Coder needed - Small game

[Goat-Man]

This was originally going to be a platformer, but I was worried it would get to big too fast.
The new idea that I came up with is (the best way I can put it) a cross between Kitty Cannon and Shopping Cart Hero

The game is called Pirate Launch for now (unless you have a suggestion)
You start out as just a simple Pirate in a rubber dingy.
Just like Kitty Cannon you set the cannons angle and power to launch the pirate.
He would go skidding off across the water, hitting floating mines that would send him launching, and exploding birds that would also send him furthur. Maybe a whale as well that would only send you slightly furthur.
Then there would be small islands that would slow you down, and sharks that would stop you completely.

There would also be money to be earned. Both by getting good distances, and by collecting gold by hitting it during the launch.
You could then purchase several upgrades
- Your Pirate
- Your cannon
- Your ship
- and your ship's mast

There could potentially be other things as well. But not that I can think of.
I am always open to ideas though. So if you have interesting additives, let me know!

Look at the bottom for a slightly scaled down set of pictures. I'll be touching them up, as well as finishing certain things like the background, and menus.
Full size
http://spamtheweb.com/ul/upload/220309/5 0013_PirateLaunch.jpg

I am working with a 700x450 screen.
Any money (ads and sponsorship) would be split 50/50.

Who's interested?

[Goat-Man]

Whoops

[Daigon99]

I'm not good in the field of physics, but I know things about hit-test, score count and pressing something.

[Goat-Man]

At 3/23/09 01:19 AM, Daigon99 wrote: I'm not good in the field of physics, but I know things about hit-test, score count and pressing something.

How about you make a basic engine based on my description?
I'll see what you can do :)

[Daigon99]

Scripting A Wall
=================

1. Draw some kind of wall or barrier.
2. Convert to a symbol.
3. Give it the instance name of wall
4. Add this to the wall movie clip : if (this.hitTest(_root.wall)) { this._x -= speed; } }

That's it.

What's that? You don't understand? I'll help you!

if (this.hitTest(_root.wall)){ = if the player touches a wall.
this.x-=speed; = player's value taken away by x
} = ends the statement

[4urentertainment]

That looks easy to do, would take a few days, mazimum a week. I'm up for it! PM me if I get the job.

(You can find an engine sample in my profile)

[Goat-Man]

At 3/23/09 03:42 PM, 4urentertainment wrote: That looks easy to do, would take a few days, mazimum a week. I'm up for it! PM me if I get the job.

(You can find an engine sample in my profile)

Okay, could you make an engine just using filler graphics and such?
Just so there is an idea of how the game will be played.
I won't garauntee a spot. It all depends on whether or not someone else comes along with a cleaner engine.

[StaliN98]

I may give this a go, the art is very good. I'll build an engine tomorrow.

[Goat-Man]

At 3/23/09 06:27 PM, StaliN98 wrote: I may give this a go, the art is very good. I'll build an engine tomorrow.

I enjoyed your work on guns and Monocles.
Shows that you have some abilities as a programmer
:)

Happy to see what you can do with this.

Also, everyone must have PayPal. That is the only way I'll be able to pay you your share, depending who gets the spot

[MarkyLyne]

Be amazing if you could pull it off :)

[Night-Mare]

Why don't you ever contact me anymore for games?

[satan112]

I might be able to help.
Time depending but I have a fairly well working engine already so I could put your art into it and add/change parts of it as well.

Heres the engine.

Was originally a game I was working on but its not finished yet.

What do you think?

[StaliN98]

Will the pirates be just the head, or a head and a body following? I don't mind which, just need to know which one it is.

[Goat-Man]

At 3/24/09 03:46 PM, StaliN98 wrote: Will the pirates be just the head, or a head and a body following? I don't mind which, just need to know which one it is.

Good question.
The pirate will be in the boat. There will be a small generic body in the boats that the head attaches to.

On a side note, I have seen two engines so far.
They both look pretty nice.
I'll wait till more people have some ready before I make any final decisions though

[StaliN98]

Thanks for the info, I'll be done soon.

[StaliN98]

Okay, done the bare essentials of the engine. Features:
World variables easily changed, such as:
* Air resistance
* Water resistance
* Gravity
* Buoyancy under water
* Water level

All graphics are loaded with code from bitmaps in the library, and are easily replaced at run-time with a simple function for each object (cannon, pirate and obstacles)

Obstacles have many different ways that they affect the player:
* X or Y increment - add to the xspeed or yspeed
* X or Y absolute value - set the xspeed or yspeed
* X or Y multiplier - Multiply the xspeed or yspeed.

