Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

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

DRODer 2 is an action-adventure game inspired by concepts from the Deadly Rooms of Death series. You play a solitary delver who enters the dungeons in order to rid them of all kinds of vermin, armed only with a Really Big Sword. In your travels you'll encounter many familiar things like orbs, gates and X-shaped checkpoints. You can also play Arcade mode to battle an endless horde of roaches, and get a high score that you can compare with your friends.

The game was made in Construct and is Windows-exclusive. Any comments, questions or suggestions are welcomed in this topic.

Current version:
DRODer 2 v0.61

Older versions:
DRODer 2 v0.60
DRODer 2 v0.53
DRODer 2 v0.52
DRODer 2 v0.51
DRODer 2 v0.40
DRODer 2 v0.31
DRODer 2 v0.3
DRODer 2 v0.2
DRODer 2 v0.1

The original message is below.
-----

Hey guys. Some of you might remember a game called DRODer that I created something like six years ago. Honestly, I'm really satisfied with how it turned out. Of all the game projects that I've undertaken, I think it was my most successful one.

However, as it is, I don't think DRODer has a future. The Games Factory can no longer perform the things I want it to do, and it's also a buggy mess. Remember the sound crash bug? Yeah, things like that happen in TGF. So I want to start over, and I'm switching to Construct. On the positive side, starting fresh will allow me to see things from a new perspective. I also like to think that I'm a better coder today than I was in my teenage years.

I guess what I'm wondering is if anyone's still interested in the thing at this point. I wouldn't want to make a new DRODer if no one felt like playing it, you know? I'm going to think deeply about this project in the next few days. I need to know exactly what direction I want the game to go, and I don't want to repeat the design mistakes that I made before.

____________________________
“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.”

---

[Last edited by Nillo at 07-07-2011 02:35 PM]

RoboBob3000
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1978
Registered: 10-23-2003
IP: Logged

Very yes! Watching DRODer development is probably one of my favorite memories fromthe forum. I would definitely like to see a revival!

____________________________
http://beepsandbloops.wordpress.com/

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

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

I've decided that I want to take the game in an entirely new direction. Instead of the arcade-like style of play that characterized the first DRODer, where you accumulate points until your inevitable death, I want to create an adventure.

The arcade style has many things going for it - it's quick to get into, easy to put down and highly competitive. However, it is not suitable for a great length of play. If every individual game ends within 1-3 minutes, the player's interest will surely dwindle after a while.

For this game, I'm going to design an adventure mode with multiple maps and a save/load system. I'd also like to have some kind of character progression reminiscent of an RPG, but I'm going to keep things simple during the first few steps of development, as there will be time for such things after I've gotten the game off the ground.

____________________________
“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.”

Snacko
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 448
Registered: 06-08-2006
IP: Logged

Not trying to say the idea is outdated or anything (particularly because this game isn't particularly well made), just that it has been done before and could work very well with some more polish and variety.

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=15372

____________________________
Director of the Department of Orderly Disruptions

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

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

The idea of using two buttons to rotate a weapon around the main character isn't exactly a complicated one, so I'm sure similar things have been attempted many times before.

Anyway, development of DRODer 2 has now begun in earnest. I coded the level system this morning and I'm planning on getting the save/load features working later today. Those of you who are creative types may be interested to know that I'm saving the level data in plaintext. It'll be trivial for players to create their own levels by replacing the ASCII characters that represent the map's objects.

____________________________
“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.”

UrAvgAzn
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 468
Registered: 04-15-2006
IP: Logged

Brilliant, I'd love to see a sequel.

____________________________
"The leaf, still green, must someday fall.
Such grief, such joy, to live at all."
- T.A. Barron, The Lost Years of Merlin

Timo006
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 518
Registered: 07-19-2006
IP: Logged

Is a co-op mode an idea? would be nice if you could play DRODer with two people.

____________________________
Drod Number: 3034; 8th person to see the Second Sky

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

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

Status update. The map system and save/load features are now functional. I've created some basic gameplay elements like walls, force arrows, roaches and the main character.

I had some problems getting used to Construct's interface, but it's nothing too serious. If everything goes according to plan, I expect to have a slightly playable version ready for you tomorrow. In the meantime, take a gander at this screenshot:



____________________________
“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

File: DRODer2 v0.1.zip (1.1 MB)
Downloaded 49 times.
License: Public Domain

Ladies and gentlemen, we are now in business.

I have not yet decided on an uploading procedure for this topic, so I'm just going to attach the zip file to this reply. At some point, I'm probably going to edit the latest version into the first post, and provide links to the older versions in case people want to find them.

No instructions are included, but experienced DRODers should not have any problems. The arrow keys move your character, Q and W rotate your weapon. Press R to restart from checkpoint. Escape pauses the game, and Enter confirms your decision in menus and such.

