Welcome this newbie who gives you a game!

sonrisu

Hello everyone.



You may be wondering what this is doing in the software thread, but we'll get to that. As you can tell, I'm a newcomer to the forumes here at AppleInsider. Actually, I've been lurking for quite a while. I bought my first Macintosh computer back in April ('04, when they upgraded all the 'books), and I love it. We've owned Macs in my family before, but that was before I got into computers. After using PC's for quite some time, I finally got a Mac (PowerBook G4 15" 1GHZ - RAM upgraded to ~712MB). Needless to say, I love it. So, I'm glad to finally stop lurking and be a part of this community. I hope I get a good welcome.



Now, onto the good stuff. What could would a "I'm a newbie" post be without my giving something to you guys? That's right, I've got a game for you. I've written it myself, and it's quite fun. Originally for Windows based computers, I instantly ported it to OSX once I finally got the Mac I now love. The game is called Zep's Dreamland, and it's a puzzle game based on creating and destroying blocks. It's received good reviews so far, so I encourage you to play it! It's completely freeware too, so what've you got to lose?



Now, what good would talking about the game be if I didn't post any screenshots for you? Here ya go (as links so my bandwidth doesn't get completely nerfed for people who aren't interested in the shots. ):

Gameplay1

Gameplay 2



Those are just general screenshots. The game comes with an editor for creating your levels. There are 40 original levels bundled with the game, and you can download additional level packs from my website.



Here is the description of the game taken directly from my site:

Quote:

Meet Zep! You control Zep throughout the game. The game consists of navigating Zep throughout a level to reach a certain location which allows him to advance to the next level. This is not such an easy task, however. Many obstacles will be in your path, and it is up to you to determine the best (and sometimes only way) to get around them. Zep has the ability to create special "blocks" by using the life energy from the ground he is standing on. By building the blocks in specific patterns, Zep can alter the landscape to his ability thus allowing him to reach his goal! Again, not everything is as it seems. Zep cannot build blocks while standing on top of just anything. There are many types of ground that restrict Zep's building ability. In addition to being able to create these special blocks, Zep can also destroy them.





Zep is trapped in a Dream Land where almost anything goes! As much as he wants to wake up, he cannot; unless he travels completely through it, visiting each different section he dreams up. In his dreams, Zep has very special abilities which allow him to create blocks which will help him along through his dreampt-up world. What kind of special places does Zep hold dear? Traveling deeper and deeper into Zep's Dreamland reveals more and more obstacles as his imagination runs wild!

So, Hi everyone, and enjoy the game! Grab at LoomSoft under the "Zep's Dreamland" section, of course. Or if you prefer the easy way out, here's a direct link to the game



I hope you like it, and I'm glad to now be an active member of the forums here!

paul

lode runner slash lemmings?

crazychester

Quote:

Originally posted by Sonrisu

So, I'm glad to finally stop lurking and be a part of this community. I hope I get a good welcome.

Lordy, lordy, lordy. I hope you know what you're doing.



Provided you don a bullet proof vest, a pair of gum boots and keep a large machete handy at all times, you should be fine.

sonrisu

Thanks for the advice. *puts on equipment*



As for the comment about gameplay style; I guess it's got the feel of Lemmings and the feel of Lode Runner, but it doesn't really play like either of those games. With this game you're given as much time as you want to solve each puzzle; and trust me, you'll need it.

a_greer

State of the art mac gameing...

wrong robot

Sweet, SNES style graphics are great.

paul

ok.. I got hooked there for a little while... level 17 stairs and stairs...



a couple of bugs: the game doesn't respect my dvorak layout...



also it crashed for me on quit...



pretty decent other then that tho...



not a bad game...

sonrisu

Sorry to hear the game is a little messed up on your system. I'm not sure what the Dvorak problem could be. I'm assuming it's a deal with the library I'm using and the way it detects keypresses. I'll have to look into it's ability to respect other keyboard layouts. This was definitely something I never thought I'd encounter.



As for dying on exit, that's something I've never seen myself, either. Not sure what the problem is, but it's more than likely to be some problem with trying to free up some memory that doesn't exist, or something. It could also be the game trying to write to the preferences file. I'm assuming you didn't move folders around or anything like that while the game was playing, did you?



In any case, I'm glad to hear it's not anything completely show-stopping. ;D

rogue27

Welcome!



Fun little game. I downloaded it and played through all 40 levels on thursday or friday afternoon. Should have been doing more important stuff, but oh well.



