Yet Untitled Platforming Game

[Dandi8]

Hey guys!
This thread is to keep track of my yet untitled platforming game. I came across a lot (a lot!) of problems in UnrealScript, as there is no proper documentation for it (I don't consider UDK.com documentation-ish enough) but thanks to the great help by Blaguuu I was able to solve many of them and here I am now.

Features:
-Quite complex 2.5D camera (you can notice it zoom in at the end of the vid, for example)
-Shooting actually works and it's done Metroid-style (6 directions)
-No dodging and higher double jump (wow, what a feature XD)
-I'm pretty sure there was something else but I can't quite remember

Still gotta work on a lot of stuff but at least you can see it shaping up. If all else fails, it will be a great UScript lesson.

Oh, the fracture-able rock model and map brush textures are mine

Link to vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0VlF2x2wxM

Comment!

[McTavish]

Awesome man !

[Dandi8]

Oh and if you've got suggestions, post 'em. When I finish it'll hopefully be a sci-fi shooter with ancient elements and steering similar to that of Metroid and similar games, as I think there's not enough of those around these days

I gotta rewrite a bit of the aiming system as it's not as responsive as I'd hoped it would be. Right now for example when the up button is pressed it checks if the player is currently moving and if he is, it aims up diagonally, if he isn't, it aims straight up.
I have to figure out a way to register the keys (probably through a custom variable like bIsUpPressed).

[mikeypoorogers]

This is very cool Dandi8. I think games like this are going to become pretty popular with the success of Shadow Complex. I hope to work on someting in the side scrolling style once I learn UDK a bit more. I may have to hit you up on some tips for the camera, etc.

[Piranhi]

Good work mate.

[HideInLight]

Dang, looks fun to play with...Any chance of sharing the source code for the camera?


Nice work btw.

[Eildalior]

NIce job. This type of games is more and more famous. Essentialy in several MMO RPG like Dragonica.
You can play with the deph :P :P I remember Duke Nuken : Manhattan Project !!!

[LordsWarrior]

Nice onw!! I like

[Dandi8]

Dang, looks fun to play with...Any chance of sharing the source code for the camera?


Nice work btw.

My current code is a bit of a mess atm. but I had a bare-bones camera code backup lying around somewhere. I can upload it if you want it but it just a camera following the player, without all the fancy effects. It's easy to add them in, though

@Eildalior:
DN:MP was pretty fun although it lacked depth IMO A lot of my inspiration is from Metroid as I think that's the most atmospheric series (at least the 2D ones). For some reason I like Metroid: Fusion the best.

Right now my biggest concern is that I suck at modelling organics and I have to model the player and enemies somehow XD

[Eildalior]

Yeah I have understood you like some ''old school'' games ^^
Contrat, Metal Slug, Metroid, and other...

About the deph, I think about Lomax... when you want to go to the background.

[Lord Banshee]

I like the camera and the control of the character with weapon aim. I am going to assume that is all UnrealScript any tips on how to get control like that, maybe a tutorial of sorts..

[Dandi8]

Quick update:
I just finished rewriting the shooting code and it looks like it works just the way I wanted it to Might need some playtesting and I definetely need to play some older platformers now to get the feel of how they did it. As for checking for keypresses, I did it in a little bit hacky way involving OnRelease in UTInput and variables like bIsUpPressed or bIsLeftPressed. Wish I could do it in some other way but hey, at least it works :P

@Eildalior:
Lomax, as in Adventures of Lomax? Haven't played it, but I've seen it on YouTube. You mean the swapping between two level layers? IMO it kills the gameplay a bit.

@LordBanshee:
Here's an old backup of the game code:
http://uploading.com/files/f9631de4/...me_Backup.rar/

It has all the basic camera + walking done. As for aiming, I made some functions like aimUp() and aimDown() which registered keypresses and then checked aiming like this:

function CheckAiming()
{
local rotator tempRot;
tempRot = getViewRotation();
if (bIsLeftPressed || bIsRightPressed)
{
if (bIsUpPressed)
{
//Aim Diagonally
tempRot.Pitch=16384;
} else
if (bIsDownPressed)
{
tempRot.Pitch=-16384;
} else
{
//Aim Normal
tempRot.Pitch=0;
}
} else
if (bIsUpPressed)
{
//Aim Straight Up
tempRot.Pitch=32768;
} else
if (bIsDownPressed)
{
tempRot.Pitch=-32768;
} else
{
//Aim Normal
tempRot.Pitch=0;
}
setViewRotation(tempRot);
}

For shooting, I hijacked GetBaseAimRotation() in Pawn.uc. I made my own local byte ViewPitch in there, to replace RemoteViewPitch in the code. This accepts anything from 0 to 255 AFAIK. So 255 would be 360 degrees. I had a lot of trouble with this one and eventually did it this way:

simulated singular event Rotator GetBaseAimRotation()
{
local rotator POVRot;
local byte ViewPitch;
POVRot = Rotation;

// If our Pitch is 0, then use RemoveViewPitch
if( POVRot.Pitch == 0 )
{

if (RemoteViewPitch == 0)
ViewPitch = 0;
else if (RemoteViewPitch == 64)
ViewPitch = 32;
else if (RemoteViewPitch == 448)
ViewPitch = 224;
else if (RemoteViewPitch == 128)
{
if(bIsUpPressed)
ViewPitch = 64;
else
ViewPitch = 192;
}

POVRot.Pitch = ViewPitch << 8;
}

if (POVRot.Pitch < 0)
POVRot.Pitch = -POVRot.Pitch;

return POVRot;
}

Hopefully it will at least be of some help. I got the RemoteViewPitch value by logging its state with the `log function.

Oh and you might notice that RemoteViewPitch = 128 both for Up and Down. I have no idea why it is so, I've found nothing on RemoteViewPitch in the internet but it works XD

EDIT:
I did some more little improvements to the game code and decided to work on the visual aspect a bit, hopefully you guys will tell me if you think I'm going in the right direction with this :P

New vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NXJ9UWXNkM

Pics:




Comment on everything - textures, lights, map is WIP ofc but you can comment on that too if you want


exec function Do()
{
thisPost.Length = Epic;
}

[DELTATHUND3R]

looking good...But textures need work...Would be nice too see some pipes and so forth running down ya walls.Metal vents.Wire connections.Some extra lights,particle effects..Would make it more appealing..other than that..Its really good.

[Eildalior]

Yeah I spoke about The Adventure of Lomax.

[Dandi8]

@Deltathund3r:
I think pipes etc. would look bad on the texture, it's something that should be done with static meshes.
Extra lights, sure, but the main light needs to be there and kills most of additional light that would come from other light sources :-(
Particle effects - a tad too early for that :P