[Robot]

You are the last survivor of a mutant/zombie outbreak in the City.
The 1,000s of inhabitants are now hell-bent on ripping out your
spine and eating your brains. Armed with a trusty machine gun,
explore the city to find more supplies, achieve a high score,
and, ultimately, clear the infestation completely.

I use some standard Megazeux stuff, but change certain sprites and built a decent sized chunk of a city with pseudo-realistic floorplans.

Features:
-Firebmob alleys to funnel zombies through the city
-Survive, if you ****ing can
-Retro design, even for Megazeux
-1000s of zombies and mutants
-Three dungeon levels to explore and conquer
-CURRENT development (2011) and periodic updates for a while
-Upcoming chiptune OST by mrjordak
-Power-ups and whatnot

Anyway, I'd really like it if you guys could check it out and give me some feedback, especially since you guys know Megazeux better than anyone. I've received a lot of positive feedback via my website and a few other forums, and I think Beta 3.0 is good enough for dmzx.

DOWNLOAD MUTANT WARZONE BETA 3.0




More screenshots and hi-res wallpaper on my website. 8-Bit City will have the most current info at any given time on this or other projects.

ENJOY!

This is my first Megazeux game, though I've made "games" in it before. I made a ZZT game a whole ago. Recently I released STAR QUEST, using OHRRPGCE, with graphics arguably more primitive than ZZT. It's different, but similar. I've designed and released primitive ASCII games, and I'm dedicated to keeping ancient PC technology alive through video games.

[smilymzx]

Great try, But some advice:

1. learn more about Good programming and level design, We at DMZX mostly base games off ''Quality'',
Note - the screenshots look like something of a test game or a game from the Early AOL days of MZX

2. Try remakeing your game to something using sprites and a few custom made engines, There is stuff for sprites on MZX Wiki!

3. Robots are OK for scripts, such as character switching and editing, palette edits, text, selections, shops and item and of course, spiffy customised engines

4. Too many more possibilities to list,

This is just how we positively tell you what's wrong with the game, Although it's not a finished one: There is a fine line between good games and joke/bad games

And that, is my two cents!

Good luck and Happy Hunting

[Robot]

The entire reason I chose megazeux was because I could make a game that looked and felt like something way out of the past. If I want to program a game, I'd be more inclined to use Game Maker or something. Not even slightly interested in putting in sprites, etc. I want to see what I can do with little.

If you are looking for Megazeux innovation look elsewhere. If looking for a Zombie game that requires firebombing, download. Maybe this is a Megazeux game for people who don't play Megazeux games.

Thanks for the input.

It's supposed to be kitsch nostalgia.

This post has been edited by Robot: 10 February 2011 - 08:02 AM

[Lachesis]

We just had a thread about why Game Maker is a completely horrible thing, but suit yourself

I'll check this out when I have a chance.

[Baby Bonnie Hood]

If it's so... not so good, then why is the latest Xeno Fighters using it?

[Lachesis]

Because the designer(s) have no regard for stability or cross-platform compatibility I guess

[KKairos]

props for being one of those people that just has their first post ever be like "HEY GUYS HAVE A GAME"

i'll check out said game shortly.

[Robot]

I hope you like it when you check it out. Anyway, I think smileymzx makes some good points, despite basically telling me to gtfo and learn 2 program. I'm not sure if this game really needs too much more, but some robots would definitely help. Some ideas I had but didn't know how to implement:

-Throwing bombs. If the bomb would fly forward 5-6 squares and explode when it hit something, I wouldn't need to use the firebombs in the game. Bombs could just be grenades and the game would become much more frantic, bombs would be useful in the quantities now provided, and zombies could be killed faster if you do it right.
-Shops, like in the Sword Engine

Is there a good guide or resource for learning about Megazeux robots and modding and whatnot? Mutant Warzone will get some updates, but eventually I'd like to make other, more ambitious projects in Megazeux and try to push the program to an extreme.

[Risu2112]

Robot, on 10 February 2011 - 01:30 PM, said:

I hope you like it when you check it out. Anyway, I think smileymzx makes some good points, despite basically telling me to gtfo and learn 2 program. I'm not sure if this game really needs too much more, but some robots would definitely help. Some ideas I had but didn't know how to implement:

-Throwing bombs. If the bomb would fly forward 5-6 squares and explode when it hit something, I wouldn't need to use the firebombs in the game. Bombs could just be grenades and the game would become much more frantic, bombs would be useful in the quantities now provided, and zombies could be killed faster if you do it right.
-Shops, like in the Sword Engine

Is there a good guide or resource for learning about Megazeux robots and modding and whatnot? Mutant Warzone will get some updates, but eventually I'd like to make other, more ambitious projects in Megazeux and try to push the program to an extreme.

