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Program Announcements / Phlyx - The Rise of the Titans

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Dynamic9 Entertainment
11
Years of Service
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Joined: 14th Jul 2012
Location: Nottingham, England
Posted: 14th Jul 2012 16:50 Edited at: 19th Jul 2012 14:38
Phlyx - The Rise of the Titans


Phlyx - The Rise of the Titans is a 3D Side Scrolling Platform Game.

Join Phlyx on his quest to become a grown up, and uncover the secrets of Magic. But as he unlocks his hidden talents, something stirs in the air, and a powerful force is awoken...


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Features
20 levels of platforming, puzzle solving, magic and adventure!
7 different locations, each with their own unique style, and boss encounters.
6 Magic Spells, affecting different monsters in many different ways
Fully integrated level editor - Create and Share your own levels with your friends!

Go to www.dynamic9.com/games/phlyx to download the game for free!

Phlyx - The Rise of the Titans was in development for 2.5 years. During this time, changes were made to the engine, the technology, the target platform, and the programming language. In the end, it was decided to go back to DarkBasic Pro, as that is what I've been using since I started programming around 10 years ago.

It is the first full game that I have released, and I created the whole thing by myself.

Your thoughts and suggestions are welcome. If you find any bugs, please check the support page www.dynamic9.com/games/phlyx/support.shtml, or contact us at support@dynamic9.com

Minimum System Requirements
Processor: 2.0GHz CPU
Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
System Memory: 512 MB (XP), 1 GB (Vista/7)
Hard Disk Space: 400 MB
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
Video Card: Radeon X800 or GeForce 6800 or better
DirectX: 9.0c or later
Pixel/Vertex Shader: 2.0

Recommended System Requirements
Processor: Dual-Core CPU or Better
Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
System Memory: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 400 MB
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
Video Card: Radeon HD 3800 Series or GeForce 8800 Series or better
DirectX: 9.0c or later
Pixel/Vertex Shader: 2.0

Update 1.2
Fixed performance issues
Fixed bug which plays a looping sound when Phlyx lands
Fixed default sound levels
Fixed camera following Phlyx
Fixed animation speed
Fixed gravity issues
Reduced File Size
Made interactive objects more prominent

Kezzla
15
Years of Service
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Joined: 21st Aug 2008
Location: Where beer does flow and men chunder
Posted: 16th Jul 2012 13:00 Edited at: 16th Jul 2012 13:04
I downloaded it and tried it out.

the look is pretty good, going for that N64 feel with the music and graphics.

I'll start with some suggestions, when you do the opening credits, try putting your name closer to the bird, when its hidden down in a corner the viewer will miss it unless they are specifically looking for it.


Now, here comes the torrent, Understand that I like what you have done, and its a great effort. I am just cutting the crap and telling you bluntly what needs fixing. but seriously I like where you are going with this game.

so...

the default levels for the sound and music balance are out of wack, the sound is way to low and you cannot hear the characters talking.

I found that even on the lowest setting It chunks on my laptop.
I've got an amd 1.9 with 1 gig radeon graphics and 4 gig ram running windows 7 home premium.

its not top of the range but it should be able to run a game like yours smoothly.

granted it is a touch below the min specs, but my machine can run skyrim on default settings.

I also found that the landing sound get stuck looping while the character is on the ground - i suspect there's an error with your landing sound off switch.

I couldn't activate the first switch because the game was chunking so much, so i didn't get very far, but it seems that the gravity is a little weak. I don't know if this is necessary for later levels or not, so maybe disregard that one, it just seems that the player spends a lot of time waiting to land.

and when you are falling the character falls at the bottom of the screen so they cannot see where to aim the character.

maybe try moving the camera down so the character stays near the middle of the screen so you can try and land on something.

A lot of the background images look as though you can land on them. so i found myself making leaps of death trying to climb up on them.

the interactive objects need to be more obvious,they seem to blend into the background a bit.

Make them glow or jiggle around or something to bring them into the foreground. I was trying to find the switch and wasn't sure what it would look like, I kept trying to activate the sign, wondering if that was the switch.

It doesn't need to be blindingly obvious, just a little help sorting the background from the active props.

I like the animation on the character, and the little speed particles are cool.

I will give it another go a bit later tonight, that was just my first run impression. I stopped playing because of the chunking, the looping fall sound and the inability to press the button.


I know it sounds like im ripping it to bits a little, but I actually like what you are going for, it just needs some polish on some of the mechanics.

overall, good work.

Sometimes I like to use words out of contents
Dynamic9 Entertainment
11
Years of Service
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Joined: 14th Jul 2012
Location: Nottingham, England
Posted: 16th Jul 2012 13:40
Thank you for the feedback Kezzla.

