Panjoust - A New Simple Platformer

[Masterfurbix]

The best way to fit the renders into the game is to edit each frame individually

Send me the spritesheet for one of them, I'll see how long it could take.

 

[MarkoeZ]

Still active!!

From the feedback it received, i thought some kind of text help for the earlier levels was needed. Explaining controls, level goals, etc. so i added the option to create a text object in the level editor, that just scrolls with the level, and can easily be placed near the point it's useful. Levels are somewhat planned is my head now, so creating them should be a lot easier Also some enemy movement tweaking, and more cleanups...

@Amigo: you found the files i sent you?

Cheers!!

P.s. With PokeParadox having an actual unit, a pandora playable pre-demo might come soon! Also again thanks to Pickle for taking the time to confirm that the game actually runs and plays at all on the Pandora

 

[PokeParadox]

P.s. With PokeParadox having an actual unit, a pandora playable pre-demo might come soon! Also again thanks to Pickle for taking the time to confirm that the game actually runs and plays at all on the Pandora

Don't worry mate, I'll do some testing for you. You'll have to let me get my weekend shifts out of the way of course.

 

[MarkoeZ]

Ok, finishing up for the first demo, so probably for a while the last:

*** Shout Out to the Graphic Artists!!! Amateurs can apply as well!! ***

The game looks pretty nice as it is, but as a finishing touch i'd just like some small attributes that can be added to the levels and do nothing. Just some thoughts: flowers, a hut, snowpile, crate, dead ork, wishing fountain, ugly statue, whatever!! could also be animated or rotated, but try to keep it small then.

I could find stuff like flowers and crates online probably, but since everything else is original, i'd like to keep it that way

Cheers!

MarkoeZ

 

[Jourdy288]

Cool, I think I'll try...

 

[MarkoeZ]

Cool, I think I'll try...

Somehow i had a feeling you would but good luck, hope you produce something usable, you've tried hard enough

 

[MarkoeZ]

Edit: Really, while typing this, im getting a message from PokeParadox. He did me a tiny favour, really, it's nothing much, but maybe you are interested.............

YouTube: PANJOUST ON PANDORA, WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Thanks a million Poke!

/Edit

Well let's see what positions are currently occupied for Panjoust:

Game designers/coders: Check!
Graphical artists: Check!
Music composer: Check!
Sound designer: Check! ... wait ... Check??

Yep!! It seems that new forum member and sounddesigner mrTlikesRobots has noticed Panjoust, and thought it a good idea to create some nice samples for the game. And i, after long long consideration (well actually just long enough to hear the samples ; ), agreed on that. I have not tested them in-game yet, but they sound pretty darn good, and i think they will match the music style quite well.

So mrTlikesRobots: Welcome to the Panjoust team!

Update on the getting ready: even more bugs killed (kill one, another pops up. First big project, don't shoot me) but i think i have most out now.
Also finished the first version of 3 tutorial levels (2 more will come), 2 can be seen in the Pandora video. Should only need a small final touchup and be good to go. Experienced Panjoust players will fly through them in a few flaps (if they don't have to hold a camera as well ; ), so not much holdup for the pro's.

Cheers!

 

[Jourdy288]

Cool, I think I'll try...

Somehow i had a feeling you would but good luck, hope you produce something usable, you've tried hard enough

Awesome, I'm going to try with flowers. My mother has these flowers that are dropping petals daily, I'm going to try to take some pictures of petals against a white background, cut them out, and try to animate them so they look like they're blowing in the win. I might also just try to put together simple flowers. I'd like to see how things work out.
Oh, and congrats on that video! I'm thrilled to see the game running on an actual Pandora!

 

[hisaki]

YouTube: PANJOUST ON PANDORA, WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Neat

I'm looking forward to playing this when I get my Pandora

 

[torpor]

That is really, really cool. Can't wait to play it!

 

[MarkoeZ]

Thanks for the kind words! And poke for the Vid and testing ofc!

once again: Most of the credits to the artists that gave Panjoust it's looks and sounds!
I hope i also got the feel right, quite good to me for what it's worth.

And imagine how i sit, knowing it's playable, but not how it "feels" on the Pandora yet (controls reversed for one thing, on pc movement is on the right and action left, pandora opposite). Should be in the next hundred or something in the (Craig) queue though. soooooooooo near...

Cheers!!

MarkoeZ

 

[torpor]

Well I'd be quite happy to beta/alpha test it for you on a real Pandora!

 

[MarkoeZ]

Well I'd be quite happy to beta/alpha test it for you on a real Pandora!

Thanks, Pandora beta demo very soon. Just some bandwidth issues here, so i'd like to make a decent one straight away. Only one or 2 levels remaining.

Update on the sounds from mrTlikesRobots: I now have sounds for loads of events implemented. Among others: Menu selection/click, extra life, seesaw movement, egg collection, enemy death, scorecount, etc. Thanks!

Cheers!

 

[PokeParadox]

Let me know when you need the data pack uploading and I'll take a 7z of it and upload it on a panjoust wiki
Also I can do the PND uploading to help with your bandwidth issues!

 

[PokeParadox]

Let me know when you need the data pack uploading and I'll take a 7z of it and upload it on a panjoust wiki
Also I can do the PND uploading to help with your bandwidth issues!

