Ramp & Roll, skeeball arcade game - get your free copy today!

[eds1275]

*****Here's where you can download the game. I left the rest of the thread intact for anyone interested in reliving the journey. Unfortunately I lost both the build of the game and the backup I had of it so there will be no more updates 

My website:
www.permanentrecords.ca/games

And the Facebook page. I'm trying to spread the word about this game because I am really proud of it, and when combined with a few friends and a few drinks, it is a whole lot of fun. So the more you like and share it, the more it helps me do that.
www.facebook.com/rampandroll



If this is in the wrong forum, someone let me know. I wasn't sure if this qualifies as a "project announcement!"
   I didn't want to post anything until I had something to show and download. In fact I think the only forum member that knows about this is WellFedGames. If you were following my game build VOA, forgive me. I haven't given up on it but some of it is over my head and I needed an easier project to run through first. Specifically something without AI. My modelling skills have improved and I have remade every object for voa since last update and it looks fantastic! I am however having problems making the puppies have any sort of personality. Hopefully this skeeball sim will be a nice stepping stone for me to work on my programming skills.

   Here it is, in the same style as world class bowling and shuffleshot - 3d skeeball. Except it can't be called skeeball, because they sue! Literally. Google Brewski Ball for details on that... So help me name it, any and all names considered. My wife suggested Whee!Ball but That still sounds like trouble. Though I doubt even if I called it Skee Ball there would be trouble, I really don’t want to have the hassle if it ever does come up.

   The programs I used to create this are:
Blender for modelling and texturing
Gimp for making said textures
Unity for the game engine with Nvidia's PhysX for handling gravity
Internet for the carpet texture! I tried to make my own but I couldn't beat this one


   Here is a basic version of skeeball that lets you chuck balls and it tallies the score. I can view the score being tallied (and it works!) but there is no visual representation implemented yet. It counts the balls you throw as well - but you can throw infinite balls at this stage. When you throw a ball and it goes into the goal, it shows the score box for a few seconds... but there's nothing there yet! Also, the audio manager is working but there are no sounds yet. I'll zip something up in the next few days (it's the weekend!) and post another version. Next Saturday I have a group of people coming in to the studio to record some voice over things so I have some stuff for this as well for them to lay down in the style of the Shuffleshot heckling.

As it is, the sensitivity for the mouse works great for my laptop and mouse(not the little trackpad, but an actual mouse.) There is no way to change it on this version, so I hope it works out for you. It will be added to the menu when I get to that. For controls, you have:
Left view
Top view
Right View
Score View
Slow-Motion
Exit Game

Score view can be pushed at any time, however the others can only be pushed after the ball is in motion. Set these up before you play! In the actual version you will be able to change these controls in the service menu.

I will have some audio up by the end of the weekend!

What's next?

Improved audio including ball rolling/sliding/falling sounds
Better lighting for suresies
Multiplayer
Start menu that accepts coins
Service menu for options and coinage controls
High score list

That will be the next release. It is a big one, but lots of little, easy to implement features so not too far off.

   After that I want to add some different game modes. I'm off to a decent start.

   I look forward to ideas and suggestions! So far the only glitches I can find is the ball hitting the net and then slowly letting go.

[eds1275]

Also this is my first time posting a download link to my dropbox, so let me know if it didn't work for some reason!

The above picture is a render, and not an in-game. Here are a few in game screens in 4:3 from my office computer. I can see that one of the wood textures ended up getting misaligned, will add that to the list of things to fix!

[PL1]

Good news: Download works and game runs.   

Nice variety of monitor resolutions, BTW.

Not-so-good-news: Only able to get one shot out of dozens to actually make it over the ramp.   

Any chance of adding sensitivity settings?


Scott
EDIT: NVM, just re-read OP.

Works well with the mouse on the pin controller, but the shooter rebounds so fast that it messes up.   

Got caught in the net several times -- rolled out of the right side, but not from the left.

Also wondering why no gutterball action if you clear the ramp, but are outside the outermost scoring ring?

[eds1275]

Yeah that needs to be addressed. Im at work now and can only get the ball over the hump by shooting down the long way of my mouse pad. I hope to have at least a basic menu set up soon so that this can be addressed. Perhaps try playing at a higher resolution - I seem to be able to throw with more power the higher I go.

[PL1]

Yeah that needs to be addressed. Im at work now and can only get the ball over the hump by shooting down the long way of my mouse pad. I hope to have at least a basic menu set up soon so that this can be addressed. Perhaps try playing at a higher resolution - I seem to be able to throw with more power the higher I go.

Tried several resolutions, but it seems to throw the same.

See edit above for several more notes.


Scott

[eds1275]

Works well with the mouse on the pin controller, but the shooter rebounds so fast that it messes up.   
Got caught in the net several times -- rolled out of the right side, but not from the left.
Also wondering why no gutterball action if you clear the ramp, but are outside the outermost scoring ring?

I will add a gutter. I was going off of memory and a cutaway drawing of a ramp when I drew it up, there's no real skeeball that I'm aware of on the island where I live  Looking at photos I see what you mean. Won't be an issue to add.

