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Work in Progress / Ice Snake (working title)

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zircher
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Posted: 14th Aug 2004 02:08 Edited at: 26th Oct 2004 13:55
I've been playing around with making a snake simulator program using the Newton physics library. Tenatively, this will evolve into my contest entry. The reason that it's called Ice Snake has nothing to do with the game and everything with my first attempts at modelling a snake. swoosh!

Still pictures do not do this critter justice because it has built in behaviors that surprised even me. The snake has a natural tendacy to behave in a serpentine manner and will S turn or curl up if left on its own.


The soccer field level.

I still have a way to go. Since this started out as a tech demo just to see if I could make a snake, I have to figure out what kind of game I want to make and decide how far I can push the envelope of the Snake game mechanics. I have the code in place to grow the tail, so feeding and growing are possible. I'm thinking of adding a starvation meter and forcing the player to be constantly on the prowl for food. Ideally, I want to add stalking and pouncing so that the player can try from high value food like mice and insects. Of course, I'll add more interesting terrain, obstables, and probably some traps and such for the unwary snake.
--
TAZ

Oh yeah, big thanks to Walaber for making the Newton interface to DBP and helping out on some of the trickier points in snake construction.

[updated links since DBSpot has flaked out]

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
zircher
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Posted: 14th Aug 2004 02:23
Some thoughts for all those other Snake contestants: Don't give up just because I have gotten this far.

I'm building this program because I want to learn more about the Newton physics library. I'm notorious for building technology demonstrators and never completing a game. [Technically, I have never released a DBP game that has made it beyond beta.]

Also, even if I finish this project in time, TGC might disqualify it saying that I drifted too far from the Snake concept. After all, Snake is an arcade game and not a critter simulator. You may be able to massively outscore me in game play points or graphics as well.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Peter H
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Posted: 14th Aug 2004 02:34
sounds great!...

are you going to release a demo or something? i want to slither...

"We make the worst games in the universe."
zircher
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Posted: 14th Aug 2004 02:37
I've got to get my head around some code that controls rotation when the snake's head gets inverted. It works at certain angles and at others it gets silly. I do plan to post some demos in the future when I get that worked out.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Dgamer
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Posted: 14th Aug 2004 02:47 Edited at: 14th Aug 2004 02:47
*Looks at zircher's screenshots*
*Looks at own screenshots*
*Points head down in shame*

Looks/sounds great.

This sig has been dullified!
zircher
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Posted: 14th Aug 2004 03:00 Edited at: 14th Aug 2004 03:06
That's why I posted my "don't give up" message. I got 'pretty' early, but zero game play. I've seen some other posts that have target fruit, proper Snake game play, even talk of level editors. I'm way behind in that area.
--
TAZ

Something to remember as well, even if I'm not disqualified and I manage to win a prize, I can only get one prize. This contest is a cornucopia of good stuff.

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
AluminumPork
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Posted: 14th Aug 2004 03:43
Wow, ppeerrttyy.

P4 2.4Ghz HT, 512MB RAM, ATI Radeon 9600 128MB, 19" Samsung SyncMaster 997DF, 80GB HD

medwayman
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Posted: 14th Aug 2004 03:54 Edited at: 14th Aug 2004 03:56
Looks and sounds good. I like the idea of stalking larger pray. Nice idea
Personally i can’t see any reason why your game would be disqualified. Sounds ideal to me.

I’m giving the old snake theme a go myself (looks to be the most popular) but i’ve never released a full game so that’s enough about that for now

Look forward to giving it a go

Good luck in the competition

Based on Amiga PD game Squigs. Early shots: http://www.custardsoft.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/03.png

Guhill The friendly one
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Posted: 15th Aug 2004 10:04
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLL

Robots rule, can't wait to build one.
gothboy 101
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Posted: 15th Aug 2004 10:57
it looks awsome when you going to realese it?

