Area 61 - Hunt down aliens in this FPS.
Hunt down aliens in this First Person Shooter and disable the flying saucer. Along the lines of effects and such, the gun and aliens are blinn-phong shaded, the terrain is parallax mapped and the environment is bump mapped. You can download it for free at http://picklejargames.com/
Made with the FreeVector engine available for free from http://www.bookshock.com/
REQUIRES PIXEL SHADER 2.0, Windows XP and DirectX9b
I was going to try it out, but the requirements are too high for my laptop (might try it later on my desktop).
I know it's using some high-end graphical techniques, but judging from the screenshot, I don't think they are used to good effect - it's difficult to tell they're there...
This a free game, right? Then I guess it doesn't matter, but if you were selling it, I think it would hurt sales to not support non-shader gfx cards...
"The Strangler" - My recent point-and-click adventure
www.mattiasgustavsson.com - My blog on games and game development
www.pixieuniversity.com - My Software 2D Game Engine
Yeah, it looks neat enough that I would download and play it but since going indie. I develop on a low end consumer box so that I don't get performance surprises as I get close to shipping.
One thing that I have wondered is if some of these high end need games could be done with sprites that are rendered with software rendering at boot or installation?
>>but judging from the screenshot, I don't think they are used to good effect<<
You'd have to see it without effects to make a judgement like that.
This game isn't 'high end'. Pixel shader 3.0 is high end. XNA is high end. A pixel shader capable graphics card though, costs $50. Not very high end.
Anyways, thanks for your opinion.
If you say so.Originally Posted by PickleJarGames
Out of interest, are you actively seeking feedback?
>>Out of interest, are you actively seeking feedback?<<
From people who play the game, yes. I have a whole forum dedicated to feedback on the games. (All it got is a spam post about some MMORPG currency or something.)
http://www.picklejargames.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl
Did it really need parallax mapping for the terrain? parallax mapping is only effective on really complex textures (unless you're talking of lightmapping and not the "bumpmap-parallax" technique). Switching to non parallax could maybe lower the requirements?
Oh, didn't you see that bit: they're not high, appearently.
I find it pretty amazing that despite the need for a shader-capable video card, this game looks far worse than the original DOOM from what, 15 years ago ? Which apart from not needing advanced 3D boards, wasn't even *in* 3D.
If your texturing and environments are programmer art, there really is no point adding fancy shader techniques - it won't look any better and it reduces your audience. I would advise getting the game right and then contracting an artist to make it look good. He'll tell you what effects he'd like to pick from to get the mood right.
>>.this game looks far worse than the original DOOM<<
I'm just going to totally ignore that.
Anyways,
>>Did it really need parallax mapping for the terrain<<
No it's just the default shader that I made, but it does let you look at a point from different angles and see a different view. Makes a huge difference with a terrain. The shader though, does what you suggest. No pixel shader 2.0 then it defaults to a pixel 1.1 shader. However, the SOFT shadow mapping, the lighting for the pawns and the bump mapping all require pixel shader 2.0 so...
I see that this post is now just becoming a flamer affair though, so I'll take the hint and not post at this forum any longer. Oh well, my loss.
PickleJarGames, just out of curiosity... do you like how the game looks?
Of course you are.
Mattias Gustavsson. Can I ask you exactly what your problem is?
This is a demo for my engine. The shaders are not "fancy" as some would assume. They are just the shaders I chose. This game was made in less then 3 weeks. Again, in testament to the engine. Eveyone here has something to 'teach' people though. Instead of that, why doesn't eveyone tell me how many games they sold online and how they did that. Isn't that the purpose of this forum? Or are new members just shunned?
Last edited by PickleJarGames; 07-01-2008 at 12:35 AM.
I have a problem when people post their game on public messageboards, and then can't take critisism (or even comments) gracefully.
You should be thankful that people even bother commenting on your game, not throw their comments back in their face. You don't have to agree with what people say, but why argue about it? Better then to not post about it in the first place then!
Well that's a valid argument, ok I won't bother you again.
PS - How many copies of your games have you sold in the last year?
