Sub Hunt for OS5

[wilsonch_98]

Is there any sub hunt for os5? I miss that game a lot....

[s_n_m]

Are you serious? Lol!

I hated the graphics 2 years ago on my Vx :D!

If it gets re-released it better be polygonal and very very in depth, maybe you control whole leages of subs? And you could have wars like advance wars, but in 3d!

[orol]

i like the game too .. but i coundn't even find a hires version of it .. i mean is great idea .. but i'm playing indiana jones 4 on my clie so it doesn't bother me for now :-)

[FrankG]

Hey - sounds like a fun project. I'm not very good with the art work part though.... let's see what an evening's programming can do.

Frank

[OcellNuri]

I'm looking forward to it Frank.

[eric2002]

hey Frank,

i'd like to see what you program... maybe i'd be interested in doing some or all the art for it? I am an illustrator/designer working for a software company (i design the look of the co's software).
I wouldn't mind working on a little side project,

[FrankG]

To be fair, let me say I'm looking to put something simple together. Something along the lines of the original request rather than the 3D, leagues of subs, and RPG type stuff. Color, nicer looking subs, a nicer looking ship, and perhaps some colorful explosions would be fun.

Frank

[eric2002]

Simple is good... I don't have time to do for free a huge project. But I would like to get a little experience creating art for a PDA game and to add to my portfolio. I've created games for handhelds (atari jaguar handheld, gameboy), CD ROM, Flash/the web, etc.. so I don't imagine it being much different for Palm OS.

I could supply a nicely rendered background and the various sprites all rendered nicely... the only animation would be the explosion.
This all sounds like it wouldn't be too time consuming on my end. If you make something and or specify what you need and in what size, and format I could send it to you?? Let me know what you think? You can see my partially finished site at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~erhard
I've been too busy on too many projects to finish the site -

[wilsonch_98]

Woo...i never thought of this would end up to be a project for you guys...

Thanks in advance. Keep me informed

[eric2002]

provided you want to do this Frank,
I would need some direction. I would like to start with the background as this would set the tone for the entire game.

-What size do you need? HI-res+ all the way down to 160x160 grayscale?
-What are you thinking as far as style? -Cartoony, Serious, Weird, -definitely an under water scene... dark and spooky, or better lit and more friendly?

let me know, if your interested I'll begin.

[joecat]

I'm up for Alpha and Beta testing.

Palm VIIx
S320
T415
T665

[eric2002]

cool,

once i get the go-ahead from programming i'll begin on the art!
probably take me a few weeks to a month working in the evenings here and there!

[Unregistered]

Eric,

How about making BMP files for 2 or 3 submarines and a surface ship. The Clie screen seems to handle 16 bit color depth. So far from playing around I've captured that swell look of the original B&W SubHunt graphics; I'm sure you can do better [;)]. I think we'll need 64x26 subs and a 64x16 ship. If those sizes are too small, I could cut down on the number of sub travel lanes from 9 to 8 and expand the heights.

Next, some reasonable sized explosion BMPS to make a 3 or 4 framed animation would be good. Something small, along the size of 10x10 or 20x20, then the sub or ship could sink to the bottom.

At some point, we can think about an icon in 64x64 size (leaving 40 or so rows at the bottom available for the application name) and the small icon as 30x18.

Rising mines and depth charges can be easy; I could do something simple unless you're really interested.

Hey - anybody have a name for a program like this? All I could come up with so far was SubsAPlenty. Someone ought to be able to do better than that!

Frank

[Unregistered]

Oh yeah - can you please make the background color on the BMPs an RGB value of (255,128,255)?

Thank you,
Frank

[eric2002]

hello Frank,

sounds cool, I'll begin on the background and send you something by the end of the week. I'll begin on the other elements after the background is finished.
-e

[eric2002]

I assume there will be some kind of a "score" window, subs hit window, etc..
...i guess in a version in the future I can design a cool looking sub UI for these control elements... for now you can just lay them on top of the background I supply.

