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Main => Software Forum => Topic started by: shponglefan on March 14, 2020, 05:02:19 pm

Title: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on March 14, 2020, 05:02:19 pm
Current version:

2021/03/31 - Froggy updated to version 0.15. Added settings menu for audio and custom keybinds, plus minor bug fixes.

Available on itch.io: https://phgames.itch.io/froggy

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hr_llS1fEc

Original post:

Started creating a Frogger clone primarily as an excuse to learn pixel art. My goal is to create something that mimics what you'd find on a 16-bit era console in terms of art, sound and music.

I'm also experimenting tweaking and expanding core mechanics. For example, I've included the ability for cars to react to the player by braking and honking. This in turn has the effect of changing the pattern of traffic, making things more dynamic.

And I'm including gloriously violent frogger deaths. Because why not?  ;D
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: meyer980 on March 14, 2020, 06:38:33 pm
Cool! With all the horns going on it sounds a little like music. Looks a bit difficult currently but I'm sure you're still tuning that all in.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: nexusmtz on March 14, 2020, 11:11:48 pm
Maybe a special bonus for Connect-Four on the croakuses?
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on March 15, 2020, 12:57:54 pm
Cool! With all the horns going on it sounds a little like music. Looks a bit difficult currently but I'm sure you're still tuning that all in.

Y'know with the right horn tuning, maybe the horns could be used as music. :D

Difficulty level is something I haven't even started thinking about yet. My plan is to have progressively increasing difficulty with different obstacles and threats.  Right now I'm just experimenting with different gameplay mechanics to see what might or might not work.

Maybe a special bonus for Connect-Four on the croakuses?

That's certainly an idea!  :cheers:
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on March 22, 2020, 07:29:11 pm
New video with some progress. Tweaked some of the graphics and create animated turtle sprites.

Added an object on each lily pad (right now just a glassy orb) for the player to collect. The idea is that the player needs to get all 5 orbs to beat the level. I debated between this and the original mechanic of having a frog icon appear when the player successfully reaching a lily pad. However, I like the idea of having some sort of collectible thing the player has to get instead. The PSX version of Frogger uses the same idea.

I also experimented with modifying difficulty by changing the center grass strip to include a water section, plus the grey blocks that act as obstacles. It makes road navigation a bit trickier since you can't just go straight across.

Finally, added some music based on the classic Frogger theme. I'm hoping to expand this track into something a bit more interesting in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1JoLAt-sEg
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on April 26, 2020, 05:41:06 pm
Created an itch.io page and posted a playable prototype for download: https://phgames.itch.io/froggy
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 07, 2020, 10:12:56 pm
Been refactoring the prototype into a properly structured game. Once completed, my next step is to add more levels and experiment with adding more mechanics. I'm not sure if I'm going to include everything from the original arcade game, and I have some ideas for new mechanics of my own.

Ultimately, I want to expand beyond the original arcade game, particularly with different themed levels.

One big change I did make was extending the vertical resolution to 270 pixels. Previously I was using 224 pixels. This change brings the game more in line with the original arcade Frogger, and gives me more real estate to play with:

(https://i.imgur.com/iCuAdTq.png)
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 07, 2020, 10:22:26 pm
FWIW, here is a shot of my current Trello board I'm using to track this project's progress. It lists out my various development activities and a bunch of possible ideas for the game.

(https://i.imgur.com/mitWTwu.png)
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 10, 2020, 06:17:45 pm
Updated Froggy to v0.11. It can be downloaded from itch.io: https://phgames.itch.io/froggy

The game now features four levels with proper level mechanics, menus, scoring, etc.

One new feature is the inclusion of trees. They are displayed from a top-down perspective and partially obscure things underneath them. When the player moves under a tree, it turns transparent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydruOINIYBg
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: thatpurplestuff on May 11, 2020, 10:12:47 pm
Definitely going to try this out, it looks awesome!  Keep the updates coming!
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Mike A on May 11, 2020, 10:32:51 pm
I like the trees, but I think they should just stay solid.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 12, 2020, 09:03:05 pm
Definitely going to try this out, it looks awesome!  Keep the updates coming!

Thank you! I have a lot more planned for this game, so stay tuned!  :)

I like the trees, but I think they should just stay solid.

