Add-A-Thing: Alien Evolution - comments and discussion

Game Engine Game Engine Support and Discussion
1

One thing I noticed at the Add-A-Thing: Alien Evolution is the lack of ability to discuss the current content or leave comments.

I think it would be nice to have that at each single version, but this is not really a practical way. So we can use this thread to post our thoughts.

As we should not discuss the alien to death - if you have an idea contribute it.
Discuss if you need help [time is ticking -> better ask before you start].
You post if you have questions on a specific implementation. E.g. you want to know how evil monkey works.
Post any thing that does not belong to the rules thread (ideas on rules belong there).

You contributed already? share your experience. What made it fun, what looks strange…

2

File Size
Just now we have a problem with the hosting. As nobody want to loose the last contribution it appears as show stopper.

I will check (With AlienEvolutionAdrianV2.blend) what is eating file size. Maybe there is an simple fix.

Textures:
textures/Reflection2.png is quite large (>1MB). It has no alpha-channel. As jpg it should be much smaller.

with 90% quality I get 225KB which is a good size.

LavaTextureDiffuse.jpg and LavaTextureNormal.jpg are already jpeg, but still quite large … the quality is 100%.

With reducing the quality to 90% I can reduce the file size from 666Kb -> 255KB and 516KB->178KB. The visual quality should not change much as the pattern is fractal already. You might not even notice an higher compression.

There is more potential:
rockface1.png is packed into the blend making it larger than necessary.
I unpacked it into a file. The size is 667KB -> converted to jpeg (90%) -> 298KB. It might be worth to use an even lower quality.

This way I got AlienEvolutionAdrian1.zip reduced from >4MB to ~1.5MB

3

Upload the fix then.

4

Thx, I took it over.

There is a problem with the third alien. I guess some actuators are missing, or the logic is not at the right place.


--------------------------------------------------
Python script error - object 'LittleRedAlien.hitBox.002', controller 'Python':
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "MoveFilter.001", line 104, in <module>
  File "MoveFilter.001", line 11, in main
KeyError: 'requested item "Walk" does not exist'

Unfortunately I do not know what should happen. Therefore I could not implement a quick fix.

5

I would like the second red alien to only walk when he has not stopped moving.I tried to do this with logic bricks but it did not work.Any help with this would be appreciated.

6

This is an awesome concept!
Can noobs like me add/replace-a-thing? I probably will break a lot of stuff.

7

Sure no problem.

It would be nice if it still works when you publish it. Otherwise the next one might decide to skip your file.

8

Cool Thx! Wouldn’t mind someone skipping the file, probably learn a thing or two.

9

Did you read post five?

10

I think it is starting to catch on pretty well.I hope it keeps the momentum going.There is a videogame that uses this concept.I forgot thename of it.

11

Yes, but I haven’t analyzed the file yet :frowning:

12

I contributed and like seeing how it is coming together.Mainly people adding new things.

13

What is the image size restriction? I would love to see some good quality graphics on this game, but not sure how much blender can handle.

14

There is no image size restriction. You just need to make sure you can post the zip. If it is too large you can’t upload.

This light look like it avoids “good quality graphics” but wasting space is not required for good graphics. Additionally you have just one hour (unless you prepare things beforehand).

15

There is no image size restriction. You just need to make sure you can post the zip. If it is too large you can’t upload.

This light look like it avoids “good quality graphics” but wasting space is not required for good graphics. Additionally you have just one hour (unless you prepare things beforehand).

16

Nice evolution so far.

Some tings I think we really need soon:

User manual
An help screen showing instructions.
this is what I have so far (from posts):

<w> to move forwards,
<a> to rotate clockwise,
<d> to rotate counter clockwise,
<space> to jump

<g> to grab box and then
<r> to release box

center of the green fence on the elevator:
<up arrow> to go up and
<down arrow> to go down
Move in front of black rectangle
<g> to grab elevator and
<r> to release elevator

From try out (or I just missed the entry):
<mouse move> orbit the camera
<mouse left key> fire fireball

if someone want to add an help-screen please feel free.

Edit:
these are the sensors that listen to the keyboard (owning object in parenthesis):


               Keyboard.001(box): RKEY
          Keyboard.001(box2.001): RKEY
          Keyboard.001(box2.002): RKEY
                  Keyboard(box1): GKEY
                   D(Controller): DKEY
                  Keyboard(box2): GKEY
              Keyboard.001(box2): RKEY
               Space(Controller): SPACEKEY
              Keyboard.001(box1): RKEY
              Keyboard(elevator): UPARROWKEY
              Keyboard(box2.001): GKEY
          Keyboard.001(elevator): DOWNARROWKEY
              Keyboard(box2.002): GKEY
                   W(Controller): WKEY
                CTRL(Controller): LEFTCTRLKEY
                   A(Controller): AKEY
          Keyboard.002(elevator): GKEY
             Esc(display camera): ENDKEY
          Keyboard.003(elevator): RKEY
                   S(Controller): SKEY
                   Keyboard(box): GKEY
17

Does that mean we get to work on it before we start our turn, or do we have to make a post saying were’re doing it first?

18

First you tell you want to change (the announcement message). This is just to get a place in the queue. Typically you will be the first one immediately.

When it is your turn you announce it with your post. This A) starts your time and B) ensures you have have access to the latest version and you can start editing.

I know this does not answer your question.

So, yes, you can grab an older version (or the latest you can find). You can analyze it. You can plan what you want to change. You even can start modifying it.

But … if someone comes in-between, your latest version will his one. That might make it harder for your to transfer your changes to the other file. If you know what you are doing this might be easy for you. So yes, you can prepare your changes.

19

Could someone prevent the camera from going through the walls of the house?

20

I was thinking about the same thing. But I do not have a ready-to-use solution yet.