Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

Here is the extension list. Some of them seem to be unavailable though, like the Moo stuff. No trace of any 360 degrees active object either, but maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.

Here's the article that explains how to make the scores after extensions have been installed. But it seems to be way over my skill level... I barely know what PHP is!

As for progress on next version, I have a really cool idea. I'm not sure it will work, and even if it does, it will require a lot of time. So don't hold your breath.

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

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[Last edited by Nillo at 11-05-2006 12:35 PM]

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

v2.2 finished! See first post for download and changelog.

Good luck on getting the new feature! If you manage to unlock it (which is very, very difficult!), please share your thoughts on how to make it better and more balanced.

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

RoboBob3000
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1982
Registered: 10-23-2003
IP: Logged

Oy. Beating ten levels is rough. I can't even get past #5. Got the 100,000 though.

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http://beepsandbloops.wordpress.com/

bobkberg
Level: Goblin

Rank Points: 20
Registered: 11-27-2006
IP: Logged

OK, I followed the links on your post - now I'm completely lost.

I'm a relative newbie to this particular forum, but having complete all 25 levels of the original DROD, I feel qualified to comment.

DROD is an environment in and unto itself. With all due respect to other gaming forums, this one is for DROD folk.

I have no idea why we care about MySQL (fine program though it is) in this forum.

Free advice - start with King Dugan's Dungeon (the successor to the original DROD by ErikH) with almost the same levels -but with neat stuff added)

And if you have questions, include the abbreviation "KDD" and the level and the room - so that folks have an idea of which "hold" you're playing - so they can help you.

Have fun!!

Bob

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

RoboBob3000 wrote:
Oy. Beating ten levels is rough. I can't even get past #5. Got the 100,000 though.

Sure is! I can get to about 7 consistently, but after that it really becomes a hassle.

Some advice that might help you get deeper down in the dungeon:


Also, I think you posted in the wrong thread, bobkberg.

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

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[Last edited by Nillo at 12-07-2006 10:07 AM]

cry wolf
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 12
Registered: 05-21-2006
IP: Logged

cool game, but Jeremy keeps beating my scores... i will beat him one day.

____________________________
The X-box 360 rules.

RoboBob3000
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1982
Registered: 10-23-2003
IP: Logged

Out of curiosity, what is it exactly that determines when one reaches the next level? Points, or kills?

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http://beepsandbloops.wordpress.com/

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

RoboBob3000 wrote:
Out of curiosity, what is it exactly that determines when one reaches the next level? Points, or kills?

There's an invisible counter that decreases every time an enemy is spawned, and when it reaches zero, enemies stop spawning. With each level the counter begins on a higher number. Also, for each enemy killed on a level, all the other enemies become nastier, which is the main reason that later levels are so much more difficult than earlier ones.

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

RoboBob3000
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1982
Registered: 10-23-2003
IP: Logged

Is that all that goes in to it? I've found that you progress through levels faster the faster you kill enemies. For example, if you kill all the enemies as fast as you can in the first level, you'll only battle 10, but if you let the combo counter count down all the way, you'll fight more. That's why I'm having such a rough time in the later levels.

Also noteworthy is that you have an "options" button and an "options" menu, both with different functionality. Also, modern mode features levels, but levels mode doesn't (in the same sense). You should take the opportunity to clean up some of this ambiguous menu stuff.

____________________________
http://beepsandbloops.wordpress.com/

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[Last edited by RoboBob3000 at 12-08-2006 07:55 AM]

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

RoboBob3000 wrote:
if you kill all the enemies as fast as you can in the first level, you'll only battle 10, but if you let the combo counter count down all the way, you'll fight more

That's totally unintended, and I've never noticed before. I'll check that.

I suppose I can rename the last mode to "Waves" or something. As for menu buttons, I haven't experimented with them much. The "play sound" and "play music" options are automatically added when a game is created, but I believe it is possible to add more, which would render the Options screen superfluous. We'll see what I can do there.

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

RoboBob3000
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1982
Registered: 10-23-2003
IP: Logged

Okay, here are some more thoughts.

So the splatter of the green guys is what creates the new spawns. Check. However, often times I find the splatter being shot right behind me, and then the newly spawned reds have their new random direction pointed straight at me. It's not the most common thing in the world, but it happens enough to be incredibly frustrating. I think it would be more intuitive if the spawns began with the direction that their splatter was going.

On the topic of random directions, I'm not very fond of roaches entering the arena pointed in one direction, and then rocketing off in another direction once they get started. Perhaps the randon direction can be determined before they enter so they're pointing the right way before they shoot off.

Also, I think I would prefer a little more standardization with regard to the mothingness. As it stands, it seems to shoot two buttlets in random directions in random intervals. I think either the interval or the direction should be predetermined, but not both random.

I'm wondering about how this game performs on different machines. I only think this because if you say you can consistently get to level 7 and I can only consistently get to level 4 (despite being an experienced DRODer from the start of this project), there might be speed differences going on here. If possible this would be worth looking at.

I find myself enjoying directions mode more and more. It's a natural style of movement. However, there are some tricky issues involved with this movement. If, for example, you point directly north and then press down (which is an extreme turning case in regards to determining direction of rotation), you will always turn clockwise. Maybe instead of just defaulting to clockwise, you could rotate back in the direction the player came from. For example, if the player reached the north point by traveling clockwise, pressing down would rotate the player counterclockwise. Additionally, points for NW, NE, SW, and SE would be useful for when the player is pressing two keys at once. It would complicate this movement for sure, but I think it might improve it quite a bit. Something to try out, at least.

And I want to see this new feature, darn it!

