Planet Wars - VB Game (Comments Please)

Here is a game I have written in VB. At this point it is not entirely done, the graphics aren't great, and the music is stolen from other games (mainly SimCity 3000), but I figure I could use advice from other people. The game is about 3 months old (not including the last version which wasn't as good, and I lost the code to), and I think it has made it pretty far, considering the fact that I am the only one working on it, and only a very little bit of the time. At this time, I have the following items included with the game: the Game, a Config Creator, 2 Config Files, Music, Graphics, Help, and 3 Saved Games. I am also working on a map editor. Please post any ideas you have to this thread.

You will need DirectX 7.0 installed. I am not 100% certain that it will run on NT or 2000. The game will use your current screen resolution to play at.

The game will be adverbial at: www.kaynor.net/games/planetwars/

I will make another post here when I get the link working.

Yes, I know that the subject is similar to Arbiters for Sentence.

Ok, the link should work now.
I am working on a website for the game, but it is 3:15 AM here.

Downloading it now. Will post back with comments.

As you've been a regular contributer to the Sentience thread, I feel it only fair that I should do the same here.

Behemoth's away from technology for at least a week, but when he rejoins the normal world I'll ensure he has a look also.

Catch you later...

Error 429

ActiveX component cannot create object.

Just after it started playing some cheesy music.

What OS are you using?

No Win2k? :(

Error 429

ActiveX component cannot create object.

Just before it started playing some cheesy music =)

I have tryed it on 3 of my 4 comps, only the Win 2K one gives that error. I am going to make a little debug verson (and upload the lastest normal verson)

Try it again, and tell me what the last message at the bottom-left of the splash screen is.

I think I got it fixed. If I did, then the problem was too much memory usage. Try downloading the lastest verson. I was also forgetting to include a custom DLL I am using.

Gaming,

I'll take another look tonight when I go home.

Just downloaded + ran on my WinME laptop and it ran just fine.
Nice looking interface. Music I must say is dodgy.
Sounds like a porno :)

I went to start a new game and got a grid full of stuff.
Talk about confusing. I hadnt a clue what was going on.

i tryed to run into a planet with my ship and it said "script out of range"

At least your ship didnt blow up :)

I have made many modifications to the game. These include fixs to the script out of range poblem, and spelling errors. The update.zip file should work if you have already d/led the main files.

Good old Sim City music *heeeheee* :)

I have uploaded a new version, it now has minimap, and you can do some basic map editing with paint, take a look at the files under \util\disgins\.

And if you don't like the music, or graphics, change them with the config creator (or if you want to change the science costs/effects).

Oops, the last verson had a major bug that I have now fixed.

The lastest verson is 2.10.65

Gaming,

Some comments and stuff for you...

1) Nice main menu - did you draw it yourself or did you nick it from somewhere?

2) First time I played it came up straight away that I'd lost. Hmmm....

3) Played another game and couldn't find my planets. When I had found my planets I had no idea what to do with them.

4) I made a fleet. That's nice, what does it do?

5) I can't hyperspace - I need to be at least two squares away from a planet, but as the map I had contained the most densely populated area of space ever, this was impossible.

6) Manual moved my ship on top of a planet. It vanished, never to be seen again.

7) You might want to try and increase the speed the screen updates, it would make for a much better playing experience.

8) Plotting a course seemed to take quite a while...

9) 'Course' was spelt wrong.

10) There's an awful lot of options on the make new game screen. Do you need them all on there, or could you relegate some of the more obscure ones to an 'advanced' settings screen?


I only had time to have a quick play - I'll spend some more time with it later. Looks promising though, keep up the good work!

PS - Nice to see my name pops up in there, but I'm not sure what I did that warranted it... :)

The reason you lost right away was due to a little thing called Randomization. The game randomized it so that you started with no planets, I am working to fix this problem, and to make it so that each player starts with planets, but it will take me a while. The warp jump is meant for large maps with around 5-15% planets. Plotting a cource will take varing amounts of time depending on the following factors: the order in which the setup choices to move, whiether or not the cource is possible, how far away are you trying to move. I could speed up the time out on it, but then you are less likly to succed. By the way, with your name poping up there, that is due to the fact that I was running out of ideas for names. (3 (or 4) of the 6 are names that I use in other places)

When I move the minimap, and move over planets, it's REALLY slow.

I have a P3-750, so i think it's probably just your code.

Otherwise, pretty nice :)

I know that it is the code. The procude I use to draw the minimap is very slow, I will work on fixing it, but for now the only thing you can do is turn off the minimap.

Theres a new verson out. Please read the note, and check out your verson number before downloading a patch. If you download the core files, it will give you the lastest verson.

