Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length

 
Advanced search

1411196 Posts in 69314 Topics- by 58380 Members - Latest Member: feakk

March 18, 2024, 06:58:50 PM

Need hosting? Check out Digital Ocean
(more details in this thread)
TIGSource ForumsCommunityJams & EventsCompetitionsSportsPole Vaultage [FINISHED]
Pages: [1] 2
Print
Author Topic: Pole Vaultage [FINISHED]  (Read 28498 times)
goshki
Level 4
****



View Profile WWW
« on: October 31, 2012, 06:29:47 AM »

A one-button game about pole vaulting over a fence under high voltage and other things as well.

I'm done!

Play the game here: http://j.mp/pole-vaultage-tigcompo



The music is '97' by lightsoda: http://soundcloud.com/lightsoda/97-1

Oh, seems like I'm late by an hour considering forum's timezone...

I guess I'm really done now and therefore, I've recorded a final gameplay video for all those who don't want to bother jumping over the fence. ;-) Click the image below to watch the video.

« Last Edit: December 01, 2012, 02:50:39 AM by goshki » Logged

Inanimate
Level 10
*****

☆HERO OF JUSTICE!☆


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2012, 04:17:11 PM »

other things?
Logged
Devon Peak
Level 0
**


View Profile WWW
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2012, 07:03:10 PM »

I like this idea. It does't need other things.  Hand Money Left
Logged

goshki
Level 4
****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #3 on: November 02, 2012, 01:58:40 PM »

All right, so the idea is simple. The player controls the jumper with one button. The jumper has to achieve a certain speed but not too high (otherwise to pole will break). Also the tip of the pole has to be planted in a certain spot just like in real pole vaulting, only here the jumper gets electrocuted if he doesn't make it over the fence.



I'm currently trying to get the pole behave like an elastic pole should (I'm using Nape) but as Bennett Foddy has said once, it's damn hard. I guess I'll have to cheat here and there.

The minimum plan is to implement the simplest form of what is shown on the picture.
Logged

Gib
Level 0
***


sup?


View Profile WWW
« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2012, 02:12:05 PM »

Great potential here. It's like the Olympics but with more death and pain and electricity and other things.

Also the pun "High Vaultage" has already been made. But whatever, you've got real VOLTAGE in your game so yeah.
Logged

Welp, twitter and stuff. And b__g.
goshki
Level 4
****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #5 on: November 03, 2012, 02:53:19 AM »

Thanks, Gib. I wasn't aware of that game but I'm glad the name is a little bit different (I've searched for potential name conflicts). As I can see, High Vaultage fakes the pole by clever usage of spline but also it doesn't need accurate pole physics as vaulting is not the core mechanic of the game. Here I want to make vaulting as skill-based as possible.
Logged

goshki
Level 4
****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2012, 02:09:31 PM »

Finally got some progress on the game. Nape is a bitch but so would be any other physics engine I guess. Click the image to watch the prototype gameplay movie.

Logged

Pierrec
Level 0
***



View Profile WWW
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2012, 02:53:43 PM »

I love how the tony guy hits the ground! It reminds me a bit of super meat boy.
But why does the pole break ? WTF this is weird (I guess that's why you called the engine a bitch)
Logged

goshki
Level 4
****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2012, 11:41:56 PM »

I love how the tony guy hits the ground! It reminds me a bit of super meat boy.
But why does the pole break ? WTF this is weird (I guess that's why you called the engine a bitch)

Yes, the pole quirks are the effect of a heavy manual interference with the physics simulation. There are quite a few joints (two hand joints, three pole joints and a pole-ground joint) and during the running start I manually (i.e. outside physics simulation) update the jumper's position hand joints and that's why the pole lags behind the jumper. As for the pole "breaking", it's because I use loose pole joints to let it bend elastically. In a final version I'll probably use a spline running through the joints so it looks more credible.

Now it's time to make the fence! Evil
Logged

goshki
Level 4
****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2012, 12:20:28 AM »

Second movie showing progress on Pole Vaultage (click the image below):



As you can see, the second player has been added and I'm testing jumping over the obstacle.

