Try My Game?

Hello,

I’ve attempted a game for the first time and am wondering if anyone would like to test drive it. It’s nothing special. Just a pool game, but I would appreciate any feedback from graphics programmers, and others.

I got it working on Win2000 with GeForce2 and WinXP with GeForce4, but it won’t work on Win98 with ATI RagePro card. Just to warn you.

It does require DirectX 8.1 as well.

My website: http://www.alwayslearn.com

Thanks!

Before I download it… you mean as long as I don’t have a ATI RagePro and win98 combo it should run?

Say like win98 and ATI Radeon?

Also does it use openGL?

Originally posted by Archimedes:
[b]Hello,

I’ve attempted a game for the first time and am wondering if anyone would like to test drive it. It’s nothing special. Just a pool game, but I would appreciate any feedback from graphics programmers, and others.

I got it working on Win2000 with GeForce2 and WinXP with GeForce4, but it won’t work on Win98 with ATI RagePro card. Just to warn you.

It does require DirectX 8.1 as well.

My website: http://www.alwayslearn.com

Thanks![/b]

Hello nexusone

Before I download it… you mean as long as I don’t have a ATI RagePro and win98 combo it should run?

Right now I can only tell you that it wouldn’t run with my ATI Rage Pro card. But I’ve found that other OpenGL apps perform poorly on that as well. I’m not sure if it will like ATI Radeon.

That’s one of the reasons I want people to test drive it. Report errors, that sort of thing.

It does use OpenGL.

Thanks!

Hi,

I tested your game today. It’s not bad but you should change and add something like:

  • change keyboard control to mouse control
    (enable rotating the stick by mouse)
  • add more graphics details (it’ll be look much better )
  • make full 3D view, not only from the top
  • add some more options (for example fullscreen mode)

Hope you’ll think about my advices

glYaro

Hello glYaro,

Originally posted by glYaro:
I tested your game today. It’s not bad but you should change and add something like:

  • change keyboard control to mouse control
    (enable rotating the stick by mouse)

Excellent idea. I thought of this, but wasn’t sure it would give precise control for a pool shot.

“- add more graphics details (it’ll be look much better )”

Yeah, I know. I figured I’d start small though.

  • make full 3D view, not only from the top

That was how it originally was, but you can’t take accurate shots that way. I don’t think there is a way to make the aim accurate that way unless you have true virtual reality. You know, with the goggles and separate images going to each eye.

  • add some more options (for example fullscreen mode)

I made a full screen version. Don’t know if that’s required for this game, but if I do that I’d have to change the menuing system to a fully graphical one.

"Hope you’ll think about my advices "

Thanks much! Great job. Btw, can you give me your system specs? The more info I have the better.

[This message has been edited by Archimedes (edited 09-17-2002).]

Looking good

a.) The textures need some touch up
b.) I think the friction is WAY to high
c.) I would love mouse support too
d.) You should display the FPS averaged over one second or so (I can hardly read them) >200FPS

System is a
1.5Ghz P-IV
256MB RD-RAM
W2K SP3
Geforce3 (latest offical Detonators)
Desktop set to 1600x1200x32@85Hz

Keep it up!

Originally posted by Nothing:
Looking good

a.) The textures need some touch up

Yes, I’m working on it now! I know it needs a great deal of improvement there.

b.) I think the friction is WAY to high

Hmmm, okay. I’ll try a few different settings and see how it works out.

c.) I would love mouse support too

I’m thinking about doing it this way. You adjust the stick angle by left clicking the mouse and moving it. The closer the cursor is to the cue ball the finer the movement will be. I should probably do it for the force of the shot too.

d.) You should display the FPS averaged over one second or so (I can hardly read them) >200FPS

Good idea.

System is a
1.5Ghz P-IV
256MB RD-RAM
W2K SP3
Geforce3 (latest offical Detonators)
Desktop set to 1600x1200x32@85Hz

Keep it up![/b]

Thanks for your help!

Hi Archimedes,

My system is:

Win98
AMD K-6/2 500 Mhz processor
GeForce2 GTS 64MB
320 MB RAM

nice coding
glYaro

Thanks for the feedback glYaro!

I have updated the program to reflect some of the recommendations you guys made. It now works with mouse, and I’ve upgraded the texturing. The mouse feature makes it much more enjoyable to play, so a thanks for that recommendation! Also, fps meter is smoother.

I’m still considering the fullscreen idea.

I also eliminated a bug.

I hope opengl.org users out there will download and critique my game at www.alwayslearn.com. The more feedback the better.

Thanks!

I hope there is a bit more activity on the week, than on the weekend.

Looks good. The physics sure are neat. The mouse was very sensitive though, hard to get precise shots. Also, after the intro the camera just stopped, looking up at the bottom of the table, that was kind of weird. You might want to assume people want to start a new game right away. The friction seemed to be a tad high compared to a real pool table, but I still had fun.

I hope you update the cue mouse control soon as I had great difficulties hitting the white in the correct direction. Please post an update msg when this is done.

Everything appears to work fine on my sys except when animating through the intro screen I clicked something in the toolbar and the screen went totally black. Nothing, would bring back the table. This bug has only happened once since testing the app.

Sys Check:

PIII 1GHz
512RAM
Win2k SP1 + SP2
Geforce2MX 64 Meg
Det 40 Drivers.

Thanks for the feedback, harsman!

“Looks good. The physics sure are neat. The mouse was very sensitive though, hard to get precise shots.”