The net collision is something I need to investigate. I believe the mesh is too thin for detection, so I will try adding some larger, invisible colliders.

I also will hide the mouse pointer, and straighten the score-holes... they are a little off-centre

[PL1]

Sounds great.

Managed to screencap an off-the-screen flyball.   

They are surprisingly easy to do with the pin controller.   

You may want to add a "ceiling", side walls, back wall, a wall behind the player's POV, floor, and a "floor drain" for wild shots like that one.

Also consider adding pegs like this to deflect the ball from being stuck. (hat tip: UncleT)



If you adjust your ramp profile to match UncleT's template photos, check out this post and the ones following it for useful angle details.


Scott

[eds1275]

Awesome, I have a list to work with now. I'll put some triggers in case the ball leaves the play area. I will probably have something up in the next day with some of the easier changes. If only I wasn't at work right now...

Are the view buttons something I should take out? Should I just automate the switching of cameras?

Also for the ramp angle, it so happens that this is the photo I used as a reference which is on the uncle t site. New revision probably up later this afternoon...

[PL1]

You may want to base your ramp curves/angles off UncleT's template here instead of that line drawing.

He posted pics here showing that template resting on the actual ramp.   

The rolling surface of the lane before the ramp is a 4 degree incline relative to the floor.

The L-square is parallel to the rolling surface of the lane.

The pencil line (2 degrees clockwise compared to the L-Square) represents the angle of the yellow side rail, a 6 degree incline relative to the floor.


Scott

[DarthMarino]

This is perfect timing as I was just playing some Golden Tee and World Class Bowling with my friend.  I am very excited about this project as I think it would fit in nicely with those games and Shuffleshot. 

I played with my trackball and it was also difficult for me to get speed but otherwise its working well.  My only suggestion right now is to stop the ball from rolling on it's own before you toss it.  It has a tendency to slowly roll even if the mouse is still.

[kiwasabi]

That's cool! One critique I'd make is the controls are a little wonky. In my game I could see the cursor moving around independently of the ball, and it was jarring. Seemed to me it should be 1:1 movement with the mouse cursor but maybe that doesn't work well. But overall controls seemed overly sensitive.

[eds1275]

That's cool! One critique I'd make is the controls are a little wonky. In my game I could see the cursor moving around independently of the ball, and it was jarring. Seemed to me it should be 1:1 movement with the mouse cursor but maybe that doesn't work well. But overall controls seemed overly sensitive.

If you read the thread you will see that it is a work in progress, and the ability to control the settings will be implemented in the future.

Update:

The camera controls have been scrapped. It is now automated and adds some variety. I think I have the collisions figured out. You can still throw the ball out of bounds if you do something weird, but there's a button that trigger the next ball if you get it stuck which does happen occasionally. I am going to add a slope to the sides so the ball rolls back into play if it ends up there. I have automated the process of skipping to the next ball if it ends up out of bounds... which should be hard to do but possible.

Mostly it's a camera update with some minor changes to geometry and it plays much better. Still no setting the sensitvity, I'll get to that...

Without further ado, here's the newest version!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aqmlyvdfdm88gcv/skee.zip?dl=0

[kiwasabi]

Uhh, quite aware it's a work in progress, that's why I gave feedback. Sorry it wasn't all positive.

[eds1275]

There's a new version coming up with a buttload of fixes and improvements.

**I came and edited out a bunch of information that isn't relevant and could lead you in the wrong direction if you don't bother reading all the posts**

[eds1275]

And here is the updated one:
*deleted outdated link

[eds1275]

I went out of town, and was crashing on a friends couch having the worst sleep ever when I realized a better way to adjust the settings. I threw it together in an hour, so hopefully I am done with the service menu and the game can now be played as a one player game properly and with minimal hassle besides initial set up.

As before, hold Alt when you start up for the first time to map buttons!

New things added:

More sounds!
The ball's rolling audio pitch changes depending on speed... not 100% happy with the sound I made, but this one is temporary and acceptable for now.
Easier service menu for setting up your mouse/trackball sensitivity.
Settings save properly now and don't reset when you go into the service menu
Added a default settings button in the service menu
Some leaner code throughout. Runs about the same as it did before, but there's a lot more going on.

New download link!

**Outdated link removed

Things I know about:
If you push the next ball button, weird things happen. I know what the problem is, so it will be fixed soon. It works as is but acts strangely and I don't think it counts the balls.
The ball rolling noise continues on into the holes and doesn't stop until the next ball.
Players 2/3/4 don't work.
The high score board doesn't work.

[DarthMarino]

This one is definitely playing much better.

[eds1275]

Yeah I changed the ramp angle again, definitely helped keep the game going. I feel like I'm on the right track! I updated the above link with a new file. Several other fixes including:

added the score to the rings
fixed the next ball button
fixed a glitch where the last ball wasn't counted

[eds1275]

A bunch of fixes in the latest download.

• I once again changed the ramp angle. It's close... not 100% but getting there.
• Rendered all lighting, so there's no extra processing going on for that (one of the most intensive processes)
• Faked a shadow for the ball
• Optimized the coding. I do a bunch of logging to make sure it runs smoothly and it apparently affects the build version of the game so I commented it out
• Added some more sound effects
• Again fixed the service menu. Still need to move some text around...

