Darts Demo
Community Forums/Showcase/Darts Demo
| ||
 Just thought I'd share my newest project, a dart game inspired by the 8-bit dart game 180 (or World Darts on DOS) Currently, there are various 01 modes to play:- 1) human v human (computer gameplay) 2) human v human (real gameplay... More like a posh score counter) 3) human v cpu (computer gameplay, in a knockout based tournement) 4) human v cpu (real gameplay, as in, play real darts against the cpu) 5) human v human (Network - computer gameplay) 'Abandoned 6) human v human (Network - real gameplay) 'Abandoned I've also had the cpu v cpu playing each other in networked mode... which was cool watching it on 2 PC's! :) <--- Its the little things isnt it! The network part is the only part which isnt totally finished.. Some loose ends, but I've still got hordes of work to do on the presentation... Which for me, will take an age and an empire! :) The board itself is the fine work of Mr Gfk, and has kindly allowed me to use it (Top man Dave ;)). There is speech in it.. Erm, me in fact spouting the scores and what not.. very fun to do. All in all, I'm pretty happy with what I have at the minute, but its come to the point now when I end up playing the bugger more than coding! ;D Playable demo: http://www.denathorn.co.uk/files/Nags0_6_2b.zip Cursor keys/space - Move/chuck dart Dabz |
| ||
| Looks really nice, that! Only thing I would change is antialias the chalkboard font and use that font for all the text on the scoreboard (except where it says "SCORES" up top). BTW: You said "demo"? That implies something to download. Where's it at? :D |
| ||
| Nice dart board and chalk board Michael I don't really like the background though. Maybe something like this? http://www.restorationhardware.com/rh/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod3230022&navCount=3&_requestid=551997 What control system are you using human players? - Mouse? Darts games have always frustated me with their control systems. Most go for a wobbly pointer where you just click the button when it settles on the area you want What I think would be great is, like the original 180, a floating hand+dart so you can aim where you want without to much drifting but .... You must then hold a mouse button, followed by pulling back and pushing forward (mouse Y movement) to throw the dart ... just like in real life Similar to how some pool games work when striking the cue ball |
| ||
| BTW: You said "demo"? That implies something to download. Where's it at? lol, I know I did... It was meant to be a small demo to start, and it grew a little and the name has stuck for now... Until I can think of a decent name for it! :) So for anyone, I apologise thats theres no actually public binary for you to play at the minute! Nice dart board and chalk board Michael I don't really like the background though. Maybe something like this? I was going to go the cabinet route... But I was sitting having a pint in my local, and looked how the setup was there... And apart from a missing score counter from Argos, thats pretty much it! :) So lets just say... at the minute, its familiar, for me at least... Hehehe What control system are you using human players? - Mouse? Keys (at the moment, though Joypads will be in) Jim, with inertia, which was suggested by Gfk too, it seems to work and when your on a finished, its tweaked slightly to make it a little more difficult to hit a shot. I've also got 'timing' on the throw... So if the dart is too far forward when you release, the shot will go lower, likewise, if you release the dart when its far back, you sorta lob it. What I think would be great is, like the original 180, a floating hand+dart so you can aim where you want without to much drifting but .... You must then hold a mouse button, followed by pulling back and pushing forward (mouse Y movement) to throw the dart ... just like in real life I did have a quick 'Tiger Woods' control test, and even though it was more natural to the gameplay... I just couldnt get past the fact that it made the game unrealistically easy, as well as I couldnt think of a system to counteract that too. So it got binned... Thanks for the feedback chappies... mucho appreciated! ;) Dabz |
| ||
| I wouldent like to miss the board with my darts. A different background or one of those rings you can get for your dartboard would be nice. |
| ||