[frankg]

Eric,

UI and windows, I guess we should take a step at a time! :)

Re the initial background, let's start at HiRes. The height will be less than 320 though since the screen uses 32 rows of pixels for the menubar -- which we could ignore perhaps and simply draw over. I could go either way.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with; your web page has some nice looking graphics. I have plain looking subs with point values traveling back and forth across the screen with the surface ship movable via jog-dial. I'll enable launching mines and dropping charges tonight.

As a clam shell Clie user, I'm reluctant to actuate game action via the usual HW buttons... maybe some other interaction could be implemented.

Frank

[eric2002]

Frank,

UI over the background art sounds great to me. I've begun doing some sketches for the background and would like to design it full screen, 320x480.
-we can always modify it if necessary in the future.

Whatever controls you feel work best go for it, buttons or stylus,etc..

do you have an email address I can send you graphics? -send me a private message w/ that info. and i'll send art as it is completed.

-eric

[eric2002]

Sub Hunt Update:

Background art has been created.

-need a good name for this game... any ideas??? doesn't have to have the word sub in it? something creative that conveys the ideas discussed in the previous posts....???

time permitted I'll try to post the background art on my site for everyone to view.

[wilsonch_98]

Dodge 'n' Sink?

[eric2002]

Dodge 'n' Sink... I like that!!

Frank sent me a very early prototype with some of my art included in the game... the game still has some kinks, but is looking really cool!!

[Eric S]

Silly suggestion: Make it at least partially controllable with the jogwheel, so it's playable in tablet mode.

Naturally, you wouldn't want the ship to move as fast as the user can turn the jogwheel however, and then there's the question about the depth charges.

1) You could have a jogwheel press fire off one end and the back button fire off the other.

2) You could have a jogwheel press fire off the end that the ship is moving in (or last moved in), and the back button fire off the other end.

3) You could make rotating the jogwheel while pressed fire a depth charge off of that end, but not move (not sure I like this, there are times in that game that you just don't want to stop moving).

SubHunt (the source is available in the older SDKs, btw) was on my list of games to upgrade to make easier to play in tablet mode on the NX line, just for the heck of it. I'm also toying with the idea of FreeCell and card games that can be played entirely with the jogwheel. Of course, until I get over my Galactic Civilizations addiction, there will be no programming.

[eric2002]

hello Eric S.,
great suggestions. Frank also mentioned to me that the controls wouldn't work well in tablet mode... so I think he is toying with this idea as well as using stylus control?

Yep, if this game does well (as so far as people like it) then... maybe some flash games would be good to create in the future...as they are multi-platform.

-e

[frankg]

Eric has put together a great looking background and subs. The BG isn't loading at 100% the original resolution for some unknown reason but I really like what he's done.

- Yes, the 1st thing I did was make the surface ship move via jog dial. Clam shell users unite! I didn't implement front and rear depth charge launching though I could.

- The game plays through end-of-game (3 hits to the ship), keeps score, has collision detection [99%?] working, and some sinking vessel animations.

Yet to do are high score tracking, detonation animation, and maybe some additional performace tweaking.

Sleepy from late night coding,
Frank

[eric2002]

Franks doing a great job... I think ClieSource is going to love what we've put together!!

[Unregistered]

With a slight amount of fan-fare, here's a working prototype for trying out and feedback.

Click Here (http://marriageyes.home.mindspring.com/PalmSW/SubsAPlenty.prc)

Please do not pass around as it still needs some work.
- Eric's background looks much nicer than it shows. A programmer skill problem perhaps that we might be able to work around.
- The surface ship moves via jog dial only and fires via jog dial push only.
- Some of the graphics haven't been Eric-ized yet: the surface ship, depth charges, and sub launched mines.
- No sound (sorry "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" SONAR sound effect fans)
- I guess I didn't do anything about changing the name. Do we all really like Dodge n' Sink? :confused:
- Taking a cue from NetFront, the PRC is immodestly sized. (huh?)

