2011-01-04 20:31:52 (edited by Aprone 2011-05-11 02:42:27)

ADDED HERE FOR CONVENIENCE
Here is the beta version of the game.
www.kaldobsky.com/audiogames/Daytona.zip  (version 1.0 beta)(10.3 MB) Last uploaded 5/10/11 8:42pm EST
If you have any problems running the game, a post at the bottom of this page will help
ADDED HERE FOR CONVENIENCE



I bring greetings from sandy Daytona beach in Florida!  As some of you know, my holiday work schedule just about killed me so my wife and I are enjoying a vacation to get away from things for a while.  During this time away I don't have access to the files for my combat game but I did decide to work on some stuff since I enjoy programming and I am on vacation after all!  lol big_smile  Over the past few days I have been piecing together a little game that I hope you will all enjoy.

I named the game after the beach since it is probably one of the only accessible games partially programmed while sitting on the sand a stones throw away from the ocean.  The game is centered around quick action, memorization, and hand coordination skills... yes you heard that right, a mouse or track pad will be required to play this game.  If you don't have a mouse or track pad you can enjoy scrolling through the game's main menu I suppose, but that seems a little boring to me.  hehe.

The story of the game is that you are an impoverished wizard who has come across a spell capable of conjuring magical gold coins out of thin air!  Obviously such a spell would solve all of your troubles but the spell is quite difficult.  Coins are easily created but they will simply turn in to smoke and vanish unless the mystical gateway can be made stable with the spell.  Speed and accuracy is the only way to stabilize the magic gateway through its different stages (levels).  If you cast your spell too slowly it will never become more stable than it currently is.

I am still working on the part of the game that teaches you how to draw the various shapes.  Because that is a rather important part to the game, I can't release it yet for you guys to try.  I managed to beat the game earlier so I'm still excited!  After beating the game I felt confident enough to record a demo of me playing through the first 4 levels.  All of the voices you hear in the demo are from the game itself and not me talking using the microphone.  The metallic sounds are made as I move the mouse into different shapes.  What is cool is that each direction you move makes a different noise so someone sitting beside you can actually tell which shape you drew once they've been exposed to the game for a bit!  The voice on the right is my character reading up to 3 shapes from the spell book that I must draw next.  The voice to the left is just encouragement or warning depending on how fast and accurate I currently am.  Each successful shape, in the right order, conjures more gold coins that can be heard falling to the table.  Each successful shape makes its own sound as it casts and a central voice announces its name.  Lastly, the music begins calm and becomes increasingly dramatic as I get closer to reaching the next level of stability for the gateway.  If I, for example, were at 90% and simply stopped casting spells, my progress would slowly drain until I was back at 0%.  I won't drop below the last level I reached, but it means I am farther away from unlocking the next level.  Hopefully that makes sense and shows that speed is what is important in this game.  Oh I almost forgot, you'll also hear the occasional buzz sound that indicates I failed to draw any shape properly.  If I wasn't accurate enough with my shape it won't count.  I am not penalized by drawing a wrong shape, but obviously I wasted valuable time and more of my coins drained away.

www.kaldobsky.com/audiogames/daytona.wma
(I hope you can all open this recording format, it is the default windows 7 recorder saves as)

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

2011-01-04 22:11:21

Nice recording. I don't have a separate mouse, and have little faith in my laptop's touch pad, but definitely sound interesting.

Depending what you wrote that in, it occurs to me hat the concept, at least, would be portable to mobile devices, such as the Android or Iphone, by drawing on the touch screen.
Then I could have a game to play on my Google phone. smile

Good and fast work, anyway.

Shadow

2011-01-04 23:03:33

It's true that the concept would work well on different mobile devices although I doubt I'll take the time to set it up for any.  The one I would have gone for is the iphone but my apple developers' license has expired and I'm not buying another one.  tongue

The teaching section is coming along.  There were a few different ideas I had for how to teach the shapes so I had to just guess and pick the one I think is best.  After I release the beta we'll have to see if I guessed correctly.  If everyone ends up stumped and unable to learn the shapes I'll go back and program one of the other methods.

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

2011-01-04 23:38:49

That's why I like the Android. Open source!
big_smile
I might have to find a USB mouse to...borrow, so I can try this out, though.

Shadow

2011-01-05 00:13:41

Why do you not want to renew your license? If it's cost, have you considered charging $1.99 or even $2.99 for the app which I would pay?

2011-01-05 00:18:45

Quasar, I suppose it is just the principle of the thing.  I'm stubborn like that lol!  I don't believe a company should charge people to develop for their platform in the way Apple does.  They claim it leads to higher quality software but it also leads to eliminating 99% of software titles that, otherwise, would have been developed for your system.  Their approach certainly isn't "evil" or anything, I just disagree and prefer not to support them in it.

