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[jankoM]

Hi..

This is not a WEB-App/game any more.. to play the latest version go to this post:
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=63.msg20280#msg20280


I am interested in any thoughts or feedback on this thing. I am developing it slowly every now and then. It is early in development but I decided to work on it more openly with immediate feedbacks and all to make the best of it (you can also get sources to processing applets on my blog).

operating system: firefox

requirements: firefox (maybe opera but not IE - this is because of inline SVG) + java

to try it go here
http://www.timeeaters.com/4021/debugr_inc/
Identify yourself with id: "Dee Mo", pwd: "demo" to get in..

//edit: you get to the action through DEBUGR building , click GO on some job
//edit: use 1 2 3 4 to change weapons

This is not yet a game, you can not die or earn money... but you are welcome to shoot around and talk to some "people" and tell me your thoughts about it...

(If you already played that top-down shoterish (wasd+mouse) applet I made before then this is not the same thing, that is 30% of this however)





Janko

[Matt]

Where it is now with the flamethrower and area burst (like sparks) blasters its a bit frustrating.
-The bugs move about the same speed as your craft and move erratically. I ended up chasing bugs around more than fighting or eliminating them.
-The current range is roughly equivalent to the blast radius of creatures you defeat.  I got hit almost every time I did catch up and blast a bug.

The gatling and cannon blasters were much more manageable.
-I could actually blast and run-down enemies with either although i spent a lot of time back-pedalling with the gatling blaster.
-The gatling feels like the standard gun. I wish i could start with it.
-The cannon was especially nice because I could tap the mouse like lightning and mow down anything. Having to click for each shot makes it very different from the others.

A tiny thing but if you started the craft more centrally and give the player a moment to find himself before the enemies start it would pop out a bit more. I had to find 'me' every time I started a job and had to switch to a viable weapon. If dying was an issue the plants and bugs would get me every time.

Town:
-The town layout is very spartan.
-I enjoyed the short interactions with your NPCs.
-The blue dots to continue the conversation aren't very intuitive though. I was merely clicking around and found conversation by accident, which was nice in its own way.

I think this will be fun with implemented content.

[jankoM]

Hi Matt

Your feedback was really really helpful! If showed me a lot of flaws and gave me good ideas for moving on.

Where it is now with the flamethrower and area burst (like sparks) blasters its a bit frustrating.

Weapon 2 -- it was meant as a defense weapon, but it's not functioning that ok and is just causing confusion so I will remove it for now until I think of something better.

-The bugs move about the same speed as your craft and move erratically. I ended up chasing bugs around more than fighting or eliminating them.

bugs have parametric speed... some might move much faster than you and some much slower. It depends on a job (level). Some levels (green-"affraid" bugs with higher speed) were meant that you have to chase them around, but I see that chasing is not the most fun, so I will make this minimal. The red bugs are "agressive" ones and you don't have to chase them, but they chase you.

-The current range is roughly equivalent to the blast radius of creatures you defeat.  I got hit almost every time I did catch up and blast a bug.

Aha... this blast doesn't do any damage to you... it was just a visual effect of bug dying.. But I get the point... it really looks like you percieved it so I will change it!. You also gave me an idea of exploding bugs

-I could actually blast and run-down enemies with either although i spent a lot of time back-pedalling with the gatling blaster.
-The gatling feels like the standard gun. I wish i could start with it.

Does gatling mean machinegun? I don't know the word. You are correct.. it is the most standard weapon so it will be the starting weapon.
- What do you mean by back-pedaling?

A tiny thing but if you started the craft more centrally and give the player a moment to find himself before the enemies start it would pop out a bit more. I had to find 'me' every time I started a job and had to switch to a viable weapon. If dying was an issue the plants and bugs would get me every time.

Yes this was not yet well made... I fixed it allready now.. when you start you get a message "choose you incoming position" and you can just observe bugs run around. Then you click to some place and you appear there. This is also because sometimes applet starts but the page is still loading so it's all unresponsive and bugs attack you in the meantime... I will make it so that you can chage weapons at this time before engaging (this is not yet done).

-The town layout is very spartan.

Yes, well it's a start... I hope to get this buildings active and then add some new ones. Right now they are all "closed".. what a coincidence

-I enjoyed the short interactions with your NPCs.

Great... Otherwise now dialogs are just hardcoded ... I plan to make it more programatic and more interactive.

-The blue dots to continue the conversation aren't very intuitive though. I was merely clicking around and found conversation by accident, which was nice in its own way.

