Super Elvis goes into beta

[princec]

Super Elvis is finally finished, a laughable failure in 80-hour game development it has taken nearly as long as Alien Flux to write.

Things you should know:
- You will need Java 1.4 or later installed.
- Mac version not ready yet so don't even try it.
- Otherwise should work on Win32 and Linux
- Requires OpenGL1.1 drivers or above.
- Requires 700MHz processor or above
- Requires 64MB of RAM
- No, we haven't given it a proper ICO yet, nor a loading splash
- No, it's not signed yet, I've got no money, so just trust me
- If when you click below you just get some wierdy XML file it means that you need to (re)install your JVM.

http://67.18.194.226/downloads/superelvis.jnlp

Let me know what you think. Might be interesting to compare the configurations it gives you here too (number of free levels and discount are the two easily discernible ones). Free codes to all you devs when I get the reg. server up and running over the weekend.

Cas :)

[luggage]

When I click on the link it opens a browser window and a "java loading" message appears. Then it just says...

"Unable to launch the specified application".

No idea why.

scott

[Dan MacDonald]

I think java webstart's user expirence is horridly broken, however the game is oddly mind sucking. I can't start it up without playing at least 10 levels before quitting.

[tolik]

Since it does use OpenGL, I can't play it. Still can't install GeForce OpenGL drivers on my Win2k dev station. It does work like 2fps.

[princec]

Is there not a details tab somewhere on the Webstart launch error with an exception stacktrace in it?

emuLynx - do you why are you unable to install drivers?

Cas :)

[princec]

I've found one bug already - clicking Buy Now doesn't bring the Buy Now window to the front! You have to alt-tab just to see it. Whoops! :eek:

Cas :)

[luggage]

oops. didn't see that somehow!

General

An error occurred while launching/running the application.

Category: Invalid Argument error

Could not load file/URL specified: C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\6UEX5P8M\superelvis[1].jnlp

Exception

CouldNotLoadArgumentException[ Could not load file/URL specified: C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\6UEX5P8M\superelvis[1].jnlp]

at com.sun.javaws.Main.main(Unknown Source)

Wrapped Exception

java.io.FileNotFoundException: C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\6UEX5P8M\superelvis[1].jnlp (The system cannot find the file specified)

at java.io.FileInputStream.open(Native Method)

at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)

at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)

at com.sun.javaws.jnl.LaunchDescFactory.buildDescript or(Unknown Source)

at com.sun.javaws.Main.main(Unknown Source)

[luggage]

ack! that didn't appear as neat as I thought it would. Sorry for destroying the thread :)

[luggage]

I did click the link you posted to it in another thread before and didn't notice any windows as it opened in the background. I may well have shut my machined own after that hence why it's a superelvis[1].jnlp.

I'm guessing just clearing the cache will fix it?

[tolik]

Is there not a details tab somewhere on the Webstart launch error with an exception stacktrace in it?

emuLynx - do you why are you unable to install drivers?

Cas :)

I have no idea why I don't have OpenGL acceleration, I've tried to reinstall them couple of times without any success.

[princec]

Probably. I have to say that the integration with internet explorer seems a bit "iffy". What version of Java do you have?

Cas :)

[princec]

You probably need to uninstall the previous drivers first. Then maybe run a Detonator Killer utility to get rid of any pesky nvidia dlls that interfere with each other, and then install some drivers. Some time back Nvidia released a batch of drivers that broke all their later drivers - woops!

It's well worth getting this sorted because there are an awful lot of OpenGL games you're missing out on.

Cas :)

[oNyx]

<offline-allowed/>

Shalt be removed. That makes beta testing easier, because javaws will then always check if there's a new version ;)

[Mike Boeh]

First of all, I think the game is very well done, and should do a lot better than Alien Flux. The controls are simple and the theme is fun. I enjoyed playing it, and anyone who knows me also knows that I don't hand out compliments very often!

I'd be concerned about so many people being unable to run it though.

[princec]

I wouldn't worry too much about that at this stage. I'm more or less making a deliberate attempt to exclude people in order to include certain others. And there will likely be an independently installable Win32 exe at some point but not before I've finished the Webstart experiment.

Cas :)

[tolik]

It's well worth getting this sorted because there are an awful lot of OpenGL games you're missing out on.
Cas :)

Like 5 games? Really.

[oNyx]

Like 5 games? Really.