Here it is with no phancy effects. All obstacles are set to propell you up and forwards, but it is easy to make obstacle types that have different effects with the above named properties.
Argh, forgot to add a thing to set the power, but I closed flash so I'll do it tomorrow.
http://spamtheweb.com/ul/upload/240309/8 0350_main01.php

[StaliN98]

Eh, spotted a bug with trying to hit an obstacle twice, so fixed it and added power charging. Hold mouse to build power, which is displayed in the top left.
http://spamtheweb.com/ul/upload/240309/8 1324_main01.php

[Goat-Man]

At 3/24/09 06:36 PM, StaliN98 wrote: Eh, spotted a bug with trying to hit an obstacle twice, so fixed it and added power charging. Hold mouse to build power, which is displayed in the top left.
http://spamtheweb.com/ul/upload/240309/8 1324_main01.php

Oh wow, your version is turning out really nice.
This is going to make it touch :(

I never planned to have things go underwater at all. It's a good idea.
But I planned it so that the boat skimmed along the top.
Once people had the basic engine. I was going to see if they could make it so you can rotate the pirates. Hitting the water sends them slightly sideways, and you have to use the arrows to correct them. Then if you hit the water upside down, they all fall out.

I also see you made the camera follow the pirates. But if the rotation is added, I think it should be like the Kitty Cannon, where its just an arrow showing them out of the screen.
Then maybe a little transparent image under the arrow, so you know what angle your pirates are at at all times.

See how well these features are implemented before I choose an engine.
It is narrowed down to yours, or one I got in a PM for sure atleast

[StaliN98]

Ah, so the boat is fired! I see what you mean now, I'll work on it.

[StaliN98]

Okay, I think this is what you mean. (Don't worry, the mines will explode after I work on it tomorrow, and I'll add capabilities for masts and pirates). W and D tilt the ship, if it tilts too much while in the water, it sinks. As with before, mouse to aim and hold mouse to build up power.

[StaliN98]

Sorry, forgot link: http://spamtheweb.com/ul/upload/250309/7 8561_main01.php

[Goat-Man]

Lochie, I'm so sorry I missed your comment :(
I only saw it this time because they pretty colors cauht my eye.

This is the only game I've worked on since HM.
My other game was started like a year ago.
I didn't want to bother you with this, because I started HM, and attempted that other game, I thought you would think it would be unfair if we made this game as well.
That would make our game count 3-1 once we made yours. Sorry.
If your interested, feel free to give it a try though :D

StaliN, your engine is turning out very nice.
The only thing is, is that if you hit an explosive at an angle, then next time you hit the water, it does some uncontrollable flip.
I'm not sure if anything could be done about that though. That might just be physics being a bitch :(

[StaliN98]

The flipping will be because you hit the water at an angle. Imaging a boat landing at speed in water at that angle - it would get flipped over. If you want to land successfully, you will need to land quite flat. The bigger the angle of the boat, the more it slows down in water and the more it tips up.

[Goat-Man]

At 3/25/09 06:22 PM, StaliN98 wrote: The flipping will be because you hit the water at an angle. Imaging a boat landing at speed in water at that angle - it would get flipped over. If you want to land successfully, you will need to land quite flat. The bigger the angle of the boat, the more it slows down in water and the more it tips up.

Now that I've gotten used to it, it's a lot of fun to play
:D

My only issue now, is that after a few plays it stated getting horrible lag.
The only things I can think of. Is
a) The splash bubbles aren't being removed, and after they build up there are hundreds of them slowing it down
or
b) If I made it say 4000, then when I went back to launch again, the terrain is set up for 4000, and that is too much for the system to read all at once.

Look into it if you please :)
Shaping up REALLY nicely. I'm already enjoying playing it

[StaliN98]

Hmm, I noticed the lag too. It probably is caused by the bubbles, since it first occurred after adding them. This is odd because the bubble movie clips are removed after they fade or hit water (I checked), and the array holding their custom objects is cleared every time you fire. I'll look into it tomorrow.

[Goat-Man]

As a heads up, I think I have come to a decision on my final coder.
Sorry to those of you who I did not pick.
It was nothing personal. I did go with StaliN98. His engine was reall nice, and he seemed to be adding a few of his own special touches. And I appreciate that when I can work with someone, and they have helpful input.

Not saying the rest of you didn't. It's just that StaliN98 jumped onto this right away.

Special sorry to Lochie for not giving you the heads up.
If you read my above post, I hope that it clarifys it :(

[satan112]

At 3/25/09 10:57 PM, Goat-Man wrote: As a heads up, I think I have come to a decision on my final coder.
Sorry to those of you who I did not pick.
It was nothing personal. I did go with StaliN98. His engine was reall nice, and he seemed to be adding a few of his own special touches. And I appreciate that when I can work with someone, and they have helpful input.

Not saying the rest of you didn't. It's just that StaliN98 jumped onto this right away.

Special sorry to Lochie for not giving you the heads up.
If you read my above post, I hope that it clarifys it :(

Thats cool, although I didn't exactly get any feedback on my engine and if I had I would have added and changed it so it would have fit your description better.

Anyway StaliN98's engine is really good and I can see a great game coming along too, I'm gonna favorite this thread so keep some updates on here so I can see when the games been published and give it a (probably well deserved) 5. :)

Good luck!