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16

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 17, 2017, 03:28 »

Done!

Your career average just went through the roof :P

17

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 17, 2017, 03:06 »

I know I was thinking towards the end of development that the game was too long to truly be Xtreme, but I didn't recall that I had permanently cut it down to 5 rounds. Although, shorter and tougher sounds good to me! Should I wipe all scores before version 150?

18

Discussion / Re: The Journey to 100%

« on: September 11, 2017, 02:07 »

Hmm, I often get interrupted and have to temporarily leave active games (usually closing/sleeping my laptop - it resumes them just fine when waking up). Does this mean those games wont be counting?

Seems like your games have been counting so far...
There's a little more to it than the little bit I described there, so I wouldn't worry about it

19

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 10, 2017, 20:35 »

Seriously, though, I think there's something funny going on with the Sun Medal or maybe I'm still misunderstanding the requirements, because I just played a game where I successfully cleared two rounds of the Arena without damage, (Aced every enemy and this time, no supercharge!  No health bonuses either; just stayed at 100% health the whole time) and I didn't get the medal.  I don't know what I'm doing wrong.  :|

In other news, I encountered Phobos Lab for the first time and, while I know it's a bit late for bug reports, it looks like it lacked playtesting, because the enemies have a lot of difficulty navigating the narrow corridors and avoiding stepping in lava.  (Seriously, the first half of the level was constant monster pain sounds until a whole bunch of them died in the lava)

Where were you 4 years ago???

I recall those issues with Phobos lab...I remember I would just start the level and wait about 30 seconds for things to normalize. I think I didn't fix it because I actually thought it would be close to impossible otherwise...I remember that being a damn hard level despite the bugs

20

Discussion / Re: The Journey to 100%

« on: September 09, 2017, 19:25 »

Interesting blog series going on here. I'll be following!

It's entirely possible that I'm being overly sensitive after the whole 2Dev thing and perhaps I should give Vandam the benefit of the doubt too.  I still would like to see those mortems, though.  :)

For what it's worth, I can rule out VANDAM using time manipulations or VM save-stating in XA. When you start a new game in XA, it tells my server and both your game and my server start independent timers for that session (no comms during game play). When your game ends and it reports your final score, it won't save it if both timers aren't within 99% of each other. Well...VANDAMs games were always in sync! I can also confirm that he didn't start-scum (server sees new games and can count games that never finished). Fun trivia: out of the ~750 games played in this version, there were 1850 games that never ended (rage quit :P) There are many other options to cheat, but he passes on those low-hanging fruit

EDIT: He started out a very good player and did improve with more games, but he was setting high scores at the outset. There wasn't an indication that he was average or below average but then suddenly exploded with skill. He also had a fair number of bad luck runs too...not perfect. These obviously aren't scientific tests, but anecdotally, I'd say he seems like a competition-level gamer. EDIT2: People that operate with that mindset also tend to cheat on the side, moreso to better understand the games, their systems, and force themselves in to outlier situations and build experience that way. It gives them an edge in legit gameplay, and if extra glory comes their way on the side, then great :P. If VANDAM cheats, I don't think he's detracting from the larger community in the process...2Dev on the other hand... 

Sorry for derailing this blog post with this rant! Let's get back to D**mRL!

21

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 09, 2017, 01:55 »

I just had a thought...  Could it be counting the health decay from being above 100% health as "damage?"  I think in both of those above-mentioned games of mine, I had a supercharge.

I think you might be right...I recall that was an issue, but I'm not sure if I handled it

22

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 08, 2017, 22:47 »

Unless there's some bug(if playerName != "Tormuse"), I'm not sure what the problem might be...

That would be a feature :P

I also like the idea of the additional game modes... I certainly hope you get around to finishing XA someday, MaiZure.

I may just do that. It was a fun project, and those extra modes did sound good on paper.

Thanks for playing and giving feedback!

23

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 05, 2017, 21:21 »

Just for the story is worth it, I think.  :D

Also, one thing I meant to comment on earlier...