- Do to the jog dial req, runs on CLIEs only but it might work on a Tungstun thanks to the 5-way.

Curious to see how it performs.

Frank

[FrankG]

:( ...And I'm tired of not logging myself into ClieSource correctly! (Yes, I know my profile can be set to auto logon....)

Frank

[wilsonch_98]

A little feed back:

Great graphics!!

Difficulty level is considered harder to hit the subs then the original, consider the subs are moving so fast.

There is significantly less mines rising.


---------------
Bugs
---------------
1. Ship can still move during the sinking move

2. If I continue to press the depth charges button after the sink, and even the game over shows, i can continue the game, with scoring ability

3. The ship can still move during the sinking pharse

4. It seems that most of the time the sub will do a "final attack" just before they sink.(is this deliberate?)

---------

Hope this helps.

[eric2002]

thanks for playing it Wilsonch,

You've got to see it with the background in full color...it looks 100% better...right now the background art is getting dithered a lot.

-also I just sent Frank a bunch of art (new ship, new torpedos/mines, and a hit animation sequence)...this should all add to the look of the game quite a bit.

-e

[FrankG]

Originally posted by wilsonch_98

>A little feed back:
>Great graphics!!

Yes indeed....

>Difficulty level is considered harder to
>hit the subs then the original, consider
> the subs are moving so fast.

I actually sped it up a bit because it seems too slow on my NX70. It is faster on the simulator. What model are you using?

>There is significantly less mines rising.

I kept it to one per sub at a time. More are possible, I guess.

>---------------
>Bugs
>---------------

Or features?? ;)

>1. Ship can still move during the sinking move
>3. The ship can still move during the sinking pharse

Not planned but it seemed harmless. I think you're right in pointing it out; user control should be disabled when those events are happening.

>2. If I continue to press the depth
>charges button after the sink, and
>even the game over shows, i can
>continue the game, with scoring ability

Definitely not planned. Definitely a bug.

>4. It seems that most of the time the
>sub will do a "final attack" just before
>they sink.(is this deliberate?)

Deliberate!

>Hope this helps.

Definitely! Thank you for trying it out and for the feedback.

Frank

[FrankG]

Originally posted by eric2002

-also I just sent Frank a bunch of art...

I've got mail!

[eric2002]

Yes you do have mail...lot's of it! :)
I believe you have all the art, except for the title screen and the program icons!! so until we/cliesource decide on a name I won't start on the title screen....

-e

names so far:

Subs A Plenty
Dodge and Hit
Dodge and Hunt
Dodge and Hide
Sub Attack

[OcellNuri]

I'm just brainstorming here:

DepthCharge
SubSurface
FromBelow

Sink to Float
Silent Threat
Seek and Sink
Waves of Fire
Waves of Aggression


I dont' even like all of these, but I'm just throwing them out there.

[wilsonch_98]

sink'em
Sub War
Depth Charge
U-Boat Hunting
Sub Hunt - The new era
QSub Hunt
Human vs Seaman

I really don't know....maybe even G.W.A.I.N
Game without an interesting name....as compare with the TWAIN

[OcellNuri]

Looks like DepthCharge has two votes eh?

UnseanThreat... hehehe

[FrankG]

I've posted Alpha 2. It contains fixes for the bugs noted above. Also, it incorporates the rest of the art Eric has sent.

I've slowed down most of the subs yet there's one last speed demon of the deep, the newest sub in the fleet, so called medium sub #2.

I like the growing list of names!

I dislike: Subs A Plenty and most of the Sink-n-* names.

Unsean Threat: very clever. :)

Since the boats are kind of futuristic, perhaps the name ought to have that kind of ring to it. Maybe: Future Unsean Threat. ;)

Time for some shut-eye, thank you all for test driving it.

Frank

[Alistar]

I like Silent Threat and Unsean Threat.

[OcellNuri]

I just played through alpha 2. That was an excellent step forward. I love the boat graphics. Great to see that you didn't go for the generic WWII battleship look Frank. By the way, the work on your site is outstanding.

