TIGSource Forums

---

Description Travel from waystation to waystation along the unending corridor of the ∞ bit.  Fly your escape pod, run and jump, collect upgrades.  Reach infinity! Features -Two gameplay modes -Puzzle Platforming -Arcade action flight -Upgrades to collect -Awesome music Download Download ∞ bit for Windows (http://www.bigbluecup.com/games.php?action=download&game=1338) Mirror 1 (http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBit.zip) Download source code (http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBitSource.zip) (Requires at least AGS 3.2 Final 5)		Inspired by (http://xiigames.com/misc/infinityBit.jpg) (http://famicase.com/10/softs/35.jpg)

---

How to play


There are two modes of play: Hero and Escape Pod.

===Hero===

As hero, you must run around the waystations of the Infinity Bit's cooridor collecting upgrades that will help your escape pod make it to the next waystation.

Left & Right/A & D keys: Move Hero around.

Up/W keys: Jump.

Down/S keys: Enter or Unlock a door.

Left Mouse button: Fire the gun (once you have collected it).

Move the mouse: "Bend" your shots by moving the Infinity Cooridor.

Save tiles: Stand on one to automatically save your game.  You will continue here if you die.

Gas tiles: Fill up your ship while standing on one of these.  Wait until it's full before boarding, you may need that gas!

Jump into your escape pod when you're ready to fly to the next waystation!

===Escape Pod===

Once you're in your pod, you have no defenses.  You have to avoid all obstacles.

Move the mouse: Steer the ship.  Your ships maneuverability can be upgraded.

Up & Down/W & S keys: Increase or decrease speed, respectively.  You may need to go faster to make your destination before your gas runs out.  But maneuvering will become more difficult at high speeds.

Gas: Watch your gas level.  If you run out, you can only drift a short distance before crashing.

---

Video


Screenshots

I was going to do this one, but everything I thought of was basically Jumpman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk7tFg8mHTk).

good luck! this one caught my eye too, but I couldn't really think of anything interesting to do with it. :shrug2: I'm sure you're more than capable though! can't wait to see what you come up with ;D

The original description was rather cool. Stage 1 would be one NES game, then Stage 2 would be from a different NES game, and so on ad infinitum.

(http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/infBitScreen1.png)

Shit's underway.


Huh.  I hadn't seen that Jumpman before.  :wtf:  I'm planning on a couple different minigames centered around the theme.  One minigame idea is pretty much like that, but I think there should be enough differentiating it to make it unique.  I hope!!! :)

(http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/infBitScreen2.png)

First part of the game is flying a spaceship through the tunnel of infinity dodging stuff.  I've got the game working with mappy, so I can quickly build the levels.  And gameplay is starting to come together for the flying portion.

Changed the name from "Infinity Bit Computer" to just "Infinity Bit" which rolls off the tongue a lot easier.  The overall structure of the game is taking shape.

The game will include platforming sections interspersed with space flight sections.  You will land your craft on small outposts, and platform around shooting enemies to collect gas and upgrades for your ship.  You will need these upgrades to make it to the next outpost.  For example, a bigger gas tank or faster boosters to get you through a longer flight or better wings to improve your mobility for negotiating difficult obstacles.  So there are some light RPG elements.

Flight gameplay is working pretty well right now with the upgradeable ship.  I've got to do up the gas and speed GUIs for the ship and then it's on to the platforming sections.

Alpha with flight section to come tomorrow if I get enough time.

I'm liking the direction you're taking with this.

Refactored the code today.  Cowboy coding left it in such a mess that I was worried about being able to add the platforming code.  It's much cleaner now.  Have I mentioned this is being built in Adventure Game Studio?  Not really par for the course for the engine. :P

Here's the first Alpha.  The space flight controls are in but may need some tweaking for sensitivity.  There is no real challenge here, you just dodge a couple walls.

Press space to start.  Use up/down  or w/s to increase/decrease speed.  Press Return to cycle through the maneuverability levels (this will upgrade as you play the game in the full version, here you can just try out the sensitivity on the different levels).

Check it out!  I'd love to hear what you think so far!

