Recent posts by TheAwsomeOpossum on Kongregate

Topic: Game Programming / Display Method for FlashDevelop That's Not Blitting?

Did you import your images via SWC, or just through a class? In any case, either way, you should be able to addChild() it to make it appear on the stage. No need for blitting or anything fancy like that.

Topic: Vorp! / ban all noobs

Now you need to write that in code LackOfSkill =D. You’ve done a bit of programming before, right?

Topic: Game Programming / GiTD [#28] Entries and Discussion

Originally posted by nutter666:

Ok… I have a question for everyone.

Honest opinions needed, shall I swap the controls in my game to normal AWSD controls (for the sake of familiarity) for shall I stick with how they are now with forward and backward movement (which is less familiar but fits the game better), I’m stuck on the fence as I can see benefits for both. I’ve been making an effort to keep HUD elements and stuff offscreen to keep it “focussed” on the horror and darkness.. normal AWSD controls might be counter-intuitive to that. I guess why question is? Is it really that big of an issue.. or will people be able to adapt once they’re told the controls properly rather than having to pick it up themselves?

I’d suggest normal WASD. Let me tell you why.

First, check out my game Colorb. It uses a rather similar system to yours. Your probably wondering why I’m telling you to use normal WASD then. And the main reason is, your game has walls which are very close together. It’s hard to navigate with such a control system when you have walls like that. Having to explain the control system is a second reason; I think it actually detracts from a game, and yes, that includes ColOrb. Unfortunately, I can’t run ColOrb in normal WASD without ruining the strategy in it. But you are fully capable of doing so, so I think it’d be a good idea.

If you want, you can develop an integrated system that uses both by using Q for rotate screen left, and E for rotate screen right, so you can rotate things much like you can in Realm of the Mad God. But I’d still suggest having normal WASD controls.

Topic: Game Programming / GiTD [#28] Entries and Discussion

Originally posted by nutter666:

Originally posted by TheAwsomeOpossum:

I’d suggest switching to standard WASD movement… I think it’d work better with this game rather than forward-back.

I don’t get why everyone keeps saying that. Nobody in their right might would be walking around in a dark place full of flesh eating monsters without the torching showing what they were walking towards… might just be me I guess.

That is true, however, gamers might do exactly that =p.

In any case, comfortable controls help… even if they aren’t the most realistic things in the world ;-).

Topic: Game Programming / GiTD [#28] Entries and Discussion

Originally posted by nutter666:

http://www.fastswf.com/yJ0XNl8

Guess what happens when some foolish person leaves keys lying around on the floor… monsters escape.

I’d suggest switching to standard WASD movement… I think it’d work better with this game rather than forward-back.

Topic: Vorp! / Backdooring ruins the fun!

Wow. Just wow.

Topic: Vorp! / Heard the devs stopped supporting the game

Regardless, it’s our job to get that concurrent users number up.

Topic: Game Programming / From a programmer standpoint what is this engine missing?

Uh, your keyboard isn’t always perfectly responsive. Not sure why this is, but yeah.

Topic: Vorp! / Post-mortum Persistng loadouts

Mmm… why does ANt need persistent loadouts? It’s already very powerful. That would just make it more powerful (which isn’t best in terms of balance).

Topic: Kongregate / What is the easiest to get impossible badge?

I’d say Sonny 2 as a Biological build. You may need to look up a few tips for some of the battles, and also have some experience with the series, but it’s quite easy once you get the hang of it… it just takes time.

Beating it as a Psychological is a lot harder though. Haven’t done Hydraulic yet.

Topic: Game Programming / Flash Being Deprecated?!?! Wasup with this rumor?

Originally posted by Drakim:

Personally I don’t think consumers think very fondly of non-native flash apps that run slowly and consume battery. This will be the perception the general consumer will get when most flash developers continues using animated movieclips on the displaylist to make their games.

Flash is infamous for being laggy and bad on the desktop (despite being quite aright these days) and it will get the same fame on the mobile marketplace, I suspect.