____________________________
http://beepsandbloops.wordpress.com/

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

I forgot to bring the CD with me, so no new version today. I've fixed the extra enemies bug though and you were right, it did get a lot easier, so maybe you'll open the new feature after that. Thanks for the suggestions!

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

And here it is! See first post for download and changelog. Sorry about the delay, I've been busy with a lot of things at the same time lately, and I spend half of my free time trying to remember what it was that I was supposed to remember.

Anyway, something weird happened when I was fixing the direction of spawned enemies, and only half of them ended up with the right direction. I guess it's better than nothing.

No drastic changes this time, but the extra enemies bug was fixed, so getting the feature that I implemented last time should be a lot easier now.

Enjoy! Also, write!

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

Version two dot four released! See first post for download and changelog.

Options screen has been baleeted, and the stuff in it was moved to the toolbar. Tell me if you notice any bugginess with the new system.

I think it's time to submit this to the Daily Click soon. I don't want to waste my chance to get the GotW award, though, so I should try to make it as good as possible first. Feedback plz?

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

zex20913
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1723
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Just be sure to plug DROD. I'm currently away from my main computer, but I'll check it out later tonight and give some feedback.

____________________________

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

Huge changes are in the works, estimated completion on Monday or Tuesday next week. Stay tuned!

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

Version 3.0 released! That's right, we're in the threes now. See first post for download and changelog.

From now on, I will add the cncs32.dll file to the package instead of as a separate download. It isn't a large file anyway so no big deal if you already have it.

The biggest difference in this version (for me, at least) is the New & Shiny binary save file. I can save and load progress a lot easier now, which brings us to the next cool thing:
Stat-tracking! Now you can see the total amount of time wasted, monsters slaughtered, points accumulated as well as easily access your high-scores from the main menu.

But wait, there's more! One extra powerup to collect, a new enemy to confront, and some other things... check for yourself.

I haven't playtested it as much as I'd like to, so there might still be some bugginess. I'm counting on you to locate it and bring it to my attention.

Enjoy!

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

NiroZ
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1302
Registered: 02-12-2006
IP: Logged

DiMono wrote a long time ago:
I'd like to be able to move diagonally

Can you please add this? It just feels wrong being unable to use 1,7, 9 and 3.

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

NiroZ wrote:
Can you please add this? It just feels wrong being unable to use 1,7, 9 and 3.

But you can press two arrow keys at the same time, yes? You don't have to use the numpad. Also, adding that is a bit more difficult than you'd expect, but if you insist, I can give it a try.

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

NiroZ
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1302
Registered: 02-12-2006
IP: Logged

Nillo wrote:

NiroZ wrote:
Can you please add this? It just feels wrong being unable to use 1,7, 9 and 3.

But you can press two arrow keys at the same time, yes? You don't have to use the numpad. Also, adding that is a bit more difficult than you'd expect, but if you insist, I can give it a try.

I have, it just feels really clumsy, especially after playing DROD.

Maurog
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1501
Registered: 09-16-2004
IP: Logged

I have some issues with the new version -
A bug which causes the game screen to stop updating visuals except if you press buttons, movement becomes *very* jerky (you can't really control anything) and the sound is stuck on repeating the last sound effect. Happened to me several times and no detectable reason found (maybe killing several roaches at once?).

When putting in highscores, if you put in a *long* name, then play again and get a highscore and put in a *short* name, the long name won't be erased, but rather the short name will be written on the first half of it. For example if you put "victorious" and then "loser" the highscore will read "loserrious".

____________________________
Slay the living! Raise the dead!
Paint the sky in crimson red!

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

The sound crash thing has been there for quite a while. I have no idea why or how to fix it, and it never happens on my own computer. The highscore names should be easily fixable though. Thanks!

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

Version 3.1 released! See first post for download and changelog.

Diagonal movement with numpad has finally been added. I think it feels pretty awkward, but I understand that others might want it for that special DROD feeling.

A severe lack of ideas is keeping me from making progress... I want more enemies, powerups and statistics, but can't come up with anything good at all. I'll go through the entire thread again and see if I missed something that I can implement.

Enjoy!

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

I found a bug already - the End button changes your direction in Modern, even when not using the Directions handicap. Will be fixed in next version.

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

Maurog
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1501
Registered: 09-16-2004
IP: Logged

Powerup ideas, eh? May I suggest <cough cough> a RAYGUN!

____________________________
Slay the living! Raise the dead!
Paint the sky in crimson red!

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

I've considered it before, but I shudder at the thought of adding extra events for all the projectile collisions. Thanks anyway!

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

skell
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3776
Registered: 12-28-2004
IP: Logged

If you need ideas I suggest you go into feature request board and read topics - it is easy to come with something new and nice this way ^^

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My website

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

Version 3.2 finished! See first post for download and changelog.

Not much difference here, but I fixed the directions bug and added a new powerup. Note the long duration and protection against mothingness. I was worried that it wouldn't be as good as other powerups, but I think it turned out well.

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

Pilchard VIII
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 392
Registered: 01-21-2006
IP: Logged

You're so evil to post a new version right now, the reason being that I can't play it. Those morons at Microsoft forgot to include Game Maker 6 compatibility with Vista...

____________________________
The DROD Dragon

Insane
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 154
Registered: 08-06-2005
IP: Logged

Pilchard VIII wrote:
You're so evil to post a new version right now, the reason being that I can't play it. Those morons at Microsoft forgot to include Game Maker 6 compatibility with Vista...

Game Maker 7 works with Vista, although I don't use it.

As for the game, I could give you some good free-to-use replacement music (.mid), also, make it possible to get HEAD-SHOT spit out all over the screen when you hit the roach on the head .

-Insane