(http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/infBitScreen3.png)

Download Alpha 0.1 (http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBit0.1.zip)

Just tried it, can't move forward. Also the ship stays in the middle of the first image. The others move though when you move the mouse. If that's what you intended.. then it's not the spoon you are bending, instead, you're bending yourself. :P

I really like that you used the actual image of the case for the game... 5 NEAT! Looking forward to this one as well. Also, how hard is it to do a pseudo 3d game like that?

4452! I think.

Took me a few tries to get through, though it was easier once I started using the manueverability options.

Very nice game! The art style is delightful. Very interested to see where you go with it!

I'm getting the same. The mouse works okay (so does escape) but the forwards and backward keys don't do anything.

Just a thought on the art style - are you going to have the game elements look like they are printed on to the cases?

Pistaco and Snow, were the cases zooming forward?  (Not just sliding around)  You might have to press space twice!  Once to clear that message and once to start them going.  Then when you move the mouse, the ship should dodge around the screen.  If the cases are zooming forward but the ship remains stuck then I broke something!

Sounds like it worked for Cavalcadeofcats though!

Thanks for trying it out!


That's the idea!  Art will always exist inside one of the case labels.  Though I may have some things pop off like projectiles moving toward the player.

I like how you made the box art part of the actual game. Very clever.

Game was fun, but ran a bit slow on my 3-year-old Macbook running WinXP via Bootcamp. Also, I thought having to press Space and F9 twice was a bit confusing and unnecessary. The obstacles appear on screen a tad late and it sometimes took me a bit to make them out visually.

Thanks!  I've got one of them 3 year old Macbooks running Bootcamp too, so I'll have to test it out.  There's definitely some optimization that needs to be done.  I'm drawing some frames every cycle that don't need to be drawn, etc.  So, I'll take a look at that.

Sorry about having to press the buttons twice.  It won't be like that in the final game when there's an actual menu to start the game.  I just popped those messages on just before zipping up the alpha and forgot that you'd have to press a key to clear the messages before you could give any game input.

Hmm, I think I hit space twice. I tried the game on Windows XP Pro. Will download again on a different computer to try it out. I can't wait to see how far you get with this. It kind of reminds me of when I was a kid - at the time I wasn't allowed to play video games... tool of the devil blah blah blah. Still I was so enthralled by anything "video game" that I would look at things and mentally make video games out of them. :P So yeah, do your best.

Got the base platforming code in.  Running and jumping.  Collisions.  Easier said than done in AGS, but I had always wanted trying to build a platformer in the engine.  Turned out pretty nice.  Next step is adding in traps, doors, and save platforms.  Then enemies and shooting.  Should have an hour or so tonight to work on things.  I'll probably post a new alpha tonight with whatever I get done.

(http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/infBitScreen4.png)

http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBit0.2.zip

New Alpha.  Just kind of demonstrating the jump'n and run'n.

Arrow keys to move dude.  Jump into ship to take off.  Mouse controls ship.  If you die you'll have to press F9 to restart.

Still to do: (lots!)

-Doors leading between levels.
-spike traps
-Items/powerups
-enemies
-shooting (player will shoot through the levels away from the screen to kill enemies and break barriers.  Possibly be able to "bend" shots by moving the levels with the mouse.)
-landing the ship
-Level design!!!
-saving/loading
-probably more

Let me know if the jumping feels natural or needs tweaking.  It's coded from scratch.

New Alpha 3 (http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBit0.3.zip)!  I added a simple particle system to make things asplode.  Tweaked a number of other things to optimize drawing and to make room for future gameplay.  Also improved the game's ability to interface with Mappy.

I just tested this out on a better machine than the one I'm developing on and the game goes way too fast.  Stupid dev machine.  I'll have to slow some things down a lot.  Let me know if you're experiencing things going faster than you think they should.

I tried alpha 3. The controls work now, but I'm getting a really low frame-rate, which, together with the weird way the perspective works, makes it hard to get far without banging in to something. I'm running it on a rather old computer.

Also, what's up with the "winsetup.exe" file that comes with it?

I'll work on that frame-rate issue, but no promises for older computers!  AGS may be a bit slow for what I'm trying to make it do! :P

winsetup.exe is just a program that lets you choose whether the game will be run in full screen or windowed plus a number of other options.  You can choose between graphics drivers there, too.  If Direct Draw 5 (the default) gets a slow frame rate on your computer, you might have better luck with Direct 3D 9.  Try it out!

