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General => SFML projects => Topic started by: gamepopper on May 06, 2016, 10:00:13 pm

Title: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on May 06, 2016, 10:00:13 pm
Hello everyone!

I'm surprised I didn't post here earlier, considering I made posts on other threads about it. This is Gemstone Keeper, a combination of twin-stick shooter and roguelike. The player explores multiple layers of procedurally generated caverns, and while you defend yourself from the creatures within, you also break rocks to find gemstones and minerals. The deeper down you go, the more valuable gemstones you can find, but the creatures get stronger.

(http://i.imgur.com/53XNUTS.gif)

I moved engines from Allegro to SFML in July 2015, the long reason why I wrote about (https://gamepopper.co.uk/2015/10/14/allegro-to-sfml-aka-how-i-learned-to-love-vertexarrays/) a while back but the short version is that SFML was being kept stable, more up-to-date and had features I was more keen in such as shader support.

(http://i.imgur.com/ZBBKfQC.gif)

Features the game currently has:

(http://i.imgur.com/gDuVR3U.gif)

(http://i.imgur.com/5jUxlmi.gif)

As you can also tell, this game heavily uses ASCII graphics. I render the glyphs onto RenderTextures and have them rendered as Sprites so more complex designs such as the tilemap can be rendered much more easily.

The game was Greenlit on Steam Greenlight on June 11th 2016, you can find the Greenlight page here here (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=661135046&tscn=1463408727)!

The game will be was released on Steam on March 31st of 2017 at around 6pm GMT. Check out the game's official website (http://gemstonekeeper.co.uk) and Steam page (http://store.steampowered.com/app/522080)!

WANTED: Linux users to test run port.
I have been working on a Linux port for a while and I've got a demo build available for download (https://gamepopper.itch.io/gemstone-keeper?secret=2SsFWIdOz9WY4cyCQq7CeGokdw). If anyone who uses a Linux machine run the game and tell me if it works, how well it functions, and if not, specifically what is wrong.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: DarkRoku12 on May 07, 2016, 03:22:16 am
Very original and good-looking. Keep going. ;D
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: Erdrick on May 07, 2016, 03:31:25 am
Looking really good!  nice work, please keep us updated.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: eXpl0it3r on May 07, 2016, 09:24:38 am
Nice to see you post it here as well! Been following your progress quite closely on Twitter. Will be looking forward to the Greenlight campaign. :)

Hope you like what you see, I later plan to put this game up on Steam Greenlight so at some point I'll either update the description or add a reply below with the page link, whichever method the moderators are okay with.  :)
Update your first post and add a reply to the thread. ;)
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: AFS on May 10, 2016, 07:14:17 pm
This looks great! I love shooters, and the art style is quite original. I'll be keeping an eye on this.

Are you planning on uplading a demo?
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: Hapax on May 11, 2016, 12:04:39 am
I don't know why I haven't seen this sooner! (probably because recently my browser crashed after opening the a bunch of the newest topics which marked them as read)

This looks pretty! It's very cool and quite a nice idea to use ASCII glyphs in a non-strict grid way.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: Elias Daler on May 11, 2016, 08:55:12 am
Awesome project, looks very fun and polished. It's great to see such SFML games. :)
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on May 13, 2016, 01:56:17 am
Here are some examples of the level effects currently in the game:

Adrenaline - Everything appears to move faster and shakier
(http://i.imgur.com/VOYyLGF.gif)

Lights Out - Much Darker, plus you don't have your info to help you...
(http://i.imgur.com/5BlkNmL.gif)

Tripping - Everything feels slower and wavier...
(http://i.imgur.com/9us3dJy.gif)
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on May 16, 2016, 08:11:45 pm
The game is currently on Steam Greenlight, so I've added the links to the Greenlight page. :D
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: Hapax on May 17, 2016, 12:20:59 am
Good luck with your Greenlighting!

This link doesn't work, by the way:
you can go directly into your steam app to the Greenlight page here (http://steam://url/CommunityFilePage/661135046)!
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on May 17, 2016, 12:24:12 am
Good luck with your Greenlighting!

This link doesn't work, by the way:
you can go directly into your steam app to the Greenlight page here (http://steam://url/CommunityFilePage/661135046)!

Thanks for letting me know, it seems the forum automatically formats all links to http even if you don't want to. I've removed the link since it's kind of a hit-or-miss feature... :/
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: eXpl0it3r on May 17, 2016, 08:09:48 am
I already voted yes! :)

Thanks for letting me know, it seems the forum automatically formats all links to http even if you don't want to. I've removed the link since it's kind of a hit-or-miss feature... :/
Well the link you originally posted was neither HTTP nor HTTPS. ;)
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: Hapax on May 17, 2016, 04:03:14 pm
Well the link you originally posted was neither HTTP nor HTTPS. ;)
I think the link was supposed to open a page in Steam, not a web-page in a browser.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on May 17, 2016, 04:18:10 pm
Well the link you originally posted was neither HTTP nor HTTPS. ;)
I think the link was supposed to open a page in Steam, not a web-page in a browser.

