Different characters, arrows, grenades and parachuting

I've just introduced the different character abalities. Each player will choose the player he wants to play with, but for now for debugging purposes I can just switch between them by pressing 1,2 and 3. :)

Runner
He jumps high enough to reach a 2 block high platform
He has a bit more acceleration and more speed
No projectiles

Shooter
He has a medium jump
Medium acceleration and speed
Fires arrows

Explosives guy
He practically doesn't have a jump, but when he's falling he has a parachute so he can reach places where others would die if they try to.
He's a bit slow
Fires grenades

I've improved a bit the graphics for the grenade (including a timer) and also the graphics for the arrow. I've also pasted the static concept art we have for the avatars. They look cool even if they aren't animated yet ;)

I'm going to start working on the lobby system. Need to think a bit before starting coding.

Targets and some code tweaks

Today I've put in place targets which when hit with an arrow will operate a tile (like a gate or lift).

I've also tweaked a bit the level class so that I can distinguish easier between tiles that are collidable, targetable, destructable, static, etc

I will be working on different character classes next ;)
Can't wait to get these done, so I can start working on the lobby system which will be a bit of a headache but fun and educational (unless I encounter some other flash bug or undocumented feature)

What's next

Got some feedback from some of you... (i fixed that ladder bug Sven ;) ).
Any feedback is always welcome...

So what's next?
Here are some features that I will be implementing next
- Targets that can be shot with arrows (And which trigger some action, like opening a gate)
- 3 Different character types (one which handles explosives, the runner/jumper, the projectile guy)
- Bigger tutorial level with help blobs
- Smooth movement multiplayer code (to eliminate as much as possible the glitches due to latency)
- Lobby system (where people can match up and play a level together)
- Some minor fixes to the scrolling (need to add the concept of overlays, i.e. not just 1 layer of tiles)

Prototype testing

Ok,
So before you visit the link here is what the prototype is about.
- It shows a working scrolling platform level
- Editor mode (but please don't save anything for now ;) )
- Very rough multiplayer server without any smoothing, so you will see some jerking for now.
- Chat client (duuh)

The aim of the mini-level is for the players to reach the exit point (it's just a graphic though... no game-complete check for now). The players right now all have the same abilities, plus just for testing purposes you can keep on jumping as if you're flying... so you can browse through the level at your own pleasure hehe.
To reach the lifts switches, you need to destroy the cracked tiles in the beginning of the level. Switch the weapon to grenades (LSHIFT), and then aim with A and Z and hold and release space. To activate switches press (LCTRL).

Run the prototype...
(If it tells you connection failed, it's probably coz my PC restarted ;) )

Coming up:
- Smooth multiplayer movements
- Mouse scrolling to see the level
- Mini-map
- Different character capabilities.
- Match making

Feather/Hay Particle system

I'm working on a simple game for someone, and I needed to create a particle system for hay / feathers... you know you fall on a stack of hay and puffffffffffffff <atchoooo hayfever hehe>.The particles gravity decreases as time goes by, until they reach a certain speed when falling, and then they start swaying... like feathers do. Pretty cool ;)

Needless to say, I can reuse this code in some other game :D

Also yesterday I tested the prototype with Sven and Alex and there were some glitches but it looks promising. Today I will be working on the prototype so I will send all of you the link for testing as promised.

Almost there...

I'm almost there to send you a link to a playable prototype.
I've got lifts activation working over the server and also changing of weapons.

So now I just need to fix some minor bugs and implement the exit point, and then we can meet online to discuss the game when you see it in action :D.

I hope MS kills Flash

Ah man flash is so fucked up.
I have a users list component... and this component doesn't have a removeItem()... but only removeItemAt(index). So I decided to link an array using the dataProvider property. So when I added an item to the array, the list is automatically updated. Then i used splice() to remove items from the array AND SURPRISE SURPRISE, the list component is not updated.
I call this CFUASS - "classical fucked up actionscript shit"... yeah i'm pissed off coz i wasted 30min on something stupid as updating a boring list.