Alpha 4 has a close-to-final level one. There are still a few bugs getting squeezed and features to stick in.  I've got to get the save squares working as well as the gas squares.  Initially, your ship will have next-to-no gas and you'll have to step on that gas square before you'll be able to take off towards the next level (which isn't out there yet, and if you get far enough, the game will crash! :P)  But you can imagine how that works.

This should give you a pretty good idea of how the game will start out.  When you take off with your ship, you'll be on to the next level.  Each consecutive level will be harder with some new twists thrown in like enemies and breakable blocks, etc.

Now, I know that this build is getting some pretty miserable frame rates.  My dev machine was getting around 15 fps, and then when I tested it on another, it ran at 20, and the guy ran too fast and became difficult to control.  Once I can get the frame rate under control, I'll have to tweak the speed of everything to feel right.  Unfortunately, Adventure Game Studio isn't really intended to do all the things I'm forcing it to do right now (go figure), so, I've got to find the best way to optimize the drawing routines.

I'd be interested to hear what kind of frame rates people are getting on different hardware.  It's intended to be run at 30, though that is almost certainly unbearably fast, since I tweaked speeds on a machine that was getting 15 (but I hadn't noticed at the time).

Thanks for trying it out!  :gentleman:

Doesn't AGS have some kind of delta timing thing you can use to make sure your tweaked movement works the same in any framerate?

I tried the recently beta. worked at 20 FPS on a pretty beefy rig, and the levels were pretty punishing. Having to restart all the way on the first part made it impossible to even get to the spaceship.

I'm really liking the direction you're going though. :gentleman:

Unfortunately no delta :(  And yeah, the save points will definitely help with the difficulty!  Thanks for trying it out!

Went on vacation for a week.  Just got back and here's a new alpha:

Download Alpha 5 (http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBit0.5.zip)

New features:

-Saving tiles work.  Step on them to save.
-New level zero which serves as the load-a-game and options menus.  (I always liked when game menus are built using the games' mechanics, so I wanted to try that out!)
-Level one significantly updated.
-Ship now lands on new levels to allow actual progression.
-Tweaked guy's running speed for the intended 20 fps.
-Gas tiles now fill up the ship.

Still to do:

-All levels after the first. (Right now your ship will just die at the end.  This will change when an actual level two gets dropped in)
-Fix that damn frame rate.  It still chugs on slower PCs.  I'm working on it, but not sure how much I'll be able to improve it, especially in the time frame.

Try it out and please let me know what you think!

Such a fantastic idea.

Runs 20fps when I'm controlling the green dude (which is fine and feels ok) but when I'm in the ship its sluggish from 9-14fps. My pc isn't too new but it's not old either, it should run better I think.

I get pretty much the same as you on my main testing computer.  I aim to improve that, but am focusing on gameplay first.  And the slow graphics library the engine uses may be a tough wall to break through.   :shrug2:

I love the concept of this; the mashup of very different genres is quite well-done.  One thing - I like the effect of seeing all of the colored rectangle extending into infinite, but I think the ones in the background could be subdued a bit (perhaps make them a little darker), so that they don't distract from the foreground.

Looking pretty good. I agree with Theta, if possible subduing the background images would help differentiate the foreground.

Works at 20 fps here most of the time, though it slows down to maybe 18 during the flight sequences.

Excellent suggestion guys.  I do have the levels get darker as they go back, but only slightly.  I played around with making them much darker and it definitely helps.  Thanks for that!

I'm going to slightly re-factor the graphics here aiming to improve framerates and I'll make deeper levels much darker to help readability.

Another alpha:

Download Alpha 6 (http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBit0.6.zip)

New features:

-Much improved framerate!  Still not perfect, but better.
-A few tweaks and bug fixes.
-Better on screen messages.
-Taking off gives you a few seconds to get your bearings before giving you control.
-Kind of started putting in level two.

Still to do:

-Levels
-More framerate improvements.

I'm getting to the point where I can just focus on level design.  I'm thinking around 10 levels.  I've got some ideas to keep it fresh.  Should be able to bring this in on time!

I totally still need some music and sound.  Anyone interested in helping with some NES-era stuff?

