Tank Universal - reloaded
Community Forums/Showcase/Tank Universal - reloaded
| ||
| Hi all. After encountering a problem with the beta demo release last week, am re-releasing the demo after its having been tested sucessfully on W2000 and XP boxes, Nvidia and ATI cards. Download size is 94megs - demo is moleboxed. http://www.tankuniversal.com/TU%20DEMO.zip Notes about the demo. The demo includes one of the biggest battles in the game. I'm trying to nail down min specs here, but you're going to need a reasonable machine and vid card. However, if it's too sluggish, you can turn off the glow and complex sky fx in options for a boost(glow is off by default). Default keys are WASD and mouselook for the turret. Q for stop. Function keys to activate powerups (if you have enough powershards). Recommend you play the training level first - the demo level might be quite tough otherwise). Hope you all like it! (or at least feel interested enough to give it a try ;-) Main menu  Demo level  |
| ||
| Works fine!, no problems found. |
| ||
| Cool. Got myself an XP box for testing. Turned up a couple of things... |
| ||
| Looks very nice visually. |
| ||
| Can't wiat to play it MadJack, I'm downloading it as we speak, then I'll tell you what I thought! :) Edit #1: For one, it's great to extract it and find that its only 4 files. Hell yeah! Edit #2: Plays great so far, just beat the training mission, but it quit out with a memory access violation -- not sure the cause but it was during loading. Edit #3: Ignoring the rest of the tutorial (if there was any more after that). I went on to play the demo level, hahaha damn, I love tank games. The whole battle is so slick, mortar fire going over my head. And then to actually have things to explore and accomplish during all this, at times I was a bit confused where to go next -- but I figured it out in the end, kind of annoying sometimes when you die and have to start all the way back in the beginning, but that's life :D All in all good work, I want to fly one of those ships and bomb those people! XD Once again, even since last time I played it probally a YEAR ago, it had that funk and class that's missing in games these days, like there's a universe I don't know about, but WANT to learn about. :) |
| ||
| Great demo. Runs fine on my PC (Athlon X2 3800+, GeForce 7600 GT using Windows Vista). I like the the tutorial and the difficult gameplay. Looks like you worked for a long time on that game. I had no crash, no strange behaviour ... really great ... |
| ||
| Love the game, the gfx and the sfx! I will buy this game if you sell it even if it costs me $40! I'm a massive tron fan BUT why does my tank get slow :( Here is my attempt, if I ever finishe it!  |
| ||
| Zenith 'but it quit out with a memory access violation ...but it was during loading.' Hmm. Not clear when this was - was this during the training level(?) - had you brought the red key back to your hub or was it before that- i.e. in-game? Also, once you finished the demo level, did you get to the second level with the virii and the Megaron tank? If so, how did you find that level? The Megaron tank's basically a boss fight. Since you mention the bomber, I’m guessing you did? 'I was a bit confused where to go next ' Hopefully the radar and objectives list helped you out? Were you more confused during the first level, or second? I'm thinking that it might need a little more highlighting when you receive a message. Perhaps the top right message panel could drop down rather than just appear. 'kind of annoying sometimes when you die and have to start all the way back in the beginning' I hear you - I've given the player some default powershards so you can do a couple of turbo boosts, but you will need to do a bit of driving to get back to the frontline – don’t think I want to change that. By the way, I'm shortly going to need beta testers for the full game - would you be up for that? Chi3f Stadi Thanks for giving it a whirl! Glad to hear it ran well for you. Indiepath ‘I will buy this game if you sell it even if it costs me $40…. BUT why does my tank get slow :( Heh, it won’t cost that much – I’m thinking around $15.95 ->17.95 USD. In terms of speed, what’s your specs? The demo level would be one of the most demanding in the game. |
| ||
| Yeah, I brought the key back to my hub, then it went to the loading screen and then it memory access violated me (!) Ack, maybe I just remember from the old demo... At first I thought the mortar fire were bombers, haha Also, the objects and radar help alot, but the explaination was text and at times I didn't have time to look down because I was getting my ass kicked, maybe it needs voice acting? :) I've done a bit, if you need any haha. As far as respawning, yeah I understand -- and used the turbo boosts, so its all good. I would enjoy beta testing though! :) Should I email you, or visa versa? |