Aha.. good point... I will think of something more obvious to click at.

I think this will be fun with implemented content.

Thanks, I hope so too. I improved things a little yesterday.. now you get to die in game, you have this "select your incoming...", you get money when you finish the job, you can heal yourself afterwards at home...
Jobs are still very unbalanced (money/difficulty..)

Thanks a LOT for your feeback Matt!

[Matt]

Does gatling mean machinegun? I don't know the word. You are correct.. it is the most standard weapon so it will be the starting weapon.
- What do you mean by back-pedaling?

Sorry.
A gatling gun is almost the same as a machine gun. A gatling gun has multiple barrels that rotate as they fire. Here is a reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatling_gun  It was what i imagined I was firing.  :D

Back-pedaling is to retreat from a position. It is also used to describe short fast steps backward like a boxer or football player.

[Matt]

Being able to choose the incoming position makes a big difference!

I died on the 40 bug mission. The aggressive bugs are really aggressive! They tore me apart. It was interesting to experience death and confirm it worked. I also saw the death notice.
"healt zero, you were hypercoconized. DEBUGR INC salvage drones took you home. Job remains undone!" healt->health and hypercoconized really stood out.
The job remains undone. Will you have a more dedicated mission structure? As in will jobs just be on the board to take regardless of failure or will you have to accept and fulfill the contract (like in Uplink, Armored Core, etc.) I can see either working.

I also noticed that although the ship and the enemies movement wraps around to the opposite side, shots fired do not wrap around.

Thanks for the fun diversion.

[jankoM]

Being able to choose the incoming position makes a big difference!

Great... you can thank yourself for that too

I died on the 40 bug mission. The aggressive bugs are really aggressive! They tore me apart. Sad It was interesting to experience death and confirm it worked. I also saw the death notice.

I works yes . Only you don't die because hybercoconisation saves you  :D

"healt zero, you were hypercoconized. DEBUGR INC salvage drones took you home. Job remains undone!" healt->health and hypercoconized Huh really stood out.

I will fix healt... Well about hybercoconized (b not p) ... it was just a moment of weakness .. well I was thinking about hibernation mode, being wrapped in a protective cocoon and I just typed hypercoconized (ok it should be hibercocoonised).. I will try to find more suitable word

The job remains undone. Will you have a more dedicated mission structure? As in will jobs just be on the board to take regardless of failure or will you have to accept and fulfill the contract (like in Uplink, Armored Core, etc.) I can see either working.

I don't know yet. At first plan was that jobs will be generated programmatically each day and all DEBUGR employees (registered users of this web-app) would see the same list and could try to do them. If they finish it status of a job turns to finished and name of the employee who finished it is written there (and he gets the money). Now I am thinking that hand-made levels might be more interesting (but then the whole logic of sharing jobs will be different because I don't plan to make 100 levels each day). I will try Uplink and Armored Core to see what they did. I havent played them yet.

I also noticed that although the ship and the enemies movement wraps around to the opposite side, shots fired do not wrap around.

Yes... this is not the best but it's deliberate for now... it's because bugs "AI" also doesn't wrap around and you could just stand on the one edge and shoot bugs on the other. At first I had "walls" around but I like current asteroids like wrapping more because it is more dynamic. This might all change or not... depends of what comes out as the best.

Thanks for the fun diversion.

Thanks for really GOOD feedback!

Otherwise I am playing with this just today. I improved plants and various smaller things. Now I am making on parametrized weapons so they would be able to level up. I hope to have this and a weapon shop (or GUNZ INC) finished next time I upload it.

---------
EDIT:
And I forgot... I saw you said it before and now too (ship, craft) - that thing that you move is meant to be a person... head shoulders... rams in front holding a big gun?? You are not the first who thougth it is a ship... I have to somehow fix that...

And before someone asks what this really is ... its a MSOG. Massive Singleplayer Online Game I had to tell this because I am so proud that I am finally allmost making a MMOG. 

[jankoM]

news from the future: GUNZ INC will open it's doors at RATL TOWN on 4021-04-07

---

//new WIP version to play with
- you can register you own account now (nobody knows the secret code) - you don't have to give or verify no email to register
- you get some money to start with
- you can buy and upgrade guns - 3 weapons... 10 levels of upgradability at GUNZ INC
- you can earn money and spend it on health injections and your work tools (guns)

//note
- things (like weap. upgrades) are very cheap now and uncalibrated, so you can quickly upgrade and play around... consider it more like a playground... the values will all change before getting real.

btw... this is a WIP map of a region where RATL TOWN is http://www.timeeaters.com/4021/debugr_inc/region.php it will get accessible after TRANS INC fixes their docking area


//edit.. you have to have firefox or opera or some other browser that can display inline SVG and respects some recent standards to view these pages...