Played the alpha 6, very impressive!
Some whacky gameplay, but I liked it, and will definitely play the full game...
There was a small slowdown when controlling the ship, but it wasn't too bothersome for me.
On the platform part I really liked the slippiness of the little guy's runs&jumps.

Thanks tzachs!  Here's a new one for ya:

(http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/infBitScreen9.png)

New alpha, new levels.  Level 3 underway, but if you can get there you can see the new projectiles feature.  Frame rate also has some improvements.  (Screenshot not a very good demonstration of this :P)

You'll have to clear your saves using the top right door in the menu level since old saves won't work.

Download Alpha 7 (http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBit0.7.zip)

New features:

-New levels
-Projectiles
-Some updated graphics.  Makes doors clearer about which way they go.

Still to do:

-The gun!
-Levels
-More framerate improvements.

I just tried this one. The framerate was a bit better at 23-24, but because of that the character moved way too fast for me to control him right.

The save point at the blue platform area didn't work, so I didn't manage to make much progress and see the new stuff.

Yeah, every time I improve the frame rate it needs a little tweaking which takes just a couple minutes.  I just need to figure out where it's going to rest, then I'll try and lock the frame rate.  The current player speeds are for the 20 fps range.  I'll cap the framerate at 20 in the next build and then it should work smoothly for you.

When you say the save point didn't work, what do you mean?  Does it say "Saved" near the top of the screen when you walk over it?  It should just save the game and when you die you should respawn straight to that point.  If it's not working, you may need to clear out your saves from playing a previous alpha build.  Do this by starting a new game and then going through the top right hand "Clear data" door.

Let me know if that works out for you.

I'm currently working on getting this gun working.  I've got a couple more bugs to work out then I'll get a new build up.  I'll also include some cheats to jump to a level.

I don't see a clear data door. I just start in the first level.

Melly, it sounds to me like you've got an earlier alpha.  Verify that you've got Alpha 7.

Intended to push out a new version today, but the wife got sick and I didn't have any time.  Deadline this week will be tough, but I intend to hit it, extension or no.

I'll try and redownload it.

Alright, redownloaded and played through the first two 'levels'. First level was straightforward enough, but the second one was a matter of pure trial and error to get that extra fuel tank. It seemed impossible to judge the right path to take, so I just tried door after door until I finally found the right path.

Then when I got back to the ship, this happened:

(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/511152/ibitError1.png)

Framerate remained capped at 20.

Cool.  Thanks for the bug report!  There is a way to spot the route through level two.  I'm trying to keep a variety of levels, with this one, and probably one other being just a maze of doors with little in the way of platforming danger.  Maybe I need to "teach" the player a bit more about how to read these passages.  But it isn't that hard, regardless, to brute force it.  :coffee:  Gracias.

Download Alpha 8 (http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBit0.8.zip)

New Features

• The gun
  • Mouse button to fire
  • Move mouse to "bend" the shots
  • Use it to destroy green blocks
  • Currently, it just lets you shoot whenever.  In final game, you'll only be able to shoot after collecting the gun in level three.
• Debug hotkeys to jump to a level and try it out:
  • Press the 1, 2, or 3 keys to load the respective levels.
• Toyed with depth transparency to make the game much easier to read. 
  • Front level is now much easier to distinguish.
  • While shooting, the front level fades out to let us see what we're shooting.
  • Level 3 - It's in, but it needs lots of tweaking.  Actually, I'm thinking all the levels might be too hard. :(

.

If there's no extension, the game might end up with just these three levels.  With an extension, I hope for several more plus a boss fight.  I also still want to find the time to improve the frame rate.  We'll see![/list]

Download Alpha 9 (http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBit0.9.zip)

New Features

• Revamped levels 1-3
  • Use number keys 1, 2, and 3 as quick shortcuts to jump to the level
  • There's no flying challenges after level 3 yet.
• New level 4
  • Press the 4 key to skip to it.
  • Moving platforms!
• Level names
• Bunch of new in-game text

It still needs some speed tweaking.  Levels 5 and 6 underway now.

Got all the levels and sound in.  Got to polish up the last couple flight sequences and put on some kind of an ending to the game.  I'm super happy with how it plays and feels now!  I look forward to releasing it tomorrow!