But we shall see :)

Well then why are many of the popular games on the market made in AIR? If people really aren’t that fond of it, it’d drive them away, and yet I still see people playing their Angry Birds, no?

Bottom line, as Ambitious said, it doesn’t really matter too much to consumers. They will take a few hours at a larger battery consumption rate to enjoy a fun game.

Topic: Game Programming / Flash Being Deprecated?!?! Wasup with this rumor?

Drakim. AIR… that’s the big thing.

One could say the discontinued plugin just centralized things =p.

Topic: Vorp! / Is Clanknor worth it?

You have to remember, Clankor isn’t the fastest ship in the world. =p

Topic: Game Programming / Are there any good free .swf encryption programs?

Originally posted by GameBuilder15:

Opossum, that is an awesome idea, but prevent a .swf from working locally?

As far as I saw, it did. It was in skyboy’s sitelock, and it prevented local runs (until you commented out the code) =).

Topic: Game Programming / Are there any good free .swf encryption programs?

What’s even better is to lock your swf from playing locally before uploading it to a preview-site, so that even if they DO decompile it, they have to search through the code for hours looking for a few lines in an arbitrary place just to get it working so they can edit it (they will likely want to remove your branding). =D

Topic: Game Programming / GiTD [#27] Entries and Discussion

Anybody want to team with me?

Topic: Vorp! / ELO Rating but calculated with Damage only

Originally posted by Masakarii:

To 1)
Yes, Shinobi deals less DPS than the others. Nice that we agree first time.

Mhm.

But it doesnt say that Shinobi deal less Damage. It can deal the damage on the point. You 4 shot a turret while somebody defends it without any chance to kill you ( so enemy dont get Damage, but you get ).

I’d disagree here. I’d guess Shinobi DOES deal less damage overall. It just delivers damage at a more optimum time, as you said. And if you are the Shinobi, and we use a score system that only counts DPS, both people will get points for this, since he is damaging you, and you are damaging the turret (though you are the only one doing something effective; he’s doing something you will just go and heal off).

Shinobi CAN kill an Enemy player without getting hit. So you deal Damage, Enemy not.

It can but so can every other ship. I mean, just look at Hirudo with Thrustbleeders and Max Shield =p. This logic applies to most ships… they can dodge to a degree. Even in a Circe, with one of the worst turning ratios, I can still dodge pretty well thanks to Turn + Space Fold. And since all ships can do this, I don’t see this as a Shinobi’s advantage, really.

That means: The better Players makes more Damage = more Points.
If you dont agree, tell me why.

No, not necessarily. Look at Venture, for instance. Much less DPS than other ships (because Vorps don’t always hit). Does that make the player worse simply because he’s running a Venture? Not at all.

To 1a)
Thats wrong. Every dealed Damage is useful. Every piece of it.

What’s the use of you chasing off some to Nexus, and not succeeding in getting a kill? Your team can’t push; you are missing. It’s just a 4 v 4 rather than a 5 v 5.

What you are talking about is shooting random somewhere on the Map. But thats not Damage, your bullets will disappear. If thats not what you mean. Explain what you wanted to say on an example.

That wasn’t what I was saying at all. What I mean is; doing damage may force somebody away, but forcing somebody away isn’t always advantageous for your team, especially if you get forced away at the same time. Doing damage isn’t always useful. I fly around a ton in my Circe, and if I see a Jabber, and I’m not with a teammate, I’m not going to bother shooting. Why? Because I can’t kill it, while it can possibly kill me. Should I get points for shooting at a battle I know I’m gonna lose anyways (or return back to nexus wasting nearly as much time as dying)?

And the second thing. Like i said already in the first post. Maybe you didnt read it.
When somebody suicide charge just to make massive Damage.

Running players don’t do very much damage either though. So what’s better in your system, to suicide and get a ton of damage (I’m thinking Squid or Angelfire here), or to run and get almost no damage?

So you say dealing Damage to somebody who will port away is useless? Ok lets get a bit more on this one.
When you dont Damage somebody, he wont port away. Because theres no reason to do.