Dragonseige
zircher
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Posted: 15th Aug 2004 15:38
When it's ready, of course. Right now, I have two deadlines for GenCon that require some 3D models and renders as well as creating interactive PDF character sheets with embedded javascript. So, probably nothing new until Tuesday or Wednesday.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Daris Xiao or Benjy Wright
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Posted: 27th Aug 2004 05:18
Wow...
me thinx mabee i needs start over on me snack geem.
Wow...
zircher
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Posted: 27th Aug 2004 05:47
Thanks, but remember that a finished game is better than an unfinished tech demo. Between work and home issues I'm crawling ahead way too slowly.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
zircher
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Posted: 7th Sep 2004 13:09 Edited at: 25th Sep 2004 04:17
Just a bit of a bump until I can log into DB Spot and post some updates. This has been a good weekend for my project. I got falling and bouncing berries, collisions and consumption working, and it starting to look more like a game and less like a tech demo. Also added some new key combos for controlling the snake and the ability to load new levels when you complete one. Time to fire up Metasequoia LE and make some more terrain meshes.
--
TAZ

[removed broken links]

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
zircher
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Posted: 8th Sep 2004 02:25 Edited at: 26th Oct 2004 13:16
Yeah, I know I'm talking to myself too much.

There's now a demo available. It's a bit lacking in pretty graphics, sound effects, and a start menu, but it has some game play elements included.

DEMO >>> [removed]

I'd like to get some feed back on FPS numbers, machine speeds, of course any problems with driving the snake. Tip: The shift key is a life saver in getting up hills and slithering out of a coil.

I'll update this as new features become available. While I'm just starting on the game play elements, suggestions are always welcome.
--
TAZ

[updated link]

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
spooky
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Posted: 8th Sep 2004 02:46
My specs:

AMD Athlon XP 2000+
512MB
MSI GeForce4 Ti4600 (128MB)
XP Home SP2

I get a constant 66 fps

That's one fine looking snake.

The way it slithers around is quite incredible. the only downside is allowing head to go upside down but not sure if that can be stopped.

I'm also not sure about control method. I know you have stuck to the traditional up, down, left, right of normal snake game but wonder if it would be better to have forward, rotate left, rotate right.

I look forward to playing next version.


Boo!
PiratSS
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Posted: 8th Sep 2004 03:04
Awsome demo

Flashing Blade
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Posted: 8th Sep 2004 03:13
Athalon 2000
512 ram
fx 5200 128mb grafix card

66fps

Very nice - thats a realistic looking snake.


The word "Gullible" cannot be found in any English Dictionary.
zircher
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Posted: 8th Sep 2004 04:16 Edited at: 8th Sep 2004 04:23
Quote: "The way it slithers around is quite incredible. the only downside is allowing head to go upside down but not sure if that can be stopped."


The control/arrow key combos can handle rotation for the most part. It just takes a bit of practice. But I agree, something better is needed. I tried a tilt switch method. The results were not so hot. A lot of twitchy behavior with only a marginal gain in roll-over prevention. It's something that I need to address again, but I did not want it to be a show stopper right now.

Thank you all for the good words.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Zone Chicken
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Posted: 8th Sep 2004 08:09 Edited at: 8th Sep 2004 08:11
3.4E
1gb ddr 3200
radeon x600 xt Pci-e
66 fps

Have it sync to 66? can't wait to see the finished version. Left, right rotateing could make him easier to control, but after a couple of mins messing around with it i got used to the way it is, although you might try just speeding up the reaction time of the head just a small amount, that might make his movement smoother seemed alittle slow turning him around excellent work though.
zircher
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Posted: 9th Sep 2004 04:44 Edited at: 9th Sep 2004 04:49
Actually, I set the sync to 60. So, the 66's were a surprise. In my demo runs I got 57-65 FPS using as fairly lame 1000 Mhz AMD with a GeForce4 MX440.

Game note: Before I added the berry eating logic, I had some fun kicking them around. So, I plan to add a soccer level and perhaps a putt-putt golf level where you have to score of a goal/sink a shot as part of the level complettion goals. Other ideas include a level with lots of bridges, a labrynth, and levels with moving objects to stir things up (perhaps a giant roulette wheel.)

As the levels become more ambitious, I'll have to see how that affects performanace.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Dot Merix
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Posted: 9th Sep 2004 14:34
I dont even think you need to add anything else. This is a winner. Good job.

- Merix

Athlon xp 2400+, 1.0GB Ram, Radeon 9800PRO 128mb
zircher
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Posted: 9th Sep 2004 21:56
Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I do want to add scoring, replace the text with graphics, add a main menu, credits, and a bunch more levels, etc. Each level takes about a minute to blaze through, so I figure I need at least 10 levels (plus three additional 'freebie' rotations of each level) to make a full set.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Peter H
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Posted: 9th Sep 2004 23:27
ooh! oooh! make a pool level where you are on a pool table and you have to push the "berries" into the pockets!

