Tiny Tanks Thread2
Community Forums/Showcase/Tiny Tanks Thread2
| ||
| original topic http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=85073 download demo http://www.empowergames.com/tinytanksdemo_install.exe I hope this is ok, I thought the other thread was a bit long. if its alrigth with mods, could the previous topic get a lock? Anyway I just wanted to post a vid of the new grenade mechanics. Before they were sort of like the mortar cannon , shot in an arch and detonate. Because they also send the opponent flying into the air in whatever direction , they were a bit overpowered in that you could control your target to easily. heres the vid. this is not in the public build yet, but im almost there. I want to get the in game mail system set up before I do a public update. http://www.empowergames.com/bouncingnades.wmv |
| ||
| i like it, should prove interesting. |
| ||
| Looking good. |
| ||
| haha we just had the best round ever!!! :) |
| ||
| I will go up in rank soon. |
| ||
| lol you and rifraf kicked josk's and my butt's, i blame it on my headache ;-) i dropped like 3-4 ranks :-( oh and btw nate very sneaky...... i didn't even know about that spot before, and i've played alot. |
| ||
| I took some vids of Josks Triumphs :) In most of these vids I had DOF off, wich is dissapointing because the game looks so much better with it on. http://www.empowergames.com/joskdoomed1.wmv http://www.empowergames.com/joskdoomed_2.wmv http://www.empowergames.com/joskdoomed_3.wmv and one of kings futile attempts to take my flag http://www.empowergames.com/king_denied.wmv and some random footage from the match one of my few deaths http://www.empowergames.com/rifs_demise.wmv nate and i were going to go meet king on the platforms, but i missed my jump, what this video doesnt show is josk sneaking up on me and killing me while I tried to get a grenade on the disc. http://www.empowergames.com/missed_battle.wmv One of these days ill break down and get the full version of fraps, these time limits are killing me. |
| ||
| i remember that moment in the first one with me, i was cursing you and your strategically placed mines ;-) and the one where i killed nate, one of my few good moments in that match when i first entered, and then pretty much went downhill from there lol edit: too bad you didn't get that moment where i cleaverly avoided your emp, then proceeded to emp you myself and ending in your death with one of my mines :-) i was quite proud at that. |
| ||
| hey kingnothing I got a vid up, its low quality but I killed rifraf plenty of times for your enjoyment :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8jF6O80NdU |
| ||
| haha thats some classic funniness :-) |
| ||
| nate> i watched your video was it on fastforward? i love how irrelevant all the related links are and after the water and oil one i just had to click FOAR EVERYWUN FRUM BOXXY youtube is seriously bizzare in its related links |
| ||
| lol @ ginger tea... and I havent seen anyone on today does someone wanna have a match or two? |
| ||
| added a new weapon, atomic rockets. Has the max reload, pretty slow moving, and cant harm anything too close as it takes five seconds in the air to arm itself, but if it detonates it does 110 damage, and has a large radius of splash damage. Tanks only have 100hp, with shields thats still minus 55. The balance is in the speed and reload time. Tanks have to reload after any action, the spring tracks as well(jumping). So using the Atomic Rockets puts you at the mercy of any nearby enemy players for a good bit, while the tanks energy supply reloads. all you can do is run away :) . http://www.empowergames.com/tinytank_atomic.wmv |
| ||
| updated again today. -changed. Now you can select weapons even without rank, given you have previously collected them. This ability resets on death. There is now a list of weapons on the top of the screen indicating wich ones are available for selection, and wich number you press to receive it. Ranked players can always select , without collecting. (shown in screenshot) -added. Server autobalancing. If there are too many players on one side the server will move players to the other team. Any player holding the flag will not be selected for the team switch. http://www.empowergames.com/tt_weaponlist.jpg? on a side note, a few more blitzers popped in today and played around. Thank you. |
| ||
| awesome, cant wait to try it. |
| ||
| I put up a basic online guide http://www.empowergames.com/tinytankwebsite/TTbooklet.html until I can afford a web designer to make a proper one, I thought that would be better than nothing. |
| ||
| updated again -added vote system with vote kicking, and vote maps -added chat filtering so you can see only the channels you want to listen to (just team, just global, or all) -added the new playstyle team deathmatch. This mode has no flags. Every time a player gets a kill his team gets 5 pnts, any map can be either ctf or teamdm now. -changed Sniper rifle from a 6x zoom , to 12x zoom. This change came around because I plan on making large terrain maps as well as close quarter such as the current demomap. 6x didnt seem like enough on a larger scale map. -Changed Emp effect from 10 seconds to 5 seconds. just part of the ongoing weapons balancing. |
| ||
| I think you should be able to switch back to the mortar whenever you like, as it's your initial weapon. A radar/scanner would be nice too, just some simple blips or something. Maybe just an arrow pointing towards your goal? I love the sniper zoom :) |
| ||
| Like how even non-ranked can choose weapons. Switching back to the mortar would be good. What about a sniper bullet that tags the target so others on the same team can see his location. This would only be for a limited time. |
| ||
| Good ideas. I completed another major update this morning, some updates i havent posted here so ill list the accumulated changes since my last post. -Added Playmode Team Deathmatch -Added Playmode Control Points -Removed Reload penalty when using spring tracks -Changed. You now start with both spring tracks and speedup. You also are re-equiped with these after death,and map changes. However they can be removed if you are hit with an emp. -added new map "bigbase" to test larger map scales. -changed. Increased default tank speed, and speed increase gained from speedup power. -Changed. Atomic Rocket reload to 7 down from 10, and its damage to 140 up from 110. -Changed. Rank can now go up or down much quicker than before. -Changed. The /votenextmap chat command, to accept parameters for mapname and game mode. This used to simply cycle to the next map in rotation. The new syntax is /votenextmap mapname,mapmode where mapmode is ctf,teamdm,or control , current available maps are demomap, and bigbase -Fixed minor bugs & irritations. |
| ||