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

2011-01-05 00:24:47

That's an extreme shame, as this game is tailor-made for the IPhone. If you are unwilling to port it yourself, I would highly recommend you find someone who is willing to make an IPhone version.

2011-01-05 02:21:13

This deffinately sounds fun, but sinse I'm currently at my parents' on a laptop, with no convincing sterrio device due to headphone sockit bustedness, i'll probably have to wait until I either buy a new laptop or get back to my flat to try this one.

a shame sinse it sounds intreaguing.

I've taken a listen on my laptops rather horrible speakers, and it does sound good, ----- though I do rather find myself wondering exactly what sort of shape a claw is. A strike I would imagine is a streight line, and an arrow I can guess (presumably pointing forwards), but I'm less certain of the claw shape.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2011-01-05 03:53:33

The trickiest part will be teaching everyone what each shape is, that's for sure.  I'm still working on the training section and hope to have it working soon.  Pretty much the moment I get that part done I'll be uploading a beta version for everyone to try and give feedback on.

Quasar, that's a good idea.  If this game concept ends up working well and being fun, I imagine other developers will use it on mobile platforms.

Oh lol, the recordings of my voice sounds a bit funny in the demo and game.  I don't have the correct level of excitement in my voice as different things were said.  As it turns out, it is quite difficult to quietly sound like you are excited, amazed, or anxious.  Since I'm in a resort I feel too self conscious to be yelling out these random phrases in my room to record them!  Haha!  The wav files can always be replaced later on though.

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

2011-01-05 08:06:46

Oh! The very first entirely mouse-driven audiogame in the world! Even this one must hhave been complex and must have taken some time to code! The recording sounds definitely intriguing enough, considering your limited resources at your vacation place. Smile
I can imagine that the training section will be the most difficult one, both to code and both for everyone to grasp. Once we all understand what the game wants from us, actually playing it should be just loads of fun! I really admire your work, attitude, ideas, everything, and I am excited as heck about this game and all of your other projects! I am impressed by your quality standard. Let's realize that this will be just the first beta, and it seems to work pretty sstably and to be pretty much complete already! since full mouse support is coming for BGT in a few days, i wonder how I could do a similar thing. You probably keep an array or something of the last few x and y positions of the mouse pointer, and as it is moved, you update the most old values in the buffer and compare them with what the game is expecting, to put it very simply. Did I get the concept right, or not at all? I imagine the mouse speed and sensitivity set in its control pannel will matter a lot for this game. it also has to keep track, in some way, of the time it takes you to draw a certain shape, so that it has to be able to draw a line between successful progress and a mistake! this definitely sounds cool! Were this written in BGT, it could serve the purpose of a brilliant example game to learn using the mouse functionality. :-)
Keep up the great work, and I can't wait to get my hands on this one. :-D
Lukas

I won't be using this account any more or participating in the forum activity through other childish means like creating an alternate account. I've asked for the account to be removed but I'm not sure if that's actually technically possible here. Just writing this for people to know that I won't be replying, posting new topics or checking private messages until the account is potentially removed.

2011-01-05 10:26:19

i assume this will not work on a netbook as they tiny trackpads? ah well, never mind. again shame not on mac but *seigh* not surprised

2011-01-05 11:51:54

how many levels are there?

2011-01-05 13:47:49

Frodow, I've tested the game on a laptop trackpad and it did work!  It is a little harder to play using the track pad but part of that could be the fact that I'm personally bad at using track pads in the first place.  lol!  My combat game will pretty much need an actual mouse, but I tried to make this one so that people without a mouse could still play using their laptops.

There are currently 10 levels and code is already in place so I can quickly add more levels if people feel the game is too short.  The first level only requires you to draw 2 different types of shapes, then the next 8 levels each add a new shape to the mix.  The final level doesn't add an eleventh shape so I'm considering adding in another just so it does.


Lukas,

Thanks for all of the encouragement man!  As for tracking the mouse's shapes there are a few ways I've done it in the past.  In this particular project I used 3 variables to store different types of movement.  Just like you suggested, I store past mouse coordinates and I compare them to the current to determine if the mouse moved Up, Down, Left, Right, or the 4 45 degree angles.  It best-fits to determine which direction it is closest to being.  All Up, Down, Left, Right motions are strung together into the first variable, all angled motions go into the second, and finally the third is a list of all motions.  I found it was easier to track shapes after splitting up the motions in this way.  I would draw the shape several times and have it dump out the pattern common to each attempt, and that pattern would then be the measuring stick used to grade the player while they play the game.

