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SoCoder -> Showcase Home -> Platformer


 
Jayenkai
Created : 04 June 2007
Edited : 07 June 2007
System : Windows
Language : Blitz

JNKPlat 07 (0.2)

It's JNKPlat! Yeay!

JNKPlat 07 (v0.2)
Screenshots
 

View on YouTube

Welcome to the world of JNKPlat
This whole new DS Inspired edition brings many of the newest features that were added to the DS version, including darts that fly at you, blocks you can push around, and even full-on animated movement!

The first level should pretty much teach you everything you'll need to know, but there's a couple more bits to pick up along the way.


Puzzle vs Platformer
This has to be said, because if I don't say it, I'll never hear the end of it!
JNKPlat is a Puzzle game.

When I first created JNKPlat, (!! 10 years ago !!) it came right after making a sokoban-esque maze game. Essentially JNKPlat was the same game, same engine, but with gravity.
Through the years it's evolved (slightly!), and now plays more like a fast paced Arcade Platform than ever, but it's roots as a puzzle game are still there.
However, everything is still Blocky in nature. There's a definite grid-like structure to the world. And some of the jumps, grabs and shifts you'll be doing are 100% fit for a puzzle game.

Jumping
When you jump, you make a specific move. One diagonal up, Two horizontal.
The rules are set, and they're not too hard to get used to. But there's one thing people really don't like.
There are two jump buttons.
One for left.
One for right.
Give it a go, and you'll get used to it real soon. Things can get really frantic, and you'll be thanking me for the two jump buttons!

If you absolutely hate the two button jump, you can now change it in the options to one button jump. But if you're already used to the two button jump, stick with it, or the one button jump will annoy the heck out of you!

Enjoy

Controls
Cursors + Z,X,C (Z = Hold, X = Left Jump, C = Right Jump)
or
WASD + J,K,L
or
Classic Numpad Control!
or even
Joystick control, but only if you enable it in the menu.

Latest Update

Version two.

There's now 25 levels available.
The Classic adventure still has 20, (Some have changed slightly, some are brand new.) and then there's an extra pack with 5 more levels, including one submitted by Carbonat over on the Retro Remakes site.
(Still a little empty at the end, mind.. but at least it now dumps you back to the menu instead of a dead-empty level!!)


The Options and Credits now work just fine.
And the Editor option is visible!

Build up your own set of levels (you can test from right inside the editor) and you can send them my way for inclusion in the next release. (Your levels are saved into My Levels.pak, you can rename them as you go, but only My Levels.pak works with the editor.)

 

Comments


Monday, 04 June 2007, 13:23
power mousey
hey Jay,

hmmmmm....how about this?

one of the next challenges is that we
use your level editor for JNKPlat 07
to create a level.
2 winners will be selected...one for
good gameplaying level, and the other one will
be more so for creative quality...beautiful to the bizarre.
Monday, 04 June 2007, 16:26
steve_ancell
I'm having fun with this game, cheers Jay. Quick note... When you step on the plunger to change the state of the platforms, the timer could use a bit more length.
Monday, 04 June 2007, 16:37
Jayenkai
Sorry! I was kinda having fun with the incredibly short plunger time, to be honest

Maybe a menu option..
Monday, 04 June 2007, 16:51
steve_ancell
Just a suggestion... How about progressive plungers, like push one plunger, then the next plunger, then the next, but if you don't make it to the next plunger, you have to start again.

Come to think of it though... That would be a little bit evil .
Monday, 04 June 2007, 16:55
blanko1324
A Youtube video? C'mon Jay...you've outdone yourself.

It's a fun game, as always. Is it bad that I feel a strange attraction towards Platdude? Especially when he does that climbing thing on the ropes; it's funny looking.

The levels are very nicely done. The movement is kind of twitchy though and takes some getting use to. Great start though.
Monday, 04 June 2007, 17:22
JL235
I've not played it yet (too busy), but the video is really nice. It looks quite polished too, I'm impressed. The YouTube video, that's a stroke of genius.

As soon as I get some spare time I'll give this a go.
Monday, 04 June 2007, 18:51
HoboBen
Wow, Awesome indeed

I think I finally got stuck on level 8, after spending half an hour on the tutorial level
Tuesday, 05 June 2007, 02:18
Jayenkai
steve ancell How about progressive plungers

Are you mad!!
.. Could easily be done .. No need for a specific renaming, just draw progressing popping-out, and then allow them to be popped back down again.
I'll try that, but I think a Difficulty setting on the main menu would probably be better. (Slower popping, slower darts, that kinda thing.)

blanko1324 Is it bad that I feel a strange attraction towards Platdude?