| I can't run it, because it keeps wanting to update!?! I ran the update a few times, which always downloaded everything as proper as I could tell, yet... no luck. Too bad, because it looks really cute... let me know, if there's a way for me to check it out. Worst case this makes a good bug report, haha! ;) |
| ||
| I can't run it, because it keeps wanting to update!?! I ran the update a few times, which always downloaded everything as proper as I could tell, yet... no luck. Too bad, because it looks really cute... let me know, if there's a way for me to check it out. Worst case this makes a good bug report, haha! ;) I had this problem too for a while. He said it was something about the server messing up and not realizing I had the right stuff... but rif, why don't you include the maps and stuff in the download? and he has chaned both maps and added some different modes so you could have just caught the rotating map at the wrong time... ie you download one map and thne when you try to play there is a different one :) |
| ||
| updated again, -changed the way plasma shields work. Before once you collected them you kept them until you died, or were hit with an emp. They would always reduce damage by 1/2 Now when you collect them, they have a starting health of thier own, once that is gone, the shields break apart, and you have to recollect them. While you have them you only take 1 damage point per hit, but the shields take 99% of the damage against their health. -fixed missing sniper shots. -fixed(hopefully) missing flags when rotating to ctf mode after voting into controlpoint mode -Im also working on a new playmode, called white rabbit. When this mode starts all players get on the same team(red), then a random player becomes the white rabbit. This player can move faster, and jump higher than any other player, but cannot shoot. The idea for the white rabbit is to stay alive for five minutes, then another random player becomes the white rabbit. If the rabbit is killed, its killer becemes the next rabbit. There is no real team scores, this mode allows quick ranking. Rabbits that survive for five minutes get five ranks, and killers of the white rabbit also get five ranks. The only way to lose individual stat points in this mode is to fall off the map. Im hoping this will be a fun mode, and team scores wont matter to players. Heres a shot of a player as the rabbit. http://www.empowergames.com/wht_rbt_concept.jpg? |
| ||
| probs here also. stuck in a loop of sorts, where i start game and it says its out of date. downloads modelpak rinse and repeat. |
| ||
| Same here... |
| ||
| ill check it out, thanks edit: ok yea that was my mistake, should work now. sorry. @Taron, im sorry that happened the first time you tried to play, I hope you will try again soon. I have a vista machine I usually run the updater on after a big change to make sure it updates smoothly, I didnt do this last night, had to mow my lot (3 acres with a 42 inch deack mower in very hot/humid weather) and I went straight to bed. Sorry about that. Its my intention to automate my own updating process a little so I cant make mistakes like that, I just keep putting that on the back burner. What happened here is that I uploaded the new ttmodels.pak, but forgot to rename it to the extention the updater would look for. I dont include maps in the client download because I will only be hostind official maps, each tt server will host its own assortment of custom maps, wich is why you can choose to downloaded maps when the client sees that you dont have it, or that the one you have doesnt match the servers map. |
| ||
| I cant wait for white rabbit mode! |
| ||
| Yeah should be good. Just been on and the map updating worked fine. I think you should always keep the cannon as the default weapon. |
| ||
| Great game, with many fun ! but I've an issue : MAV +> error "HUD something..." And the BigBase.bmp that does not exist I 've updated but no way. Anyway, It's really a fun game :) |
| ||
| BobySait, There were a few bugs in the last build, that have been there awhile. I am trying to get the next playmode finished before updating things again. The MAV and Missing bmp are news to me. Perhaps remove the entire Bigbase map folder and restart to let it redownload. If you get the MAV again, let me know what the detailed description is, it sounds like a sprite candy generated error, but i've not ran into any mavs in tiny tanks for months. If it happens again try to get the entire message if you can. Thank you for the comments. |
| ||
| eh rif, I emailed you the map I made... its really fun looking |
| ||
| I removed the map, it has then been downloaded. I have played for a run, and at end of the game, I get a message error on the main page : MAP BIGMAP NOT FOUND ATTEMPT TO DOWNLOAD FROM HOST? with a "YES - NO" box whatever I click "Yes" or "No", it occures the same issue [Error Title] Error! [Error Message] HUD_CLearLayer The Selected layer does not exist In the Maps directory, there is no map called "BIGMAP" or "BIGBASE" ... there is just a "demomap" directory with : - demomap1.BMP - demomap1.B3D - demomap_dp.DAT - demomap_scn.DAT |
| ||
| Bobysait, Could this be to do with your dual display setup? Have you tried this in both fullscreen and windowed mode? thanks. |
| ||
| updated. -Added white rabbit playmode -Changed the way map crc data is stored on the server so theres no latency spikes in between maps -Minor bug fixes Bobysait, if you can. Please let me know if you are using a dual display, and if you have tried both windowed and fullscreen modes. Thanks. |
| ||
| I use a dual screen , but I've only played with the windowed mode. |
| ||
| Thanks for the input over at this thread http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=57679 The TU radar is very impressive, but dropping that kind into Tiny Tanks didnt seem like a good theme fit. So in the end after testing a few different radar setups, ive settled on this(image below) Simple Icon based radar using a SpriteCandy layer. Radar updates in real time, showing static objects(generators, crate locations, teleporters), and dynamic objects like the flags and friendly tank positions/rotations, as well as capture point states. Its very fast I dont notice any fps impact on my rig at all, I cant wait to get the update made to see if this is true for everyone. http://www.empowergames.com/tt_radar.jpg? |
| ||
| Its very fast I dont notice any fps impact on my rig at all, I cant wait to get the update made to see if this is true for everyone. Idem ! When do you think the update will be available ? :) |
| ||
| most likely later tonight, but to be safe id say by tomorrow morning at the latest. There are a few other things im tweaking as well. |
| ||
| I'll wait ^^ |
| ||
| Looks good, I will be on tonight. |
| ||
| it says server did not respond here... do you have the server off? |
| ||