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

2011-01-05 14:35:57

wow! Sounds definitely nice and elegant. So are you saying that the player will actually draw the shapes during the training phase until the game is able to determine that this is an attempt it can recognize and thus accept, and it then sort of calibrates itself to that pattern of that particular player, or did I get that one wrong?
Lukas

I won't be using this account any more or participating in the forum activity through other childish means like creating an alternate account. I've asked for the account to be removed but I'm not sure if that's actually technically possible here. Just writing this for people to know that I won't be replying, posting new topics or checking private messages until the account is potentially removed.

2011-01-05 15:22:49

What's the difference bbetween a mouse and a track pad?

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

2011-01-05 15:58:15

i assume though that a netbook trackpad is a bit small. one could always buy a standard USB mouse though for a laptop to play your combat game smile
i ahve a samsung netbook

2011-01-05 16:00:29

the trackpad is what is built in to a laptop netbook etc. and a physical mouse is what we normally find with a deksotp computer

2011-01-05 17:07:47

Lukas, in this game I'm only using myself as the trainer to teach the computer what shapes are acceptable although it would only be a few code changes to allow users to train the system themselves.  Who knows, later on I might add that feature.  It sounds like you might also be able to use such a feature in your future BGT projects.  You seem to have a pretty firm grasp on the coding concepts behind mouse shape tracking.  big_smile

I'm getting more and more excited, I just finished another descent sized chunk of coding.  I can't make any promises, of course, but I'm really trying to get the beta finished before the day is over.  My wife might have other plans though, ROFL!

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

2011-01-05 20:52:33

Gosh, aprone, this looks really fantastic. I am waiting for the full version of it. Excellent work!

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2011-01-05 21:32:07 (edited by Aprone 2011-01-08 05:34:54)

Ok guys, here is the rough beta release of "Daytona and the Book of Gold"!  big_smile  As I mentioned before you'll have to forgive the poor voice quality.  I don't know how easy or hard it will be for you guys to learn the shapes, but I guess I'll never know until I put this out there for people to try.

www.kaldobsky.com/audiogames/Daytona.zip

If "Aprone's Towers of War" works for you, then you've already got everything registered that this game will use.  If, however, you've never run "Aprone's Towers of War" then you might have a problem with an unregistered direct X 7 driver for Windows Vista or Windows 7.  If you have any problems running the game, give this fix a try:
Put dx7vb.dll into the c:\windows\syswow64 folder.  The file to copy can be found within the game's folder.  After copying, open command prompt as an administrator.  Go to c:\windows\syswow64 and type regsvr32 dx7vb.dll

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

2011-01-05 22:07:50

Wow, you're fast at coding! lol Can't wait to try this out.

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

2011-01-05 22:29:22

Oh! I just can't say it well enough. you rock and I can't believe it! LOL
I do have a firm grasp of other BGT coding concepts but this is merely my ability to form nicely sounding theoretical sentences. Smile
Anyway, thanks, downloading it right now and I really can't wait to pull out that old dusty USB mouse of mine again and see how clumzy or skilled I am in manipulating it. :-)
Lukas

I won't be using this account any more or participating in the forum activity through other childish means like creating an alternate account. I've asked for the account to be removed but I'm not sure if that's actually technically possible here. Just writing this for people to know that I won't be replying, posting new topics or checking private messages until the account is potentially removed.

2011-01-05 22:39:28

one needs a full laptop trackpad not a netbook to do this as you need oom to move hand

2011-01-05 23:53:54

hi aprone, wow, congratulations man, fantastic work there.
i'm trying to play the game. i'm trying to master the first movements: claw and arrow.
arrow i can do just fine, but claw doesn't works, when i try to go down two times it doesn't
works, unles i release the left mouse button and press again, but of course it won't casts the
spell then.
i'm using windows xp with a very old laptop(3 years old or so)
that could be the problem but i'm not sure.
more help would be good.
what you mean by "curve down to the right"? i just need to go onse to the right or
what?
really awesome.

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matrheine at gmail . com

2011-01-06 01:10:42 (edited by Aprone 2011-01-06 01:12:47)

Drg, I'm guessing you're using a track pad and that is how you're running out of room.  I think I can help a little with that.  The game doesn't actually care how large or small you've drawn the shape, just go a little slower if you are drawing it small so your movements are more precise.  When "claw" talks about "curving down to the right" you will be tracing the shape of a bowl.  Start by moving down slowly and, gradually change so you are moving to the right, and finally continue your curve until you are going back up.

I hate to use english letters as shape examples because I don't know if everyone would understand.  Pretty much "claw" closely resembled a w after the initial diagonal line that moves up+left.

When you get to the next one, "Slash" resembled the shape of a "no smoking sign" except the diagonal line is going the opposite direction.  Lol, as people begin mastering the shapes I anticipate explanations that are far better than mine!  big_smile

Lukas, I think you're selling yourself short.  There's a very fine line between describing the concepts, as you have, and putting them in to practice.  My gut tells me you know more than you think you do.  smile

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