Yes!

blanko1324 The movement is kind of twitchy though and takes some getting use to.

Yup, sure is twitchy! I like that description, and will be keeping it!!
The twitchyness is due to the "Keeping everything blocky/puzzle specific" nature of the game, which kinda kills off perfect animation, unless I sit here making "Inbetweeny" animations. But I never really liked those, since they tend to slow things down a little.
Anyway, Platdude's meant to be twitchy

HoboBen I think I finally got stuck on level 8

Yeah, bit of a jump between the difficulty of Levels 7 and 8! I put in levels 7, 12 and 18 as little fun breather levels before the big steps in level difficulty. (Having said that, I'm still not happy about level 19!)

HoboBen after spending half an hour on the tutorial level

I'm going to assume you spent that long getting used to the "Jump = Specific Length" issue, along with the two button thingumajig.

Out of interest, do you thing there's enough stuff plastered around the level to help figure it all out, or does it need a bit more?
Tuesday, 05 June 2007, 04:18
steve_ancell
I got quite far last night and I must say, it's the best indie platformer game I've played in quite a while. You never know Jay, when you get it finally perfected, maybe XBOX or Sony could be interested in it for content in a retro arcade CD or something like that. It is a highly addictive game after all .
Tuesday, 05 June 2007, 06:42
svrman
Hey I played it briefly and there was one jump that if you screwed up, you get stuck in an unescapable pit and I couldn't find the retry button so I hit escape and had to start from the beginning.


It is fun though. Sweet!

Ps. Where are the enemies?
Tuesday, 05 June 2007, 06:49
Jayenkai
There aren't any bats in the game, yet! There's darts that shoot across the level, once you get up to level .. um.. something.

I'm not sure about adding the Bats back in. The bats always flapped about randomly, which was fun for the frantic running, but not great for the puzzle element, since they tended to keep flapping towards you, just when you least expected it!

We'll have to wait and see what I can come up with!

Tweaked for the next release : I have now added the main menu, and also the ingame pause/restart menu.

And, if there's any levels about, feel free to send them my way.
(So's you know, you can open up the .pak file, and then copy+paste the levels right into code boxes on the forum.)
Tuesday, 05 June 2007, 07:19
steve_ancell
Ere Jay !... Is there going to be a save progress point added to your game ?. It would be very helpfull.
Tuesday, 05 June 2007, 07:27
Jayenkai
Wow, talk about timing!

I was just about to ask if you thought it was necessary..
I guess so, so I'll go add it!

My thinking was that since there's only 20 levels in a pack, you could probably go right through without a save file... But if you ask, you get (I tweaked the plungers so they can be re-popped!)
Tuesday, 05 June 2007, 07:42
HoboBen
I'm going to assume you spent that long getting used to the "Jump = Specific Length" issue, along with the two button thingumajig.


Yup, but only because I'm so clumsy

Out of interest, do you thing there's enough stuff plastered around the level to help figure it all out, or does it need a bit more?


I thought it was fine. I knew what to do, I just can't co-ordinate
Tuesday, 05 June 2007, 08:12
steve_ancell
Yeeeeeeeeeeee...... I just reached level 21, the level of the black screen. Now I'm going to go back and play all over again .
Wednesday, 06 June 2007, 04:24
spinal
I would have had only one jump button, and jump in the direction you're facing. Perhaps a little slower running, jumping speed seems fine but I kept flinging off the end of platforms 'cos I couldn't judge when to stop.
Wednesday, 06 June 2007, 05:32
Jayenkai
From the description at the top The engine does have a "one button" jump system, but 1) it's slow and odd! and 2) since I've neglected to add an option menu yet, you can't get to it!

Thursday, 07 June 2007, 05:10
Jayenkai
Planned release : Release number 2 will be occuring in about 4 hours time, from the time of this post. If anyone has any levels, get 'em up!


Thursday, 07 June 2007, 10:48
shroom_monk
I played V0.1, and it was so cool! I love the animation, but I here that it runs faster on other computers... not that it's too slow to play, or anything. Just slightly slow. I'm about to play V0.2.
Thursday, 07 June 2007, 10:53
Jayenkai
Yeah, I added the framerate option in the main menu, just for you, to see exactly how fast it's going.
I made sure that the game runs in a Per-Frame manner, as opposed to a time-based speed, so the framerate shouldn't really effect how easy/hard the game is. (although if it goes WAY too fast, it'll be completely uncontrollable!)

