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Fengol
03-02-2008, 09:52 PM
I don't know how much work will be done on this game beyond this weekend, but I've done enough to submit an entry.

If you're been fortunate enough to live near Dislekcia (FYI happy birthday for 4 Feb 2008) chances are you've been invited to play Froccer, essentially soccer with a frisbee and sorta like Ultimate Frisbee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_frisbee). I figured making a sports game is a perfect match for this comp because these type of games tend to have a natural time limit and still allow replayability.

Like a soccer game, you only control the player with the frisbee (who can't move while holding it) and using the mouse, aim in the direction you want to throw. Hold down the left mouse button to build a charge and release to let fly. The goal is to get a player and the frisbee all touching a goal post to score a point. While holding down the mouse button you can aim in another direction to control the flight of the frisbee. The frisbee has a natural tendency to pull to the right which'll need to be corrected if you want to be accurate.

F2 enables Debug Mode; showing the angles, frisbee data and area of play for each player (mouse over the player to see area of play).

F3 restarts the game.

v0http://gamedev.openhazel.co.za/filecloset/download.php?id=323
v1http://gamedev.openhazel.co.za/filecloset/download.php?id=325
v2http://gamedev.openhazel.co.za/filecloset/download.php?id=343
v3http://gamedev.openhazel.co.za/filecloset/download.php?id=353 (Broken - missing sound libraries)
v4http://gamedev.openhazel.co.za/filecloset/download.php?id=375

// CHANGES
v1
* Add time and scoring
* When player with frisbee is close enough to goal another player will move to the goal post
* User's players mark enemy players when they have the frisbee
v2
* Fixed timer (although it still is sucky)
* Added menu and instructions
* Played with sound and added sound to main menu
* Enemy team can now score goals
* Enemy player aims for goal post (and shows direction pointer)
* Other enemy players will move to player's goal if close enough
* Fixed some collision problems (still not perfect)
* Shortened game time to 1min (oops, I had this for debugging and forgot to reset it)
v3
* Better "game over" visuals
v4
* Updated loading screen
* Created game icon for the desktop
* Created frisbee animations (it's my own work so it sucks)

// TODO
* Build AI to allow selected enemy player to throw frisbee in a favourable direction
* Better collision detection
* Sprinting. When holding down spacebar the closest player to the frisbee will run a little faster in order to catch it. Sprinting has a cool-off period.
* Build AI for enemy to take advantage of sprinting
* A LOT of tweaking to get the "physics" right

// LIKE TO SEE
* Networked multiplayer!!!
* Unqiue stats and names for each player and the ability to build a team

// SPECIAL NOTE
* I don't know if I'll be able to work on this again before the deadline, but I'd like to try. It's pretty complete and besides tweaking the only thing really missing is Sprint Boost. I tried to implement it but the cool-off became fiddly and I was under time constraints.

FuzzYspo0N
03-02-2008, 11:48 PM
HAH, what a cool concept.

I like the medieval style, lol.

A few notes, obviously you are still working on it so just ideas...
The not being able to move thing is kinda frustrating i felt like gameplay was slow.
A faster play would be more consuming, making you feel its like, action. The slow pace is what makes or breaks a "sports" game... IMO sports games are furious tapping and running backward and forward till you feel sick. maybe a 2 step click-to-run-here (but only twice within a rradius) wud be rad. making it possible to score a lot easier, maknig the game mroe fast paced. a lot of clicking would happen multiplayer. though, maybe that "mode" can be aseperate mode to choose.

Networked would be win :D

Keep it up

dislekcia
04-02-2008, 03:24 AM
Well, seeing as the game is based on Froccer, which doesn't let you move when you're holding, how about something a little different?

Why not allow the player to right-click + drag players off the frisbee to give them "suggestions" on where to run? That would allow you to have a team-perspective while still manually controlling the frisbee.

-D

01DT!m3r
04-02-2008, 12:18 PM
Hey its my b-day too! happy birthday dis

dislekcia
04-02-2008, 02:11 PM
Hey its my b-day too! happy birthday dis

Thanks :) Happy happy.

And why does the 4th seem to always fall on a monday?