Suppose he’s already pressed the Deport button, or in the case off ANT, his R. Should you get points for damaging a person you have no chance to kill? It’s ridiculously hard to kill a teleporting person without temmates if they activate it at the right time.

And when theres an Enemy Wolf or Venture next to your target you think damaging that Player is useless?

Because it just gets healed off. Is it worth damaging when that damage is just going to disappear in a few seconds?

So you think that Player will still charge on you or your teammates with somebody focussing him?

It depends on the ship. I can see it being done in xx (thanks to great area of effect abilities) and Angel (thanks to it’s R), as well as ANT with deport. Believe it or not though, I do something similar in my Circe; I activate Deport and Omen Sphere at pretty much the same time. Omen Sphere fires, and I deport leaving them to take damage. Most of the time, they are pretty close to a depot though. Should I get points for that?

We talk about Damage, so you mean that that guy is really damaged. When i get damage and loose massive Energy i dont stay near the Venture or Iron Wolf, i will escape.

Why do this when the enemy has only a bit more health than you do, and you have a full health iron wolf/venture with a heal ready by your side? I’d try and turn the tides.

And thats advantage to the Enemy team because that Iron Wolf is alone now. And when the Iron Wolf is running like you the Enemy Team can damage or destroy the defended targets near them.

Well then that’s your fault for leaving the Iron Wolf alone. I wouldn’t do that though.

You agreed with me in all Shinobi points. This leads to point 1. Shinobi deals Damage without getting killed. The Enemy who died cant deal damage for a couple of time. Advantage for the better Player & Team. Nice to agree on that point now, too.

Well, you see, I think that the time dead isn’t significant in certain scenarios. It isn’t significant early game (when you respawn in a few seconds), and it isn’t significant mid-game when you are deep in the enemy’s base destroying their second battery on either side. In those cases, dying might give you more damage then running away. Late game you have a point though; late game, it’s always better not to die in terms of DPS.

The last point:
Why are persons following Enemies to their depot? If you never kill those Enemies nobody would follow there. But nearly everybody does. That shows that its working very often. And this leads back to point 1. When you success 30% of your tried in chasing somebody to depot you kill that Enemy Player. That Enemy cant deal damage anymore because he is dead. Your Team got advantage in the middle or whereever they are because you can go there now, too. That leads to more dead Enemies or dead structures.

I’ll have to disagree there; I’ve chased enough people and watched them turn the tides on me (as well as having escaped myself a ton of times) to think that correct. Chasing doesn’t always result in success (unless your in Shinobi lol). And if you fail, you have put a significant disadvantage on your team… because you have part damage, and they are fully healed. That’s why killing on a chase is so critical.

So while I see some of your point, I don’t think it takes in kills enough still, tbh.

Topic: Vorp! / Dream Team Fleet

Ant, Circe, Squid, Wolf, Undulorean/Hirudo/Shinobi is perhaps my favorite.

Topic: Vorp! / [To Devs] Lack of Balance Due To Map Blindspot

Originally posted by lobstershow:

Originally posted by TheAwsomeOpossum:

Well, I’m not sure a simple flip is going to do that. That will force all of the math coded in the game to be changed… and I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.

What might have to be done instead is a switch of which side the graphic bars are on. So depending on your side, they might be on the top, or the bottom. Then again, I don’t know how that would turn out.

Normally, the ships I play don’t have problems with this, so yeah. Then again, I’m not playing ANT.

I doubt that any math needs to be changed.
Just flip the camera view for the top team.

If it’s that simple in Unity, then that’d be okay. In Flash, I know it would be a tiny bit of a pain (especially with the tilt of the screen). You could do it, but not super-easily.

Topic: Vorp! / ELO Rating but calculated with Damage only

Originally posted by Masakarii:

To 1) So you say Shinobi has high DPS? NO it doenst. Shinobi has less DPS than nearly all other Ships.

No, I’m saying exactly the opposite; Shinobi has a LOW dps. As you said it’s less than nearly all the other ships. Is it fair to punish Shinobi with a fully DPS system, which it will never do well in? No, it’s not. That’s why you have to have a system that is partially based on kills, partially based on assists, partially based on buildings, and partially based on DPS. That way everybody gets a piece of the pie.

