The Mad Engineer by Garrett Hoofman

[raw]
made by Garrett Hoofman for LD29 (COMPO)
The idea I had for Beneath the Surface was an ugly robot. It didn't look like much, didn't have much for skills, but it had an intelligence. An intelligence "beneath the surface" that would allow it to break free, to think for itself.

I didn't get as far as I had intended, so it's a brief game as is. Also had some music trouble with the audio system so I'm including a version with and with out sound.

*REMOVED THIS VERSION => * SOUND version may crash the game.

Feedback

archaeometrician
30. Apr 2014 · 00:33 UTC
I like the style of the game, the artwork is very well done too, great work !
Mufm
30. Apr 2014 · 01:15 UTC
Very clever and cute game. I would love to see where a project like this could go. The artwork is fantastic and humorous.

5/5 stars. Would play a finished version.
Simon@LD
30. Apr 2014 · 08:11 UTC
Clever interpretation of the theme! I like the graphical design. Too bad it was so short, i was really stoked to learn more about the robot :)
voidqk
30. Apr 2014 · 08:14 UTC
"The program can't start because OpenAL32.dll is missing from your computer." :-(
Xeke_Death
30. Apr 2014 · 08:16 UTC
Sadly, I can't run the game. I'm getting a generic 'Application was unable to start correctly' error...
mrspeaker
30. Apr 2014 · 16:31 UTC
Ha ha - I like where you're going with this... one question - how do you imagine it evolving into a game that has multiple paths? Or will it be primarily a puzzle game that has only one "answer" per room/challenge?
sudorossy
30. Apr 2014 · 22:29 UTC
Crashes after I press A :(
🎤 Garrett Hoofman
30. Apr 2014 · 22:42 UTC
@archaeometrician Thanks! Definitely spent the majority of my time on the art, still feels like programmer art, but maybe polished programmer art?

@Mufm Thanks Mufm!

@Simon@LD Thank you, definitely had (like everyone else) bigger plans for a longer game, but that time management...

@voidqk Those dependencies... bah, I added OpenAL32.dll to the zip file, hopefully it'll work now.

@Xeke_Death :( I'm using in a development engine, there are quirks yet, this was the first time I used it to try creating a release version.

@mrspeaker I definitely envisioned multiple paths, an idea of the you (as the robot) deciding a multitude of end choices between rage and destruction on man-kind, love and peace, etc. (IE hitting the theme even harder, with it being all in the mind of the AI). Definitely still a puzzle based game though, but with multiple choices.

@sudorossy :/ did you try the one without Audio?
mjrevel
30. Apr 2014 · 22:51 UTC
Could not run, failed on start. Tried non-sound version.
eerongal
30. Apr 2014 · 23:26 UTC
tried both the sound and no sound version, bot fail on startup.
Skipi
30. Apr 2014 · 23:35 UTC
I'm getting the same error that Errongal is.

"The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click OK to close the application"

I get this with both sound and no sound versions.
🎤 Garrett Hoofman
30. Apr 2014 · 23:56 UTC
Using this rather cool tool : http://www.dependencywalker.com/
I found that the XInput1_4.dll was an x64 dll running against an x86 compiled application. I'm hoping that's the issue.
If it's not, there's a good chance that it has something to do with video card differences with regards to the textures (too large, not necessarily powers of 2, etc)
I've re-compiled the XInput.lib into the Application.exe so it should run now :/ hopefully.
RikardKarlsen
01. May 2014 · 00:12 UTC
Wont start. I miss MSVCR100D.dll on my computer.
GlowingSnail
01. May 2014 · 00:19 UTC
Not a valid Win32 application.
YSelf Tool
01. May 2014 · 00:27 UTC
Like Rikard said, The MS Visual C++ Runtime is missing.
hbocao
01. May 2014 · 01:07 UTC
Yeah... I'm missing the MSVCR100D.dll too
VictoryGarden
01. May 2014 · 03:40 UTC
Missing some MSVCR dlls...
Nichii
01. May 2014 · 11:22 UTC
Couldn't play the game T.T some dll issue like everyone else
Bashosha
01. May 2014 · 13:58 UTC
Nice work!
Skipi
01. May 2014 · 20:32 UTC
The MSVCR100D.dll is an easy fix, it was an issue in my entry. I'm assuming you compiled in MSVC?

Go to C/C++ Properties -> Code Generation and under Runtime Library select Multi-threaded (/MT) or Multi-threaded Debug (/MTd). Since it seems you compiled in Debug configuration, you want Multi-threaded Debug (/MTd). That'll statically link that library into your executable.

Also, your fix for the 0xc000007b error worked, although on the public computer I'm also getting the MSVC DLL error. It'll work on my home comp, I'm sure.
Skipi
01. May 2014 · 23:58 UTC
Ok, got to play the game.

Big question, though. Are you/were you planning on using neural networks as part of the game? (Since you mention them on the whiteboard) :P

It's a neat idea, and the artwork looks nice. It's too bad it's so short :/
🎤 Garrett Hoofman
02. May 2014 · 00:36 UTC
@Skipi Bah, I had done that, must have overridden it with a non /MTd at some point.
No Neural Networks, it would be cool to add it in somehow though, it would give the robot a little bit of flare :)
If I were to continue with the game, I wanted the robot to slowly build up, more intellect (aka moves/skills), more body parts (legs, arms, torso, etc), other robot characters to interact with (predecessors). Primarily though I wanted it to be about the mind of an AI growing, and the choices it would/could make.
xdegtyarev
02. May 2014 · 18:43 UTC
Cute!
JoeProgram
03. May 2014 · 02:12 UTC
Couldn't run it. Got "The program can't start because MSVCR100D.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the prgram to fix this problem." Running on Windows 8 machine.
HybridMind
03. May 2014 · 18:03 UTC
Yeah I also couldn't get past the "MSVCR100D.dll is missing" error. Bummer, the screenshots looked cool.
danbo
07. May 2014 · 21:50 UTC
Missing DLL, couldn't play. MSVCR100D.dll... might be a Visual Studio Redistributable thing. Sorry.
ZeppelinCaptain
17. May 2014 · 20:30 UTC
Yup, same dll issue.