All quake engine games, all doom3 engine games, all games made with ptk, gish...

Well, if you want to use a broken system. Fine. Really ;)

[Nutter2000]

Couple of things I found;

1) When you run the game for the first time, Super Elvis starts up as well as another window from webstart asking if you want to integrate it into the desktop.
This other window gets focus and when you go back to the Super Elvis app it's lost it's surface, i.e. black screen no visuals, sound plays , esc still quits out as per usual
2) When you play a level, the instructions/title whatever it is that appears just before the levels starts disappears way too fast to read. i.e. level selection screen -> click on a level -> screen changes and some text appears but disappears too fast too read -> level begins

my system:
AMD Athlon XP 2400+
1Gb ram
nForce2 mobo
ATi Radeon 9700 pro
Win XP Pro with SP2
IE 6

Hope that helps

[simonh]

I just got a black screen with music playing in the background. Previous versions have worked fine.

[svero]

Well I really like the game. I think the java webstart stuff is horrible as well of course. The fact that so many people have trouble either downloading or running the game would concern me as well.

[papillon]

Controls - confusing on first play. Tended to just get shooting in one direction and keep it that way rather than try to work out how to both move and shoot in multiple directions.

Clicking on a level to go to would result in large lag, then the level starting up too quickly. I played several rooms before knowing there WAS any explanation text on entering a new room, and I was *never* able to read it... I only saw a flicker of something word-shaped in the center of the picture for a frame or so once or twice. So all the rest of my confusion about how to play may boil down to not being able to read the directions.

[patrox]

Like 5 games? Really.

Soon 6 ( with super elvis ) :D

pat.

[aduro]

ran fine for me. i really like the visuals and effects.

[Schik]

I clicked on the link, and it warned me not to run it. I ran it anyways, and it started downloading and installing stuff. It all looked like it was going fine. Then my screen changed resolution. Okay, the game's starting! Then I was dropped back to my desktop, and all of my windows were resized to tiny little windows. :eek:

[princec]

I need system specs and logs folks! "It didn't work" won't help me fix it for ya! Logs can be found in docs & settings\blah\Super Elvis 1.0 and if you know how you can enable further logging in Java Webstart using the control panel.

Cas :)

[Schik]

Logs can be found in docs & settings\blah\Super Elvis 1.0Oh, I didn't see you mention that earlier, nor do I know anything about enabling debugging in java.

I made the bad assumption that if I didn't meet the requirements, Super Elvis would let me know that in a nice way. I googled for the java 1.4 download (for others who don't have it - you can get it at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html), installed it, and now the game runs.

Edit: Okay, I've played through the 9 levels it allowed me to, with no further problems. The price it offered me was $9.95. It's fun - it reminds me of Dr. Lunatic Supreme With Cheese.

[Midnight Synergy]

Oh man, Cas, the controls are horrible - you gotta change that!!!



:D Just kidding!



The game is quite fun, and the production values are great - love the groovy look! My biggest concern would be the time it takes to get the game started. I had to install Java 1.4 first - thanks Shick for the link! Then restart the system. Then load again - it crashed as it was almost done. Tried again, loaded up... lots of little warning boxes. Then finally desktop changes and off we go.

That's a lot of roadblocks for things to go wrong, or people to decide it's not worth bothering with. The more you can automate this process, the better. I'm fairly computer sophisticated (*ahem*) but I'm no java expert, and if I had just seen this on a games website, I don't think I would have gone all the way (esp. after the first crash). I'm worried that any non-expert gamer without the proper system setup will never get to try the demo. I'm sure you are aware of this difficulty, but I not it is something you really need to think about streamlining as much as possible.

Otherwise, again, very fun game! Best of luck with it.

Patrick

[tolik]

LISTEN PEOPLE GET YOUR JAVA UP AND PLAY IT
(hehe)

This game is damn addictive as PomPom creations!
It's very polished, it's very attractive and it really has style and feel.
The gameplay is just genious, it's an essence of the SHMUPs connected with Smash TV or something plus some kind of storyline!

And don't push space which completes a level for some reason.


I would buy it in couple of days when I'll be able to run it on more computers (I'll have to check my notebook). I can't set up OpenGL on work machine, but at home machine which is just Win2k/P3-800/256/GF5200MX it runs fast and smooth. And fun!

I wouldn't comment on any game features, I liked everything, especially weird control system, I remember some game having similar controls to it.

