6 ms·

Voxelvoid – A retro arcade shooter

47 points by bottled_poe 12y ago

DiabloD3 12y ago
I have to admit, thats pretty cool.
- monk_e_boy 12y ago
  I don't get why it's cool? What am I missing?
  - rndn 12y ago
    Perhaps it's nostalgia for the C64 generation?
rtpg 12y ago
slightly OT , but for those who like this look, Voxatron (http://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php http://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php) is still a thing. It's morphed from a robotron-y sort of thing to a sort of "fantasy console" (that has a robotron game as an example). It's a fascinating experiment, and the development track is all listed out in the site already.
- jarcane 12y ago
  Voxatron is amazing. You can actually play the user mods in the browser now if you want to give it a try: http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?cat=6&sub=2&mode=cposts&orderby=ts&orderby=rating http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?cat=6&sub=2&mode=cposts&order...
  - bobajeff 12y ago
    I just tested one on my phone in Chrome. It crashed the tab. I figured it just ran out of memory or something so I tried it on my Tablet (which doesn't seem to handle memory the same way because it only has slightly more ram than the phone but doesn't constantly unload apps, which the phone will do) again in Chrome, and it ran but I couldn't do anything since it requires a keyboard.
    - jarcane 12y ago
      The browser version is built on EMscripten and is pretty CPU-centric; I'm not at all surprised it wouldn't run on an Android phone.
      - bobajeff 12y ago
        I didn't have high expectations for it. I think it's worth testing any browser demo or application on a smart devices to see how promising the web as a applications platform is. Still, I don't believe it crashing had anything to do with the CPU but the way my phone handles memory. It ran on my Android tablet which has a similar processor.
psteynza 12y ago
No android? Gay.
FlyingAvatar 12y ago
Looks awesome! I will definitely look for it when it is available. A suggestion: I actually had to re-watch the video to see how the player was losing life. A reduced collision area so the enemies actually have to appear to touch you, and some more visual / audio feedback of a collision with the player would be really helpful.
- bottled_poe 12y ago
  Thanks for the suggestion. The collision system is quite crude at this point, I do intend to improve it with a future update.
CmonDev 12y ago
I wish the industry set the terminology straight: Voxelvoid is a block/cube-based - just like Minecraft. Now, this is an example of an actual real voxel engine: http://www.atomontage.com http://www.atomontage.com
- to3m 12y ago
  Voxels are just the 3d analogue of pixels. No textures or high detail required! I think this one counts - look at the aliasing on the player's avatar's turret, and the rotating coins.
- rndn 12y ago
  The Amontage Engine would probably qualify as a volume renderer in original terminology.
- bottled_poe 12y ago
  This is kind of a 'no true scotsman' argument right? In Voxelvoid, I resample the 3D models to a grid in real time.
eatonphil 12y ago
So just to be clear, this is not related to VoxelQuest[1], right? For the sake of a non-gamer, what is a voxel/are voxels? And, respectfully, what's so interesting about all these voxel games/engines? Also, is Minecraft a "voxel" game? These type of games/engines remind me a lot of Minecraft. [1] - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gavan/voxel-quest https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gavan/voxel-quest
- bad_alloc 12y ago
  A pixel is a unit on a 2D grid and a voxel is the counterpart in 3D. What makes voxels interesting is that you can build worlds out of them the palyer can shape, like Minecraft. The smaller your voxels, the better your world might be. The main benefit of voxels over terrain made of textured polygons is that deformation looks better in voxels, because the terrain isn't warping but actually disappearing.
- lmm 12y ago
  A voxel is a small piece of an object, that's modelled physically. The idea is that we can start having worlds where objects are made of particles, like the real world, and so rather than e.g. a wall being modelled as this rectangle that, at best, can explode in a scripted-set piece into some premodelled pieces, we can have worlds where whole houses are just an arrangement of particles of different substances, and you can interact with them physically in arbitrary ways - maybe you can build your own house by nailing beams together, and then drop a weight on it and see what happens (there have long been dedicated physics simulation games that can do this to some extent, like bridge builder, but the idea of having a physicsy world just as a setting for a normal game is pretty new). Minecraft is such a game to a certain extent - you can build structures from blocks that will then obey minecraft-block physics - although that physics is rather simple (e.g. gravity works... interestingly on minecraft blocks) and there are a lot of objects that have special-case support (e.g. tables, furnaces are "primitives" in the minecraft world, whereas in a more seriously voxely game you might be able to e.g. smelt anywhere that the physics decided was hot enough to melt certain materials).
- rndn 12y ago
  Pixel = Picture Element (2D) Voxel = Volume Element (3D)
jeffehobbs 12y ago
Big money! Big prizes! I love it!
martin1b 12y ago
Looks fun. Good work!
princetontiger 12y ago
I love it!