The "Onslaught" and "Conquest of Hell" challenges are still listed ingame as an "upcoming game modes."  Sounds like you did have some ideas for additions.  Just sayin'  :)

The conquest of hell was meant to be a special level gauntlet - no arena, just one special after the next. Unlocks after you've actually finished each level on domination. Not really a fully developed idea, but I toyed with branching between levels, etc. Never got beyond the mental exercise.

Onslaught was supposed to be just one never-ending arena level, round after round and see how far you get. The gimmick here was that only formerly successful marines in the arena could enter this mode. In the main game room, I had the idea that you could "Store" up to 5 past surviving heroes as statues on the side somewhere. Walk up to it and become him to enter the mode?

Just the ideas...

EDIT: The idea that you could revisit past heros had a lot of appeal. But you couldn't 'grow' them any more than their original arena run.

EDIT2: I probably shouldn't mention that I had a local network Versus arena working with a buddy :P.

24

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 05, 2017, 21:12 »

Congratz...maybe?
Sometimes you gotta ask yourself if it's really worth it...

One thing is for sure, any time someone earns a survivor ribbon, there's probably a story behind it. Maybe it should only apply to the KK fight? Nah, I like it where it is.

Go get VANDAM!

25

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 05, 2017, 17:39 »

So, if I'm understanding this right, you earn the UAC Stars based on total Aced enemies throughout the whole run, whereas for the Sun and Shadow medals, you need a lot of consecutive kills?

(Still don't know what Order of the Wind is for)

Sun medal is for finishing an arena round without taking damage...doesn't matter how many guys there in there. (don't think it works for special levels though)

Shadow cross is for an entire level of the arena, all 3 rounds/waves

Order of the Wind is for 50 successful dodges in a game. Now that's a bit tricky. Basically whenever a projectile is created, it gets tagged if it's definitely going to hit you if you don't move. (so it's not true for bullets, fireballs, or pellets that are slightly off target to begin with). Well if that shot ends up not hiting you by the time it disappears, it gets counted as a dodge. Somehow you avoided a shot that was going to hit you if you didn't do anything.

26

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 05, 2017, 06:28 »

Hmm,  Seal is just from beating the Epyon? Are you sure there aren't more conditions?  My victory game didn't earn me the seal,  and I just checked your stats page... it shows one victory (which was against KK, not mastermind or something)  but doesn't display Seal in my list of earned badges...

Oh hmm it's a bit more difficult than that:

switch (Game.cybie_dead + Game.spidey_dead + Game.kk_dead)
{
    case 1: Game.anvil = true;      rank_score+=3;  break;
    case 2: Game.hammer = true; rank_score+=6;  break;
    case 3: Game.seal = true;       rank_score+=12; break;
}

You get the seal for killing Epyon, but ONLY IF you've killed everyone else too... Kind of reinforces that 100% completion reward thing. You always get a reward from killing a major boss though...so if you've only killed Epyon, you still get the Anvil. But you can only get 1 of these "of the Forge" rewards per game

EDIT: I suppose that means you can win and only earn one promotion then hahaha.

27

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 05, 2017, 05:39 »

Ah so rank is based on badges, not score... that explains a few things I wondered about...

Beat KK as a private - I dare you!
Ok, beating KK awards you the Seal of the Forge which is 12 points...enough for Sergeant rank

EDIT: And yeah, shinies might get you more rank, but it's the score that puts you at the top of the list ;)

Just my luck.

Cybie killed. Spidey killed. Chained Court and Military base cleared. First three arenas cleared. All of that with a 100% killrate. Four monsters left in the last wave of the fourth arena, all tucked in the other half of the map. Me with 100% health and 136% armor. And then wham ... power outage.

Ah well. Maybe next time ...

