Duke4.net Forums: CandyMania needs a coder...90% is done - Duke4.net Forums

Jump to content

Page 1 of 1
  • You cannot start a new topic
  • You cannot reply to this topic

CandyMania needs a coder...90% is done  "Everything is ready...except the CONs"

User is offline   Sanek 

#1

Attached Image: CANDYMANIA.jpg
CandyMania is a first-person adventure that me and Zykov Eddy (as CandyMade team) worked on since February. Known simply as "Candy project", that mod would feauture points-hunting, puzzle-solving and numerous new enemies to deal with. After playing countless maps and action-packed TC's, working on such a project felt like a breath of fresh air!
But unfortunately, Eddy started to ignore me without any reason and the work on the mod was virtually stopped since the late May. It was very dissapointing to add another project to my "closed ones" list, but ever since I started working on it, I felt that it's the only project that's worth finishing, since it's something really different. It will help me to break away from the usual Duke mapping and start something completely new. With all the new art, sounds, and enemy (1) being done, It will be the biggest shame ever to just bury all that.

And I need a new coder to finish this thing. I started to make the thing simpler, cut everything that's not important so the potential coder have the the least amount of work possible. Now the concept is simple - each level is a box, where player must collect all the candies while angry bees try to kill him.I doubt that anyone will join the project if he didn't know what to do, so I wrote a list of everything you need to make. I the only fault I made while working with the previous coder is that I never knew how much new code I exactly needed, and I continued to bombard him with new requests.

It will never happen again. I have the complete vision of the project now. Open the spoiler and you'll see the COMPLETE list of all things to do:
Spoiler

Now, here's the current progress list:

New Art - 95% is ready. Aside from new font and loading screens, all in-game art is done.
New Sounds: 90% is ready. Death sound and menu sounds is needed, otherwise it's done too (there's not too many sounds in this mod)
New Code: 40% is ready. Eddy wrote some significant chunks of code before he became a jerk.
New Maps: 8 out of 20. Considering size and scope of the maps, it will be no trouble to make these maps fast once there will be more code.

I know that most members of this community have their own projects and don't join forces just because a guy asked about it. Somebody at duke4 said that you have to show some kind of a proof that your project isn't just an "idea", you have to show that something exists and that you are going to actively be a part of creating the thing you want. The screenshots you all saw during the year is a proof that I've actualy made something for that project.
I took care of every aspect of the production I can - maps, sounds, art tiles, music, etc. The only thing I can't handle is the CON language.
If there's a person who's interested in such a project and wants to help me finish it, write here!

Attached thumbnail(s)

  • Attached Image: capt0022.png
  • Attached Image: capt0021.png
  • Attached Image: duke0066.png
  • Attached Image: capt0024.png
  • Attached Image: capt0023.png

7

User is offline   Perro Seco 

#2

View PostSanek, on 17 September 2017 - 05:22 PM, said:

4. Player dies once he touches the floor (selected art tiles).
This can be done adding this code wherever you want inside game.con:

onevent EVENT_CHECKFLOORDAMAGE
  ifvare RETURN X addphealth -200
endevent


X is the tile number. If you want to add more tiles, duplicate the line "ifvare RETURN X addphealth -200" with the new tile number. -200 is the amount of health the player is going to loose when he enters the sector.
3

User is offline   Maisth 

#3

I Don't know how to code in Duke3D yet but i wish you the best of lucks in your project
1

User is offline   Sanek 

#4

View PostPerro Seco, on 19 September 2017 - 10:55 AM, said:

This can be done adding this code wherever you want inside game.con:


Hey, it worked! Thanks for the tip! Still need a coder, though.

View PostMaisth, on 19 September 2017 - 11:55 AM, said:

I Don't know how to code in Duke3D yet but i wish you the best of lucks in your project


Thank you! I appreciate that. :)
0

User is offline   Hendricks266 

  • Weaponized Autism

  #5

Just stopping in to say that this is possibly the first time I've ever seen a project in need of a coder, and not a coder in need of everything else. :) (I am guilty of this too.)

View PostSanek, on 17 September 2017 - 05:22 PM, said:

5. Disable save option in the main menu, as well as "help" option. I know that it's a tricky thing to do, but I saw numerous mods that had disabled that option - Electric Highways is the latest example.