Ha! I've got a great cheesy story line... "After the flood of the Earth, war returns to the sea. The forces of the world have honed their skills on creating silent attack ships of the deep. Sunlight is now the main source of power, but conflict has driven the masses deep into the ocean. Destroy the enemy forces coming from below as you defend your precious territory on the horizon."

Silent Threat: The Fight For Light


Yea... someone needs sleep... lol. I'm looking forward to the next build. Thanks for letting me have fun.


*Posted from bed on the NX70V*

[wilsonch_98]

OcellNuri

I like your story line :)

[FrankG]

Great story line! I can see it scrolling up the screen ala Starwars -- though I don't know if I can do transparent text.

BTW, in the 1st release, the old WWII style surface ship was what I put together in order to have a boat for the program. Eric did/does all of the art and therefore the cool looking boat.

Silent Threat: The Fight for Light... Hmmmm has a nice ring to it.

Frank

[OcellNuri]

I'm sorry, I just got the names mixed up. When I said Frank I ment Eric. My bad! So... re-read that post and replace Frank with Eric. I fully understand who's doing what, and that the first battle ship graphic was just temp. I am just impressed with the creativity shown by ERIC (got it right this time) in the graphics.

[eric2002]

No problem on the name mishap!!! -It's a group effort between Frank, Cliesource and myself!
OcellNuri- i love your story line... maybe we could put that in the game???

The 2nd Alpha rocks!! gosh it's looking better and better every day! the game play is much more intense. Yes the "2nd medium sub" (the red one) really adds an extra challenge! -and the animations..cool! Great job Frank!!
I'll try to get you the program icons today. Not sure I'll get to a title screen today, that may have to wait until Monday!
-e

[eric2002]

Silent Threat??
I'll work on a title screen with that name... unless anyone objects!! last call... going once, twice, ...three times...

[eric2002]

...gone!

title screen has been created,

[Kaitou]

Is this OS5 Clie only?

[OcellNuri]

The story and title are up for grabs if you want it. Let me know and I'll beef up the story a little bit before you code it in.

So... should I expect a spot in the credits? ;)

[eric2002]

I love the story, I'd love to include it, and a credit for you is fine with me..

Frank??

[wilsonch_98]

The ship graphics is excellent!!

The subs are now much easier to to hit already. Maybe it is time to implement Difficulty level? Surely having different levels would make us players want to "go up the ladder" :)

Bug report
--------------

I think i have seen a mine coming up to me, and when i try to dodge it by moving to my left, i saw another mind coming up right underneath me. I have try it twice...but i can't reproduce it...

[FrankG]

The title screen looks sharp -- though we'll see if there's a dithering problem with it . I'm thinking of having the title screen show the story line with animated text until the user presses the play button. Likewise it should have a checkbox with a "don't show me this" option that's remembered. The About menu can bring the title screen up with scrolling copyright, credits, and e-mail for contact -- so Ocell, please send me a PM with your name.

Kaitou - re your question, I think it ought to work on any OS level with a HiRes and a jog or 5-way selector. Let me know if you try it and whether it worked on whatever you have.

Regards,
Frank

[joecat]

Playing on a T665 I see no graphics only a blue screen however playing around with the jog wheel I managed to get a hit and 40 some pionts then the game over graphic displayed.


On a T415 I get an error message that says A Hi-res screen is required then it dumps me back to the launcher.

[FrankG]

The new version with new name (Silent Threat) title screen, story line, about screen, fixed bug with mysterious mines showing up, and hardware key support (which it had.)

New URL in honor of it's new name. Since I wasn't logged in when I posted the original URL, there's no changing it.

Click here (http://marriageyes.home.mindspring.com/PalmSW/SilentThreat.prc)

To answer JoeCat, the 415 has a mono screen, right? I guess the requirement for color should be stated. The 665 though is HiRes color so I don't know why that didn't work....

ZZZzzzzzz,
Frank

[joecat]

Ok, I'll abandon mono testing.