| no, my dynamic ip changed this morning.. when that happens I have to update my no-ip account. takes a min or two. But the updates not done yet, its only 620am here right now.. ill have it ready in a few hours. |
| ||
| I'll try and get on again later tonight. Looking forward to the new update :) |
| ||
| ok the update is live. -added radar -smoothed menu item transitions from sharp to smooth fading -addressed some minor bugs edit: ive already caught a few bugs that were introduced in this version. im working on them and will have another update asap |
| ||
| Ok , think I have most of the issues under control -fixed (white rabbit would only spawn if a player left or joined the game) -fixed (hud crash on mapchange) -modified (white rabbit cannot use the radar) -fixed (when you scaled the radar, player tanks would dissapear) update available now |
| ||
| Ok definatly fixed the crash now. if you downloaded the version yesterday, just manually run the client updater to get this version. The game itself will let you play the old version , but it WILL crash on you between maps. |
| ||
| updated. added a countdown timer for the current white rabbit player. fixed a server bug that would respawn the white rabbit twice very quickly if the current white rabbit disconnected. Fixed a bug that would keep you from shooting after a very specific set of events wich included a double shot from an emp. Fixed a few long term irritations, such as rank being tallied one event behind the current action. So you would kill someone and somtimes rank down, or die and somtimes rank up because that point was put twards the next tally. This shouldnt happen anymore. added some glow, not too much. But, im experimenting with different rendering options, I also tweaked my near and far dof effects so they are less dramatic. Added a little treat for anyone who gets to rank 75, but I wont give that away. I wanted to get a few things into this update but they will have to wait until the next. Im toying with some of the following ideas -Either map editor placed radar jamming towers, and radar power stations, or an engineering weapon for user placed devices like that, and sentry mortar bots. -A chaos mode that increases rate of fire by 200% for all players , lasts two minutes after a chaos time crystal is picked up by any player. |
| ||
| Added a little treat for anyone who gets to rank 75, but I wont give that away. i was about to ask... but I wont now ;) |
| ||
| I bet you get a nice long 75 inch puki sausage :) |
| ||
| . im so glad its not one of Puki's (yes I capitalized it on purpose) sausages |
| ||
| Updated. Added - radar booster towers. When near a radar booster tower your onboard radar can recieve enemy tank locations. The enemy can destroy your towers, however radar towers do respawn after several minutes. Tweaked the lighting and rendering a bit. Fixed a few glitches here and there Created a Tiny Tank specific dropplet application for server admins to make their own maps using any base model they want for the primary level geometry. Four playmodes should be enough now, so I think im done adding features, and will now focus on polishing, tweaking, and getting better maps made. |
| ||
| Trying to get more from fast ext. Heres a shot of some bump mapping tests. This will be an optional visual feature, mapmakers will decide if tis used in their maps or not by adding or removing specular and bump textures from the maps texture list. In this shot ive only gotten a few textures set up, the top and sides of the base, and the tan cliff side. im still trying to figure out how to get that light across the surface effect without making everything look likes its covered in oil. http://www.empowergames.com/bumpy_test.jpg? |
| ||
| Ive got the server back up, and an updated client & map. Demomap has a new set of textures including bump and specular maps. If you want to use the bumps and lighting system you have to turn performance mode off. ive taken bigbase map out of rotation while i tweak it a bit. demomap uses low lighting, and close fog. When bigbase is finished it will be a very bright / day setting. |
| ||
| cool. It still tries to download the bigbase but it throws an error that it doesnt have a dl address... and the demomap is awesome. cool bumpmaps and very dreary looking... now you need some rain. ;) |
| ||
| thanks.. and yea I know about bigbase, I had it on the map rotation for testing and rushed out to my sons cub scouts meeting, ill remove it from rotation asap. |
| ||
| ok thanks rif.. illl be on in a sec |
| ||
| I am leaving the bump specular and other texture config options available for map makers, but I agree with the above , my official maps need to be more vibrant and toony. My problem with that lies in my art ability. If anyone wants to toss me a quote for a set of windwaker style textures.. please do. |
| ||
| alright.. does this look any better ?? on a side note, I was thinking that I would love to theme it to a toon steampunk setting, that is if I had an artist working with me. http://www.empowergames.com/retooned.jpg? |
| ||
| hmmm, as far as a toony style goes i don't think it looks to bad. but when you changed the tex's the first time, it took me awhile to warm up to them. but now i acctually like them. i'd have to play the game with those textures for a bit to see how it feels. looking at the pic though i'm not sure what but something just doesn't feel right to me. maybe the tank style clashes with the wood planks i don't know, like i said id have to play it like that to get a good feel for it. oh and for the record no matter how much i may like or dislike a texture style. the way it was when i first started playing in the DEMOMAP will always be true TT to me, ahh good times, good times ;-) edit: maybe its just cause i'm used to the demomap in a brick fasion, and its wierd seeing the wood in it. but if it was a completely new map that i hadn't played before, then it'd be different.... i don't know. |
| ||
| I was trying to put a style on redbase vs bluebase.. red being wood and stucko type and bluebase mortar and brick. And I think I have to re export the map geometry without the smoothing on redbase, the new stucko+beam texture doesnt look as good as bricks do when its all wavy. |
| ||
| In that last picture I somehow got the feeling the tank doesn't match the scene. It's that foggy level design and that shiny tank I think. Maybe you could try making the tank less shiny: http://image-upload.de/image/fcuTMC/54622d26b9.png? Only a suggestion. |
| ||
| I agree , thanks for the suggestion. Btw, for some reason your image link loads really slow here. May I ask you to put a ? at the end of the link so its a clicky instead of a stream. |
| ||
