Worklog for RifRaf
Tiny Tanks
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Well I noticed that the server I added to the download package had an
issue. So for months i guess nobody could run a server, this has
prompted me to tinker with Tiny Tanks again. I am working a lot lately
but will find some time to fix the server code and tweak the game. My
primary goal is to make it more customizable for server ops, making
custom maps and rules per server possible |
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| Improved race mode a little. Reworked the tunnelrace map video but its just me in there :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaZFlJTV5Yo |
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some recent pics.. hard to get good pics of large levels.. even harder to get action shots when im the only player logged in :)      |
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| Im at it again, I just cannot give up on this game. I actual enjoy working on it, and playing it. I wish more people would give it a try . I'm stumped on how to get the word out. latest video here http://youtu.be/teem-8PwlEk |
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Well Ive done it again, worked much more that I intended to on Tiny
Tanks, and made some large strides in terms of visual and game play
enhancements / polish. *Plasme Shields are prettier and cover the entire tank now * water movement is fluid (via underlayed animated bumpmaps that will turn any flat texture unto a caustic animated one) *Weapon models improved *Incline driving improved *logic frame rate boosted from 30 to 45 (makes a huge difference, and is much smoother feeling) lots of small tweaks here and there.. next im going to focus on improving the maps I just wish some of you fine blitzers would give it a go now and again :) To this date ive never load tested the game with more than 6 players |
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| Updated some effects.. .Rocket trails .Mine Explosions .EMP hit / effect and immunity Updated a few sounds Modified some of the remote movement prediction code Main menu music is now always on , even if you set the in game music volume to zero Updated some sounds Fixed a bug where 3D text such as "multikill", "Revenge" and such would not show up if you were zoomed in with the sniper cannon. Updated the server as well with some prediction code |
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| Removed DOF all together, decided it wasn't really worth the milliseconds of rendering time in this game. Revamped the hud elements some, title gfx and gui elements Reworked the Hp bar on the tanks to occupy less space Replaced the mortar fire sound with something not as silly Added a new voice over for the selection of the Bombers "Self destruct detonator" Improved the scout class model a little. and a few other game mechanic tweaks |
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| I hit it again today, and made another update -Bombers can no longer hurt themselves with the mortar cannon or land mines, now they must use the detonator or be destroyed by the enemy This means that the Scout can now temporarily prevent the bomber from self detonating by effecting him with the E.M.P , and the bomber cannot self detonate directly after using the chicken boosters. -rockets and land mines, and the Juggernauts SUPER mortar, can now destroy placed land mines on the field.. both enemy and friendly mines can be destoyed -juggernaut super mortar explosions now cause camera rumble if you are close, just like mines and rockets -reduced the velocity forces caused by explosions just a little -updated team bomb particle effect -Fixed a bug where sometimes the wrong weapon would show on a tank after they changed from the white rabbit to a normal team color. -On the server you can now give a class suit to players, instead of a weapon item -Reduced the dof effect by alot -Went from a single collision normal alignment to 4 point alightment for the tank.. result is smoother movement alignments on sharp angles |
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| SERVER - changed the server side interpolation for positions to a point to line distance check, so I take the previous position and the current to create my Line, then check the distance from a point and that line to determine if players have interacted with objects server side.. this is far better than interpolating positions on the server as its dead accurate and players shouldn't pass though crates and things without collecting them nomatter how fast they are moving. Also increased the range on the bombers self detonation as well as scouts sonic grenade explosions Stats are now persistent.. even after you rank up or down, the other 5 stats remain. Before this change, all stats reset when your rank changed. CLIENT - Added a brake ability to speed boosts.. you can now push backward to resist the force Bombers can now select the detonator without exploding.. they must press the fire button AFTER selecting the detonator to explode Reduced the jump height some Improved the interpolation for remote players Added a visual indicator that a flag cannot be picked up for a short time after it's been dropped. This indicator is a rotating lock on the flag that slowly disappears. reduced bombers movement speed |
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| Fixed a few isses with the server that were hard to pin down, as well as a few bugs that somehow I just never noticed. TT is still alive and well, im in talks with a few people trying to figure out how best to get NAT Punchthrough working via blitz3d/bplus |
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| My dev pc has been down for well over a month.. so nothing new but Tiny Tanks server is back up and running. |
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Rockets no longer charge up mid air before reaching full speed, they
now take off quickly and instatly.. but now they can hurt anyone even
the one firing it so carefull not to hit the ground or wall next to you.
