Topic, Game "Captain Dan v Zombie Plan"

  Did you know that it is possible to jump over walls in the left side of the game screen?

  I just made a level and uploaded it, but I found a bug and wanted to make a level to show you. I clicked the "New level" button, but it just loads my previous level without the name and thumbnail...

  Very nice improvements.

Targeting system : Great!
But it's still too difficult IMO to kill the zombies when they run on you. I would suggest to increase significantly the radius of collision detection between the mouse cursor and the zombie. Or to decrease teh speed of the zombie. Or both. And why not displaying the same highly visible target on the zombie when the mouse cursor is ready is over him? The actual target is not enough visible IMO.

About the stealth zombie, it's a great idea. But the way they suddenly appears is a little bit too fast IMO, maybe you should use a more progressive way, to inform the player that something will appear within 1 second.

I didn't see in your todo list that you plan to make a different look for the different kind of zombies?

Small bugs:

When you restart a level after being caught by a zombie, there is a remaining target around your latest location before you die, or maybe around the latest location of the target before you died.

On the editor, the helping text "hold space to ..." is displayed below the items (walls etc...) when you edit an existing level (which is not very bothering as somebody editing an existing level has already created the level).

  i saw it also

and also:is it suposed that if a medic zombie see me each zombie runs like he sees me ?

  In [lvlid=2529 removed] 1 of the zombies in the bottom got out of the box when I touched the the switch to the right (the one right to another and beneath a wall) and the other zombie moved in the space between the 2 zombie boxes.

PS: Nice game... even though I think the zombies move a little to fast :D

  Weekend update:

Added some testers, all testers now are:
cooltomer
doomlord
pikachu67
gameinsky
Sillius
zakko600

Still in tester queue:
allycat369
locostro
BenTen
ilikerollingturtle

new:
-fix zombie placing editor glitches
-targeting system!
-zombie types
--basic: just a plain ol' zombie
--stealth: stays unseen if behind a wall, also doesn't reveal itself until you have the gun
--camera: just sits there and rotates, can't kill you
--medic: brings dead zombies to life again, can't kill you

to do:
-different zombie graphics
-remake editor
-keep player inside arena
-more zombie types:
--super: always running
--teleporter: moves other zombies closer to you, can't kill you
--spawner: spawns other zombies, can't kill you
-zombie rotation messed up
-text/info tile for editor
-sound
-custom controls
-zombies walk through walls
-zombie facial expressions?
-add title screen
-work out a better system for depth management (I think this works as it is now, but a better one would be nice)


Feedback on the targeting system and new zombie types would be wonderful. Also if anyone has any ideas for zombie types, I'd love to hear them.

  thank you :-)

  gameinsky, when I do add alternate controls to arrow keys, I'll let the user set their own controls, so you have no need to worry about support for AZERTY boards :)

  plz not the wasd controls!
i has an european keyboard (azerty version)
and for me the controlls are ZQSD
if you do it plz the numpad 8426 controls then
or others

  I love the game 404. It was very fluid and i encountered no problems (except maybe the lack of levels ;P). Let me know when you post big updates (via nonoba message) so i can come back and give it another go!

P.S. I think some WASD controls would make it eaiser to navigate while shooting zombies.

WarParty

  I'm not adding any more testers to the queue right now.

  Can i be a early tester to?

  I've heard of that glitch occurring before...I haven't actually seen it happen yet, and I have no idea why it's happening either.

I'm just going to try and rework the entire zombie placing system for the next build.

  When i was making a level something strange happened. I was no longer able to put zombies in the level! I did succesfully open the menu and choose the zombie but when i clicked on the ground, nothing happened!

  I love the new graphics and animations.

A remark about the hero. When he's walking on the right, the grey of his jacket is exactly the same grey that is used in the background. I was surprised at first so I guess others will find this strange too.

Suggestions :
Did you test different zombie speeds ? Maybe a lower speed would work, because the game design make it possible to build very difficult levels even with a lower speed.
You could add different kind of zombies, for example :
- Slow zombie
- Fast zombie
- Zombie that need 2 shots in the head

  Lovely new graphics.
About the feedback, jp already explained this, so i didn't feel that it was nesscesary to make a description of that problem.
The switches are still glitching (In [lvlid=2529 removed]), i will probably make a better description later, but i'm a bit too busy atm.

  Small engine update, big graphics update.

Added:
-zombie/player death animation
-victory screen
-fixed the switches, they should work perfectly now
-graphics update
-added easing to zombie head movement (needs tweaking still)

Still to do:
*fix zombie placing editor glitches
*rework targeting system
^zombie types
-*basic
-*stealth
--revive
--camera
--super
--teleporter
--spawner
-text/info tile for editor
-sound
-custom controls
-zombies walk through walls
-zombie facial expressions?
-add title screen
-work out a better system for depth management (I think this works as it is now, but a better one would be nice)

Feedback on the new graphics would be great! I really like how they look right now, but I'm worried they might get a bit boring after too much playtime.