"We make the worst games in the universe."

zircher
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Posted: 10th Sep 2004 01:03 Edited at: 10th Sep 2004 01:32
Excellent idea! I'll add that to my level wish list.

One of the things that I need to think about is how to end the game. Right now, you can play until dooms day. I'm thinking of changing the outer protective edges to dangerous slopes. You can then lose a life if your snake falls off the map. Perhaps losing points as well if you knock a berry off the map. That would add hazards to the map such as rivers and pits. Perhaps even moving objects that threaten to harm the snake or push it off the map would liven things up.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
teh game wiz
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Posted: 10th Sep 2004 01:53 Edited at: 10th Sep 2004 01:54
very good, i like it.

2 problems:
1) the snake doing its own thing can get a bit frustrating sometimes
2) some when i went into the berries they bounces away instead of the snake eating them.

otherwise i like it and would give it a score of about 9/10 once sounds etc.. have been addded

edit: o,yea i got 66 fps as well

zircher
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Posted: 10th Sep 2004 02:13 Edited at: 10th Sep 2004 02:23
Thanks for the good score.

Quote: "1) the snake doing its own thing can get a bit frustrating sometimes"


That's kind of the trade off between the exacting control of classic Snake and the snake simulator. Imagine if there is a chip implanted in the snake's brain and you can send it impulses via a remote control. The further away from the head and the less control of the snake you have.

Quote: "2) some when i went into the berries they bounces away instead of the snake eating them."


Aye, there are actually two collision zones in the snake's head. One for the front and another in the back of the head. So it is possible for a berry to hit the head and engage one collision zone without contacting the other. When I'm on a 'gorging run', I'll swing the snake's head left and right to sweep the berries in front of me. Chalk that up to technique. Now, if the berries are bouncing off the nose of the snake, that's a glitch I need to fix.
--
TAZ

[edit for typos]

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
ALPHA ZERO PRODUCTIONS
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Posted: 12th Sep 2004 12:35
nice demo

zircher
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Posted: 17th Sep 2004 23:53 Edited at: 26th Oct 2004 13:16
There's a new demo up, but it is really a buggy version that I posted for Walaber to take a look at.

[removed]

I've got several ideas that I need to implement this weekend to make a proper new demo release.

If you do want to play with it, Shift O and Shift L will reveal some beta code for displaying collision shapes using a beta of Walaber's visualizer update. It's all very beta, but if you do try it and find any weirdness, please let me know. On some machines, it will crash when you try to load level 4. Working on that...
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
PiratSS
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Posted: 18th Sep 2004 00:44
Wow so buggy.

First time I ran it, i collected a few berries then my snake start spinning vilontely in a black space.

I restartm then on the second level Xpos,Ypos and Zpos were 1.#QNAN. Everything was black too.
zircher
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Posted: 18th Sep 2004 06:02
Yeah, I've been getting my fair share of those as well. My name for the bug is worm holes since it sends you to another part of world space. I've got several ideas that I'm going to implement this weekend to see if it fixes the problem. Thanks for confirming it.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Kentaree
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Posted: 18th Sep 2004 07:07
I downloaded the non-buggy version, and I must say I like it a lot, it's very realistic indeed! My only gripe is the download size, damn 56k

I'd like to suggest the addition of a feature from the original, namely that if you bite yourself, you also die, it took me a while to get unwrapped when I tried

AMD Athlon XP2800+
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Dot Merix
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Posted: 18th Sep 2004 08:00
I downloaded the new one.. and i believe it was the forth level i finished.. Then when i pressed space bar it ended and i received a crash report in the folder..



Is this because there isnt a level past that point?