Thanks for the feedback. I tried the trees both with and without transparency. The main thing I'm trying to solve is a way to let the player know the tree trunks are solid (since they block the player). Hence, why I tried the transparency idea since it shows there is still something blocking the player.

I've got some other ideas to try, so I'll keep playing around with them and see what I come up with.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 17, 2020, 04:55:32 pm
I've been working on some new features this past week: snakes and trains.

(https://i.imgur.com/Z7vAdPv.png)

The train art is currently placeholder art as I work out the code for them. Once that is done, I'll create art for individual train cars and allow for the building of modular trains.

For the snakes, I'm currently on working on three different versions of snakes with different in-game behaviors.

Meanwhile, here's a video of a test level I built to try out the trains:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiSAopF2PR0
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: thomas_surles on May 17, 2020, 06:09:59 pm
That's really good. Love me some frogger. Would love this for my cab when you are finished. Coin button would be cool but I could live without.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: MacGyver on May 18, 2020, 10:48:38 am
Would be funny to make a level that is pretty much impossible and then allow for the frog to go to the right and the screen scrolls right and a pedestrian bridge shows up down the road. :)

Looks fun.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: baritonomarchetto on May 18, 2020, 10:54:25 am
Niiice :)
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Robbbert on May 18, 2020, 11:12:10 am
Thank you for this.  :)
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 18, 2020, 11:13:12 am
Would be funny to make a level that is pretty much impossible and then allow for the frog to go to the right and the screen scrolls right and a pedestrian bridge shows up down the road. :)

Looks fun.

Coincidentally, I did something almost along those lines recently when experimenting with the traffic simulation in the game.  ;D

I do like the idea of a hidden pedestrian bridge though.  :cheers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PuZPYPRbRU
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 24, 2020, 06:27:10 pm
Published a new update to version 0.12. This update adds trains to the game, and two new levels featuring said trains.

It can be downloaded via itch.io: https://phgames.itch.io/froggy

You can press "Alt-S" on any level to skip ahead to the next one. Just in case you want to bypass the previous four levels.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glIaejSQKIQ
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 24, 2020, 09:03:44 pm
I've been thinking a lot lately about where I want to go with this game.

Two features I've been strongly thinking about include:

1) Local (2-player) multiplayer. I am thinking simultaneous play in a quasi coop/competitive mode. I have no idea yet how it would work exactly, but as I work on the game, this will influence future design decisions.

2) Different character options. This ties in with the idea of multiplayer and allowing players to select their own character. Different colored frogs would be the easy way of doing this, but I think it would be neat to include other types of animals. Not sure which ones yet. I need to think of animals that 'hop'.

As I work through the code, I realize I need to do a significant refactoring of the core player/state machine code to allow for simultaneous play. That will take some time.

I also need to figure out Godot's input mapping options for player customization, since being able to custom map inputs becomes all the more important with a 2-player mode. Plus, I want this game to be cab friendly and that means allowing players to map to whatever inputs they have set up for their cabs.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Mike A on May 25, 2020, 06:22:18 am
I like the idea of simultaneous 2 player.

It will be interesting to see how you pull it off.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Titchgamer on May 25, 2020, 06:43:07 am
Not sure how this has slipped my attention thus far but it looks pretty damn awesome man!

And 2 player frogger sounds epic!
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 26, 2020, 09:31:17 pm
I've been thinking of adding a countdown timer. The timer would start at 99 seconds or something. When the player completes the level, any remaining time would count towards a bonus to their score. The player's score in turn would be used for things like extra lives or other bonuses.

This gives a player incentive to complete the level faster to get a higher score.

In 2-player mode only the player who gets the final orb and completes the level will get the bonus from the countdown timer. The intent is to create incentive for players to initially try to get the orbs as quickly as possible to preserve time, but then compete over the final one for the bonus.

We'll see how this works in practice...

And @Titchgamer, thank you for the kind words! :cheers:
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Robbbert on May 27, 2020, 08:10:38 am
You might want to mention that this won't run on a 32-bit computer - 64-bit is required.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Mike A on May 27, 2020, 08:26:32 am
The timer is also a good idea.

Nice work on this all around. :applaud:
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 27, 2020, 03:29:34 pm
You might want to mention that this won't run on a 32-bit computer - 64-bit is required.