| Ok, been working on getting things looking a bit better the last few days. Let me know if im succeeding. Ill post the shots as clicky links they are a bit bigger than my usual posts ( abotu 300k each) Ive also added cubemap and bump/spec map config sheets that map makers can use per texture and per scenery object , they just include the config list in the map folder when distributing it. Im hoping this will allow the same scenery and textures to be used in many different ways. I think the textures used on the red base in shot 4 may be a little too toony, but ive been looking at it too long to tell anymore :) taking a break to see what you guys have to say. http://www.empowergames.com/renderstyle.jpg? http://www.empowergames.com/renderstyle2.jpg? http://www.empowergames.com/renderstyle3.jpg? http://www.empowergames.com/renderstyle4.jpg? |
| ||
| I would like the textures in the 4th one if everything was that toony but it kinda clashes.. and in shot 2 its really obvious on the leaves that you are using 3 layers of blur and since the boundary is "black and white" ie, no blur then lots of blur, its kinda annoying. Other than that, nice job. |
| ||
| I think it's just missing a static lightmap. For now, there is no enough colors ... very darky green and brown... where are the yellow-orangy lights ? :) Just have a try with YAL, your scene is not very full of polygon, so you maybe can do the lightmap fast enough to let the gamer export them... |
| ||
| and in shot 2 its really obvious on the leaves that you are using 3 layers of blur its actually fast libs DOF, but under my tests anything beyond 3 depths hits fps on laptop so I keep it at 3. Dof is an in game toggle option. your scene is not very full of polygon :) you would be suprised I bet to know that map is about 40k, I subdivide some of it to automate rounded edges from otherwise square geometry, wich helps with vertex lights too. I dont think ill ever make a lightmap for any of my maps, I can however darken the abient ligth and place a dx light if need be. The option to use lightmaps is there for other map makers , with flags to keep the map fullbright, I just cant bother myself with it because my map would have to be made like a q3 map, where most light obstructors are part of the map when the lightmap is created.. right now im making my maps with scenery placeholders , the game engine drops in the scenery on map load. If I had an artist that would dedicate to a given nuber of maps in that fashion I would do it, but as it is its just me and I have to stick to quick and easy in the art dept, as much as I can or Ill go insane and never get it done. thanks |
| ||
| I understand your point regarding lightmaps but still, as Bobysalt says, lightmaps with bright and vibrant colours would really work wonders for the environments. But if it's not practical, it's not practical. |
| ||
| Lol "Bobysalt"... |
| ||
| ok another few shots open for crits. Another thread around here about rim-lighting peeked my interest so I thought I would give that a shot. I tried both spheremaps and cubemaps and cubemaps gave the best results imo. Here are the clicky link shots. I looked at some Mario Galaxy shots, and it seems to rimlight jsut about anything that moves :) I dont have that many objects that move, but I have applied it to all interactive items. Players Projectiles Radar Towers Generators Warp Pads Land Mines Some Mesh Particles The map maker can choose to apply it to any scenery item if they wish to. Im not sure about the whole look though. Let me know what you think http://www.empowergames.com/rimlight1.jpg? http://www.empowergames.com/rimlight2.jpg? http://www.empowergames.com/rimlight3.jpg? http://www.empowergames.com/rimlight4.jpg? |
| ||
| Neato, that makes it look like it's a movie for some reason. I like it. |
| ||
| Thanks, i think ill keep it in the next build, but taking the contrast down alot so its not such a powerful effect. |
| ||
| looks pretty cool. nice work so far. |
| ||
| The Mario galaxy stuff looks neat, but i think you'll need to extend it to the scenery as well to make it look consistent. Cheers Charlie |
| ||
| You're right, I cant redo all my scenery though so I toned it down some so the rim light doesnt stand out as much.. I think its ok. Im running out of time and for now im going to move on to some server related changes on my todo list. Theres alot of scenery it looks good on, some of my toon trees, the rocks, some bushes ect.. but walls and things with longer flat areas wont work with it. Edit : i take it back I did a quick addition. as an option you can turn on contrast/glow. wich gives the results here. you may have to refresh , I overwrote the old image on my webserver. heres the final render style ive decided to go with, http://www.empowergames.com/finalrender.jpg? |
| ||
| cool, I like it so far. I cant wait for an update!!! |
| ||
| Is that last one really ingame? It looks great! The glow amount is just perfect. |
| ||
| Thanks yeah its in game.. to realise the effects to the fullest im going to have to recreate my scenery and texture library with it in mind. A big job |
| ||
| And it just keeps gettin better :D |
| ||
| Hate to say it (because I've been keenly following the development of this game) but in the last few weeks, the visuals have taken a sharp turn for the worse. Compare this early screenshot:  with your latest one:  You've piled on way too many effects. You've switched to a dark colour palette which only serves to "dirty up" the appearance. Your night blue skybox is way too overbearing and clashes with the lighting and fog of the terrain. In short, the game used to look cute, light, and fluffy, but now it appears to suffer from an identity crisis. I'm not trying to insult you, RifRaf, or your work, because I still think that Tiny Tanks looks very promising. I'm just trying to give you another point of view. If I were you, I'd strip it right back to a clean, fresh-looking style. |
| ||
| I appreciate the input, and in many ways I agree with you, but taking all ive gotten so far though from here , a sound engineer working with me and a few other sources the the majority opinion (included my could be publishers) seems to want more than light and fluffy or I would not have spent the last week looking for "somthing different" I actually removed a few effects that were in my opinion more costly than appealing. such as dof, dof replaced by the glow and contrast (toggle option in game for it btw) A few things that arent a concern are skybox, fog and lighting. These settings arent locked into the game but set up per map. Its worth noting that you can jump from the "galaxy render" to normal from the main menu. Ill edit with a the same shot above in normal render mode as soon as I can. Wich is close still to TT original render scheme, the focus of my efforts recently are to widen the appear to players who may want more than the bare minimun rendering look. or "bright and cute" I hope I am getting closer to that while maintaining the original look as well in normal mode. Its still an evolutionary process, and perhaps ill wind up at square one again as in the pic you linked. I have to be honest im very tired of dealing with the art angle of it all and just want to stop soon and move on the more game mechanics/polish. |