____________________________
“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

Works just fine, though the roaches eventually respawn. Will you be able to finish the room and make them stay dead?

Also, they seem to ignore force arrows.

____________________________
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 roaches respawn when you restart from a checkpoint, and also when you change maps and come back to the old one. I'm not sure if it'll remain that way, but it is how it works currently.

And yeah, they move over arrows as they please. I wish I had a good explanation for that, but the truth of the matter is I couldn't figure out how to code the collision events to only activate from one direction. I'll see if I can find a better solution for this, and in the meantime, we'll just have to call it a feature.

____________________________
“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

The next step is a bit tricky. I'm planning on implementing difficulty levels, but instead of a bland solution like modifying player health or damage taken, this system will be incorporated into the level design.

If you look inside one of the level files, you'll notice that there's a whole bunch of fives before the actual map data. Those will be used for difficulty settings. Some of the map objects will appear or disappear based on the selected difficulty. These are the numbers I'm going to use:
3: The object will only appear on Normal.
4: The object will only appear on Normal or Hard.
5: The object will appear on all difficulty levels.
6: The object will only appear on Hard or Very Hard.
7: The object will only appear on Very Hard.

As you might expect, each position in the difficulty array corresponds to the same position in the map object array.

Once this is implemented, it'll get a bit more difficult to design maps with just Notepad. I want to create a real level editor with a graphical interface at some point, but it isn't a terribly high priority at the moment.

____________________________
“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

File: DRODer 2 v0.2.zip (1.2 MB)
Downloaded 48 times.
License: Public Domain

Version 0.2 is now available.

I have added an Arcade Mode reminiscent of the original DRODer. This mode is intended to be as simple as possible, so I will probably not add many more features to it.

Also, the difficulty levels I mentioned earlier have been implemented. Higher difficulty levels will cause certain map objects to appear or disappear. It is up to the map designer to take full advantage of this feature.

Also also, it is now possible to die. That's... nice, I guess?

____________________________
“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

File: droder2sounds.zip (72.8 KB)
Downloaded 41 times.
License: Public Domain

I'm making some sound effects. DrPetter's sfxr is a neat program for this purpose.

Here's a zip of what I've made so far. One of my friends helped me with the enemy kill sound, and I created all the others by repeatedly clicking the generator buttons in sfxr until I got something that sounded like what I wanted.

At some point, I'm probably going to try and get one of my musician buddies to make a few chiptunes for me.

____________________________
“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

File: DRODer 2 v0.3.zip (1.4 MB)
Downloaded 42 times.
License: Public Domain

I just finished version v0.3. It's awfully quiet in here.

I have added two new enemies, both of which should be familiar to the experienced DRODer. However, they behave somewhat differently compared to their DRODer 1 counterparts.

The Black Roach moves like a regular roach most of the time. If you get too close to them, though, they'll start to home in on your position. Should you be unfortunate enough to get hit by a Black Roach, you'll find yourself dizzied for a short moment.

The White Roach moves in circles around you. This vicious fiend causes two points of damage per hit. Be very careful around them.

Also, I added two levels. These are real levels, as opposed to the fake levels I was using before.

On a side note, I encountered an annoying bug while working on this version. It seems like if there's a lot of stuff happening at the same time (like when there are many enemies on the screen) the collision detection suffers and things start flying through the walls. I haven't the slightest clue how to fix this, but I'm going to ask someone who's more knowledgeable about Construct for help with the issue.

____________________________
“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: 1978
Registered: 10-23-2003
IP: Logged

One quick thought. In place of UDLR and udlr for force arrows when editing levels, you might consider <^>v and r7LJ.

r^7
< >
LvJ

I think moving towards a slightly more visual representation is good.

. = No object.
W = Wall
! = Door
X = Checkpoint
@ = Dizzy Floor
# = Heavy Floor

____________________________
http://beepsandbloops.wordpress.com/

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

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

That's a very good suggestion. It's not hard for me to change the characters that are used for map objects, so I can definitely do that in the next version. Though, it means I'll have to fix all the levels I've created to use those characters, haha. Fortunately, I believe Notepad's Replace function can do that job for me.

I have a few other things planned for the next version:
Adding an option to turn the sound on/off in the pause menu, and possibly also a volume control.
Changing the directory structure for levels, and adding an in-game option to use a different levels directory. So for example, the official levels might be in the "DRODer2/levels/standard/" directory, and a homemade level pack might be in "DRODer2/levels/mylevels/". Then I would allow the player to select a directory in the main menu.

____________________________
“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.”

Syntax
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1218
Registered: 05-12-2005
IP: Logged

One suggestion would be to keep the display characters separate from their binary representation.

