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View Full Version : Dead of Night (prototype; full game aborted for now)



Thaumaturge
04-08-2008, 06:47 AM
As some of you may recall, my final idea for a Competition 19 entry was a game that involved a revenant who was only slowed by combat, but died if caught by dawn.

While I didn't manage to make anything like sufficient progress in time for Competition 19, I didn't drop the idea, and instead decided to use it as the game that I'd use to learn the use of Panda3d (http://panda3d.net). The idea also changed somewhat; death at dawn was replaced by being forced to the character's crypt, leaving all inventory items behind, for example.

With Competition 20 coming up, my logic-puzzle spell-combat concept still in the works and a larger project that I very much want to get to, I've decided to shelve this game, but not before showing what I've created thus far.

The game at the moment features movement and basic melee combat, a simple waypoint system for enemy guards to follow when "patrolling", and guards attacking the player only when they "perceive" the player avatar (either by line-of-sight within a certain angle from their forward vector, or through the player approaching too closely). There is also a hack-y "level editor" built into the game, in which one can place some basic scenery as well as define waypoints for the guards, and save and load the results.

I have included a level file which can be loaded via the level editor; I suggest doing this so that you have some scenery to hide behind and the guards have some waypoints to follow.

Finally, my apologies that there are three files to download; Panda seems to have a fair few libraries to include, I'm afraid, even, it would seem, with a number of unused ones removed. Since I will probably continue to use Panda, hanging on to the dll downloads might spare you some downloading for later games, should you wish to play them. ^^;

(More might be called for later, but this way I can hopefully keep the downloads smaller for some, at least.)

Screenshots and downloads:

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/7412/capture04082008053821ro7.th.png (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=capture04082008053821ro7.png)http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/1883/capture04082008053750jk7.th.png (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=capture04082008053750jk7.png)

Panda-game-related DLLs - Archive 1 (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=544)
Panda-game-related DLLs - Archive 2 (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=545)
Dead of Night (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=546) (The game icon comes from PyInstaller, which made the game executable for me. ^^; )

The above downloads are self-extracting archives. In related news, the 7zip format is a wonderful one - it seems to me to be noticeably better than zip.

Controls:

Normal gameplay mode:
W - Walk forwards
S - Walk backwards
A and D - Strafe
(Note that, if I recall correctly, walking diagonally is slower than walking forwards or backwards, and strafing is slower than either.)

Mouse - Turn
Left mouse button - Attack

E - Enter edit mode

Edit mode:
W - Move view "up"
S - Move view "down"
A - Move view "left"
D - Move view "right"

Space - Cycle through the available types of item

Ctrl-S - Save the current level to "level.dat"

L - Load the level stored in "level.dat"
(Known issues: Doesn't clear already-extant items, I don't think, and will probably crash if "level.dat" is not present.)

P -
> If in normal edit mode: Enter waypoint placement mode
> If in waypoint placement mode: Enter waypoint connectivity mode
> If in waypoint connectivity mode: Exit waypoint mode for normal edit mode

Left mouse button -
> If in normal edit mode:
> > If no item is being created: Create a new item and start rotating it
> > If an item is being created (i.e. rotation is being set): Place the item and set its rotation
> If in waypoint placement mode: Place a waypoint
> If in waypoint connectivity mode:
> > If no waypoint is selected: Select the indicated waypoint (if any)
> > If a waypoint is selected: Set the selected waypoint's next waypoint to the indicated waypoint (if any)

Right mouse button - Cancel item placement (if rotating) or delete indicated object.

Notes:
- If no valid selection is made, then the operation may not be carried out.
- The level editor is a hack, and so is unstable in places, I believe.

dINGLE
13-08-2008, 01:45 PM
I already had Panda3D, so didn't have to download the DLLs :)

Its pretty fun, bashing in those zombies :D
The models are pretty good.

The animations look good except for when your character punches, the leg also moves the same amount as the arm ... seems a bit off...

Also how do you access the level editor to load up the scenery and waypoints?

Thaumaturge
13-08-2008, 08:06 PM
Thank you! I'm glad that someone gave it a try, and for the feedback. ^_^

Ironically, by the way, the player character is the undead one - those others are intended to be town guards (although I'll admit that they are a little mindless ^^; ). :P

Thank you again for the complements on the models and animations. I took another look at that punch animation, and I suspect that the problem may actually be that I had the wrong leg move - at least, based on my own experimental acting out of punches using either foot; I'll admit that punching isn't exactly an action that I'm intimately familiar with. :P

As to accessing the level editor, just press 'e' while in the game. The camera should switch to an overhead view, which you can move about using the 'w', 'a', 's' and 'd' keys. Just click to add an object, and press space to cycle through the available objects (the current object being printed to the console when you press space). Note that a second click is called for to actually place the object (after the first click you select the object's rotation), and that a right click can delete or cancel an object. To add waypoints, press 'p' while in edit mode, and to set waypoint conectivity, press 'p' again while in waypoint mode.