Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.

At 4/6/08 01:09 PM, KyrNelenar wrote: When you say "put an action to stop that same sound first," does that mean that it would stop the music already playing (which would seem like it would still cause a general flow disturbance), or stop the music that would start playing after going back?...

It would probably stop the music already playing. Try using the approach that the other guy suggested, I think that would work better in this situation. :)

At 4/6/08 12:54 PM, dyingtokill wrote: im making a platformer and im just doing basic jumping right now but the problem is that i cant seem to figure out a way to make the character fall down to the ground if he steps of a platform without jumping..

You need to apply gravity when the player is not over a platform and not jumping. Try replacing your two hit testing if-statements with this:

if(this.hitTest(_root.ground) or this.hitTest(_root.platform))
{
    jump=false;
    jumpspeed=12;
}
else if (!jump)
{
    this._y-=gravity;
}

This won't give you realistic smooth gravity or jumping, you'll need a separate variable to keep track of the current x and y speed for that. But then you'd have to basically rewrite your code, and I'm not going to do that for you. ;)

Let me know if that helps.

This is the annoying thing about using the timeline (the music stopping/restarting when you go to a previous frame).

What I'd do is before the sound starts, put an action to stop that same sound first. Let me know if that works.

At 4/6/08 09:18 AM, tommattox wrote: Yeah... Let me know if you actually end up making this. It would be interesting to play. Alternatively if you are stuck for ideas give me an easier way of contacting you such as AIM, MSN or if neither of these are available to you just tell me to pm you if you need more ideas.

It's something I'll probably make eventually, as I've been wanting to do some sort of interactive music visualizations of my favorite NG songs. I think this is an idea that I can expand on, because just running might be kind of fun, but I think for a really good game there would have to be more to it.

Just to clarify, in this game would you be constantly pressing left and right or something like that?

Contacting me by PM would be fine - I've got a few people talking about ideas through PM already instead of using this thread.

At 4/5/08 05:47 PM, tommattox wrote: Possibly... Maybe like black terrain which is locked in place and there is an objective to get to or something. Also maybe spikes which if the ball touches it pops or just dies whichever. An alternative achievements in-game which can be unlocked similar to Xbox Live or Kongregate but in one game not spread over many. Also possibly the ability to unlock different balls which are heavier or smoother or jagged or have different attributes throughout the game. Some could maybe be unlocked from touching them in a level others for completing achievements or certain levels. Also moving objects to avoid.

Actually how about a free game option which is just a mess-about kind of thing then a story mode? Tell me what you think.

Including achievements inside a Flash game is something I've considered before. I think it might be interesting to have a freeform sort of physics toy/editor/sandbox, but with a bunch of special badges you can unlock by doing certain cool or difficult things. Not sure what exactly those things would be, but yeah.

I guess instead of levels or a story mode there would just be a ton of random unlockables. Could be interesting.

At 4/5/08 03:09 PM, Coolio-Niato wrote: Have a game with water and balls falling.

That's actually pretty similar to an idea I had last summer for the Ball Physics contest at Jay is Games. I haven't finished making it yet, but it's on my list. :) Thanks for the suggestion. You mentioned some new things I hadn't really thought of, which would also be a little easier than my other idea.

At 4/5/08 03:40 PM, Mercenary81 wrote: Maybe every few seconds a button at the bottom of the screen lights up signifying that you need to press spacebar, also increasing the speed you need to hit the buttons a bit.

Okay, sounds like a pretty good idea. It would work well to connect it with the music more, I think.

Im not sure if you should make it impossible to get to the top or not. If you make the top some insane amount of distance away then you could probably also put in a high score list (although i have no idea how this works)

That might be good, so there is an end, but most people will lose earlier so there is a purpose for the high score list.

You should also change the scenery every 500 yards or so, making the branches thinner and the background lighter.

Yep, that would be cool. Maybe the seasons change too over time.

And to top it off, you should have a jumping system to get over branches. I haven't entirely thought out th jumping yet seeing as your running up a tree/building/cliff (not even sure about what you want here) the gravitiy might be a lot different then normal.

