Jeffrey the Robot

[Hyden]

Hello,

My name is Hyden and I'm developing a small project that is a platformer called Jeffrey the Robot. Here's a recent screenshot:



The main character that you control is called Jeffrey and he is a robot. There's no storyline right now but I plan on adding one. At the end of each level you must travel through a green vortex which takes you to the next level. However, to reach this vortex you must get pass spikes and lighters, a dangerous enemy.

Here's a list of things I plan on adding to the game:

• Sawblades
• Life pickups

And finally here's the download link: http://hydenb.github.io/projects/jeffrey-the-robot.html (note, the most recent version is not up to date and has a completely different color theme).

[AFS]

Hey, I tried it. Unfortunately there's not much to say about it, but at least it worked properly, no crashes, and the collision detection worked as intended.

I did find the first level much harder that the next two, oddly enough.

Also, I found it weird that if you maximize the window, you can see more of the level. So, people running at a higher resolution can see more, and maybe that could be considered an unfair advantage (or maybe not, but it's something to consider).

Anyways, good job!

[Erdrick]

Hi, I downloaded it and played it too.  No deaths!  Although there was a scary jump in the first level before I realized I could maximize the window and see more of the screen.

Thanks for sharing, had fun.

[Hyden]

  Thanks for testing it Erdrick and AFS.

AFS, I'm not sure what you want me to do to fix that window size issue? I'll take a look and see if I can fix it. Also, currently the levels in the game are just test levels. The first level was my attempt at creating a challenging introduction level and the next two were just to test that the vortex worked.

Erdrick, what size were you running the game at? By default the game window should by 800x600 and I tested it and I can see the next jump at that size.

I'd appreciate any further feedback if anyone has played the game (I noticed there were 2 people who went to the download page but I've gotten no feedback ).

[Erdrick]

Erdrick, what size were you running the game at? By default the game window should by 800x600 and I tested it and I can see the next jump at that size.

Don't worry that much about it!  Pretty sure I didn't resize the window, if I try it again I'll let you know if its an issue.  Basic experience is fun.. point is just keep working at it.

[AFS]

AFS, I'm not sure what you want me to do to fix that window size issue? I'll take a look and see if I can fix it.

Well, the "issue" depends of the game. For instance, in a fast platformer, a person running it at 1080p may see some distant spikes at a given time while a person running it a 720p may not, therefore the latter will have less time to react to it, and that could be considered unfair.

So, to "fix" this, you make it so when you resize the window, your sprites get resized as well, so you don't see more of the map, you just see the same, but bigger. So, regardless of resolution, every player can see the same elements on screen at a given time. To do this you don't actually scale your sprites, you just keep your main view at a constant size, even after resizing the window.

But again, it depends of the game, and maybe with yours is not an issue and you could just leave it at that

[Hyden]

Okay, I've tried that and it just makes the game looked stretched horizontally when it is maximised fully. Here's an image:

[Hapax]

There are a number of methods to keep the aspect ratio of your game to be consistent.
One of which is to employ some sort of letter-boxing effect. You could try this code.
Another is to allow resizing of the window but restraining its aspect ratio so that after it's been resized, either the width or the height is adjusted to match you intended ratio.

[Hyden]

Thanks Hapax. So essentially the view should be a square so that it doesn't appear to be stretched horizontally or vertically, and then I can just fill in the rest with black. That makes sense, I'll add that to the game.

Also it might be a good idea to talk about what I'm adding right now and what I plan on adding. So I'm currently working on enemies called lighters and when they collide with an object they move in the opposite direction. So they end up moving backwards and forwards. When the player collides with a lighter the player is hurt. And that's the other thing I'm working on, a health bar. When you have no more health you go back to the beginning of the level. I'm also working on a life system with a maximum of 3 lives, you'll lose a life everytime you die, once you have no lives you are set back to 3 lives and you go back to the first level. Not sure how exactly I'll do that because you obviously don't want to send the player back to level 1 if they're on level 103, so maybe I'll have it send you back to the last level rounded to ten (so if you were on level 96 you'd go back to level 90).

[Hyden]

So, a quick update I've added the new enemies called lighters and I've implemented the letterbox view so that all players can see the same amount of the level, even if one player has a larger screen than another. If I had to give a rough estimate I'd say an update will be out in 2 days. I just need to add health, lives and make the lighters hurt the player. If I have time before the update then I will add a few new levels. They may either be actual gameplay levels or just test levels. If I get all that done before the update I'll do a bit of searching for bugs and I'll try to fix any I find.

[Hapax]

Thanks Hapax. So essentially the view should be a square so that it doesn't appear to be stretched horizontally or vertically, and then I can just fill in the rest with black. That makes sense, I'll add that to the game.

Pretty much although it doesn't have to be a square; it just needs to be a rectangle with a consistent width to height ratio (the same shape).
It's not as simple as just keeping the view the same, though. The view fills the window so the view has to expand along with it when the window is a different shape but you still want the view to be around the same size regardless of the window size (so that the game scales). That code I linked shows you how it can be done.

[Hyden]

Ah, alright. I've already taken a look at the code you linked and I've created my own letterbox view. Thanks again. Also, I've noticed that one of my posts isn't worded clearly, the update is tomorrow (I wasn't counting the day we were on).

[Hyden]

Update is complete! I've finished everything I wanted too but I'm going to release it tomorrow as I want to work on making a few new levels so it is slightly more exciting to play. I'm looking forward to feedback about the lighters (new enemy). I'm not too sure whether I should keep the lighters hit box the same as its texture size or a little smaller. Right now it feels a little grabby (looks like you won't hit it but you do). This is more obvious when you jump over the lighters, which is the only way to avoid them.

[Hyden]

Alright! Time for the update I'm releasing update 0.1, below is a list of changes:

• Game loop improvement
• New enemy called lighters
• Health (max health of 100)
• Lives (max of 3)
• Two new levels (old second and third levels replaced)

I hope you enjoy. Here is a list of things I plan on adding/changing these things in 0.2:

• Jump pad (when standing on jump pad you can jump much higher)
• Collision improvement (player seems to get stuck sometimes)

There were probaly be some more things but that's all for now. Update is downloadable from the website linked in the topic (top of the first page).

[Hyden]

Alright. Can't really say when to expect an update just yet. I've redesigned the whole look of the game and I'm now breaking the game down into separate .cpps and .hpps. Speaking of breaking things, I was trying to take a vid of the game using my own recording software (which might be available on my website soon, hint, hint) and I noticed the game was very jumpy and jittery. To my horror I actually discovered I've been doing game loops completely wrong so I had to reprogram the game loop. Also, I'm going to make the menu and then there will be a new update.

Also, I might make this a sort of mini dev log. I'll probably write something with a fancy picture of a new feature!