Okay... I've took the background on board (No pun intended.. hehehe), and after a little photoshopping, I've come up with this:- :) Better? Dabz |
| ||
| Much better! |
| ||
| Phew!!! ;) hehehe Dabz |
| ||
| It looks good but some of the numbers on the board are a bit hard to recognize, it seems there are upside-down ones and sevens, they look like a J sometimes, I can't say for sure what is what. It also shows I don't play darts often! ;) |
| ||
The 1's are 7-shaped/J-shaped (if you like) so they can be properly attached to the outer wire. They're like that in real life: |
| ||
| Yeah... they are meant to be like that Foppy! :) Dabz |
| ||
| How about beer? Press a button, and the guys slowly gets smashed and the screen blurs :D Pointless, but hey. |
| ||
| Lol, or everytime you win a round, you have to drink beer which would make the game get harder over time. |
| ||
| . Double post Dabz |
| ||
| How about beer? Press a button, and the guys slowly gets smashed and the screen blurs :D Pointless, but hey. lol, make him have three beers and he'll be like Phil Taylor... But come the seventh jar, the darts are all over the shop! :) Well, thats what happens to me anyway, apart from the Phil Taylor bit... I just get half decent when I'm happy drunk! ;D Dabz |
| ||
| My second darts game (that I never finished) had a rotating board in it that did actually make you dizzy after a while. |
| ||
| I remember the old C64 darts games. Can't remember the title, but the cursor would randomly move around and you had to sort of guess when to press the shoot button. Which was hard. A rotating dartboard eh? Interesting... |
| ||
| A rotating dartboard eh? Interesting... It was Beaker's fault. |
| ||
| It was Beaker's fault. Or the mushrooms! ;D Dabz |
| ||
| I remember the old C64 darts games. Can't remember the title, but the cursor would randomly move around and you had to sort of guess when to press the shoot button I believe the method used in the C64 version of 180 was:The hand constantly rebounding diagonally around the screen. You use the joystick to adjust the diagonal turns to try and get the hand to cross the path of the area you want Dabs, Looks better now. If I was to nitpick I would suggest removing the 'yellow' brackets Are you putting in any other types of game challenges in there? I used to enjoy "round the clock" For a quick round I liked starting with 301 instead of 501 too |
| ||
| Are you putting in any other types of game challenges in there? I used to enjoy "round the clock" For a quick round I liked starting with 301 instead of 501 too Oh yeah, definitely be doing that Jim... Musing over whether to do that as unlockable features! And the 01 games will be 301, 501 and 701! :) If I was to nitpick I would suggest removing the 'yellow' brackets Well, they are supposed to depict (Is that a word) brass hinges, lol... I'm not overly happy with them myself, but it does look odd not having any hinges on there too! I may play around with them when I have time! ;) Dabz |
| ||
| Theres also the game 27 to put in. Shoot for double one, if you hit it add points to 27. If you dony hit it, subtrack 1 double (2 points from 27) Go for double 2, if you hit it add points to your score If you dont hit iy, subtrack 1 double (4 points from your score) Continue to all doubles until you hit DB or run out of points. |
| ||
| Sounds like a good game Tri, I may have to play that for real in the pub! :) I know a few, golf, cricket etc, but heres one we play if we cannot be chewed with scoring on... Doubling Out -------- --- Basically, you start from 50, and you have three darts (per go) to check off (e.g. 20, 10, D10)... If you check off, you add a point to your score... Though, if you hit the double bull with your first dart, you add a point, then you can then try to check off with the remaining two. If you manage it, you deduct one point from your opponents total. Scoring is based on a 'best of' setup. Dabz P.S. If anyone has any other darts games... Then I'd be grateful if you'd let me know... tar! ;) |
| ||
| We sometime practice with the game 121 Two player has to close from 121 with 6 darts. First player starts 3 time and then the other player starts 3 times and so on. If a player closes the game, he will start the next game, this time has to close from 122. Evertime the games is closed witnin 6 dart ad one the the score and start again. We use this game to practice at the club I'm palying |
| ||