Apart from that I'm currently figuring out an annoying problem with an "exploding" pole on jumper reset (both players will have the ability to try the jump as many times as they can within a limited amount of time).
« Last Edit: November 12, 2012, 12:32:40 AM by goshki » Logged

eigenbom
Level 10
*****


@eigenbom


View Profile WWW
« Reply #10 on: November 12, 2012, 02:59:45 AM »

Hah classic!
Logged

felipezille
Level 0
**



View Profile WWW
« Reply #11 on: November 12, 2012, 03:22:51 AM »

Awesome!!11 Hand Any Key
Logged
goshki
Level 4
****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #12 on: November 12, 2012, 11:57:58 PM »

Thanks! Yesterday I managed to solve the problem with "exploding" pole. Or rather obviate the effects. It turned out that when the jumper is reset all the pole joints start at [0,0] coordinates and it takes them a fraction of second to go to the defined position (relative to jumper). During this fraction of second the forces acting on the joints are so large that they just break and the pole seems to explode. So, to mitigate the problem I make the joints breakable a little later, after jumper reset, so the joints have the time stabilize. I know it's a lousy cheat but hey, half of November has passed already! And now I have both jumpers resetable. :-)

I've also implemented a detection of collision between the pole and the fence so if the jumper runs into fence with the pole up, he let's go of the pole.
Logged

goshki
Level 4
****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #13 on: November 13, 2012, 01:02:55 PM »

It turned out that there was a nasty bug that was causing a memory-leak during jumper reset as the jumper was not removed properly. As always, it was a totally lame mistake but debugging was time-consuming nonetheless.

To celebrate, I've recorded a new gameplay video showing jumping, collisions and player reset in its full glory. Click on the image below to watch it.



This is basically how the game will look and feel (minus temporary graphics).

The testing stage has only one obstacle but in a final version I want to have multi-obstacle stages where the player jumps over the obstacles sequentially and the first one to beat them all is the winner.

I have not yet decided as to what types of obstacles (apart from fences) the game will have.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2012, 01:25:06 PM by goshki » Logged

whilefun
Level 1
*


Making games


View Profile WWW
« Reply #14 on: November 13, 2012, 02:17:11 PM »

This looks great!  Grin
Logged

andrewgrewell
Level 0
*


View Profile
« Reply #15 on: November 13, 2012, 04:50:28 PM »

This is looking great! any chance of a brief write up on how you achieved this?
Logged
MapiMopi
Level 0
**



View Profile
« Reply #16 on: November 13, 2012, 08:01:09 PM »

Looks hilarious how they just throw themselfs into air.
Logged

goshki
Level 4
****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #17 on: November 13, 2012, 11:27:42 PM »

This is looking great! any chance of a brief write up on how you achieved this?

Yes, I'll probably just release the source code of the prototype on Github. Right now it's a total mess and I won't be cleaning it up before the end of compo but will surely do at a later date.

Looks hilarious how they just throw themselfs into air.

I plan to turn jumpers into ragdolls during the jump for even more hilarity. :-)

But first thing first. Currently the game has no goal apart from watching the little men fly and crash on the ground. So before the compo ends I'll try to implement:

  • basic game rules
    • the winner is the player that makes the best jump within a limited time
    • multi-obstacle levels
    • a kind of tournament mode where the winner is declared after a series of levels
  • various obstacles - currently I think of:
    • electric fences
    • walls
    • pools of water
    • dog pits
    • ventilation ducts
    • some narrow platforms
  • player configuration screen
  • proper graphics (this is going to be a PITA)
  • ragdolls
Logged

Greg Power
Level 0
*



View Profile
« Reply #18 on: November 14, 2012, 03:53:09 AM »

This really looks great. Can't wait to play it, and to trawl through your code!
Logged

Inanimate
Level 10
*****

☆HERO OF JUSTICE!☆


View Profile
« Reply #19 on: November 14, 2012, 02:30:58 PM »

I can't wait to get my hands on this one.  Smiley
Logged
Pages: [1] 2
Print
Jump to:  

Theme orange-lt created by panic