Your defensive stance against Smilymzx is unwarranted.

A tremendous amount of information can be obtained from the online help document here: http://www.digitalmzx.com/mzxhelp.php/
specifically on robotic:
http://www.digitalmz...OBOTICR.HLP#087

This can also be found inside the editor, F1 I think?


As for throwing bombs, you certainly could implement something like that easily.

information you probably want:
The direction the player is facing, This counter is provided for you automatically "PLAYERFACEDIR" 1,2,3,4 = north,south,east,west
location of the player: these are also built in for you "PLAYERX" "PLAYERY"

Here is a VERY CRUDE example that should get you on the right track. It might be plagued with syntax errors because I've done it from memory.

Limitations of this code:
* it only throws bombs north! you would need to duplicate and slightly modify the logic for each direction.
* it greedily consumes the overlay
* it will behave strangely when a bomb attempts to travel off screen
* it only lets you have one bomb in the air at a time

All of those limitations can be overcome by writing more intelligent code, this example is really only to provide you with some basic ideas.


without comments:

Quote

OVERLAY ON
set "bombRange" 5
set "bombChar" 64

:"myLoop"
wait 1
if "HIBOMBS" < 1 "myLoop"
if deletepressed "ThrowBomb&PLAYERFACEDIR&"
goto "myLoop"


:"ThrowBomb1"
TAKE 1 "HIBOMBS"
set "bombX" "PLAYERX"
set "bombY" "PLAYERY"

loop start
put c07 ' ' OVERLAY "bombX "BombY"

if c?? customblock p?? "bombX" "('bombY'-1)" "ExplodeNow"
if c?? solid p?? "bombX" "('bombY'-1)" "ExplodeNow"
if c?? robot p?? "bombX" "('bombY'-1)" "ExplodeNow"

set BombY ('BombY'-1)
put c07 "bombChar" OVERLAY "bombX "BombY"
wait 1
loop for "('bombRange'-1)"
goto "ExplodeNow"


:ExplodeNow
put c07 ' ' OVERLAY "bombX "BombY"
put c?? EXPLOSION P?? "bombX" "bombY"
goto "myLoop"

With verbose comments: (difficult to read, use this for general explanation)

Quote

OVERLAY ON

. "how far you want the bomb to travel from the player"
set "bombRange" 5

. "what # character should correspond to the bomb? (pick your own, I think 64 is an '@' sign)"
set "bombChar" 64

:"myLoop"
wait 1
if "HIBOMBS" < 1 "myLoop"
.check if delete is pressed
if deletepressed "ThrowBomb&PLAYERFACEDIR&"


goto "myLoop"


:"ThrowBomb1"
TAKE 1 "HIBOMBS"
. "initialize the coordinates of the bomb"
set "bombX" "PLAYERX"
set "bombY" "PLAYERY"

loop start

. "this line clears the overlay at location bombX bombY"
put c07 ' ' OVERLAY "bombX "BombY"

. "duplicate this line to test for as many "things" as you want to be collidable with"
if c?? customblock p?? "bombX" "('bombY'-1)" "ExplodeNow"
if c?? solid p?? "bombX" "('bombY'-1)" "ExplodeNow"
if c?? robot p?? "bombX" "('bombY'-1)" "ExplodeNow"

. "move the bomb coordinates 1 space north, because this section is for bombs thrown to the north"
set BombY ('BombY'-1)

. "this line DRAWS the bomb in the overlay"
put c07 "bombChar" OVERLAY "bombX "BombY"

. "end the cycle for each iteration! otherwise the bomb will move many spaces each cycle."
wait 1
loop "('bombRange'-1)"

. "after bombRange has been exceeded, time to explode!"
goto "ExplodeNow"


:ExplodeNow
. "clear the overlay again because this code is terrible"
put c07 ' ' OVERLAY "bombX "BombY"

. "create explosion at the desired location! p?? needs to be changed to something to control the size of the explosion, I forget what exactly."
put c?? EXPLOSION P?? "bombX" "bombY"

. "return to the starting loop to prepare for the next bomb!"
goto "myLoop"

[Baby Bonnie Hood]

Hey, you know what other excellent game was made with Game Maker? Seiklus.

[Hoof]

correction:

"playerfacedir" is 0, 1, 2, 3 for North, South, East, West respectively.

[Risu2112]

Hoof, on 11 February 2011 - 08:57 AM, said:

correction:

"playerfacedir" is 0, 1, 2, 3 for North, South, East, West respectively.

Oops, Correct. PLAYERLASTDIR is 1,2,3,4 and 0 = not moved, always bugged me that those weren't consistent. Actually no it almost never bothered me since I never really used the player any way haha.
There are other major problems with that code as well...

