10 replies to this topic

[Chaostorm]

Ok, here it is. The surprise new features that will really set Jetpack 2 apart from the original.
The timing isn't great. I really wanted to get this done earlier for the Kickstarter, but oh well.
Have I piqued your interest?

Please note: There's no UI to create them yet, so you can't create them now. The UI is the slow part.
You can play with what's there only by saving that level, you can't copy and paste to a new level.

* Added tile groups
* Added concealers
* Added moving platforms
* Added repulsor tile - wasn't sure on this one, it's a little buggy
* White, black, and gray are available as backgrounds
* Fixed lots of bugs
* I love the fun design and signs in the bug levels! Makes fixing bugs fun Well, relatively.
* The last build targeted Flash Player 11.0, this one targets Flash 11.3. I'm hoping it might help with the latency issues.

[daniels7]

Hi Adam,

great new Release!
How are the moving platforms and concealers created?
I love the new features, keep up the great work

[Chaostorm]

Thanks! So a couple years ago I was thinking about scrolling, and I think the big thing a static screen game is lacking vs a scroller, is exploration. I had this idea for a concealer, to discover parts of the level as you go. I put it off for Jetpack 3 in triage, but I really wanted more gameplay elements now, so i spec'd it and it turned out looking pretty easy with all the other tools that I have in place. When I designed it last month I tried to make it both as modular and simple as possible. Then I realized I could also do the moving platforms with the system. To get it done quickly I decided to leave out the hard/slow part, which is the UI. The design worked beautifully, implementation was faster than I thought, it took exactly from 8am this morning til release time. Of course all the little tweaks it will need will take 5x longer..

It's made up of:
tile groups - a tile can be assigned to any group, A-Z
effect presets - like a motion pattern, or fading out
a trigger - always on for motion, jetman proximity for fade

I also spec'd scripting, for more detailed control - any tile group can be activated via script, and scripts can be attached to invisible triggers or level events like switches, getting all gems, etc. Not sure I'll have time to implement all that. The scripts are really basic, with no logic.. I may just prefer presets with adjustable settings.

The last item in my list was oversized levels. Again, not too hard to implement, its the maintenance I'm worried about. The more code there is, the more there is that can break. And I still have porting in the todo list.

[InsaneJetman]

Looks good Adam.

I look forward to playing around with the new features. For the UI, some of these things should probably be segregated into an advanced editing section, so the regular simple editor doesn't get too complicated. I'm sure I'll like whatever you come up with, just something to think about as you design the UI.

P.S. I was just thinking that a repulsor tile would be a handy thing to have, now if only I can remember where that was ...

[InsaneJetman]

One quick note:
As we requested, you've fixed it so the jetman grabs a ladder if he's starting on one.
However, there should be an exception if he's also standing on a ladder cover.

[Saga Musix]

Hmm.. I don't really like the look / behaviour of the concealing black squares. With one example level I don't know how exactly it supposed to work of course, but I guess it would look much nicer if the visible area was circular with decreasing visibility, as if the jetman was walking around with a torch in his hand or whatever.

[Illari]

^I always imagined the concealors would reveal whole areas at once like in the lower portion of the level.

[Saga Musix]

Teleporting away from the upper teleporter in the example level has some problems... First off, the concealed tiles are not updated, and the animation is happening mid-air because the the teleporter is moving around...

[InsaneJetman]

What happened to the white background? It's grey.

[DarkWolfNine]

Agree with Insane.. I don't think it is just the white background. But Black perhaps too.. It seems to have broken the Facebook level (at least cosmetically)

[Chaostorm]

Hmm.. I don't really like the look / behaviour of the concealing black squares. With one example level I don't know how exactly it supposed to work of course, but I guess it would look much nicer if the visible area was circular with decreasing visibility, as if the jetman was walking around with a torch in his hand or whatever.

It's not supposed to be him holding a torch, it's more like him turning on lights in each room. There's also a setting to leave them on after they are triggered, which isn't demoed here.