| ||
| 'maybe it needs voice acting? :)' That's be nice, but at this point it's not happening ;-) 'I didn't have time to look down because I was getting my ass kicked' This is a problem with a number of games - messages appearing while your just focused on staying alive ;-). One thing I did think of, was that perhaps the message panel could scroll down into view rather than just appear - might be a litle more noticeable. Other than that, you can rely on the objectives list/radar plot to know what to do. 'Should I email you, or visa versa? ' Need to sort a few things first (ftp access, setting up a forum, investigate patching, swat a few more bugs), but I'd like to get back to you soon if that's ok... And would be keen to get more feedback from anyone else who's played it (shambler?, Chroma? GNS? |
| ||
| sounds good to me! |
| ||
| OK, now that I've played the game (not completed the demo), I can state that this is some awesome game concept that you have in there. At first, I wasn't expecting such big playgrounds. It was a pleasant surprize in some ways to experience this game as it is a very intuitive way to maneuver the tank. Yet some things could be imrpoved on, but not in the question of game experience really. The first thing I noticed is how uncomfortbale I was with aiming at long distance. It seemed a little random as to wether I will hit the target. The next thing would be that it was a little frustrating to have faster smaller tanks shooting at me and feeling clumsy at trying to get them in my target shooting. But it was ok. I would of liked dropping mines, or maybe a fragment bomb. But it seems this demo doesn't have that feature. Having a fast automatic rifle would rock. To resume, more weapon types would be a real treat. My verdict is Kick ass game concept, a rich demo to try out, entertaining experience, but limited weaponry on the player side, which could get frustrating. If you want to feel like a Rambo, you'll feel left by. But if you're an amateur of TRON like I am, you'll fall in love instantly! NOTE: I remember long ago (2003?) you used to post screenshots and you had something going on and I knew it would rock because of the TRON concept. Yet I waited and wondered when it would start taking shape. Anyhow, good show! Configuration wise, I have a 2.8ghz AMD dual core Opteron and a ATI X850 class GFX card with 256MB GDDR3, and the game was runnign smooth with zero slowdown whatsoever. |
| ||
| _33 'The first thing I noticed is how uncomfortbale I was with aiming at long distance. It seemed a little random as to wether I will hit the target. ' I've implemented splash damage so if your shells land relatively close to an enemy, you're still dealing damage. Other than that I think it is a matter of practice. Also, the demo level is actually level 10, so you'll get some practice at shooting targets both near and far before then (in the full game). '...it was a little frustrating to have faster smaller tanks shooting at me and feeling clumsy at trying to get them in my target shooting' Heh - that's actually what I was aiming for - the idea that a single skirmisher is not much of a threat, but a group can be dangerous - (think mutant dog packs in Stalker). 'I would of liked dropping mines, or maybe a fragment bomb. But it seems this demo doesn't have that feature' Actually, it does - check out the F1 - F6 powerups on the rightside of your screen. If a powerup is bright, it's ready for use. If it's dimmed, it's installed, but you need more powershards. If it's very dim, it's not installed at all. If you go into the cavern (1st demo level), there's an upgrade port at the end (where you destroy the powerstack). Look for it on your radar. This gives you multi-rockets, which are very sweet. When you're in range of a group of enemies, hit F3. You'll see reticules appear over the targets. Fire and you'll launch a burst of deadly rockets. Sweet. You can use rockets to clear the fort quite nicely. (But be careful! Don't launch them at close targets or in the cave as they'll damage your tank as well!) Mines - since the area is so large, they're not much use on this level. I have several levels that are mazes and they're much more effective. However, press F to lay a mine (cost 1 powershard per mine). Also, smokebombs - F5. Cheaper than rockets. Launch a smokebomb and any enemy in the cloud's range will become confused and unable to fire. This includes turrets. If you move into the smokecloud, enemies will find it difficult to target you. You might want to use a smokebomb when you need to get near the fort entrance the first time, or when you're trying to get into the fort. Thanks for the feedback! Has anyone reached the second demo level? |