Alright jp, I've decided against the running away.

  Zombies usually don't have a brain and always run on the hero even if he will shoot their head. I don't think it's a good idea to make them run away because all zombie lovers (and according to the success of boxhead series, there are many of them) would not like this.

  No more testers for now, I think we have more than enough. I have no idea when it will be out.

@jp - Yes, I imagined it would have a sort of target image. Maybe when they're coming at you, you could take down maybe three or four at once with the gun, but if you somehow get more than that it would start to get much harder for you to survive.

You bring up an interesting point with the idea of the gun introducing a pac-man power mode sort of thing. Maybe if the zombies catch sight of you when you have the gun they could run away instead for a certain amount of time? This way there's still a stealth element to the last part, but not in the sense that it poses danger to you. My only problem with htis is that it could get annoying. I may just have to try implementing it to see what works.

  The lock-on feature is interesting. You will have to make it clear for the player because this is not easy to understand at first. Maybe like a visible target on a zombie that is removed when they see you. but when the lock-on feature is off, you should make it possible to the player to shoot the zombies running on you. The speed of the zombie is very high so the shotgun repeat pace should be high as well to let the player a chance to win. Maybe shooting with the mouse or with the spacebar like in boxhead zombie would be fine.
My opinion about this phase is that it should be easy and fun, like a revenge "now I have the gun!" (or like in pacman when you catch the pill) and to contrast with the stressful time passed on the first phase.

  if you still need testers just ask me

  Added sillius and gameinsky to tester queue.


Thanks for pointing all this out jp, I've known about most of the visual glitches, but it always helps me when someone else points it out to me as well, I don't know why, I guess it just convinces me that I need to fix it :P

OTHER TESTERS TAKE NOTE! Jp has provided an excellent example of feedback, he has described exactly what his problem was, where he encountered the problem, and how he encountered it. The more specific you can be with your feedback, the better.

The orange (supposed to be brown) thing is actually his mustache. I guess this is not very clear so I'll try to make it a bit more obvious.

Yeah, the second phase is a bit problematic. If I make it too easy to shoot the zombies, I fear that this mode will become too easy and boring, more pointless backtracking than anything else. I agree completely that shooting works much too clumsily right now. I had a friend suggest that I add a lock-on feature when the zombies aren't facing you, but when you they see you, you panic and lose the lock on. This makes shooting zombies easier, but you still have to maintain your stealth. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

Once all the zombies are gone, I think I'll have some sort of 'level beaten' screen pop up to reward the player, you're right about the game being high stress.

On the arms thing, I'm animating this in flash mx04 using no 3d programs, I've intentionally stayed away from drawing arms on any character so far as it is extremely hard to animate 360 degrees of motion in 3d using an inherently 2d program.

@ninja - how are the zombies glitching? Is it basically what jp describes in his comment on walls?



Notes to self:
*zombie death animation
*player death animation
*victory animation
-rework targeting system
*switches glitches
-zombies walk through walls...still
*finish graphics
-add title screen
-text/info tile for editor
*switches don't center like they're supposed to
*add ease to zombie rotation?
^sound effects for gun, maybe walking.
-zombie facial expressions?
*add lower half of tile on switch remove
-work out a better system for depth management

  Awesome new graphics!
The switches are bugging and the zombie graphics too.

@JP - I think it's his beard?

  I commented for some visual glitches on [lvlid=2529 removed]

Still on visual aspect, I know it's difficult to do with the 3D but zombie usually has its arms aiming at his target.

About the hero, I have some difficulties with his orange nose. what is it exactly ?

Speaking about the gameplay, I'm frustrated with the phase after you catch the gun. I wish you could shot and see the bullets hiting the zombies.
The phase when you try to catch the gun, is very hard/intense and requires a lot of concentration.
And IMO, the phase after you catch the gun should be the opposite. I should allow to release all this accumulated pressure. For now it's very hard to shot a zombie who runs on you for example. This would be so good to be able to shot those running zombie more easily once you catch the gun. A kind of reward after a phase that is hard enough to make the game very challenging.

  If you need more testers then let me know ;D

  can i also be tester ?

  Ok, so the graphics could still use some touching up, the editor isn't exactly how I want it, the zombies can still walk through walls, and there's still depth glitches especially with adding switches, but I think the experience is now coherent enough to start adding some more testers.

Here's my list of testers, in no particular order. I want to get some fresh eyes later on in the project too, once I've finished some more stuff and the game is closer to being done, so I'll be accepting in bursts of two or three at once. So everyone just be patient until you're approved.

cooltomer
doomlord
pikachu67
allycat369
zakko600
locostro
BenTen
ilikerollingturtle
gameinsky
Sillius

First three to be added are
cooltomer
doomlord
pikachu67

  can i be tester please

  Additionally, I think I may have just solved the depth sorting problems, although I don't have time to test it very much right now. (although I'm pretty sure that currently switches won't be sorting correctly)

  Great news and happy thanksgiving!