next »

[harkme]

Dig Till Death is exactly what the title describes: you dig until you die. It's a quest to attain the highest score where score equals depth. Along the way there will be particles with varying effects and drilling enemies. My inspirations are falling-sand game (particle interactions) and MinerVGA (digging for precious minerals, avoiding hazards, and using a store to buy better equipment).

Now available at Indievania: http://www.indievania.com/games/dig-till-death
Pay what you want (no minimum).

[Schrompf]

Tried it. Horrible performance - I can stand low framerates, but it was so jumpy that controlling the guy wasn't really fun. Intel Core i7 / 3GHz + Geforce465.

Apart from that: cool particle physics, cool ideas. I loved how the different particle types affected the beam and interacted with each other. Is there anything I could collect? I just dug down and watched the various ground materials, which even continued after the second bar of unknown meaning was depleted and after all my health was gone. And I've seen no funky light effects :-(

My suggestion: Add a little explanation to all of it, add something to collect which the player need to watch to not burn it accidentally, add more creative material types :-) Good luck!

[harkme]

Thank you for the response. May I please get a specific number on the framerate using the number at the top left? Also, if you don't mind, could you please try out this build without the flashlight: here.

I want to know if it's the particle interactions or the flashlight that is causing performance issues. You say the flashlight doesn't show up, but maybe an error is causing it to not complete. I tested this on a system with a Q6600 @ 2.4GHz and 8800GT and performance was fine (around 60FPS) and the flashlight was working so that's weird. I even got the flashlight to work on a Pentium 4 machine running at 2.4Ghz and with a 7600gs AGP card, though performance was about 20-30 FPS.

Anyway, about explanations, that's where the "- More stuff on the GUI" comes in, though I should have elaborated. I'm planning on having a section on the left or right side of the screen that shows what particle/object your cursor is pointing to and a short blurb on what it is. I think I'll work on that now. The collectable in this game is gold, though I don't have a counter showing on the GUI.

Again, thank you very much for the response.

[Dylan93]

Tried it. Horrible performance - I can stand low framerates, but it was so jumpy that controlling the guy wasn't really fun. Intel Core i7 / 3GHz + Geforce465.

Apart from that: cool particle physics, cool ideas. I loved how the different particle types affected the beam and interacted with each other. Is there anything I could collect? I just dug down and watched the various ground materials, which even continued after the second bar of unknown meaning was depleted and after all my health was gone. And I've seen no funky light effects :-(

My suggestion: Add a little explanation to all of it, add something to collect which the player need to watch to not burn it accidentally, add more creative material types :-) Good luck!

Strange, running this on an ASUS N53

Intel Core i7 2630QM Quad core @ 2Ghz
6 GB DDR3 RAM
Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge GPU < used this one
Nvidia Geforce GT540M

Btw, did you use an example from somewhere on this forum ? The terrain physics looks exactly like it 

[harkme]

Is that the build with or without the flashlight?

As for the terrain physics, they're based off the falling-sand game model:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling-sand_game

So yes, my physics work the same (as does whatever other example on this forum) but with some tweaks. I've always wanted to make a game with similar particle interactions but in a non-sandbox environment.

edit: wait a minute... Are you using the GeForce GPU or the Sandy Bridge GPU? From what I understand, some models of Intel's GPUs only support OpenGL 1.5. OpenGL 2.0 is required to support GLSL.

[Dylan93]

Is that the build with or without the flashlight?

As for the terrain physics, they're based off the falling-sand game model:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling-sand_game

So yes, my physics work the same (as does whatever other example on this forum) but with some tweaks. I've always wanted to make a game with similar particle interactions but in a non-sandbox environment.

edit: wait a minute... Are you using the GeForce GPU or the Sandy Bridge GPU? From what I understand, some models of Intel's GPUs only support OpenGL 1.5. OpenGL 2.0 is required to support GLSL.

Intel Core i7 2630QM Quad core @ 2Ghz
6 GB DDR3 RAM
Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge GPU < used this one
Nvidia Geforce GT540M

[harkme]

Hahaha! That's what I get for posting so late. Okay, that's good to know, thanks. I knew I was going to have problems with those damn Intel GPUs with GLSL shaders
I guess I'll make a software flashlight.

Anyway, I updated the GUI with tooltips, a couple of snazzy cursor images, and a few new elements (such as flashlight battery bar and particle info section). I also started on the store, but only have a picture so far.

[IndieGamesDig]

I really like the idea of combining falling sand physics with a mining game, and I actually had fun playing your current build (I actually wrote a little blurb about it on my site indiegamesdig.com the other day). I didn't seem to be able to die after losing all my lifebar though; was death missing in the last build? And is the blue meter supposed to be your oxygen?

[harkme]

I really like the idea of combining falling sand physics with a mining game, and I actually had fun playing your current build (I actually wrote a little blurb about it on my site indiegamesdig.com the other day). I didn't seem to be able to die after losing all my lifebar though; was death missing in the last build? And is the blue meter supposed to be your oxygen?