That might be part of the pressing space bar thing. Or it could be separate. Nice ideas. :)

At 4/5/08 04:23 PM, tommattox wrote: How about a ball of any kind. Quite small.

Okay, so something like a physics sandbox, so to speak? Would there be a game attached to it also?

At 4/5/08 12:30 PM, killslasher wrote: "what does water do",well,think of it as what would water do if you were to *insert action and resource here* to the water?

I'm still confused about this part. I think I kind of get what you're saying, but I can't visualize it. Give me an example of an "action" and a "resource" and what the water does as a result.

So, based on this idea, how would it fit into a game?

At 4/5/08 02:46 AM, Mercenary81 wrote: Im really thinking both. It would feel like a classic track, but there's the subtle fact that you need to keep in time or else you'll fall off

Okay, I get it. Any ideas for how to elaborate on it?

Ive gotten that same feeling before while listening to certain music

:)

At 4/5/08 02:12 AM, Mercenary81 wrote: I suppose it would be a bit of both. I'm really no coding genious but wouldn't you have to add more gravity the further he goes up?

Hmmm. Are you thinking of a game where the physics of running up a tree or wall are similar to the real-life physics of it? Like, you'll fall off if you stop or if you push off too much? Or would it be more like running along a track that happens to be a tree?

I'm not really sure how you'd be able to implement music into this game, logically anyway, but i'm sure it'd be real kick ass if you could :D

I hope it would be cool. The reason I thought of music is that several Dimrain47 songs and a few cornandbeans songs bring to my mind the visualization of running past a whole bunch of stuff, in some way or another.

Now that i think about it actually, it'd be a real good music game, if you could do it i mean. It's a bit of a hit or miss kind of thing. I'd be happy to talk about it more if your interested.
You do seem to have plenty of ideas being thrown at you at the minute though ;)

Go ahead, I can deal with the torrent. :) My inbox has a lot of room, and this thread is not even two pages long yet.

At 4/5/08 02:24 AM, jimmick wrote: Have only a few dusts on screen at any one time, and when dust connects, it joins into a larger (new mc) clump that has the cumulative pull of gravity
Also, maybe have a multi layered game, seeing as how the bigger the dust the harder it is, make the player have to use keyboard to control the player.... BRAINWAVE
The mouse controls a little orb of repelling gravity, you push your little cluster (5-10 dust) to the end, avoiding the red and collecting the green.
In order to maximise profit you also have to keep the other reds away from the other greens, AND your cluster and keep your cluster away from walls.
Your dust should also be connected to each other via invisible cords

Okay, that could work. It is getting pretty complicated, but I'll think about it and imagine how it might play. Or is that part after BRAINWAVE a separate idea? That would be pretty nice and simple by itself, actually. Hmmm.

At 4/5/08 01:47 AM, Mercenary81 wrote: Anyway, your running up a tree (or anything you'd like to make it for that matter, a tree's just the simplest form of the suggestion) and you need to keep pressing two keys in time with the footsteps. As you get higher up the tree the faster you need to press the two keys, or you'll fall off.

Hmmm, that's an interesting one - it would fit well with some of the songs I like on the Audio Portal to make a sort of music game. Would this have anything to do with physics or would it be more about rhythm? Feel free to give examples of the sort of things you might add to it.

At 4/4/08 10:42 PM, killslasher wrote: Umm,heres another idea.

Yep, I know about the falling sand games.

What you're describing sounds really interesting to me, but I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what you mean. Could you describe a game idea that uses the approach you're talking about, maybe?

Normally,people dont really like the fact,its all just sand.
They want some different type of physic.

Okay, you want more than just sand.

But the other section of physic,is great!

What "other section of physic"? Do you mean the interactions between different elements?

Try to copy off this,then use a little more realistic graphics and textures.

Okay.

For example,water isnt sand,neither is gas.
But the thing that flash did do good,is how water interacted with other resources.

What Flash? I thought that example was Java, not Flash. How did the water interact with other resources?

Get that?

D

Sounds cool, but no, I don't really get it.

Then,about that interactive buddy mode thing.
For example,I think a good setting would be,the less original,Gravity.