| ||
| heres the normal render or (performance mode) with things as is . I didnt make any changes at all, I simply checked performance mode from the main menu. Since my last screenshot I did add the overhanging grass textures to the map but no rendering changes or code changes at all. What do you think of that shot Justluke ? http://www.empowergames.com/normalrender.jpg? |
| ||
| If you don't mind I'll provide my opinion as well : I prefer the early shot that Justluke showed, to the new one you've shown here. The new one looks like it is foggy or something, as if all the colours are a bit washed out, flat, not as saturated. |
| ||
| thanks matty i mentioned the fog and lighting are controlled per map. Here is a shot after I went back into the editor and turned off the fog for the map http://www.empowergames.com/normalrender3.jpg? |
| ||
| hmmm... I like the first screenshot that justluke posted a lot. Maybe if you make all of the fx you have used available to the map developers, you can have many different types of maps. Like some maps may be bright and cute and others, dark and dreary, etc. |
| ||
| well thats what im doing and been trying to explain.. there is normal render and extended render.. extended will let the map config do what it may, while normal will not allow bump maps and all that On a side note, I may have an artist to remake my tank.. making one for red team (steam punk) and one for blue team (industrial) so thats one peice of good news regarding the art dept in this adventure of mine. |
| ||
| Those shots without fog look good. |
| ||
| Thank you all for the input. I used the gallery as a poll as well. I think I have been working on the art direction too long and it got the better of me. here are some shots , a little closer to the orininal design. The main difference between normal and galaxy rendering is -Galaxy Render Mode has rim lighting on main characters, and main objective objects allows config files to load per map setting thigns like cubemaps bump maps, specular maps, blendmodes and such per material so that mapmakers have a few options Originally back when I started this I had everything fullbright, I want to avoid this now so mapmakers can still use dx lighting to make ambience such as green glows from a toxic barrel ect, not just utilizing lightmaps although thats an option. In my examples I dont use any bump or specualr maps anymore, i do use cubemaps on the floating platforms for reflection effect. They are only loaded in Galaxy Render Mode, Normal mode will ignore material config files for any map. I think i can finally move away from this and get some real work done ! Normal SHOT 1 http://www.empowergames.com/updated_normal1.jpg? Normal SHOT 2 http://www.empowergames.com/updated_normal2.jpg? Galaxy SHOT 1 http://www.empowergames.com/updated_galaxy1.jpg? Galaxy SHOT 2 http://www.empowergames.com/updated_galaxy2.jpg? on a side note, I have someone working on tank models. This was his first mockup for me. For the blue team. Untextured aside from the tread. I'm not sure im keen on this first design, but its a wip. He's also creating a red tank loosely based on a steampunk idea. http://www.empowergames.com/ind_tank.jpg? |
| ||
| Those treads don't seem to fit... that's just me though. |
| ||
| The latest shots are a huge improvement, RifRaf - the galaxy rendering style looks clean and crisp once more. Good job. Regarding the new tank prototype: it's too flat - not vertical enough. Also, judging by the screenshot, I question how appealing it will be from the back, which is how the player will view it when playing on the blue team. Nope, your existing tank is much better - I like the flared trumpet shaped turret far more and the tank's overall shape-form is far more interesting. Not only that, it' a better match for your non-realistic environmental aesthetic. Basically, your existing tank is cuter and has more "personality" than the potential replacement which looks a little too generic and by-the-book. |
| ||
| Original tank looks better, more cartoony, and I like the cannon at the front much more than in the new tank. |
| ||
About the new tank. i agree, I replied to the artist a few days ago that it needed to be "cuter" with more character. Hes working on a few more ideas.. I personally love this paper tank design ! also the artist who made the UT2004 Map here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1AMrAOxHmU gave me permission to use all the models use in the map.. he finally sent me the rar with all of it.. I was shocked to see so many assets , he designed them very well. Trees and rocks, mountain humps, grass,flowers, bushes , houses, and towers ect.. are all obvious props, but even the brown cliffs with the turf hanging over are props, as well as the tunnel entrance tunnel, ect. Nothing is one solid piece wich means ill be able to reuse the assets on many outdoor maps Right now im converting the TGAs with alpha to Masked PNG for both speed and zorder compliance in Blitz3D. |
| ||
| hey, this looks awesome. its come a long way. i'm downloading the alpha now. one thing i noticed is that your forums are filled with spam, you might want to clean that out. |
| ||
| thanks.. note I havent updated my public build in about three weeks its still a little dark and gloomy as far as the rendering goes.. give me a few days and ill have an update. |
| ||
| awesome screenies but both of the new looking tanks are a bit out of place... maybe try a little smaller, the paper one is a bit bulky. |
| ||
| The spam is a bit heavy in there. im waiting for my host to renew the permissions for the forum database.. it went wonky a few days ago and wont let anyone login.(write permissions) |
| ||
| Newer paper tank looks great. Maybe the gun barrel should be flared more though like in your original design, like a trumpet. |
| ||
ya, that is a paper tank btw, its from a paper craft website, its not a render from the artist :) Not sure if that was obvious now that I look at it. The cannons will all be remade , there are seven unique cannons in all. I have my original icons for them I send to the artist, with the instruction that both tanks (red + blue ) should have distinction between them, but the cannons should share enough in commin with the icons so that the icons could still be used for both teams. |
| ||
| .. |
| ||
| well one small setback with the tanks, but im making progress on the demo maps. heres a random shot from the first one im working on. first person crossing the bridge. http://www.empowergames.com/overbridge.jpg? |
| ||
That image reminded me of Conker's Bad Fur Day |
| ||
