[Axe] Bullet Proof

[MGOS]

Since playing games with friends is much more fun than alone and everyone loves shooters , I decided to make another mini game for the 83+:

                                                  Bullet Proof

(Edit: It was actually Eiyeron who came up with the name sometime on irc, and I thought it was a nice idea. )

So what I wanted to do was a little, not too complicated platformer with decent physics and collision stuff playable on only one calc.
It has got a variable key configuration, so each player can choose his keys for the control of his character. It also comes with a level editor which let's you "draw" a custom map and place the spawns of the characters. It only saves one map atm in the same appvar as the keys.

Some Gameplay

The Map editor

Key configuration

(all running at 6 mHz; sorry for bad gameplay - it's Wabbitemu)

Facts & Features:

• Pixel collisions
• Vertical acceleration for realistic jumps
• Stair detection
• Health power-up to regenerate damage of 5 shots
• Key settings
• Map editor
• less than 5 kb (not the current version)

Default controls (changeable):

Left: Right: Jump:    Fire:

Player 1:    < > ^ DEL

Player 2: Sto 2 4 LN

Next step:

• Optimizing
• More Power-ups, like weapons and armor (added now!)

What I've been thinking of but isn't included yet:

• Playing via link
• Bigger maps and scrolling

Controls of the editor:

Move cursor: Add blocks: Remove blocks: Clear all: Save and set spawn points: Confirm spawns: Display current spawn points:

Arrow keys F1 F2 F3 F4 2nd F5

-> Current version


Download this version:

[Hayleia]

(I'm not sure who recommended that name a while ago on irc, but I thought it was a nice idea. Tell me and I'll give you credit )

I think it was Eiyeron. Not sure either.

Anyway, this seems like a great project, good luck for the continuation

Also, great idea to put key configuration. I also did that on TinyCraft because some keys are obvious to me but others may not like it, so now, let's just everyone choose.

[MGOS]

Thanks Hayleia

when school starts in three weeks, there might be some changes my friends suggest.

Also 200th post for me 

[Art_of_camelot]

I think link play is a must for this type of game. Are you going to add different types of weapons or scrolling maps?

[MGOS]

I think link play is a must for this type of game. Are you going to add different types of weapons or scrolling maps?

I'll probably add some more collectible power-ups like weapons and armor (faster machine gun, grenades?). Scrolling maps is only possible with one screen per player, what requires ether two calcs and link or split screen.

[Freyaday]

Sounds cool! Perhaps an AI?

* Freyaday downloaded

[leafy]

I actually had an idea for splitscreen where you turn the calc sideways, with players opposite from each other; each half of the screen can then be used as a smaller screen.

[DJ Omnimaga]

Looks quite nice. One thing that would be cool is if scrolling was added (assuming there was split screen, AI or linked play), so it's harder for your opponent to know where you are.

[MGOS]

Update!

Added:

• Power-up bar as indicator for collectible items (only one at a time):
• Machine Gun (15 shots, twice as fast rate)
• Armor (decreases before health, holds 5 shots)
• Grenades to throw (hold "fire" to load, release to throw; the longer you hold, the stronger the throw; explode after 100 frames)
• Individual sprites for the character depending on the current power-up

Changed:

• Power-ups shouldn't appear in areas out of range (like far above the ground)
• Minor optimization

Hadn't that much luck recording the screen shots, but I hope you get the point ;-)

Split screen with scrolling will maybe added in the next version (not too soon since I'm quite busy right now).
AI is quite difficult for this type of game I think. It'd have to calculate a way to the opponent / power ups, keep distance, shoot etc. But feel free to comment how you would do it


Downloads for version 0.3 (ion) and the map shown in the screen shots:

[Munchor]

This game is looking very good, nice job

[Freyaday]

AI is quite difficult for this type of game I think. It'd have to calculate a way to the opponent / power ups, keep distance, shoot etc. But feel free to comment how you would do it

I'd have to sit down and plan it out, but I'll see what I can do about an algorithm.

[shmibs]

this looks like a fantastic start, but either link play or a good AI (or both ) and larger, scrolling maps are practically a must for this kind of thing.

* shmibs wishes you good luck =D

[MGOS]

Here come a few issues with scrolling maps:

• It needs more data; I've been thinking of four times the size of the one I already got (effectively 4x screen with 2x2 pixels); That will need a bigger save file and a bigger buffer than L3 to check collisions.
• When there is a map bigger than the screen, the program can't do collisions on the parts which are not loaded yet. This won't be a problem for the characters, since they will always be in the middle of the screen, but for the bullets. It would cause to have each bullet load its own part of the map to check for collisions, which will - I promise - let it become quite slow on a TI-83+.

Give that a thought, and let me know if you know a way to solve it.

The rest won't be that hard I think, I actually might do the scrolling in asm.

[leafy]

I agree that the scrolling maps will become unmanageable if you keep them 2x2 blocks. Why not make them larger, say 4x4 or 8x8, add a bit of detail, and give the environment a more comfortable look?
Also, if the entire tilemap is loaded into L3, why does the map need to be loaded again to check bullet collisions? If you're using pixel-based checks, you can easily change that to pointer-based detection to avoid the screen problems (there are plenty of tutorials on this lying around).
Good luck!

[shmibs]

exactly this /\
checking the map data directly rather than "loading and pixel checking" will be much more feasible, and larger tiles will both cut the required map data to one half/fourth/eighth of what it is now, while playing right into axe's strength of drawing 8*8 tiles.