Author Topic: AEON - Released  (Read 18797 times)

AWS

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AEON - Released
« on: June 22, 2010, 04:35:41 AM »
my first 'Epic' level is almost NOW ready...

 ;D
« Last Edit: July 02, 2010, 05:27:41 AM by AWS »

Bonobo

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Re: AEON - Coming Soon
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2010, 05:22:52 AM »
<drool>

AWS

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Re: AEON - Coming Soon
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2010, 05:28:59 AM »
<drool>
id love to see the avatar of that 'drool'!! would it be scary, or creepy, or kinda messy?!

how long is too long for a level; a general question to anyone who's interested?
2, 3, 10 hours?

AWS

Bonobo

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Re: AEON - Coming Soon
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2010, 05:59:42 AM »
Hahaha, no, I guess it would probably be funny. Imagine me sitting in a puddle of saliva ;)

I’d consider 2-3 hours as “long” for a level. Not necessarily too long, I can certainly enjoy such a long level. But … it might be nice to know ahead that such a level could take that long since we can’t save levels. Oh well, I can, not exactly save a level, but I can suspend the virtual machine Eufloria runs in.

annikk.exe

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Re: AEON - Coming Soon
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2010, 04:14:01 PM »
You could make a 3 hour level, but it had better be fairly easy because people probably won't try it a second time if they fail the first... :>

Personally I would say go 1.5 hours max.  That is quite long but still short enough not to put too many people off of trying again.
Up to you though.. :>

AWS

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Re: AEON - Coming Soon
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2010, 11:32:48 PM »
hm... interesting thoughts on duration. thanks.
i played through the latest, and basically finished version yesterday, and it took me 2hours almost exactly. so, im pretty happy with that.

i reckon a release date within a week or so depending on my internet connection availability.

hehe....its fun. definitely possible first time but definitely also not too easy by any means. not having the full AI from annikk's code means that it doesnt come to get you at lightning pace or all at once. my ai has a healthy dose of retreat in it making for a mildly easier time of it. but only just!

soon....

AWS

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Re: AEON - Coming Soon
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2010, 05:26:59 AM »
well, after much tweaking and playing (almost to the point of boredom!) i have reached the final cut, as it were! (for now, anyway)
ideally, id like a couple of testers to try it out first and let me know some thoughts but ive been sitting on it for long enough now (and still have no home internet access) that i will release it as it is, and if you find any problems, etc, post them and ill tackle them as they get posted.

as before, this is an attempt at making a level more epic. for 'epic' im meaning long, almost a grinding slog, but definitely fun to play. like someone mentioned about my Binary Black level requiring near constant vigilance, this level will certainly not reward you leaving it for too long to build up seeds and such!
the aims were to make it about 2 hours to complete, and that it would continue to tax most players right up until the last asteroid.

what emerged as i got about half way with it was how the game seemed to change gears or switch focus at the half way mark ingame, and i think this makes for a more interesting, almost serene pleasure when moving a large army of seeds across big distances.

one note of warning, if you have a slow/ low-end pc (or mac if thats your thing!), by the end you may have too many seedlings for it to cope. i have a pretty decent pc, albeit a laptop, and it began to struggle towards the end. if most people find this is a problem, you can either change the stats yourselves, or i can edit the release version as and when.

So, enjoy...

AWS

AWS

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2010, 11:13:07 PM »
no issue yet for anyone? 8)
good. ithats good!

 ;)

Bonobo

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2010, 11:22:12 PM »
I must confess that I haven't yet found time to play it, after all you said it would be a long level and I didn't want to interrupt the game.

AWS

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2010, 11:29:26 PM »
indeed.

i estimate a 2-hour duration.
moderate difficulty.

so yeah, it may take a while...

 ;)

threephi

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2010, 06:12:36 AM »
Just gave it a crack and it crashed Eufloria to the desktop after about 1 hour 20 minutes :(

The crash happened a few seconds after I sent about 1600 seedlings to attack what I think I was the final planet... it was a giant off in the upper right above the other giants and it looked like the strength/speed/energy levels were capped (I had sent one scout to check it out ahead of my main force).

As advertised this is indeed a massive level.  I found it quite straightforward though... after getting six or seven asteroids under my belt, most of the time was spent building seedlings or waiting for them to arrive at my mustering spots before attacks.  I personally would like to see the AI a bit more aggressive (I'm not talking annikk's infected AI aggressive, just a little bit more frisky so it makes me work a bit more).

I also should point out two graphical weirdnesses:


This is the little friendly planet just above your home asteroid which starts with one defensive tree.  Note that it seems to be growing above the asteroid surface.


This is the giant off to the lower right (the lower-most one on the right side).  The defense trees on this planet have a very unusual appearance when you zoom close.

smeece85

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #11 on: July 05, 2010, 03:40:15 AM »
I too had a crash unfortunately - at about the 2 hour mark.

(click to show/hide)

It was definitely an interesting map, and did change gears considerably.  I found myself wondering how much bigger it could go, and being paranoid enough about attacks to leave 500 seeds on most of the later planets. In a way it reminded me of Katamari Damacy, with respect to the scale change.

