Unity Ascension by hitchh1k3r
The Entire Game on One screen?
My first idea was to make an MMO type game, where everything happens on one screen, for every player... and it's the same screen.
That would have been a great idea, but I've never made an online multiplayer game, and didn't even now where to start... but that didn't stop me. Unity Ascension is a multiplayer online platform shooter. I was able to finish most of the game: I had an ending I was very please with planed, but ran out of time... making online games is really hard!
The server running this game isn't very fast, and I've never made a networked game before, so you'll probably notice rubber-banding. Hopefully you can still play and enjoy the game. The server is located in the US, and will probably be much slower for people in other parts of the world (I'm very sorry, but it's the best I can do right now). You can always check out the gameplay video above if the game is unplayable for you.
CONTROLLS
- Use the mouse to aim and fire (right click will change the tool you are using).
- Use WASD or the arrow keys to move, and spacebar to jump.
- Your health will decrease every time you shoot, or heal another player (the black bar that appears at the top of your character is your life).
- You cannot shoot or heal when you only have one hit point left... (that's a half implemented fix/bug in the compo. version) :(
NOT SURE IF IT'S RUNNING RIGHT?
There is a fair chance that my server has gone into a state of buggy/kind of working... check the gameplay video, and if it's not like that let me know so I can restart the server... and sorry.
REQUIREMENS
- Active internet connection
- Java Runtime Environment 7 or 8
TOOLS I USED AND CREDITS
- IDE : Eclipse
- Code : Java 7
- Library : LWJGL 3 (early stable build)
- Library : Matthias Mann's PNGDecoder
- Library : GLFW
- Code Snippet : http://stackoverflow.com/a/20953376
- Audio : OpenAL
- Audio : Bfxr
- Graphics : OpenGL
- Graphics : Photoshop
- Server : CentOS 6 x64 + Official JRE1.7
- Text Editing : Sublime Text 3
- Thanks : To you for playing!
...and I was going to use J-OGG but I didn't have any music so I cut it out of the build.
In the future I'll probably make web games, but LWJGL 3 is new and I just had to play with it. ^_^ Also I'll probably never make an multiplayer game in this timeframe again.
HOW TO PLAY
- Unzip the download, and run the Client.jar file (you'll need Java 7 installed). If you're on a newer Mac you'll have to right click and select "Open" then "Open" at the "Application is unsigned" dialog.
- The first time you play it will ask you to join a team, click the color you want.
- Use the mouse to aim and fire (right click will change the tool you are using).
- Use WASD or the arrow keys to move, and spacebar to jump.
- There are five point categories, you'll have to figure out how to earn points in all 5 (only two are possible with a single person on the server).
- Press tab to see the score screen, the points there were all gotten by people playing the game before you, you can add to your teams points.
CAN'T PLAY?
If the server crashes I'll try to fix it as soon as I notice, but feel free to tell me on Twitter (@HitchH1k3r) in case I don't notice.
FINAL NOTE
I'm going to be playing games like normal, but will be writing my scores and comments down to batch rate them. This way hopefully more people will arrive at this game page at the same time, and can enjoy playing the game more (together).
FUTURE VERSIONS AND SECURITY CONCERNS
There is a certain level of risk with networked games, if you'd like to see what this game is doing in more detail check the source link above, and please let me know if you have any concerns. The source link also has any "PORT" changes I've made to the game, and a list of planned changes that I'd like to make after the competition is over.
My first idea was to make an MMO type game, where everything happens on one screen, for every player... and it's the same screen.
That would have been a great idea, but I've never made an online multiplayer game, and didn't even now where to start... but that didn't stop me. Unity Ascension is a multiplayer online platform shooter. I was able to finish most of the game: I had an ending I was very please with planed, but ran out of time... making online games is really hard!
The server running this game isn't very fast, and I've never made a networked game before, so you'll probably notice rubber-banding. Hopefully you can still play and enjoy the game. The server is located in the US, and will probably be much slower for people in other parts of the world (I'm very sorry, but it's the best I can do right now). You can always check out the gameplay video above if the game is unplayable for you.
CONTROLLS
- Use the mouse to aim and fire (right click will change the tool you are using).
- Use WASD or the arrow keys to move, and spacebar to jump.
- Your health will decrease every time you shoot, or heal another player (the black bar that appears at the top of your character is your life).
- You cannot shoot or heal when you only have one hit point left... (that's a half implemented fix/bug in the compo. version) :(
NOT SURE IF IT'S RUNNING RIGHT?
