A new version of Assault Fish is up!

Just another day of fishing for Acid Dolphins to throw around.

It’s a refactoring of version 1.6 to use SquidLib 2.0 instead of 1.95. The source is Apache 2.0 so feel free to steal bits of it and/or rework it in your image.

Because it’s a refactoring, there’s no gameplay changes to it, just back-end changes.

Today’s hint is…

This might be useful during the game:

Luckily you can see it by hitting the HELP in the lower right corner!

In this release, several bugs were fixed which should now make every game theoretically winnable. The bugs fixed largely center around invalid positions of the enemies, sometimes not seeming to die or sometimes not interacting properly with the terrain. It turns out it’s all because they weren’t where they thought they were on the map… they were ghost elementals the whole time!

Get the newest version here: AssaultFish_1.6

This version does not have any feature additions from the 7dRL version (with the exception of keyboard movement) and only fixes critical bugs.

Well maybe only one more speed, I couldn’t find any academic papers on rating fishing game loading speeds empirically so I have no scientific basis either way. In any case, end-user speeds should be up quite a bit on loading.

One of the bugs I fixed was missing the artist information for the amazing music I used. Thanks to Torley Wong, Assault Fish is a relaxing and enjoyable experience rather than a silent and lonely one! Unless you don’t have speakers, then it’s probably silent and lonely.

Why can’t I just fish in peace?

Also added in this version, by request, is basic keyboard controls for movement. You can use the numpad, arrow, and vi keys to move around. Throwing fish, selecting fish, and actual fishing do not yet support keyboard interface however.

Get the new version 1.5 here: AssaultFish_1.5

It is done!

My entry into the 2014 Seven Day Roguelike Challenge is complete! For evidence, check out the splash screen.

For more evidence, try the game itself: AssaultFish_1.3. You’ll need Java 7 to play it, and the loading screen warning is no joke. If you don’t like the music you can mute it once the game fully loads and it’ll remember your choice next time you start the game.

I programmed this game starting on Saturday March 8th and ending on Saturday March 15th 2014. While there are more features I’d like to add, I’m very happy with the results. I think the game is fun to play, which is the most important thing!

There’s several features of the upcoming SquidLib 2.0 in use for this game. It uses the new JavaFX based sound management system instead of the old libGDX one. There’s lots and lots of transparent SGPanes being used. And there’s some other bits here and there.

One day left!

Here’s what the overland map looks like:

Or at least what it looks like after having thrown some fish around.

This is not the finished 7dRL version, but if you want to try it you can get it here. Note that you’ll need Java 7 update 51 to play. The controls in this version are as follows:

• Main Map Mode
  • Left click without fish selected to movie in that direction. Moving into an elemental pool will start a fishing session in it.
  • Left click on a fish in the lower section to select it for throwing. If a fish is already selected, clicking it again will deselect it.
  • Left click with a fish selected on the main map to throw the fish at the clicked point.
  • Right click to deselect fish (if one is selected).
  • Ctrl-Left click or middle click to get more info about what objects on the map are under the cursor.
• Fishing Mode
  • Left click to start the strength meter moving.
  • Left click again to cast at the current strength.
  • Right click when not casting to return to map mode.

Time passes during every cast in fishing mode, but in this version the enemies don’t attack so there’s not much to worry about. To be fair, they also don’t take damage so there’s not much for them to worry about either.

For a special prize, guess how many SquidLib panels I’m using in the above screenshot. Warning: prize may contain absence of prize.

Yep skipped a couple numbers there. Been busy trying out different locations.

Here we see a beautiful magma lake full of little magma fish.

The code which colors in the magma itself relies heavily on calls to SColorFactory and a bit of PerlinNoise magic.

SColorFactory.blend(SColorFactory.blend(element.color, SColorFactory.dim(element.color), PerlinNoise.noise(x, y)), SColorFactory.dimmest(element.color), y / (double) (height - liquidHeight));

Assault Fish has begun!

Here’s the first prototype result from my water area generator (side view)

And so marks the first post for the 2014 7 Day Roguelike Challenge!

Some implementation details:

• Using SquidLib (experimental branch)
• Java 7 (although I really want 8 to be out so I can use it)
• Height is completely random, which is why it looks like it 🙂

The full code for this prototype view is below. As you can see the actual display to map is pretty simple, thanks to SquidLib! (There’s also imports and variables that I’m going to use shortly but don’t get used for this display right now)

package assaultfish.fishing;

import assaultfish.physical.Terrain;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.Point;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import squidpony.squidcolor.SColor;
import squidpony.squidgrid.gui.awt.TextCellFactory;
import squidpony.squidgrid.gui.swing.SwingPane;
import squidpony.squidgrid.util.Direction;
import static squidpony.squidgrid.util.Direction.*;
import squidpony.squidmath.RNG;