Anyway, one complaint would be that it seems a bit stiff picking up key presses at times. For example, I want to turn around, so I tap the arrow key. Nothing happens. I tap it again, and nothing happens. I tap it a little longer, and Zep turns around and then takes a step to his doom. Other times it did not behave like this. Might want to see if you can smooth that over a bit.



Next, in the Tutorials, Zep talks way too slow and it is boring reading it. Could you make the text draw out a little faster?



Finally, the graphics are rather pixelated. I know, they are pixels and sprites so I should expect that, but maybe some more colors to smooth out some edges would go a long way.



That's all.

sonrisu

rogue27, I'm glad you liked the game. I'm also impressed you sat down and beat the complete original level set in one afternoon. If you found those levels fun, you can always grab the few additional level sets that are available on my site.

Quote:

For example, I want to turn around, so I tap the arrow key. Nothing happens. I tap it again, and nothing happens. I tap it a little longer, and Zep turns around and then takes a step to his doom.

This is a problem that was there with the game since the first demo release. There is a definite amount of time the button needs to be pressed down before Zep turns. I, for one, never fall off cliffs by mistake, but that's because I'm completely used to the turning scheme. If anything, I would suppose it may be a problem with the OS trying to do other things while the game is running, and the keyboard doesn't get polled correctly. I may be able to add more polling to the keyboard at specific locations to see if that helpes out the situation. Another method you could use is the Up, or Crouch "Turnaround." Hold up or down and then hit the direction opposite of what you're facing and voila', a safe turn-around scheme. This was originally how you had to turn around.

Quote:

Next, in the Tutorials, Zep talks way too slow and it is boring reading it. Could you make the text draw out a little faster?

Hold down the build key to make text scroll faster. That's the fastest the text will scroll.

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Finally, the graphics are rather pixelated. I know, they are pixels and sprites so I should expect that, but maybe some more colors to smooth out some edges would go a long way.

I like the retro feel of the graphics and I think it makes the game great, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. In any case, even if I wanted to; smoothing out the edges of the sprites is unavailable under the library I used to program the game. I could program it in manually, but without any proper hardware acceleration it would slow the game down terribly, rendering it unplayable. I'm not that low-level to get into hardware specifics, yet.

Quote:

That's all.

Thanks for playing the game, and I'm glad you had fun beating it. Also, thanks for the suggestions, as those are what make the game better and better with each little revision that is made.



For everyone else; if you're the type who likes to make levels or are interested in doing so, go for it. I'm always looking for new sets of levels to put up on my site!

tommy_thompson

Dude! Thank you! I was looking for something just like this! Not some whizz-bang stuff that my Game shelf is full of. Nice, playable fun. GREAT JOB!!



Many Thanks,





tommy

sonrisu

Tommy, thanks for the kind words and taking the time to let me know what you thought of the game. Is it that good you have nothing bad to say about it? That's a first



In any case, I'm glad you are having fun and enjoying it. That's the whole point. Thanks again for the positive feedback, it always feels good.

whisper

Fun game . I found two bugs. First, in the tutorial, sometimes Zep would move one extra step after the dialog came up. As in the dialog would tell me to try making a block on the red thingy, but Zep had already walked past the red thingy (interestingly, I still couldn't make the box). Second, if you try to save the game while running it from a read-only volume, such as the disk image I downloaded, it says something about not being able to write something and crashes.

vox barbara

Quote:

Originally posted by crazychester

Lordy, lordy, lordy. I hope you know what you're doing.



Provided you don a bullet proof vest, a pair of gum boots and keep a large machete handy at all times, you should be fine.

not to mention the need for "false prediction coma pills" you'll probably need from time to time

whisper

Quote:

Originally posted by Vox Barbara

not to mention the need for "false prediction coma pills" you'll probably need from time to time

You forgot an "m"

fahlman

It?s a very fun game, addictive and simple to play. I'm embarrassed to say, but I'm stuck on level 10. So, I'm an idiot! How about a hint?

sonrisu

Thanks for trying out the game, you guys.



I never anticipated anyone would play the game directly from the volume, so I'm going to have to add that to the readme or update the kinds of errors the game spits out at you. As for the tutorials: those are a constant battle! There are a few other issues with them and I need to do some hardcore testing to find all the quirks about them. Thanks for the report on that.



fahlman: Yeah, level 10 is a toughie. For starters, the first move is to drop down the first hole there is. That's the first hint I give anyone who is stuck on level 10. Try that and see where you get.