Vectrex 2: Neon Boogaloo by ChainedLupine

[raw]
made by ChainedLupine for LD34 (JAM)
This in my game! You can make a spaceship bigger by pressing the X key! Wow!

Actually, I didn't finish my game for this Ludum Dare. Since I'd entered a number of LDs, you think I'd know better by now! Despite not finishing a game, I did manage to have a lot of fun hanging out with the LD crowd and sharing the LD experience. And that, to me, is what Ludum Dare is all about.

About what I have up here. It's a Pixi.JS demo with a custom vector wireframe 3D engine. My goal was to make an old-style arcade game that played similar to a reverse-Hexagon, where you navigated a wireframe ship through a solid-filled puzzle with progressively narrower/shifty corridors.

About the engine: Models are stored as Wavefront OBJ files and parsed by wireframe.js. They are turned into a series of vertices and lines. Wireframe.js then performs all of the matrix math necessary, including converting 3D vertices into a series of screen-space 2D lines. These lines are then rendered by Pixi.js as a Graphics object.

Because the 3D engine is doing everything but actually rasterizing the lines, wireframe.js works with the standard HTML5 Canvas. (Use the Canvas link to try it out.)

Currently I am using Pixi.js along with a few WebGL shaders to give it that nice glowy vector look!

Things missing: No screen-space clipping, at all. (Watch as the spaceship turns inside out if you move it behind the camera!) No backface culling. (Duh, it's 80s wireframes, who needs that?)

Note: I am using THREE.js, but only for the linear algebra math stuff. Cuz I am tired of re-writing Vector and Matrix operations in yet another language.

Feedback

AntiMatterTape
15. Dec 2015 · 01:47 UTC
Well it definitely looks cool! Would love to see the ship flying in an environment.
trueboolean
15. Dec 2015 · 01:47 UTC
Great job with the custom 3D engine! When can we expect Vectrex 3: Electric Boogaloo?
Dining Philosopher
16. Dec 2015 · 13:22 UTC
Well the graphics are nice at least :)

Are you still going to build a full game with it?
rzuf
17. Dec 2015 · 09:59 UTC
I love vectrex stuff, please do something amazing with this. :3
Headmade
18. Dec 2015 · 11:17 UTC
Neat demo. Better luck next time with your game.
Instant Noodles
21. Dec 2015 · 08:48 UTC
Pretty cool demo, some sound/music could be nice to really set up the mood
Gamepopper
23. Dec 2015 · 13:40 UTC
Definitely a good looking spinning vector ship, gives me the thought of a HD remake of the original Elite, using vector graphics to keep the wireframe look.
gallerdude
04. Jan 2016 · 16:27 UTC
Cool graphics.