[Mark Fassett]

The game was fun. I like it much better than Alien Flux. However, I think you need to come up with some more control options. I really hated the method for picking the direction to shoot. I don't think there's any way to get away from having the mouse move the player, but how about an option to use the arrow keys (or some player selected keys) for shooting?

[Dan MacDonald]

It's funny, Cas you just had to get your "multiple frames of refrence" gameplay in there... didn't you? The "eye" level is oddly reminicent of playing alien flux with the origional controls, puts me in the same state of mind anyway ;)

[svero]

I think you really need to compile this into an exe. The webstart tech just isnt there yet. It's not smooth and inviting. It will be a huge deterrent to sales.

[stan]

I just thought I'd mention that with Microsoft's java installed (I think), Netscape 7 just asks me where I want to save the .jnlp file or with which app I want to open it...

I want to try this game though :) so I'll probably (re)install Sun's JVM. I hate Java. Currently have 2 different versions of Sun's JVM installed according to the control panel, one of which can't be removed, and Microsoft's JVM was installed afterwards because of some stupid web site that required it... and nothing works anyway (well, not the games, at least).

I'm really interested in the random demo features feature :), as I'm planning to do something like that (though probably on a smaller scale).

[Chris Evans]

I really want to play this game, but it won't work on all three of my machines.

On my two Windows machines, it doesn't recognize the file type and even on my Mac I get a Java Web Start error - "Invalid Argun Unable to launch Super Elvis".

I know very little about Java Web Start, so I went to your website to find some info about what I need to run this game. I couldn't find any info about getting Java Web Start to work.

I agree with Svero, you really should provide an .exe as well. At the very least have an Idiot's step-by-step guide on how to get the game to run for people like me.

[Diragor]

This is my first Java Webstart experience and it was pretty ugly. I didn't even get the game running.

I installed Sun's JRE and rebooted, came back here and clicked on the link. I could see that it downloaded several things, at least one 9+ MB file, though I don't know where it put the stuff. Got a couple warnings about installing things and chose the "yes" options. The I got a black screen for maybe 15-20 seconds and finally my firewall popped a dialog about Java connecting to puppygames. I let it go through but there was no indication that anything was happening after that except superelvis showing up in Task Manager (Windows XP, SP2). I killed it, came back and clicked the link again. A couple loading dialogs, a black screen for a short time then the game's main menu came up. From there I couldn't make anything happen. I saw the yellow cursor in the middle of the screen but my mouse didn't work, neither did my joystick (USB Adaptoid with an N64 controller) and I couldn't find any keyboard keys that would make anything happen except CTRL-ALT-DEL when I finally resorted to that.

So, I'm interested in checking out the game but I can't. If I were a potential customer (and maybe I am), this is about where I'd give up.

System details: Windows XP SP2, Java runtime: j2re-1_4_2_05-windows-i586-p.exe, Athlon XP 3200+, 1GB memory, plenty of free hd space, Radeon 9700 Pro with very recent drivers (Catalyst 4.9 - I think I'm one release back, maybe a month or two ago).

[oNyx]

>and even on my Mac

The mac version isn't there yet.

>At the very least have an Idiot's step-by-step guide on how to get the game
>to run for people like me.

-Install java. www.java.com (upper right corner)
-Click the jnlp link

That's about it... if you have proper drivers and if you don't get that black screen bug (it's a newly introduced bug in lwjgl, which appears [afaik] only on win98 - should be fixed soon).

[Sillysoft]

>and even on my Mac

The mac version isn't there yet.
I know that there are some reasons why the mac version isn't there yet. However I would just like to point out that every single mac comes with a JVM installed. And it gets updated to the most recent version by the built-in software update. And macusers and generally starved for games (in comparison to windows folk). And there is a grand tradition of shareware on the mac platform. Lastly, I have a mac and would like to try out Super Elvis :D

So get it working on macs eventually. It will be worth your while.

[oNyx]

Ye, well the porting work for the mac version of lwjgl is already on it's way. It should be done pretty soon now™ ;)

[arcadetown]

First off Cas... you know I'm a hard core Java guy and got Java 1.4 with webstart, OpenGL, yada yada yada. Yet I can't get it to run. Something's up.

Saw the following very non-user friendly messages when trying to launch it. Typical Sun we've got our heads so far up our asses techie messages that we want to scrare off every average joe that touches your stuff and we don't care attitude.