| ||
| nicely done! good work man, it realy comes to me as a mature game, except the "things todo" are a bit less then expected. |
| ||
| Looks good, I'll give it a try later when I get more time :) 92 MB might take me few to download. |
| ||
| LeeMing 'nicely done! good work man, it realy comes to me as a mature game' Thanks for that - I've spent some time developing it ;-) 'except the "things todo" are a bit less then expected. ' You mean you'd want more 'things to do' per level? It's pretty linear at the moment - each level is pretty much A->B->C. Maybe more variation in TU2.. Chugs Would be keen to know your thoughts about the game. |
| ||
| MadJack, out of curiosity, how many lines of blitz instructions did it take Tank Universal to man-code so far? Have I said before I'm impressed, so far? When did you start integrating the PhysX wrapper in it? What is taking up the 90MB of the gamepak? I'm really curious! |
| ||
| _33 According to the line counting routine in the code archives http://www.blitzbasic.com/codearcs/codearcs.php?code=299 ...about 105,000 lines of code (although that'll also include data statements and third party libs). 'integrating the PhysX wrapper in it' That's actually a Newton wrapper, and its been included only recently. It's not used very much - in fact it's mainly used for speedy linepicking. If it had been available at the start of development, it would have been a great boon, but I don't have the time now to fully integrate it. Perhaps in part 2. 'What is taking up the 90MB of the gamepak?' The biggest chunk is the sound files (fx + speech + music, 62mb unpacked), followed closely by level data (level meshes, level data, level textures incl lightmaps, 53mb unpacked). Object mesh files come in third at 36mb unpacked. |
| ||
| MadJack, definately big ups for the hard work. Have you ever tought of sending your completed project on valve's STEAM? Cheers. |
| ||
| 'Have you ever tought of sending your completed project on valve's STEAM?' Heh, one thing at a time. Need to get it thoroughly bug tested first. In other words, need more feedback from the blitz community! |
| ||
| Finally had a much better play at the game, beat the demo level all the way through. Those titans were awesome, I didn't expect that. XD Then the boss at the next part after the bridge, great fun. Awesome atmosphere with the volcanoes and the area around it. Good work so far, the game feels like a game should be. I didn't notice any bugs anywhere other than that memory error, though I haven't tried to reproduce the error. |
| ||
| Zenith Great! I've been hoping someone would give me some feedback on the demo/second level (_33's been through and given me his thoughts about it). A couple of things I plan to do; use the mini-cam to show objectives (not just your key being stolen/hub activated) have the direction to the boss tank in level 2 shown on the radar at all times. Have the turboboost recharge regardless of powershards total, so if you run out of powershards, you can still use turbo. Redesign the powershards so they are more visible and attractive to pick up Also, I'm going to beef up the charge shot fx so you get a better idea that you're gathering together a bolt of energy. One question - how does your tank's firing rate seem to you? Perhaps a little quicker to reload? |
| ||
| Nice soild fun demo there Madjack! :) The tank reload seemed like a good rate to me. Like Zenith, I also got that blitz memory access error after finishing the training level. I suppose it was going into a level loading screen. On the demo level, one of the little blue tanks grabbed the red key before I did and so I followed him back to base. For some reason, he got stuck on the outside walls where two walls make a 90 degree corner, NW side of base if i remmember correctly. After a minute he finally found he's way around the wall to deliver the key to center of base. There was two other blue artillery tanks there stuck with him. Mabie it was a collision problem between all of them. I have a Gforce 6600 and a intel 3.0 cpu here. Ran smooth even with the glow effect on. |
| ||
