Game Prototype : "Eggs"

[[SAS]Solid Snake]

Every now and then I take a day off from work and make a prototype from one of my notebooks that seem to continually be growing in terms of game ideas. It's a nice change from working on our main projects, so it's nice to be able to do a prototype within a day.

So the prototype "Eggs" comes from one of my high school physics memories where you had to make some sort of contraption to safely deliver an egg from one point to another. Occasionally this may mean a drop from a certain height, or you had to build some sort of cart/boat or something. So the idea was to translate this task into a game.

I only really managed to get the 'vehicle' design aspect done and well, I don't think it'd make for a fun game. Sure you could make a vehicle, but majority of the times, the physics isn't 'fun' enough to carry the game by itself. With no other tasks than to just deliver a theoretical egg (I didn't even include that as I could start to see that it was boring). I think the major problem is, is that you'd toy with it for a few minutes, get bored and switch to something else.

But you know I'm pretty happy with the prototype, things definitely worked in the end, but it's a shame the game idea itself didn't quite pan out.

Oh, this software is by no means stable or anything like that. I wrote it in less than 12 hours. It doesn't leak memory as I was debugging it, but if it crashes it may leak a few bytes (as the application doesn't get cleaned up). Mainly tested on Windows XP, so Vista users beware!

http://www.digitalconfectioners.com/prototypes/Eggs030908.png

Fear my cow boy hat car!

- Play button starts the simulation
- Stop button stops the simulation
- Eject button deletes all the vehicle parts
- To draw the body, select the polygon tool and just click and drag to form the shape. When the mouse button is released, that it your final shape
- To draw the wheels, select the circle tool and click and drag to set the wheel. When the mouse button is released, that is your final wheel
- Only the first wheel is motor powered
- A to drive left [Applies torque to the wheels]
- D to drive right [Applies inverse torque to the wheels]

http://www.digitalconfectioners.com/prototypes/Eggs.zip

Well have fun!

[toniglandyl]

nice, but I'd like to have more than 1 object and more space :3

[Sine Deviance]

Game fails to start. It says the configuration is incorrect. Screenshot link doesn't work either.

So uh... thanks for nothing ;)

[Fearless]

cant get it to drive :(

[[SAS]Solid Snake]

Game fails to start. It says the configuration is incorrect. Screenshot link doesn't work either.You may need the VS2005 redistributables, I should have packaged it. Also fixed the screenshot sorry.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=32BC1BEE-A3F9-4C13-9C99-220B62A191EE&displaylang=en

nice, but I'd like to have more than 1 object and more space :3Yeah, was just a game prototype.

cant get it to driveThat was one of the problems I found too. The main problem was that the weights would get foobared unless you made a vehicle of a particular size. Otherwise the vehicle would be too heavy, or too light or whatever.

Thanks for trying it out :D

[Syri]

it's certainly an interesting concept, even if it doesn't have much gameplay in itself, i can see a few things in there that could certainly be used in developing future projects.
out of interest, what was it written in?

[Azura]

The redistributables say Visual C++.

P.S: Needs more bacon ;) .

[Matfei]

Looks very very very slightly like Phun, what with the 2d view and the wheels with motors on it.

Nice concept though.

[rex]

I made awesome wheelies in my first running car. And then I made the largest limousine ever that only could make a burnout. And my latest drag racer got stuck.

[[SAS]Solid Snake]

it's certainly an interesting concept, even if it doesn't have much gameplay in itself, i can see a few things in there that could certainly be used in developing future projects.
out of interest, what was it written in?Yeah, it was real shame, as it was one of those ideas in my notebook that I thought would be fun. I was thinking, wow wouldn't it be cool to make my own vehicle and drive it around? It's pretty much staying as a prototype as I don't think it'd be a fun game in itself since it was more fun to try to make a weird contraption than a vehicle ... which eventually evolves into something like a general weird physics toy sort of thing. It was written in C++ along with wxWidgets, Box2D and OpenGL.

P.S: Needs more baconAye, as a prototype I was looking for something specific. Didn't find it, which was a shame.

Looks very very very slightly like Phun, what with the 2d view and the wheels with motors on it. Nice concept though.Thanks, I had a quick search for Phun, and yes it does seem very similar. I guess I wanted to stray away from a generic sandboxy environment, but I found out that it was more fun being sand boxy. But that doesn't amount for much of a 'game' per say.

I made awesome wheelies in my first running car. And then I made the largest limousine ever that only could make a burnout. And my latest drag racer got stuck.Thanks for trying it out :)

[Matfei]

Sandboxes are my favourite.

[Kantham]

Hi.

I just tried it. No matter what shape I came up with, it ever hardly went over 1 obstacle like if it lacked torque like a mofo. Otherwise I didn't ran into any errors or crash.

Edit: Wow, I feel ashamed. You actually apply torque with the keyboard. :doh:
Ok I got another go, it really does lack torque power when stopped. I need to reset the car every time.

[Matfei]

*hands Kantham a dunce hat*

Now go sit in the corner.

[Kantham]

Is this a Aussie tradition or something?

[Vitamin-Carrot]

I love stuff like this ...

Hey snake have you had a go at Phun yet?

[[SAS]Solid Snake]

I had a look at the videos and so forth and it looks very cool.

[rex]

Np, but it did crash one time when I made a very elaborate open sportscar. I think it can't handle too complex chassis designs.

[kiff]

pretty cool there SS. One suggestion: add a way to set the engine torque. It stalls out in local minimas too easy

[theabyss]

Pretty neat.
I tried several designs.
Just can´t get it to drive. :(

oh btw...:lol:

[[SAS]Solid Snake]

Np, but it did crash one time when I made a very elaborate open sportscar. I think it can't handle too complex chassis designs.Yeah, not surprised at that at all. I tried my best to handle most designs, but if they're is just too much overlap, or too much small tiny details it may crash. Sorry about that.

One suggestion: add a way to set the engine torque. It stalls out in local minimas too easyWell, it's a prototype, and I didn't quite get the 'fun' I wanted out of it so it'll be scrapped.