Non-user friendly msg1 (http://www.arcadetown.com/temp/a.jpg)
Non-user friendly msg2 (http://www.arcadetown.com/temp/b.jpg)
Non-user friendly msg3 (http://www.arcadetown.com/temp/c.jpg)

After clicking those buttons the game came up. The rollovers on the main menu appeared mapped to the wrong buttons. When clicked "play" button it did nothing and acutally highlighted another button. Quite odd.

[Dan MacDonald]

What is that "Legion of the bouncy castle" thing.. i pretty much resigned myself to installing any and all spyware when I clicked OK on that one. I never would have clicked Ok if I didn't know cas personally...

[arcadetown]

Tried again few minutes later and worked great. Just add a little lsd and presto... Super Elvis baby!! Pretty cool and unique once it gets running. If can figure out those prior techie issues bet would be really awesome.

[arcadetown]

What is that "Legion of the bouncy castle" thing..
Shoot if one turns into a Super Elvis and shoots magic mushrooms about my bet is they've met the The Legion of Bouncy Castle in person. Ok Brian puts his last drink for the night down and goes to sleep :)

[oNyx]

That bouncy castle stuff is a crypto extension, used for the ingame purchase mechanism. I'm wondering if there's a way for not installing it as an extension... that would be one warning message less.

[SonSon]

And for the people like me who doesn't want to install all this improbable stuff, is it possible to view some screens? :)

[princec]

No screenies just yet :)

To all worrying about clicking on scary dialogs - stop worrying, it ain't signed yet! When the application's signed then it'll just be saying something nice about me, just like Windows XP is going to be doing.

I'm trying to figure out a way to remove the Bouncy Castle Crypto library. I might just get rid of ingame purchase if it proves to be a hassle. All I needed it for was RSA encryption (which amazingly is not available except in the very latest JRE, which btw. folks is 1.5, and has a rather nicer webstart interface!)

Sorry about some of the glitches at startup, this is largely due to a regression in the LWJGL which was introduced cleverly about 24hrs before I released the beta. Rats.

There will be a Win32 exe, have no fear.

And the Mac port is coming along nicely.

Thanks for testing so far!

Cas :)

[Nutter2000]

To be fair, static screenshots really wouldn't do the game justice

hehe Java is getting like DirectX where you have to download the latest version to run the latest games :p

That Bouncy Castle library dialog is mad!
Why on earth have they signed it as "The legion of bouncy castle" it just worries and confuses people, if you can't get rid of the dialog Cas then you really need to get rid of the library.

[princec]

Ahaaa, and I've just found out that the Bouncy Castle library doesn't work anyway!! It's restricted by the default Java security policy! Back to the drawing board.

Cas :)

[Nutter2000]

Job done then :D

of course you /could/ have just claimed you were taking it out of your game to enhance the customer experience and we'd have all been impressed ;)

[20thCenturyBoy]

Downloaded 9MB in 3mins on my 512Kb broadband. Unfortunately Java Webstart hung while stating "Starting application...". I am using JRE 1.4.2_04.
I can't even close JWS without shutting down the javaw.exe process. Sigh. There's always something that goes wrong with my Java experience...

[princec]

Just run it again.

Or wait a day or so and we'll have the Win32 version up.

Cas :)

[oNyx]

>Unfortunately Java Webstart hung while stating "Starting application...". I am
>using JRE 1.4.2_04.

Uhm... actually it didn't hung. 1.4.x's javaws client has a bug... they used null as parent for the (modal) dialogs, which is quite frankly a newbe mistake. Well, if you don't wait for it to finish and click on other stuff in the taskbar... and then later back to javaws... the javaws won't be able to tell the dialog to grab the focus. So, you have to minimize all applications one after another until you can see the security warning and/or create shortcut dialog.

Fortunately they fixed that with 1.5.

[Martoon]

First of all, Cas, thanks a lot for making me late to work. I was actually going to get to work early this morning, then Super Elvis happened, and I ended up being late. :)

I installed it on my WinXP laptop and my Win2k desktop, and didn't have any serious trouble, but I think the Windows exe is going to be much more palatable to typical users. On the Win2k machine, Web Start showed the progress bar and which files it was transferring, but on the XP machine, it just showed the dialog box with an empty progress bar and no file info, and the dialog box was frozen (I couldn't drag it, no response to clicks etc.), but after a long wait, it was suddenly done (with the usual authorization prompts).