| Pepsi 'The tank reload seemed like a good rate to me.' Good to know - one tester thought I should ramp up the shots and reduce their damage, but I don't know. A little delay between shots means a bit of strategy is involved. May boost the charge-up fx a bit more. 'Like Zenith, I also got that blitz memory access error after finishing the training level. I suppose it was going into a level loading screen.' Hmm - it's reloading the main menu. I'll look into it. 'For some reason, he got stuck on the outside walls where two walls make a 90 degree corner, ' The base walls are airlifted in and the underlying A* grid is unpdated when they're dropped. But if a tank has already calculated a path to the hub, then it will collide with the walls. If the collision persists though, the tank will recalc a new path - which is what I think you saw. I guess to avoid this I would need to check all calculated paths to see if they cross a wall segment once its been placed. But it occurs to me that it could be useful to allow the player to touch a key carrying friendly tank and have a key transferred. That way if there is a pathfinding problem, the player can still get the key and complete the level. One question, how did you get into the fort? Did you use rockets (F3)? Smokebomb(F5)? Or just wing it. |
| ||
| I've downloaded this, and shared it with a friend (a Tron fan) with a computer that's a bit more beefy. Little to report yet, but the first request was some sort of native widescreen mode (pretty please), otherwise it has to be played in a window (which doesn't do anything for the immersion). The only other thing is that regardless of the details of the gameplay (unexplored as yet), this is one of the best presented Blitz games either of us has ever seen. Just like a bought one. More feedback as it comes to hand. :o) |
| ||
| LineOf7s 'native widescreen mode ' I'll look into it. 'Just like a bought one.' That's what I'm aiming for ;-) Thanks for giving it a go - looking forward to your feedback. |
| ||
| Yeah, I like the delay rate between shots type of thing because like you said, has a bit of strategy going on. That ai situation does sound like exactly what i saw. Actaully, I was still going around outside the fort blowing up more red tanks( Think it was on the northeast area from the fort ). By the time I cleared my path up the center hill into the fort, the titans where already there. There was like 3 enemy tanks left that I watch the titans crush. I got a kick out of that! :) So i guess i showed up to the party late, the fort doors where all open and that little blue tank just had to get to that red key before me! :) |
| ||
| Bah! I just seen this post. I'll download and check it out today after work, MJ. |
| ||
| Well, I want to like this game. It looks cool no doubt. There's a horrible weapon imbalance. The enemy tanks have lasers and I have a slow shooting weapon that is affected by gravity (lasers aren't obviously). The enemy tanks should shoot just like the main tank, or, give me a turbo laser. The weapon difference makes it just laborous to kill anything. The turrets are wiping me out before I can get close enough to shoot em. Blam, hey where did that come from, blam, erm...ok I'm gonna keep moving to avoid the shot, blam, ok that didn't work, blam, crap I'm dead. Just my honest 2 cents. It's by far one of the coolest looking blitz3d games I've ever seen. With more gameplay tweaking and balancing (which I seriously hope you consider), it's gonna rock even more than it already does. |
| ||
| Chroma There's skirmishers (which I think is what you're talking about with 'lasers'), who do much less damage per shot versus your tank's weapon. Then there's medium tanks who have shots that are equal to your own and which behave like your own (i.e. curve). Then there's heavy tanks who have 'straight shots' and can do a lot of damage if you get hit. There is 'balancing' going on, but if you just burl in expecting to be all powerful, you'll get 'lessoned', as Puki puts it. 'The turrets are wiping me out before I can get close enough to shoot em' The idea with turrets, is to keep an eye out, keep out of range (I'll repeat that 'keep out of range!'), and shoot them from a distance, because yeah, they are dangerous. So try shooting them from a distance and hold down the mousebutton to 'charge up' a shot. As for the 'laborous' nature of the combat - it's a tank game so you're not going to get a machinegun to play with. And did I mention? Keep out of range of the turrets! |
| ||
| the screen looks good, but the server is very slow for download :( |
| ||
| Blitzblaster I've just checked and the downloads have exceeded the hosting limit. So they may be choking the bandwidth. |
| ||