| That corker game looks alot like a Banjo Kazooi. Here are some progress screens from the map im working on. Ill make the first two clicky.. Getting a bit image heavy here. I'm pretty suprised at how much time it's taken me to make this map, given that most (but not all) of the model assets for the map were donated, they were originally created for a ut2004 map. I was very impressed with it, and wrote the author for the models, and rights to use them commercially. He sent me all the models in their original max, and ase formats, but couldnt however help me out with terrain or animations of water ect, those were all UT2004 specific, but ive managed to replicate the terrain (sort of) and the water very well. It has just taken awhile. http://www.empowergames.com/tcountry.jpg? http://www.empowergames.com/tcountry2.jpg?  |
| ||
| hey rif raf, i was that guy you played with today that didn't talk back. the chat wouldn't work. i hit y and u and enter but it wouldn't work. not sure why. i quit to try to rejoin and have a fresh chat box. i liked the game, it's very nice but you need someone to play with. ;) |
| ||
| ya, thanks. I cant reproduce the error here. ill have another build ready tomorrow hopefully that will fix it for you |
| ||
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1AMrAOxHmU ^Are you switching your game art style to this one? |
| ||
| hey, for the record the problem was number lock. i also got a mav after the game, this could all be because i'm on a 64 bit os. not sure. i hit quit game and it MAVed. but anyway, great game and tons of fun. |
| ||
| Griso, yes the very toony style seems to fit best. |
| ||
| "You've switched to a dark colour palette which only serves to "dirty up" the appearance. Your night blue skybox is way too overbearing and clashes with the lighting and fog of the terrain. In short, the game used to look cute, light, and fluffy, but now it appears to suffer from an identity crisis." Agree. I like the earlier screenies much better. |
| ||
| @RifRaf: Awesome! Loved this utk4 map and will love your game too now. :) |
| ||
| RifRaf: I love, love, love your latest shot with the updated terrain. I know you've had some difficulties settling on a look for your game, but you've nailed it. Spot on. :) |
| ||
| Thanks alot, im trying to wrap up this map and get it on the server later today. |
| ||
| awesome, I cant wait for the map! |
| ||
| its ready now.. im very interested to know how this version , with this map run on the average laptop rig. This map has a pretty intense entity count, all instanced (Copyentity) where possible, but there are alot of props. |
| ||
| hmmm, master server seems to be down.. :( |
| ||
| ok now its working. |
| ||
hmm i think your water looks a little pixelated from up here ;) |
| ||
| wow that map is awesome. Its huge and confusing but its really awesome! |
| ||
| RR One problem I managed to get into; I use ZoneAlarm (like a lot of users). The first time I ran, I ran in windowed mode and set Zonealarm to let the game access the net. However the game asked to self-update and co-incidentally, I'd set it to run fullscreen. When I next ran the game, Zonealarm stepped in (because the game files had changed) but ZA's 'allow access' pop-up screen was obscured by the game's fullscreen 'verifying data' display. Couldn't alt-tab out of the game, escape did nothing, nor ctrl-alt. Didn't seem to be a timer on how long the game would attempt to access the internet in this situation. Had to hard reboot and replace the cfg file to get back to windowed. Don't know how you'd check for ZA's pop-ups being shown, but the ability to escape from the 'verifying data' screen would be enough. |
| ||
| Yeah I can see how that would lock up for a bit , the time that you see the verify screen is when its trying to download version numbers and core crc checks, ect. If you let it sit long enough. 2 minutes maybe ? it should have given you a runtime error. Ill add a (hit escape to abort) to that screen. Thanks |
| ||
| haha. Despite your attempts to block us from abusing the volcano as a sniping point, I found a way to get up there. :) |
| ||
| It's a pretty fun game. |
| ||
| It's a pretty fun game. |
| ||
| Ok i think ive found the cause to some of the laggy play for low end hardware on this map. :) The trees ive plastered all over, to my suprise are over 2500 poly each, and one of the textures used were on the tower was 2048x2048. I have corrected the trees to about 330 poly and reduced the texture, I will update the map asap. |
| ||
| wow, no wonder it was soo laggy thanks. |
| ||
| the updated binary and map are now ready. |
| ||
| i cant get on. is the server down or something? |
| ||
| hmmmm raf and i have been playing off and on for the past couple hours, well within the time of your posting. |
| ||
| Nate, if you still cant get on, try punching in a different local port number on the client info box. |
| ||
 The updater crashes for me every time. |
| ||
| If its vista make sure it has write persmission |
| ||
| I'm under Win7 (64 Bit) and running it as admin. Still fails. |
| ||
| i dont have win7 myself, but a quick google of "win7 write permissions" gave many bug reports and troubleshooting tips for this. I hope it can be sorted out, would like to know how well the game plays in win7 |
| ||
| Btw: How about only displaying the current filename and progress (%) in the status window field. "Updating Tiny Tank Client" should be a normal label. |
| ||
| Glad you made it in Grisu, a note to other Win7 users, each folder can have write permissions set to on/off so you may check that if the updater fails. |
| ||
| Ok. A real demo is ready this time. The updater should work, but I would prefer if you downloaded the installer and tried that for testing purposes. made with clickteams install creator. This demo does not yet contain the dedicated server and map designer , I want another week or so to polish those up, and include them in the full version. Ill gladly send them out to anyone interested in hosting a server once they are polished. http://www.empowergames.com/TinyTanksDemo_Install.exe Some game mechanics have changed as well MAPS -- Maps are no longer centered around a shared asset pool Each map is compressed into its very own pak file containing all of its 3D models and textures, so now each map can be completely unique in design MINES -- you can now only have 5 on the field at one time their self destruct timer has gone from 30 seconds to 60 seconds. You can also detonate them at will with the special action button (middle mouse, control, or joystick button) The sensativity range is the same(how close enemy can get) but the damage range after detonation has doubled. CRATES -- crates used to fall at intervals, wich could leave you waiting for your favorite weapon or item for a bit. Now they start falling from the sky the second someone grabs the old