On both machines, it gave me nine levels. On the XP machine, it gave me a price of 4.95 (for all currencies) and on the 2k machine it gave me 14.95 (for all currencies). Let me know if there's any other log files or info you'd like.

As for the game itself, I love it. The only bug I noticed was what papillon mentioned, where the text at the beginning of a level appears so briefly that I have no chance of reading it (this happens on both machines).

I really like the grid-based level progression. This seems like it could be interesting with the full version, when deciding on the progression path to choose the levels you want to practice. I'm assuming the difficulty increases as you advance outward from the center?

It only took me a few seconds to figure out the "lock-the-firing-direction" controls, but I could see that this might be confusing for people who don't play as many of these types of games, expecially casual gamers. Once I saw how it worked, I did have some minor trouble getting it firing the direction I wanted. I think one thing that would help this significantly is if there was a really obvious visual indicator of which direction you're facing. I know the Elvis character points, but that's too small of a detail in a fast-action game like this. The projectiles take time to accelerate, so you can't use them as an immediate visual cue. There needs to be something like an alpha-blended bar extending from the character to off the edge of the screen in the direction he's facing. As the game is now, I often think I've locked firing in one direction, only to realize (too late) that I'm firing in a different direction. A really obvious visual indicator would take care of this. But overall, I like the controls.

I really enjoy the challenge of having to figure out what the objective is on each level. I could see that this might frustrate a few people, but I think a lot of people (like myself) will have a lot of fun with this.

The only major quibble I have with the gameplay is that the audio-visual effect that happens when I grab one of the "special items" is way to similar to the effect that happens when I take damage. They both involve the screen flashing, and even the sound effects aren't entirely dissimilar. For the first few levels I played, I was confused about when a good thing happened and when a bad thing happened. Even now that I'm consciously aware of the difference, it still "feels" like something bad has happened whenever I grab a special item. I think it would be much clearer (and feel more satisfying) if grabbing a special item played a sample of a deep voice saying "Groovy!", and the word "Groovy" appeared in psychodelic colors then faded, or something like that (anything distinctly different from the damage effect - that screen flashing and noise sound just make me feel like I'm taking damage).

I'm assuming the final release won't complete a level when you hit the spacebar, and won't immediately bail to the desktop when you hit escape?

Overall, I really, really like this game, and I'm definitely looking forward to the final version (and my reg code :) ). A fun concept, and a nicely polished presentation (love the funky look of the game). Very nice work!

[arcadetown]

Overall the concept is really different and pretty cool. Think maybe you could roll even further with the Elvis concept to really emotionally connect people to your game. For example, when pick up an item he could say "Thank you very much" or "Whoa momma". Plus maybe the squares on the main board as you complete each level reveal a piece of a screen shot that shows Elvis in some kind of cool pose.

[princec]

Believe me, I'd have liked to put a bit more of The King into the game but unfortunately what with the litigious nature of mercenary businesses these days I expected to be staring down the barrel of a lawsuit from some entrepreneurial rat.

Cas :)

[princec]

Ok folks, here's a Win32 executable version of the game!

http://67.18.194.226/downloads/SetupSuperElvisDemo.exe 8.1mb - Java too big indeed. Tsk!

Notes:
- No JVM needed
- Will give you a different selection of levels and discount
- The Buy Now button won't do anything. Have to do some PHP...

Cas :)

[Greg Squire]

No screenies just yet :)

To all worrying about clicking on scary dialogs - stop worrying, it ain't signed yet! When the application's signed then it'll just be saying something nice about me, just like Windows XP is going to be doing.

I'm trying to figure out a way to remove the Bouncy Castle Crypto library. I might just get rid of ingame purchase if it proves to be a hassle. All I needed it for was RSA encryption (which amazingly is not available except in the very latest JRE, which btw. folks is 1.5, and has a rather nicer webstart interface!)

Sorry about some of the glitches at startup, this is largely due to a regression in the LWJGL which was introduced cleverly about 24hrs before I released the beta. Rats.

There will be a Win32 exe, have no fear.

And the Mac port is coming along nicely.

Thanks for testing so far!

Cas :)

Whew! Thanks for clearing that one up on the "Bouncy Castle" thing. I was wondering if it was going to be installing spyware or porno or something. I ran fine on my system once you went through the install hastle. The graphics are great, and it's somewhat addictive. Great Job, Cas!