47 points by bottled_poe 12y ago

DiabloD3 12y ago

I have to admit, thats pretty cool.

monk_e_boy 12y ago
I don't get why it's cool? What am I missing?
- rndn 12y ago
  Perhaps it's nostalgia for the C64 generation?

rtpg 12y ago

slightly OT , but for those who like this look, Voxatron (http://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php http://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php) is still a thing. It's morphed from a robotron-y sort of thing to a sort of "fantasy console" (that has a robotron game as an example). It's a fascinating experiment, and the development track is all listed out in the site already.

jarcane 12y ago
Voxatron is amazing. You can actually play the user mods in the browser now if you want to give it a try: http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?cat=6&sub=2&mode=cposts&orderby=ts&orderby=rating http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?cat=6&sub=2&mode=cposts&order...
- bobajeff 12y ago
  I just tested one on my phone in Chrome. It crashed the tab. I figured it just ran out of memory or something so I tried it on my Tablet (which doesn't seem to handle memory the same way because it only has slightly more ram than the phone but doesn't constantly unload apps, which the phone will do) again in Chrome, and it ran but I couldn't do anything since it requires a keyboard.
  - jarcane 12y ago
    The browser version is built on EMscripten and is pretty CPU-centric; I'm not at all surprised it wouldn't run on an Android phone.
    - bobajeff 12y ago
      I didn't have high expectations for it. I think it's worth testing any browser demo or application on a smart devices to see how promising the web as a applications platform is. Still, I don't believe it crashing had anything to do with the CPU but the way my phone handles memory. It ran on my Android tablet which has a similar processor.

psteynza 12y ago

No android? Gay.

FlyingAvatar 12y ago

Looks awesome! I will definitely look for it when it is available. A suggestion: I actually had to re-watch the video to see how the player was losing life. A reduced collision area so the enemies actually have to appear to touch you, and some more visual / audio feedback of a collision with the player would be really helpful.

bottled_poe 12y ago
Thanks for the suggestion. The collision system is quite crude at this point, I do intend to improve it with a future update.

CmonDev 12y ago

I wish the industry set the terminology straight: Voxelvoid is a block/cube-based - just like Minecraft. Now, this is an example of an actual real voxel engine: http://www.atomontage.com http://www.atomontage.com

to3m 12y ago
Voxels are just the 3d analogue of pixels. No textures or high detail required! I think this one counts - look at the aliasing on the player's avatar's turret, and the rotating coins.
rndn 12y ago
The Amontage Engine would probably qualify as a volume renderer in original terminology.
bottled_poe 12y ago
This is kind of a 'no true scotsman' argument right? In Voxelvoid, I resample the 3D models to a grid in real time.

eatonphil 12y ago

So just to be clear, this is not related to VoxelQuest[1], right? For the sake of a non-gamer, what is a voxel/are voxels? And, respectfully, what's so interesting about all these voxel games/engines? Also, is Minecraft a "voxel" game? These type of games/engines remind me a lot of Minecraft. [1] - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gavan/voxel-quest https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gavan/voxel-quest

bad_alloc 12y ago
A pixel is a unit on a 2D grid and a voxel is the counterpart in 3D. What makes voxels interesting is that you can build worlds out of them the palyer can shape, like Minecraft. The smaller your voxels, the better your world might be. The main benefit of voxels over terrain made of textured polygons is that deformation looks better in voxels, because the terrain isn't warping but actually disappearing.
lmm 12y ago
A voxel is a small piece of an object, that's modelled physically. The idea is that we can start having worlds where objects are made of particles, like the real world, and so rather than e.g. a wall being modelled as this rectangle that, at best, can explode in a scripted-set piece into some premodelled pieces, we can have worlds where whole houses are just an arrangement of particles of different substances, and you can interact with them physically in arbitrary ways - maybe you can build your own house by nailing beams together, and then drop a weight on it and see what happens (there have long been dedicated physics simulation games that can do this to some extent, like bridge builder, but the idea of having a physicsy world just as a setting for a normal game is pretty new). Minecraft is such a game to a certain extent - you can build structures from blocks that will then obey minecraft-block physics - although that physics is rather simple (e.g. gravity works... interestingly on minecraft blocks) and there are a lot of objects that have special-case support (e.g. tables, furnaces are "primitives" in the minecraft world, whereas in a more seriously voxely game you might be able to e.g. smelt anywhere that the physics decided was hot enough to melt certain materials).
rndn 12y ago
Pixel = Picture Element (2D) Voxel = Volume Element (3D)

jeffehobbs 12y ago

Big money! Big prizes! I love it!

martin1b 12y ago

Looks fun. Good work!

princetontiger 12y ago

I love it!