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

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

File: DRODer 2 v0.31.zip (1.4 MB)
Downloaded 42 times.
License: Public Domain

Version 0.31 is now available. I have added breakable walls. They may not be the most popular DROD object, but it's an easy way to make things harder to find, and they might have some other uses as well.

I also added an option to turn the sound off in the pause menu, and changed characters in level files to use a more visual representation, as Robobob suggested. This is a very error-prone update, so let me know if something broke during the transition.

I'm not sure what you mean, Syntax; the level files are already in plaintext so map makers don't have to fiddle with binary data. Can you explain?

____________________________
“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

File: AnimDemo.zip (593.2 KB)
Downloaded 42 times.
License: Public Domain

Hey all. I'm working on finishing version 0.4, but there are still a few things left to do. There's a good chance I'll finish it within this week, so stay tuned.

I'm going to add the first powerup to the game very soon. It is an item that permanently grants you one more hit point. A friend of mine helped me make a spiffy animation for the powerup, and I have attached a test application to this message where you can see it for yourself. Press the plus and minus buttons to adjust the animation speed. I will probably use a speed of about 16.

____________________________
“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

File: DRODer 2 v0.40.zip (1.6 MB)
Downloaded 39 times.
License: Public Domain

Gentlemen, behold! Version 0.40 is now available. The list of changes in this version is so long I'll have to enumerate it in some orderly fashion.

*The game engine now supports music, although no music exists currently. It looks for the music files in the "data/music/" directory. The menu music will be called menu.mp3 and the arcade music will be called arcade.mp3. For levels, you need to specify the music that the level will use in the level file. To do this you append a line at the end of the file that says "Music:mylevel.mp3" for example.

*Added a Plus One Hit Point powerup. This item can only be collected once and permanently grants you one additional hit point. To add this object to a level, append a line that says "PowerupHP:Z,X,Y" where Z is the powerup's unique ID (from 1 to 100) and X,Y are the powerup's coordinates (starting from the top-left).

*The title screen has been redesigned to look slightly better. There is also now an options menu that can be accessed from the main menu. In the options you can turn the sound on/off, turn music on/off and select the levels directory.

*The collision detection code has been optimized to reduce lag on some older computers.

That's not all, though! I have big plans in the pipeline and I'm planning on adding something super-cool to the game in the near future. I can't say how long this will take, since it depends on some external factors, but I can attest that it is one hundred percent super-cool.

____________________________
“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

Haha. I got so carried away developing the game that I nearly forgot to post what I've made in this topic. Though I must admit I've been a bit uneasy about the near-total silence around here. Is there truly so little interest in what I'm doing? In any event, I remain determined to complete the project.

I've uploaded version 0.51 of DRODer 2 to MediaFire and linked the file in the first post. The amount of changes in this version is rather massive, so like before, I'll write a list of the most noticeable changes.

A number of new objects have been added:
Orbs and Orb Gates - Perhaps the most popular DROD objects and rightly so! They're not as powerful in DRODer 2 but you can still create some interesting rooms with them. Orb Gates can be either open or closed. When you hit an Orb, all the gates in the room are toggled from closed to open or vice versa.
Cracked Orbs - They're like regular Orbs, except that you can only activate them once before they crumble to powder.
Scrolls - can you guess what they do? Fine, I'll tell you: Each scroll contains a message for the player. You just walk up to them and press Enter to read the message.
Hollow Checkpoints - These function like regular checkpoints, except that they do not regenerate your hit points. If you're brave enough to play on the hardest difficulty, you may find that most of the normal checkpoints have been replaced by this variety. How devious!
Minor Roach Gate - Opens when the enemies in the room have been defeated.
Major Roach Gate - Opens when all the enemies on the level have been defeated.


Aside from the new objects, I've also made some other significant changes to the game.
*Enemies now stay dead when you restart from a checkpoint. Also, other objects like gates, breakable walls and so on work the same way. They'll remain in the state you left them when you restart. The only time they reset is if you go to a new level.
*The game engine now supports tilesets. If you want, you can change the appearance of every single object in your level! Well, not really; there are some exceptions, like enemies and other complicated things, but at some point I want to add tileset support for those as well.
*I've changed the movement code again. A possibly controversial detail is that rotation now uses an acceleration value instead of a constant speed. I feel that this gives the player character a more natural movement style. Also, moving diagonally is now slightly slower than before.

What do you think, guys? Talk to me!

____________________________
“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.”

Rheb
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1211
Registered: 08-04-2006
IP: Logged

It's neat

I personally like the arcade mode better than the regular, so I would like to see some more variety there, maybe different levels/stages you can unlock. Dizzy mode?

____________________________
Voligner is my very own DROD-like game. Please check it out!

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

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

Rheb wrote:
It's neat

I personally like the arcade mode better than the regular, so I would like to see some more variety there, maybe different levels/stages you can unlock. Dizzy mode?