[Martoon]

Ok folks, here's a Win32 executable version of the game!

http://67.18.194.226/downloads/SetupSuperElvisDemo.exe 8.1mb - Java too big indeed. Tsk!

Notes:
- No JVM needed
- Will give you a different selection of levels and discount
- The Buy Now button won't do anything. Have to do some PHP...

Cas :)

Ahh, that's a much nicer install process. I got the same levels and discount as I did with the Web Start version, but that's probably just coincidence.

Really looking forward to the full version of this!

[simonh]

I got it working and have to say I enjoyed playing it. The presentation and visual effects are top-notch, and I really like the structure of the game with the grid.

Well done :)

[Escotia]

Just got an Antec cooler for my notebook and was finally able to play it without my machine switching itself off.

I quite like it. Not in that Burnout3 adrenalin rush sort of way but more of a 'wait a second - how did I lose there? I better have another go' kind of way. I played the demo to the end.

Aiming can be a bit hit or miss. Not sure if there's anything you can do there though or if it just needs practice on the user's part.

When the level starts I also see the hint appear but for such a short time that I can't read it. I think a lot of the fun is working out how to complete each level though. A shoot 'em up puzzler! I especially enjoyed working out the pac-man level where I had to shoot the pill to make the ghosts go blue before I could shoot them. They turned back to yellow a little quick for my liking but I completed the level so I should stop complaining...

I got redirected to a crash error page after competing the demo and quitting out normally. As mentioned above, the previous play had ended in my machine switching off from overheating.

[princec]

Thanks, glad you like it. Next version out will fix the one-line help text bug and also a bug allowing you to get stuck at the edges of the screen (woops). And it'll have the registration and buy now stuff in it too.

Cas :)

[svero]

I think you should ad a Beatles and Led Zepplin mode.

[Addictive 247]

Just played it and I think it's cool, whacky and completely original :)
Great production values and visually stunning. I love the different ideas behind the different levels i.e. Pacman, Binary and Pool Table :cool:

The only thing I'd like to see is louder in-game music.

[princec]

svero's suggested I put a volume slider in the options. Might well put it in sometime but not sure when. Getting sick of coding it.

Cas :)

[Scorpio]

Hey Cas, I've been looking forward to trying your game but I just get a white screen (with music) when I run it (I'm using the Windows EXE installer). If I hit escape a few times I can get it to exit.

I'm running a "stock" SiS system with most everything on the motherboard (I like to keep it stock for testing purposes).

Are there any startup options I can tweak (maybe to force it to run in a window?).

Let me know, thanks.
-Scorpio

[princec]

No! Your SiS card is worthless. Take it out of your machine, smash it into little bits, and throw the bits out of a window, and then go outside and jump up and down on them. Then buy yourself a secondhand GeForce for $10, and I'll give you all my games for free if you tell me what you bought :)

That's the same deal I offer all my customers with crapcake video cards.

Cas :)

[Dan MacDonald]

Running SiS is like running an old Matrox or voodoo, they really suck. It's amazing the amount of games that wont run on them.

[Scorpio]

Running SiS is like running an old Matrox or voodoo, they really suck. It's amazing the amount of games that wont run on them.I need to make sure HipSoft games run properly...so I keep my system stock with the SiS stuff, even tho it's crap (HipSoft can't tell its customers to buy new hardware :) I have a GeForce4 on my shelf, but it's still in the shrink-wrap. :)

I'll see if I can try it on our artists machine as the game sounds like fun.

(Dan, I did get to play the web version of Little Soldiers on grab.com...it's a lot of fun...nice work!)
-Scorpio

[Dan MacDonald]

Thanks! ;)

[princec]

HipSoft can't tell its customers to buy new hardware :)
-Scorpio
Hence the offer I make to customers: upgrade your hardware and I give 'em the game for free! Can't say fairer than that :D Anybody else do this?

Cas :)

[Scorpio]

Hence the offer I make to customers: upgrade your hardware and I give 'em the game for free! Can't say fairer than that :DI agree that it's a very fair offer. Upgrading hardware is just not something that most of our customers are capable of doing themselves. I'll throw something better in my machine at home since I don't do much development at home these days :)
-Scorpio

[stan]

I tried the exe version and it crashed on the first try just after setting the resolution to 800x600 (I can tell because that's the desktop resolution after the reboot...). Then after the reboot, it ran fine.

