Site News

The Platform Shooter 0.3.0 alpha release

The Platform Shooter development has been progressing a bit slowly but steadily and it is now time for a new alpha release.

The most visible changes in this release are changes in platform and elevator behavior, added sentry guns and a two new single player levels. The mouse control has been greatly improved. It is still off by default, so you'll need to enable it from settings menu (Settings->System settings->Mouse controller). Keyboard controls have also been slightly changed for more intuitive control with mouse (similar to classic WASD keys).

Here is a list of changes since 0.2.1 alpha release:

Made platforms callable and removed continuous movement.
Added sentry gun entity.
Added two more single player levels.
Improved mouse control with visible cursor (still disabled by default).
Changed left hand keyboard controls for more natural movement with mouse aiming.
Changed line of sight tests to show enemies behind player's back.
Fixed missing pick up sound for power cells.
More accurate line-of-sight tests in AI target finding.
Fixed random crashes when e.g. shooting barrel with a shotgun.
Removed background console window opening in Windows.
Process is now properly terminated in Windows when the game window is closed.
Fixed weapons not getting hidden on player death in multiplayer game.
Added small delay to guard AI target detection to simulate reaction time.
Guards now reload their weapon while waiting for lost target to reappear.
Made grenades to bounce less and explode a little faster.
Fixed guards falling off ledges while retreating.
Minor human animation improvements.
Fixed some level properties not getting reset to defaults for new levels in editor.

Downloads are now available for Linux and Windows at the game page. Three new screenshots have also been added:

mikko 2012-02-11

Progress report

The reworked platform movement logic and sentry guns have been finished. I had to modify many of the existing levels slightly to work better with the new platform and elevator behavior. I'm quite happy with the results. Except for the "Pit" multiplayer level. I didn't like it much before and now it's even worse. I will likely redesign it from scratch or remove it completely.

I also rewrote all mouse control code. This time the mouse moves a visible cursor that the player character aims at. I will probably still keep it disabled by default.

Next alpha release will be coming "soon". There are still a few bugs that have to be fixed. I have designs ready on paper for two new single player levels. Those will likely be included in next release as well.

mikko 2012-01-26

Sentry guns and callable elevators

I have made a quite significant change to way the platforms and elevators work. They no longer continuously move by themselves. Instead, player has to call the platform. This helps with the annoying waiting for a platform that is going to completely wrong direction and it also feels much more realistic. There is still some fine tuning left to do, but the basic functionality is ready. New platform behavior will require some changes to existing levels too.

Also, sentry guns that I have mentioned a couple of times before have finally been implemented. They give new possibilities to level design as placing one of those to a narrow corridor blocks the route unless player has suitable weapons to destroy it. Once the sentry gun has been deactivated from behind or destroyed that corridor is accessible again.

mikko 2012-01-07

The Platform Shooter 0.2.1 alpha release

This is mostly a bug fix release that fixes some bugs that were found in 0.2.0 and improves light map handling in level editor. Here's full list of changes since version 0.2.0:

Fixed editor menu closing (menu could not be closed once opened in level editor).
Moved light map generation to a separate thread (editing possible during light map generating).
Empty light map now used when new level is created and while regenerating light map.
Doors now properly occlude light in light map.
Increased maximum dynamic entity count (fixes randomly missing explosions in SP4 level).
Added warning in editor when saving level with too many dynamic entities.
Fixed crash when trying to play level with too many dynamic entities.
Added C key as alternative to CTRL key used for camera movement in level editor.
Added W key as alternative jump key.

Downloads are available at the game page.

Now that this bug fix release is out I will focus on new content and features.

mikko 2011-12-14

Bug fix release coming

There's a really nasty bug in The Platform Shooter version 0.2.0 that prevents closing level editor menu once opened. I will soon be releasing a bug fix version that has this and a couple of less significant bugs fixed.