[asgromo]

I am going to play this game Robot the next moment I'm at a real computer. Also you have an excellent blog, good work on that.

edit: WELL, this game seems totally lazy and unbalanced, but with respect to it being the purest possible sadism accomplishable in MegaZeux, I should have to say well done, sir

I still think you should have thrown in some music, though, or at least edited the default sfx (alt+f). YOU KNOW WHAT, and I mean this very seriously, give Maxim's games (he has good ones in a lot of the DoZs, too) a try. Judging by your blog and this thing, I think they will fit your tastes to a 'T' and at least inspire, impress, and amuse you.

edit again: oh i guess you'll be putting in chiptunes soon anyway, so my music comment isn't important. still suggest you change the sfx, though

[asgromo]

MOERE SUGUGESTIONS

• add an endgame (game over) board with hilarious illustration ('g' key for global preferences, remember to set endgame mode also)
  
• definitely make the enemies a little weaker i mean come on have you actually managed to play through these boards yet, i would be really amazed
  
• i don't think you NEED a status bar, I kind of LIKE having to press 'enter' to see my stats (it's sort-of nerve-wracking) although then again maybe a status bar would be good? heck, zzt had one
  

  : "loop"
  . "replace this comment with 'cycle 1' to reduce the probability of Lachesis having a nervous breakdown"
  * "Health: &health& Lives: &lives& Ammo: &ammo&"
  goto "loop"
  

  
  You would literally only need a robot with this code in it. You could even put this code in the global robot so you wouldn't have to edit it on each individual board. MegaZeux standards are not sacred, they're actually the barely-playable archaic makeshift inventions of a psychologically disturbed teenager (although I guess that would be something you're pretty much in to)

edit: OK after watching your youtube video and recognizing the significance of the enormous armory you put right next to the game start point, I determined there's actually just not nearly enough to do in this game. Once you kill enough zombies you can actually just run around the big boring city freely, easily avoiding the leftovers and checking into the other areas, which are just smaller rooms full of zombies.

edit again: Judging by your blog posts and youtube video it also looks like you might be having trouble putting your soundtrack in. Your music has to be tracked modules (.it, .xm, .mod, and some others will work), .wav (don't ever do this), or ogg vorbis (lots of encoders available). You can load tracks using robotic or by just hitting alt+n in the board editor to associate a track in the working directory with an individual board.

[Lachesis]

asgromo, on 12 February 2011 - 05:45 AM, said:

: "loop"
* "Health: &health& Lives: &lives& Ammo: &ammo&"
goto "loop"

Can there be a rule against making code suggestions that loop without WAIT/CYCLE 1?

[Robot]

Sorry for being defensive against Smiley, and thanks for all this input. I'm going to implement some of these changes into the game.

I have played through the Hospital, Hell, and the Sewers, and thinned out the City quite a bit. I agree the balance is off. But really it's still an early Beta release and there is plenty room and time for improvements.

Try playing the game without the firebombs... it's much different and I'm thinking that maybe that's how the game should be. Or, possibly the fire could go out quicker. Or, as discussed, they could fly forward like grenades. In any case, it definitely makes a challenge.

Like a lot of old-school games I thought score would be enough to keep the player playing, but I guess not. I only expected about 2 hours of gameplay from Beta 3.0.

Would more dungeons help? To be honest I find the dungeons incredibly easy, but I know exactly what to do. Travel down the right side of the sewers, take the hospital slowly, and keeping moving in circles (after firing south in the doorway for a while), picking up health as you need it.

Someone mentioned that after the zombies are thinned out, you can explore the city freely. Perhaps the fire bombs are making too many roadblocks to catch the remaining zombies or something. So again, my advice (this is what I'm going to attempt) is to play without fire and see if the game improves.

[Robot]

And, really, thanks for the help you guys have provided a lot of useful info here! This is great!

[Robot]

"Once you kill enough zombies you can actually just run around the big boring city freely, easily avoiding the leftovers and checking into the other areas, which are just smaller rooms full of zombies."

Any ideas on how I can turn this more into a sandbox-type zombie game?

[asgromo]

Quote

Like a lot of old-school games I thought score would be enough to keep the player playing, but I guess not.

Score isn't enough in this case because [A] scores are not broadcast in a public arena (i.e. an arcade or online leaderboard); [B] score isn't clearly awarded for merit; [C] playing this game to beat your own score is sort of like pasting a picture of a mountain into one MS Paint and a picture of a motorcycle into another MS Paint and making the motorcycle jump over the mountain.

Quote

Any ideas on how I can turn this into a more sandbox-type game?

More gameplay mechanics would do it. Or making the enemies spawn instead of using massive initial piles. Or a bigger game world. And don't drop the tactical use of fire, it's fine. You just need more elements like that.

