Final Tommy Tronic Demo

Community Forums/Showcase/Final Tommy Tronic Demo

Hujiklo(Posted 2009) [#1]
It's finally finished. Well, there are a few very tiny niggles I'm still working on, but they are probably not even noticable to anybody except me.

Thanks for the comments!


plash(Posted 2009) [#2]
The installer does not set the correct path for the desktop shortcut (it uses the default installation path instead of the user-chosen path).
The game seems to make horrible screeching sounds when you get hit by certain projectiles and when you shoot rockets.

EDIT: The scrolling buttons one the intro story thing are.. backwards :(


_Skully(Posted 2009) [#3]
I'll try this again later when I have more time... so far my impression is very nice!... nicely polished, great ambiance...

Congrats!


Nate the Great(Posted 2009) [#4]
well no offence but in the screen shot, tommy tronic is kinda freaking me out. IDK why but he just looks kinda off... like he wears makeup or something. Also the gun looks to big, but thats just the opening picture. The actual game is awesome and very polished.

wow I love the gigantic green monster thing, thats where I died cuz I had my lazer gun selected from shooting all of the pumpkins. Then all of a sudden this big monster shows up along with all of his bees and skeleton guy. ah well, I shal play it again and see how far I get


GIB3D(Posted 2009) [#5]
If you named him Timmy then you could've had a level where you need to escape a well. Because everyone knows that Timmy fell down a well.


Duckstab[o](Posted 2009) [#6]
as for the gun increase the size of the grip would make it fit better


RifRaf(Posted 2009) [#7]
very very pretty game.. fun too. The only gripe I had with the demo was the jumping. Im so used to games like Super Mario Bros , Sonic and the likes where you have more control once in the air. I found it hard to hit moving platforms.

Other than that, I love it.

Very well done.


Tommo(Posted 2009) [#8]
Awesome art. The boy's voice is very cute.
There's a little bug , when you press down ctrl and shift (zoom in and out) at same time, the background will get in front of main scene and remain like that.

Nice game, again.
:)


Hujiklo(Posted 2009) [#9]
Thanks for the bug reports. I've sorted them already.

Scroll bars are reversed. Camera zoom is fixed.

Plash - I had trouble with the damn installer myself. I'm using that Nullsoft thing and had great trouble with the paths - the only one that worked was the program files default one. I'll try again today... as for the screech noise with the rockets etc, I have no idea what that is, except that it sounds like a corrupt sound file. Maybe try another download?

*EDIT: I've made a new installer which should cure the dodgey install path problem.


BlitzSupport(Posted 2009) [#10]
I didn't expect to play this for as long as I did -- it's very polished and enjoyable to play.

Here are a few criticisms to take or leave as you see fit...

I didn't like that when he hits his head on a roof or other object he drops faster than normal -- it felt unintuitive and annoying (it's visually ugly too, as the whole screen moves), and it ruined many a jump. Related to this, the situation where he hits his head against the bottom of a moving platform looks glitchy. Perhaps upwards collision could be disabled in that case, as happens in many platformers?

Turning in mid-air is a little too twitchy for my liking -- it was hard to precisely hit hovering objects or land on another platform, even a still one. (And related to that, there are a few small platforms that disappear off the bottom of the screen while you're jumping towards them, so it's hard to tell where to stop; coupled with the twitchy turning in mid-air, those cases were a little annoying.)

I found myself quite often having to walk/climb a long way just to get back to where I was, just because I missed a single platform, which could be a tad boring. Not sure what the solution is for that though.

The installer put a link on my desktop but it couldn't actually find the executable when clicked! I'd installed to my preferred location ("F:\TT Demo") rather than the default.

Anyway, it looks great and the bonus toys and other items are childishly exciting to get! This really deserves to do well.


degac(Posted 2009) [#11]
The game is very good (art, level design and playability).
I 'miss' the Mario-Sonic&co jump-in-the-air style, but I can adapt to this.
In the initial tutorial the game shows 'Use Item key...press M to option menu to change it' (or something like this...I dont' remember): It like to see directly in the tutorial what key I should presss (something like 'press Use Item Key (SPACE KEY)...') without leaving the game to go back in the options screen.

I dont' like at all the 'installer'...sorry to be rude!

Good job!


_Skully(Posted 2009) [#12]
Ya this is really good... you do need to tweak the movement in the air thing... to me its a little strong (moves in blocks instead of real time?)... I'm on a laptop if that has any relevance to key controls :)

Agreed that the head-hitting part on the moving platforms needs a touch-up as already mentioned...

