The Probe

Everything about the modern clones and remakes.

Moderator: Admin

User avatar
paul_nicholls
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:16 am
Location: Tasmania, Australia

The Probe

Post by paul_nicholls »

Hey all,
I thought I'd share what I have been working on with my Boulder Dash inspired game called "The Probe"...

You can download an older, but more complete version of the game from here (Windows only ATM):

http://theprobegame.com

I wasn't happy with how the game physics was working, so I have gone 'back to basics', by creating a separate 'boulder dash' physics engine which I will then plug back into the main game when it is ready :)

Here is a video of the current engine in action (Dissolving some objects in acid):

http://fpc4gp2x.eonclash.com/videos/Pro ... otype.html

cheers,
Paul
User avatar
paul_nicholls
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:16 am
Location: Tasmania, Australia

Post by paul_nicholls »

hmm...it is fairly quiet around these forums lately LOL

cheers,
Paul
User avatar
Arno
Site Admin
Posts: 2826
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2007 2:26 pm
Location: netherlands
Contact:

Post by Arno »

paul_nicholls wrote:hmm...it is fairly quiet around these forums lately LOL
True, this forum is not the most active in the world. Not yet! :twisted:
But I'm following your work at the background, so thanks anyway for sharing your game and video! :)
User avatar
paul_nicholls
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:16 am
Location: Tasmania, Australia

Post by paul_nicholls »

Arno wrote:
paul_nicholls wrote:hmm...it is fairly quiet around these forums lately LOL
True, this forum is not the most active in the world. Not yet! :twisted:
But I'm following your work at the background, so thanks anyway for sharing your game and video! :)
Thanks for taking the time to watch the video Arno, and thanks for all your work with these forums and site :)

Did you get to try the game yet? Just curious if you did ;)

cheers,
Paul
User avatar
Arno
Site Admin
Posts: 2826
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2007 2:26 pm
Location: netherlands
Contact:

Post by Arno »

paul_nicholls wrote:Did you get to try the game yet? Just curious if you did ;)
Not yet... I will, if I find some time soon... ;)
User avatar
paul_nicholls
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:16 am
Location: Tasmania, Australia

Post by paul_nicholls »

I have just added the Teleporter Laser System (TLS) into the physics engine, so here is a video of the TLS in action (also available in HD too):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho_g9gB1KGM

cheers,
Paul
User avatar
CWS
Member
Posts: 429
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Austria - Europe

Post by CWS »

looks great! :) I hope there will be a playable version available soon!?
User avatar
paul_nicholls
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:16 am
Location: Tasmania, Australia

Post by paul_nicholls »

CWS wrote:looks great! :) I hope there will be a playable version available soon!?
Thanks mate :)

I will try and get a simple playable version up and running very soon...

cheers,
Paul
subotai
Member
Posts: 251
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 4:19 pm

Post by subotai »

Hello Paul,

Take your time before releasing it. The video looks very nice. You are right, the scrolling is a bit rough. Are you using QueryPerformanceCounter? If not, maybe this can help. Or try another version of the library, you are using. But as i already wrote: who cares, if the gameplay is good.

subotai
User avatar
paul_nicholls
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:16 am
Location: Tasmania, Australia

Post by paul_nicholls »

subotai wrote:Hello Paul,

Take your time before releasing it. The video looks very nice. You are right, the scrolling is a bit rough. Are you using QueryPerformanceCounter? If not, maybe this can help. Or try another version of the library, you are using. But as i already wrote: who cares, if the gameplay is good.

subotai
Hi subotai,
thanks for the kind words and the tip mate :) Just so you know, the scrolling in the video is rough because of the low FPS due to the video capturing :(

In the game itself, the scrolling is pretty smooth :)

cheers,
Paul
User avatar
paul_nicholls
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:16 am
Location: Tasmania, Australia

Post by paul_nicholls »

Hey all,
hopefully in the next few days I will be able to upload a simple playable version of The Probe in it's latest form (with new physics engine) so you all can try it out :)

It will come with some test levels that you can drag/drop over the .exe file to load them up and try them. There won't be any menus yet, and some of the effects won't be there yet like when you teleport items there are no graphical/sfx yet but it does work.

I will include a simple help document so you know about what items/objects there are and what the objectives are in the game :)

There will be a Windows 32 bit version first, but a Linux version (tested under Ubuntu 11.04) will come too so people with a Linux distro and no windows one can try it out...

Stay tuned! :D

cheers,
Paul
subotai
Member
Posts: 251
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 4:19 pm

Post by subotai »

Sounds very promising. I'm already curious about it. :D
User avatar
paul_nicholls
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:16 am
Location: Tasmania, Australia

Post by paul_nicholls »

Finally, I have uploaded a test version of The Probe to my DropBox folder:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1805932/TheProbe_Game.7z (2.46MB, Windows version only right now...Ubuntu version coming soon!)

Just unzip it to some location, it doesn't need installing.

If you don't get any sound, you need to install OpenAL...
http://connect.creativelabs.com/openal/ ... Items.aspx

It includes a help file .pdf, and the executable even has various extra modes like an Editor mode, fullscreen mode, and stand-alone level mode!

Please read the help document first, and then try it.

The in-game menu doesn't have some options working so they are greyed out for now (load custom levels, help, and options).

Please give me some feed back as to what you think so far, and if you feel so inclined, even try making some levels using the editor so I can try them out. If the levels are good enough I might include them in the final game as one of the 'campaign' levels!

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Paul
User avatar
paul_nicholls
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:16 am
Location: Tasmania, Australia

Post by paul_nicholls »

I will try and upload an updated version (new file) with some changes tonight that you can try...but in the meanwhile, please enjoy this one!

cheers,
Paul
User avatar
paul_nicholls
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:16 am
Location: Tasmania, Australia

Post by paul_nicholls »

Here is the latest version:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1805932/TheProb ... 2.15%29.7z (2.82MB, Win32)

and the change log details for this version:

Version: 2011.12.15
* Change - Added in support for numberpad enter key with menus.
* Change - Made cursor always appear when in menu mode.
* Change - Displays version number in game to help debugging issues.
* Change - Added game controller support with menus (up, down, fire).
* Change - Updated "The Probe_Help.pdf" to include extra in-game controls and editor todo list.
* Fix - Stopped TLS beam and other things updating when doors opening/closing.
* Fix - Changed when doors can open/close so they operate at the correct times.
* Fix - Fixed bug when game mode didn't go to "player dead" when player killed by acid.
* Fix - Fixed bug when teleported player's health became 100%
Enjoy :)

cheers,
Paul
Post Reply