[Robot]

Well, after looking through the code in the SwordEngine I'm starting to learn more about Robotic I really enjoy the sword mechanic and I know I can come up with a fun game using that. I really like to have the machine gun AND the sword, so that's what I'll be looking into. Using F4 or F6 to switch between the sword and the weapon would be cool. I think Star Quest 2 should use something like this, and that will probably be the next Megazeux game I make. However for that project I would need at least 1 more game mechanic (a caterpillar party with some sort of order switch ability).

Anyway, here are (I think) my final plans for Mutant Warzone. In some sense, it is what it is. Current plans for Beta 4.0


-Talking NPCs (I'm going to use signs as people). I may be a Megazeux noob, but I'm no noob to writing. Hopefully an interesting and humorous mystery story will give everyone some incentive to play. NPCs with interesting information can provide an incentive to enter a building, not fire-bomb the crap out everything, etc. Also, it would require the player to enter the giant shopping mall, and finish the dungeons.
-Game Over screen. It will be awesome.
-Bigger City. Maybe it's just not enough to explore right now.
-New Dungeon: Science Facility (that makes 4). Boss fight a giant mutant in the lab. More of the story should be making sense at this point. Something about a scientist wizard making the mutants.
-New Dungeon: Strange House. The boards will be a giant mansion. The player (I'll just go ahead and say it) will be chasing the scientist wizard at this point. Less rooms just packed with zombies, more like 1 strong guy with 8 regular zombies) Boss will be a giant robot shooting seekers and whatnot. Boss Fight will be on its own 80x25 screen.
-Final Dungeon: New area of the city, must have a super-epic boss.

Changes to other areas:
-NPCs in Sewer and Hospital.
-Hell will get some keys spread around, which unlock a door to some NPCs and a boss fight.

Dungeons can be completed in any order, except Hell will be first, and there will be 2 keys at the end of each. 1 White, which can unlock another dungeon, and another color which will unlock 1/5 door to the final dungeon.

-Music, of course
-Different mutant beetle character, I still don't like it.
-Lo and High bombs should be different colors


All that should take a few days (which I know I won't have time for in the next 1.5 weeks). The infrastructure of this game can't support much more than what it is, and I'm okay with that. A fresh Megazeux project is a better use of Robotic, imo. Although I will probably use it in the boss fights, but I have an idea for a boss without robotic:

non-moving dragons (or any shooting thing with HP) with a solid-color "sprite." You could use different colors to build an actual sprite. The monster is dead when you kill every "cell". Something like a giant yellow devil from Mega Man. I'll probably use both versions: a boss built like this with a weak point (the rest just "solid"). So basically you could be fighting big 8-Bit characters pretty easily. The other made entirely out of different-colored shooting cells.

EDIT: An NPC at the end could tell the player to screenshot their ending score and I could manually keep track of everyone's scores in an online leader board....maybe. Obviously it would be honor system, although I would hopefully know if someone cheated

SECOND EDIT: If the soundtrack is finished sooner, 4.0 Might just have NPCs and the first half of the story will be have some resolution, but still set things up for the 3 other levels.

This post has been edited by Robot: 13 February 2011 - 03:58 AM

[CJA]

A point of advice is to attempt to take the shortest route when using MegaZeux. This is a good platform to prototype a game, and you should be focusing on concepts. MegaZeux sort of requires you to spend time doing the little things, and any time you can spend lengthening the game, rather than improving it (past a certain point anyway), will reflect a lot in the final product. We've got too many short demos with a lot of pizzazz and no content.

That said, welcome to DMZX, we've been looking for newbies with finesse.

[A-Guymzx]

First of all, welcome to DMZX.

Second:

Robot, on 10 February 2011 - 10:30 PM, said:

-Throwing bombs. If the bomb would fly forward 5-6 squares and explode when it hit something, I wouldn't need to use the firebombs in the game. Bombs could just be grenades and the game would become much more frantic, bombs would be useful in the quantities now provided, and zombies could be killed faster if you do it right.
-Shops, like in the Sword Engine

Like, which sword engine? Since I made a one with both shops and bomb throwing. Maybe not the most efficient way, but it does werk pretty well. Maybe you should check it out: Slash: The Sword Engine
And, maybe I should get working on the real game some time.

[NoahSoft]

Hey Robot I was playing your game and really liked it! I thought it was a pretty authentic zombie simulation. I also like the ultra simple gameplay. The level design made it compelling for a bit. Check out some of my games if you're interested! I also like the simple/retro design style.



edit: wow an Achewood reference from Asgromo HOW SURPRISING

This post has been edited by NoahSoft: 18 March 2011 - 07:38 AM

[NoahSoft]

.

This post has been edited by NoahSoft: 18 March 2011 - 07:44 AM