TFIV Rebirth dev thread

[BPzeBanshee]

Seems like pressing anything in the cutscene bit makes the game freeze after the picture of broken Rynex, or something. I got to run it once and then on reopening, reloading and playing with pressing buttons to try and skip them seem to stop it from ever getting past.

This is maybe related to network bandwidth. Try to wait 2/3 minutes before pressing when the rynex is being destroyed.

Also in order to play again, after loosing your life, I think it will be faster to wait for the intro (I'll work on that point also to reduce the time to wait... for example allowing only once the scrolling of "TO BE CONTINUED" which contributes to file download ).

Tell me.

2 to 3 minutes?! Surely my internet connection is not THAT bad! D:

Not sure what you mean about the rest of that, but we definitely need reduced times like having the cutscenes only happen once. One could renable them in an Options Menu for standalone versions later down the track or something.

[wondersonic]

Seems like pressing anything in the cutscene bit makes the game freeze after the picture of broken Rynex, or something. I got to run it once and then on reopening, reloading and playing with pressing buttons to try and skip them seem to stop it from ever getting past.

This is maybe related to network bandwidth. Try to wait 2/3 minutes before pressing when the rynex is being destroyed.

Also in order to play again, after loosing your life, I think it will be faster to wait for the intro (I'll work on that point also to reduce the time to wait... for example allowing only once the scrolling of "TO BE CONTINUED" which contributes to file download ).

Tell me.

2 to 3 minutes?! Surely my internet connection is not THAT bad! D:

Not sure what you mean about the rest of that, but we definitely need reduced times like having the cutscenes only happen once. One could renable them in an Options Menu for standalone versions later down the track or something.

Hmmm, could you retry, the version 0.0.19 is out now (sort of beta this time).

[BPzeBanshee]

It's not made any difference.

Did you say the second part of Stage 2 was implemented? I got looped at the tunnels but I guess that might've been a beta thing you did.

[wondersonic]

It's not made any difference.

Did you say the second part of Stage 2 was implemented? I got looped at the tunnels but I guess that might've been a beta thing you did.

No difference? weird! It's working for me
When hiting C or enter, level 1 is starting.

Try looking in the temporary directory for a file such as C:\TEMP\UnityWebPlayer\log\manager_19659f18e7ee824594516e89b33dc481.txt

And copy/paste its content

Regarding the tunnel loop, it's a bug, just corrected in v0.0.20.

[wondersonic]

Version 0.0.20 available!

[BPzeBanshee]

I went to go up when the corridor split in two and it forced me down instead.

Also, it's horizontal speed is stupid. I don't know if you've done that deliberately to follow one of the Developers Dont Do This Thread's guidelines or not but not being able to move backwards at 100% speed is silly. The old engine's directional speed for Styx was better IMO.

By the way, didn't take so long for the cutscene to pass this time around. Did you actually do anything to that or is my internet just happening to be going fast tonight?

[wondersonic]

I went to go up when the corridor split in two and it forced me down instead.

I'm reviewing this point, in fact, I'll add arrows to tell the player which path is going to follow

Also, it's horizontal speed is stupid. I don't know if you've done that deliberately to follow one of the Developers Dont Do This Thread's guidelines or not but not being able to move backwards at 100% speed is silly. The old engine's directional speed for Styx was better IMO.

Don't understand what you mean here. Can you provide more details please?

By the way, didn't take so long for the cutscene to pass this time around. Did you actually do anything to that or is my internet just happening to be going fast tonight?

Didn't do anything I suppose bandwidth is the culprit here.

[wondersonic]

Version 0.0.21 available!

[BPzeBanshee]

Also, it's horizontal speed is stupid. I don't know if you've done that deliberately to follow one of the Developers Dont Do This Thread's guidelines or not but not being able to move backwards at 100% speed is silly. The old engine's directional speed for Styx was better IMO.

Don't understand what you mean here. Can you provide more details please?

I meant the player ship's movement when going left/right. It's awfully slow and switching up the gears seems to make little to no difference for it.

[wondersonic]

Also, it's horizontal speed is stupid. I don't know if you've done that deliberately to follow one of the Developers Dont Do This Thread's guidelines or not but not being able to move backwards at 100% speed is silly. The old engine's directional speed for Styx was better IMO.

Don't understand what you mean here. Can you provide more details please?

I meant the player ship's movement when going left/right. It's awfully slow and switching up the gears seems to make little to no difference for it.

Ok, got it now!

BTW, did you enjoy the slowmotion effect at the end of the corridor?

