Roku Developer Program

[Romans_I_XVI]

Install the private beta channel here...
https://owner.roku.com/add/neon

Requirements: Android Device, Friends

I've been working on a new Roku game called "Neon Party Games" , it will be a collection of simple games that are playable by an unlimited number of people. With the download of an app your phone is turned into a controller for the game 😄 . The controller is currently only on Android, you can download it here.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... games_beta

I want to do some testing because although I've tested this with up to 50 simulated clients being controlled by my gaming computer with flawless performance ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJQ-9zcfh3M ) , I'd like more insight into real world performance before I get too deep in development (as if I haven't already 😛 ). Keep in mind that positions are constantly updated using UDP packets, you can think of it like having a wireless mouse, if your Wi-Fi connection is not strong, you will get jerky movements, just like if you had a flaky connection with a wireless mouse.

There are currently only two games, they are both fairly basic but I feel they are a good starting point.

• Tag - It's all in the name, you run away from each other, and whoever is IT the least wins. (Requires 2 or more players)


• Geometry - Score points by destroying the shapes, each shape's point value is equal to the number of sides it hase, hence Geometry. (Includes a single player mode, as well as multiplayer mode)

Aside from feedback on the performance of the current games I am completely open to suggestions at this point in the process. Here are some areas I'm interested in input.

• Sound FX - I feel like I have a good consistant theme going with the neon and I'd like to keep the audio consistant as well. In my mind I'm thinking something along the lines of lightsaber sound effects when players collide and, well, just other audio along that line. I'm also looking for some background music that again keeps consistant with the theme. I cannot make any of this so if anyone has suggestions for resources I'm all ears!


• Game Modes - At this point I'm still open to game mode ideas, so make your ideas heard! I have a few of my own in mind already, such as a battle royal/king of the hill type game (knock each other out). Also thinking of something like Super Hexagon gameplay, where you must avoid the walls closing in around you and whoever survives the longest wins. Just keep in mind that I prefer ideas where the number of players is unlimited, although limited player games is not impossible (I've thought of doing some sort of air hockey game which would limit to 2). Also remember that I'm not registering any input from the phone other that moving the character, no clicks or anything. And the data is on a one way street, the phone has no idea what is going on on the Roku.


• Character Colors - This is simple and I'm sure I'll find things that make me happy, but I'm still not 100% happy with my current color selection, the colors need to be different enough to tell them apart, so there aren't as many options as you might think. But I know some of my colors are probably too dark for the neon theme, if you have a color that you feel would look good in neon form, shoot me the hex value.


• How Much Would You Pay? - Straight forward question, I believe in business where both the customer and the provider walk away happy. So I want to price this fairly. I was thinking $1.99 at this point, but if you feel it's worth more, or less, than that let me know.

Thanks, I look forward to your input! Again I am at a point in development that I am completely open to new ideas, I feel like I have a solid foundation laid and now, if you so choose, you can help me decide what's built on top of it 8-)

[Romans_I_XVI]

I like it! Except it would be even more interesting because I would not limit you to 4 directional movements. I would need to think about how it will work more but I definitely want to do it.

[dev42]

"hnet" wrote:
What about a page from the old dos game "Nibbles"...

Check out the "Snake" SDK example.

peace & 42

[Romans_I_XVI]

Been putting a little work into Neon Party Games lately. Here's the latest work if you're interested.

https://youtu.be/RuTiNbH44ks

[Komag]

I'm quite impressed with that motion, and can't even begin to fathom the under-the-hood code to make it work so well with all the acceleration/deceleration or vectors or whatever, all that math to hurt my brain! The movement in my in-development game is positively primitive by comparison, everything strictly linear and straight!

[Romans_I_XVI]

Thanks. It's actually not terrible, what I'm doing is taking the distance between where a player is, and where the player wants to be (the data being sent to the Roku by a persons phone). Then I am accelerating by a percentage of that distance, so the greater the percentage the greater the acceleration. Then I multiply it all by a decelerate variable such as 0.9, this essentially adds friction which causes the player to eventually settle at the destination position. It worked better than I expected actually. 🙂

[Romans_I_XVI]

Been working a lot on Neon Party Games lately. I've got a new game mode called Cell finished which is based on http://agar.io


I'm also working on a Sumo type game mode, it's still a WIP but you can see the basic idea here.
https://youtu.be/R-OgOZOB_c8

[Komag]

Ha ha, I like the Sumo 😄

[jstr4life]

Is this channel still live? Went to it and got an error. Removed and tried to reinstall it and nada.

[Romans_I_XVI]

Oh, no the private channel has been removed because the game is released. It's been out for a couple weeks now.

https://channelstore.roku.com/details/82944

Hope you enjoy playing! Let me know if so.