Timez Attack

well, don't change a thing... i just sampled the gameplay, and it looks great, runs smooth, an looks like a polished, professional application...

great job on the walls by the way... i also have jumped back to 6.22 for the dx8.1 shader interface (see the shaders forum)...

again... this is really well done... a perfect example of using a low cost 3d development tool to make a AAA game.

thanks for the preview.

--Mike

Nice one.

Very nicely done!
This is such a great way to teach small children their math, it'd be a way I would remember it. Very clever and nice graphics.

You guys are great! Thank you. Somebody found one bug that basically stopped you after the first level, but we've fixed that and posted the new version. (Man, there's just WAY too many variables to reset in this thing )

Hey BigBrainz,
Check you email.

Ill download it and try it... tell you how it goes. Im at home now, so you have to wait 13 hours from now. :P

I don't mind waiting at all . The most taxing level for a system is usually the very first one, the dungeon cell. If you're looking into the middle of it, I'm hoping to keep the fps at 20+ on a really bottom-of-the-barrel system, like a P500 with integrated graphics. I'll keep my fingers crossed . . . ummmm, but not, like, for the whole 13 hours. Thanks!

top notch!!!

excelent work..

post this over at garage games now to get some real world exposer
some industry pros i bet will love this
you might even get a deal with them

once again a great work

Well, its very nice, especially for kids. Here is what I think:

1.) The camera movement is very odd and strange. I dont like it, because you cant move on Z axis and the movement is too soften. When I want to catch the spiders I walk left and right, because its easier than rotating the camera. That has to be improved I think
2.) In the third level the first door has thrown one spider through the holes in the wall so I only was able to cath one spider. Then I accidentally throw my first spider away, but not to the door, and then it was away --- so I wasnt able to solve the quest because I didnt had a spider left so it would be good if you can restart a quest or something...
3.) the goodbyescreen is placed in the upperleft. So if you have a high resolution it isnt centered and the background color is dark grey. It would be better if it was black and the image should be placed in the centre of the screen
4.) the jumping speed is way too fast

Anyway, its very nice!
Christian Behrenberg

Darn, i cant install programs. If it was just a zip folder... If you still want me to test it, zip up the folder and give me the link within now and 2 1/2 hours... or your out of look until tuesday. Sorry.

I get 80+ fps most times on a pretty old pc (XP1600+, 512MB DDR Ram, GF4200 TI 64MB DDR, Win98) so it's running pretty smooth.

I like the overall look (there are some cool textures), but I think there should be some more elements to play with. It's the same all over, even if it is done very very nice.

One bad thing, though: The camera code. It is VERY jerky on my system... this needs work.

Heelx, Great comments. Thanks! It may seem strange, but we had to lock the camera down like that because all the kids we tested just couldn't handle a free camera--but you can switch it on in the options.

Great catch on the exit screens. Thanks! But I'm not sure why your bkgd was gray. I can only get it to play pure black. Hmmm.

Hey, you also helped me see something else. At high resolutions, the camera looks totally smooth, but it seems jerky at, like 640x480. Why is that?

As for the spiders, you're right. Sometimes you'll lose a spider through the wall, but so far our testers like the shooting/physics effect enough to keep it. What do you think? You can get around a missing or thrown-away spider by waiting a bit. They regenerate after 10 to 20 seconds or so. But what are you doing throwing away perfectly good spiders like that . You can also hit the restart button to go back to your most recent checkpoint. I wonder how hard a "lost spider" button would be . . .

The jump speed is a kid thing too. It's unrealistic, but kids seem to dig it. What can you do? Thanks again for the great feedback.

Hey, this looks great so far. The camera was jerky on my system (2.8 Ghz, 1 GB RAM, 256 MB video). I did notice that it is possible to run into the robot rooms as the doors are closing and I was trapped. I think I was actually trapped in the door itself. Anyway, may want to put up some invisible barriers so that you don't get trapped in or behind a closing door. Good luck with it all!!

I tried that and was able to reopen the door by touching it.

Ahh, so that problem was that I got stuck in the actual door. I ran in there as the door was closing and some how got stuck in some geometry. I think it was the door that I got stuck in.

I think that, as you have most of the game in closed rooms, you should use fixed cameras tracking the player. This template camera is not best solution.
Music is very nice and gameplay. If you change cameras you could make a lots of bucks

bloodred: Sorry, wound up replacing a HD today and didn't see your message in time. I'll try to get one up for Tuesday.