As a side note, I finally managed to record an up-to-date game play video from the game with decent quality:

mikko 2011-12-09

The Platform Shooter 0.2.0 alpha release

A long time has passed since the last release, but the new alpha version is finally here. I will try to make more frequent releases in future. Downloads are available on the game page for Windows and Linux (both 32 and 64 bit) as usual.

There are no radical changes, but some new content and a very long list of improvements and bug fixes that together make a big difference. Here's the most significant changes since the previous 0.1.1 alpha release:

A new weapon: Bolt gun.
One more single player level.
One more multiplayer level: The Loop.
Totally reworked client side prediction: A lot smoother and latency free control on client.
Load screen shown at start up while loading resources.
Much better human fall animation.
Aiming helper (laser sight) for most weapons.
Fixed player getting stuck while pushing objects.
Automatic stepping over small obstacles and steps.
Menu background music.
Single player level selection defaults to next uncompleted level.
Next level name added to level properties in editor.
Added directional blood splatter effect when human is hit by a bullet.
Blood stains on nearby walls from player blood splatter caused by bullet hits.
Added experimental mouse control (disabled by default).
Made guards retreat when badly hurt.
Fixed broken camera shake effect.
Configuration file parsing made less strict on formatting.
Fixed walk animation on moving platform/elevator on client.
Fixed randomly missing shot sounds.
Fixed lagging controls in single player game after multiplayer game.
Prevented decals (bullet holes, blood stains) from overlapping.
Bonus level score given for remaining player health.
Added three more blood stain decals to add variation.
Made certain static objects (e.g. green cabinet and monitor) receive decals.
Added name tags on weapons.

This release includes menu title music by Kimmo Komu (check out his SoundCloud profile). He is also working on level background music for coming releases.

mikko 2011-12-01

Progress report

Most of the bugs and problems that showed up during client side prediction rework have now been fixed. I still haven't done much "real world" multiplayer testing, but in simulated environment the new client side prediction code is doing a good job.

I created one more multiplayer level and have almost finished design for new single player level too. There's also a brand new weapon: The bolt gun. A big gun shooting nasty steel bolts that stick to walls and deliver a good punch when you catch one in your back.

The next alpha release is nearing. More testing and bug fixing is still needed, but after that it's time for a release. Let's hope no major problems show up..

mikko 2011-11-21

Client side prediction rework

Network game code, particularly the client side prediction, has been completely rewritten.. again. This was probably the third time, but I have a strong feeling that this time I got it right. At least it looks very promising.

I have currently no motion filtering or smoothing implemented and client side movement already looks a lot smoother than it ever did before, even with heavy filtering applied. The code is also lot less complicated and much more maintainable.

The downside to all this is that system requirements on the client went up. I'm now doing a full "rewind and replay" type of prediction using the physics engine, which is really heavy on the CPU, especially with high network latency. There are still a few optimizations to be made, but I'm not expecting radical improvements.

There is still a lot of work to do until everything I broke works again and a few (hopefully) minor issues to solve. I'll report back later when I have done some more testing.

mikko 2011-11-06

Decal improvements

I forgot to mention in the previous post that decals have also received quite a lot of small but important improvements. Decals can now be created on certain static objects too, not just level walls. Decals now support multiple variants that are randomly chosen to add variation. I recreated the blood stain decal and it now has four variants. Decals of same type are no longer placed right on top of each other.

All these changes together make the decals look much better. Blood stains no longer look identical and I got rid of those ugly blending artifacts when multiple bullet hole decals were piling up on each other.

mikko 2011-10-22

Bend from the knees

Finally a little improvement to the stiff player animation. I added a sort of crouch animation for the player. There is no button for crouching, nor will be, but the new animation is blended in to make landing after falling or jumping look much more natural.

Another improvement that I did together with character controller changes required by the landing animation is "automatic" stepping over small obstacles. No need to jump anymore when walking over small steps (entering or leaving an elevator before it has completely stopped for example). This also makes jumping over long gaps a little easier.

Fall damage was also tweaked a little. The player can now fall from a little higher without getting hurt, but the fall height causing instant death was lowered too.

mikko 2011-10-20

I can hear music!