DPS is Damage per Second. Not Damage per Shot.

Yeah, that’s what I’m saying!

1a) So a Player who isnt dealing Damage is better than somebody who deal massive more Damage?
If you dont agree with that. Give me an example or explain it more.

A person who deals damage at the right time to the right person is better than a person who just deals damage. That’s what I’m trying to say; DPS isn’t everything.

I say: as more Damage you deal, as more you help your Team leading to win.

Only if you don’t die.

2) You say that Damage doesnt take effect to a match? How do you destroy something? Explain it please.
I say: Without damage to NPCs, To Enemies and structures you cant Level. Without Level you cant kill something harder. So Damage = the most important stat ingame

No, that’s not what I said. I said that DPS isn’t useful if it isn’t in the right place at the right time. In other words, DPS isn’t always effective (again, example, around depot, and here are two more: while someone is deporting or when their teammate is a Venture/Wolf).

2a) You say that killing somebody is the most effective with an example of Shinobi.<.blockquote>

Yes. Killing people at the right time in the right place is important.

So i say: Shinobi is a “kill stealer”. It kills ships that are hard damaged.

And then they get the people that nobody else can get… the ones who are running to the enemy depot and are just out of reach. It’s worth having a Shinobi on your team despite the kill-stealing simply because they can chase people who are depoting.

Shinobi makes 95% of their kills on damaged Ships. Who damaged those ships? Other ships. Without the damage of Teammates given to his targets Shinobi wont kill them.

And without the Shinobi, the teammates wouldn’t be able to kill them as they run to depot (at least some of the time). They both help each other.

So Damage is again the most important stat.

But it’s not the only important stat you are implying. It shouldn’t represent 100% of the score, because DPS only helps some of the time.

If you dont agree with me. Make an example why im wrong

A person is chasing a person to a depot. You have nearly full health, but they get to the depot. They don’t die, and your chase was worthless. Should you get score points for the DPS you did, considering you had to leave the main battlefield, and so did they?

Topic: Vorp! / [To Devs] Lack of Balance Due To Map Blindspot

Well, I’m not sure a simple flip is going to do that. That will force all of the math coded in the game to be changed… and I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.

What might have to be done instead is a switch of which side the graphic bars are on. So depending on your side, they might be on the top, or the bottom. Then again, I don’t know how that would turn out.

Normally, the ships I play don’t have problems with this, so yeah. Then again, I’m not playing ANT.

Topic: Vorp! / We need prefab messages

Nice emitter they got there… you take it!

Topic: Vorp! / Regarding Balance, a Peek at Ship Statistics

Originally posted by Masakarii:Circe is the same. Skill Circe to level 5 and you can go for Batteries without diing. An enemy can fight you while you can deal damage to the Enemy structures. And when you are around 30 % HP with Circe you can teleport back. Structure is nearly destroyed in that time.

Have you ever tried defending a turret?

It makes it nearly impossible for Circe to take it down. Why? Because all the Bindu Bolts head for you instead, and that isn’t enough.

If you want to prevent it from being taken down, it’s the same strategy as for Ant, you have to set someone to guard the turret. Of course, this leaves the attacker at an advantage because he’s not obligated to come back, but you can use the time he tries to attack to try an attack of your own too.

If anything, the problem with ANT is that he’s too fast and has that teleport… thus… he can’t really be taken down easily without being ganged up on.

If anything, the problem with Circe is that it escapes too easily… but you have to remember… it can’t chase for peanuts… whereas Ant can. If you nerf Circe’s escapability, you are going to have to start making it better at killing players instead. After all, Circe has the lowest K/D.

What helps you killing when you loose a match with 28:0?

Use the team feature. Appropriately, with 2 good people, you can beat even a team with 4 other good people. How? Ant for one player, a good defender for the other. They balance out, and the Ant takes out both emitters (but especially the back one) ASAP. Then you wait and help your team destroy batteries slowly, and take out the core. It destroys teams even made of people who are good.