You need an F1 to bring up the key controls.. theres lots and my old brain forgets quickly ;) you could bring them up along the bottom but in the game control style (maybe just scale them down in size for that)

Nice work! Tweak this up for a perfect finish!


plash(Posted 2009) [#13]
I'll try again today... as for the screech noise with the rockets etc, I have no idea what that is, except that it sounds like a corrupt sound file. Maybe try another download?
Still not working correctly after a reinstall. Also, the new installer does not size properly, and the shortcut on the desktop is named 'tt_demo.exe' instead of 'Tommy Tronic Demo' (as I believe it was from the last installer).

The sound actually seems to happen when you kill enemies.
What sound driver does it use?

EDIT: You should also be able to select the exact path for installation (the installer sticks a 'TT_DEMO' folder inside the given installation path, instead of directly in the path).
Though, this is probably just a temporary installer (so it doesn't really matter), eh?


Hujiklo(Posted 2009) [#14]
Plash - I have to put a folder there for a path or some newbie will spread directories all over their c drive or something and then blame me.

The installer I used is another freeware one, and there really aren't that many options but it's very simple and quick to setup so I can't really complain.

Sound driver? What do you mean? It's using whatever Blitz3D can get hold of. Nobody else has a problem with sound as far as I know so it might just be localized to your machine in some way...most sounds are ogg format but there are a few small low quality wavs lurking about so it may be something to do with that.

Which enemies does the problem happen with? Is it the first level? I need a clue to help nail this one I think.


plash(Posted 2009) [#15]
I have to put a folder there for a path or some newbie will spread directories all over their c drive or something and then blame me.
Fair enough.

Sound driver? What do you mean? It's using whatever Blitz3D can get hold of.
Doh. I was thinking of BlitzMax.

Which enemies does the problem happen with? Is it the first level?
My last test was on the very first level (I think it's the introductory thing - it has help messages on certain things). Upon killing a tomato thingy you can hear the screeching sound.


Jur(Posted 2009) [#16]
A classic jump and run platformer but well made. Jumping requires some practice from the player, but overal controls are ok.
If you have problems with installer try Inno Setup and its utility ISTool. I used it for my game without problems - using a wizard you can make a setup file in a minute.


Chalky(Posted 2009) [#17]
I absolutely love this! Amazing that you have done this using Blitz3D - I instantly assumed it was BlitzMax when I ran it. I did spot a minor bug though - I pressed M while standing next to a weapon power-up (which was being nicely animated) but when I returned to the game, the weapon had disappeared (expect for the stars around it - which were no longer animated). When I fired my current weapon and killed a baddy, the power-up suddenly reappeared, complete with animation - AND a second set of static stars...

This is brilliant stuff - I hope it does really well for you! :o)


Pete Rigz(Posted 2009) [#18]
Would love to try this but unfortunately I get an error when installing, says:

cannot create file "tt_demo.exe". The result will be incorrect.

and then it says

Internal data error. the program is possibly broken. The result may be incorrect.

And that final error won't go away, I have to end task on it. Running Vista x64 here.


Hujiklo(Posted 2009) [#19]
Pete - the demo is gone. Maybe you got a broken version that downloaded as it was deleted? It will be back again after a tweak or two.


AvestheFox(Posted 2009) [#20]
Yeah, I was wanting to try this out too. where's the demo at?

the link is broken :(


Pete Rigz(Posted 2009) [#21]
Actually I downloaded shortly after it was available, but only tried to install today. Not to worry, will try again when you repost then. :)


AvestheFox(Posted 2009) [#22]
the link works now. :)

will report back with a decent review. this game looks like it has promise


steve_ancell(Posted 2009) [#23]
Hujiklo, that game is sweet-as !
When do I get to buy a copy, and at what price ?


Nate the Great(Posted 2009) [#24]
haha ironic isnt it.

I cannot for the life of me beat level 1 but level seven is easy! :)

where do I find the wood key for level 1


Chalky(Posted 2009) [#25]
The gnome will help you find it...


BlitzSupport(Posted 2009) [#26]
I can't believe I forgot to say in my last post -- the drunk guy got stuck for me! I jumped around him a few times after waking him up, then realised he was trying to follow me and moved away, then he got stuck walking on the spot and nothing would get him to budge even a pixel from there after that.


Hujiklo(Posted 2009) [#27]
*BlitzSupport:

After activating the booze, you have to press D to drop the booze - drop it where you would like to use his glowing belly to super jump off...there are a few floating islands nearby with stars or something on - try there...you should have seen instructions what to do when you collected the booze. He'll give you a key after you ply him with the demon drink.

When he was walking on the spot was the booze still hovering over Tommy's head? Had you placed it yet?

*Steve_ancell:

The game will be available soon - it's being hammered, and tested by a team of testers right now. Price will be about 18 dollars maybe.