As for getting stuck in the door, it does automatically open after 10 seconds or so. I'm not sure what to do about kids getting stuck. Hopefully they'll learn not to keep getting stuck, but a lot of people get stuck the first time.

As for the camera, I don't really want to do stationary cameras. However, can anyone get me started or point me towards a superior 3rd person camera. I saw a lot of talk about making a great one, but I haven't actually seen anything better than the templates. Anybody know of anything?

Hi ya!

VERY nice job on the game. I like the music. The textures for everything are very well done.

I had one problem. I was "testing" how the robot follows you around the level. (Its almost erie ) Then, all of the sudden, it fell through the floor! (This was in the middle of a ramp) I tried to take a screen shot, but it came out all black. (Should have switched to windowed mode)

When it did get stuck, I liked how it told you somthing was wrong. The screen said can't find path, or somthing along those lines. Sorry, I cant remember what level it was in. I'll try and find it again.

Overall very nice job.
~AMan~

Edit: One more bug...
When you hold the space bar down (jump), it doesn't keep playing the jump animation. It only plays it once. Happy bug hunting!

I like the game and how it was realized. Reminds me a lot of old pc math castle game...dunno what it was called.

Anyway, i would love to see more jump and run elements in it so kids are motivated to get to the next level.
To be honest i wasnt very motivated opening the 4th door and the next ones after that.

Just some thoughts though. Overall i like the gameand how its created. (i like the main character)

BlattSalat, could you please give me a better idea of what you mean by jump-and-run elements? Do you mean that you'd just like more physical challenges of running around, getting to places? Jumping from ledge to ledge, etc?

some ideas:
1.) the weired spiders that pop out of the door. I would love it more if those are enemies that fight you would you have to find the right number to open the door. And if you are skilled enough you can try to catch the dangerous spiders to throw them to the wall to get a small hint.

2.) I woul also like to see classical jump and run traps in the level while you are going from one math chellenge to the other. Crumbling bridges, moving walls and elevators, little flamethowers that lit your little green ass when you dont watch out....just the classical stuff.

3.) combined with that i would also add smaller enemies arround the place that cou can "shot out" with the right math. Some sort of maniac monster math mosquitos that will attack you and you have to defend yourself.

4.) also a big motivation would be a storyline and the beautiful princess to be resqued...and the big evil enemy boss that is planning to steal all numbers from the planet.

Just some basic ideas...i think parents will love the idea of solving problems with math only i think the kids should be also motivated to "hunt the enemy down".

Here is what I meant in my previous post:

Here you can see that the background color differ from the picture. I brighten up the image so that you cann see the difference:

picture link

The next photo shows what I noticed regarding level texturing: check your texture offsets, because this texture seems to have the wrong texture y-offset: the line which should be on the floor is a bit above:

picture link

Have a nice sunday,
Christian Behrenberg

Fantastic observation. Thanks!

That is great! but yes, the cam is too jittery...

GREAT JOB! looking professional...

LOL!! The Little Mermaid song! I havent heard that in years!!!

Pretty cool game. I really liked the fake bump mapping. I though it was real at first but then took a closer look....Anyways, I TOO somehow managed to get stuck by the door. This is what I did : Instead of waiting for the robot to come out and attack me, I ran in the room and fought him there. After beating him, the door closes and the robot falls to gound and disapeers. The door then eventuallt re-opens, but while its opening, I stupidly stood behind it and the door began wedging me into the wall. So I ended up stuck behind the door next to the wall!

Code:

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/********************************
	merits
********************************/
wow, it didn't crash on a low-end configuration
very good concept; could be a goldmine if refined
replayability potential
nice application of textures
lighting made sense
cute, appropriate animations
GUI was smooth and colorful

/********************************
	issues
********************************/
player sticks to walls 
	sticky walls found in some template tests
	modify friction, use glide or alternate movement method
fell halfway into floor and got stuck temporarily
	floor penetration found in some template tests
	this may be avoided by ensuring distance to move never puts entity into floor
turning with mouse is a little jagged
	"jitter" found in some template tests
	increase turning force?
	a 3rd person camera script I use (an old template variation) appears to have less jitter
occasionally camera appears behind "checkpoint" doors
	a minor issue
reuse level doesn't appear to reset elements (doors, etc.) correctly

/********************************
	?
********************************/
could not dodge my incorrect answers with strafe
don't understand the reasoning behind "hard" camera

---

testdummy92, excellent comments. I'll keep you posted as we try to refine those elements. Thanks!

I purposly put myself between the doors when they where closing, and it trapped me. The doors eventually reopened after i popped out of the wall.