[Sanek]

CandyMania is the first-person platformer. Your objective is to collect all the candy-points on the level in order to finish it.
Avoid your enemies and don't fall into Vitamin C and other dangerous lava!
You can also save the game, but only if you pick up a one-off floppy disk.
CandyMania includes total of 8 levels, 3 types of enemies and more than 500 candies to collect! The game is quite easy for expierenced player, and it's easy enough to finish it in one sitting. Read CandyMania.txt. before playing! Download link here: https://www.mediafir.../CandyMania.zip
Screenshots

Spoiler

One notable feature of the mod is the disabled menu. Since I want to pretend that CandyMania is a standalone game I've had to eliminate all the Duke Nukem connections. I can't remove Duke Nukem-related sections from the menu, so I have to close the menu completely. It means that all the game options is locked. You can't change controls, sound and everything else (except brightness settings).
Mblackwell did not support this idea, so I had to change the СON-code for the menu by myself. I'm sorry if the very idea of locked configuration dissapoints you, but I can't imagine any other way to hide all that menu sections that had nothing to do with the game. The game use Classic Renderer, Vsync is and Widescreen is ON.

CandyMania was developed by Oddball Wizards - basically Mblackwell and myself. I did all the levels and draw some textures and sprites, but Mblackwell was the real hero of the project. Probably I was more demanding than I should, and I closed the menu despite his warnings, but I'm extremely grateful to him for the fantastic job that he made!
Most of the music comes from FMX's collection, and MegaBee sprite was drawn by Nightmaresplody. You-know-who also worked on the mod before he disappeared. For more credits and information, open CandyMania.txt.

I hope some of you would enjoy it!

[BestViking]

I gave it a quick go. Played the training level and the first level.

It looks really slick. Graphics are nice and colorful and everything blends together well. This was a nice idea. I'm going to go back and play it more later and give you more feedback then. Congratulations on the release!

[Jolteon]

Having played through this, I actually enjoyed it for the most part. Its nice to see something different than what I'm used to in most games, and mods that I play. In a way, it reminds me of the Doom mod SkullDash, Where you have to collect all the items to exit the level, minus the shooting, and Time limits. The graphics are neat as well, and definitely fit the theme too. I like the design of those bee enemies as well, thought they were pretty cool. The levels are pretty cool too, and challenging in some ways. The one thing that I don't like though is the clouds, since they're not flatten sprites, it quite difficult to see where to land on them when in the air, above them. This led me to keep restarting from the last save from those floppy disks, or from the beginning of the level.

Now for the bug reports:

This floppy disk here (On the red block) in Candy Arena (Which is my least favorite level) doesn't work, and acts as a static sprite.



Secondly, since the Esc button is rigged to exit out of the game, I noticed that if you're in a menu (Load game, and the Eduke32 credit screen), you can't exit out of it since pressing Esc says "Are you sure you want to quit?" message, and doesn't leave the menu that you're on. So the only way to exit is to exit out of the game, or load a previous saved game if you're on the Load game menu.

This game was Really cool. I enjoyed playing it.

[CryptKiller]

Congratulations on a release, very neat, very original thing for this engine. Just started playing this. One big request: any chance for enabling the autorun? Holding the shift key all the time is quite cumbersome...

[Sanek]

Thanks for review, Jolteon!

Shadow Jolteon, on 30 October 2017 - 02:19 PM, said:

This floppy disk here (On the red block) in Candy Arena (Which is my least favorite level) doesn't work, and acts as a static sprite.

This floppy disk was originally intended to be a trap, but thanks for the report! Even if it's too late to change anyting...

Shadow Jolteon, on 30 October 2017 - 02:19 PM, said:

Secondly, since the Esc button is rigged to exit out of the game, I noticed that if you're in a menu (Load game, and the Eduke32 credit screen), you can't exit out of it since pressing Esc says "Are you sure you want to quit?" message, and doesn't leave the menu that you're on. So the only way to exit is to exit out of the game, or load a previous saved game if you're on the Load game menu.

I'm aware of that problem. I can't use the menu because of the Duke Nukem-related sections, so I was forced to close it.

