Hi,

I`m developing a 3D logical/action game named "Avenger". Corresponding site is www.avenger.sk. Screenshots can be found at http://www.avenger.sk/screen.html

Demo can be downloaded from www.avenger.sk/Avenger08_11.ace
Yes, it needs WinAce (www.WinAce.com) to unpack - because that`s what I`m getting the smallest download size with. This version of demo weighs 11,1 MB (although I already have a version weighing 8,4 MB - but it`s still under more development and is much less stable).

When you unpack the game with WinAce, you can find 2 EXE files - one is for Fullscreen and the other for Windowed version. Obviously, Windowed version can run in the background of Windows with other applications while Fullscreen gives you more immersion to the game (and Alt-Tab doesn`t work, no need to try it).

If, anytime during the gameplay, you find a situation you can`t get out of (collision detection), simply press F11 to reload the level. The keys to navigate the game are : Arrow keys - Movement, 'X' -use the levers and open doors, 'P' - place a bomb at exit

The goal of the game is to get a bomb and place it near the exit wall to explode it to get to next level while watching out for enemies that can be "killed" by switching the floor under them so that they fall down in hole.. Not all traps are present in the demo however, more are to be found in full version.

What I`d like to kindly ask you, is to try the demo and if it crashes, send the Log.txt file to vrepcak@seznam.cz
Obviously, I won`t use your email adress for anything, but I would appreciate any feedback.

Thank You very much for your time
VladR

4 pictures on the screenshots page use "\" instead of "/" in their URL (and thus aren't loaded here).

Geforce 440 MX.
There was no crash. But the game ran very jumpy with the music stopping for short moments during the jumpy parts. Not smooth at all.
When you change the walking direction of the man there is an animation while the man turns. This is annoying - i'd rather walk in the new direction immediately.
After completing the first level there was a long pause with ever-interrupted music. Thought that the game had crashed but then the 2nd level came.
Your graphic engine doesn't look very professional. Objects are flickering like the monsters or the exit door.

First, I need to know also your CPU & RAM. I would think you had less than 64 MB RAM considering the pauses you had although it doesn`t pause the music the way you describe on my third rig with celeron and 64 MB.

As for the slow rotation of character during the direction change, I already fixed that, because almsot everybody minded that, so that`s ok.

What do you mean by "ever-interrupted music" ? And how long did it take to reload the level ?

As for the engine - actually what is unproffesional ? It is actually my first engine, to tell the truth. But I thought that the level of graphics is sufficient for the type of game (considering the graphics level of many other indie games), or did you expect UT2003-like engine ?
Or, in other words, you think that the graphics suck ?

As for the flickering exit wall - it`s not a bug, it`s a feature.
As for the flickering enemies - i hear that for the first time, could you be more specific please ?

Thanks for the feedback

Anybody else ran the game ?

I got 256MB Ram, AMD 1.8GHz.
The "flickering" of the monsters: That's a lighting effect as i noticed now.
Your graphic doesn't run smooth on my pc,that's what i was trying to say. I get high FPS (>60) but it's jumpy.
On my pc the graphic's level IS NOT sufficient. Even compared to other indie games. As examples for indie games which run soft and without problems on my pc i would like to name Best Friends from www.retro64.com or Mage Bros from www.jjsoftgames.com .
Never mind the music problem while loading the 2nd level. That's just my slow harddisk i think.

If you`ve got 256 MB RAM, then the only thing I can imagine that caused such swapping is the fact that you`ve been running other applications eating RAM and for Avenger there wasn`t much left. Could you try running it when the windows is freshly restarted ?

That "flickering" of monsters is a minor known issue that I`ll fix as soon as I fix that Jumpiness of camera which is currently the worst issue. It`s strange, however, that you mind that flickering so much, it didn`t seem that bad for me.

And your comparison of graphics of Avenger with , let`s say, "Best Friends" is a bit weird, don`t you think ? Not that I`m saying that Avenger`s graphics is very pretty, but "Best friends" graphics is simply too simple IMO.

OK, can you name specific things that you mind on Avenger`s graphics most ? Did you get the shadows working ? Was the Multitexturing level the same as in screenshots on my page ? Maybe that was the problem.

Thanks
VladR

He VladR, I thought the game was OK! The graphics looked fine to me, and I didn't notice any stutters or other problems. Your textures might be a little bland, you might want to add a little contrast, because right now it gives a VERY foggy, plain look. Maybe that's intentional, I don't know, but it's not your engine's fault. The only problems I found were:

1) It would be nice to be able to walk diagonal, a real person doesn't walk like that.

2) There was a long pause between levels, you might want to show a message saying LOADING... or something like that. I thought it locked up my computer, too.

3) Perhaps future levels have more challenges, but there wasn't much of a challenge to it, there weren't very many monsters, even fewer that moved, and even fewer yet that had any clue I existed, even when I walked right in front of them.

4) Finally, when I quit the game, it returned me to my desktop, but the music kept playing for about a full minute after I had closed the game and moved on to other things! It was not so bad, though, because I kinda liked the music :)

Good luck with it, it's a nice first game.