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[MysticSi]

This is my second entry as my other game might take too long to finish.

Photon trap is a Tron Light Cycle style game where ships move along the inside surface of a sphere. Its not the trails that you’ll be colliding with, but mines dropped by ships at regular intervals, so you’ll be able to dodge in-between them.



Download

PhotonTrap v1.1

Controls (as of latest version)

Mouse – Look around
LMB – Fire
RMB - Toggle Cockpit / Chase view

W,S – Accelerate/Decelerate
A,D – Turn left and right

F - Toggle aiming
Space - Hold aim

Space - Toggle freecam in spectator mode
LMB - View Next player in spectator mode

[jph wacheski]

well that is quite neet!  i like it as I have little idea how to do such a thing,. 3d math crushes my tinny little simian brain,. but I learn stuff all the time, so perhaps if i thought deeply about it,. . i really like the way you can look around in the cockpit and steer independently,. like an flight/train/etc/ sim,.  interested to see what you make of this,. what is the engine tech?

[MysticSi]

Its coded in C++ using my own library wich in turn uses OpenGl. It contains classes to simplify the math, such as vector addition, rotation and matrix multiplication and inversion.

[MysticSi]

There are now multiple opponents, minelaying and shooting. There’s no collision detection as of yet and the opponent ships simply mimic your own movements.



http://alternatelogic.net/files/PhotonTrap_v0.2.rar

The new controls are

Mouse – Look around
LMB – Fire
RMB - Toggle Cockpit / Chase view

W,S – Accelerate/Decelerate
A,D – Turn left and right
R – Randomize your colour

[Synnah]

Looking nice so far! I had a problem with the brightness, though; the sphere is a little bit dark, so it's often hard to get a sense of speed, particularly if there are no enemy trails visible. I like how slowing down becomes a tactic, as it decreases the space between your mines.

Are you planning to do anything more with the cockpit? Like the sphere, it's also a little indistinct at the moment, and it can sometimes be hard to tell which direction is forward, if you mouselook too much.

[MysticSi]

I had a problem with the brightness, though; the sphere is a little bit dark, so it's often hard to get a sense of speed

Yes I thought this might be a problem, my monitor is stuck on full brightness so it looks fine to me, I will be adding an options menu with the ability to adjust the spheres brightness.

I’m also aware that the cockpit is kind of hard to make out, this is why I took the screenshots in 3rd person because in still it's barely distinguishable from the trails.

It is only a temporary cockpit I quickly put together and was planning on making something more detailed.

[jph wacheski]

yes, I like it even more,. perhaps having the opponents movements based on the players is a good idea, just adding a bit of random or AI augmentation,. gives a reaction feel. Some engine sounds could help with the speed feedback perhaps a dial or meter as well,. I like to cockpit now,. and it is all easy for me to see, and quite pleaseing to look at.

[MysticSi]

Actually you’ve given me an idea there. I could give the AI various states such as Free roam, Tactical, Mimicry ect.. Then when each opponent is initialised it’s preferences for how much time to spend in each state is randomized, giving them a kind of individualized personality.

[MysticSi]

Thanks for that, GLIntercept proved most useful. The bug was in my model rendering code wich doesn’t occur when they are drawn in wireframe, so you will only get the problem in v0.1 when switching to 3rd person (wich is the F1 key in v0.1)

I also found a problem where I was drawing a non-existent draw list, wich is present in both versions.

Here’s a new version that fixes both problems, as well as the AI improvements I mentioned, and also an improved crosshair on the HUD.

PhotonTrap_v0.3

[Melly]

Looking good so far, though I guess hit detection is not there yet?

[MysticSi]

Here’s the latest version, wich introduces collision detection and a respawn sequence, as well as LOD on the mines so that more of them can be displayed.

The AI hasn’t yet been made to doge mines or fire weapons so they end up dying a lot.
Also explosions have yet to be put in, so you currently just respawn instantly after getting destroyed.

PhotonTrap_v0.4.rar

[JLJac]

That is super awsome! The only thing I would change is that the bullets should go in the direction you aim, not the direction you're going. That would make the aim around-mechanic meaningful, and also make the gameplay a bit more dynamic.

The sense of speed is great, like how the ship tilts a bit when turning. It's really goodlooking too.

[MysticSi]

This latest version has a lot of new features, most notably the menu system, explosions, a spectator mode and a message system saying who killed who ect…

There’s also the beginnings of the gameplay modes, if you turn lives on you will get a Last Man Standing style game, although without a check for a winner yet.

I do intend to allow aiming slightly to the left and right, I just haven’t gotten around to implementing it yet.



PhotonTrap_v0.5.rar

In spectator mode you can switch between freecam and player cam with the space bar.

[MysticSi]

Here is the latest version, wich now features aiming, pickups and checking for win conditions.

PhotonTrap_v0.6.rar

[MysticSi]

Well its as finished as its going to be for the compo. All I’ve really gotten around to doing since the last version is to add in a few sound effects.

PhotonTrap v1.1

[Cymon]

Oh, now I like this one a lot. Put some sound in it but it's definitely worth a nod.

[György Straub]

It looks so awesome but the texts are illegible, I just get grey rectangles where the characters are supposed to be (running it on a Bootcamp Windows XP2). I'll post a screenshot when I've found the PrintScr combo...

[MysticSi]

The only thing I can think of that would cause this, is the font texture not being loaded.
Did you extract the contents of the .rar file before running the game?

[Lyx]

Meh, i registered just to post this.

This game has lots of potential and could be awesome with some visual polish and multiplayer-code. Please dont write this off as an "experiment" - this is very interesting!

[Syrion]

I'm a little late with this, as I am just now playing through each of the compo entries. But for anyone else wondering why PhotonTrap is possibly not working:
The PhotonTrap folder packed with all other entries with names from P to Z, available here is missing the data folder!