But.. The little Mario/Sonic jingle will be over way before the suit switches back!
Thursday, 07 June 2007, 10:57
shroom_monk
I haven't got to sonic/mario yet, cos there's no save function and I haven't been bothered to play past level 5... I'll see how far I can get now.
Thursday, 07 June 2007, 11:06
shroom_monk
Trying to switch to full screen shouts: 'Unable to set graphics mode'. What graphics mode is it?

Anyway, for Level 1, the framerate varies from 12 to 16, depending how much there is to draw. But on Level 2, it dropped to 6 or 7.
Thursday, 07 June 2007, 14:49
Jayenkai
800,600,32,1!
Seriously, Shroom, it's time to get a new system!!
Thursday, 07 June 2007, 15:30
HoboBen
Admittedly Jay, this thing v0.1 ate up 25% CPU usage on my 512MB/2x1.6Ghz laptop. Can you maybe stick in a "delay 1" somewhere in next release?
Thursday, 07 June 2007, 15:36
Jayenkai
The framerate limiter should be giving all the delays it can spare.

I should probably cut down on some of those if's and loops and things.. But I'll be honest. I just loved the idea of JNKPlat going completely nuts on my system, with everything in the level all doing it's own thing, even if it wasn't doing anything
It's fun to go overboard!

Meh, I'll make things better...
Thursday, 07 June 2007, 15:48
steve_ancell
Now that I've completed the game about 20 times, I might start having some fun with the level editor.
Thursday, 07 June 2007, 16:34
HoboBen


I think this is the level I made. Basically, once you've done everything up the ladder, which is down to luck, the rest of it you follow the dots. And the dart part is a bit commander-keenie.
Thursday, 07 June 2007, 16:41
Jayenkai
You're incredibly evil
And.. Nuts, missed a spike bug.. ..
I'm not sure whether I should fix that or not, now? It'd make your level impossible!

(For future reference, copy from JNKPlat Level Data, down to the End of JNKPlat Level Data!)
Thursday, 07 June 2007, 17:01
HoboBen
I'm crap at this, but I did another.


Saturday, 09 June 2007, 14:57
Prospero
I just now finally got around to playing JNKPlat - it's really fun! Took me about 30mins to finish the main set of 20 levels. Great work Jay, I hope Platdude continues for another 10 years...
Sunday, 10 June 2007, 05:31
shroom_monk
I played JNKPlat at TheMadProff's house yesterday and experienced it in fast mode... I think slow is easier, cos you get more time to think!

We were half way through designing a killer level, when I accidently hit 'NEW' instead of 'SAVE' and overwrote the save file! There could be a confirmation dialog: 'Are you sure you want to overwrite the savefile?'
Sunday, 10 June 2007, 05:35
Jayenkai
There is in V0.2
Sunday, 10 June 2007, 18:32
LostMember
JNKPlat Hardtype. I've beaten it twice, so it is possible.

Monday, 11 June 2007, 00:17
shroom_monk
The Bridge is Out!

Friday, 22 June 2007, 10:52
shroom_monk
|moan| One of my friends tried played JNKPlat, but none of the save functions worked; i.e. he couldn't save his progress or save his custom levels. |moan|
Friday, 22 June 2007, 15:03
Jayenkai
Really?
How bizarre..

Perhaps he's playing it from a directory that his user-account has no write access to.
But then, how would he have been able to put it there in the first place..?!
Odd.

He's not playing it off a CD, or something, is he?
Saturday, 23 June 2007, 00:36
shroom_monk
No, it's on his hard-disk.
Monday, 25 June 2007, 03:25
9572AD
Congrats JNK, this game is sweet! It's like Lode Runner gone full-out puzzly, and that's actually a fantasy come true for me. (It's also much easier to wrap my head around than that isometric one you did a few years back

Still a few bugs, tho. For example, in Level 4, at the tree of walk/hang platforms, if you hold the hang button and jump to the right on top of the red block and then press left (while hang is still held), bizarreness ensues. I thought the level was just impassable until I remembered you could stand on top of them.
Monday, 25 June 2007, 05:08
Jayenkai
Took a while to figure out what a tree of platforms was, then I figured out where you meant. Yeah, that's a bit messed up, there!
Wonder why that's happening? Very strange bug.. Thanks for pointing it out.

I've also decided that I'll fix the "Platdude ignores stuff whilst he's jumping" bug, so Hobo, I'll have to fix you're now impassable level!

OK, a few things to do before the next release.
#1 : A few extra levels to be added.
#2 : Some more block types.
#3 : Add extra uses for the Mario+Sonic types, so they're not just "For bigger jumps, and quicker runs"
#4 : Add a few more levels.
#5 : And figure out what's going on with 9572AD's bug.

If there's any additional levels to be added, post 'em up.
If you post <7, you get dumped into the "Extra levels" pack. If you post =>7 then you get your own special pack!