I added a 32-bit build to the download page. I currently don't have a 32-bit version of Windows to test it on, but if you can try it out let if there are any issues running it.

Going forward, I'll make sure to release both 64 and 32-bit builds with each update.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 27, 2020, 03:33:40 pm
The timer is also a good idea.

Nice work on this all around. :applaud:

Thank you Mike, appreciate the kinds words!  :cheers:
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 28, 2020, 10:00:18 pm
Been working on the snake animation this week.

I started by drawing a basic skeleton of the animation, focusing on just the core movement. The animation ended up being 6 frames total.

(https://i.imgur.com/m6uR6kS.gif)

I then traced over the basic animation with the detailed snake sprite:

(https://i.imgur.com/A9Z4I7R.gif)

I'm also working on animation for the snake switching directions from left to right (and vise-versa). Between two directions and two direction change animations, this snake will have 24 individual drawn frames.

Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Robbbert on May 29, 2020, 07:33:08 pm
You might want to mention that this won't run on a 32-bit computer - 64-bit is required.

I added a 32-bit build to the download page. I currently don't have a 32-bit version of Windows to test it on, but if you can try it out let if there are any issues running it.

Unfortunately it doesn't like my inbuilt GPU. It wants me to buy a new one.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Mike A on May 29, 2020, 10:04:38 pm
I played the game a bit.

First, nice job.

You did a good job recreating the original game play.

Does the frog seem a little slow to move forward, especially through traffic? It might just be me.

I will play some more. I like it so far.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Howard_Casto on May 29, 2020, 11:31:12 pm
I gave it a try... plays good.  I've just got a suggestion for the menus.... your highlighted color probably shouldn't be gray.  I thought the thing was crashing on me because I accidentally selected exit the first two times I launched the game.  Also am I doing something wrong as my gamepad works for the menus but not the game itself.  I mean that's not a deal breaker by any means. 
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Robbbert on May 30, 2020, 05:49:20 am
I agree about the menu. I thought the selection with the border would be the one selected, but it's the plain grey one. At first I was wondering why the arrow keys were backward, then I figured out what had been done.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 30, 2020, 01:22:56 pm
Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

Regarding a few specific things:

1) Good points about the menu colors. I've changed them; in the next update, the menus should be more intuitive.

2) @Howard: The inconsistent joystick controls (menu vs game) is because I hadn't properly mapped the joystick for everything. In the next update, I'll have implemented basic gamepad/joystick support. Right now it will be restricted for Device 0 controls only (e.g. whatever Windows thinks is the first assigned joystick). In the future, I plan to implement an option menu so the player can choose their controller preference.

3) @Mike: The player's jump speed is constant regardless of their map location. The exception is their left/right movement when riding on a turtle or log. The game takes into account the underlying object's speed in addition to the player's own jump distance in that instance.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Mike A on May 30, 2020, 03:58:38 pm
Okay. So it's just me. Wouldn't be the first time.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on May 30, 2020, 08:10:03 pm
Okay. So it's just me. Wouldn't be the first time.

It's a valid observation. I'll keep tweaking things and my hope is that I can get the player movement to a point where it feels appropriately responsive and fluid.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on June 02, 2020, 03:05:12 pm
Published a new update today (v0.13). This version adds snakes to game!

Latest version can be downloaded on itch.io: https://phgames.itch.io/froggy

Snakes currently show up in levels 1-3, 1-4 and 1-5. They slowly patrol across the screen. I liked Howard's suggestion from the other thread to have the snakes chase the player. While they don't switch lanes, they will aggressively pursue the player if the player gets too close. They can also move through trees, unlike the player.

One note is that the current death animation when the player is hit by the snake is temporary. I haven't yet decided how I want to handle death-by-snake in the game. So I implemented a quick 'n dirty player dissolve for the moment.

There are a few other improvements including menu improvements and adding basic joystick/gamepad support.

Video of current version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hr_llS1fEc
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on February 22, 2021, 12:10:46 pm
I know it's been forever since I last posted about this game. It's not dead though!  I've been chipping away behind the scenes trying to keep things moving.

I did publish an update back in November, although it wasn't a particularly flashy update since it mainly involved re-factoring the entire player code base.

Something I am experimenting with is trying to figure out how to incorporate a sense of urgency in the game. The original Frogger used a timer. However, in experimenting with that I don't really like it. I'd prefer something tied to the in-game world, rather than just an abstract timer.