Basically rockets now act more traditional ala quake3 arena or unreal. Rocket damage reduced from 70 to 48 Tweaked the server to respond properly if you kill a team mate or yourself, killing a teammate removes 2 kills and adds 2 deaths to your score, usually causing a rankdown unless you have lots of kills added up already. Grenades now also create a smokescreen, a useful utility for the scout. New/changed particle effects here and there Movement interpolation tweaked for better interpolation results across the network |
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this video shows the new interaction with walls, before you would just
hit them and stop, while this is still the case when moving normally on
the ground, if you are in the air or boosting, you bounce off them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnqGOxK6ouc |
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| tiny base 2-8 player recommended, team dm, ctf, or control point  |
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Tiny Tanks is still alive from a development standpoint. Probably will
be for some time, if not for any other reason than I enjoy working on
it. -Reworked the class system to be less confusing. Now you collect tank suits , each that have unique weapon selections and extra abilities. -Ive updates the interpolation with some prediction which seems to improve overall remote player tracking/movement -Improved the tank treads and added a type of Hydraulics visual when spring track jumping. -added a checkbox to remove xfire support. wich means the game wont launch xfire or try to update your xfire status for you when playing if you uncheck this. -removed fast text player label, replaced these with quads -Removed some linepicks that werent really needed -other misc performance and bug fixes more later.... |
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| Tiny Tanks is starting to get some attention in the small corners of the net. A review on gamershell.com , adwords ads are now active and a few gaming forums have about 5- 20 people playing a day. Not all at once yet unfortunatly, but theres hope. just take a look at the leaderboar now, last week there were 3 on it http://tinytanks.empowergames.com/leaderboard/ |
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| Well, Tiny Tanks got a big promotional piece in a mmo blog site in brazil www.mmoblog.ro Im very happy that even though these players so far away are connecting with 200 - 400 pings or worse, that the netcode is holding up and allowing them to play a pretty smooth game in most cases. Some extremely latency connections of 900 - 1200 ms can timeout but thats to be expected. |
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I've decided to go the free route with Tiny Tanks, after being snubbed
by a few publishers for either not having a single player campaign or
multiplayer requiring too much support. Im not entirely dissapointed by this, because they were right. It will require more support for many reasons as well as require a player base to make it any fun. I can still put some ads on my website wich players will visit to see leaderboards and such, and Tiny Tanks will make a nice little portfolio piece. ill be spending some money on advertisement now to get the word out and see if it goes anywhere. |
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Been a long road , about 10 months so far ! :) The experience of
sticking in there and not giving up has been really great. Im glad im
still working forward to my goal. I have a new website up http://tinytanks.empowergames.com New addtions and changes to the game are.. Tiny Tanks now has 6 classes soldier, scout, bomber, marksman, juggernaut, and pyro Gnet code has been extended to allow player name and pw , as well as leaderboard data. So while you can have differnt stats on every server, your name will be your own. For example, there will be only one player who can be Rifraf , on all the TT servers. I thought this was an important feature to make the leaderboards worth while. Thats it for now, check out the new site!! |
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I'm still pushing forward with this title. Recently added moving
platforms , wich was trickier than I thought it would be to sync up..
