Last Starfighter video game project - COMPLETED

[eaviii]

Just to clarify- All the stuff on my site is freeware- The finished product will be free to those interested. There are no raw material costs or distribution expense so no charge. There should be no sale of my stuff- ANYWHERE. I wanted to develop the software for myself and see no reason not to share it with others who wanted a cabinet with something in it rather than a video loop.

There was a prior thread a long time ago that someone started asking for money to do the project. Although he might ultimately have done a better job, that was not me. That thread actually got me interested in doing the project.

I will probably encrypt a freeware warning with the ultimate file to prevent someone from hijacking and selling. The "freeware- NOT FOR SALE" warning should be in a readme in most of the bigger downloads and is on the site info page (http://www.roguesynapse.com/about.php).

I do ask people to spend their money on the licensed associated products (like "The Last Starfighter" Collector's Edition DVD or Disney TRON stuff, etc.) so that these sorts of projects are not just tolerated but are viewed as beneficial to the lawful copyright holders.

Having said all that, I would always welcome feedback on or help with the project(my graphic arts skills are limited).

Please let me know if you ever see any software of ours being circulated for sale.

Doc

 

[TomSpinaDesigns]

Cool,

My apologies, thanks for the head's up

Editing my prior post now.

Regards,
Tom

 

[Remo]

Just don't forget "Death Blossom"

 

[eaviii]

Originally posted by RemoLocke@Apr 16 2005, 08:58 PM
Just don't forget "Death Blossom"  

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Glad someone brought it up- The Death Blossom I may make an optional feature. It is a part of the movie but not part of the videogame prop in the movie. That being said, I agree it may be way too cool to leave out. Maybe an earned optional feature that can be turned off for the purists out there. Maybe an optional bonus round where you use it against an overwhelming enemy or maybe like a superzapper that can be used once during the game at significant power cost (shield drain?). Just thoughts. I like the latter idea (superzapper type) as this is easily shut off.

Also, still coming up with levels. So far planning on adding a meteor gun level that was suggested (working on an infinite perspective model for the frontier right now). Also, maybe a tunnel chase and, of course, the command ship.

If anyone wants to take a crack at cleaning up some of the sphere maps (the scanner and the 3d ship gauge) or even the outer HUD, be my guest. The actual geography/boundaries should remain the same if possible (otherwise I have to resize and reposition all the gauges). Does anyone know a way to more cleanly map the spheres? I suppose the easiest thing would be to do a 3ds model with the various textures as limbs. The scanner actually works by moving limbs in an eleven limbed object (the dots are meshes that were numerically incorporated and offset to match the 3d environment). I guess I can always recode the numbers (not too much change). Any help would be appreciated.

Finally, the game uses pretty heavy bitmap shuffling (gauges and explosions) and I have seen some slowdown of one of my home computers (PII 128Ram antique vid card). If people are running into substantial slow down, pm me with the computer specs please. This speeds up with retexture and I might be able to incorporate a texture flash in the beginning (similar to a Namco boot) and limit the variablilty of the explosions. Probably not necessary but would like to know (I suspect even a low end video card would fix the slow down).

Doc

 

[Rook 3]

I'd leave death blossom as a owner selectable dipswitch/option setting, as you've already stated, it was never seen in the game in the film, and was stated in the film it was only present in Gunstar 1 as it was a prototype.

Rook

 

[KitSmasher]

And remember, it's only a weapon of last resort.

Looks awesome. I can't wait to play it...

 

[eaviii]

Originally posted by Stormleader@Apr 17 2005, 06:23 AM
And remember, it's only a weapon of last resort. 

Looks awesome.  I can't wait to play it...

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The demo is available now- Little wonky controlling with the keys and mouse and no real sound yet but a playable version is now available (beta testing) at www.roguesynapse.com

Doc

 

[eaviii]

Just a few more screengrabs and update stuff- Things are still moving along. Fixed a few things in the demo already (missile explosions now always visible)- I got a wireframe starfighter from Miniaturizer Ray and placed it in a new scanner (I hated the distorted textures on the spheres)- The scanners look 100% better now.
Also redid the light targets to match the ones in the movie.
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18131&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18130&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18129&t=i[/image]
A new Xurian scout model . . .
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18132&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18133&t=i[/image]

The Frontier . . .
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18122&t=i[/image]

Some meteor bombs from the meteor gun and a rough working model of a meteor gunship . . .
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18123&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18124&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18125&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18126&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18127&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18128&t=i[/image]


All in all coming along . . .

Doc

 

[Kerr Avon]

What ARE the controls for it? Any way you can include mappable keys? Also, it crashes after a minute or so for me. The text at the startup also races and you don't have time to read it. Can that be slown down?

In any case, pretty nice job with it.

 

[eaviii]

Originally posted by Kerr Avon@Apr 28 2005, 04:56 AM
What ARE the controls for it?  Any way you can include mappable keys?  Also, it crashes after a minute or so for me.  The text at the startup also races and you don't have time to read it.  Can that be slown down?

In any case, pretty nice job with it.

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The controls are the arrow keys for the turret and the mouse for the reticle.
"l" switches to "l"aser
"p" to "p"article beam
"m" to missile

Not sure why it crashes? The text shouldn't race (the sync rate is fixed at 30fps). Did you install the Usuzi font? Weird . . .