I'll let you know when making the help option disappear is possible, which should be very soon. I'm less willing to set aside the time to think about disabling saving in the menu, so for now:

define INT32_MIN -2147483648

onevent EVENT_CHANGEMENU
    switch RETURN
        case 350 // MENU_SAVE
        case 2000 // MENU_SAVEVERIFY
            setvar RETURN INT32_MIN // do nothing
            screensound BUZZER // or some other sound name, something that will indicate that it's not allowed
            break
    endswitch
endevent


Electric Highways is not a good example, because Eddy did a Very Bad Thing and replaced the menus with his own CON hacks, and/or hacked the exe.

View PostSanek, on 17 September 2017 - 05:22 PM, said:

6. There will be only 2 episodes.

"undefinevolume 2" alongside your definevolumename definitions will make episode 3 disappear from the menu.

View PostSanek, on 17 September 2017 - 05:22 PM, said:

7. Disable run option. Player can run only when he touches "shift" button or smth like that.

Add this to actor APLAYER: "setuserdef[].auto_run 0"

View PostSanek, on 17 September 2017 - 05:22 PM, said:

8. If possible, package the whole thing as a standalone game.

You don't need a coder to make this happen.

View PostPerro Seco, on 19 September 2017 - 10:55 AM, said:

This can be done adding this code wherever you want inside game.con:

onevent EVENT_CHECKFLOORDAMAGE
  ifvare RETURN X addphealth -200
endevent


X is the tile number. If you want to add more tiles, duplicate the line "ifvare RETURN X addphealth -200" with the new tile number. -200 is the amount of health the player is going to loose when he enters the sector.

To keep it simple, use this for multiple tiles:

onevent EVENT_CHECKFLOORDAMAGE
    switch RETURN
        case X
        case Y
        case Z
        // more cases...
            addphealth -1000
            break
    endswitch
endevent

6

User is offline   Sanek 

#6

Woah! Thanks for the post Hendricks, you're awesome! :)

View PostHendricks266, on 19 September 2017 - 05:42 PM, said:

I'll let you know when making the help option disappear is possible, which should be very soon. I'm less willing to set aside the time to think about disabling saving in the menu, so for now:

I hope I will release the mod soon, but thanks anyway!

View PostHendricks266, on 19 September 2017 - 05:42 PM, said:

You don't need a coder to make this happen.

Really? I don't need anything from the original Duke besides the player's basic ability to move. :)
0

User is offline   Sanek 

#7

I added everything that Hendricks said...however, I can't disable the save menu - when I add that code line eduke says "Error compiling CON files." :)
Now...if this problem will be somehow solved, it leaves us only with point 1-3 by now.

I add one more pic for your interest.
Attached Image: capt0026.png

This post has been edited by Sanek: 20 September 2017 - 12:48 PM

2

User is offline   Hendricks266 

  • Weaponized Autism

  #8

View PostSanek, on 20 September 2017 - 12:48 PM, said:

I added everything that Hendricks said...however, I can't disable the save menu - when I add that code line eduke says "Error compiling CON files." :)

You need to read the comments, because they had instructions. Change the imaginary sound name BUZZER to something in your mod.
0

User is offline   Sanek 

#9

View PostHendricks266, on 20 September 2017 - 04:07 PM, said:

You need to read the comments, because they had instructions. Change the imaginary sound name BUZZER to something in your mod.


Hey, I DO read the comments. I replaced the name. And after I posted my post I figured out what's wrong - apparently, Eddy started to work on the disabling function of his own, and I kinda forgot it. I deleted that line. Now it's all right.
0

User is offline   Mblackwell 

  • Evil Overlord

#10

Hm, if you PM me a more specific outline of what 1-3 need to be I might be able to help. Although I am fairly swamped IRL it sounds from the description like not more than a few days work (including testing), but that depends on the details. I'll let you know if I'm going to have time (or not) after we have a chance to chat.
2

User is offline   Sanek 

#11

View PostMblackwell, on 20 September 2017 - 07:58 PM, said:

Hm, if you PM me a more specific outline of what 1-3 need to be I might be able to help. Although I am fairly swamped IRL it sounds from the description like not more than a few days work (including testing), but that depends on the details. I'll let you know if I'm going to have time (or not) after we have a chance to chat.