I don't sell games anymore, but back when I did, they sold ok.
The most recent game I made for the download market, didn't do poorly either.
May I ask what that's got to do with you not wanting to hear anything bad about your game?
Even as a tech demo made with no intention of selling this still needs a lot of work. You need people to think 'wow this engine can make cool games' so demos need to be of high quality even if they are lacking in content.
1. The head bob is insane, feels like you're jumping around the level.
2. The contrast is up way to high.
3. There are no sliding collisions, which means when you hit something you just stop dead in your tracks.
4. The aliens don't animate very well
5. The textures don't look very good.
>.May I ask what that's got to do with you not wanting to hear anything bad about your game?<<
Nothing. I just want to know how to sell indie games.
>>PickleJarGames, just out of curiosity... do you like how the game looks?<<
For a 7 meg download and the fact that all the models are prefab downloads from model sites.. do how I like how it looks? Yeah I do. It's not the best, but it's a demo.
1. The head bob is insane, feels like you're jumping around the level.
2. The contrast is up way to high.
3. There are no sliding collisions, which means when you hit something you just stop dead in your tracks.
4. The aliens don't animate very well
5. The textures don't look very good.
That is constructive criticism. Thanks, I will take all of those point into account. Except number 4. I suck at animating.
Bizarre.
If you're making a demo to extoll the virtues of your new engine, the demo should look better than a game not worse. You can forget about gameplay and even much of a gui and just concentrate on blowing peoples socks off with spangly stuff.
I'm sorry if you don't wanna hear that, but sometimes the truth hurts. If you're bright enough to be able to code a parallax depthmap shader in sm2.0 you're certainly bright enough to be able to look at that screenshot and reach the same conclusion as the rest of us.
If your engine (and you) can do better than this, then what's the point of this demo. You're deliberately underselling so no wonder you're taking heat. By saying its a demo, you're also saying this is the *best* you can do, and it really isn't much tbh.
I still think this looks better. The lighting is correct for a start.
Sorry applewood, I couldn't find anything at Rubicon that makes me take you seriously.
I'm sure he has finished a lot more commercial games than you have. (I'm guessing you've made exactly zero)
Oh, ok. How were they sold? That's my only question how to sell indie games.
Picklejar, I'd like to ask you this question: How old are you?
Couple of points:Sorry applewood, I couldn't find anything at Rubicon that makes me take you seriously.
1) See my other post asking for help on making my site better represent what we do/have done.
2) I don't really give a toss tbh. I'm not out to prove anything. Whereas you just seem to be trolling for praise with a laughably bad piece of work. Good luck with it.
>>I don't really give a toss tbh.<<
Sorry but I don't know what that means. I'm guessing it's along the lines of I don't give a #$%&#.
>>How old are you?<<
I'm been giving away games for 30 years. What you people call games I wrote in flash and javascipt a decade ago.
But like I said, serious flamer thread. I won't post any longer.
I ask the same question. Nobody has said that you suck. Nobody has said that your programing sucks. They just said that your artwork sucks. And you agreed! Its not even your artwork, why are you taking that criticism as a personal attack?
PickleJar, the guys were a little blunt (as usual) but they weren't trying to flame you. Relax a little. Perhaps we can actually help.
The graphics look pretty bad. In fact, they're really bad. If you haven't noticed that, well... let me know and I'll give you a full rundown on why. Suffice to say, I've seen your engine and games before, but I've always thought if you did work harder on their appearance you might find more people would check out your hard work. Perhaps technically what you have going is capable (for basic stuff, of course) but when you, as the developer, don't show people how high the bar can be raised, people generally won't bother putting in the effort to find out what your engine can do.
My other comments about this game were summed up by Nexic quite well. However, I will say that if you can't animate, learn (or pay/ask someone to do some for you) or simply create games that don't require any animation.
>>why are you taking that criticism as a personal attack?<<
Hey it's not personal, I'm just getting flack. I don't even expect posts. I'm just trying to become a forum member. (Doubt that now.) Now seriously, can we call this quits, I'm sorry I posted in the first place.
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