It is time for a brief progress report. In addition to several small bug fixes I have been doing rework on my audio code. The most significant improvement is support for streaming audio playback from Ogg Vorbis files. Using that I have added background music to The Platform Shooter menu.

The plan is to provide a few different types of level background music from which the level designer can choose one to be played in the level. There's no support for this in the editor yet, but it is coming.

No need to worry, I'm not making the music myself :) I'm leaving that to a more talented friend of mine.

mikko 2011-09-20

One bug fixed, one more revealed

I finally managed to fix the old bug that prevented walk animation from playing when walking on moving platform or elevator on client. The bad thing is that now, due to client side prediction, the player seems to float in the air above platform moving up and penetrate platform moving down. Atleast I now know why that happens, there just isn't any easy way to fix it. I'll let it be for now..

Next alpha version will have an experimental mouse control support and a simple load screen shown at startup instead of that black screen (or random garbage in some cases).

mikko 2011-08-29

About mouse aiming

A lot of people have been saying that The Platform Shooter keyboard controls are unintuitive (which I agree) and that they prefer mouse + keyboard control. I will have to experiment with different types of mouse aiming later. The reason why I didn't implement mouse aiming in the first place was that I felt it would be "too fast and easy". I know that might sound weird, but I like the way aiming currently takes some time and hitting you target likely requires fine tuning if you shoot too hastily. With point-and-click mouse aiming you could very quickly hit a new target even in completely different direction. Adding any artificial delays to mouse aiming will probably be a bad idea.

I was on summer vacation from my day job for the last four weeks and took a break from game development as well. The Platform Shooter development has not progressed for a while, but I will soon get back to it.

mikko 2011-08-01

The platform shooter public alpha release

The game has now entered public alpha stage and the first public version has been released!

After changing my mind countless times I ended up including full multiplayer support in this release. There are currently total of three single player levels and two multiplayer levels, four weapons and one enemy type implemented. The level editor is enabled as well. As this is the first public release and the game has not gone through extensive testing, I'm expecting quite a lot of bugs to be found. Also, keep in mind that the game is nowhere near finished yet.

Downloads for Linux and Windows are available at the game page. Download it, try it, and report back if you run into problems or just to tell your opinion!

mikko 2011-06-20

One more single player level

I wasn't supposed to add any new content before the first release, but I came up with an idea and just couldn't keep my hands off. I created one more single player level. This one requires some jumping from moving platform to another.

A screenshot from the new level and from a multiplayer match has been added to the game page

mikko 2011-05-25

First release is nearing

A game page has been added for The Platform Shooter.

The game is not as "ready" as I had hoped, but I will probably soon make the first release anyway. The long-waited summer is finally here, so I will probably be spending even less time working on this project. This does not mean that I'm going to abandon this project, the development will slowly continue.

Currently the game has only been tested on about 10 different computers, so what it needs now is more testing. Before the public release I will make at least one test release for a small group of testers and then fix the most critical problems found before the public release. One big question is whether the multiplayer game works well enough to be enabled in the public release or not.

If you would like to test the pre-release version use the contact form to let me know. Tell me at least your name, age, location and the type of hardware and operating system you would be testing the game on. When the time comes, I will send a download link and further instructions to selected testers.

I don't know what the exact system requirements are, but here's what I do know: The game is barely playable (~20fps) on a netbook with single core Atom CPU and integrated Intel GPU, with all eye candy turned off. It runs very well using the default settings on most fairly recent laptops with better integrated GPUs. On desktop any discrete graphics card less than five years old will probably be enough.

mikko 2011-05-22

A new game play video

I recorded a new game play video from the second single player level:

mikko 2011-05-10

Level editor improvements

Like I promised myself I have (mostly) stayed off the network code since the last post here. Instead, I have have made a few minor changes to level editor, hopefully improving it's usability. Those changes had been laying on my to-do list for a long time. The most important addition must be an in-game reference for keyboard commands.