There is a fair chance that my server has gone into a state of buggy/kind of working... check the gameplay video, and if it's not like that let me know so I can restart the server... and sorry.
REQUIREMENS
- Active internet connection
- Java Runtime Environment 7 or 8
TOOLS I USED AND CREDITS
- IDE : Eclipse
- Code : Java 7
- Library : LWJGL 3 (early stable build)
- Library : Matthias Mann's PNGDecoder
- Library : GLFW
- Code Snippet : http://stackoverflow.com/a/20953376
- Audio : OpenAL
- Audio : Bfxr
- Graphics : OpenGL
- Graphics : Photoshop
- Server : CentOS 6 x64 + Official JRE1.7
- Text Editing : Sublime Text 3
- Thanks : To you for playing!
...and I was going to use J-OGG but I didn't have any music so I cut it out of the build.
In the future I'll probably make web games, but LWJGL 3 is new and I just had to play with it. ^_^ Also I'll probably never make an multiplayer game in this timeframe again.
HOW TO PLAY
- Unzip the download, and run the Client.jar file (you'll need Java 7 installed). If you're on a newer Mac you'll have to right click and select "Open" then "Open" at the "Application is unsigned" dialog.
- The first time you play it will ask you to join a team, click the color you want.
- Use the mouse to aim and fire (right click will change the tool you are using).
- Use WASD or the arrow keys to move, and spacebar to jump.
- There are five point categories, you'll have to figure out how to earn points in all 5 (only two are possible with a single person on the server).
- Press tab to see the score screen, the points there were all gotten by people playing the game before you, you can add to your teams points.
CAN'T PLAY?
If the server crashes I'll try to fix it as soon as I notice, but feel free to tell me on Twitter (@HitchH1k3r) in case I don't notice.
FINAL NOTE
I'm going to be playing games like normal, but will be writing my scores and comments down to batch rate them. This way hopefully more people will arrive at this game page at the same time, and can enjoy playing the game more (together).
FUTURE VERSIONS AND SECURITY CONCERNS
There is a certain level of risk with networked games, if you'd like to see what this game is doing in more detail check the source link above, and please let me know if you have any concerns. The source link also has any "PORT" changes I've made to the game, and a list of planned changes that I'd like to make after the competition is over.
| Download (Win/Mac/Linux) | http://bit.ly/12UvaPy |
| Source (Github) | http://bit.ly/1vFN57k |
| Timelapse + Gameplay (Youtube) | http://bit.ly/1zI9SP2 |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=21983 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 75% | 2 |
| Overall | 3.02 | 744 |
| Audio | 2.57 | 638 |
| Fun | 3.25 | 395 |
| Graphics | 2.37 | 1009 |
| Humor | 2.32 | 687 |
| Innovation | 3.05 | 619 |
| Mood | 2.87 | 620 |
| Theme | 3.84 | 271 |
Keep working on the game ^^
For such a simple game, I spent a long time on this. As a programmer I'm really impressed that you got this kind of a game working for a Ludum Dare. I've encountered a few multi-player online games here before, notably @porpentine and @mcclure's entry from LD26... um about Harpies? Regardless, you are making me jealous!
I also wasn't quite sure what the numbers meant at the bottom of the screen, or on the respawn screen. But that might've been more clear if there were other players playing at the same time as me.
The platform physics felt pretty good; glad to have the ability to drop down through a platform. I did sometimes have a bit of difficulty jumping sideways onto a higher platform; the horizontal distance was sometimes too much for the player's run speed.
The player's hitbox felt a little off. There were a few times I got hit when I was expecting the bullet to miss me. I think this mostly occurred with vertically moving bullets that were passing to the left or right of the avatar's rectangular body. Is the hitbox still a square? Or a circle? But I was pleased to notice a short period of invincibility after getting hit. Adding a visual indication such as blinking/flashing a bit could be a nice touch for that state, too.
I missed it at first, probably because I just took it for granted, but the hit particles were a really good touch!
After reading the description and watching the gameplay video it makes a whole lot more sense. While playing I completely missed there was a healthbar at all. I must have mistaken it for the "eyes" of the characters.
While playing I initially had no idea it was multiplayer. I figured the online thing was about leaderboards or something along those lines. I was joined by a blue fella and after figuring out it was another player I felt a certain connection there despite our limited ability to communicate. Perhaps the limitations on the communication are what created the feeling of a connection. Either way it was fun trying to figure out what was going on alongside someone else.
Having pulled off a functional online multiplayer for a LD entry is also pretty impressive. Solid entry overall. I had fun with it.
Good job!
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