I'm glad you like the direction of the game, and I'd like to thank you for your honesty (seriously, it's refreshing having someone tell you the truth, rather than what they think you want to hear).

Quote: "the default levels for the sound and music balance are out of wack, the sound is way to low and you cannot hear the characters talking."


The sound volumes are at this level based on the feedback I got during development. I found this was actually one of the hardest things to balance, as daft as that sounds. But on my PC, I always use headphones, where as everyone else was using speakers, with custom volumes, etc., and the current default values were what most people who tested the game felt was best. All I can do is apologise on this one.

Quote: "I found that even on the lowest setting It chunks on my laptop."


I'm not sure what to say on this one. The minimum specifications listed are those of my laptop, which runs it ok, if a little clunky at times... I'll see if I can optimise the code to make the game run smoother.

Quote: "I also found that the landing sound get stuck looping while the character is on the ground - i suspect there's an error with your landing sound off switch."


This is a bug some people have found, but I've only been able to replicate once. Since then, I've not encountered it, so I assumed I fixed it. I'll try to ammend this one too.

Quote: "I couldn't activate the first switch because the game was chunking so much, so i didn't get very far, but it seems that the gravity is a little weak. I don't know if this is necessary for later levels or not, so maybe disregard that one, it just seems that the player spends a lot of time waiting to land."


The gravity is supposed to be this level, as it is important for later levels. Regarding the switches, I can only put this down to the clunky issue, which I will aim to resolve.

Quote: "and when you are falling the character falls at the bottom of the screen so they cannot see where to aim the character. maybe try moving the camera down so the character stays near the middle of the screen so you can try and land on something."


That's the first query I've had on this. I'll try and make the camera tracking a little tighter when the character falls below the screen.

Quote: "A lot of the background images look as though you can land on them. so i found myself making leaps of death trying to climb up on them."


Again, the first complaint I've had on this, but then as I also said, most people who tested this were being kind rather than honest. I've tried to make the background textures different to the platform textures as much as possible, to try and show they're different, but if this isn't enough, then I shall try to make it more obvious

Quote: "the interactive objects need to be more obvious,they seem to blend into the background a bit. It doesn't need to be blindingly obvious, just a little help sorting the background from the active props."


I'll change the texture of the interactive objects, to make them stand out more.

Quote: "I like the animation on the character, and the little speed particles are cool."


Thanks! The particles were the first things to be fully implemented in this game, and I'm really proud of them! They're my own function, not the built in DarkBasic Pro functions, so I'm even more proud of them. The character animation was all done using the game engine, as at the time of development of this game, I was terrible with 3D Modelling, and couldn't animate for the life of me! So in the game, it's all basic limb manipulation, but it works!

[/quote]I know it sounds like im ripping it to bits a little, but I actually like what you are going for, it just needs some polish on some of the mechanics.

overall, good work.[quote]

Honestly, I don't think you're ripping it to bits, you've been more helpful than anyone else who tested and played this game, so I'd like to thank you once again for the feedback.

I shall make the changes to the game mentioned above, and shall post an updated version of the game next week (hopefully).

Thanks again

haliop
User Banned
Posted: 18th Jul 2012 15:01
checking it right now , later on i'll post a feedback! cant wait for download to end!!!

from the picture and discription it looks like a worth playing game!
haliop
User Banned
Posted: 18th Jul 2012 15:24
im sorry to say this but truly i dont get it
it works too slow at my end .. so it kinda sux...
Dynamic9 Entertainment
11
Years of Service
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Joined: 14th Jul 2012
Location: Nottingham, England
Posted: 18th Jul 2012 16:04
Hi Haliop. Thank you for the feedback.

Regarding the speed issue, it's something that has been brought to my attention and I'm working on a fix for it.

Quote: "i dont get it"


Can you explain what it is you don't get?

Cheers

haliop
User Banned
Posted: 19th Jul 2012 02:27
well first of , the jump.. like do i jump or do i super duper jump?!
it jumps so high its irralivent (sorry for my english)..
the creature also is at the bottom of the camera , and it should be at the middle or just a bit higher then what it is now..

i think that becouse it was too slow i didnot get the game as it is and just like was annoyed of it ..

you must fix the speed issue.
Dynamic9 Entertainment
11
Years of Service
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Joined: 14th Jul 2012
Location: Nottingham, England
Posted: 19th Jul 2012 14:37
Hi Halip

I've fixed these issues now, and I apologise for it annoying you.

All the best

Andy

Nabz_32x
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Joined: 25th Oct 2008
Location:
Posted: 7th Aug 2012 14:22 Edited at: 7th Aug 2012 14:25
Gave this a short try.