* Pete_Rigz:

I just noticed you are using Vista 64...I've not tested TT on that OS yet. Hope it's not related to your failed install :(


RifRaf(Posted 2009) [#28]
my son is six and loves your game, but hes a little clumbsy with keyboard controls, does the full version support joypad ?, I think it would be a really good idea to have visual clues as well as text based intructions for some things ( like the booze ). Hes been playing it for a few days now and didnt know how to use it on the gnome :)


AvestheFox(Posted 2009) [#29]
There's a few glitches involving the drunk guy.

there were several moments where when he's falling or jumping he'll stop in midair and twirl about. This last time the program sent a memory access error and shut the program down.

Thought I'd let ya know about that.

Concerning the issues of bumping your head on objects. try resetting the gravity value to a lower number every time the head collides with an obstacle object. This should easily do away with the glitchy jerking.

Overall, the game is very well done :) Loving the graphics and everything!


BlitzSupport(Posted 2009) [#30]

When he was walking on the spot was the booze still hovering over Tommy's head? Had you placed it yet?


Right enough, I think the booze was hanging over Tommy's head at that point. I had no idea I was meant to do something further, though, or what exactly the drunk guy was meant to do once I'd woken him -- it just looked like a glitch!

As RifRaf says, some pointers along the way would be a good idea, and as others have said, some in-game first-time notifications on the controls would be very useful (rather than having to go back to the menu to check them).

Something else I don't think I mentioned was that I couldn't seem to pick up a small number of items by crouching, but I wasn't sure if that was intentional for those specific items or not.


Hujiklo(Posted 2009) [#31]
BlitzSupport:

If your rucksack is full (5 items max) then you will have to drop something, or use it, to collect another item.

When you got the booze you should have read the instructions how to use it - did you see the hint box? There are hints all over the place on the first level.

Maybe I'll add a few more if I get the time.


RifRaf(Posted 2009) [#32]
When you got the booze you should have read the instructions how to use it

yes, but there are many who havent / didnt , and it was confusing. Many younger players arent going to bother to read much either :) , a game like this you dont want to get stumped because you missed a hint.

Somthing to consider perhaps.

My son and I are still wondering if you plan to add joypad support?


Hujiklo(Posted 2009) [#33]
I don't know if there will be joypad support - I didn't plan it. I'll look into it and see what's involved.


AvestheFox(Posted 2009) [#34]
using blitz3d, there's a few good options for programing joy support

Not too hard to figure out either. just add the joy configuration alongside of the original keyboard button configurations

example from Blitz Basic tutorial:




Chalky(Posted 2009) [#35]
When you got the booze you should have read the instructions how to use it - did you see the hint box? There are hints all over the place on the first level.

When I first picked up the booze, I immediately moved right (accidentally!) and the pop-up hint faded before I had time to read it - and nothing I tried caused it to return. In the end I restarted the level, found the booze and made sure I didn't move until I had read the hint...


BlitzSupport(Posted 2009) [#36]

If your rucksack is full (5 items max) then you will have to drop something, or use it, to collect another item.


I think there needs to be some really obvious visual feedback to that effect -- again, I had no idea. It just looked like the pick-up action wasn't working.


When you got the booze you should have read the instructions how to use it - did you see the hint box? There are hints all over the place on the first level.


I don't recall a hint box at all. I'll have to try playing again and check!


Hujiklo(Posted 2009) [#37]
Thanks for the feedback and tips everyone.

BlitzSupport: Did you not see the readme after install? I think there should even be a link to it in your program shortcuts folder. Maybe the installer failed in someway? I'd be interested to know. Maybe I should rename it and call it 'Tommy Tronic Tips'.


Luis de la Cruz(Posted 2009) [#38]
Hujiklo, only my congratulations for your game. Very profesional, nicely polished, very pretty game. I know it's dificult finish a game. A lot of people begin a project and never finish it. I played your game with my sons and it like us.


BlitzSupport(Posted 2009) [#39]
I didn't notice the readme, but I really don't think it's a good idea to depend on people reading such a thing to in order play the game -- I'm pretty sure most people won't bother, and that'll just mean more support queries for you!


Perturbatio(Posted 2009) [#40]
I didn't read any of it, but managed to complete the level, what do I win? ;)

It works fine on wine btw.


ImaginaryHuman(Posted 2009) [#41]
Played it on an iMac running Windows Vista ... works well, fun game. Some issue of the grass surfaces not rendering properly. Depending on the player's Y position more or less of the gass shows and sometimes none of it shows. Also when I pressed escape I got a very closely zoomed in red image and couldn't see anything else to click on. Had to force it to quit. But otherwise it looks to be a pretty cool game. Wasn't too fond of the jump handling though.