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Work in Progress / Metal Redux (FPS Deathmatch Demo)

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DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 15th Feb 2016 22:01 Edited at: 16th Feb 2016 17:39
Hi,

Over the last couple of months I've spent around 30 hours developing an FPS engine in DarkBasic Professional. Metal Redux takes models, textures and sounds from an old budget game called Metal (written by Leadwerks' Josh Klint), and uses my engine to create a simple deathmatch game.

Features include controller support (designed with Xbox controllers in mind) and a two player splitscreen mode. If only one controller is connected, it will be assigned to player one in a one player game and player two in a two player game, allowing two players to face off with just one controller! Sprinting and regenerative health is also in, and you can toggle radars on or off from the options menu.

Most of the work went in to technical aspects such as timer based processing and the two player mode. As such, I would describe the enemies AI and aiming with a controller as functional for now, and I'll be improving upon them in future.

Download the Demo :

http://pipnayler.com/downloads/metal_redux.rar

Bug reports and general feedback would be greatly appreciated, and I'd like to thank the community for helping me get this far!

Title Screen :


One player :


Two Player Splitscreen :


Radars off, Paintball on :
Chris Tate
DBPro Master
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Posted: 16th Feb 2016 14:51
This looks like a good engine. I quite enjoy playing split screen FPS games with friends, this is not something I see often implemented in FPS engines. I look forward to seeing this progress.
DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 16th Feb 2016 17:38 Edited at: 16th Feb 2016 17:40
Thanks Chris, I really appreciate the support. A demo of the current build is now available for download at http://pipnayler.com/downloads/metal_redux.rar
Chris Tate
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Posted: 16th Feb 2016 17:59
Thanks, I forgot to mention that I was planning on downloading it after a few days of organising my games development headquarters (AKA my bedroom). It would be cool to see some videos if you have the time, otherwise I look forward to trying it out and submitting my PC performance result and a little feedback.
DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 16th Feb 2016 22:31
Ah, cool. I have been thinking about uploading some footage to youtube, although I doubt I'll be able to until the weekend.

Good luck with the re-organising!
Chris Tate
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Posted: 18th Feb 2016 10:17
OK, so I launched the game and up came the menu screen. (I had to first tell Windows security dialog to allow the application to launch).

There was however, a problem; I could not click on any of the menu buttons or use my keyboard to navigate the menu. The game launced in a standard (un-maximised) window.
DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 19th Feb 2016 06:26 Edited at: 19th Feb 2016 17:37
I'm sorry for the issues you've encountered. The game is set to run in a window by default, but you can (usually) switch to fullscreen from the options menu.

Do you have this issue every time you run the game? I am aware of what I believed to be a rare issue with the image system that my menu is built around, so I'll have another look at the code and work on a fix.

Edit/Update : I've gone through the code, and believe that the issue may have been down to setting the window on or off after setting the resolution. Attached is a new version of the game that corrects this, could you try it and tell me if the issue persists?

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Chris Tate
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Posted: 19th Feb 2016 19:28
Quote: "I'm sorry for the issues you've encountered. The game is set to run in a window by default, but you can (usually) switch to fullscreen from the options menu."


No problem. Out of curiousity, since I have not been able to access the options; what kind of fullscreen modes are there? I always prefer to use fullscreen-window desktop mode (rather than the other fullscreen option) when I play any game on a Windows PC; I have a subconcious bias towards prefering fullscreen windowed over fullscreen (changing the system res) because I frequently alt tab out of games and hate to wait for resolution changes (since I sometimes pick low res in game), plus have seen some wierd crashes coming from DarkBASIC when you deal with fullscreen playback; I am not sure if that applies to your game however.

Quote: "I've gone through the code, and believe that the issue may have been down to setting the window on or off after setting the resolution. Attached is a new version of the game that corrects this, could you try it and tell me if the issue persists?"


Yes, with the new executable, the problem still prevents me from clicking on the menu options (or using the keyboard). I am running it on Windows 8.1. Should there be some kind of noise or visual feedback occuring when I hover the mouse over the options? Everything is static from what I can see.
DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 20th Feb 2016 15:32 Edited at: 20th Feb 2016 16:32
The game now has limited keyboard and controller functionality within the menu. You can scroll through the options with W, S, the arrow keys, or the d-pad. Enter/Return on the keyboard or the A button on the controller can be used to confirm a selection. Unfortunately, the options menu cannot yet be navigated with the keyboard or controller, though I will look in to this when I have the time.

Download Metal Redux v1.1 :

http://pipnayler.com/downloads/metal_redux.rar

Highlighting options with the controller :


Borderless windows aren't currently supported but I will add the option to the engine along with support for custom resolutions at a later date.

The current Options menu :
DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 1st Mar 2016 21:02
Hi,

Just to say that I've updated my tech demo to v1.2. This update includes a re-written menu system in which the current selection is highlighted, as well as the ability to save your setup from within the options menu. The submenus are now built around keyboard and controller navigation.

I would be grateful for any feedback.

Download Metal Redux v1.2 :

http://pipnayler.com/downloads/metal_redux.rar





Ortu
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2016 05:03
Hey man, nice work so far!