crate from the ground.. about 15 seconds for them to land again. RANK AND RANK BONUS- this system was really unfair to new players. Once a player hit rank 75 the reload time was cut in half. Now nomatter the rank you have very fast reload times. The rank 75 reward is now 5 seconds shaved off of weapon summoning times (another rank bonus depending on rank, you can summon certain items without collecting crates) FIRST PERSON VIEW- this is not a major change but a good one i think. The crosshair in first person view will now be color coded in respect to your team. A few times in PFV ive had to resort to changing camera views to remind myself wich team I was on. The crosshair is pretty large and is a definate and obsvious reminder of your team. Demoland has been revamped to include all the current map features such as water spring boards repair bays inviso pads generators and holographic objects damage zones teleporters radar towers Demoland has all 4 playmodes available and I still need a web designer to redo the site if anyone is interested. |
| ||
| I get an error on the updator so im downloading the exe now |
| ||
| OK, I downloaded the installer and it was ok but what was with the last screen on the installer I remember it was out of place but I cant remember what it was? and are there any restrictions on the demo, I cant find any so far. |
| ||
| The installer is just a typical install setup with clickteams install creator, nothing custom in it. So im not sure what you mean there. The demo does have restrictions, none that remove the fun of playing. It will only play the demoland map, you cannot rank up, or autodownload maps. It reminds you in the chatroom of the full version, and when you quit the game it takes you to the Tiny Tank website. |
| ||
| Hmm I really like the new volcano with lava spewing out of the top as opposed to how you had it earlier. with lava sticking out of the top. |
| ||
| just fyi I set up a teamspeak server for the demo as well, the address and port are listed when you login to the demo. |
| ||
| Well, ive had a few updates. and I wanted to link the help file that goes over the game features in detail for anyone who is somewhat interested, but cant be bothered to download a demo atm. I also trimmed down my image contents on this topic, I went back and made most of them clicky. http://www.empowergames.com/tinytanks_help.rtf some of the more recent additions have been Modified some weapon range reload and damage areas Added a rear view camera angle Clock (displaying minutes left on current map) Chicken Boosters Seperate volume control for music / sounds. and what song is on the game radio |
| ||
| http://www.empowergames.com/bouncingnades.wmv & http://www.empowergames.com/tinytank_alpha.zip The page cannot be found |
| ||
| Jeff, strangely the invalid file error has returned for me. :( Is there a way to download the updated files by hand? Btw: Why don't you use the pdf format for your docs? |
| ||
| have you guys both tried this link instead of the top one in the first post. http://www.empowergames.com/TinyTanksDemo_Install.exe for sure for rs the tinytank_alpha.zip is a very old version now, and no longer in use. hopefully you guys get it straightened out and working, it'd be nice to get some more players in there. |
| ||
| What king said, I guess I should remove the old links.. ill do that now |
| ||
| clips from the demo http://www.empowergames.com/tinytanksdemo.wmv about a 24 meg video |
| ||
| lol thats some pretty funny footage.( love the end clip ) the new boost/jump pads are realy fun also, definately adds an element to the game. |
| ||
| thanks. Some shots from the new race playmode. In this mode teams get points whenever a teammate completes a full lap. The map shown here is not quite done, just tossed together to test the playmode.    |
| ||
| as fun as race mode is with 2 players, i think its gonna be realy fun when more players join in. for anyone thats interested: keep in mind that this isn't a full fledged race sim mode. your free to roam the maps like any other mode. heck you can even tusken raider's the other players ala starwars 1 as in the pod race part if you so choose. but if you want to actually score points for your team, then you'll need to go through the check points (arches) in order back to the start line and so forth to accumulate the team score. |
| ||
| hey sorry I have been away so long, modem died and tt doesnt work with dial up ;) its coming along nicely |
| ||
| Have you tried it? or not bother with the new 20+meg dl for the installer? I dont think i would either at 56k , hope you get it fixed king and I have been wondering when you would get back in |
| ||
| ok I finally got my dsl connected so I can dl it now!!! |
| ||
| hmmm I cant get the map to dl.. it just closes and restarts. is this a bug? should I redownload it? edit ok redownloaded and it works. |
| ||
| disregard this post |
| ||
| Just a notice, you will need to redownload the installer http://www.empowergames.com/TinyTanksDemo_Install.exe I switched hosting service plans with my provider wich meant moving my ftp over to a new hosting path. This brougth out a bug in my version of WEBGET wich caused the game to get stuck in a url redirect loop when checking for updates. FYI - The latest version of webget from blitzsupport(code archives) doesnt have this bug, I was using my own modified version and had introduced the bug myself. |
| ||
| hmmm my symantec immediately permenantly deletes the exe that is downloaded when tt finishes the update and it wont let me undo it :( I dont understand it, I did a fresh install and it did the same thing after the update. |
| ||
| Hmm I dont have symantec. Maybe it doenst like moleboxed apps. Recently ive been using all the molebox features for internal exe security. |
| ||
| oh, I read about that triggering virus detecting software. |
| ||
| vid of the platforms http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g_hJdy1gm0 youtube really killed the vid quality. sorry. typical platforms though, stand on them and go where they go, if they rotate your get rotated along the platform as it turns, you can still move around shoot / jump ect when riding on one. im not sure why the platform vid is so "blocky" I uploaded two other vids showing racemode ect and they look much better http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9dgXT8ydD4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LInXdiQQVs edit : nevermind. I guess youtube processes the video even after its live. it seems much more "crisp" now. |
| ||
| A small point: in your demo screenshots, you spell "coming" incorrectly. It has only one "m". Demos that contain glaring spelling mistakes leave a very bad impression, I think. |
| ||
| Thanks. Ill change that as soon as I make another update. |
| ||