One idea was having time-limited goals. For some reason, the first idea I thought of was having the player rescue other frogs that are strapped to bombs set to timers. If the player takes too long, the bombs go off.

Another option was having something like the Spelunky's ghost; IOW, if the player takes too long, some sort of threat appears that stalks the player in the level and adds more challenge.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Beyond that, I'm working on more of the back-end stuff, refactoring old code and trying to build a more modular code base for future development. Also currently working implementing a settings menu and the option to re-assign player controls. It's not flashy, but it's necessary.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on March 31, 2021, 09:36:16 pm
Published a new update (v0.15) incorporating a settings menu for audio settings and custom keybinds.

Latest version can be downloaded here: https://phgames.itch.io/froggy

Figuring out Godot's system for handling custom input assignments took a lot longer than I original anticipated. I couldn't find any tutorials on doing custom gamepad/joystick keybinds, so I basically spent the past month figuring it out from scratch. But I arrived at something which seems workable.

Surprising that something that seems so trivial can take so long to figure out. But it's an important step especially as I will need a way to handle keybindings when I implement a second player.

There is still some more work to do on working on the custom settings and at some point I need to give the interface and UI graphics a much-needed overhaul. But for now, it's functional.

Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: nitrogen_widget on April 01, 2021, 12:02:55 pm
I like the cars reminds me of spy hunter
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on April 03, 2021, 07:53:26 pm
Thank you nitrogen_widget, appreciate the feedback!  :cheers:


In other news, been working on some more graphics for the game.

Below is a concept sketch of a title screen / main menu idea. I'm thinking about converting the game to a proper 16:9 aspect ratio, and possibly support 4:3 as well. This will open up more options for in-game interface elements.

(https://i.imgur.com/Z4M7Obc.png)

Also, a rough sketch of a winter tileset theme. One thing I wanted to try to for the winter set is having ice flows that break apart the more times you hop on them.

(https://i.imgur.com/RZvMFGA.png)
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: nitrogen_widget on April 19, 2021, 08:48:45 pm
since you leave the squished frog on the freeway, might as well have the drowned frog float away. :)
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on August 07, 2021, 06:58:30 pm
since you leave the squished frog on the freeway, might as well have the drowned frog float away. :)

I do love that idea and I'm going to see if there is a way I can make that work. :)
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on August 07, 2021, 07:05:09 pm
Bit of a development update.

Over the past couple months I've been experimenting with different ideas insofar as where to take the game. Two things I've been experimenting with have included scrolling levels and a possible switch to isometric graphics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYnIZYgQweo

Note the graphics in the above level are purely placeholders at this time.

Scrolling levels is an opportunity to create more involved, interesting levels. The idea is to grab objects throughout the level required for meeting level completion goals. This is a departure from the traditional Frogger gameplay of simply hopping the frog to the other side of the screen and then repeating.

Switching to isometric graphics will also allow for more interesting terrain features and obstacles. One thing I had struggled with the top-down view was creating interesting elements to add to levels. Isometric graphics solves that problem especially since it allows for better representation of size and scale.

I'm also thinking of doing away with the lives mechanic and going for more of a Super Meat Boy style with endless attempts. I do still want to come up with ways to incentivize speed, but haven't figured that out yet.

So development is slowly but surely continuing! Lots of experimenting going on and I'll see how it all plays out.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on August 19, 2021, 09:45:06 pm
Minor development update, working on a revamped GUI and menus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iZ-bc7_UPc
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: nitrogen_widget on August 20, 2021, 01:05:42 pm
looking forward to trying this one.

any chance on a linux build?
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on August 20, 2021, 07:58:02 pm
looking forward to trying this one.

any chance on a linux build?

The Godot engine I'm using does support Linux, so I should be able to produce a Linux build. The only caveat is I don't have a Linux machine to test it personally.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: nitrogen_widget on August 21, 2021, 12:08:59 am
looking forward to trying this one.

any chance on a linux build?

The Godot engine I'm using does support Linux, so I should be able to produce a Linux build. The only caveat is I don't have a Linux machine to test it personally.

I have a few of those. 32 and 64 bit.
but, for the 32 bit version, how low an os does the export support?
win7?
winXP?
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on August 21, 2021, 11:09:40 am
I have a few of those. 32 and 64 bit.
but, for the 32 bit version, how low an os does the export support?
win7?
winXP?

