Quark Robot dev blog

Week #38 update

Quark Robot -

What I've done this week##

The main focus this week was brining LAN games in-line with local machines games. Thing such as cheating, transferring lives (a feature of the original Lode Runner Online: The Mad Monks' Revenge that I always forget), restarting puzzles and other UI elements. LAN cheating was also worked on this week.

*LAN game in action!*

Monk AI when a runner cannot be reached (in a hidey-hole for example) took up quite a lot of time. You may have noticed I've made a half-hearted attempt to solve this when the monk(s) are on the row 2nd from the bottom... this was more of a proof of concept or test try. Continue reading this update for the nitty-gritty details.

With the help of Adam, older Gravis Gamepad Pro USB controllers now mostly work under OS X. At the moment the left and right dpad buttons don't work. If you have a controller that doesn't work with Lode Runner, please download the SDL2 Gamepad tool and follow the instructions. Just add the output to the gamecontrollerdb.txt file that is with the execute and the gamepad should work. Please send me the new mappings so I can update the file on GitHub.

If you are in the market for a new controller, I recommend you get yourself a Microsoft Xbox One controller which works well on all platforms (Xbox One, Windows, OS X and Linux). You can see Lode Runner working on OS X with one here.

We've decided to change the blog logo every month. Since there are twelve months per year, and as luck would have it, twelve worlds in Lode Runner Online, you'll now see a new blog logo each month. Being the 9th month in the year, this month now has the 9th world - Industrial/Meltdown Metropolis.

Finally, just a reminder to those who try out the monthly builds; you can toggle between full-screen and windowed mode by pressing ALT+ENTER. The upcoming September build at the end of the month will have this toggled to start with.

A name in parenthesis and in bold is the finder of the bug/quirk. Thanks to all, I really do appreciate your time and support. Cheers!

Editor

  • you can no longer cheat when trying a game (some cheats worked in previous builds)
  • resetting a puzzle when trying a game now works as expected and matches the original

Game

  • monks no longer stand still when a runner cannot be reached;
  • this was by far the most requested feature of late in order to make puzzles solvable
  • thinking about this, I believe the hold-up and multiple attempts previously was due to me overcomplicating things
  • tweaked monks waiting on others when coming onto a ladder from the top
  • partial support for 1998-era Gravis Gamepad Pro added with thanks to Adam
  • when the game is over, it now pauses to match the original (single-player)
  • tweaked aborting a blast when a monk is too close - no longer aborts if the blast is too far along
  • two runners entering a puzzle will no longer play the accompanying sound effect twice
  • fixed bug that prevented you from skipping to the last puzzle in the set when skipping sequentially
  • updated rope trap/snare to match original;
    • the trap will release when the setter has moved away
    • fixed bug the would trap a monk while he was eating a runner
  • in two-player or LAN games, runners who have expired now re-enter correctly when they are granted another life (either a transfer from another player or from cheating)
  • when cheating, points are now reset upon entering the next puzzle instead of instantly - matches original
  • LAN;
  • updates to the core networking
  • fixed bug that crashed the game when sending chat messages (my Mother)
  • fixed bug that could cause the client not to go to the next puzzle
  • you are not returned to the network dialog after aborting hosting a game
  • the music/start puzzle sound effect no longer stops when you press the join game button and no game is selected
  • pause fixes;
    • fixed bug that paused the game on the server when Wes Reckless idled
    • the UI no longer pauses when in a game
    • fixed bug the only allowed the host to pause the game and only allowed unpausing to work locally on the client
  • fixed bug that prevented a runner from escaping a rope trap
  • you can now restart a puzzle
  • runners can no longer re-enter/spawn into the puzzle with the suicide or use keys
  • you cannot control monks with the YOG cheat when in a LAN game
  • when selecting a puzzle to skip to in a LAN game, the dialog is no longer full-screen
  • you can only cast yourself into oblivion via the HUD (e.g. host can only kill Jake and client can only kill Wes)
  • you can now skip puzzles (cheat)
  • fixed the jackhammer drill in LAN games


My current LAN test puzzle - pretty basic

The original Lode Runner Online: The Mad Monks' Revenge still has quite a few secrets that I don't understand. The sounds that play after exiting a puzzle is one of them. It appears the sound plays in the 1st puzzle and every 4th puzzle in the set and that one of three sounds is chosen at random. Like the original, this feature only works for single player and when the audio effects are enabled.

*Puzzle complete sound effects in action*

General

  • removed a couple of now obsolete puzzle helper methods and merged some together
  • restoring a puzzle no longer needs read access to the puzzle set on disk
  • fixed bug in sound manager that prevented some effects playing at the same time
  • moved the revert prompt message in the options dialog to the language files

Bugs being worked on

  • nothing, yay!

What I'll probably do next week

  • play/test for bugs
  • continue AI improvements
  • bring LAN gaming in-line with local machine games
  • complete items from my TO-DO list