Are you talking the value settings of certain physics properties? Are you saying that you want to be able to set the amount of "Gravity"?

Or a more original,Impact level.
To measure how much something moves or gets startled from any action.

So you can set the value of the physical property called "Impact"? I think I get it. I'm still kind of confused though.

Just to get a better idea of what you're trying to say, how would it be different than the physics settings in this prototype?

Keep going with this idea. Describe to me what the game might look like. Maybe I'll understand it better. :)

Not my highest rated, but my newest and most polished and most original game: _dRive

At 4/4/08 06:02 PM, Hoeloe wrote: Use duplicated movieClips that run from a single for(){ loop on the main timeline, that way you aren't running hundreds of loops, also make stuff vanish when offscreen, because this does actually save on CPU.

The display is not actually the problem, but thanks for the tips. :)

The reason I'm worried about speed is that in order to make all the dust particles attract each other, you have to find the distances between every dust particle and every other dust particle. In computer science terms that's an O(n*n) algorithm, it's quadratic, because the number of calculations you have to do is the number of dust particles (n) squared (n*n).

If you have 10 particles, that's 100 calculations. Not too bad. But if you have 100 particles, that's 10,000 calculations. That's a lot. And 100 particles isn't even that many. With 500 particles on the screen, you'd be doing 250,000 calculations every frame, 30 times per second. I don't think most computers would be able to pull that off.

Basically, in order for this idea to work, I need to come up with a way of making the dust particles attract each other, without having to calculate the distances between every possible pair. Any ideas?

Try this:

on (release) {
karma = parseInt(karma) + helped;
}

At 4/4/08 01:34 AM, jimmick wrote: Dust!
The game of dust

Thanks, jimmick, that's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. Nice little idea, clear description. I can see that being pretty fun. The only thing I'm worried about is the coding - I think making all the dust attract all the other dust would make the game really slow - either that or you would only be able to have a small amount of dust on the screen. If the dust could merge into bigger dust balls when they touch, that might cut down on the number of particles on screen, but still, I'm not sure. Any thoughts?

Yeah, I did miss your last post in the old thread, killslasher. I'll reply to it now.

Interactive Buddy might be a good role model to follow. I don't think there have been any other games combining a physics sandbox, (torturable) virtual pet, and unlockable upgrades. So there's not much competition.

I think it might be cool to make your "buddy" customizable with a system sort of like the Mii editor for the Nintendo Wii, rather than with just a few preset skins.

Could you elaborate on the kinds of tools and scenarios you are thinking of?

I also like your idea about being able to change the effects of tools, to change what happens as a result of different actions. But I'm not sure what you'd use that for. Could you give me any examples?

Anyway, I think a game improving on the Interactive Buddy formula would be quite successful. The only issue is that it would take a lot of work to actually make. I happen to have another idea that would take about the same amount of effort to make but might be an even better game.

We can still keep talking about it though. Who knows, maybe it will turn out to be easier than I think it will.

At 4/3/08 10:01 PM, killslasher wrote: Heres ANOTHER idea.Go make a few more sample flashes that you just feel like making with physics.
Then,read the reviews.Reviews help A LOT.
Especially when you ask "Please tell me what to improve on",in the authors comments.
You'll get alot of feedback there.

I think that's a good idea. I've really learned a lot from the feedback to my last projects.

But I'm getting tired of spending tons of time making a game and then not getting much interest from people. I know it's a learning experience, but I also know that there are people whose skills are not even as developed as mine, who are still getting a million views and frontpage and all that.

I want to see what I can accomplish with the skills I have so far, then I'll go back to learning. Not the most mature thing to do, but oh well. I'm not particularly interested in being a starving artist.

At 4/3/08 10:06 PM, dyingtokill wrote: thank you very much! your kinder then most on this forum ill let you know if i have an idea for a physic game or if i have a question about physics lol thanks again -dyingtokill

You're very welcome. Good luck.

At 4/3/08 09:41 PM, dyingtokill wrote: iv bin thinking about leaning ragdoll physics for sum time now and i know it is going to take quite awhile so could you give me a pointer on where to start? iv herd sum people mention inversed kenetics should i start with that?