This one fixes the slow redraw rate, speeds up the minimap drawing rotune, and also removes the slight wave you could see if you watched the minimap closely during a redraw. I have also made some modifications to how I placed the tooltips, allowing a faster redraw rate (now 10/second rather the 1/5 seconds). I could increase it more, but see no reason to. The entire engine is based on time, so I can set an appox redraw rate, then have it use that rate on any machine which can support it. I have also done some modifications to how I draw the back ground on the game screen, reducing how big the background file is.

Reminds me of Space Empires 1. Really hard to find that game :)
And to think, that game led to greater, cooler games - like Space Empires 3 and 4 :)

Don't know what I'm talking about?
www.malfador.com

Never heard of it. But this is the second verson of this game. (hince the 2 in the first place in the verson number)

Just a few comments that may have been already covered :

Code:

---

(o)  New game -> Change options -> Then leave that screen
          -> Then go back -> Options as they were
          -> Should revert back to normal

(o)  Background in main game screen is crap

(o)  When one clicks in the minimap in order to move around
        it takes too long to update

(o)  One should be allowed to close the minimap

(o)  Black labels keep popping up while playing

(o)  UI in game too confusing

(o)  Music terrible

(o)  Starsystems should be more real
        ie. planets go around suns etc.

(o)  "Plot Cource" mispelt in right click menu for a fleet
        should be "plit course"

(o)  Same thing for "cource plotted" > "course plotted"

(o)  Cant seem to move fleets !?!

(o)  Not all habitable planets in the universe look like earth

(o)  Grid should overlay all blocks

(o)  Minimap keeps stealing focus

(o)  Scrollbars look terrible

(o)  Replace all command buttons with pictureboxes or labels

(o)  Minimap looks cool

(o)  In minimap, certain planets owned by other planets in middle
        of enemy territory

(o)  When you leave a pointer over something it keeps blinking
        from time to time

(o)  Universe too populated with stuff.

(o)  When one changes the config the game shouldnt have to restart.
        Write a loadConfig() sub instead to load in all settings at
        loadtime and also when user changes settings.

(o)  Why is my name in the list of people ?

(o)  Remove "System Info" button from Help -> About
        Too microsoft.

(o)  Is leslie female ?

(o)  How old is jessicah ?

(o)  Are you + other programmer brothers ?

(o)  Load game progressbar looks cool.

(o)  Should be able to double click in order to load a game in
        the load menu. Possibly too register *.pws as a planetwars file ?

(o)  When you try to load an invalid saved game file, yes it does realise
        that its a bad file, but it brings you into the main game area
        and tells you that you've won

(o)  About screen doesnt say who wrote the game

(o)  All fonts should be Verdana. At least not the default font.

(o)  When loading a game, a small minimap appears before the game is loaded

(o)  Menu > Main Menu does nothing during game ?

(o)  How do you know when its your turn or not ?

(o)  CheatMenu -> Win .. does nothing while not $my$ go

(o)  Folder 'disign' in \util\ mispelt. (design)

(o)  Saved games seem to be saved in a very wasteful manner
        Files are mostly empty

(o)  Why do you use the ~ symbol instead of the = equal symbol in the config files ?

(o)  I have another way of doing the treeview.
        The below code is taken from my ToDo application.
        It assumes that the file is in the format :

---

Code:

---

0:This is a heading
0:This is information inside the main heading
0:So is this
1:This is another main heading
1:This is inside
1:So is this
1:And so is this
2:Heading ... Blah blah
2:Info inside number 2
2:More info inside number 2
2:Yet again more info
2:And on and on and on

---

VB Code:

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Dim strLines() As String, i As Long, insideNum As Boolean
    Dim currItemNum As Long, strCurrLine() As String, nodX As Node
    If Len(Dir("c:\todo.txt")) > 0 Then
        Open "c:\todo.txt" For Input As #1
            strLines = Split(Input(LOF(1), 1), vbCrLf)
        Close #1
        currItemNum = -1
        With TreeView1
            insideNum = False
            CenterMe Me
            Me.Show
            For i = 0 To UBound(strLines)
                strCurrLine = Split(strLines(i), ":")
                If strCurrLine(0) > currItemNum Then
                    currItemNum = strCurrLine(0)
                    insideNum = False
                End If
                If insideNum = False Then
                    insideNum = True
                    .Nodes.Add , , "_Parent_" & currItemNum, strCurrLine(1)
                Else
                    .Nodes.Add "_Parent_" & currItemNum, tvwChild, "_Child_" & i, strCurrLine(1)
                End If
            Next i
        End With
    Else
        End
    End If
End Sub

Code:

---

(o)  I deleted a large segment of data from a saved game and loaded it.
        It seems as though you save information directly as rows + columns.
        A large amount of row information was missing

---

Code:

---

(o)  New game -> Change options -> Then leave that screen
          -> Then go back -> Options as they were
          -> Should revert back to normal
Press cancel the first time.

(o)  Background in main game screen is crap
I suck at making pictures, so you make me a new one then it will be better, or use the config creator to change it.

(o)  When one clicks in the minimap in order to move around
        it takes too long to update
I have fixed this now, but I haven't gotten the time to upload it.

(o)  One should be allowed to close the minimap
Under Options

(o)  Black labels keep popping up while playing
I have fixed this now, but I haven't gotten the time to upload it.

(o)  UI in game too confusing
What should I change?

(o)  Music terrible
Same as the background.

(o)  Starsystems should be more real
        ie. planets go around suns etc.
I am attempting to keep the system symple, plus if you look at the config creator, I can't do this and allow the type of customization I want.

(o)  "Plot Cource" mispelt in right click menu for a fleet
        should be "plit course"
You spelt it wrong too. :) Anyways, I will fix this.

(o)  Same thing for "cource plotted" > "course plotted"
Isn't this basicly the same as the above?

(o)  Cant seem to move fleets !?!
If you plot a course, you need to end your turn to make your fleets move, plus there is currently a bug with the manual move, preventing plotting or warp jumps after doing a manual move.

(o)  Not all habitable planets in the universe look like earth
I know, but I suck at making pictures, and I am too lazy to make differnt pictures by hand anyways. I may let advengturly let you select a series of pictures for each planet type under the config creator, but not yet.

(o)  Grid should overlay all blocks
I will fix this, I have been debating wiether to have the grid on a layer above or below the other stuff.

(o)  Minimap keeps stealing focus
I have fixed this in a new verson, but until you download it, and I upload it, turn it off.

(o)  Scrollbars look terrible
I know, I will work on fixing this.

(o)  Replace all command buttons with pictureboxes or labels
I will work on fixing this, already knew about it.

(o)  Minimap looks cool
Thanks :)

(o)  In minimap, certain planets owned by other planets in middle
        of enemy territory
It shows the fleets aswell as the planets.

(o)  When you leave a pointer over something it keeps blinking
        from time to time
I know, this has been fixed, but it was due to how I was drawing the tooltips.

(o)  Universe too populated with stuff.
Change the planet percentage. under new game.

(o)  When one changes the config the game shouldnt have to restart.
        Write a loadConfig() sub instead to load in all settings at
        loadtime and also when user changes settings.
If I do this, and you change to a differnt mod with differnt settings, it may scew up the game. As you can change the values for all the game settings.

(o)  Why is my name in the list of people ?
I have removed this list.

(o)  Remove "System Info" button from Help -> About
        Too microsoft.
I know.

(o)  Is leslie female ?
Why do you care?

(o)  How old is jessicah ?
Why do you care?

(o)  Are you + other programmer brothers ?
Father and Son (me being the lead, and the son)
Why do you care?

(o)  Load game progressbar looks cool.
Thanks

(o)  Should be able to double click in order to load a game in
        the load menu. Possibly too register *.pws as a planetwars file ?
I will fix this.

(o)  When you try to load an invalid saved game file, yes it does realise
        that its a bad file, but it brings you into the main game area
        and tells you that you've won
I will check into this.

(o)  About screen doesnt say who wrote the game
I will fix this.

(o)  All fonts should be Verdana. At least not the default font.
I have varing fonts, and I choose ones that I think look good there.

(o)  When loading a game, a small minimap appears before the game is loaded
I know, and will check into this.

(o)  Menu > Main Menu does nothing during game ?
It should, as it does on my comps.

(o)  How do you know when its your turn or not ?
Two ways:
 1) Look at the button at the cross bars of the scroolbars
 2) Look at the buttons, if they are disenabled, it is the comps turn.

(o)  CheatMenu -> Win .. does nothing while not $my$ go
How did you get the cheat menu?

(o)  Folder 'disign' in \util\ mispelt. (design)
So?

(o)  Saved games seem to be saved in a very wasteful manner
        Files are mostly empty
The files aren't empty, all the characters mean something, if you look at them, they should have varing values (mostly 0-12, although it may go upto 255).

(o)  Why do you use the ~ symbol instead of the = equal symbol in the config files ?
What differnce does it make if you are using the config creator?

(o)  I have another way of doing the treeview.
The way I do it works well. Why fix something that works?

(o)  I deleted a large segment of data from a saved game and loaded it.
        It seems as though you save information directly as rows + columns.
        A large amount of row information was missing
 Acturlly it is columns then rows, but again, what differnce does it make?

---

I'll complete this post later.


***COMPLETED***

Righto :)

I have completed the above post. And will shortly be uploading the new verson. (The rotate for disgin creator is broken. I am working on it.)

A lot of your bugs/questions could have been answered by going to help.

Looks like most people up here are like me: They NEVER look at help. :) (atleast until they haven't used the program for a few weeks/months due to the fact that they can't figure it out.)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by plenderj


(o) Is leslie female ?

(o) How old is jessicah ?

[/Code]

---

Typical!

Well I'd just like to know. Im just that kinda guy :)
And regarding the ages thing, I just like to have an idea of who I'm talking to.

One tries not to patronise those twice one's age ;)

Does anyone else care about this game?

Yeah we all like doing this kinda stuff, but we just need to be prodded and harried :)

Hum nice game you have there :)

I only have one suggestion I don't think others have pointed out... the planets should orbitate around the starts... in real-time ;)

That was pointed out, and I answered:
I am attempting to keep the system symple, plus if you look at the config creator, I can't do this and allow the type of customization I want.

what is the object of the game?

to gain control of all the planets

Well... when you move the screen, it turns black for about 200 miliseconds and that's annoying. Try optimizing the drawing routine, and if you can't draw the screen quickly, at least don't clear it until it's drawn to the backbuffer :)

Btw, in reality space isn't so cluttered, there's a huge amount of stars and only some of them have a few planets around them. Instead of a grid, it would be really cool if you had some lone stars and solar systems here and there, really far from each other. And even better if there's a small circle for each planet which represents its orbit. When you plot a course, it would look really hi-tech and all if it took into account the point of the planet's orbit where it would be when the ship got there (pic attached).

Oh, look at the game Galaxy... yours could be a bit like that if you could find someone to draw the graphics (and don't say you can't :) ).

The truth is, I can't. I have been looking for someone for atleast a year, and have found no one.

And anyways, you want less items, set the planet percentage lower (under advanced options in new game)

One major problem with the orbiting is that I then can't invole the type and amount of customization I want (look at the config creator), and it would be a big pain in the ass to write the mapeditor I am working on.

Quick question: If I attempt to use StretchBlt to stretch an image it doesn't work, but if I don't try to stretch it (just a copy with no size change) it works. Any idea why?

Heres the non-working code:

Code:

---

StretchBlt(frmGame.picBackBuffer.hdc, 0, 0, frmGame.picBackBuffer.Width, frmGame.picBackBuffer.Height, frmPictures.picBG.hdc, 0, 0, frmPictures.picBG.Width, frmPictures.picBG.Height, vbSrcCopy)

---

Heres the working code:

Code:

---

frmGame.picBackBuffer.hdc, 0, 0, frmPictures.picBG.Width, frmPictures.picBG.Height, frmPictures.picBG.hdc, 0, 0, frmPictures.picBG.Width, frmPictures.picBG.Height, vbSrcCopy

---

And heres two other non-working code sniptlets:

Code:

---

frmGame.picBackBuffer.hdc, 0, 0, frmPictures.picBG.Width - 10, frmPictures.picBG.Height - 10, frmPictures.picBG.hdc, 0, 0, frmPictures.picBG.Width, frmPictures.picBG.Height, vbSrcCopy
frmGame.picBackBuffer.hdc, 0, 0, frmPictures.picBG.Width + 10, frmPictures.picBG.Height + 10, frmPictures.picBG.hdc, 0, 0, frmPictures.picBG.Width, frmPictures.picBG.Height, vbSrcCopy

---

Dunno, that's weird, it should work :)

It wouldn't even need a map grid at all ;)
You would just have an array of UDTs, like this:

VB Code:

Public Type tSolarSystem
  'The usual stuff :)
  StarX As Long
  StarY As Long
 
  'Image
  StarPic As String
 
  'The "child" planets
  NumberOfPlanets As Long
  Planets() As tPlanet
End Type
 
Private Type tPlanet
  'I have a code snippet (only 2 lines) which gives you the coordinates of a point in a circle (planet in an orbit :) ) based on the radius and the angle (a number between 0 and 360 which defines the position around the orbit)
  OrbitRadius As Long
  OrbitAngle
 
  'The owner (a player)
  Owner As Long
 
  'Image
  Pic As String
End Type

Now, if you really wanna make it a hell of a game ;) you could have it more like this:

VB Code:

Public Type tSolarSystem
  'The usual stuff :)
  StarX As Long
  StarY As Long
 
  'Image
  StarPic As String
 
  'The child objects (not just planets ;) )
  NumberOfObjects As Long
  Objects() As tObject
 
  'Other cool stuff :)
  GravitationalPull As Long 'Influences ships that get too nearby
End Type
 
Private Type tObject
  OrbitRadius As Long
  OrbitAngle
 
  'The owner
  Owner As Long
 
  'Image
  Pic As String
 
  Type As String 'Planet, comet, asteroid, solar mine, battle moon... :)
 
  GravitationalPull As Long
End Type