The closer you left click the mouse to the cue ball, the finer the resolution you’ll get for the pool stick, and the further away from the cue ball, the bigger the swings will be. I’m not sure if that’s the difficulty you’re having. So, click right at the center of the cue ball, and you’ll get the smallest swings possible.

" Also, after the intro the camera just stopped, looking up at the bottom of the table, that was kind of weird. You might want to assume people want to start a new game right away."

Yes, I know. I didn’t think it would be a problem, and might add some charm. Won’t hurt anything, but I might change it.

"The friction seemed to be a tad high compared to a real pool table, but I still had fun. "

Okay, I lowered it once by a bit because of that criticism. Maybe I’m not remembering, since it’s been about a year and a half since I’ve played billards. I’ll reduce it a bit more, or maybe add an option for frictionional force.

" hope you update the cue mouse control soon as I had great difficulties hitting the white in the correct direction. Please post an update msg when this is done."

Did you try the same advice I gave to harsman? Just left-click close to the cue ball (white ball) and drag the mouse up and down (has to be up-down, not left-right). The closer you left-click to the cue ball’s center, the finer your rotations will be. If you want bigger rotations, left-click far away from the cue ball, and drag the mouse up-down.

I hope the problem is my description, and not the actual game!

If this doesn’t work, let me know.

“Everything appears to work fine on my sys except when animating through the intro screen I clicked something in the toolbar and the screen went totally black. Nothing, would bring back the table. This bug has only happened once since testing the app”

Thanks, Ribot! I’m going to see if I can recreate that bug.

Btw, if you toggle the F key, you’ll get the fps meter.

Archimedes: ok, the cue direction is better, but I’m sure there’s a much better way to implement the movement of the cue around the ball. I’ve also been able to recreate that blackness bug again…

…by clicking on the menu items (file, View, Help) and then the entire menu bar. I’ve also noticed that if you click any of these during the intro animation it messes up the final location of the camera/object.

Originally posted by ribot:
Archimedes: ok, the cue direction is better, but I’m sure there’s a much better way to implement the movement of the cue around the ball.

You’re probably right, Ribot. If you have a suggestion, don’t hesitate to throw it out.

I’ve also been able to recreate that blackness bug again…

…by clicking on the menu items (file, View, Help) and then the entire menu bar.

I’ve not been able to create the bug on either my Win2000 or WinXP. There was a problem I had that I made reference to in the advanced forum, and you may be experiencing a different manifestation of the same problem.

I’ve also noticed that if you click any of these during the intro animation it messes up the final location of the camera/object.

You’re right. The timing is put off when you select a menu item. I’ll have to work on that one.

Great help! Thanks!

Nice start to a pool game. Works well on my old test machine:

Pentium 2 350MHz
128MB SDRAM
Matrox Millenium G200 AGP
Windows98 (se)

Interesting Quirk:
Just after I shoot the cue ball, and while the balls are still rolling (ball action), if I click on the menu bar (to bring down any of the menus), the balls continue rolling, but do not bounce off of the walls of the table. The result is that the balls roll off the table, or even off of the display window. Playing this way makes the game REALLY challenging…

Also, you might want to reduce the maximum power allowed for shooting the cue ball. No one in real life can make a pool ball bounce up and down the table 5 times (without damaging the table). This might calm the lack-of-adequate-friction complaints a bit as well, but I do agree that it could use a little more friction.

Good sound effects; will be a nice game when it is finished.

awwwww, hell it doesn’t work on my machine

[This message has been edited by darketernal (edited 09-24-2002).]

sweet game!
just one little physics issue i noticed. when a ball hits another ball, it seemed to speed up. This was pretty obvious when i would shoot cue ball at full strength, causing chain reaction with the balls.
besides that, awsome!
system:
1ghz amd athlon
256mb ram
win xp he
nvidia riva tnt2 model64

worked fine on my system

NGinEar
Also, you might want to reduce the maximum power allowed for shooting the cue ball. No one in real life can make a pool ball bounce up and down the table 5 times (without damaging the table). This might calm the lack-of-adequate-friction complaints a bit as well, but I do agree that it could use a little more friction.

Do you mean less friction? Less power and less friction makes sense. The poster named “Nothing” wanted less friction, and I have since reduced it by a bit.

It’s good to know it works on a 350Mhz machine. It wouldn’t work on my 400Mhz with Win98, but I chalk it up to my graphics card.

I’m going to work on the menu accessing and timing when I get a chance, and that should fix those sorts of bugs where the ball flys off the table and the intro gets out of rhythm.

darketernal:
awwwww, hell it doesn’t work on my machine

Sorry. I’m surprised that it’s a sound problem, though. Graphics card incompatibility is more what I’d have expected. I’m not sure what I can do about this one. I’m making a note that you have Windows ME.

quibbles:

sweet game!
just one little physics issue i noticed. when a ball hits another ball, it seemed to speed up. This was pretty obvious when i would shoot cue ball at full strength, causing chain reaction with the balls.

In some cases it does happen. I couldn’t get the physics to be perfect, because it’s hard to deal with multiple simultaneous collisions. So, I had to improvise a little.

besides that, awsome!

Thanks!

I’m currently working on networking the game. I’m doing this project to learn the ins and outs of graphics and game design.

Thanks again for all of the feedback. It looks like I have my work cut out for me.

[This message has been edited by Archimedes (edited 09-24-2002).]