The collision system let you hang on walls while falling, or gives weird new x coordinates when colliding with the ceiling. Also at the top and at the bottom of all your corners there is a certain area when you can go inside the wall, which then takes you on top of that block (if at the top of a corner) don´t know if this was intended, but it feels kinda strange when playing.

The game takes very long to load and dosn´t seem to care about the configuration I made at the beginning.

After text is displayed there is some slowdown for ca. 2 seconds.

I gut stuck attempting a jump over some spikes, after the 3rd? checkpoint (after you had to activate the 2 switches to open the door). The jump distance dosn´t look like it can actually being done by your character with its current abilities (Maybe I missed something there).

Also for which reason is there a cursor?

Dynamic9 Entertainment
11
Years of Service
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Joined: 14th Jul 2012
Location: Nottingham, England
Posted: 8th Aug 2012 14:11
Hi Nabz_32x.

Thank you for your feedback.

Quote: "The collision system let you hang on walls while falling, or gives weird new x coordinates when colliding with the ceiling. Also at the top and at the bottom of all your corners there is a certain area when you can go inside the wall, which then takes you on top of that block (if at the top of a corner) don´t know if this was intended, but it feels kinda strange when playing."


The collision and physics system takes into account the game's speed. If the game is running at less than 30FPS or more than 60FPS, there is a real noticeable problem, like the one you encountered. Can you confirm your PC spec?

Quote: "The game takes very long to load and dosn´t seem to care about the configuration I made at the beginning."


I've spent many weeks trying to decrease the load time, and this is the fastest I've been able to get it. Regarding the configuration, are you running the game with UAC or Admin Permissions?

Quote: "After text is displayed there is some slowdown for ca. 2 seconds."


I've never encountered this. I'll see if I can fix it though.

Quote: "I gut stuck attempting a jump over some spikes, after the 3rd? checkpoint (after you had to activate the 2 switches to open the door). The jump distance dosn´t look like it can actually being done by your character with its current abilities (Maybe I missed something there)."


There is a ledge in the middle of the gap you can land on, but it is possible to make the jump in one go.

Quote: "Also for which reason is there a cursor?"


The cursor is there for when you get abilities later on.

I hope this has helped.

Nabz_32x
15
Years of Service
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Joined: 25th Oct 2008
Location:
Posted: 9th Aug 2012 13:48
Hi Dynamic 9 entertainment,

Quote: "
The collision and physics system takes into account the game's speed. If the game is running at less than 30FPS or more than 60FPS, there is a real noticeable problem, like the one you encountered. Can you confirm your PC spec?"


I have a 3,2 Ghz quadcore and a Geforce 9800, could be that it runs over 60 fps. After running it in admin mode on highest settings, those hangs only encountered when there is a very very small ledge on the wall, that you can land on. But collision on corners of your collision zones can still give wrong collision returns (so it seems).

Quote: "
I've spent many weeks trying to decrease the load time, and this is the fastest I've been able to get it. Regarding the configuration, are you running the game with UAC or Admin Permissions?"


Sorry, I ran it in UAC mode, tried it in admin mode again, settings work and loading time is bearable

Quote: "Quote: "After text is displayed there is some slowdown for ca. 2 seconds."

I've never encountered this. I'll see if I can fix it though."

Still encountering this slowdown in admin mode, if that helps.

Quote: "There is a ledge in the middle of the gap you can land on, but it is possible to make the jump in one go."


This particullar jump got a lot easier when I ran it in admin mode, however I am now stuck at the fish of doom in the underwater zone.

Dynamic9 Entertainment
11
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 14th Jul 2012
Location: Nottingham, England
Posted: 17th Aug 2012 13:56
Thanks Nabz_32x

Quote: "I have a 3,2 Ghz quadcore and a Geforce 9800, could be that it runs over 60 fps. After running it in admin mode on highest settings, those hangs only encountered when there is a very very small ledge on the wall, that you can land on. But collision on corners of your collision zones can still give wrong collision returns (so it seems)."


I'd say that was definately running faster than 60FPS... Not sure what you mean by the wrong collision returns though... =\

Quote: "Sorry, I ran it in UAC mode, tried it in admin mode again, settings work and loading time is bearable"


Good to hear.

Quote: "Still encountering this slowdown in admin mode, if that helps."


I'm not sure what I can do here. I've tried to re-create this slowdown on my game, but I don't encounter it, so I can't determine what could cause the slow down. Sorry

Quote: "This particullar jump got a lot easier when I ran it in admin mode, however I am now stuck at the fish of doom in the underwater zone."


That's good to hear. Use a few Earth Spells on him, that should Fin-ish him off (sorry for the pun).

Once again, thank you for the feedback.

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