I tried out the demo and here are a few things:

Game failed to launch at first, gave no error, never started a process in task manager, just silently did nothing. I've run into this issue before and the cause is that I do not have msvcp71.dll and msvcr71.dll in whatever system folder they used to be installed to (most people won't these days outside of dbpro users) The quick and easy fix is to include these in the same folder as your executable. The application will look first to the system folder then to the local folder for these. After dropping in a copy of these, the game launched normally.

Next, the mouse works with the menu options on the main screen: one player, two player, controls etc. but does not work for the menu options on the options screen. For user experience, it should work the same on the options menu as it does on the main menu.

No performance issues or crashes

Overall it has a nice retro Doom feel to it, looking forward to seeing it progress.
DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2016 07:51
Thanks, Ortu!

I was hoping I'd avoided the .dll issue. I believe it's the MatrixUtil commands that require them, which I haven't used. I definitely appreciate the heads up though, and will try to find out if I'm allowed to distribute them with my projects.

You're very much correct on the importance of a unified user experience, and I will work to re-introduce mouse support to the submenus. This is the first project I've worked on that I've created a full menu for, and I'm surprised by how much there is to it. My menu is made up of around 60 sprites and 800 lines of code so far.

Very happy to hear that you didn't have any performance issues, and that you enjoyed the retro vibe. Thank you so much for taking the time to try this, and even more so for the feedback.

Chris Tate
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2016 09:58
I will try this out again later on.
DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2016 13:07
Excellent. Thanks, Chris. If you want to tell me the resolution you run at, I'd be happy to hardcode a borderless windowed version for you to try?
Chris Tate
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2016 17:50
No problem: 1600x1200.

You could use commands like PERFORM CHECKLIST FOR DISPLAY MODES, Width = Val( FIRST TOKEN$( CHECKLIST STRING(Last), "," ) ), Height= Val( NextTOKEN$( "2,") ) or perhaps matrix1 Desktop Width()/Height() to display settings just incase you forgot or were not yet aware of.
DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2016 22:17
Attached is a copy set to run in a 1600x1200 borderless window. My monitor doesn't support this resolution but the code was written to adapt to any resolution, so I'd be interested to know whether the game looks presentable at this resolution to you (the size of the writing is not set to increase with the resolution but the positioning of it along with all other HUD elements should look correct). The issue is that whilst all gameplay elements were written with varying resolutions in mind, I am yet to code an input for the user to enter their desired resolution.

Thanks again for taking the time to check this out. I hope that it runs ok for you!

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Chris Tate
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Posted: 3rd Mar 2016 02:01
Brilliant work. It was nice to play. It brings back alot of nice memories from the hay days of Quake. I just played the single player, I will test the other modes when I get the chance. Keep up the good work. It will be interesting to see how this progresses. So what's the plan? Multiplayer support? Story mode? or perhaps something else you have in mind?
DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 4th Mar 2016 21:48 Edited at: 5th Mar 2016 22:27
Thank you so much for the kind words. Comments such as yours really adds to my motivation, and I'm pleased that you enjoyed the game.

I have contacted the publisher of Metal with the idea of developing Redux in to a budget title, but am yet to hear back. I'm especially touched by the comparison to Quake, as that game means a lot to me, and I have thought a lot about developing a game in that style, featuring an episodic single player and a four player splitscreen mode.

My engine was designed to work as a foundation for future projects, and with only a couple of hours a week spare for development, I'm aiming to build several small scale games that will allow me to experiment with gameplay mechanics and bring some titles to market. Below are screenshots from two of my older projects that I hope to develop further.





EDIT : I finally got around to creating a short gameplay trailer for Metal Redux. YouTube link below (the video tags aren't working for me).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DblFK5aNJxo
DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 7th Mar 2016 18:39 Edited at: 7th Mar 2016 18:41
Just a note to say that I've reintroduced mouse support to the submenus, fixing an earlier glitch. The entire menu can now be navigated with a mouse, keyboard or controller.

http://pipnayler.com/downloads/metal_redux.rar
Chris Tate
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Posted: 7th Mar 2016 20:51
Cool; downloading the .rar
Chris Tate
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Posted: 7th Mar 2016 21:01
I ran the latest build. My mouse clicks didn't register; nothing happens when the mouse cursor hovers over the buttons or when I click on them.

I tried the split screen mode. It works well.
DARKHALO2K
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Posted: 8th Mar 2016 17:29
Thanks for the feedback, Chris. I've done some reading, and it seems Windows 8 has issues with mouse controls in a lot of games (mostly input lag), which seems to be driver related. What's interesting is that you're able to use the mouse to aim and shoot in-game, as I'm using the same commands to track mouse input in both the menu and gameplay routines.

The options should become highlighted when the mouse hovers over them, so it seems the game isn't being told the correct position of your mouse. Moving forwards, I will look at implementing my own mouse cursor (a mouse controlled sprite) and convert the menu to work around collisions between sprites.

Glad to hear that the splitscreen mode ran well for you, and thanks again for the feedback.

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