/**
 * Prototype of the fishing simulator portion of the game.
 *
 * @author Eben Howard - http://squidpony.com - howard@squidpony.com
 */
public class FishingSim {

    private JFrame frame;
    private SwingPane pane, largeTextPane;
    private int largeTextScale;
    private boolean[][] terrainMap;
    private boolean[][] liquidMap;
    private int width, height;
    private Terrain terrain;
    private char bobber = 'O',
            hook = 'J',
            fish = 'f',
            wall = '#';
    private Point bobberLocation;
    private Point hookLocation;
    private SColor lineColor = SColor.SILVER,
            bobberColor = SColor.SCARLET,
            hookColor = SColor.BRASS,
            terrainBackColor = SColor.BRONZE,
            terrainFrontColor = SColor.KHAKI,
            liquidColor = SColor.AZUL;
    private Font font;
    private RNG rng = new RNG();

    private int liquidHeight;
    private int terrainWidth;

    public static void main(String... args) {
        new FishingSim().go();
    }

    private void go() {
        width = 100;
        height = 40;
        liquidHeight = 16;
        terrainWidth = 6;
        font = new Font("Ariel", Font.PLAIN, 14);
        initFrame();
        initMap();
        displayMap();
    }

    private void displayMap() {
        for (int x = 0; x < width; x++) {
            for (int y = 0; y < height; y++) {
                if (terrainMap[x][y]) {
                    pane.placeCharacter(x, y, wall, terrainFrontColor, liquidMap[x][y] ? liquidColor : terrainBackColor);
                } else if (liquidMap[x][y]) {
                    pane.clearCell(x, y, liquidColor);
                }
            }
        }

        pane.refresh();
    }

    private void initMap() {
        terrainMap = new boolean[width][height];
        liquidMap = new boolean[width][height];

        //fill in standing edge
        for (int x = 0; x < terrainWidth; x++) {
            for (int y = liquidHeight - 5; y < height; y++) {
                terrainMap[x][y] = true;
            }
        }

        //fill in rest of terrain and liquid
        for (int x = terrainWidth; x < width; x++) {
            int terrainHeight = rng.between(liquidHeight + 4, height);
            for (int y = liquidHeight; y < terrainHeight; y++) {
                liquidMap[x][y] = true;
            }
            for (int y = terrainHeight; y < height; y++) {
                terrainMap[x][y] = true;
            }
        }
    }

    private void initFrame() {
        frame = new JFrame("Fishing Prototype");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        TextCellFactory textFactory = new TextCellFactory();
        textFactory.setAntialias(true);
        textFactory.initializeByFont(font);
        pane = new SwingPane(width, height, textFactory);

        frame.add(pane);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    private char line(Direction dir) {
        switch (dir) {
            case LEFT:
            case RIGHT:
                return '-';
            case UP:
            case DOWN:
                return '|';
            case UP_LEFT:
            case DOWN_RIGHT:
                return '\\';
            case UP_RIGHT:
            case DOWN_LEFT:
                return '/';
            default:
                return ' ';
        }
    }
}

Prepare for awe and amazement next week, the annual 7 Day Roguelike Challenge is about to begin!

Once again people from all over the world will be slaving away heartily for 168 hours to produce a game of magnificent proportions. Or just trying to get something where an @ moves around the screen a bit without crashing.

My favorite thing about the 7dRL Challenge is exactly that, it’s a challenge, not a competition. Many people will try many things and success is a measure of personal achievement rather than external judging. While there is some judging, it’s meant to be a summary to help people find finished games they might be interested in rather than as a hard ranking of contestants.

This year the dates chosen are March 8-16th. I strongly recommend that you join in the fun and attempt to make a roguelike! This is the sort of event where risk of complete failure is pretty low and no matter what you’re bound to learn a lot in the attempt.

For more information on it, check out the official page: http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php?title=7DRL_Challenge_2014

Here’s some gemtastic quotes from some of this year’s 7dRL Challenge declared failures:

• “Adding rouge-like properties…” – It’s hard to program in a genre you can’t spell
• “I drew the theme “invade” from a hat, and also the feature “ASCII” — but from a shoe that time. Your guess is as good as mine as to what this all means.” – If you have to guess what your game’s going to be I’ll guess it’s going to be a failure
• “http://tbd.somewhere.out.there.com/” – With a progress blog like that you’re doomed to forever singing this song:
• “First ever in my life I’ll program in Java – I hate it unspeakably – and for Android – first ever I saw/use one in ’12 Dec. ” – 7dRL is not the time for “First ever in my life” and really not for anything that includes the words “I hate it”
• “…Unity…” – Awwwww. To be fair, several successes used Unity to great effect.
• “Windows (sorry)” – Apologizing for supporting the most popular OS is a bad sign
• “No idea what is roguelike.” – Also no idea what is success
• “no pre-built engine or libraries” – Also no built or post-built ones.
• “I hate going to the grocery store. This roguelike is inspired by that.” – This one I actually really want to see, hopefully it gets made in the future.

However! If your reason for failure included the following words, all is forgiven:

“My first roguelike”

“I learned a lot”

“I’ll be back next year!”

New alternate font now available!

Ahhhh, this more traditional font makes me more comfortable.

Full change log:

• Menu tweaks
• Added ability to choose a more traditional font
• Refactored to remove tearing on screen changes

Get it here: http://squidpony.com/AttackTheGeth1.4.zip