//edit2: I forgot to tell you to click here to visit that future: http://www.timeeaters.com/4021/debugr_inc/ (although I see more than 10 of you already did)

[xix]

I tried it, it was fun, but there are a few things I think you might be concerned with.

The controls are iffy, especially around the edges of the screen. If you insist on the WASD+Mouse movement, you have to get rid of the frame wrapping. Having your character jump from the left side of the screen to the right is fine, but when your aiming suddenly change so much even though you didn't move your mouse is very disorienting. That's on top of the only semi-responsive controls. It's a difficult platform you're programming for, that Firefox...

[jankoM]

The controls are iffy, especially around the edges of the screen. If you insist on the WASD+Mouse movement, you have to get rid of the frame wrapping. Having your character jump from the left side of the screen to the right is fine, but when your aiming suddenly change so much even though you didn't move your mouse is very disorienting.

Hmm... I fist had it without the wrapping but then I tried with it and it gave more dynamic (fluid) to gameplay - especially because it's a little window and you are otherwise always bumping the edges... I will think about it and experiment some more on this. the angle really changes suddenly but the point you are aiming at is still the same ... Thanks for telling me this, I will think about it..

That's on top of the only semi-responsive controls.

Uh ... this is what I hate the most... yes, controls sometimes just don't respond. Sometimes they work perfectly and sometimes I just don't get the events immediately. I made this with processing (It's simplified java) and it's an applet.. I really must figure out this because it ruins the experience when things react sluggishly.

It's a difficult platform you're programming for, that Firefox...

It's ok.... as I said above, the action gamearea is madein processing , svg and the rest is used for maps and other things at webpages (city map graphics is just xml (svg) code for example)

Thanks for your feedback xix!

I saw on logs many came to join page but didn't visit the waiting cell to get the secret key from nobody so I'll just tell it... the secret key is 4021

If you login as Dee Mo and you die immediately after you get into a job it's because the player before used all his health... you should go to HOME INC and give yourself a health injection.

[jankoM]

oj,

I was making a video of that other game so I decided to make another one of debugr because it has somewhat strict system requirements (firefox or opera because of SVG and java applets) many of you have probably havent even seen it..

click here for a quick google video -> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8214175803247992202&hl=en

debugr is currently in vegetation mode because I hate it that the controls are sometimes clumsy and sometimes not (it looses 90% of feeling and turn to crap for me when they are )... and I havent yet figured out if I can do anything about it..

I also have a little problem with concept because just killing bugs seems stupid to me and too negative.

[Tex Pine]

I know the game is not complete, but one thing I noticed is that plants (I think) fire shots at you that seems like something you can shoot and destroy - but you can't (yes, they've hit me more than one once :D)

So it would be better to have it clearly differentiated, even with such a conceptual art (perhaps something red with spikes, I don't know).

[jankoM]

aha ,,, you are right ... I will probably add one color that will mean "no point to shoot at it". I already use colors for meanings otherwise... if you play you will see that red bugs are agressive... they attack you when they detect you and blue ones are  the ones who run away on contact.

I just got a new idea about the point of the game reading your response which I do like (because I don't like DEBUGR INC concept any more) .. now I need to solve the ocasional unresponsivnes of controls and then the bugs are back in bussines.

[Guert]

It might be obvious but for some reason I can't find where to download the game. Where did I miss the file link?

Anyway, kudos to all the members who posted in this thread, good feedback!

[jankoM]

There is no download. It's an online web-app + applet game. In short..

1) Open firefox or opera and have a proper Java installed

2) go here: http://www.timeeaters.com/4021/debugr_inc/

3) login as u"Dee Mo" p"demo"

4) go to HOME INC and take "health shoot" in case the player before you used all the health

5) go to DEBUGR INC building and click on a JOB to start the applet where the action that you see on that video goes on.