Thank you! I'm glad that you had fun playing. You're correct on both counts. Running out of health doesn't kill you yet and the blue meter is oxygen. I'm hoping the inclusion of tooltips will remove confusion.

[IndieGamesDig]

Can't wait for the stores to get implemented; are the yellow sand particles gold, and what sort of upgrades were you thinking? Like laser buffs, lives, etc? If you've ever played Motherload, you could borrow ideas from that...god knows Miner Dig Deep sure as hell did.

[harkme]

Can't wait for the stores to get implemented; are the yellow sand particles gold, and what sort of upgrades were you thinking? Like laser buffs, lives, etc? If you've ever played Motherload, you could borrow ideas from that...god knows Miner Dig Deep sure as hell did.

Yes, the yellow particles are gold. My current build shows the particle that you are pointing at with the cursor, its type, and a little description on the bottom left. I'm still trying to decide whether to keep gold as the only collectable or to add in gems as well. My plans for store items are as follows:

Player care:
- Health pack (instantly heals when bought)
- Air tank (instantly refills air supply when bought)

Laser upgrades:
- Longer laser
- Wider laser

Secondary tools (only one allowed at a time):
- Liquid absorber (it's a liquid that gets rid of any other liquid it comes in contact with)
- Flamethrower

Flashlight:
- 360 degree lighting upgrade
- See-through ground upgrade
- Battery (instantly refills flashlight energy when bought)


All upgrades have limited usage before you lose them and have to buy them again if you want them. All upgrades stack. I wasn't sure if I wanted to put in a jetpack. There is little reason to go up and there is no fall damage, so I don't think a jetpack would fit. I'm not sure if I want to put in upgrades like temporary enemy repellent, increased chance of gold appearing, or a gold magnet that would make gold attracted to you. Not sure if those are interesting enough.

The digging game that is my main inspiration is MinerVGA. MinerVGA is a mining rogue-like released in 1989 that I played all the time as a kid (and still do from time to time). You buy upgrades from a store at the surface, then go down the mining shaft and dig away. Traps and goodies are randomized and the only limit to staying underground is your health which would get reduced by traps. Whatever minerals or precious gems you collect can be traded into the bank at the surface with fluctuating prices. I looked up Motherload and it looks very similar. I wonder what was the first game to come up with the idea. I think there was a game earlier than MinerVGA with a similar concept, but I can't remember any names.

[IndieGamesDig]

That's cool to know about Miner VGA, that's definitely where they all came from after checking it out...unless, like you said, there was an even earlier one.

[Squid Party]

The style of this game reminds me of those powder games I used to play in middle school.

[harkme]

That's cool to know about Miner VGA, that's definitely where they all came from after checking it out...unless, like you said, there was an even earlier one.

Actually, I was looking at the included MINERVGA.DOC file and it says the following:

            Miner is a game of rare earths mining.  In the game, you
            assume the role of a miner in search of rare earths like
            silver, gold, and platinum.

            The game was originally implemented on a Commodore Pet
            computer in the late 70's as a text only style game.  The
            current version encompasses more than the original version,
            but much of the charm remains intact.  I wrote and released
            another PC miner game (text only) several years back.  That
            earlier version was primitive and bears little resemblance
            to the current (hopefully better) one.  For this version I
            started from scratch in a different language and used only
            VGA screen modes.  My personal goal with this program was to
            gain experience working with the graphics technology of the
            VGA card.

            I would be very interested in locating the original
            programmer of the Commodore version if anyone has any clues.

So apparently there was a text-only version before.

The style of this game reminds me of those powder games I used to play in middle school.

Yes! I used to play powder/sand games all the time. I'd seek out whatever new versions I could find and had loads of fun playing them. I've made my own versions in Java, C, and C++. In fact, I made the C and C++ versions because I wanted to learn SDL and later SFML so I used the powder game as a base to learn those APIs. For a while I've wanted to incorporate the mechanics into an actual non-sandbox game and now that I have the time to do it, I thought I'd use the chance.

[harkme]

Okay, I changed some things with this build (link updated in first post):

- Added some more tooltips
- Optimized event handling so that strange inconsistent lag that Schrompf mentioned should be gone.
- Added the option to play on two different grid sizes (wide and narrow).
- Modified some particle interactions.
- Added two items to the store.
- Some background work which should surface in later builds.

I should really note what I've accomplished as I do it because there was something else I was going to list, but I forgot it. Anyway, please try it out and tell me what you think.

[IndieGamesDig]

I liked the additions, and i think your original idea about the store was the best, where it shows up every so many feet. Do you have any plans to replace any of the sprites or visuals in general? And do you think you'll start to add new stuff that starts to pop up once you start to dig really deep (like finding new minerals and such, like the in the Miner VGA clones)?