Hm... Ah yes, I alt-tabbed and then after going back to the game, the screen was black. Sound still playing. I tried clicking, alt-tabbing again but no luck. That's actually about the same thing that happens with my (OpenGL) game when I reduce it (except with my game the display isn't black, but trashed).

This is under win98se and with not-the-latest-but-not-very-old Radeon drivers. Actually I downloaded them on the 25th of august. 512 MB RAM, Athlon 850, Radeon 9200 SE 128MB.

And then, after pressing ESC about 10 times hoping to exit the game, it tried to open an internet connection, then launched netscape 7 to report the crash. On the support page, the text reads "First we need to know your graphics card", but I don't see anything on the page where to enter or select a card.

As far as the game is concerned, it's very nice. Great graphics, sounds, usability (though it wasn't easy to shoot in the good direction). It's not entirely the kind of games I like, but as others have said the different rules in every room make it interesting :).

Edit: ah, forgot one thing: please don't name the installer "SetupSuperElvis.exe", but "SuperElvisSetup.exe"! Thanks ;)

And BTW, I agree with another poster that it's not easy to understand when you're winning and when you're being hit, at first... Though one could say it's part of the "guess what to do" challenge. This didn't annoy me.

[stan]

I was stuck in the Binary level (I think I figured out what to do, but it's too difficult :p), pressed ESC, and the game exited at once.

The readme says "in case of crash, please include the two log files", but I can only see log.dat.

Ah, and I realize it's the first time I see the outro nag screen :). Offered me to buy the 56 other levels and global high score table for 4.95. (I wonder who's going to buy it for 4.95 GBP when it's available for 4.95 USD!)

Hm, maybe I like this game after all ;)

[princec]

Unfortunately you will find that if you live in the UK you're charged in £ whether you like it or not :) Likewise Euros for anyone in Europe, and $ for anywhere else in the world. Based on the country you select in the Buy Now screen (to come).

ESC does indeed quit the game immediately without warning - that's another debug feature.

You'll get the hang of Binary eventually :D

I've made some changes to the controls which should please a few people here, but they won't be uploaded for a few more days.

Cas :)

[Nemesis]

Design-wise, this game must be the product of a sick mind ;)

Seriously.. the demo is really fun to play.. I think it will do far better than AlienFlux. Congrats and good luck!

[Pyabo]

Nice work, Cas! Very fun, and instantly more fun than Alien Flux, IMO. Ran fine too, once Java Webstart download 9.7Mb worth of something or other... surely that wasn't your game!? :)

[princec]

Yep, 9.7MB of content and game code.
However.... using LZMA the Win32 exe version, with an embedded JVM, is only 8.1MB! Hmph.

Cas :)

[impossible]

It's a cool game with a great style and a good feel. It does a lot of things better than Alien Flux, but I think it still makes most of the same mistakes as Alien Flux.

[princec]

AF doesn't really make any mistakes now... it converts reasonably well and for the kind of people who buy it, nothing else will do... so what mistakes are these?

Cas :)

[impossible]

Now that I've gone back and read the thread I think most of the major problems are actually being cleared up.

I thought webstart was a mistake, but I see you'll have a win32 exe available for download. I see you're working on the controls as well. Would you consider having two control schemes, one "simple" mouse only control scheme and maybe an "advanced" mouse+keyboard control scheme for people that want to aim and move independently?

Besides that, the constantly changing roles of the enemy or friend sprites can be confusing, although I get that a lot of the challenge of the game is figuring out what you need to do to beat the level. Also I feel that the demo may not give enough incentive to register, which was also a problem with AF, but there appears to be more variety than the AF demo had.

[super_e]

Okay I tried the demo and I was totally blown away! I mean, Super Elvis?!! -- its pure clean fun. Nice work Cas!

I tried the game on an:

Intel Centrino 1.6GHz
512 MB RAM
ATI Radeon 350M (mobile)
WinXP Home (SP2)

However, I read all the 77 posts and I believe all my suggestions were already covered. :) If you can release a new build with those new controls, it would be great.

- Erick

[z3lda]

Just tried it now, and... love it! Way better then alien flux.

[princec]

Thanks :) Maybe a new one tonight...

Cas :)

[princec]

A newer tweaked version has been uploaded. The controls have been tweaked somewhat; I'd be gratefuly if you could tell me if they've improved any.

