Temple Of Blocs!

A place to show off your latest screenshots and for people to comment on them. Only start a new thread here if you have some nice images to show off!
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megizin
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Temple Of Blocs!

Post by megizin »

[EDIT: 7 Jan 2006]
Temple Of Blocs is released anew! I have put in a lot of changes into this game so now I think the previous release counts as a beta. You can all try it for free (see the demo link). Please let me know what you think.

Again, for the demo go to
http://www.mangokiwi.com/mGames/puzzleg ... _setup.exe

For the game's website go to:
http://www.mangokiwi.com/games/temple-of-blocs.html

I also added a User-friendly graphics choosing system (see the options menu) which I will wiki very soon (I promise!)

Some new screenshots:
Click here to enlarge
Image

Click here to enlarge
Image

More Screens

[/EDIT]
Hello!

Temple of Blocs is what I have been working on and it is at a stage where I feel I can show it off to everyone! It is my second game, and my first with Ogre. Let me know what you think (of the game and/or of my site!)

For the full 411 (and a playable demo) go to:
http://www.mangokiwi.com/games/temple-of-blocs.html

For just the demo, click below:
http://www.mangokiwi.com/mGames/puzzleg ... _setup.exe

btw, Ogre is a fantastic engine and I look forward to helping it grow! Thanks everyone who has made this product and this community so wonderful! (See the 'Credits' in the game for a little surprise!)
Last edited by megizin on Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:52 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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skullfire
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Post by skullfire »

That looks sweet! I'm gonna download it later cuz im on 56k right now. Great styling, gotta check this out!
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Olex
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Post by Olex »

Looks good, man.

But since you are selling your game, I think you need some more polishing. Here are the things I felt needed to improve the game:

1. when camera is up close it moves too much while following the blocks, gets rather annoying

2. sometimes camera is really far, can I as a player adjust the distance to my liking, like say I press pause, and then adjust the distance by clicking up or down?

3. accelerate command should not follow through to the next wall, that is not intuitive, even it maybe corrent according to the board, just make the player hit down again on each wall

4. i felt that blocks came to rest too quickly when touching another block. I'd say lke 50% more quickly than speed of fall of blocks. That was annoying.

5. Music was good, everything's cool here

6. I felt like the scenery could have much more detail, it looked a bot too simple, and you should be able to increase without letting performance go don, since you so few objects

7. Paticle effects? I want to see those lines dissappear, I've never gotten to see that, b/c the game would switch to the next wall. How about some cool explosions? Maybe particles when gliding against the edge of the wall? etc.

8. Your game is most likely targeting simple gamers. If so, then you need to turn off the choice of OpenGL/DirectX (what if someone has no idea what they are?), and set it to run in windowed mode by default, so that users can pause and switch to some other task they are up to.

I would also consider adding more game modes. Maybe choosing the wall to drop the block? You need to have several ones.

Otherwise, it is a good start. Good job. :o

I also suggest reading article on casial gaming.
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Jens_K
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Post by Jens_K »

This is a very cool and refreshing attempt at a tetris clone!
I like it a lot, just played the demo and it's a lot of fun.
Although these type of games are not very appealing to me.
But I will certainly recommend it to my mother, sister and girlfriend. They are absolutely into tetris and casuals.
Being your target group, they don't mind the lack of detail at all.
BTW. nice move the palm is blended out when infront of the camera.
Nothing distracts from gameplay.
4. i felt that blocks came to rest too quickly when touching another block. I'd say lke 50% more quickly than speed of fall of blocks. That was annoying.
me too.
2. sometimes camera is really far
i second on this one as well.

nice game.
I'll post feedback from the ladies later.
best regards
Jens.
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megizin
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Post by megizin »

Thanks for all of the input! I will add the functionality to change the camera distance, stop the acceleration from continuing to the next wall, and I will add a skybox as well (although these updates may be a short while since I am pushing my 4e4 entry currently :) ). I had a couple questions:
i felt that blocks came to rest too quickly when touching another block. I'd say lke 50% more quickly than speed of fall of blocks. That was annoying.
Two of you found this but I am not sure what you mean? The blocks fall slower when next to another bloc? Or when about to die?
particle effects?
Heh, I was thinking about these, but then the sys reqs go up so a lot of older hardware can't even use it in openGL (I have a pc that qualifies as old hardware which I tested on). For a tetris game, I was going for simple. Should I ignore the req and push in particle stuff?
I would also consider adding more game modes. Maybe choosing the wall to drop the block?
Again, not sure what you mean. Blocs drop from random walls?

I appreciate all of the input so far! Thanks! I'll check back later.
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Olex
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Post by Olex »

megizin wrote:Two of you found this but I am not sure what you mean? The blocks fall slower when next to another bloc? Or when about to die?
When about to die.
Should I ignore the req and push in particle stuff?
It is up to you, I was simply making a suggestion. You can also make particle effects optional. For example you could detect system capabilities at start up, and hide or show particles.
Again, not sure what you mean. Blocs drop from random walls?
Could be anything, really. Just some variety. You probably want to experiment with that.
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Jens_K
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Post by Jens_K »

Hi, my mother tried the demo and she liked it.
She enjoyed the possiblity of playing a row of tetris tables at the same time. It's a very cool and challenging feature.
I'll PM you some more detailed feedback.
bye
Jens.
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megizin
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Post by megizin »

[see EDIT in first post: 7 Jan 2006]

New screenshots! New demo out with new features! Let me know what you think!

http://templeofblocs.mangokiwi.com
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muppet
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Post by muppet »

Nice! Downloading now......
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megizin
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Post by megizin »

For those interested, today is the last day for the 25% off mangokiwi.com is offering on Temple Of Blocs. (Offer expires Feb 23rd at 11:59:59 CST)

If you are considering buying but not sure, buy it now. Perchance you are unhappy with our game, let us know and we will refund you your money!

For details on the game and coupon, go to http://templeofblocs.mangokiwi.com

Thanks!
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madmax
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Post by madmax »

2megizin:
Your game is looking cool! Well done! :)
Sad i can't download it cause i have a very slow connection, but the screens speak for itself. :wink:
P.S. I've noticed what you've said about the wiki tutorial on creating game video options menu, i've thought about the same menu in my game just few days ago, so i'm very interested in such a tutorial! :D
"It's a dangerous business going out your front door".
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megizin
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Post by megizin »

Thanks! I have some code up for that creating a game video options menu (the same system that can be seen and tried from the Temple Of Blocs menu!) on the wiki at:

http://www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/Vi ... ng_Manager

I am writing a step by step that will explain the code and how to use it in a game that isn't mine. I should have this up by middle March, so look forward to it! (And look forward to editing it because I am sure it is going to still be chock full of tutorial first run stupidisms).

megizin
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Post by Bingo »

Just saw this, and will download when I get home. I like interesting Tetris clones, so this definately looks good.

One thing; I went to the site and noticed there was a screenshot with "The Story So Far.." and a brief synopsis. Does a game like this really need a plot and storyline?

Other than that inconsequential observation, looks refreshingly different :)
A ship, atop a mountain, is not in itself, proof of a flood. It means someone thought there was going to be a flood.
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madmax
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Post by madmax »

2megizin:
WOW! :shock: It's right what i was dreaming of! Very good job! Looking forward to this! :D
P.S. The registry keys saving for Windows is awesome! :P
"It's a dangerous business going out your front door".
J. R R. Tolkien

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