Homebrew Fireworlds - A DS platformer/puzzle game. (DS Entry)

[ferofax]

How did I manage to not have heard of this before ? It really looks awesome, I'm gonna try this as soon as I can

^THIS.

I've seen the video, and I can't believe this is just a DS homebrew. It seriously looks like something that would thrive on the eShop. TC should definitely consider it there. Hell, if it needed to be Kickstarted, I'm in.

EDIT: Just played it. Dammit, I'm impressed. Gravity switching device! I see what you did there! I got up to 29, I'd have played it through to 36 if I remembered to read, LOL.

 

[Dirbaio]

Thanks everyone for your support!

Also I wanted to point out that there's a walkthrough of it, made by Ray. It's Fireworlds 1.0, but the levels are all the same.
Can be useful if you get stuck on a level





(There's an easier way to beat Level 36 than what he did)

And I'm looking for suggestions on stuff to add for future updates

 

[conner]

the lag isn't fixed in v1.1

 

[Dirbaio]

the lag isn't fixed in v1.1

Really? I played through all the levels and couldn't notice lag at all.
Could you specify in which level(s) it happens?

(If you're playing on an emulator, lag is normal and it's unfixable. Unless you have a supercomputer, it will lag. I'm talking about lag on a real DS)

 

[Cyan]

And I'm looking for suggestions on stuff to add for future updates

Maybe a way to download new level directly from your website, and make the level editor upload/update them directly to server too?
I guess there won't be a lot of users which will create levels or use online feature, but that could be useful. (level could be stored in memory without being saved as a file on the SD? a "Try it online" feature)
Another game I played from the bounty had very few users playing online/submitting levels (even though it had level editor/submit/download in game)

I see on git that you updated the level editor.
I tested only the old one. will you add some of the idea I made on the previous page? (mainly right-click and menu to edit and move elements)


I don't have any idea for in-game features, maybe other users will have some ideas.

 

[Dirbaio]

The online level thing is a nice idea. I'm not sure if I'll implement it because I've always had tons of trouble with DSWifi, but I'll have a look. Maybe a way of downloading map-packs to SD, and then the Play menu would choose the map-pack.

And I haven't updated the editor, it's still the old shitty editor
I changed a couple of lines in the code to fix a bug that would allow one to create "flat" polygons that were impossible to remove. That's all.

And yeah, I will try to convert it into a usable editor...

 

[conner]

Really? I played through all the levels and couldn't notice lag at all.
Could you specify in which level(s) it happens?

(If you're playing on an emulator, lag is normal and it's unfixable. Unless you have a supercomputer, it will lag. I'm talking about lag on a real DS)

it was on the ds lite and i don't know what levels but it got all slow-mo on me

 

[conner]

And I'm looking for suggestions on stuff to add for future updates [/quote]

you should add a way to know what level youre onor lock the next level until
you beat the one before

 

[siutyourself]

I don't know if it's been reported or not but I found a bug at level 30 (the one with the gravity switching device). The bug happens when you jump at the same time the gravity switches and then you'll pass through the upper wall and thus won't be able to finish the level. It's not a big deal but a bug's a bug so yeah...

 

[Dirbaio]

I don't know if it's been reported or not but I found a bug at level 30 (the one with the gravity switching device). The bug happens when you jump at the same time the gravity switches and then you'll pass through the upper wall and thus won't be able to finish the level. It's not a big deal but a bug's a bug so yeah...

Oh yeap you're right... In fact there's many places where it's possible to go through walls..
It has two solutions. One is making the walls thicker. (lol). And the other one is actually improving the collision code so it isn't vulnerable to these "ball-goes-too-fast" problems.
The whole collision physics code should be improved a lot..

About the next update, here's one thing I'm planning to implement: Super Mario Galaxy-like gravity zones! This will allow for crazy levels with crazy gravities, not just one level with one gravity style!
I'll also add enemies or something. And sound effects. Wow there's so many things...

 

[Cyan]

multiple gravity per level with a limited range? that sound awesome.
Enemies (water based) would be hard to add? they need move/attack AI.

Good luck with that update

 

[relminator]

Db: I thought your made a version using a physics lib?

How about doing a 'swept' test for the line to circle collisions in your projection tests?

 

[qweasd123]

I tried to play it on my DSi and Acekard 2i but it has really low fps. :|

 

[Dirbaio]

Db: I thought your made a version using a physics lib?

How about doing a 'swept' test for the line to circle collisions in your projection tests?

I got Box2D working on the NDS (there's a test of it some pages back) but it's very CPU hungry... I'd probably need to have the game run at 30FPS instead of 60 to get it working properly...
But using it would allow for *rotation* of boxes and all... It'd be cool.

Alternatives are improving the collision tests... Or using thicker walls (LOL)

I tried to play it on my DSi and Acekard 2i but it has really low fps. :|

Hmm.. How "low FPS"? The game runs slowly?
It's very weird. The only reason I can think for that is that it can't read fast enough from card to stream the music... But that'd mean VERY SLOW.
Could you do some test thing to see what's the read speed?

 

[qweasd123]

The game runs slowly?

Yes, it is like... slow-motion.

And yeah, I think that it's possible that my card has low write/read speeds.
How do I test them?

 

[Dirbaio]

Is it slow motion *everywhere* or in particular levels/places?
Also, I dunno if there's a way to test DLDI speed. There's a DLDI tester but it doesn't test speed I think.
Can you try with another MicroSD card, or another flashcart, or both?

 

[Fiachra]

Maybe you've accidently pressed 'L'. The 'L' button toggles slow/normal speed.

 

[relminator]

I got Box2D working on the NDS (there's a test of it some pages back) but it's very CPU hungry... I'd probably need to have the game run at 30FPS instead of 60 to get it working properly...
But using it would allow for *rotation* of boxes and all... It'd be cool.

Why don't you use SAT?

http://back2basic.phatcode.net/?Issue_#1:2D_Convex_Polygon_Collision_using_SAT

It would allow for rotations and any size convex polygons and you could do some physics with the MTV it returns.
I made that tutorial for a BASIC emag but it should be easy to read. I also made a working fixed point version somewhere in my maze of a site. ;*)

 

[Dirbaio]

Maybe you've accidently pressed 'L'. The 'L' button toggles slow/normal speed.

Oh SHIT. I forgot to disable that in the release. It's supposed to be for debugging only. I didn't even remember it was there, probably because the L button in my DS is not working. (L/R buttons in DS Lites suck, they always break)

Why don't you use SAT?

http://back2basic.phatcode.net/?Issue_#1:2D_Convex_Polygon_Collision_using_SAT

It would allow for rotations and any size convex polygons and you could do some physics with the MTV it returns.
I made that tutorial for a BASIC emag but it should be easy to read. I also made a working fixed point version somewhere in my maze of a site. ;*)

Ooh that tutorial. I remember seeing it some time ago. Now that I looked at it again I see it could help me improve collisions quite a lot. I'll have a look at implementing it! Thanks a lot!
Still, to add rotation to physics there's much tricker stuff than collisions... Angular momentums and torques and all that... For example, to get a ball rolling down a slope, or stuff like that..

 

[qweasd123]

Maybe you've accidently pressed 'L'. The 'L' button toggles slow/normal speed.

You were right. Thanks.