hi

what do you think of Sketch Fighter 4000 Alpha?

I think it's really cool, the whole idea is fun, and the engine is supposed to be playable (as are all Ambrosia games, some games make no sense and suck), and it overall looks good (as good as it's supposed to look, being a hand-drawn spaceship game )

Welcome to the boards, by the way. Enjoy your stay here, try to use legible spelling and grammar

I think that it's a well-designed game with interesting components for you and your friends to discover, using offbeat (in a good way) graphics that tickle the eye, and will offer you hours upon hours upon hours of entertainment.

I think that it gives me an idea for a labor intensive EV:N TC.

it is fun.

I'm waiting for it patiently, and have been since missing the beta sign-up last December. Sounds like it's getting close to release now, though.

There are numerous technical problems with that, the largest of which is that transparency does not work on a white background.

Edwards

It looks pretty freaking sweet. I can't wait to play it. The editor looks pretty freaking sweet as well. Can't wait to make some pretty sweet levels.

It should be – FC4 was released a few days ago and it's been plugged away at.

It's still a pretty thought.

Could somebody point me to where I can GET an alpha copy? I can't find anything more than progress logs and reviews.

What do you mean by that, Ed?

No way in heck, pal. Besides, you will all be happier with the final, fully debugged version.

We could, but those of us with access to it would get in trouble. And there are no alpha copies on the Internet.

i asume that you are a beta tester, can you give more details?


no such luck Fnoigy, it is closed beta testing.




Indigo

I can't wait for it!

He is indeed a beta tester. There are 55 currently, but that number includes members of the Ambrosia staff so you'd have to drop that number by a bit for 'regular' members who are testing.



I think Fnoigy was being sarcastic. He's been around here more than long enough to know that the beta is closed.

I've thought about it a bit more, and I think that it would be technically possible to make such a TC. It would not be very similar to SketchFighter, however, mainly because one of the main points of Sketch Fighter seems to be that you are flying around in a maze, which is nearly impossible to replicate in EV (certainly impossible to replicate on a large scale). The best you would be able to do is fight the enemies on an infinite plane with a few small to medium obstacles scattered around.

In terms of graphics, transparency in EVN is done additively, so no transparent layers show up on a white background. This affects both engine glows and weapon glows, so the Sketch Fighter proper would not look quite right. I'm not sure how beams would be affected, if at all. Also, it would be quite difficult to add a graph paper grid, or even just a paper texture, to the system background- the only way I've come up with locks the grid to the player, and wreaks havoc with the screen when windows appear.

Surprisingly, the weapon system would be possible to implement, in a couple of different ways, although both would be a pain to debug. It may also be possible to get the controls to work reasonably well by putting reverse thrusters in the primary or secondary weapon slot (whichever is unused).

That's all that I can think of for problems right off-hand. Remember, though, that I've never played the game.

Edwards

By an EVN version, he could have just meant a TC using graphics reminiscent of Sketch Fighters, i.e. hand-drawn.

indeed.

I think Mackilroy's assessment is pretty solid. But don't worry, you'll be able to see for yourself soon enough.

oh i am hummbled



soon enough? that sounds good

By soon enough he means a long time.

It's awesome. Fact. Not to mention you can create your own, seriously cool levels.

Edit: 888 ftw.

Indeed. As with Redline, there is an editor.

By 'soon enough,' we mean that 'it's done when it's done.'

I hope that the editor is somewhat nicer (or at least better-documented) than the Redline editor. I also hope that you are not using the word "soon" in the same sense that the ARPIA2 team does.

Edwards

Edwards: based on my experience with both editors, the SF4k editor is much clearer and easier to use. SF4k is a simpler game then Redline, though, so that balances it out somewhat.

As for soon, well… we'll see.

Oh yeah, I thought you Edwards meant that there would be problems with creating a TC for the SketchFighter engine with Nova (or Nova-like) sprites. Obviously the other way round is indeed going to have some issues.

And "soon" depends on how many stupid bugs I'm the only one to encounter and I only report now. Saw this "incompatibility with a very rare network setup"? It's mine. Sorry about that.

Don't worry about the editor, it's great.

Yeah, for some reason none of us can play with Zacha. Everyone else's network plays nice but his.

the editor looks realy cool. but, do you draw with your mouse, or WACOM tablet? or do you import an image that you drew with pen and paper? lot of questons

Hey! I saw that!

[on the subject, though, pipeline sent me a very nice image of the Sylvatha the other day… I hope ARPIA2 will be out long enough before SketchFighter, and not too shortly after Redline that the attraction effect is still there ]

Bah! I wish somebody had told me sooner before I embarassed myself!

Actually, neither. You don't have to 'draw' the sections, enemies, etc. You'll found out when you get the game exactly what happens.

C'mon! I want a crack at it! I got turned down for beta testing

guess you're keeping us in the dark

Is there any support for putting in new graphics, or are we going to need to rely on someone figuring out how to decompile/recompile the data files, and replacing them? (It only took three weeks for someone to reverse-engineer the .redplug format!)

Edwards

Yep. There was a bit of a ruckus regarding the release of information about Redline so mum's the word this time around.



I'll get back to you on this.

oh well

Anything that's posted in the progress log I can talk to you about though.

thats nice to know

FC5, boys. I really like this game. It's simple, enjoyable, and challenging.

it is, is it? its going to macworld uk expo (wrong name). to bad i can't be there hope it is out for my birthday

Yep, it's on FC5. And yes, it's challenging. Though if you know some nice tricks you can boost your scores…

When's your birthday? Obviously I can't guarantee that it'll be out by then but maybe I'll have an idea.

its on the 25th, but don't tell anybody

Hmm…

I don't think it's gonna be out by then.

DARN oh well

So, did Sketchfighter actually have two FCs in the past day, or did someone make a typo when updating the Upcoming page?

Also, how trivial are the new bugs you beta testers are finding these days?

Edwards

who knows? i looks like it will me coming out soon, new fc yesterday

No, just one new today (well, "today" is relative to the timezone).

And bugs that are found are primarily weird network synch issues that are a pain to debug (and of course, hard to reproduce).

oh. can see why, sounds like another week or two. still can't wait

EDIT: HAY, I JUST LOOKED AT THE GALARY FOR Sketch Fighter 4000 Alpha AND THERE ARE ONLY 4 SCREENS!

What? Last time I looked their was 12 or more.

nope, go check. only 4.

:cryptic grin: