MagPong

[MagNet]

First of all, this is not the final product! The code can be optimized a lot and I plan to add some more features and fix the current bugs.

Screenshots:
Main menu:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/3400/shot1oq0.gif

Options menu:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2719/shot2jg1.gif

Ingame:
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/3517/shot3fl6.gif

Features:
- Addictive gameplay
- 2 Players game on one device
- 1 Player game against awesome follow-the-ball AI with changeable handicap
- No options saving (this one is really cool, I have to agree)
- Greyscale graphics
- Made by MagNet using PPL, Photoshop and Easy Icon Maker
- Menu!
- Icon! (PC Version only)

ToDo List:
- Make the pc version more pc friendly
- Implement new awesome features (for instance magnets changing the direction of the ball, which isn't my idea btw but it's cool)
- Clean the code
- Clean the code more
- Options saving
- Your suggestions
- Code cleaning

Download:
http://www.jakesnothot.com/~goldmembers/MagNet's%20File%20Cave/Games/MagPong/MagPong.zip

[MagNet]

Hm.

[kornalius]

Nice gfx Mag. Liking it! I will try the game later and get back to you.

[MagNet]

Hehe, thx.

[kornalius]

Nice game. However here are a few things you should look into:

- Add some music and sound.
- The CPU is freaking good. Make a default handicap higher to start and get lower with time.
- You should have a button or something to edit options and to exit during gameplay.

Other than that it is a very good game. If you want to offer it for free, let me know, I'd like to put it in the downloads as a demo.

[MagNet]

I'm gonna most probably offer it for free and just to let you know, you can use the C button to exit, or shift on the PC.
Hmm, I'll add the dynamic CPU opponent, good idea.

But the music and sound is quite a problem... I would like to have some original music there but everytime I try to compose some music in whatever software it fails horribly :(

[kornalius]

A few more things:

- The CPU handicap is either too good or even at 2 is a little dumb. Try to stretch the values for better in between handicaps.

- The movement with the stylus is a little too slow. With the keys it's wonderful.

- You should use a better button to get back to the menu on the pocketpc.

Again, it's a fantastic game, keep up the good work.

[kornalius]

Check with DirectDance, I think he's registered here, he has a sutdio and everything. He's a good composer, he made the FlyingCab game in PPL. He would probably do something quick for your game.

[MagNet]

I'll leave the music for the end.
If you would be so kind and add the OGG support a friend of mine would be able to make some music for it, and he's good.

[kornalius]

.OGG will be in 1.1 to be released this November. Convert your .ogg file to .mp3 in the meantime ;)

[PointOfLight]

Just tried your game on my Dell Axim X5, and I wasn't able to do anything :( Okay, I could scroll through the menu options, but that was it. None of the hardware buttons did anything. I ended up having to do a soft reset to get out of the game.

[MagNet]

Aww..
Darn.
I'll try to fix that issue.

[PointOfLight]

It could be a problem specific with my device. If you're interested, this is what I would suggest. Send me a version that displays messages every time a key or button is hit, and have it so that I can click on the screen with the stylus to exit. Then I can tell you what the program is seeing when I hit my hardware buttons. I have heard before that the Axim does some wierd mapping with the hardware buttons. Of course, it's up to you if you want to go through this extra work.

[MagNet]

Well I actually wanted to go through even more work.
I wanted to make the program check on start if there's an options.ini and if not it would say something that you're prolly running it for the first time and you have to set up your controls.

Then you would set up your controls.

[PointOfLight]

That would actually be pretty cool. I had thought about throwing a quick key mapping screen together for kicks, but at the moment I don't have the time for that. I will be eager to see how that turns out for you.

[kornalius]

POL: The secret is the dialpad button press. This is the key he is using. Press on your direction-pad, it should serve as a button too. I think it should be more obvious and the stylus should work too.