Oops, I missed your post, sorry about that.

So, I started with the article Advanced Character Physics. It's pretty good. Don't waste your time looking for inverse kinematics stuff though. If you want to search for anything, try "verlet integration" instead.

Once you master that and you want to expand beyond simple ragdolls, check out Position Based Dynamics. It's a lot of math but it's way better than other papers on the subject. I'm still working on that one.

Feel free to send me more questions as you start trying working on this stuff.

At 4/3/08 09:36 PM, claymater wrote: I dont really know what you should do.. but I LOVED this game! WO!

Great, glad to hear it.

Final post here, sorry for the double posting:
New thread here.

Don't post in this thread anymore, use the new one. Thanks.

At 3/21/08 12:03 AM, toxicdevil93 wrote: Ummmmm Could Someone Tell Me How To Make A Ragdoll Physics engine?

The best reference I know of on ragdoll physics is Position Based Dynamics. If you can understand that, then great, because they don't come much easier than that. But if that's too hard, Advanced Character Physics is a bit simpler, with code examples that are pretty helpful. That's how I learned it.

Otherwise, you might start with a simpler physics engine, such as bouncing balls.

(moved from General forum)

I'm pretty good at coding physics games in Flash (some of my old work). And I'm pretty good at coming up with interesting game ideas. But I'm not good at coming up with the sort of cheap, simple, addictive physics-based games that are so popular these days.

So, here's what I'm proposing:
You come up with an idea for a simple physics game, and describe the design in detail here in this thread. I will then code that game up, with your name in the credits, and release it around the web, provided that...
- I have time (it must be simple enough to make quickly)
- It's a good idea (fun, easy to learn, addictive, etc.)
- You fully explain the design details (I want to be able to just code this up, not worry about making design choices)

I can't guarantee that I'll be able to make the game, as ideas that sound good or easy on paper can end up being horrible and impossibly hard when you actually try to make them. But let's see what you can come up with.

Sound good?

Here are some examples of what I'm looking for - simple but addictive physics-based games, such as...
- Ragdoll Avalanche
- Stair Fall
- Zwingo

Notice that in these games, all the gameplay happens in one screen, there are only a few different kinds of objects in the game, and there are only a few different actions you can do in the game. That's what I want. Simple. But fun.

Here's an example of the sort of description I'm looking for, using Ragdoll Avalanche as an example:
"Ragdoll Avalanche is a game where you control a ragdoll and try to dodge spikes that fall from the ceiling. You use the arrow keys to control your ragdoll in the same way as Ragdoll Masters, where you move the head left, right, up, and down. Your ragdoll is at the bottom of the screen, where the edges of the screen act as walls. Spikes appear at the top randomly and fall down off the screen. As time goes on, these spikes appear more frequently and fall faster, increasing the difficulty. When your ragdoll touches the sharp end of a spike, it will either lose a limb or die. If a spike touches the tip of the ragdoll's arm or leg, the tip will fall off and bounce freely as a ball. If a spike touches any other part of the ragdoll, you will lose the game, while the severed pieces of your ragdoll bounce in slow motion. At the end screen of the game, you are shown a score based on how many seconds you've survived and a random funny message is displayed."

That's about as much detail as I want, though more would be even better. I didn't talk about the menu or sound in that description either, but it might be a good idea for you to explain all that if you really want me to make the game.

Ready? You may begin.

At 4/3/08 09:07 PM, TrippingMetal wrote: Isn't there a Flash forum for this kind of stuff?

All right, I'll move it. *reposting*

Okay, how about something like Attack of the Killer Swarm? That's a popular one, and it would be pretty easy to make. How should I expand on it?

At 4/3/08 05:15 PM, killslasher wrote: Because the reason is,in most of the physic games that have superb qualities,you cant keep playing that session,and have to restart.

So, a game with the sandbox qualities of CitySmasher, but the physics qualities of ragdoll games? What sorts of things would you want to be able to do in a game like that?

At 4/3/08 05:02 PM, DarkRedFlame wrote:

At 4/3/08 04:59 PM, axcho wrote: Hmmm. Would it be better to move this thread to the Video Games forum?