With all of these improvements, the game runs at a steady 60fps on my laptop which is older and has only on board graphics. Unfortunately I can't get it to run on my arcade machine, probably because of the tiny xp missing something or older graphics card that doesn't support some sort of shading or something.

**Outdated link removed

[DarthMarino]

I think the ball is getting some air if you roll it hard and it causes it to hit the ramp and bounce back.  Is there a way to prevent this?

[eds1275]

Happens to me as well, I'm trying to figure out what causes it so that I can fix it. I will try making the ball heavier and repost the game tomorrow if it helps.

[eds1275]

I again changed the ramp angle, added some weight to the ball, etc. Works for me the vast, vast majority of the time.

**Outdated link removed

Apart from writing and recording some music, and getting a group together to record crowd noises I am up to a part I am having troubles with: implementing the multiplayer aspect. I am not much of a coder but am learning more every day, and I hope to have that part done by Friday the 26th. Not promising anything, but I am busy playing guitar at an out of town wedding this weekend so it will have to wait until next week.

The code itself I can write - I just know that there is a better, more automated way to go about it than the way I know how to do it, and if I don't push myself I will never learn. My way would be like 50 lines or more of code (if statements to the moon!), and I think there's a way to do it in ten or less.

[eds1275]

I have been busy, and haven't even begun on the multiplayer code. After the wedding I had guests staying with me all week, had to edit the wedding photos etc etc. While I had those peeps in my house I did however get them recording the crowd noises I wanted for the game. They are not the voice actors I am used to using, but they did the job for now. I have different guests coming tomorrow and even more guests coming on Saturday so I will do a few more recordings and layer them as time goes on. If I haven't mentioned, I live on an island and people love to come visit.

So the new version including the crowd noises is up. I built the audio system to use an appropriate base sound, like booing, cheering, gasping etc and after a small delay occasionally a one-liner. The delay is currently 1.5 seconds, I just threw that in an went with it but I may change that to .75 or 1 second.

Now when the game is exited, it shows a credits screen for 4 seconds before exiting. Might as well give credit where it's due!

[eds1275]

Also I want a name change. Whee Ball is closer than Brewski Ball, and Skeeball (the company) is suing for being too close to the original name. The only one that comes to mind is Carny Bowling. But I'd need a super badass logo for that name and my art skills are not up to the task.

[DarthMarino]

Where's the link for the new version?

[eds1275]

oops!

**Outdated link removed

Because I keep replacing the file I think it stays the same. No comment on the idea to change the name to Carny Bowling?

[DarthMarino]

It sounds like a bowling game for people who work at the carnival.  Maybe CarniBall?

[keilmillerjr]

Try using bintray.com. You can upload multiple versions with tags, comments, readme, etc.

[thatpurplestuff]

Very cool... will definitely check this out when I get a chance!

[nitrogen_widget]

Wikipedia says these games were possibly first manufactured in coney island.
Why not call it coney-ball instead of carni-ball?
carni-ball makes me think of the movie Joe-Dirt.

[RandyT]

  

[eds1275]

  

I could not find any information on that game

[eds1275]

  

I could not find any information on that game

Oh wait, was that your suggestion for a name?

[RandyT]

Oh wait, was that your suggestion for a name?

Heh.  Yeah.  Whipped up the graphic to put it in the right light.  Seemed somewhat appropriate considering the soundtrack.  BTW, is this a commercial venture?  I wasn't quite clear on where this was heading ultimately.

[eds1275]

I was thinking of putting it up for free with a suggested donation amount. I haven't had time to work on it much these past few weeks but been brewing ideas in my head to figure out coding the multiplayer.

Middle of November I'm bringing a drummer into the studio (I own a small recording studio) to lay down real drums and then I'll redo all the guitars and bass and have a pianist brought in for some rock and roll organ and a proper remix for the music.

[RandyT]

That's generous of you.  If you like the name and logo I can give you some larger files.

BTW, I'm a big skee-ball fan, and have been waiting for a digital version which doesn't....er...suck   Nice to see someone attempting to tackle it!

[eds1275]

I do like the name and will get back to you if I use it. Gonna get some other opinions on it. I have a few more smilar yet different ideas for other games I may put together after this one. More trackball games FTW!

[PL1]

Why not call it coney-ball instead of carni-ball?

How about a variant like Coney Bowl? 


Scott

[jmike]

This looks great Ed. Thanks for working on this.
I'm a big fan of skee-ball as well.

 

[eds1275]

So no updates.I am making slow progress, but it seems like every time I make some headway I break something else. I'm not much of a programmer and looking back I realize I should have just made it multiplayer capable from the get go... or at least planned ahead so it could be more easily implemented. Oh well...

The next version of Unity comes out before Xmas and includes some really great features that will make the game look better, may improve the physics (though I am quite happy with how it is now after tweaking my sensitivity settings) and will improve the final build so it may run faster.

I also plan on doing some side art on the skeeball machine to break up the monotony of the red. So some little cosmetic changes are in the works as well.