| Looks good, but haven't played darts (real or virtual) for many many years. I think we used to have a set in the shed when we were kids. |
| ||
| Just for anyone interested, heres a quick demo... http://www.denathorn.co.uk/files/Nags0_6_2.zip Cursor keys and Space to move/throw arrow, your playing against the PC, this one isnt too hot (Worst one in my cpu players actually), so you'll have a fair old chance of beating it! :) Game is 501 too Dabz |
| ||
| Hi Michael, The sound/music is crackling like crazy on my Laptop - WinXP SP3 Also, the controls seem really tricky - The dart is always being pulled down so I find myself constantly holding the UP arrow to make any kind of progress I like the speech! - Have you recorded all the points individually or spliced together? ("20" + "5" vs "25" if you catch my drift) |
| ||
| The sound/music is crackling like crazy on my Laptop - WinXP SP3 Yeah, I've heard reports about that... Funny thing is, I've tested it on XP SP3 and Vista SP1, both with onboard realtek high-def audio and it plays great... Gonna make a new demo with just OpenAL, because the system I'm using auto-detects the OS and assigns OpenAL to Vista and FreeAudio to anything else... Which turns out to be pap! :) Also, the controls seem really tricky - The dart is always being pulled down so I find myself constantly holding the UP arrow to make any kind of progress The dart uses inertia, which was suggested by Gfk, and for me, it seems to work, and is technically the digital version of keeping your arm up whilst eyeing up a shot... With a little practice, you can get pretty fluid with it. I like the speech! - Have you recorded all the points individually or spliced together? ("20" + "5" vs "25" if you catch my drift) Spliced, though some big score speech needs tweaking a little, but overall, that bit came along a treat! ;) Thanks for taking a peek Jim, much appreciated! :) Dabz |
| ||
| Try this one Jim if you can please... OpenAL only:- http://www.denathorn.co.uk/files/Nags0_6_2b.zip Cheers! :) Dabz |
| ||
| Good job Dabz! Worked fine on this Win XP SP2 box... With the dart board, I think it needs a little tidy up on the bottom right(ish), there seems to be a cream colour border... The sound works well, I laughed when I scored 103, you say one hundred with joy and the three with "what a low score" sound LOL! Oh and another thing, when the score gets below 150 (I think) you tell the player how much they need each time till the end of the game (including the CPU), is this needed? Maybe do it once every 3/4 rounds... Overall very good! |
| ||
| I laughed when I scored 103, you say one hundred with joy and the three with "what a low score" sound LOL! Thats the bit that needs tweaking! hehehe :D With the dart board, I think it needs a little tidy up on the bottom right(ish), there seems to be a cream colour border... Aye, I noticed that... Its just a photoshop scuff when I added blending, I'll sort it! ;) Maybe do it once every 3/4 rounds... I dunno, I suppose the easiest way to get round this is to have an option to turn it on/off. Thanks for having a looksy therevills matey, much appreciated! :) Dabz |
| ||
| Everything fits exept that dungeon looking wall in the back. I'd give it a more "pub" like wall. |
| ||
| Sound and music perfect now Dabs with v062b I can even hear a Jordie accent now. Crikey, I think I'll stick the crackling version (ha!) I can't say I 'enjoy' the control system though. It's just far too wild an erratic and thus takes the fun out of playing for me Would you consider a mouse option? See what you think to the method below. For me it gives a little bit of "Nintendo Wii"control feel Testing the code below ===================== WITHOUT LEFT MOUSE BUTTON DOWN The player controls the arrow (with a little wobble added) HOLDING LEFT MOUSE BUTTON DOWN The player enters 'throw' mode. Pull back and push forward. The quicker you push forward the greater the throw strength When you are over the intended target area release the LMB. The accuracy of the 'hit' is determined by how close you are to the ideal throw strength as well as the x offset caused by the mouse moving left/right after releasing the LMB |
| ||
| I can even hear a Jordie accent now. Crikey, I think I'll stick the crackling version (ha!) Hey, thats a Mackem accent that... My poshest one too! :D Would you consider a mouse option? See what you think to the method below. For me it give a little bit of "Nintendo Wii"control I've played with the code there Jim, and that is really good mind!  I'd still like inertia in there... So I'll have a poke around! :) Thanks for the share Jim, real good of you me auld fruit! :) Dabz |