Cool! I'll send you a PM right now! :)
0

User is offline   Sanek 

#12

Hey guys, I have a question for you:

How many levels should be in the game?

Originally, I wanted to have about 20 maps total, but I started to think lately that 20 levels that play and for the most part look the same will be way too much. So, I'm thinkting about reducing it to 10 levels, but each level will be more challenging than the previous one. What do you think?

This post has been edited by Sanek: 23 September 2017 - 03:27 AM

0

User is offline   Loke 

#13

A shorter and tighter experience sounds more preferable.
3

User is offline   Perro Seco 

#14

I see that your mod will have floating items to collect, and I think they will be easier to percept if you make them emit shadows on the floor, like the original enemies from Duke 3D. You can do it inserting "spriteshadow X" (X is the tile number) in game.con. Only if you want, of course, but I think is a good idea. :)
2

User is offline   Sanek 

#15

Loke and Perro, thanks for your advices!
BTW, a new pic from one of the levels...
Attached Image: capt0027.png
2

User is offline   oasiz 

  • Dr. Effector

#16

If you aren't using a custom palette.dat, I suggest you make one!
Art in this one could really benefit from vibrant shade ramps..

Speaking of shading, add -1~2 shade around sides of blocks to give some minor 3D so things don't look AS flat.

Regarding amount of levels, approach with ramping difficulty and take inspiration from arcade games.

Levels should generally introduce one mechanic at a time
First level can easily be a pushover to introduce the very core end game goal. No other major distractions
Levels 2-3 would introduce new "roadblocks" to that end goal and level 4 can make you think more with what you've learned by combining the first few challenges together.
Good!
Aim that the first death/failure happens on levels 4-5, when you have taught the player all the basics and it's really the player's fault at that point if they fuck up.
After that, it really depends on how many new mechanics you can dole out, if the mechanic is big enough then you can even recycle a previous level to give it a very different spin with the "new rules"
10~15 levels seem like a reasonable amount, but I don't know the details well enough :)
2

User is offline   Sanek 

#17

View Postoasiz, on 24 September 2017 - 11:57 AM, said:

If you aren't using a custom palette.dat, I suggest you make one!
Art in this one could really benefit from vibrant shade ramps..

I thought about, but I'm pretty much comfortanble with the current palette.

View Postoasiz, on 24 September 2017 - 11:57 AM, said:

Regarding amount of levels, approach with ramping difficulty and take inspiration from arcade games.
Levels should generally introduce one mechanic at a time
First level can easily be a pushover to introduce the very core end game goal. No other major distractions
Levels 2-3 would introduce new "roadblocks" to that end goal and level 4 can make you think more with what you've learned by combining the first few challenges together.
Good!
Aim that the first death/failure happens on levels 4-5, when you have taught the player all the basics and it's really the player's fault at that point if they fuck up.
After that, it really depends on how many new mechanics you can dole out, if the mechanic is big enough then you can even recycle a previous level to give it a very different spin with the "new rules"

Yes, I didn't intend to make a hard game from the beginning.
The first level will be a a pure education, where the player will learn the jumping mechanics, and no enemies.
I also replace the "help" section in the menu with my own manual.
Enemies will appear in a level 2, and the difficulty will encrase with each level. Once again, I don't try to make it hard, but it's not a girl's game either.

And speaking about "new mechanics" - besides basic jumping and enemy's behavior, there's a very small amount of stuff you'll need to know.
0

User is offline   Sanek 

#18

Delete

This post has been edited by Sanek: 03 October 2017 - 01:05 PM

0

User is offline   Sanek 

#19

Fistful of news:

1. I can say that the mod is almost finished. It will go to beta-testers in a few days.
2. There will be only 8 levels, including the training one.
3. Initially started as a project by "Candymade" team, it will be eventually released by...Oddball Wizards!
4. Expected release next week.
5. Эдик, ты мудак.
0

User is offline   Mark 

#20

you sure do hold a grudge :rolleyes:
0

Share this topic:


Page 1 of 1
  • You cannot start a new topic
  • You cannot reply to this topic


All copyrights and trademarks not owned by Voidpoint, LLC are the sole property of their respective owners. Play Ion Fury! ;) © Voidpoint, LLC

Enter your sign in name and password


Sign in options