Also, I've added hotkeys to go directly to a given level:
- F2 => start first level
- F3 => start second level

[wondersonic]

0.0.20-21 changelog:

Common :
[OK] blink control panel at level start
[OK] skip to level 1 and 2 with F2 and F3 keys
[OK] F1 key resets the game

Level 1:
[OK] corrected mines
[OK] corrected donut asteroid
[OK] corrected shield implementation

Level 2 - INTRODUCTION :
[OK] intro added

Level 2 - PART 1 - Corridors:
[OK] added direction arrows
[OK] slow motion near the final door
[OK] final door size reduction
[OK] added Sever option and weapon

[BPzeBanshee]

Couldn't find either the Sever or the Options in the corridors. In addition, the back shot and forward shot was happening at the same time when I got to the second part (which is obviously WIP, the background isn't going to remain that way is it?).

"Suddenly" doesn't have a T in there - funny how you passed that error along from the old engine too.

The slow motion didn't even happen when I went near the final door the first time, and the second time it didn't do anything till I started shooting. The third time I died hitting the door and it actually stayed in slow motion all the way through. It is pretty cool when it works though.

Also, I swear I chained the green asteroids and they didn't add up to the chain like the pink ones do. Not sure what the go is here.

By the way, I downloaded the Win32 version: the online one was playing up for me again. I think I might stick to those releases to do the testing that way I can bring it onto my inferior computers as well - the one in my room used to be nearly parallel to the Mac but the graphics card died and it's relying on the integrated which is considerably worse.

[wondersonic]

Couldn't find either the Sever or the Options in the corridors. In addition, the back shot and forward shot was happening at the same time when I got to the second part (which is obviously WIP, the background isn't going to remain that way is it?).

yes, the level 2-2 is completely pre-alpha! For the Sever, it was there and the option for me is not the Claws, this is "Sever-option"

"Suddenly" doesn't have a T in there - funny how you passed that error along from the old engine too.

Copy/paste design pattern of course! For the next release if I think about it.

The slow motion didn't even happen when I went near the final door the first time, and the second time it didn't do anything till I started shooting. The third time I died hitting the door and it actually stayed in slow motion all the way through. It is pretty cool when it works though.

Indeed, corrected in version 0.0.22 which is available.

Also, I swear I chained the green asteroids and they didn't add up to the chain like the pink ones do. Not sure what the go is here.

No issues with a given color, everything is working

By the way, I downloaded the Win32 version: the online one was playing up for me again. I think I might stick to those releases to do the testing that way I can bring it onto my inferior computers as well - the one in my room used to be nearly parallel to the Mac but the graphics card died and it's relying on the integrated which is considerably worse.

If you can test the win32 why not but I'm not sure to build it every time. BTW, you have the version number displayed in debug mode (enabled with F12).

[wondersonic]

And a new video!

[Ixranin]

And I thought the asteroid field was made of murder before the shield duration was lowered and mines added.

I did notice that when the shield power hits empty and starts to recharge, if you press the fire button the recharge will reset back down to 0 and start again. Was that intentional?

With the web version it takes it around 5 minutes to actually load the game when trying to skip the cutscene. Nothing to show that it's actually loading though, it just sits there stuck on the picture of the broken ship. What's weird is that pressing one of your testing level keys (F2 and F3) on the title screen completely bypasses the huge load time.

[BPzeBanshee]

The debug mode seems enabled at the start for me but oh well. I'll have another go at this new version and see what's up with those Severs.

[wondersonic]

And I thought the asteroid field was made of murder before the shield duration was lowered and mines added.

I did notice that when the shield power hits empty and starts to recharge, if you press the fire button the recharge will reset back down to 0 and start again. Was that intentional?

With the web version it takes it around 5 minutes to actually load the game when trying to skip the cutscene. Nothing to show that it's actually loading though, it just sits there stuck on the picture of the broken ship. What's weird is that pressing one of your testing level keys (F2 and F3) on the title screen completely bypasses the huge load time.

Yes, about the shield it was intentional (as for the thunder sword in the original game).

Indeed, I've got to manage download progress

Hmmm your remark is very strange. The whole game is being streamed to the client and once a level is downloaded, it starts. This could mean 2 things: either you pressed F2/3 after some times (say after a gameover) at the title screen or it is a bug. Could you give me all the steps to reproduce this starting from a fresh download? (I mean clearing browser cache first).

[wondersonic]

The debug mode seems enabled at the start for me but oh well. I'll have another go at this new version and see what's up with those Severs.

