[Post-GGJ] Super Massive Crate Dash

creative630

Here is our entry to the Global Game Jam:
http://globalgamejam.org/2015/games/super-massive-crate-dash

Super Massive Crate Dash is a massive multi-player local single button infinite runner game. In SMCD, people can join on the fly by pressing a button (any keyboard button). Players are tasked to avoid obstacles, pick up power-ups, and avoid falling behind the camera. Dead players can still play by playing as crate obstacles, which can impede existing players.

Here are some links:
Windows - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29499659/SuperMassiveCrateDash - Windows.zip
Web - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29499659/SuperMassiveCrateDash - Web/SuperMassiveCrateDash - Web.html
Linux - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29499659/SuperMassiveCrateDash - Linux.zip
Mac - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29499659/SuperMassiveCrateDash - Mac.zip

* the links struck out are older builds, I will update when new builds are uploaded

We took part at the Cape Town jam site.
People involved:
@Mexicanopiumdog- Sound design and music
@Pomb - Art and visual effects
@creative630 - Programming
@gryphon - Programming
@BestNickname - Programming

Zaphire

This game is BRILLIANT!

I would suggest having a distance indicator added tho but other than that the game feels really polished and addictive

Pomb

@Mexicanopiumdog hit the nail on the head with his work he did on the game, the music fits the feel of the game so damn well. Good job peeps, I had a great time this weekend.

@creative630 the web build settings mip down the textures to low quality.

roguecode

This is crazy good. Everything seem surprisingly polished. The only real issue I see is some vertical lines flickering - I assume it is the background tiling or something but was more focused on not dying.

n1c

I had a chance to play this at the jam and it's super fun. Specially when there's like 8 people crowded around a single keyboard.

Tuism

Super cool! Super polished, the way the control scheme works is genius level stuff, really really cool! :D

Some sprites seemed broken or something, but it hardly matters as everything is communicated pretty well. Would love to play it multiplayer :)

Probably had nothing to do with the theme, though :P

Mexicanopiumdog

@Tuism This may have (or not) been inspired by your Ludum Dare entry...:D 2015 - Year of the Crate?

Mexicanopiumdog

Heres the link to the theme choon for those who want to:
https://soundcloud.com/mexicanopiumdog/ggj-2015-super-massive-crate-dash-theme-choon

Merrik

:D please make a build for quadra-butt on Wednesday!!
Also, I initially read it as Super Massive Date Dash

vintar

Nice job guys. It`s a lot of fun. I guess it`s even more fun when "there's like 8 people crowded around a single keyboard. " :)

creative630

@Zaphire Thanks that's a good suggestion!

@Pomb thanks, I just rebuilt the game without mip-maps. The web link should update in 30min or so (slow internet at home)

@Tuism The theme was quite a stretch yeah :P The idea was that loads of people would get knocked out early and not know what they could do, then they would see the crate of their colour and realise they could knock living players out.

@roguecode I am still trying to figure out what is going wrong with the tiling. Hmmmm

@Merrik It should work as is already, but yes we will.

Thanks everyone! We really had fun making it.

creative630

Mac and Linux builds are up too.

Linux - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29499659/SuperMassiveCrateDash - Linux.zip
Mac - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29499659/SuperMassiveCrateDash - Mac.zip

Zaphire

@creative630 LOL I didn't even know about the colored boxes. I always saw them when I died with 1 of the 2 players I controlled and thought shit I almost got to a different type of obstacle (which will make it more interesting) . At first I thought it didn't have much to do with theme but now I think it really fits if you think about what should I do now that I died :D

BenJets

I second @Merrik's request!

Rad work on every level guys!

Boysano

A good game,
would like to see what happens when loads log in at same time.

Co-Op runner, sounds like a great idea to try out

creative630

@Zaphire I think we need to make it more obvious!

Tuism

Oh one request is to make powerups more obvious, maybe something that shows on the player, because I have almost no idea what I'm picking up or what effects I have to "rely on", like running into rocks or superjump or whatever. I'm assuming they have a duration?

Very very very cool :)

creative630

@Tuism You hit a glaring issue there. So the there are four powerups at the moment: Double jump, boost jump, jump glide (like double jump but you glide on the second jump), and rock smash. All the jumps last until you replace it with another power up. The rock smash lasts for the first rock only.

Edit: also they all give a temporary speed boost

gryphon

Don't think I could've asked for a better first game jam. On the last day I went to the bathroom and came back to find about 10 people playing our game and having a great laugh. It was great.

creative630

So we have been steadily working on the game in our spare time. We are going to be submitting the game to AMAZE berlin at 1am (in about 10hrs), so if anyone out there could play test for us today that would be amazing! Playtesting in general would be awesome too!

New web build:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29499659/SuperMassiveCrateDash%20-%20Web/SuperMassiveCrateDash%20-%20Web.html

creative630

The new build should support controllers too!

Pomb

So the game is really about bunny hopping now, who knew jumping on a bunnies head would be so fun! :D
also classic pot smashing like in Zelda :D even without the loot reward, it's rewarding.

Squidcor

The new version is really polished and feels good. Need to test it with a bunch more people though.

creative630

@Squidcor Thanks very much :)
The native Linux/Windows/Mac builds are now up too.
Linux:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29499659/SuperMassiveCrateDash%20-%20Linux.zip
Mac:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29499659/SuperMassiveCrateDash%20-%20Mac.zip
Windows:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29499659/SuperMassiveCrateDash%20-%20Windows.zip

Zaphire

At first I thought you guys broke the game by completely changing it from what it was. Then I played again and noticed the stages keep on changing into a completely different playstyle.

