ZGameEditor forum

Ok here is a little proof of concept,. Kjell's pointing out of the classic PS1 game Internal Section is to blame/thank for this one., ( I found a nice emu and some iso images,. and found I.S. to be a great game,. I also dug up some other classics from the psx era! Jumping Flash, Omega Boost! great fun.)

So far this is just to see if I could do a basic tube shooter,. and I am happy so far with the setup., the collisions are working well,. and the basic game play is roughed in,. try moveing the mouse., not sure just yet how I will work in these camera angles,. perhaps just angle it a bit as you move,. . I can imagine loads of interesting gameplay ideas on this type of set up,. we will see where this goes,.

Hey jph,

Sorry about that Nevertheless, nice start! I prefer the controls the other way around though ( Left / Right ), and try giving the camera some inertia so it doesn't stick right behind the player ( probably adds some more depth to it as well ). Are you using step based collision? In that case, make sure that the maximum speed at the minimum frame-rate is lower then the z-size of a projectile.

The Jumping Flash! ( did you try "Robbit Mon Dieu"? ) series is probably my favorite series on PSX .. ever

Keep it up ~
K

Ha! that is funny!! I was so just testing this that I didn't even notice that the keys are inverted,. guess being left-handed means my brain is inverted too

Yeah,. that was the collision problem I had in the past with this type of design,. I am just using 3d sphears here, and the speeds just worked out,. I will see how complex this need so get,.( for what I want to do with it) and perhaps try some more experiments to see if there is a nicer solution.

So far I have the first JF and I have seen that there are 2 more in the series,. they looked largely the same, so I thought I would finish the first one, are there any major differeneces?
What I like is that it is 3d, using z space as many 3d game don't much do, and it is controlled purely with switches i.e. no analog stick needed. and it plays quite well! but, I suppose the 3d control without sticks issue will matter much less once we get game pad suport!

Any more great PSX games I should look for??

Hey jph,

"Robbit Mon Dieu" has quite different structure then the first two JF! games. Not as linear ( uses a World-Map ) and various objectives/quests per level instead of just collecting 4 items and reaching the exit. There's also a 4th game, but you need a PocketStation for that.

Ghost in the Shell for PSX is pure gold + you can't get a better Electronic/Techno soundtrack then that ( better then Rez yes ).

If you're into obscure / one-of-a-kind experiences, try "LSD - Dream Emulator" or "Suzuki Bakuhatsu".

K

Very pretty, you got half a I.S. going there already!

Most of my favorite psx-games have aged terribly because of the first-generation 3d-visuals. Sega Saturn on the other hand... now there was a console of many quirky japanese titles and great 2d-action games.

Hell yea,

Saturn is the system I blown most money on .. tons of games ( mostly import ) and a couple of systems ( inc. Hi-Saturn / V-Saturn ). Good times

Somehow I still enjoy the "early" 3D titles with their low-poly aesthetics and simple mechanics though. The Panzer Dragoon series, NiGHTS, Burning Rangers .. on the PSX side my favorite Ridge Racer for example is still the original from 1994. You do have to ignore the lack of perspective correction.

Anyway, sorry for hijacking your thread jph

K

no hijaking problem at all,. this is what I was looking for,. more great game names to search for,. I take a great deal of insperation from all the good works of others,. and since I currently have limited funds retro titles are just the thing for me to research with,. I will see if there is a workable Saturn emu,. what was the dif. between Hi-Saturn / V-Saturn??

Ville- I was amazed at how quick that little proto came together,. a testament to ZGE's rapid prototyping utility! I am now working on some generative music for it,. would like to tie it to the gameplay,. the spawning and fireing of the targets, perhaps,.

Kjell- I googled LSD and found that my buddy Cly5m has a big shrine to it! Amazing thing is I had just started building a game proto with similar intentions,. was going to try and just make some generated areas and have some key/door type puzzles,. maybe jumping but no shooting,. and this thing looks like a nice insperation,. (gota find the iso now!)

http://autofish.net/shrines/lsd/index.html

going to try SOUP now,. . peace.