- Merix
zircher
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Posted: 18th Sep 2004 15:03
Thanks for the crash report, like 125 is the create tree collision call for Newton. It should not crash at the end but instead re-load the levels and rotate them 90 degrees to give you a new view on it.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Ilya
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Posted: 19th Sep 2004 01:07 Edited at: 19th Sep 2004 01:09
Screenshot of my current game of snake:
http://ilsoft.phoenixrising-web.com/ISnake/ss.gif
(Levels are bitmaps of any size)

Dot Merix
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Posted: 19th Sep 2004 01:21
Ilya, you really should create your own thread to show your game instead of taking over the attention of Zirchers, or even attempting to

- Merix
zircher
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Posted: 25th Sep 2004 04:24 Edited at: 26th Oct 2004 13:20
New WIP uploaded at the new download site.

[removed]

This program still has some 'issues', hopefully I'll get them ironed out. Walaber runs this on a faster machine and does not get the same problems, so it might be a CPU horsepower thing.

Added some soccer balls to the soccer field as obstables, made the snake more 'icy' in color, changed ball joint limits on the snake chain to improve its turning radius, finally got my bitmapped font to display properly.

Please download and test. Any info would be appreciated.
--
TAZ

PS: Arrow keys to move, control + arrows to roll, r for reset, l for line visualization, o for object visualization, f to toggle the FPS counter.

Due to my fairly weak development machine, this version runs in a small window. Time permitting, I'll give the users some display options or I'll optimize it for the contest machines.

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
zircher
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Posted: 28th Sep 2004 03:39
I've added two more levels and I think I have that pesky chaos bug beaten into submission. Please download the latest WIP and give it a test drive.

http://www.fire-on-the-suns.com/ice_snake.zip

If you blow the 60 second bonus timer, I've added a yellow pointer to help the players find any hidden berriers.

Levels 5 and 6 are tougher. Five is something of a challenge to beat within the time allowed. Level 6 is just downright deadly.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Ilya
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Posted: 28th Sep 2004 06:27
You should include the Newton dll in your program.

Ilya
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Posted: 28th Sep 2004 06:34 Edited at: 28th Sep 2004 06:38
The game's too easy. You don't die when you collide with yourself or other structures. And I found a bug:

On the level with 4(or more) structures, when you collide with one in a certain way, you see text like:

chaosX: 1.QNAN
chaosY: 1.QNAN
chaosZ: 1.QNAN

and the rest of the screen is black except for the 2d.

[EDIT]The level is the one after the soccer one.

Ilya
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Posted: 28th Sep 2004 06:42
And you should make the berries not spawn again when you lose a life.

zircher
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Posted: 28th Sep 2004 07:04
That chaos bug has been driving me nuts. I thought I got it. Thanks for finding it.

Yeah I know the game is pretty easy, I've been working on the technical parts and such. Level five has a grav lift, and level six is made up of bridges only. Right now, the game is more about speed and collecting points rather than survival. Although level six requires some good driving skills since it is not forgiving.

I'll add in the newton.dll ASAP. Thanks!
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
zircher
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Posted: 30th Sep 2004 06:04
Added a pool table level, fixed some glitches and tweaked some levels. I also removed the FPS limiting code to see how that affects game play. If you have a 2+ gig machine, I'd like to know what FPS you're getting (hit the 'f' key to activate the FPS counter.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Chris K
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Posted: 30th Sep 2004 06:06
Whoa.

The Snake category is looking pretty strongly contested.

Looks awesome though, good luck.

zircher
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Posted: 30th Sep 2004 07:34
Thanks! I hope to add at least three more theme levels, bonus scoring, and other game features before the deadline. I need to add more dynamic items to show off Newton as well.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Ilya
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Posted: 30th Sep 2004 07:43
Add people that you can poison.
When you poison them, you get 1000 points and lose 3 segments.
They should be limbed and running around.


zircher
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Posted: 30th Sep 2004 08:14
Interesting idea, but that's not really within the game space that I have in mind. I want to add some more more physics oriented levels as well as finish scoring for the sports levels. I actually want to add a second game that my son is working on so my time on ice snake is runnign short.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Crazy Programmer
AGK Developer
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Posted: 16th Oct 2004 07:41
nice game its coming along great

zircher
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Posted: 19th Oct 2004 02:14
Thanks, I've been busy with adding music*, sfx, and some internal logic. Not much that you can pick up from a screen shot, so I've been lazy with the updates.
--
TAZ

* I finally found a use for that old Ogg Vorbis code...

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Crazy Programmer
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Posted: 19th Oct 2004 12:26
hey i just saw tht u had a demo i tryed it its cool

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