Project: Metagame - Join and contribute!

[Animator]

What size will the background be? The usual 800 by 600? I already have some background concepts in the works. It's really more than one background, one in the very back (consisting of shining white stars (very few red and blue stars) stars and a giant flare showing the sun. Another layer could be cosmic space clouds, scrolling along the game as you move (semi-transparent, in front of the layer), and then add whatever needed in the next layer, like distant planets and asteroids and such. It would be wonderful to be this to work, and I could draw up concepts if I had dimensions for the background,

[mattk210]

I would think we would have different backgrounds on a per-level basis. I would also hope that the sun was an actual object and not just the background. The backgrounds should probably tile so parallax scrolling can continue indefinitely (so the resolution doesn't matter)

[Animator]

I would think we would have different backgrounds on a per-level basis. I would also hope that the sun was an actual object and not just the background. The backgrounds should probably tile so parallax scrolling can continue indefinitely (so the resolution doesn't matter)

That's awesome. What are the dimensions?

[mattk210]

i just said, it probably won't matter, because we'll want to tile it anyway. But anything under, say, 400x600 will probably look obviously repetitive.

[Animator]

i just said, it probably won't matter, because we'll want to tile it anyway. But anything under, say, 400x600 will probably look obviously repetitive.

Alright, I'll make 9 different star backgrounds 400x600 in size to guarantee the most in tile variation, yet still being able to pull off a smooth repetition.

[mattk210]

ok, but they'll probably need a lot of revision later when we decide on color schemes for each level and stuff

also, here's some very rough sketches of some character ideas. I don't think we have any animators here, so I gave the run-man wheels instead to simplify animation. The idea is each guy has the same head and arm designs but different functions for their hand and lower body. I'm not really an artist, just throwing out ideas.

[Animator]

I don't think we have any animators here, so I gave the run-man wheels instead to simplify animation.

Ahahahahahahahahaha. Wahahahahahaha. Bahahaha. Hahaha.

[mattk210]

very funny. You can't actually animate though can you?

[Condog]

I can animate. I can animate very well. I'll have a shot at animating the basic characters.

[mattk210]

oh, I remember some graffiti animated signature at the old forums. That was pretty good.

I'm not sure what animation system we'll be using though, so you may have to redo them in a specific way when we decide on that.

[Animator]

very funny. You can't actually animate though can you?

Actually, I can, but with Pivot 3 Beta (which allows sprites).

[Destiny]

I prefer geti's blue robot by far than those designs. I'm still voting for a single character.

[Geti]

woot, im prefered. uh, i had to navigate back 7 pages to find the topic, more activity maybe? or have to forums just gone crazy?
in any case, matt, that demo has made me want running and jumping rather than hover mode, i think in hover mode we will need a camera that eases a LOT more slowly. sorry im not on a lot, still on holidays. good to see some work being done, ill be overjoyed if the art style goes in the direction i indicated, but you'd expect that.

[blackbelmoral]

here is a sample of a logo done in ned. just want to see how you like it, or what do we want for a logo (if we want one)
thanks

need to texture the planets

[mattk210]

geti: well that's the thing. It used to be fun and sort of relaxing to be able to float around and just watch and enjoy the orbital physics, but I added the camera and it's just disorienting. Maybe for hover mode there shouldn't be a rotating camera at all? If we ease the camera we won't be able to use raster sprites for the character as animator seems to want (but it's not a problem for me), but I don't think easing would really fix the problem. With a rotating camera there's no solid point of reference to focus on so it's a bit difficult to follow what's happening.

[Geti]

why wouldnt we be able to use sprites? they'll only be a little distorted.. also, the point of reference is your character, with a slow ease that works fine. and i mean at least 3 seconds for a 180 turn for slow..

[mattk210]

once you introduce any sort of easing, it will be rotated for extended periods of time because when you're moving the easing is constantly "catching up" (like when you're on a spinning planet). Even if we use some kind of acceleration-based easing (which I've tried and isn't very intuitive), stuff like jumping or running along a flat will cause long periods of rotated sprites. Also, really, once you start rotating sprites at all they're pretty much equally distorted.

[Geti]

but that doesnt necessarily mean ugly. look, a pixel game with rotations and a lot of detail.
also, possibility of a demo with a runman-style circle?

[Ignate]

but that doesnt necessarily mean ugly. look, a pixel game with rotations and a lot of detail.
also, possibility of a demo with a runman-style circle?

Holy McAwesomeGyver that game looks awesome.
Oh right, our game. I'm just gonna sketch some stuff out on paper first and see what's usable.

[mattk210]

but that doesnt necessarily mean ugly. look, a pixel game with rotations and a lot of detail.
also, possibility of a demo with a runman-style circle?

running is a lot more complex. You see, when on a planet, you'd expect to stay on the same point on the planet, even when the planet is spinning. The way I implemented that before was with infinite friction - once you touch the planet you stick to it completely. However doing this means there can be no acceleration while on a planet, which prohibits n-like movement. I'm brainstorming ways to resolve this.. right now my best bet is separate coordinate systems for the world -- cartesian, and for planets -- polar. This sort of stuff is actually a lot more complex than it sounds because using linear acceleration the player tends to fly off the planet -- unless the planet is big enough or the player is slow enough. This problem also would happen in the real world: if you were on a really small planet and you tried to run around it you'd fly off. But obviously implementing real-world sized planets is not a possibility.

basically, I'm working on it.

EDIT: in the meantime, look at this very rough demo. I stopped the spin of the planet. CAPSLOCK switches between rotating camera and static. shift is jump (it just makes you go up so only use it in rotation camera mode).

as I suspected, easing is terrible (toggle this with numlock). When you run around the planet, it lags behind. because of this, pressing down will more closely move you along the planet than pressing across, which can lead to some unfortunate camera insanity. (play around, you'll see what I mean)

http://psychonova.110mb.com/rough.swf

[squibbles]

Matt, would it be possible/plausible to devide ALL movement speed by a certain number, then multiply the framerate by that factor?

Or would that cause chugging problems?

[mattk210]

you mean you want it to run more smoothly?
Yes I can do that, I'll do it for the next demo if you like but remember, this is just me testing out stuff, not intended to be polished and nice.

[squibbles]

no, I mean to stop him flying off the planet, would it be plausible to just slow everything down, and increase the framerate to make it seem that it's moving at regular speed?

Or is it happening due to the relative speeds of the objects, in which case it wouldn't work...

[mattk210]

Once the lateral acceleration is greater than the centripetal acceleration due to gravity, you'll leave the planet. It has nothing to do with the framerate.

[Destiny]

hmm, how do i play the demo you posted? When i open it as a webpage, i just get a small black circle in the middle of the screen, and a huge grey circle with a cross next to it....