make sure not to look at your games right in the middle of a study week, lol.

Best Regards,
Tiffany
My ultimate gaming goal in life is to find or develop an accessible version of the Oregon Trail.  Man, that game is awesome!

2011-05-11 23:08:30

There was a problem when the new version opened up old save game files.  If you notice that your loaded games have no battery power, grab the new update to fix it.

Braille, I can't be sure if 400 mice is correct, but you might be right.  It does seem like it would take a lot of mice to support 20 snakes.  If you somehow managed to play this game in science class, I'd consider that a win.  School would have been much better if I was playing video games!  haha!

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
Aprone's software