Thanks sir-

Doc

 

[Kerr Avon]

Spacebar to fire? When I try the P or M key it doesn't actually change the appearance of the beam when I use it. Nothing missile like or the dots like in one of the screenshots. Maybe have an old version of the file up that I downloaded? Don't have the Usuzi font installed, but I can read it. I'll try it to see if it improves things.

Oh, I see now.
I downloaded from the link "Check out a short demo of the interface for the game"
Might want to remove that one.

 

[eaviii]

Originally posted by Kerr Avon@Apr 28 2005, 05:13 AM
Spacebar to fire?  When I try the P or M key it doesn't actually change the appearance of the beam when I use it.  Nothing missile like or the dots like in one of the screenshots.  Maybe have an old version of the file up that I downloaded?  Don't have the Usuzi font installed, but I can read it.  I'll try it to see if it improves things.

Oh, I see now.
I downloaded from the link "Check out a short demo of the interface for the game"
Might want to remove that one.

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Thanks- Hadn't noticed that- Will remove the outdated link- Is it working now?

 

[Kerr Avon]

Oh yeah, much better. THe text doesn't scrol too fast. Game play is pretty impressive too. Definately still need the option to map keys, or at least make the left mouse button fire the weapons as well as the space bar. One hand on arrow keys, other on mouse, I'd have to use my nose to hit the spacebar. I ended up just leaving the targetting reticle alone nad using the arrow keys to aim by turning the turret. Being able to map the weapon selection to something nearer at hand would be better too for quick response.

 

[eaviii]

Just a brief update- Things have slowed down but not halted due to real world job interference- Decided to try to tackle the command ship model myself and redo the meteor gun- Will integrate them into the game soon- As it stands, the levels will be:
- light targets
- Xurian scouts over the asteroid
- several fighter levels
- command ship

May try to integrate a chase inside an asteroid to mimic the movie but this will be a bear to do given the need for a complex environmental model and the mechanics of gameplay (as it stands, the environment moves around the camera, not vice versa). Thoughts?

Also, some folks on another site have expressed willingness to get vectorized cabinet art done from scans and help with cabinet blueprints.

Here are pics of the new models-

[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18722&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18721&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18723&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18724&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18726&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=18725&t=i[/image]

 

[Rook 3]

Also, some folks on another site have expressed willingness to get vectorized cabinet art done from scans and help with cabinet blueprints.

Which site is this?

Rook

 

[eaviii]

Originally posted by Rook 3@May 6 2005, 02:25 PM

Also, some folks on another site have expressed willingness to get vectorized cabinet art done from scans and help with cabinet blueprints.

Which site is this?

Rook

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The site is BYOAC- "Build your own arcade controls"
http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm under Project Announcements "Starfighter"

I posted info on the demo on RPF, BYOAC, and Arcade Alley at Digital Press. This project definitely bridges both my collecting interests.

Doc

 

[Havoc]

BYOAC is a great forum if you are into classic arcade games ... they must be all over this project

 

[Rook 3]

Thanks Doc. It's been so long since I've been there that I didn't even know they HAD forums there. :lol

It would be nice if someone could put up plans and vector graphics.

That other guy's Starfighter themed mame cab was kind of nice too.

Not accurate, but still cool.

I'm torn now as to what to do. Since I sold my old MAME cabinet I've wanted to build another, but Starfighter would be pretty much a dedicated single game, er, game.

Decisions, decisions.

 

[Rook 3]

Okay, I finally installed the demo and played it. A few gameplay observations/suggestions...

When you die, the screen shows "Insert quarter". There should also be about a 5 second countdown after perhaps 4-5 seconds of "insert quarter". After the countdown ends the game should return to demonstration mode. On mine it stayed there at "insert quarter" and after a minute or so, when a button was hit it died and kicked me back to windows.

The ship flight is awesome, as is the radar in the upper right, and the ship image in the upper left of the HUD. Nicely done.

The tracking crosshair movement is a bit... chunky. It's not smooth moving, it kind of "clicks" from spot to spot. If possible this should be smoothed out.

Overall, it's really looking great. I have to admit that I was grinning like a kid at christmas when the story intro started scrolling and Preston started speaking the lines. Awesome.

Thanks Doc for all your hard work on this project.

Rook

 

[eaviii]

Very pleased indeed- The "Bad Luck Starfighter . . . Quarter please" was just a quick way to end the demo. I haven't written the outer shell stuff (end game, attract, hiscore table, etc.). I will definitely have an optional countdown to continue (though in the flick, it looks like the game was meant to be played start to finish on a single quarter and subsequent quarters would start anew). I will get endgame and attract mode stuff in towards the end.

I agree on the clunky reticle- I will rework that for sure- Thinking of mapping everything to keys as well as mouse (mapped keys will be smooth for sure as opposed to a geographic field effect from the mouse)- On the fixit list

Also, decided to abandon the Xurian Meteor gun model for a few reasons- (1) looks bad in the break in the frontier when realized (2) it was my own design and not at all in the movie (3) difficulties and visual snafus on the firing-
I am working the level with the command ship so you actually face the command ship at a distance and have to blow up a bunch of meteor bombs then disable the meteor gun on the command ship. It flees to be faced later in the last level-
This seemed to make more sense to me, remain truer to the game/movie, and should be visually preferable- Will post new screen grabs soon-

Thoughts?

Doc