With the latest build on a T665 I get the scroling story then
the same blue screen with no graphics. You said there was an about screen, I assume then there is a menu? If it is available by the silkscreen menu button then this is not working either.
Some good news though it dosent crash.

[Unregistered]

WOW Frank!
the game is looking so cool!
again, great job programming this and getting it all working.
it's so close!!

(I am thinking of supplying a new background so the top area where the score appears blends a little better...to hide the black boxes around the scores). I am off the computer til Monday... so it will have to wait until then!

-eric

[Kaitou]

From the posts, I can infer that it works on OS4 clie, but on my NR70V, I get a "Unable to open application header" message, and get bounced into prefs. What is wrong, please?

[rob_squared]

Very nice! I loved sub hunt, now I can love it again.

[rob_squared]

I guess its only os5, but it looks really nice on my NX. The only forceeable issue I see is the jerkiness (sp?) of the ship from left to right. Other than thiat its perfect.

[Spiral]

wow, it is a big prc, it hink it's aroudn 10x bigger than the original.

[rob_squared]

Yeah, but that's probably due to the amount of graphics. I think its worth it.

[s360clie]

it seems the program only works on os5 device...........when i try it on my sj20, it ask me for a hi-res screen, can a os4 clie hi-res grey version be developed soon?

[Unregistered]

Re the question of on what platform does Silent Threat run on or not: I guess I'm not exactly sure. Since I'm just a Palm programmer by hobby, I don't have a ton of handhelds to test on. Likewise I only have a Palm emulator and NX OS5 Clie simulator installed on my desktop. Plus with the bloated PRC size -- yes, because of all of the graphic images that makes Silent Threat such a thrill ride -- I've been trying to limit the types of screens speficialy supported. Plus, eliminating the monochrome images (well, making them blank) helps cut down on the PRC size.

To cut to the chase, it looks like Silent Threat mostly works under OS5 with HiRes screens. I would have expected it to work on Clies with OS4 and color HiRes but maybe it doesn't. Perhaps I'll install a non-NX CLie simulator so I can see what's going on with ST on those models.

Thank you all for trying it out and reporting back. I hope the inconvenience hasn't been too great!

On the happy side: it runs from an MS. :)

Regards to all,
Frank

[joecat]

Let me know if you want look into os4 frank I'll be happy to continue testing.

[Kaitou]

I hope you do decide to pursue OS4 models ;) And I'll be happy to help testing also, I have an NR70V and a T615 avaliable for betaing.

[FrankG]

Okay, with a tad more fanfare, beta 2 of Silent Threat is being made availabe. Included in it is a low res version with cheesey graphics. The option was to convert all of Eric's HiRes images to a low res color form and then build a 700K or more PRC file. -- or maybe build several version PRCs -- or or or......

So since the original idea was a OS5 HiRes sub hunt game with nice pictures, the other res's will get short changed - but it works on those platforms.

Also: cheesey sound effects, high score list, and a registered creator ID so it wouldn't hurt to delete any prior versions before loading this one -- all for 545K.

Click here (http://marriageyes.home.mindspring.com/PalmSW/SilentThreat.prc)

There'll be car door slamming in the streets of Kensington tonight,
Frank

[OcellNuri]

Version plays great. By the way, did anyone spell check my story? I know I didn't... I'm not the bestest speller.

I know you are a hobby programer, but I was wondering if the new sound library put out by Sony would let you add some real sound effects. And is there a way to smooth out the motion of the subs? Just say no if you have to. I'm not trying to be nit-picky. Much more has come out of this than I ever imagined, and I know this isn't a commercial game. Just trying to add my input. :D

[Unregistered]

great job on the programming Frank! Thanks to everyone for their input and help on this!!

as far as sounds, if you want to play with sound efx...I have tons (yes tons) of copyright free sounds to use that I could pass along to you Frank. Just let me know?

[Unregistered]

this is me eric... I am writing in from a computer that I am not registered on...hence the "unregistered" post above!