simple interpolation for platforms across the network still had some
artifiacts I had to work out. Race mode is in , atm im doing some house cleaning on the dedicated server. Clustering packets where I used to handle them indivudually, as well as adjusting scoring and ranking in modes like control point & race. |
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| Tiny Tanks is getting closer and closer to a full multiplayer game. Destroyable scenery is in and working great , ive spent the last few days tweaking it some more and getting more map options in. I think there should be things happening in a map besides what the players are doing so I added what ive described below. I have added several map options, wich are tweakable per option type in the map editor . First main class is teleporters, predifined scenery objects represents the teleporter visual representation. In the map editor you can drop a teleporter class, and define wich team can use it. If its a source pad, or destination pad. Also you can set if the player can do both ways or only from source pad to destination pad. You can drop damage areas, assign particle effects to them and tell them wich teams to effect as well as put them on timers or intervals. Also you can create the same effect for "special" actions. So far all the predefines I have are listed below.. Each defined type can be tweaker per map by the editor Damage (either pos or negative.. hurt/heal) Slow Speed Invisible Spring (toss the the player if they touch it) Here is a shot showing the damage areas put into action on am map in the form of fire chambers that turn on for 20 seconds, then off for 5. You can also see in the distance some blue things. (not a good shot of them) but they in 10 second intervals slow you down , while displaying the effect of wind cmming to them. (a magnetic ripple). The possibilities with just hese few classes are pretty neat. This shot was taken in "performace mode" wich limits effects, draw range and removes the toon outlines.  |
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Things are progressing steadily. Today I tacked a strange movement
glitch that, when triggered caused a player to click across the
playfield instead of move smoothly. I still have no dedicated server line to test with , so all my testing is still on a private network. I also added alot of functional improvements such as ).when you cap a flag, it returns to its base but can no longer be picked up right away.. Instead there is a 30 second window that it cannot be grabbed. This has a visual cue of the flag being mostly transparent on its base. I was concerned with cap trains, where one person waits on the base when another caps. ). I have taken a recommendation and added soft shading to the game, removing the flat look it once had.. Screenshot below. ). Many small improvements I could bore any reader to tears with , so I wont detail them.  |
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| I was able to get a mild multiplayer test in with 5 people. This was on a local private network so pings were very good. The movement was as expected, pretty smooth. But I did find out what I need to change next. 1. When struck with an EMP you slow down and cannot fire for awhile. The victim of this attack needs an immunity to another attack for a duration longer than the effect itself. I found out that you can be grieved by chain EMPs There also needs to be a visible cue to show you are now immune to emp and/or under the effect of one. otherwise it looks like a bug when a tank is moving half speed with no indicator why. 2. Land Mines need a small delay to "Arm" themselves after hitting the ground. immediate detonation if an enemy is nearby makes them too powerful with their huge damage and radius. 3. Sniper Cannon needs quicker reload times. and slightly higher damage. 4. Weapon sight for sniper and repair blaster should have longer view range. 5.Voice Sounds somtimes play very loud, some time they dont play very load at all.. Have to track this down later. I should be able to complete those changes pretty quickly. heres a video of tonights test. The videos here are of my two young children trying to take me on, they are used to consoles and have to get used to keyboard + mouse controls, they are also 5 & 9 yrs old. So ya.. i pwned them hard. My 5 year old son derek and I were the last two in the game, and decided to have jumping "follow the leader" contest. EDIT: all the above modifications are now in the game. http://www.empowergames.com/ttmultiplayer.wmv |
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| New demo available http://www.empowergames.com/TTALPHA2.ZIP has destroyable scenery and new spring tracks powerup. i just linked it so im hoping to see someone log in today, or post if they have connection issues. The active server on the list is - REMOTE EEPC -- the others are private internal servers here |
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Today I completed the destoyable scenery. In order to keep the network
traffic light, and still allow user moddable scenery obstructions I
created a theme, wich is around the map there may be Holographic Shield
Generators. Each generator has adjustable health and once placed in the
map editor can have any scenery object attached to it anywhere on the
map. When the players attack the generator its health bar will go down , when its destroyed all scenery attached to it will fade out.. while the generator burns in flame for the preset amount of time.. Then it will restore its health and the scenery fades back in. I will post a small video of it in action later today in this worklog. |
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| ive been a member of the community here since Blitzbasic 2D was the only thing on the site, and this is my first entry here. Well Tiny Tanks was originally conceived to be a multiplayer online game that kids could play without being subjected to blood and gore. My son being my motivation who loves to play games with his old man. Progress so far is 85% complete at a quick guess. With the following features CTF Gameplay Solid Netcode in tests so far Server Lobby Online persistent player stats per server 5 weapons 3 powerups Cartoon Lighhearted feel, with no tramatic violence. -- however--- Competitive design allows players to have fun and enjoy winning Here are some movies from the game, just me running around by myself. This movie shows a power up I added in the last few hours I was considering how bland things could get if the only way up to a platform was to always take the ramp. So the springtracks were born. I tested them multiplayer as well and they work great, just the variance I was looking for. Next thing to do is complete is detroyable scenery modifications and special ground tiles that can cause damage, slow you, or repair you when driven on. about 3 meg http://www.empowergames.com/springtracks.wmv about 14 meg i think http://www.empowergames.com/TTbeta.wmv and some current screenshots   I have everything tested on local servers, but I need to test them out on a real public server. Wich im having problems with because my DSL modem is set up with a dynamic line. At any rate this has put my public testing back a bit so im back to internal local testing and creating new features. |