Pretty sure that possibility is part of the XA RNG :P

[3]

28

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 05, 2017, 02:25 »

Oh, really?  Hmm...  I know I'm not the best at avoiding damage, but I would've thought I had done that at least once out of all those games I played.  (At least the Sun Medal)  Wait a minute...  *Looks up recording*  What about the UAC Gold Star medal that says "valiantly eliminated an entire enemy platoon without a scratch" or Order of the Wind, which says "demonstrated mastery at avoiding incoming damage."  I got both of those in my winning game that I posted...  (part 6)  although, come to think of it, that was in the previous version, so maybe it awarded medals differently?  :|

UAC Gold - 25 kills without damage -- contributes 2 points to final rank determination
UAC Silver - 10 kills without damage -- contributes 2 points to final rank determination
UAC Bronze - 5 kills without damage -- contributes 1 points to final rank determination
Shadow Cross - Complete 3 rounds without damage - contributes 5 points to final rank determination

Every 3 rank points you earn contributes to your final rank based on....ah hell here's the code routine (Build 150):


switch (total_rank_points / 3)   /* Note: truncated integer */
{
    case 0: return "Private"; break;
    case 1: return "Private First Class"; break;
    case 2: return "Lance Corporal"; break;
    case 3: return "Corporal"; break;
    case 4: return "Sergeant"; break;
    case 5: return "Staff Sergeant"; break;
    case 6: return "Gunnery Sergeant"; break;
    case 7: return "Master Sergeant"; break;
    case 8: return "First Sergeant"; break;
    case 9: return "Sergeant Major"; break;
    case 10: return "Command Sergeant Major"; break;
    case 11: return "Warrant Officer"; break;
    case 12: return "Chief Warrant Officer"; break;
    case 13: return "2nd Lt."; break;
    case 14: return "1st Lt."; break;
    case 15: return "Captain"; break;
    case 16: return "Major"; break;
    case 17: return "Major"; break;
    case 18: return "Lt. Colonel"; break;
    case 19: return "Lt. Colonel"; break;
    case 20: return "Colonel"; break;
    case 21: return "Colonel"; break;
    case 22: return "Br. General"; break;
    case 23: return "Br. General"; break;
    case 24: return "Major General"; break;
    case 25: return "Major General"; break;
    case 26: return "Lt. General"; break;
    case 27: return "Lt. General"; break;
    case 28: return "General"; break;
    case 29: return "General"; break;
    case 30: return "Field Marshal"; break;
    case 31: return "Field Marshal"; break;
    default: return "Chaoslord"; break;
}


And I'd like to echo what Sereg said here; thanks for participating in this thread!  :)  And yeah, it sucks that your company rules control you like that, though I think it's worth noting that, as you said earlier, this game is based on a game that received a cease and desist order...  so your company probably won't want to touch it.  ;)

Very true! Ever moreso is that there's no money here, so no money lost to them (nothing to recover in court).

29

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 04, 2017, 22:36 »

Thanks for actively engaging on this thread, and being willing to code-dive and explain the discrepancies for us ;)

Thanks for playing the game! And code reading is one of my past-times, but usually not my own haha.

I could probably dust it off and get it building again for some updates. Honestly, I was running out of things to add and the bug list isn't very long. I'd be glad to entertain ideas for a proper release at some point

30

Discussion / Re: DRL: Xtreme Arena

« on: September 04, 2017, 22:20 »

Hmm, then it's the help file that's in need of a correction - assuming you're still actively developing XA(and I really hope you are, at least to some extent - it's a hell of alot of fun, despite the occasional bug or other minor issue).

August 24th, 2013 was the last code commit and I haven't touched it since. I took 3 months off work that summer and traveled in Europe while putting this together in my spare time. I started work again on Sept 1st that year back home here in Japan. Is the project dead hmmm...yeah :P. I could probably update it, but bigger issue that I have some rough house rules where I work. Anything I make while employed belongs to the company, etc. I highly doubt they'd press it for a computer game, but you never know.

I have yet to find the minigun, but that will be something to keep in mind... am I to understand that it fires shotgun pellets instead of bullets? Does it draw from the shotgun ammo pool, then? Seems like it wouldn't keep firing for very long, if so...

Bullet weapons are treated differently than shotgun, yes.

You fire one shotgun shell and each shell generates a number of pellets, each with its own scatter (random speed and direction). So if you fire the Jackhammer, it'll fire multiple shells in a blast and generate that many more times the number of pellets.