Yes, it depends of the releases. Be sure also to see the last version displayed on the screen, for now, this is the 0.0.22 if you don't get it => clear your browser cache.

There are also the Claws now!

[BPzeBanshee]

God damn the placement of those helper things are not only nasty but they fly off the screen way too fast!

Does look extra cool when you get them though.

[wondersonic]

God damn the placement of those helper things are not only nasty but they fly off the screen way too fast!

Does look extra cool when you get them though.

You are speaking about the arrows of the danger signals? For the arrows, sometimes they appear very quickly although they should note (one way to go).

[BPzeBanshee]

God damn the placement of those helper things are not only nasty but they fly off the screen way too fast!

Does look extra cool when you get them though.

You are speaking about the arrows of the danger signals? For the arrows, sometimes they appear very quickly although they should note (one way to go).

Those are just a bit quick, but I meant the actual container ships for the Sever and CLAWs. Never before in a Thunder Force game have I ever actually killed myself from running into the container ship - they're usually slow and unlike your 3D tunnel stage one can tell exactly where the air hits the wall in older games.

I don't suppose a GwangeDash-style line that gently defines the point where the walls are when you get close could be implemented by any chance? Having troubles telling the wall from the floor especially with a 2D ship was irritable as well.

[wondersonic]

Got it!


Version 0.0.24 uploaded.

changelog:
- staff animation modified
- new pirate's asteroid head quarter integration finished
- removed mad asteroid tempest at end of level
- longer second level intro
- shield meter labelled progress in the opposite direction
- added shadows to the ship
- modified multi-ways arrows color, made them both appear
- added pirate-logo normal maps to pre-intersection walls
- corrected pirate ship for future pursuit in the corridors
- weapon carrier speed reduced and no more collide the Styx!

[BPzeBanshee]

Very very nice.

When you get upgrades through the corridors is it like how it used to be where you get only one (Sever) or the other (CLAW) or is it possible to get both depending on the path you choose?

Everything seems perfect this time around. Regarding the second part of Stage 2 though, when you get to working on it, make the speed setting inherit whatever the speed setting was beforehand please. It was an irritance that it got set to 80% after the tunnels considering at the time it was so difficult you needed absolute speed to dodge shitty popcorn enemies.

[wondersonic]

Very very nice.

Thanks!

When you get upgrades through the corridors is it like how it used to be where you get only one (Sever) or the other (CLAW) or is it possible to get both depending on the path you choose?

Not at all, if you carefully look at the video posted this week-end, you'll see Claws are available at the very beginning of the corridors while if you manage properly you could get the sever laser as well.

Everything seems perfect this time around. Regarding the second part of Stage 2 though, when you get to working on it, make the speed setting inherit whatever the speed setting was beforehand please. It was an irritance that it got set to 80% after the tunnels considering at the time it was so difficult you needed absolute speed to dodge shitty popcorn enemies.

Indeed, the level 2-2 (let's call it this way) is finished at 2% be patient please

[BPzeBanshee]

When you get upgrades through the corridors is it like how it used to be where you get only one (Sever) or the other (CLAW) or is it possible to get both depending on the path you choose?

Not at all, if you carefully look at the video posted this week-end, you'll see Claws are available at the very beginning of the corridors while if you manage properly you could get the sever laser as well.

I noticed this in the previous release but I swear I didn't see the CLAWs at the beginning this time around. I'll check again I suppose.

[wondersonic]

Version 0.0.25 uploaded.

changelog:
- mines now damage asteroids
- pirate-asteroid collider corrected
- weapon sounds updated (thanks moonquake)
- level 2 intro enhanced with sound! (thanks moonquake too)
- new objects added in the corridor
- second turret added
- level 2-2 started
- sever weapon corrected
- weapon carrier now has a blob shadow
- turret lasers can now hit !
- space pirate common ship model/collider ready => behaviour + spawning to implement

[wondersonic]

Video.

[BPzeBanshee]

Turret lasers in the corridors! Sounds evil!

[wondersonic]

Version 0.0.26 uploaded.

changelog:
- new first level intro
- asteroids are now destroyed by mines
- added pirats spaceship in the corridors

[wondersonic]

Some time without news, mean something

First, I'm starting a new job so no daily update anymore however I found some guy -or I should say, he found me) very talented who decided to help me on this project. By chance, he has skills in game level design as well as for 2D and 3D!

Following, some brand new screenshots of the corridors revamped (again ^_^):







More news once I merged hiw work with the engine!