CryptKiller, on 31 October 2017 - 08:35 AM, said:

Congratulations on a release, very neat, very original thing for this engine. Just started playing this. One big request: any chance for enabling the autorun? Holding the shift key all the time is quite cumbersome...

Thanks! I thought about autorun, but the game will be way too easy if you don't have to worry about the shift button.

[Micky C]

What are these duke Nukem related sections in the menu you’re referring to? Wouldn’t it just be a matter of modifying or removing certain art tiles?

[Sanek]

Micky C, on 01 November 2017 - 03:37 AM, said:

What are these duke Nukem related sections in the menu you’re referring to? Wouldn’t it just be a matter of modifying or removing certain art tiles?

I refer to sections like "Duke Talk", "Parental lock", "Player Setup", all mentions of duke's inventory in keyboard configurations...the list goes on. Sure it's possible to hide these sections via cons, but it's a hard thing to do, and if you change the hard-coded stuff, you will be blamed by Hendricks for "hacking the menu". And I don't need that.

[Forge]

Sanek, on 02 November 2017 - 10:11 AM, said:

Sure it's possible to hide these sections via cons, but it's a hard thing to do, and if you change the hard-coded stuff, you will be blamed by Hendricks for "hacking the menu". And I don't need that.

communication is a wonderful tool. It allows for asking first before assuming what the response will be.

[Sanek]

Forge, on 02 November 2017 - 01:05 PM, said:

communication is a wonderful tool. It allows for asking first before assuming what the response will be.

I asked about the menu couple of weeks ago. AFAIK, Hendricks is against any hacking of hard-coded eduke32 stuff. Also, Trooper Dan said:

Trooper Dan, on 15 October 2017 - 03:10 PM, said:

You could, and no one will stop you, but no one will help you either. Better to wait until there is a less hackish way of doing it. It's not a good idea to challenge Hendricks266 about this when he is your best hope of eventually providing a proper method.

I don't ask Hendricks about immediate menu changing or smth like that. Not directly. If there is a chance that there will be some easier way of making custom menu, and Eduke32 team will be OK with that customisation, it'll be better to be on good terms with them, isn't it?


For now, there will be no menu in CandyMania. If there will be any updates of the game, we'll try to find some easier, not-hacking way to add it.

[BestViking]

Are there plans to enable more CON-trol of hardcoded elements in future eduke builds?

IIRC this also applies to weapons, particularly projectiles, which seem to require some workarounds to customize.

[Forge]

Sanek, on 02 November 2017 - 02:27 PM, said:

Also, Trooper Dan said:

...............................

I don't ask Hendricks about immediate menu changing or smth like that. Not directly.

Okay.
Just my opinion that you should have got a direct answer, not something someone else said. Even if what he said is true, Dan still doesn't speak for Hendricks.

If you ever expand this project with another episode, or make something similar - you may want to consider discussing the possibilities with Hendricks via PM.

[Sanek]

Forge, on 02 November 2017 - 03:29 PM, said:

Okay.
Just my opinion that you should have got a direct answer, not something someone else said. Even if what he said is true, Dan still doesn't speak for Hendricks.

If you ever expand this project with another episode, or make something similar - you may want to consider discussing the possibilities with Hendricks via PM.

I just don't think there's a need to bother him with this since I've got the answer already.

I hope I can work out something with Mblackwell when he'll had some time. And I need more reviews, which will indicate if there's a positive reaction and even demands for more.

[Perro Seco]

Sanek, on 02 November 2017 - 10:11 AM, said:

I refer to sections like "Duke Talk", "Parental lock", "Player Setup", all mentions of duke's inventory in keyboard configurations...the list goes on.

The possibility to hide/remove that sections would be great for TCs and mods that use EDuke32 but aren't Duke related.

By the way, I see you put me in the credits, so I'm glad that my small piece of code helped you developing the mod. I'll play it this weekend.

[Sanek]

Perro Seco, on 02 November 2017 - 03:46 PM, said:

The possibility to hide/remove that sections would be great for TCs and mods that use EDuke32 but aren't Duke related.

By the way, I see you put me in the credits, so I'm glad that my small piece of code helped you developing the mod. I'll play it this weekend.

It'a amazing that nobody talked about this seriously before...

Yes, thanks you for that code! It really helped, and it's very easy to add to every texture I wanted.