One thing that is fundamentally a little frustrating is that I don't think seeds are very effective at such large scales. I could attack with 1500 seeds, but the size of the planets meant that most of the seeds weren't attacking as they landed, but rather circling around to the back of the planet once first, and then dispersing.  Obviously this meant that a large percentage would be destroyed by the defensive trees due to the huge circumferences.

Anyway, interesting experience!  Thanks!

AWS

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #12 on: July 05, 2010, 11:01:32 PM »
firstly, thanks for the feedback folks.
yes, those 2 screenshots are problem i had come across myself over time.
the issue of it crashing, i think the most pressing issue yes!?, is something to do specifically with the final planet. up until that point, it was fine for me. so, i will see what the deal is with it. in the meantime, feel free to take it out of the code completely. (i may end up doing exactly that anyway...)

as for the zoom spikiness is concerned- that is something that happens, at least in my experience, when the roids go over a certain size and spec, etc. im not sure i can do much about that im afraid.

i have never seen the problem with the trees appearing to grow at a distance off the roids' surface in all my testing so im unsure  about that one.

i will sort out asap -
1-the crashing that happens with the final roid, and
2-difficulty. although i am slightly hesitent to alter it too much, merely because i didnt want the level length to be extended TOO far because of crazy AI and suchlike.

..to work...

threephi

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #13 on: July 06, 2010, 12:14:33 AM »
I played a second time and all the issues I listed in my previous post were present, including the crash.  I made a point to not visit the final planet this time (I made it to the planet that links to it a bit earlier this run through but directed my attacks in the other direction first) and the crash still occurred around 1:15 or 1:20 in.  The thing with the defense tree growing above the surface has only occurred with the tree that is pre-planted on that one planet, all other trees I have planted were normal.
« Last Edit: July 06, 2010, 01:17:47 AM by threephi »

annikk.exe

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #14 on: July 07, 2010, 09:15:14 PM »
Crashing people - are you using v2.05?

AWS

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #15 on: July 07, 2010, 09:48:23 PM »
Crashing people - are you using v2.05?

very good point.
im using 2.05, and it crashes for me too. do you think that would be the cause of the crashes, not my code?

is there a known compatbility issue with 2.05?

AWS

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #16 on: July 07, 2010, 09:50:46 PM »
i am adding the Aeon map without the final planet. for me at least, it solved the crashing. i can only hope it works for you good people too...
i realise that it is a long level to find out if it will crash or not. think of it as a lesson of patience  8)

AWS

annikk.exe

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #17 on: July 07, 2010, 10:26:58 PM »
is there a known compatbility issue with 2.05?

My map Infinity works fine on 2.04 but seemed to crash with the v2.05 I was using.


edit - although as bonobo points out, a lot of people reporting crashes don't have the "achievers" rank, therefore are not testers, and would not have access to v2.05
« Last Edit: July 07, 2010, 11:18:52 PM by annikk.exe »

Alex

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #18 on: July 08, 2010, 06:50:29 PM »
I've found the problem with the final planet that was causing the crashes - the roots were too long so they were overstepping an array I'd set up with a maximum length of 256 sections. I've increased the limit to 1024.

Bonobo

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #19 on: July 08, 2010, 07:09:20 PM »
Played Aeon last night … insomnious again. What a game!

I think I needed aeons more than 3 hrs—with speed increased (3x plus)!

(click to show/hide)

Thank you, AWS, epic indeed!

Greetings, Tom

AWS

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #20 on: July 09, 2010, 09:53:57 AM »
I've found the problem with the final planet that was causing the crashes - the roots were too long so they were overstepping an array I'd set up with a maximum length of 256 sections. I've increased the limit to 1024.
oh excellent. how on earth did you find that out.
many thanks. ill delete that amended version then.

:)

threephi

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #21 on: July 11, 2010, 10:04:02 AM »
I'm using 2.04.  As far as I can tell, having bought eufloria via Steam, the new version hasn't been released or even announced on the boards here as far as I can tell... am I missing something what am I missing? I guess I'm not an "achiever".
« Last Edit: July 11, 2010, 10:11:22 AM by threephi »

Bonobo

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #22 on: July 11, 2010, 10:16:23 AM »
Hello Threephi, you missed the thread “Call for testers”, but as far as I understood the release of the new version is imminent. Nevertheless you could apply, AFAIK everybody with license who did has become an “Achiever”.

threephi

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #23 on: July 11, 2010, 11:40:14 AM »
Looks like I did  :P

Apparently Alex is going to release the new version soon anyway...

Jazz Ad

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #24 on: July 12, 2010, 03:37:14 AM »
It IS a very very long map isn't it? After 3 unsuccessful tries (got destroyed very quickly) I finally managed to get some ground.
I'm an hour into it and enemies keep flowing from nowhere, even more hidden planets probably.
I really enjoy the topography that makes it hard to figure how planets connect together.
A very good effort. Thanks.

Bonobo

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #25 on: July 12, 2010, 03:54:39 AM »
Yes, it does take a long time to conquer this map, I needed something like 3 hrs.

AWS

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Re: AEON - Released
« Reply #26 on: July 14, 2010, 07:27:04 AM »
 ;D

good. thanks for those responses to the map.

stilll lacking real internet so no more maps from me for a little bit..

AWS