[WAR] 16 player arcade game work in progress.

Community Forums/Showcase/[WAR] 16 player arcade game work in progress.

Ryan Burnside(Posted 2009) [#1]
In a world that is obsessed with taxing the most powerful graphics cards to the limit, I present a game of simple visuals and simple rules. I wanted to take the single user computer to a family computer for more than one person. I feel that too many people are playing games with people they don't know or care about so I wanted to make them considering playing with their family and the people they may be neglecting in their area. I want friends to get together and play in the same room again, sharing the screen and having fun. I plan to make a series of simple games that let players play a game on the same computer. I want the computer to be a family console and few games attempt this anymore.

Now for a simple demo game.

I'm sorry but this game will require a controller for each player. Playing with more than 2 players per keyboard is frustrating. For now I have opted to only use controllers. Currently there can be up to 16 players at once. I'll consider adding keyboard mapping if possible later. This is a game even my dad and mom can play. (Luckily I have 5 USB controllers) and a USB hub. This game is designed around my needs, so if you don't have a controller you have my apologies. Bad design?- maybe. However this is a game for a specific set of friends and myself. I just get extreamly bored playing FPS and Sports games nonstop. I wanted something simple and fast to break the 4 hour monotony of Halo and CoD WoW. I just prefer simple arcade games.

If you have ideas for key mapping I will consider them. Just USB controllers for now please.

please look for the file " WAR .zip" (also a Mac version too!)
DOWNLOAD below
http://freefile.kristopherw.us/uploads/pixel_outlaw/




Warpy(Posted 2009) [#2]
I like the visual style, but nobody else is awake yet to play with me. Good idea, but you'll need really good gameplay to make it work.


Ryan Burnside(Posted 2009) [#3]
Yes, I want to keep the game smooth and fast. For example, at first the players just stopped at the edges of the screen, then I added in bouncing which really made the arena feel bigger and added an important way to turn the tables on attackers. This allows players to stay in motion and constantly think about how to get a proper angle on their pursuers.


Sauer(Posted 2009) [#4]
I love the philosophy behind this game, I will try it when I get home. I only carry one controller around for school ;)


Ryan Burnside(Posted 2009) [#5]
Thank you Sauer.

Looks like some very good deals on controllers if you need to pick up a couple for your own projects/games.

http://shop.ebay.com/items/__PC-game-pad_W0QQLHQ5fBINZ1QQLHQ5fIncludeSIFZ1QQ_flnZ1QQ_scZ1QQ_sopZ15QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em283


Sauer(Posted 2009) [#6]
Oh wow those are a really good deal, I'm going to pick up a few.

Thanks for the link!


Btw I can't try your game because it's an .rar... could you perhaps make a zip?


Ryan Burnside(Posted 2009) [#7]
I certainly will. But the last release had some bugs in it that caused it to crash after the third match so I need to tidy those up. The next release will probably feature bots too.


LineOf7s(Posted 2009) [#8]
Can't open .rar files?

1) WTF? Seriously, WTF? It's 2009, and you're into software development. Jeeez. :o) <--- smiley face to take the edge off it
2) http://www.7-zip.org/download.html - free, open-source, can unpack "ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z".


Ryan Burnside(Posted 2009) [#9]
What annoys me currently is modifying the game to use the keyboard. Players don't realize that many keyboards will not accept more than 2 or 3 buttons at once before ignoring the rest. So I'll probably just allow 1 player to use the keyboard and the rest must use joysticks. You would not expect to play a 2 player Nintendo game with 1 controller why would you expect to use a single keyboard for 2 players, especially with the limited key registers. I think some of the reason that there are not more multiple player games for PC is that a) The keyboard is a poor multiplayer device and b) Nobody seems to need a joystick because there are no local multiplayer games. It is sort of cyclic.


Sauer(Posted 2009) [#10]
1) WTF? Seriously, WTF? It's 2009, and you're into software development. Jeeez. :o) <--- smiley face to take the edge off it


Ha Ha I know I know... I even used to have 7-zip I think... but thanks Ryan, I appreciate it :)