Right then Dan, I'll have your cash if it's the last thing I do!

Alien Flux 1.4 is out:

Demo version:
http://www.puppygames.net/downloads/SetupAlienFluxDemo.exe

Full version, for those wot already bought it:
http://www.puppygames.net/downloads/SetupAlienFlux.exe

Cas :)

LOL!! Thanks Cas, that was the best laugh I've had in days. :)

Oh sweet, my own version! ;)

I'm at work right now but i'll be home in a about 2hrs to check it out!

what are the changes?

Acceleration and deceleration of the ship are now customisable all the way from a rocket on a banana skin down to a geriatric with glue on his shoes
You can now thrust using the cursor keys (also customisable) a la Crimsonland and Mutant Storm
Auto-shields: turn this on and adjust the trigger range. This disables manual shields. A faraway range will more or less guarantee it comes on in time to save your lazy ass but will tend to waste shields quite a bit. A close range might save you less often but on the later levels you'll be glad it's still working by the fourth wave of aliens...
Auto-smartbombs: turn this on and adjust the trigger threshold (based on the number of aliens in range, from 8 to 20). This disables manual smartbombs. It does tend to make sure you use smartbombs when it gets a bit hectic instead of forgetting, but then again, it tends to use them a bit imprudently on aliens that maybe aren't particularly dangerous. Don't blame me when you run out too soon!


All of these changes actually add up to you being able to play Alien Flux in quite a different way. It's actually quite enjoyable playing with auto-shields and auto-smarts - you can just be quite lazy and let the computer get on with doing the tricky two handed bit.

Users of the cursor thrust keys might want to change their fire button to the left mouse button instead of the right one.

Cas :)

Well I guess my money is yours, I still think it would be interesting to see a pure keyboard interface, but I believe you have found a happy medium. i configured the controls to work with the left mouse button firing and moving with the arrows. Used the auto shields and smartbombs.

I must say it was a LOT easier for me to play. The ship controls were fun and not having to worry about shields made it a lot easier to just focus on blasting and flying.

I used the auto smartbombs, but that made me feel pretty wimpy, I’ll probably fire them up on manual when I play the full version.

The only thing that was a little "iffy" for me is that it wasn't readily apparent what the sliders were for under the "auto shield" and "auto smartbomb" options. I had a reasonably good idea but I think it would help to put some sort of units on the sliders, radius, number of enemies.. etc.

Off to pick up my copy...

Hey everybody - Dan's greased his credit card and according to my swreg email - I've got the loot!!! I'm going to drink it tomorrow at a barbeque for the horse trekkers we go out riding with.

Now let's see how you fare on the hiscore table!

Cas :)

Is there joystick support in this version?

Er, no, not yet :p Mainly coz I don't have one!

What's the best dual-stick USB joystick controlly thing out there that won't break in 5 minutes and doesn't cost as much as a whole new console?

Cas :)

I don't remember which version I tried the first time, if it was 1.0 or 1.1 or something like that. I can only say that this is a really good improvement compared to that version, because I didn't have much fun the last time I played it. The reason was simply that it was too confusing and probably too hard, but this new Rookie difficulty let me understand the game better and the auto-shields even made it possible for me to play in normal mode, whee! Good job!

"What's the best dual-stick USB joystick controlly thing out there that won't break in 5 minutes and doesn't cost as much as a whole new console? "

I would buy a PS2 adapter for the PC, around $10, then buy a PS2 dual shock controller. Works great.

John

I like my Saitek 880 - http://www.dxmarket.com/saitek/products/J61.html

It has good control and didn't cost me an arm and a leg.

Cas, mail the joypad manufacturers. Tell them your a dev and need hardware to test for compatibilty. They send you loads of stuff usually for free.
We got 3 joypads from Saitek and 3 from wingmaster.
Logitech and gravis were not so generous.
Did you also know you can get free video cards from nvidia and Ati.
Were running geforce 4's and ATi 9500 here, that we got as feebies. Take advantage of your dev status.
As long as they see your website, and know youre serious, you should get the kit.

oooh, cool.

Hey - d'you think Apple would give us a dev Mac? We've been trying to get AF ported onto Mac for ages but of course I just don't have one or any idea how to program one yet...

Cas :)

I think youve got a good chance.
It all depend how good you are at writing passionate mails!
Tell em you love games, and you love macs, and mac users will love your game, and you would love a Mac.

My favorite USB dual-analogue-joystick-gamepad is the $25 Thrustmaster Firestorm Dual Power:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008ZLHK/

It actually has three shoulder buttons on each side. And all the black surfaces are this nice slightly-grippy rubber. It's also not as ugly as it looks in that picture :)

And BongPig--that's what I reach for when I fire up a (registered) game of Mutant Storm.

Cas: I actually already _did_ mail Apple about some hw... It is being processed right now as we speak.

- elias

Oh, cool! What do you mean by "processed"? You got a reply?

Cas :)

Nothing yet really - just one of those "don't-be-impatient-while-we-are-looking-into-it" standard messages.

- elias

Cas & elias,

Us small devs are usually so thankfull for any freebies, that we dont feel we can push our luck. We mustnt think like this.
Dont leave it up to Apple to remember. They never will. You should never feel you cant chase these things up, and hassle the suppliers a little bit.

I have, on many occasions, sent several follow up mails, to chase down a bit of kit I was after. Even when your contact agrees to send you the goods, theres a good chance they'll simply forget.

Hassle them. Remind them every week.
Your not being out of order in doing so.
We tend to feel like its them doing us a favour.
Not so! ... if your game is good, its in Apples interest to get the kit to you. They need the games.

Its the same with any other hardware you may need for development.
Can you imagine how many video cards Nvidia give to EA every year? Or how many Macs, Apple gave to Atari to get them to convert thier games?

We are Devs too damn it! ;)

Actually, I _did_ remind them as of today :-) But thanks for the hint anyway!

- elias

Another vote for that Thrustmaster.

I got mine for $2.99 at CompUSA after rebate here...some months ago...

Another vote for saitek P880 :P

I have two of those... I tested a lot of other pads before and these were the best in my opinion - the only thing I doesn't like is the click noise of the shoulder buttons... well everything else is perfect.

@Cas

The changes sounds damn interesting... have to check it out :)

Originally posted by princec
Er, no, not yet :p Mainly coz I don't have one!

What's the best dual-stick USB joystick controlly thing out there that won't break in 5 minutes and doesn't cost as much as a whole new console?

Cas :)

Actually, I like a mouse and joystick combination. I use the mouse for aiming, and the analog thumbpad for moving, so I'm sure any joystick support would cover that as long as the input for the mouse isn't shut off when you select joystick. Of course, adding support for a dual analog joystick would be good for other players too.

Wow I tried the demo when it first came out and I think this updated one is a huge improvement. Anyways when OpenGL won't initialize you should change your error message so that it suggest that peaple with multiple displays should disable their second monitor. I know this may not be a common issue but I run into it when my siblings use my computer for games.

Thanks for your feedback :) Does it not work on dual monitors then? I tried my best! (Lifted a bit of the Quake 2 dual monitor init code)

Cas :)

Its not your fault, windows dosen't support full screen openGL on multiple displays. The same thing happens when I try to play anything based on the quake3 engine.

Cool game. It does say "don't stray too far from the fluffies" even when all the fluffies are dead (mine kept getting caught in friendly fire :) ). Also it suggests using your shields when you get blown up even when auto shields is on. I dunno if it's worth tweaking those messages, but I thought I'd mention.

Yeah, I know about those cases :) Haven't got round to tweaking them out yet.

Cas :)