While playing with the editor I also created a second single player level.

mikko 2011-04-30

Situation report

Almost a month has passed with nothing to report here. I have been busy struggling with client side prediction. The current situation is that client side prediction is implemented and player controls feel very responsive on clients. However, the player movement prediction is still pretty bad, there are lots of bugs left and jump prediction is twitchy as hell.

I was actually very close to giving up on the multiplayer game completely at one point, after tweaking motion prediction for two weeks without any progress. Luckily I decided to go on and implemented client side weapon handling prediction, since that turned out to work really well. All hope was not lost :)

My head hurts when I see the three words: "client side prediction". I think I'll leave the network code as it is for now and focus on something different.

mikko 2011-04-20

Fighting network latency

I finally decided to roll up my sleeves and stop postponing a major network code rework.

Current implementation uses a naive strategy of handling only aiming and turning locally on client while actual player movement is subject to full network latency with no compensation. This looks good when watching someone else play, but the lag in controls with average internet connection is unacceptable. I will have to implement proper client side prediction for player movement. Unfortunately my current network code is not very well suited for this and will require major refactoring. This is going to take a while..

mikko 2011-03-23

Level editor improvements and a HUD

I added basic heads-up display with player name, health and weapon information and removed the floating name tag for local player. Current text-only HUD will likely be replaced with more graphical one in future, but it is sufficient for now.

The built-in level editor has received a lot of improvements lately and most of the major problems have been solved. There are still a few essential features missing a lot of minor bugs, but it is finally in a state where I could imagine someone else besides myself using it.

mikko 2011-03-14

Single player level scoring

Single player levels can now be completed by reaching the exit marker. No amazing cut-scenes or anything, but at least it detects level completion and shows level statistics. I also implemented scoring system that calculates level score based on completion time (in comparison to target time set for level), kills and number of collected power cells.

mikko 2011-02-22

Progress report and in-game video footage

After experimenting with different types of backgrounds, including simple textured plane and some quite complex textured structures, I ended up with very simple dark box and pipeline structures fading into the distance.

I also created first ever single player level with enemy guards and power cells to be collected for points. Visibility in single player game is now limited by line of sight tests so that other players and enemies behind walls and doors are not visible anymore. This will probably be optional in multiplayer matches.

Here's a video showing the single player level:

mikko 2011-02-13

Network code changes

HawkNL dependency has been dropped and my networking library now uses native socket APIs on Linux and Windows. I have also made some architectural changes to network code and lots of minor optimizations here and there. Changes made during last couple of weeks are mostly not visible to the end user. So no screenshots this time.

I'm currently not very satisfied with the smoothness of gameplay (or lack of it) on client behind average jittery internet connection. At the very least it is going to need some tweaking of motion filtering parameters, but I'm afraid properly fixing this might require more drastic changes.

mikko 2011-01-26

Explosions

I just finished setting up a new particle system based explosion effect for the platform shooter. I really like the way it turned out, definetely the best looking fiery explosion I have ever made.

The effect consists of three separate particle systems mixed together. One for the flame, one for the flying sparks and one for smoke (not visible in screenshot as smoke fades in a little bit later as the flame starts to fade out).

mikko 2010-12-30

The Platform Shooter

I am happy to finally announce a new game project here, after almost a decade since last one!

I have been working on a platformer style multiplayer shooter on and off for almost two years now. One of the planned main features is easy level editing that allows anyone to create their own levels. Multiplayer gameplay and controls are quite similar to those in MoleZ. The game is currently starting to be in a somewhat playable condition, but there is still a very long list of things to do and several essential features completely missing. For example, the easy level editing is currently not at all that easy.

Here's couple of screenshots showing game's current state.

mikko 2010-12-22

Final Duel 2 is now free

Final Duel 2 - Deathmatch Arena can now be upgraded to full version free of charge. Get your free registration code from the game page.

mikko 2010-08-16

Major website update

The website has been moved to a new server. Also, the layout has been redesigned for more modern look while trying to maintaining the extreme simplicity of the old layout.

mikko 2010-08-15