Otherwise, there are still some dud levels in there, and some buggy ones. But most of the rest, I've slowed down the aliens quite a bit, but made them much more fatal to touch.

Cas :)

[Martoon]

A newer tweaked version has been uploaded. The controls have been tweaked somewhat; I'd be gratefuly if you could tell me if they've improved any.

Otherwise, there are still some dud levels in there, and some buggy ones. But most of the rest, I've slowed down the aliens quite a bit, but made them much more fatal to touch.

Cas :)

I ran the webstart version, and it transferred some files, and I also downloaded the Win32 install again. On both of them, it still says "v1.0 demo" on the menu screen. Is there a way to know for sure if I'm running the new version you uploaded?

[princec]

Yeah, CTRL-space no longer works to let you enter any level you like.

Cas :)

[Martoon]

Yeah, CTRL-space no longer works to let you enter any level you like.

Cas :)

Ahh, and spacebar no longer finishes a level you're playing. So looks like I'm running the new build. Thanks!

[princec]

Free regcodes for all when I get the server running...

Cas :)

[Curiosoft]

Running SiS is like running an old Matrox or voodoo, they really suck. It's amazing the amount of games that wont run on them.

It's amazing how many potentially paying customers still have them ;)

[Martoon]

A newer tweaked version has been uploaded. The controls have been tweaked somewhat; I'd be gratefuly if you could tell me if they've improved any.

Otherwise, there are still some dud levels in there, and some buggy ones. But most of the rest, I've slowed down the aliens quite a bit, but made them much more fatal to touch.

Cas :)
Okay, I've had a couple minutes to play the new version. The controls are better now. I can't tell specifically what's changed, but I have better luck locking the firing in the direction I want. Something I would like to see in the options is a choice to have Elvis point (and lock firing) in the opposite direction than I'm moving, since games that do this feel more playable to me. But in any case, the controls are definitely improved from before.

The new level balancing also feels better. Slowing the aliens down gives you a little more control over the level (less random mouse thrashing, hoping you're not hit), while making collisions more deadly keeps the difficulty reasonable. Overall, the difficulty in the 9 levels I get with the demo feels about right. It didn't take me too long to master those 9 levels, but with 81 in the full game, that'll be about right. I mastered those 9 just fast enough that I was still psyched about the game, and immediately wanted more.

Keep up the good work! Can't wait for my reg code so I can get to the other levels.

[someone]

Good game, I love the graphics, but in my computer controls seems to be out of control. I played both Java WebStart and downloadable version.

- I have to press and hold the left mouse button 3 seconds to get the button work.
- When I click something, or stop clicking, game recognizes this 3 seconds later.
- Even when I die and quit to room selection screen, game does click itself and opens rooms that I dont click.

My system is an Asus M60N Laptop with 1.7 Ghz Intel CPU, Mobility Radeon 9600 and 512 MB Ram.

[princec]

oo-er, screwy drivers or something? Never seen that before on, ooh, I don't know how many systems.

Cas :)

[swollen]

I'm experiencing the exact same issues as Someone. The initial win32 version you uploaded ran fine but the new version is running horribly. The mouse sticks all over the screen and mouse button clicks don't register.

[someone]

I forgot to mention, I have Windows XP Pro, Java2 1.4.1, and the graphics driver version is 8.01-040421a-014736C (I think this is the latest)

[Night Elf]

I just tried Super Elvis (Win32 version, last update) and I want to say I thinks it's a great game. Very original! I love how each level has a different gameplay than the others. It also has a great style graphically.

There were a couple of levels that I couldn't figure out, however:

The first one was that in which you have to find a sort of combination. I completed the level after a while, but I have absolutely no idea how I did it.

The other is the one that says 'Hurry! Catch those strawberries' (or something like that.) I try to collect as much strawberries as I can, but I always lose and I don't understand why... I completed all the levels and lost all my lives trying to figure out this one.

My brother tried the game too and had the same problems. Maybe you'd like to give better tips for these two levels.

Other that that, I had a great fun playing all the demo levels.

By the way, it ran very smoothly on my computer (Pentium III 800 MHz, 256 MB RAM, GeForce FX 5200, Windows XP Pro.)

[princec]

Er, sorry about Strawberry Fields, I seem to have broken it :/ Mouse control is confirmed fux0red as well since previous build so I'll be looking into that. Thanks for the feedback.

Cas :)