| unfortunately I still cant seem to get tt to work, it is instantly permenantly deleted when I try to run it :( spacetw told me he was having similare problems. :( |
| ||
| Perhaps you can tell your software to allow TT, so it will not delete it. http://service1.symantec.com/support/ent-security.nsf/docid/2008030423280248 |
| ||
| K thanks ill try it. |
| ||
| TeamSpeak server is now ttserver.no-ip.biz port 8767 in ts quick connect the address would read ttserver.no-ip.biz:8767 had a few updates in the last few days.. including Somthing I call TeamBombs The ability to strafe in bursts A way to configure joystick buttons. |
| ||
Working on a server shell atm to make it a bit more user friendly |
| ||
| I have moved Tiny Tanks over to Gnet for server listings.. im having some issues getting my host set up properly, for now its linked to the BlitzBasic Gnet listing, ill be including the dedicated server in the next update I make. I also have full support in Xfire , in game voice/chat, screenshots Instantly join games with people from your friend list and so forth. The one click join actually has to be turned on by xfire now, but TinyTanks has it in place already. Usually takes them a week to reply when I get changes made client side. the new installer has the server bundled with it http://www.empowergames.com/tinytanksdemo_install.exe |
| ||
| I installed the new version, but I seem to be having difficulty using the server. I keep getting errors when I try to acess the server I am hosting. Some of the errors are memory acess violation, sever did not respond, and map unavalibe (from the demo). I also would like to know which map file to use when adding something to the rotation. There is another problem with th server only loading ctf or rce, depending on the map. If you could help me with those problems, that would be great. |
| ||
| One day I'll have to try out Tiny Tanks because I've admired it from afar ever since you began posting about it on these forums, RifRaf. It's one of the few projects here that I am genuinely impressed with. |
| ||
| Justluke, Thank you for the encouragement. SpaceTW, regarding the server you can load any file that shows up in the file selector and it will add that map to the list. FOR EXAMPLE Selecting Demoland_SCN.DAT or Demoland_DP.DAT will add demoland to the rotation. When you select a map you have to click one of the add buttons (add ctf, control,race,rabbit, or teamdm) the playstyle for that map will be based on wich button you used. Server did not respond is not an error, its telling you somthing. If your server and client are on the same machine , then 1. You cannot use the same port as the server or you wont get a comm link to the server from the client 2. You cannot use the same port on two seperate clients on the same 3. Use the LOCAL server listing instead of the IP listing you get from Gnet. (local is a selection you should see on the server list in the client) If your server and client are on seperate machines then 1. Make sure your server is available to the outside world (port forwarded) |
| ||
| ok, so my computer just crashed and everything is gone... maybe now i can run tiny tanks? :) downloading now |
| ||
| I still have an error with this message when trying to enter my server: Map not found or version mismatch. The server gave no adress or this map. I also failed to enter the demomaps server because of a memory acess violation when I tried to enter it. As far as I can tell, I am following all of the above steps (which are very helpful). |
| ||
| Looks lik i put up an old version of demorace in th server update folder.. demoland should not report a mismatch. At what point does your client report a mav? after you click join game? do you hear music before it mavs, do you see any of the map rendered first ? |
| ||
| It mavs a few seconds after I hit join game, about a second after the music changes, before the map is seen. That happens on my own server as well (with demoland). Another problem wit the server: it doesn't seem to load anyhing other than CTF or race. |
| ||
| as for maps.. if you want players who dont have the map to be able to download them you have to have a url text file in the mapdata folder so that it can be forwarded to the client. if not you get the "no address for this map" message. you can point clients to my demo maps demoland_url.txt http://tinytankupdates.servehttp.com/tinytanks/updates/server/mapdata/ demorace_url.txt http://tinytankupdates.servehttp.com/tinytanks/updates/server/mapdata/ |
| ||
| Any chance of a non installer version? just a rar or something |
| ||
| Both sites you gave give me an HTTP 403 Forbiden error. also, I'm not sure how I need to use them. Do I just create a txt file with that link as tthe only content? |
| ||
| yes you just save them as text files (via notepad or somthing) in the server\mapdata\ folder with the above address as the only content. Snixx, it has to be installed with the installer to properly be set up for xfires autodetection. |
| ||
| Good news, demorace works (the server can only load race mode however), but the bad news is that there is still a mem access violation when I try demoland (which only loads ctf). Edit: When I tried demomaps from another computer it worked fine, so I don't know what could be causing the error. |
| ||
| Hey tiny tanks works for me again! finally :) |
| ||
| sweet, very glad to hear it. |
| ||
| Wow I missed this on the showcase somehow. It Plays nicely, although no one was on the demo server when I gave it a run - to be expected in early stages. Not really much to critic, the game appears very polished. The style is nice and pretty unique, movement is great (love the limits on strafing - actually improves the unpredictability of player movement). When I click buy now, it brings me to the website with no information on how to buy it, or whether it's for sale or not. Great game though! I think it's the only polished multiplayer game i've seen on the showcase...or is this the only one i've seen on showcase? |
| ||
| Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I've still a bit to go, have to wrap up several maps, debug the server and map designer some and package it all up. |
| ||
messing with gile[s] as I make more maps for the full version.   |
| ||
| wow that map looks like a great place for mines and nades :) in fact thats kind of what I was envisioning for one of my map designs, unfortunately I dont have the modelling skills I have been trying to catch yall on but I cant seem to :/ when will the map above be available? |
| ||
| Thanks Nate, im not in there as much as I used to be.. im really struggling with modelling more maps and thats taking alot of my time. The above map and the rest when they are finished are available when playing the full version. Ill send you a copy when its done. |
| ||
| Thread's getting a bit long now! Continued in Tiny Tanks Thread 3... |
   |