6) 123 for weapons, wasd to move mouse to shoot

7) optional - talk to NPCs (three blue dots to start the talk ... )

-- THIS IS TOTALLY WIP THING -- IT'S NOT A GAME --

I have some direction where this applet will go... I don't have all the details or time to explain... but it will be named WATERISK probably - that I already know

[ThetaGames]

This is very cool.  Unlike many browser games, this gives to the player the immersion that is usually reserved for executable games.  The shooting gameplay is rather basic, but other elements of the game, such as the NPC talking, really set this apart.  I would like to see it go more in that direction, with heavy RPG/adventure elements (as opposed to continually entering 'missions.' and shooting things.

I personally did not like the 123 weapons controls, because you have to take your hands off of the controls temporarily.  Instead, I would make the right mouse button cycle through all available weapons.

As a minor stylistic side note, you should make the health bar either display your HP as a wiry font or a rectangular outline.  Everything else in the game is pretty much vector outlines, and it kind of seems out of place as a filled shape.

Good job, though!

~ Theta Games

[jankoM]

This is very cool.  Unlike many browser games, this gives to the player the immersion that is usually reserved for executable games.  The shooting gameplay is rather basic, but other elements of the game, such as the NPC talking, really set this apart.  I would like to see it go more in that direction, with heavy RPG/adventure elements (as opposed to continually entering 'missions.' and shooting things.

Hi Thanks !!! ..

I liked the dialogues myself and from this debugr shooting Idea I started planing a sort of walk around many space "towns" do things explore stuff thing but then I realized it's too big for my current brain.

I also started making a xml dialect NPCML (which I intend to use here and in other places and will be OS if I make it) to be able to make more interactive dialogues with memmory and stuff ... but I didn't yet have enought time to really bring it somewhere but I hope I will soon.

So at the end I hope to make something what you describe too, but I will probably make few intermediate steps to get to there.

I personally did not like the 123 weapons controls, because you have to take your hands off of the controls temporarily.  Instead, I would make the right mouse button cycle through all available weapons.

Yes this is good notice... I will change it.

As a minor stylistic side note, you should make the health bar either display your HP as a wiry font or a rectangular outline.  Everything else in the game is pretty much vector outlines, and it kind of seems out of place as a filled shape.

Yes I see it also now that you said it... I will change it too..

Otherwise I am in a bit of a turmoil about this thing and many things evolved and got stripped down to more managable size for first release.

Because of occasional unresponsive controls and problems with applets - I decided to change it to an offline app and loose the browser (I really hated this decision but it is the only one that will enable me making something playable at this stage). The cool thing with this is that I can now use openGL and not Software rendering as before so I will be able to display more stuff and The *problems with unresponsive controls* are gone.

I hope to have a playable mini mini release next week.

[jankoM]

The game changed name to WATERISK and is not about debugging any more but picking up water. There will be an answer to "WTF! water?".

This is just between the work release (as were all previous so don't expect a full product, but as before you can play with it if you wish). So I don't need any bug reports because I know they are there (and not just those on 6 legs) any other feedback is welcome.

changes
* No more WEB-APP (no need for FireFox, java applets any more), download-able EXE (and mac and Linux versions thanks to processing also)
* bigger window 640x480, OPENGL, (was software rendered before)
* no NPC talk for now or anything except the action part
* the space is divided into SECTORS and those into SUBSECTORS and you can visit them to seek for water (in this version there are only 3 sectors and 6 subsectors as a sample)
* there is new organism - some sort of growing spreading plant
* all plant regain strength (grow back) quickly if you let them
*** all levels residue on a web server so your app will connect to load some XML files (enable at firewall if asked) - this seems impractical now - but it is the main point of what this game should become (it will basically still be a "browser game", just without the browser but a different client)

Now I will make it more solid (fix all the little things that only 70% work).

of course where is water - there is life - and water satisfies the thirst but not the hunger so that "life" there is pretty hungry for any organic content in a space bag that might come along.

You can download it here:
Windows, Mac and Linux ZIPs

If you can view OpenGL applets in your browser you can also just go here. I was surprised that it works flawlessly on my computer but don't curse me if it doesn't on yours (I have latest java and good openGL drivers).

WASD to move, LMB to shoot, 123 to change weapons (@Theta - rmb will be in next version.), O (like Over to leave location at any time or when you have picked all the water. hold Q to pick/pump water. Water is that blue sqare.

BR
j

(btw: as a little tribute to kenta-cho I decided that I will also always show source code with this project in case anyone finds it helpful or something) (uh this sounds cheezy)

[jankoM]

Nev version...

2 videos of gameplay on youtube:







screenshot


Download is on the same location..