| Chroma - Your problems are not a gameplay mechanic needing tweaked, it's your flawed tactics. Hell, you made a Tank game a while ago, you should know how tank games play. :D MadJack - I feel that the reload time is perfect, I seem to remember a noisier sound when charging the cannon in the older demo, but maybe some particle effects will sell it! :) Also, I had a blue tank steal my glory (key), the bastard took all the credit too. I did all the work and took all the damage, and what does he do? Run in and steal the key! Then he also got stuck on a wall on the way back, so he took his time stealing the credit. Cheeky bastard. :) I actually thought not seeing the boss (on the radar) on level 2 was pretty cool, because you had to keep exploring for him, he'll eventually show himself through his destructive powers. ;) Perhaps turbo boost with powershards == faster boost? And hey Pepsi, long time no see! :) |
| ||
| Blitzblaster, that music works fine for medieval games, not for a futuristic type warfare! But it sounds great none the less. |
| ||
| Zenith 'I seem to remember a noisier sound when charging the cannon in the older demo' I have tweaked the sound settings since the last demo.(rolloff_factor,doppler_scale,distance_scale) Getting a nice sound balance (distance versus volume) can be a bit tricky in blitz. I'm going to revisit and bump up the charge up fx. Also, located why the game crashed after finishing the tutorial level. Regarding player irritation with the turrets - I've been adding extra messages in the tutorial - like big, simple text boxes with arrows that can't be ignored. I think I'll also stop the demo and explicitly point out the dangers from turrets the first time the player gets hit by one. It's been an eye opener for me how little people are willing to take on-board in a tutorial level (this is a general observation not directed at any one individual), even if you explain a feature, unless it's pointed out in the simplest, most direct fashion. Think this is due to the large amount of product out there to try (so many demos, so little time), that people have a low threshold for any obscurity. |
| ||
| It's been an eye opener for me how little people are willing to take on-board in a tutorial level (this is a general observation not directed at any one individual), even if you explain a feature, unless it's pointed out in the simplest, most direct fashion. Think this is due to the large amount of product out there to try (so many demos, so little time), that people have a low threshold for any obscurity. I don't really know, some people just enjoy exploration and experience more than others, some people just want to 'play the damn game'. I dunno, I didn't have any problems with them. Turrets are turrets, they are a problem for the player to figure out, having to tell them that it will hurt you is like telling you hot coffee is really hot in big red letters. :) |
| ||
| It's been an eye opener for me how little people are willing to take on-board in a tutorial level (this is a general observation not directed at any one individual), even if you explain a feature, unless it's pointed out in the simplest, most direct fashion. Think this is due to the large amount of product out there to try (so many demos, so little time), that people have a low threshold for any obscurity. Who is this directed at? I think you're massively over-reacting. Only a few people have posted and I'm really the only one that pointed out some flaws. Everyone else generally like it a lot. I played HL2 a lot so I'm down for a lot of obscurity. Some of the puzzles were hard, but they were fun too... Turrets are turrets Zenith, don't take a job balancing gameplay lol. |
| ||
| Instead of arguing the fact of having or not some "onboard tutorial help" for the game, I'd suggest to just put that in the difficulty level. In easy mode, you get more assistance, in hard more, you don't. In easy mode, your tank takes more hits, in hard mode it's equal to all tanks. I don't have a (C) on this idea, it's been used often and proves to be the way to go to satisfy everyone. |
| ||
| 'Who is this directed at? I think you're massively over-reacting. Only a few people have posted and I'm really the only one that pointed out some flaws. ' No, no - I've posted the demo on a few other forums and recieved other feedback. I wasn't meaning you Chroma. Anyway, I have added some extra info in the tutorial which I hope will only make things clearer for people. |
| ||
| This game is really great! Will there be a multiplayer version? |
| ||
| elcoo 'Will there be a multiplayer version? ' No multiplayer - single player only. Maybe in TU2. |
| ||
| Than i'll buy Version 2^^ Single player is also very nice, but multiplayer would be really cool! |
| ||
| 'but multiplayer would be really cool! ' It would, but I need to get this game out the door. |
| ||
| Zenith ''Should I email you, or visa versa? '' Could you send me an email? (My email address is in my profile.) Thanks |
| ||
| Sorry, back -- I replied |
   |