I have to say that this is a REALLY motivating piece of work in terms of how a simple game can become SO MUCH better once it is polished. It felt natural to get used to the controls of the game no matter which type of scene it was. The only thing that might still be a little bit unclear is what a powerup does but other than that I give this game a 10/10 for fun especially with an entire office/friends that can play with you on the same pc.

creative630

@Zaphire Thanks very much for the kind words :)
I think we will definitely have to work on indicating how the individual powerups work, as you're right, it is not obvious at the moment. I think we might have to make little animated icons or text above the powerup sign. Or if we have a choosing level system, indicate what the main level mechanic and powerups are.

I definitley think we need to have a way for players to see that there a different levels with different mechanics. Hopefully that will prevent a negative bias from starting the game and seeing only one mechanic before levaing the game (especially if the player dislikes a particularly hard mechanic on the first run!).

Zaphire

@creative630 In your first screenshot in the original post I think it says Global Game Jam 2815 and I am not sure if you noticed it yet but I am sure it is supposed to say "GlobalGameJam 2015" ?

EDIT: I looked closely and it looks like the font makes the 0 look like an 8

creative630

Thanks, yes I think its just the font. The new build uses custom fonts built by @pomb, so hopefully we won't have that problem anylonger :) I'll put up some new screenshots soon!

Tuism

Oh wow, I actually thought that was just something you guys did, like you're from the super future or something. I would personally keep it 2815 :)

SebastianS

Good job! I'm really impressed by your game. I especially love your take on the flappy bird theme. Keep up the good work.

PowerCat

Love the game, very fun! Was playing for awhile, especially like the fact that ever level has something different - I noticed on some landings that the little guy stand in the Jumping position and just seemed to slide along the floor.

P.S
Please will people stop saying Flappy Bird as soon as they see a runner, it's very disheartening to hear that no one can come up with a creative new approach with out it being refereed to as Flappy Bird.

Mexicanopiumdog

Flappy Bird.Flappy Bird.Flappy Bird.Flappy Bird.Flappy Bird.Flappy Bird

creative630

@PowerCat Thanks, that's a bug with the animations that I am trying to figure out!

@Mexicanopiumdog Darn troll. Ged-ouda-heeer!

BestNickname

@Mexicanopiumdog Yea! the actual name is Flappy Critter Smashers. Get it right please.

PowerCat

@creative630 What software are you using to create the game?

creative630

We are building the game in the free version of Unity3D in C#. Not sure about all the software @Pomb and @Mexicanopiumdog use to make our assets. I think mostly Photoshop for art and Cubase for sound. They can correct me if I'm wrong.

Pomb

I be using photoshop, but I'm seriously considering buying Pro Motion for when I pixel. I found it after following the Shovel Knight game.

Mexicanopiumdog

I use Cubase 7.5 for all audio stuff. Have ventured into Ableton for some sound design but Cubase works best for me..

oomjan

@creative630 Would you mind sharing how you implemented the jump in Unity.

I'm in the process of learning unity and played around with adding force to my rigidbody for jumps. But my jumps seem very "floaty". I've tried playing around with the gravity and mass, but can't get a nice looking/playing jump. Any tips welcome :)

thanks

creative630

@oomjan Sure!
So I am modifying the velocity directly when I jump, with the gravity scale set to about 8x the norm (I do this in the inspector) and mass still at 1. That should get rid of your floaty feeling.
A very simple version:

Vector3 vel = gameObject.rigidbody2D.velocity;
float jumpVel = 1000.0f;
vel.y += jumpVel * Time.deltaTime;
gameObject.rigidbody2D.velocity = vel;

You'll just need to add a delay/timer/raycast to the code above make sure you don't add the jump vel on every frame.
I raycast down to see if the player is on the floor (a total of three raycasts; left, middle and right points of the sprite). This is a convenience function for raycasting that I use:

public bool rayCastFromPlayer(Vector2 offset, Vector2 dir, float rayLength)
{
Vector2 position = (Vector2)playerSprite.bounds.center;
Debug.DrawRay(position, dir * rayLength, Color.red);
RaycastHit2D hit = Physics2D.Raycast(position, dir, rayLength, ~mask.value);
if (hit.collider != null)
{
return true;
}
return false;
}

edit: if you're confused about the mask variable in the raycast, that is set to the player tag and the "~" just inverts it. So the raycast hits anything but another player.

creative630

Thanks for the meetup feedback everyone!

In the spirit of open development, here is a short list of feedback we recieved during/after the meetup:

• Add ghost of players that float around when a player is dead. The players ghost zaps into a crate to show that the crate is controlled by a player!
  
• Have text pop-ups to give hints about the level or powerups. Eg. when the level starts flash text saying "FLY!"
  
• Sound was a bit to jarring and cluttered - more sounds + pitch shifting. Each player has individual sounds + pitches.
  
• Player portrait pannels. Help players to see what colour they are and if they have powerups.
  
• More player skins with different heights to add more distinguished in addition to colours.
  
• Networking.... we can start with Unity's basic networking.
  
• Simple AI? For single player.
  
• Simple chat interface - emoticons only.
  
• Transparent player when adding new player. Just the join chargin up sound is confusing.
  
• Powerups that mess with other players
  
• Game over victory dance+celebration sound+"Player x Wins" + awards for each sub goal, num crates kills, powerups, etc.
  
• idea for a one button level select menu; press + release goes to next menu button in list, press + hold chooses the button (the menu button is like a bar getting filled up when a button is held)
  

Please feel free to add any feedback we may have recieved and forgotten about.
Not sure if we can or will add all this feedback, but much appreciated either way!