I could say now the game is about destroying the Enemy core. How about watching the statistics about destroyed structures of all ships?

Of course it’s about blowing up the core. Definitely =).

Im shure ANT is on Top Rank 1 far away to Circe. And behind those 2 there is nothing for long time. As thierd will come the Fish or Jabber.

Circe is second to last, and has approximately a 1/1 K/D ratio. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t get OP in the hands of an expert… I usually have a K/D ratio in about 4/1 ratios… but it isn’t like running ANT, definitely. The only ship with a worst ratio is… Angelfire.

Nerf ANT and Circe now because of that? Maybe yes!

Ant, yes, Circe… well… isn’t this the same problem we are having with Hirudo and deport? Furthermore, isn’t Circe less of a danger than Hirudo? Which is more likely to kill you and your buildings. Hirudo.

Just 1 word to the OPS: OPS are like somebody else said already: The most important LOUDOUT in the game now.
Teleport is unbalancing everything. Teleport is way OP.

Okay so what if we lengthened the casting period of deport, and teleport. Would that work?

1 Word to the Techs: All Techs are kinda useless compared to AB Power. Speed is everything in this game.
And i tested a lot other Techs, too. I got over 20 from nearly every Tech. From some Techs i got 30+ already.

Last word: ANT is the most important Ship ingame now to win a match. When 1 Team got a good ANT, they win.

I assure you, running a Circe, I don’t want AB Power. It’s nice compared to some of the other, but what I really what is Cooldown. That way, my Omen Spheres come up faster and I can actually take down a battery before a smart opponent shows up. Then again, that’s just my thoughts on it.

When both Teams dont has ANT or Circe, opness of the Ships in every Team dices the win out.

How so? What does Circe do to unbalance the game? Take out a turret every 180 seconds? Most ships can do that already. Ant I understand… it rips to shreds the back of your base with almost no counters. But Circe? Nah. You really need to be Level 7 before you start risking that stuff (Q to 3, W to 3, R to 1), and even then, if someone catches up to you, the turret isn’t down.

Ah and forgot: When i say i donate 200$ then i do it. I dont care about some bucks. But you are right, the target of that offer was to get the DEVs loosing their face!

Explain.

Topic: Vorp! / That Ship is OP

Originally posted by Darth_Sirov:

Originally posted by TAO_Arecibo:

Originally posted by skullhead51:

Originally posted by basicbasic:

Originally posted by habeebe:

Jabber, Thulu, Circe, Ant, Hirudo, Shinobi, Iron Wolf, SS Venture, Undo, and Angel Fire are all way OP. Nerf Please.

If all those ships are OP then they cancel eachother out.

That is basically his point. I’ve seen every ship get at least 20 kills in one game except for circe and ss venture since they got nerfed but they are still good at support and tower busting. Especially from the flow of new players that are basically fodder and ship feed.

So close on Circe =(…. 19/0.

Were you fighting against newbies again?

Yes. If I was fighting against better people, the score is way more even.

I find it amusing how you can empty all your attacks and a stray Bindu Bolt gets the final kill.

Oh, it goes both ways. Actually, usually it’s the case that other ships kill-steal a Circe’s kill more often than Circe kill-steal’s the other ship’s kills. It’s annoying sometimes because you empty your loadout to bring that Hirudo down to manageable levels, and then a Jabber/Hirudo comes around and finishes them off XD.

Alas, that’s life. And your job as Circe is to lower people down, not to burst kill them =p.

Topic: Game Programming / Creating A Save File

You can use Gamersafe’s, but you may have to do some messy stuff to get it to work well with users, as well as add micro-transactions. And as Senekis said, guests create problems.

Kong’s system currently has several problems with it (it can be public, as well as it’s not displying correctly on user profiles anymore). I’m not sure if it’s worth using as saved data for a RPG.

If you have your own server, you can use this to make shared objects work across multiple domains, I think: http://jodieorourke.com/view.php?id=115&amp;blog=news