That's correct, it was supposed to open the page within Steam's browser. Was kind of a recommended tip as not all Steam users are logged in on the website.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: Mario on May 19, 2016, 11:21:35 pm
You were missing the colon right after the protocoll (i.e. "steam"), but that might have been the forum software as well.

Edit: Yep, Steam URLs are broken by the forum software. You'd either have to use an URL shortener for "obfuscation" or just use the normal web based URL.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on June 12, 2016, 12:36:53 am
I can proudly confirm that Gemstone Keeper has been Greenlit! Thank you everyone who has supported me so far! :D

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CkqD93-W0AA0jvn.jpg)
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: eXpl0it3r on June 12, 2016, 06:05:09 pm
Awesome! Glad you made it! :)
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: Hapax on June 14, 2016, 03:51:52 am
Congratulations!
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: achpile on June 14, 2016, 07:44:35 am
Wow! Awesome game! Congratulations!!  ;)

The most surprising thing for me is track from trailer  ;D I tried to use it in my project too  :D Yeah, Eric Skiff is pretty great composer  :)
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on March 21, 2017, 11:36:10 pm
Wow I have not been updating this...at all.

So Gemstone Keeper will be on Steam in about 10 days, that's exciting!

Here's the trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVnMpCjsiyI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVnMpCjsiyI)
Title: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: eXpl0it3r on March 22, 2017, 12:33:06 am
Woho! Nice! :)
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: eXpl0it3r on April 03, 2017, 09:28:37 am
I has been released! :)

http://store.steampowered.com/app/522080/

Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: achpile on April 03, 2017, 09:32:44 am
No Linux Version? :(
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: Tank on April 03, 2017, 11:35:46 am
No Linux version  :'(
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on April 04, 2017, 12:40:38 am
No Linux Version? :(

I'm sorry, I'm not ready to approach Linux just yet.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on April 06, 2017, 07:06:38 pm
Video Game writer Dean Noakes is currently doing a poll on which game from the Twitter group #IndieDevHour to write about. My game is on that list, so if you do have Twitter, please vote on Gemstone Keeper right here (https://twitter.com/NoakseyV1/status/849698900743249920). Thank you all!
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on May 23, 2017, 09:21:01 pm
No Linux Version? :(

No Linux version  :'(

Good news you two (and any others)! I have been working on a Linux build (https://gamepopper.itch.io/gemstone-keeper?secret=2SsFWIdOz9WY4cyCQq7CeGokdw), and I have a demo that I would like to be test run, much feedback would be necessary to ensure this build goes out smoothly. Specifically I would like to know:


If there are any faults, please describe in best detail what the issue is, and if possible any ways I could fix it. Linux is still faily new to me after 2-3 months so stuff isn't perfect at this stage.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: texus on May 23, 2017, 10:24:56 pm
I had to change the permissions of the runGemstoneKeeper.sh and Gemstone-Keeper files to allow executing them.

When going into the cavern and clicking "start level", the game crashes with a std::bad_cast error after the screen faded to black. The backtrace does not show anything as the executable is not a debug build.

In the terminal output there is also a repeating error because "VFrame/depend/arial.ttf" can't be found.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on May 23, 2017, 11:08:46 pm
I had to change the permissions of the runGemstoneKeeper.sh and Gemstone-Keeper files to allow executing them.

When going into the cavern and clicking "start level", the game crashes with a std::bad_cast error after the screen faded to black. The backtrace does not show anything as the executable is not a debug build.

In the terminal output there is also a repeating error because "VFrame/depend/arial.ttf" can't be found.

Is there anyway to set those permissions permanently so users don't have to change them themselves?

Also found the bad_cast issue and it has been fixed. Feel free to download a fixed build on the itch.io page and let me know if you find anymore issues. Thank you. :)
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: texus on May 23, 2017, 11:13:07 pm
You should try making a .tar.gz (or .tgz) file instead of a .zip, that should preserve the file permissions.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on May 23, 2017, 11:19:26 pm
You should try making a .tar.gz (or .tgz) file instead of a .zip, that should preserve the file permissions.

Done! :)
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: texus on May 23, 2017, 11:40:08 pm
Seems to work fine now. The program can be executed out of the box and I finished one level with keyboard and mouse without any issues (except that the controls don't really correspond well to my AZERTY keyboard).

Just a minor detail, the controls section in the readme is only aligned when a tab is aligned to 8 spaces.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: gamepopper on May 23, 2017, 11:42:47 pm
Seems to work fine now. The program can be executed out of the box and I finished one level with keyboard and mouse without any issues (except that the controls don't really correspond well to my AZERTY keyboard).

Just a minor detail, the controls section in the readme is only aligned when a tab is aligned to 8 spaces.

I'll keep that in mind, are you able to try an Xbox 360 or Xinput gamepad? I've got it to work in the past (can't at the moment, for some reason my Linux VM thinks my mouse is a joystick) but I want to make sure.
Title: Re: Gemstone Keeper - An ASCII based Roguelike Shooter
Post by: texus on May 23, 2017, 11:44:14 pm
No, I don't have a gamepad here.