| ||
| i definately think your game has potential, but like others i found it a little hard and akward to control asis. i haven't shot real darts in years, but even with my bad shoulder my hand/arm is not that hard to hold up and take aim. with a little tweaking it could be fine. like Jim i prefer mouse control ( cool bit of code btw). i love dart games (i say the more the better), and i look forward to you final product. three dart games that i've enjoyed most over the years are: Elite Darts - 2d,multiplayer - my most favourite Friday Night 3D Darts - 3d,unfortunately no multiplayer - just as good as Elite Darts but in 3d which is cool, even with the lack of multiplayer it's still an excellent game. Double Top - 2d, i like this one because its a Blitz game and imo was done very well. |
| ||
| Double Top - 2d, i like this one because its a Blitz game and imo was done very well. :) Thanks for the nod.Double Top is a bit long in the tooth now. Coming up eight years since I wrote it. |
| ||
| Implemented Jims mouse control, it needs a small tart up, but done this whilst eating my Weetabix! :) http://www.denathorn.co.uk/files/Nags0_6_2c.zip Any betterer? :D Dabz |
| ||
| Dabz much better, took me a couple games to get used to it but overall i like it. it reminds me of a 1000 times better and more intuative version of 3inabed Gfk Double Top is a bit long in the tooth now. Coming up eight years since I wrote it. thats why i think its a good game, imo its held up nicely over the years. (hell, i still like your golf game for much the same reasons. but thats a different topic all together) i've played alot of computer darts games over the years, most of them not very good. to me the three in my list were the best for their times (out of a long list of just not fun to play veriations) and i've had the most fun with them, and they still play nicely today. i definately think i'll be adding a fourth to my favs list with Dabz's incarnation. |
| ||
| I've been playing using the controls and I've run into a bit of a problem, well, not a problem, but something I'm not overly happy with really. Since I use the mouse right-handed, I have a natural, how can I say it... a natural movement to the left when I flick the mouse forward. I've found, eyeing up the dart in T1, I can naturally flick the dart into T20, or there abouts, without thinking about it. Now, that may not be an overly big problem when you first play the game, but I've done something which has sorta scared me into thinking this may not be the perfect control system... I've managed to finish in 9 darts in a fair few legs, with no real effort, and I'm thinking this is wrong, as a 9 darter should be a big thing, it should take a massive amount of skill and concentration. And I was wanting to make a big 'ingame' thing about a 9 dart finish, but it'll be hopeless really if the player can bang them in steady away! :( Dabz |
| ||
| That sort of problem occurs with players using the WiiMote. When we had a Xmas get-together we were all playing the bowling. A handfull of the family were always tilting the controller to the left when swinging I have a few ideas though dabs, 1) Make the gap in the crossairs bigger 2) increase the wobble range 3) drop the "push mouse forward" control part and replace it with a height bar which increases the longer you hold the mouse button down. A bit like golf where you have to hit a sweet spot There is an example here but I think the left/right aim is still easy: |
| ||
| I was just thinking of a similar effect: If you want it based on skill, imo you can't have randomness in it...it completely flushes the skill base of a game and turns it more into luck. |
| ||
| Yeah, I appreciate the help fella's, and again, Jim, thats a real nice bit of code mind! :) But, with a power bar, I feel like I'm actually taking the feeling away from throwing a dart... Dart games will always be a tinker, in the lobbing sense, which I fully understand, but I'm just going to have to think of a way of keeping the throwing going. I dunno, who'd of thought a fart control system would be so bloody gitful! :D I'll sleep on it, but if any of you fella's come up with a nifty idea/solution, I'm all ears! ;) Hehehe Dabz |
   |