 

[MarkoeZ]

Let me know when you need the data pack uploading and I'll take a 7z of it and upload it on a panjoust wiki
Also I can do the PND uploading to help with your bandwidth issues!

Hey!!! Stop poking holes in my excuses for slacking off!!!

Seriously: implementing last sounds now, after that, no more data additions probably. And i want one more level made, then i have 4 sort of tutorial levels, and 4 general levels. At least enough for a beta demo, to get the impression. Should be ready this weekend.
After that, full steam ahead on levelmaking to get the first real demo out!

Cheers!

Edit: Well just about everything is uploaded to the svn. And with some help of Foxblock i can now compile for pandora on my windows pc! So just waiting for PokeParadox to validate the executable and upload the graphic/music pack for me and we are good to go! (No pressure Poke )

 

[MarkoeZ]

Ok, no nifty PND yet, but for those who would like help out and test, or just play it ofcourse:

Panjoust 8 level Pandora beta Demo! (Windows too, no x86 linux yet, srry)

First create a Panjoust folder (or pjoust, or whatever you prefer) then download and unpack the Data Pack containing audio and graphics to it. And last, download and unpack the appropriate executable into the same folder (containing the images/sounds/etc folders)
Should just work.

Remember it's a beta, levels could still use that last polish, and some other small things. But very playable!

Cheers!

Edit: Pandora executable was broken, fixed and uploaded now

 

[Monk]

Cool. It's a bit late for my son tonight, but I'm sure we'll enjoy this in the week many thanks!

 

[foxblock]

Ok here is a mini-review:

Graphics: Great, love them, really detailed and they fit together pretty well. Also it's nice to see an indy game without 8-bit-style gaphics, but a painted look.

Sound: Also very great, does not get annoying (at least not that quickly) and fits the atmosphere really well.

Gameplay: It's hard, at least for a beginner. The overall movement is fine, also nice to sea something fresh, but I think the friction should be set a little bit higher, the player is floating/sliding a bit too much IMO (also adds to the difficulty).
It could use some more gameplay variety, the stones / catapults are a nice start though.
Some minor glitches remain, like the ability to pick up multiple stones (which then drop as one) - the others mostly being some weird/incorrect collisions.

Editor: Looks nice, but very beta atm. I got it to hang pretty quickly, by trying to add a new enemy and clicking the scope box. Then I could not get the popup to go away (pretty nice feature btw).

Overall it is looks beautiful and gives players who are up for a challenge some nice minutes of gameplay.

Here is an advice on the archives: You also packed the TortoiseSVN data, which is huge (about 40MB). Remove that and the game will get down to less than 35MB packed, also you should remove the thumbs.db files (all of them are hidden, so you have to activate "view hidden files and folders" in the system control panel).

foxblock out

 

[MarkoeZ]

Ok here is a mini-review:

Graphics: Great, love them, really detailed and they fit together pretty well. Also it's nice to see an indy game without 8-bit-style gaphics, but a painted look.

Sound: Also very great, does not get annoying (at least not that quickly) and fits the atmosphere really well.

Well yeah, the artists did an amazing job

Gameplay: It's hard, at least for a beginner. The overall movement is fine, also nice to sea something fresh, but I think the friction should be set a little bit higher, the player is floating/sliding a bit too much IMO (also adds to the difficulty).

This is a difficult point, that needs some more feedback. I already easied it up quite a lot from the original Joust (there birds are just zooming around the screen) and i quite like the way it feels right now. But if the general opinion is that it's really to hard, i'm going to have to change it ofcourse

It could use some more gameplay variety, the stones / catapults are a nice start though.

Yup, more gameplay is welcome. But i expect in the long run that most of the re-playability will come from the 2 player mode. Then you not only have to watch out for the birds, but also beat the other guy to collectibles etc.

Some minor glitches remain, like the ability to pick up multiple stones (which then drop as one) - the others mostly being some weird/incorrect collisions.

Ah, stones were not on the todo list yet, should be an easy fix. And if there are really big collision errors, i'd like to know where. I'm not cleaning up the very tiny ones since i'll be switching to different collision detection after the first full demo, but that should ofcourse also be playable decently

Editor: Looks nice, but very beta atm. I got it to hang pretty quickly, by trying to add a new enemy and clicking the scope box. Then I could not get the popup to go away (pretty nice feature btw).

Yup, editor is still very beta, but should be functional. When the popup appears for the x scope, just type the number you want, 150 for instance (with the top row of keys currently) and press enter.

Overall it is looks beautiful and gives players who are up for a challenge some nice minutes of gameplay.

Thanks!

Here is an advice on the archives: You also packed the TortoiseSVN data, which is huge (about 40MB). Remove that and the game will get down to less than 35MB packed, also you should remove the thumbs.db files (all of them are hidden, so you have to activate "view hidden files and folders" in the system control panel).

foxblock out

Ah, that is absolutely true. Did not check the pack myself since Poke uploaded it In his defence: he was veeeery veeeery tired


Edit: And i final thanks for testing ofcourse!!

Cheers!

Edit2: I made a topic in the beta test section to draw the attention of some pandora owners to the build. There is a poll attached, PC users feel free to vote as well!