I kinda like its simple design, honestly. If anything, I might make some changes to the spawning and movement speed of the roaches. An advantage of keeping things simple is that it makes the mode more competitive. It's easy to compare high scores with another player if everyone's playing by the same rules. If I added Dizzy and other similar handicaps, and gave them point multipliers like in DRODer 1, I would have to think about the balance issues of handicap vs. non-handicap that would inevitably arise.

I'm not completely opposed to adding features to Arcade mode though. If you have any other specific suggestions for what you'd like to see in the mode, let me know.

____________________________
“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.”

Snacko
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 448
Registered: 06-08-2006
IP: Logged

How about offering a few different variations to Arcade mode and then having separate leaderboards for all of them, a la Pacman Championship Edition DX?

____________________________
Director of the Department of Orderly Disruptions

---

[Last edited by Snacko at 12-15-2010 05:24 PM]

Rheb
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1211
Registered: 08-04-2006
IP: Logged

Nillo wrote:
I kinda like its simple design, honestly. If anything, I might make some changes to the spawning and movement speed of the roaches. An advantage of keeping things simple is that it makes the mode more competitive. It's easy to compare high scores with another player if everyone's playing by the same rules. If I added Dizzy and other similar handicaps, and gave them point multipliers like in DRODer 1, I would have to think about the balance issues of handicap vs. non-handicap that would inevitably arise.

I'm not completely opposed to adding features to Arcade mode though. If you have any other specific suggestions for what you'd like to see in the mode, let me know.

Yeah, I agree with Snacko, that you should definitely keep this mode and keep different scores for possible new modes. I just think it would be fun to have some variation in the arcade mode. Things like having boosts (big sword, extra life, shield, etc.) spawn when you get a good combo could be cool. But I dunno.

Anyway I guess I'll be the first one to post an arcade score for people to beat: 1920 3050 4070

____________________________
Voligner is my very own DROD-like game. Please check it out!

---

[Last edited by Rheb at 12-17-2010 02:37 PM]

RoboBob3000
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1978
Registered: 10-23-2003
IP: Logged

11770 is my score to beat.

____________________________
http://beepsandbloops.wordpress.com/

Znirk
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 613
Registered: 07-28-2005
IP: Logged

Nillo wrote:
Is there truly so little interest in what I'm doing?

I can explain my own lack of interest if you're curious: I quite simply have no idea what it is you're doing. The post at the root of this thread is pretty much useless to anyone who hasn't played your first attempt, and the linked thread about the first droder doesn't seem to have any description either -- it's just a changelog, followed by some technical issues and user feedback directed at you -- i.e. written with the assumption that the reader knows the program.

So if I wanted to know more about the game, the simplest way seems to be to download and try it. But I've gone pretty much completely Linux these days, and you say you're using the (windows-only) Construct. This is the point where my inertia overcomes my sense of adventure, and I end up not booting the dusty Vista partition of my laptop just to check out your game. Who knows, I might enjoy it; but if you can't be bothered to tell me about it, then I'm not going to spend half an hour stuck in Windows Update in order to look at it.

Sooo, let's try the apparent second simplest way to find out about droder: Would anyone who has played either incarnation like to give a short summary of what this is all about?

RoboBob3000
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1978
Registered: 10-23-2003
IP: Logged

Znirk: It's a real-time DROD clone, with more of an emphasis on action than puzzling. Though it uses a tile-based editor, movement in the game is not tile-based. There is a standard mode of play, where you conquer baddies room-by-room, and there is an arcade mode, where you play against an endless horde of roaches for a high score.



Some random thoughts:

The way scores are currently calculated in arcade, there is an enormous amount of weight placed on your combo. Each roach killed scores (10 * combo). As it stands, when you lose your starting combo, it's catastrophic. You might as well consider your round over if you're trying for a high score. Perhaps the current number of roaches on screen can be factored into the scoring.

Roach score = 10 * {1 + (combo/5) + [(currentRoachLimit-baseRoachLimit)/10]}

An audio/visual indicator when your combo dies would be nice to have. Maybe your player's eyes do this: ><

What determines when roach limit increases in arcade? Every two killed?

Enemy respawn between levels in the standard game is a real bummer.

The new sword spin physics feel great!

____________________________
http://beepsandbloops.wordpress.com/

TripleM
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1373
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

Znirk wrote:

Nillo wrote:
Is there truly so little interest in what I'm doing?

I can explain my own lack of interest if you're curious: I quite simply have no idea what it is you're doing.

Ditto. Though RoboBob's description sounds interesting, so now I have downloaded it - but all I get when trying to run it (on Vista) is

Fail to load plugin C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Temp\cap675E.tmp\4.csx (126)