[harkme]

I just finished implementing the store closing and opening, though the build is not online. I'm not sure if I'll replace the sprites or visuals in general. Is there anything specifically crappy about them that I should change or are they all-around subpar? My artistic abilities are poor, but I'll try to fix it up where I can. I was thinking of adding gems as you get deeper, but I'm not sure what the benefit would be.

[IndieGamesDig]

I'm not much of a C++ game programming, so I'm not sure how difficult it is to do fancy visuals and add new elements and such, (they're generally easy to do in C# XNA). But I think the main character, in my opinion, is alittle underwhelming ATM. Obviously make the game the way you want to; visuals are often a matter of personal preference, but if it were my game, I'd try to dress up the sprites and menus alittle to match the game's great mechanics.

To begin my rant   ...I'd beef up the animations, particularly for the player character; like right now there's no jump animation for example. Also it might be cool if the guy looked in the direction he was lasering. If you plan on eventually trying to sell the game, it might be a worthwhile investment to get one of the artist on this forum to draw you a few sprites, but again, I don't know how far you plan to take this and what it's like to program in C++.

I might also do something with the background too. These 2D style digging games usually offer some sort of visual change to reflect how deep you are; in Motherload, for example, the background gradually changes from brown, to black, green, blue, purple, and then red depending on how deep you are, which is nice because it's a small change that adds alittle visual variety and depicts a feeling of progress.

And although it's unrealistic, when big-open caverns are spawned, I'd have them spawn with more flat ground surfaces if that's possible; I get hives from never being on solid ground aside from the very beginning of the game, but that might be just me. Also, again I don't know how difficult this is to program, but I'd make it alittle more difficult for the ground to support your weight, it's alittle awkward to see a couple of dislodged dirt pixels fall down that can completely support the character's weight.

The crystals and stuff might be neat if only to give the player new content the further they dig. Again, i don't know if this is easy or not, but you could maybe make different classes of gold/collectables (like, silver(grey), copper(orange), and platinum(light blue)), to add that variety. And if I could, I'd try to add some side scrolling to the game to make you feel alittle less confined.

Again, I really like the concept and have fun playing it, and these are just the things i'd do if it were my game, and I make no secret of the fact that I'm a huge fan of Motherload http://www.xgenstudios.com/game.php?keyword=motherload. Sorry if I threw in too many pretentious, derivative suggestions, I figured I'd get them all out at once  .

[harkme]

Thank you very much! That is the sort of response I am looking for!

Visuals are the way they are because of my poor artistic abilities. Adding in proper animations and effects in C++ is no problem. Actually, one of the reasons I wanted to make this game is so that I can minimize the amount of artwork since particles are automatically coloured and that's the majority of screen space. Of course, artwork is of utmost important for selling a game, but I'm mainly doing this to hone my programming skills. I'm not sure if I want to sell the game. If I do decide to sell the game, it'll be a low price, like $1 or $3.

I added in gradual darkening, so hopefully that fulfils the role of showing progress.
I may add in a colour changing background which could add to it, especially for users where the flashlight shader doesn't work (since the flashlight shader also does darkness). Also, I haven't added increasing difficulty yet (more enemies flying at you, maybe changing particle occurrence rates).

I've slightly modified the ground particles so surfaces will now be flatter. It looks better now since the ground doesn't look so spiky. Nice observation! I agree that few dislodged dirt pixels supporting the character looks weird and I'll keep it in my mind, but I'm not sure how to approach it yet. Perhaps I'll add some downward velocity on whatever ground the character steps on and see how that looks.

I purposely made gold the only collectable to reduce confusion. Too many particular types may get annoying to look up. Gold is a singular brightly-coloured particular that is likely to grab the player's attention. There are about ten particle types right now and having more particles that do the same thing but with a smaller or larger value seems a little pointless, but that's just what I think. My feelings are similar for side-scrolling. It's doable, but doesn't seem to add anything. An atmosphere of confinement seems like a good thing in a game that takes place underground.
But yeah, having side-scrolling means information is less instantly accessible to the user since you'd need to move to the sides to know what's at your current level. Besides, the main point of the game is seeing how far down you can go.

Again, thank you very, very much for your response. It helps a lot to have more thoughts on developing the game than my own. I'm hoping to come out with another build soon, but I came down with a nasty cold which I'm currently starting to recover from.

[harkme]

Okay, I updated the build. Death is still not implemented, but I think I may work on that next. What I have done is outlined below:

- Modified ground behaviour so that the character's weight affects it. (thank you IndieGamesDig)Also affects plant type.
- Added a whole bunch of items to the store. All of them are 1000 gold right now, I'll balance it later.
- You no longer start off with battery power for the headlamp.
- When you start, the cave is not dark. It will gradually get dark as you descend.
- Health and air are significantly reduced which should make the game harder (once you can actually die, that is)
- Added some GUI elements.
- Miscellaneous stuff/I forget whatever else I changed.