[Merlijn]

Congrats on the release!

I've played through a large part, I'm currently at the Candy arena. But I just keep dying in that level so I'll try it again later.

Overall, it's very nicely done. The graphics are neat, very cool retro feel.
The levels all have their own challenge and theme (so far, "Waterfalls" is my favorite) and I think they're well constructed.
It reminds me a bit of VR-duke (an old mod by Geoffrey van Dijk).

Enemies are a nice additional challenge too. I first thought I only had to worry about those patrolling yellow monsters.
But then the game introduces a tougher variety, one which actually starts chasing you. They added a nice extra challenge.

Only thing I don't like are those clouds you're supposed to jump on, as Jolteon also pointed out they're a bit unfair.
It's very easy to miss them, and the result is immediate death. They're the reason I keep dying in Candy Arena.

[Sanek]

Merlijn, on 05 November 2017 - 11:52 AM, said:

Overall, it's very nicely done. The graphics are neat, very cool retro feel.
The levels all have their own challenge and theme (so far, "Waterfalls" is my favorite) and I think they're well constructed.

Waterfalls is the level I spent most of my time on, along with the very last one.

Merlijn, on 05 November 2017 - 11:52 AM, said:

Only thing I don't like are those clouds you're supposed to jump on, as Jolteon also pointed out they're a bit unfair.
It's very easy to miss them, and the result is immediate death. They're the reason I keep dying in Candy Arena.

Yeah, I think I underestimated the difficulty of Candy Arena.
If Mblackwell will add the custom menu, we'll release the updated version of the game, where I add more checkpoints on that level, since it's so hard for everyone.

[Merlijn]

Finished. Candy Arena was by far the hardest of the bunch. The last map was a cool final challenge.

I would personally change the clouds to flat sprites. Maybe make them small/harder to see or let them float up and down to add some extra challenge.
Right now, they were just too frustrating for me.

But that's my only gripe, other than that I enjoyed the mod.
I didn't mention it last time, but I do really like the design of the bee enemies.
Don't know if they're made from scratch or from some old game, but they looked quite nice either way.

[Mblackwell]

I have some (possible) things in mind for the clouds, and also for the menu. But in my current life I am certainly lacking free time. However if there is interest in seeing a patch I'll devote some time in the near future, and see what might be done.

[Sanek]

Screenshots from CandyMania...something that I should post in the first place!

Spoiler

Mblackwell, on 06 November 2017 - 05:40 PM, said:

I have some (possible) things in mind for the clouds, and also for the menu. But in my current life I am certainly lacking free time. However if there is interest in seeing a patch I'll devote some time in the near future, and see what might be done.

It would be great! However, I can make the clouds jumping thing much easier by just adding transparent/invisible flat sprites above it. And you don't need to change anyting via cons. If that's what you want to do, making clouds easier.

Thanks for review, Merlijn!

[Sanek]

One of my friends streamed CandyMania on twitch last night...in russian, of course.
It took him 3 hours to finish the game! He literally spent 1 hour on Candy Arena...for someone who never played Build Engine game, this one is really a challenge!

Even though there was only 6 people watching the stream (plus he turned on some god-awful anime intro music while playing), I was really excited that people outside the community was watching this! And when one of the viewers started asking for download link, I've got that good feeling inside of me, like I really made something worthwhile. Like I achieved something. I know there's not that much reviews here on duke4, but I definitely will make something simillar in the future.

[Sanek]

CandyMania has been reviewed on MSDN

[Sanek]

Coming Soon

Attached thumbnail(s)

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[axl]

Nice work !!

[Jolteon]

Sanek, on 09 December 2017 - 07:35 AM, said:

Coming Soon

Can't wait.

[Poorchop]

I found out about this after seeing your thread it in SilverballZ and I think it's pretty cool for what it is. It's simple but it still manages to be pretty fun once the difficulty ramps up a bit. I'm always impressed by mods of this caliber for older engines like Build and the Doom engine. One of the things that I've been having trouble so far is jumping precisely on sprites because it's hard to see where you're landing and you don't have a ton of space with which you can work. I still thought the concept was cool though as it took me a little while to realize that I had to do this in order to get to one of the candy pieces. It's a fun game to play through when I'm taking a short break from life.