From what I've read it doesn't support WinXP due to the APIs used by the engine.

I did test it with Win7 a year ago and it was working at least at that time.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Howard_Casto on August 21, 2021, 03:13:35 pm
Lots of times win 7x apis can be used in xp, they just have to be manually installed. Then again nobody should be using xp at this point, even in a cab unless it's a legacy one.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on August 22, 2021, 09:57:33 am
Lots of times win 7x apis can be used in xp, they just have to be manually installed. Then again nobody should be using xp at this point, even in a cab unless it's a legacy one.

Plus from a development POV if I was going to develop for legacy systems, it would make more sense to use frameworks / APIs for those systems (like XNA or something).

On a related note, I have occasionally thought about installing an old version of Borland C++ and doing some vintage DOS games development. Might be a fun nostalgia trip to revisit some of that old games code from the 90's.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: 10yard on August 24, 2021, 04:24:35 pm
I'm using Python for cross-platform development along with the pygame and pygame-menu libraries for my game related projects.  I've managed to build on Win 64, Win 32 including XP, Linux and Raspberry Pi with no issues.  Mac and Android shouldn't be a problem either.

Python is a dynamic, interpreted language,  so there are advantages for rapid development and realisation of your ideas.  The cost is runtime performance,  you would think,  but for a 2D/Isometric type game,  it should not be an issue at all.  pygame itself is implemented in C, and uses the cross-platform C library SDL2. The performance critical part of pygame are not implemented in Python. This makes pygame reasonably fast.

Worth having a look at least.


Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Thenasty on August 26, 2021, 06:07:35 am
did someone mention DOS ? That's me. You need me to test FROGGY (hint hint) on pure DOS, LMK.


Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on August 26, 2021, 09:05:36 pm
Thank you 10yard and Thenasty for the advice/offers.

Currently I am developing using the Godot engine which does only support modern Windows (e.g. 7/10) machines. Part of the reason I opted for this route was the engine takes care of a lot of the grunt work, so no need to reinvent a lot of basic systems and I can focus on higher level of development.

So for the moment that means no DOS, Win XP or anything likely older than Win 7 for support. At least not for the meantime.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: Malenko on August 27, 2021, 08:55:19 am
An "endless" mode would be cool.  The game could seamlessly add a new section as you move up. Then like every 5th row of traffic you get past, the game picks from a pool of harder and harder sections which would make it somewhat rogue-like and add a lot of replayability.

I think removing a "lives counter" would kind of make it not "Frogger" but you could incentivize faster game play via bonuses or items that disappear from the screen after X amount of seconds.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on August 29, 2021, 04:05:30 pm
An "endless" mode would be cool.  The game could seamlessly add a new section as you move up. Then like every 5th row of traffic you get past, the game picks from a pool of harder and harder sections which would make it somewhat rogue-like and add a lot of replayability.

I think removing a "lives counter" would kind of make it not "Frogger" but you could incentivize faster game play via bonuses or items that disappear from the screen after X amount of seconds.

I'd like to implement an endless mode (or at least attempt it). Though this would mean this game would go from being a Frogger clone to becoming a Crossy Road clone. ;D

In general, I'm trying to move away from making a pure clone and seeing what other possibilities there are for different kinds of gameplay. Ultimately I just want something that feels fun to play. We'll see what happens!
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on August 29, 2021, 04:06:48 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whnGYORn1T4

Another development update. This past week I implemented sound effects for the GUI, an audio management system and a save menu/save management system.

Next up will be a character select screen (though there is only one character for now) and a world/level select screen.

Not entirely sure how I'm going to approach the latter. I'm currently torn between an elaborate Super Mario World-style overmap versus something simpler like Super Meat Boy.
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: nitrogen_widget on August 30, 2021, 09:04:09 pm
should let two frogs race. :)
Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: pbj on August 30, 2021, 09:23:44 pm
You should make a Louisiana level where if you die, your next frog has to retrieve the corpse before a Cajun eats it.

Title: Re: Started developing a Frogger clone
Post by: shponglefan on September 05, 2021, 10:19:02 pm
should let two frogs race. :)

I'm envisioning something along those lines; some sort of coop/competitive hybrid.