-D

|-|1Pp13
04-02-2008, 02:20 PM
where is the goal posts? and how do i win? im a bit lost =P

Fengol
04-02-2008, 02:38 PM
The goal posts are those gray blocks, but scoring hasn't been implemented yet (as well as the AI to try and score, see TODO)

Fengol
05-02-2008, 08:49 AM
New version available; check first post

FuzzYspo0N
05-02-2008, 03:19 PM
Thats much better, lol :)

I actualyl havent managed to score yet, but everything else seems functional. Only notes i pick up :

Are the players meant to be in the exact same position? like if there guy grabs the ball, my guy runs into him and "stays" behind him running non stop.

Also, the frisbee can be caught if it hits a player, shud that be dependant on the "height" of the frisbee versus height of the player?

Fengol
05-02-2008, 03:56 PM
There are still some tweaks I need to make around collisions because the players should not be on top of each other. Marking an opponent should cause the player to stand next to him and try and stay between him and the frisbee. I should be fixing this in the next release.

Initially I'd liked to have had a height factor so that you can throw the frisbee over a player; but because you can curve the throw around your opponent (with a little skill of course) I've left it out for now. I doubt I'll implement height because curving the throw is, I've found, so much fun.

Gazza_N
05-02-2008, 06:47 PM
This is fun! I see that all the issues I've had have been raised already, so I'll just shut up and wait for the next release. ;)

Fengol
24-02-2008, 11:23 PM
V2 is now available. Check the first post for download and changes :D

dislekcia
25-02-2008, 09:45 PM
V2 is now available. Check the first post for download and changes :D

Yay! You're not dead :)

This is looking like you're going to finish a competition entry again. Sweet, you must be stoked.

-D

Thaumaturge
26-02-2008, 03:37 AM
I rather like this, Fengol - nicely done. ^_^

I think that dislekcia's idea of giving non-frisbee'd players movement suggestions is a good one - if you have the time, I'd second it.

As to the game as it stands, I did encounter a few minor issues:

At the moment my team seems to stop moving after a short while, which, while useful for aiming, seems to be a little problematic at the start of the game - as long as I don't miss and the opposing team doesn't claim the frisbee, I seem to be able to continue passing the frisbee between motionless players without any progress. This is a bit of an issue, as sending the frisbee out into the field without a player to whom to send it is a bit of a risk, especially with the opposition already moving. The player team also seems to take a noticeable moment to react once the frisbee has been sent out into the field.

Fengol
26-02-2008, 02:11 PM
@ Dislekcia, indeed! I think it's because I had a solid, simple idea to begin with; something that didn't need further development, and I stuck with it.

@Thaumaturge, noted and thanks. There's lot of little tweaks that I need to do; hopefully I'll get them done before the cut off.

Thaumaturge
26-02-2008, 09:29 PM
My pleasure - good luck with completing all your tweaks before the deadline! ^_^

01DT!m3r
27-02-2008, 03:20 PM
Lovely game fengol -had alot of fun playing it ,can't wait to get my hands on the finished version!:)

Fengol
29-02-2008, 09:06 AM
Final version before I head off to the Free State for the weekend. I really enjoyed writing my entry and I hope you guys like it. Check the first post for details ;)

01DT!m3r
02-03-2008, 07:25 AM
:(It didn't work it kept crashing with an"ERROR in
action number 1
of Other Event: Game Start
for object soundcontroller:

Error defining an external function.
"
error

Fengol
02-03-2008, 08:22 AM
Oh my various gods you're right! I do apologise, I forgot to include the sounds libraries, Since we have an extension I want to work on my game a little today; so I'll do another release this evening and make sure everything is there.

Fengol
03-03-2008, 08:38 AM
Sunday I was dead. I wanted to work on my game but couldn't muster the concentration required. I did a couple, small graphical updates and version 4 is available on the first post. All the sound libraries and external files should be there.

Thaumaturge
04-03-2008, 12:17 AM
Well, it seems to work. ^_^

I rather like the new splash bar, and the new frisbee is an improvement.

My team still doesn't seem to move at the start of the game until the frisbee has been passed out of their control, however. :/

Otherwise, a cool game - well done! ^_^

Fengol
04-03-2008, 07:51 AM
Yes, that's by design. IRL the game starts when the opposing team receives the frisbee.

Thaumaturge
04-03-2008, 04:54 PM
Aah, fair enough then. ^_^

Fengol
05-03-2008, 10:57 AM
My game is up on The Great Games Experiment

http://froccer.greatgamesexperiment.com/

dislekcia
05-03-2008, 12:16 PM
You're missing your GameDotDev tag!

-D

Fengol
05-03-2008, 12:32 PM
fixed :)