Off to bed for now, though!

(http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InBitYoutube.PNG)

Little youtube preview of what to expect when I release later today. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5ZXqPGVwYI)

The video looks awesome, the music&sound seems to add a lot to the experience.
Waiting for the final product...

Download ∞ bit for Windows (http://www.bigbluecup.com/games.php?action=download&game=1338)

Finished!  It's still not midnight in California!   :beer:


I'll update some screenies in the first post.  Please try it out and let me know what you think!  There are six levels, some of them very challenging!  Good luck!

Tried it out. Got fairly far. I really like some of the puzzles and ideas you created here. I still think finding your way through the second level is a matter of trial and error, but it's not a big deal. The gun is a very interesting mechanic. And here I was thinking it would be a lot more mundane. Game runs pretty smoothly here for the most part. The player movement is a bit slippery, which makes some of the more precise jumps a little difficult, but it just takes getting used to. The moving platforms had some odd behaviour. Soemtimes if I feel out of them (or through them, depending on the situation) I would continue moving sideways in the air.

I'll try completing the game sometime later. :beer:

Nice work, Vince! I love the strangely vertigo-inducing tunnel of infinity.

Thanks for the comments guys!

There might be a few bugs here and there on account of the last-minute rush (really appreciated that extension btw ;)), I'll try to iron those out and update.  But I need to sleep for a week first!

I've released the source code and some assets for anyone who might find that useful/interesting!  :monoclepop:

Download source code (http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBitSource.zip)

To edit/compile this source code, you need Adventure Game Studio 3.2 Final 5 or later.  3.2 Final 5 can be downloaded at: http://www.bigbluecup.com/AGS-3.2-Final5.exe

The level 5 tunnel is brutal. Why do you hate us, Vince? :'(

Good work on using AGS for this, that was clever. I like how you have 2 different game modes, both simple but fun. I found the backgrounds way too distracting, though. The audio is pretty nice too.  :coffee:

Oh wait, I beat it. Sweet game! Totally voted for this, btw.
What do the locked doors on the title screen do? I thought they'd unlock once I finished the game but now I'm mystified.

Man. This is tough.

@miconazole: Yeah, that level 5 tunnel is definitely the most brutal part of the game! :)  It's randomly generated each time you try it (as is the level4 tunnel) so you might get lucky and have it be easy one go.  Thanks for the vote! Glad you liked it!  (Oh, and ignore the locked doors.  I was going to have them unlockable after beating the game, but ran out of time!)

@sergiocornaga: Hopefully it's good/fair tough and not keyboard-out-the-window tough.  I never really had time for any playtesters other than whoever tried out the alphas I was posting in this thread.  So it is what it is!   ;)

@guillermo: Thanks for the comments!  It can get difficult to distinguish between the different depth levels.  I find that moving the mouse a bit when my eye gets confused clears things up during those platforming sections.  I made the background transparent to try and mitigate the issue.  Thanks for playing!

The current download server is having some kind of trouble.  Here's a mirror:

Mirror 1 (http://www.xiigames.com/files/infinitybit/InfinityBit.zip)

As I said this definitely is a great game, and I felt really bad, when I learned so late about this competition. Despite the framerate, despite the difficulty, its very polished and very addicting!! ;D

This game made voting very easy for me. Such excellent execution, consistent style and fun gameplay. There's nothing I don't love about it, except for the spaceship controls which sometimes could be, idunno, more responsive.

The fact that you've pulled this off in AGS (which I don't know up close and personal, but am sure it wasn't intedned for such use) just makes it more awesome.

:gentleman:

Hey thanks Duals and Gyorgy!  At least I know the game won't have zero votes!  :handthumbsupL: :) :handthumbsupR:  Thanks for the feedback!

Really interesting game. Played until the moving platform level when my poor laptop started overheating, AGS crashed and threw an error (didn't think to save it, something relating to rendering, which probably had something to do with my videocard getting too hot). I'm sad that the saves didn't remain in future sessions, or else I might have given it another shot.

Great design! Surprisingly intuitive for such a mind-bending concept. After some thought, I was able to easily trace my way backwards from the gas powerup in that level with all the locked doors to find the right path. And I loved how the relative depths of the levels made a difference once you got the gun.