Good times indeed. I also played mostly imports on Saturn. Definitely the Panzer Dragoon series... Panzer Zwei still looks great, I played it a couple of months ago. The bosses are really imaginative and the general mood is just terrific. The 4-disc Panzer Saga RPG was fun too. Then all the arcade shooter port such as Strikers 1945 II and Soukyugurentai. And the beautiful 2d-rpgs such as Princess Crown and Tengai Makyou IV. Looking back I can't understand I had the time and energy to actually play through japanese rpg's without understanding the language though...

I never heard of the LSD-game before, it looks seriously disturbed

Hi guys,

Even more obscure then LSD is wordimagesoundplay for PS2. Not sure how difficult that would be to find though ( I could try to rip it if anyone's interested ).

@Ville: Don't forget all the marvelous Treasure titles for Saturn ( Guardian Heroes, Silhouette Mirage, Radiant Silvergun )

@jph: Back on topic .. I tried the build on some lower-end systems ( running around 15-30 fps ), and about 1 out of 4 dead-on shots fly right through the "enemies" without hitting them. I'd suggest to either z-scale the CollisionBounds by the bullets' velocity ( unless you're using Sphere3D ), or just manage the collisions yourself using arrays.

K

ah,. yes that do sound like a great idea to zscale with the velocity! I am still useing sphears here, and I have not noticed any missed collisions,. so perhaps I will stick with this,. and see how it goes, but that is a fine idea,. . <well noted>

update includes a sweet knot pattern of targets,. dead simple but took me some experimenting to work out,. some graphic tweeks,. and just a bunch of testing that I am doing,. I am now looking into how to sequence the waves., I have never been much of a fan of hard wired patterns in games but that is the basis of most 'shooters' of this type, . I think I will attempt a mixed method of organized chaos,. random pattern selection and mixing perhaps,. I think it is that it just becomes boring while testing I need to be suprised and cought off gard once in a while or I get board with it,.

I have been listeneing to The Mars Volta and Cavalettas has got stuck in my head,.

I am a deaf con of angora goats
Warning you all who pass this mote
It's only a matter of folding time and space
Before I become your epidemic

Is this your first time at my conventicle?
You better not talk if you came here for semantics
It's only a matter of folding time and space
Before I become your epidemic

as much for the lyric as the music,. and the intensity of it,. . not even sure what he is on about,. but I do find it compeling. I may take the name from that bit,. I like The Mote,. (small particle, i.e dust, in a beam of light,. also a Meating Place,. ) or Conventicle is a quite interesting sounding word as well,. perhaps I will title the waves so I can add more stolen poertry to this project,. . .

Hi jph,

Scaling the CollisionBounds ( Box3D ) with the Z-Velocity is a pretty solid approach .. as long as the bullets nor enemies don't move circular. Another alternative would be to use Rect2D_OBB for all collisions while treating the tube as a flat plane ( although wrapping around the edges will require some trickery ).

*Attached image clarifying how to deal with the collisions in 2D.

K

There's not too much trickery to be done however: you just need a "second player model" that is invisible and is placed in the same position of the player but shifted by 1 (EG: if the player's position is <0.5, EG 0.2, this invisible model will be placed at 1.2; if the player will be at > 0.5, EG 0.9, this will be placed at -0.1)
This way you are going to catch all the collisions when objects cross their ways. The only point is still: "how do I know if the projectile collision happened before the ship "crashed" on the enemy?". I might have an answer for you if you are interested (BTW: using only ZExpressions instead of standard collisions, so yes it's a bit tricky.)

Hi Kattle,

Wouldn't it be "cheaper" to only spawn a second object when the player / bullet / enemy crosses over the "edge" of the coordinate system? Otherwise you have twice the collision checks going on all the time. And not sure if checking whether a bullet hit a enemy first or the enemy the player makes a huge difference in reality. I'd just give the player the benefit of the doubt and let bullets have the higher collision priority ( who's cutting corners now eh ).

K

yes it would be cheaper somehow, but it might not be extremely easy.
The really easier way is using a fast algorithm for detecting "line crossing" between the player/bullets and the enemies. I have already seen something like that in one of my university courses. This might really be the best option.

Hi Francesco,

You're right, that is the best option indeed ( not using any of the build-in collision at all ). Not exactly sure how processor intensive the scripted calculations will be though, since you're not dealing with plain line VS line intersections, as the "lines" have various thicknesses ( similar to a Rect2D_OBB + Circle2D at each end ).

K