No, Flash

That seems more for technical questions. I don't have a technical question, I'm looking for game ideas. But if you think so...

Hmmm. Would it be better to move this thread to the Video Games forum?

At 4/3/08 01:07 PM, BunnyMolester wrote: O and also you better PM me, I don't follow threads

PM'd.

At 4/3/08 01:10 PM, ShadowWest2k7 wrote: You could make a target game if you get what I mean. Make a target, draw a person or something, and make him pick up something, and throw it at the target. The closer to the center, the more points you get.

I'm looking for something a bit more physics-y than that, but yeah. Not a bad idea.

At 4/3/08 01:16 PM, Hoeloe wrote: I thought of a really good one.

But it's mine and I'm coding it, keep your hands off >:C

I love physics games

Glad to hear it. :) Good luck with that. Let me know when you finish.

So, there's one idea so far. Any more? You can get a little more advanced with the physics - ragdoll, balls bouncing, blobs squishing, blocks stacking up, magnets attracting and repelling, etc.

At 4/3/08 12:51 PM, ShadowWest2k7 wrote: Barrell Roll?

??

Is that a game idea? If it is, I'll need a bit more detail before I can actually make it. ;)

I'm pretty good at coding physics games in Flash (some of my old work). And I'm pretty good at coming up with interesting game ideas. But I'm not good at coming up with the sort of cheap, simple, addictive physics-based games that are so popular these days.

So, here's what I'm proposing:
You come up with an idea for a simple physics game, and describe the design in detail here in this thread. I will then code that game up, with your name in the credits, and release it around the web, provided that...
- I have time (it must be simple enough to make quickly)
- It's a good idea (fun, easy to learn, addictive, etc.)
- You fully explain the design details (I want to be able to just code this up, not worry about making design choices)

I can't guarantee that I'll be able to make the game, as ideas that sound good or easy on paper can end up being horrible and impossibly hard when you actually try to make them. But let's see what you can come up with.

Sound good?

Here are some examples of what I'm looking for - simple but addictive physics-based games, such as...
- Ragdoll Avalanche
- Stair Fall
- Zwingo

Notice that in these games, all the gameplay happens in one screen, there are only a few different kinds of objects in the game, and there are only a few different actions you can do in the game. That's what I want. Simple. But fun.

Here's an example of the sort of description I'm looking for, using Ragdoll Avalanche as an example:
"Ragdoll Avalanche is a game where you control a ragdoll and try to dodge spikes that fall from the ceiling. You use the arrow keys to control your ragdoll in the same way as Ragdoll Masters, where you move the head left, right, up, and down. Your ragdoll is at the bottom of the screen, where the edges of the screen act as walls. Spikes appear at the top randomly and fall down off the screen. As time goes on, these spikes appear more frequently and fall faster, increasing the difficulty. When your ragdoll touches the sharp end of a spike, it will either lose a limb or die. If a spike touches the tip of the ragdoll's arm or leg, the tip will fall off and bounce freely as a ball. If a spike touches any other part of the ragdoll, you will lose the game, while the severed pieces of your ragdoll bounce in slow motion. At the end screen of the game, you are shown a score based on how many seconds you've survived and a random funny message is displayed."

That's about as much detail as I want, though more would be even better. I didn't talk about the menu or sound in that description either, but it might be a good idea for you to explain all that if you really want me to make the game.

Ready? You may begin.

It's great to hear that some people really like the game, thanks! I guess it was worth making after all. ;)

At 3/27/08 08:08 PM, videogamer0810 wrote: For instance, I found the three-track interface to be much too distracting and difficult to play with. One way you could solve this is by putting all of the movers in one screen. By putting them together, it actually becomes easier to see how their movements all relate to one another. So the playing field would be set up like this

Thanks for writing up those suggestions! I really like the ideas and I'd definitely use them for the sequel. Putting all three ships on the same track is a suggestion I've heard from a few other people so I'm pretty sure it would be a good one. Making the powerups do different things (and sound effects) depending on which ship they hit is also a cool idea.

I'd be glad to hear more of your suggestions if happen to have any. :)