Topic: My multiplayer CV server test!

[Aridale]

The last week or so Ive been workin on a multiplayer cv game and Ive got it to a point I want to get some ppl connected to see how it goes! I have a pretty craptastic internet connection so I dont expect it to be a wondrous bit of jolly cooperation but Id like to see how many ppl it can take at once.

Its pretty simple right now with just movement and a really simple chat but its workin pretty well from my testing. Im gonna leave the server runnin the rest of the day today and theres nothin special to do to try it out... just DL the client and run it!



Client Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53012532/CVTestClient.exe

When you run it youll get the option to enter a name. Just put anything. It strips everything but letters. Its just basically a name to display for now. Theres no persistence at all yet. Then itll ask if your character should be female. The male and female sprite are similar but the female is slimmer than the male and has a top on. Both just run around in their undies at this point lol. After that itll give you a color selection window. Thats your skin color. The default color is selected automatically (the color shown in the pic). Theres no limits on color right now.

All these prompts are just temporary for testing quickly and with multiple clients so dont go all "the input system blows!!" cause I know it does and its not permanent in the slightest.

It looks like a more colorful version of the NES games but it doesnt play like it. It controls more like the metroidvanias than anything else. The stairs are solid and actually slopes but it does use the classic stair animations. You can jump on stairs but not jump through em or fall through. The graphics look like the traditional stairs so it can kinda be offputting. Ive encountered this in the past and Im thinkin about how to go about showing graphically that the stairs are solid.

The thin platforms are jump through. That makes the stairs kinda awkward without changing the layout of the map. So Im thinkin about a kinda SoTN visual style for those parts where you can see stairs in the background but can only jump on the steps in the foreground. But for now its just a series of jumpthroughs to get you to the stairs. It kinda looks like crap atm but its not the permanent design.

Controls:

Left/Right: Move.
Down: Duck. Duck+Jump to go thru jump throughs from the top. Hold both down in the air to go thru em as well (Youll fall thru however many you encounter as long as you hold duck+jump)
Up: Interact. Right now its just the sign on the bottom level.
Z: Jump. Hold to jump higher.
X: Attack. For now its just a whip animation with no whip. It does nothing just plays the animation.
C: Chat. Opens a prompt for a msg to say. The prompt is temporary and only until I get a better system in place.

N: Toggle other player names. Shows the names above their head. Shift+N toggles your own. Both are off by default.
F4: Toggle fullscreen. It just blows the window up to your resolution and fully scales the game. No resolution changes or anything annoying like that.

A note about chat:
Chat doesnt work in this the way you might be used to from other mp games. Theres no chatbox with all the chat scrolling by etc. Its a completely local (read visual) based chat system using chat bubbles. If you cant see the player you cant see what theyre sayin. Simple as that. Later on for other kinds of messages like yell or global/trade/etc those bubbles will be on every players screen that should see them just with a different color bubble/text to show the type of msg.

You cant close the client in fullscreen (right now) because you have to use the close button. Ill fix it later on when I get more work done on the gui.

So thats about it! I hope to see lots of ppl try it out! Ill probably be in and out and monitorin this thread tryin to catch some ppl on and Ill watch the server to see if anyone is on!

[uzo]

I could get behind this kind of game. I'd really like to see a classic style control adopted though. Maybe something like SCVIV but not necessarily with the multidirectional whipping. I think the classic series could benifit the most from the mmo type structure with building characters given the slower character movement and lower attack options. Classes of characters would be more varried this way too, using the CV3 classes as a base. Personally I'd take a page from Castlevania the Arcade and make the character classes named something more broad. Also the NES aesthetic is good for this.

Just my two cents.

[Belmontoya]

Looks like a cool concept!

I'm with Uzo on the classic controls style though. I would prefe the classic stair mechanic too. I'm not a big fan of the slopes for stairs.

[Aridale]

I like the slopes for stairs. Its kinda annoying not bein able to jump/fall through em but eh. I also think I came up with a solution for the stairs that I like

[Lelygax]

Bug found: If you press left+down or right+down in a stair, you begin the walking animation but will be stuck in the place.

I know that you arent focusing in this part yet, its only a tip. I've tried it right now but no one was online, it run smoothly.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I keep getting "Could not connect to server".
Should I be opening ports or something?

[Aridale]

Lelygax: stuck as in can't move anymore or just animation?

Jorge: nope that shouldn't be happening. Prolly my connection at home. I'll check it in a min.

Edit: I just restarted the server should be ok now

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I'm still getting it.
"Could not connect to server".
Do I need to open up TCP/IP ports, perhaps? 

[Aridale]

That's just weird man it seems to be working fine for others so I'm not sure what to say. There's nothing you should have to do besides run client. Maybe a firewall issue on your end?

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Yeah, which is why I'm asking for what ports you're using, so I can punch a few holes in my firewalls.

[Aridale]

39083 is the port it uses. Maybe that'll help!

[Lelygax]

Also you could try to add it on firewall exceptions I think, if its not router-related.

Lelygax: stuck as in can't move anymore or just animation?

The character will try to move but wouldnt, while the animation will play anyway. You should try to do what I said to replicate it, since its simple you should do it in the first try.

[Aridale]

Yeah I replicated it easily. It's just something I missed in the animation controls. I'll get it fixed next time I work on it

[Lelygax]

Cool, Im not nitpicking at this bug, I only wanted to let you know about it.

[Aridale]

Its fixed now. I just updated the client the link is the same for the new version. It also has a few new things like parallax bgs and the updated stair graphics