I'll aim for a Friday release..

Thanks.
Monday, 25 June 2007, 07:54
9572AD
Here's some strange behaviour.
Dunno if you want to change that or not.
(The level is in fact possible)

Monday, 25 June 2007, 08:29
Jayenkai
Yup, should probably fix that
(Gonna have to move the spike detection, methinks!)
Tuesday, 26 June 2007, 09:54
9572AD
Here's one using Mario and Sonic a bunch...which, if you've changed them, might not work on the new version.


Tuesday, 26 June 2007, 15:05
Blitz3Dman
Jay, I think I'll download this thing later and play it.

The preview looks cool.


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Oh, wait, that last one is for me.

Tuesday, 26 June 2007, 17:14
LostMember
In case you haven't already, use should make an option so that the player has to collect all the orbs to complete the level.
Tuesday, 26 June 2007, 20:27
Forklift_Fred
I love this game!

I think this is ready to go live...

The finish is possibly the sticky point but I'll let you all decide for yourselves.

One problem I came across (don't know if you've re-worked it along with the save/overwrite addition)... While editing my level (having saved it and done other stuff then come back to check it out) I got a massive "Don't forget to save" message and it locked up on me!

Can I make a suggestion for the editor too? Would you be able to add edge scrolling with the mouse so when your pointer reaches the edge it scrolls in that direction? As everything else works with the mouse it's a shame to have to keep going back to the keyboard to scroll. Oh and you should be able to enter the level name/text in the editor rather than opening up the pak file... Sorry, is this being a bit cheeky?
Tuesday, 26 June 2007, 20:36
9572AD
You can enter the name in the editor, but it's a little messy, as the keys you hit affect the editor as well -- but I don't think you can do any permanent damage. Just click in the blue bar where the name shows up and type away.
Tuesday, 26 June 2007, 21:04
Forklift_Fred
You know what? I thought of that, I was clicking it but didn't actually try typing
Wednesday, 27 June 2007, 00:24
Jayenkai
Yeah, I kept meaning to disable the editor's keys when that happens!
I also recently realised that if you start without a myLevels.pak, you can't actually see the two "Text input" areas, so it kinda dies on it's arse!

Oh well. It's there anyway!

B3Dman, thanks for the offer, but there's plenty of beta-testers going round at the moment. If I ever decide to secretly beta test anything, I'll let you know!

Forklift, the "Don't Forget to Save!" should disappear if you click the screen.
.. Or at least, it should do! I'll double check incase something messed up.

Egde scrolling shouldn't be too hard to add. You can currently middle-button-drag.

And... Then there's Firemaker's suggestion.
Older Plat's made it so you had to pick up all the pickups before you could leave a level, but this one doesn't really feel like it needs it. There's also the fact that the pickups exist in all three "worlds" so you can't really see them all, to pick them all up. .. Like at the end of Level 7, there's a few blue pickups right at the end of the level, which I'm sure no-one's noticed.

I suppose I could add "Flashing Keys" (or something) ala Manic Miner.. But then, most level designs don't really need them, anyway.
Wednesday, 27 June 2007, 10:12
Forklift_Fred
Again, I thought I tried clicking... Apparently I didn't. I didn't think to try middle-button-drag, sorry, that works nicely. Edge scrolling seems more obvious but with the mid-drag it's not such a problem. I found the scroll wheel function though, very nice touch.

So what it really needs then is some kind of help screen or list of controls... now you'll tell me it's already there...
Wednesday, 27 June 2007, 15:07
Jayenkai
It's not in there, I just figured people would automatically Middle-Click to drag. I know I do! And since the things at the bottom look a little like a cyclable weapon HUD, then that should've clued people into the whole Mousewheel pick a piece thing..
But I guess not.
Gonna have to add a help screen then, aren't I!

The one thing that's not listed, or obvious, is the "Hit 1,2 or 3 to switch between character styles" thing.
Thursday, 02 August 2007, 16:58
Phoenix
I love this game, great work Jay! I escpecially like the special effect that comes when you pause I've made some levels, but I'd hardly consider them worth sharing. Did you know that you can fly through spikes with the ballons? You might want to fix that.
Thursday, 02 August 2007, 17:25
JL235
I'm really impressed, it looks like a proper full game. But the controls feel a little clunky and unresponsive at times. Especially when your in Mario mode.
Thursday, 02 August 2007, 17:26
Jayenkai
I knew it was in there..
I might've fixed that.. I'm pretty sure I had, but.. Probably not released the fixed version yet.

Been a while since I played with it, to be honest.

Maybe I should do a big tweak+update release..