A Ludum Dare reboot

[lennard]

So, I've been working (with a bit of help from Mattias) on a new game inspired by this years Ludum Dare challenge - could I really make a game that makes money in a month using advertising and micro-payments? 2 weeks into a retro-arcade-rpg title - just when I felt that I could really start dropping in new levels and critters and doing lots of fun design work - I'm finding that, while I really like Javascript, it may not be the right tool for this arcade title. Yesterday I decided that I have to step back and learn Flash to make this title. This Ludum Dare entry is in serious jeopardy!

Here's a link to the current state of the game in Javascript. Latest version of Firefox or Chrome should be used to expect any kind of result: http://www.rustyaxe.com/bgames/RIBjs/index.php



Why the switch? Just too many issues (like a fat lag between keystrokes that will sometimes mysteriously go away) that I don't think I'm going to beat with the current incarnation of Javascript on today's browsers. That said I am going to keep developing Javascript games - just not this kind of title. I'll post a link when I know enough Actionscript to have the game running in the state the javascript version is running in today with a mini-post mortem about my experience porting this, essentially tech-demo, to Flash.

[Jack Norton]

Tried it but I can't move using WASD ? I can shoot arrow and use axe but the hero doesn't move (using Firefox 3.6).
Anyway I think for such action games you NEED to use flash. You won't be able to use JS for that still for a few years. It would be more suited to static titles like strategy/RPG/sims.
I wish I knew how to code in JS so well though

[lennard]

Most likely the main window didn't have the focus. It's a bit sticky - I find if I lose it that I can press the mouse attack button and WASD a bit and it "unsticks" - usually happens to me when I press F5 on the command line and the focus gets stuck up there.

I couldn't casually find a thing to focus the main browser window from code or I would have done so.

[Olofson]

It ran pretty well here (64 bit Linux, 3 GHz quad core, Firefox 3.6.9) - though it's pretty hard to walk in the right direction with the walk keys spread all over the place...!

(I'm using a Dvorak layout.)

[Jasmine]

I tried and completed the level.

But in my browser:
- The sprites did not rotate. Everything was pointing south.
- The keys and the steps were not always drawn. Sometimes I got a 'missing image' icon.
- There were little pink dots at the end of some of the corridors. I'm not sure if they were supposed to be drawn or not. I'm not sure what they were for.
- Collecting the key froze the game.

[Olofson]

- There were little pink dots at the end of some of the corridors.

Now that you say it, I saw those too.

[lennard]

What browser are you running Jasmine?

The pink dots are temp. - they denote where goblin spawners are.

[Jasmine]

Laptop is running Camino 2.0.4

[Artinum]

Reminds me of Larva Mortus...

[fakhir]

The game artwork looks pretty cool. Have you considered putting the game on free/paid game portals?

-Fakhir
http://www.byterender.com

[richtaur]

Nice! I'm not a fan of completely top-down games but the tiles and animation look great. Why do you have that huge 2800x2000 image? That's not very performant ... if you sprited that out and had a tile map it would be a much smaller download for users and much less strain on your servers ...

Anyway I think for such action games you NEED to use flash. You won't be able to use JS for that still for a few years.

Totally disagree. Our upcoming commercial game is 100% JavaScript!

[lennard]

Fakhir, when it's done it will be released out into the wild in some form or another.

Richtaur I'm finding that my Flash version is running about 7 times as fast... at least for now Flash is the way to go for me for this kind of game.

[Jack Norton]

Totally disagree. Our upcoming commercial game is 100% JavaScript!

Well, I'd be happy to be wrong in this case since I don't like Flash at all I'll be looking forward to see your game in action!