Vacuum Magic

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	Vacuum Magic posted by LancerNZ @ 60.234.110.128 on Jul 6 2009 9:25 PM
Ubuntu game does not appear to work, even after the .deb install fetched several dependencies... lancer@lancer-laptop:~$ vacuum Data directory is at '/usr/local/share/vacuum' Bin directory is at '/usr/local/share/vacuum/bin' Name "main::RecorderOn" used only once: possible typo at /usr/local/bin/vacuum line 234. The current locale is en_NZ.UTF-8 The current language is en No language file /usr/local/share/vacuum/bin/translate_en.pl. No such file or directory at /usr/local/bin/vacuum line 325. lancer@lancer-laptop:~$
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Re: Vacuum Magic posted by UPi @ 89.132.109.11 on Jul 7 2009 4:25 PM   Sorry about the error in the previous release. I've just released 0.13a that fixes this problem (tested on Ubuntu Jaunty and Debian). Thank you for reporting it!   [Reply]   Re: Vacuum Magic posted by LancerNZ @ 60.234.107.105 on Jul 19 2009 1:59 AM   Much better thanks. Not a bad game at all. I got another error "Cannot open record.txt: Permission denied at bin/recorder.pl line 65." at one point after playing the tutorial, possibly a permissions issue on the high score table? I may have been in an odd directory (console I launched the program from) at the time.   [Reply]

	Nice! posted by jaeger487 @ 213.238.214.2 on Jul 4 2009 8:25 AM
The game graphics are in my taste. If you liked old shootemup's on arcade machines you'll like this one. Job well done!
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Re: Nice! posted by charlieg @ 83.138.34.50 on Jul 10 2009 9:34 AM   The graphics are ripped from commercial games. They need to be replaced.   [Reply]

	RPM and DEB posted by UPi @ 80.98.198.83 on Mar 31 2009 10:26 AM
I have just posted a RPM and DEB packages for version 0.11 on the download page. If you try them, please let me know if they worked OK on your system! Thanks!
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	Artwork and origins posted by UPi @ 80.98.198.83 on Jan 12 2009 11:04 AM
Thanks for the comments. Concerns about origins: I used to have a C64 when I was little, but I don't remember playing Slurpy. I tried it today, and the gameplay is indeed very much like Vacuum Magic. Granted, there are tens of thousands games out there, and the chance of creating a game that resembles one obscure game is very high. The funny thing is that the controls for Vacuum Magic went through several iterations. At first turning was based on movement (if you moved left the character turned left). This made aiming for the spitting maneuver very hard, so I eliminated it in favor of a separater "turn" button. This in turn was very confusing for new players, as the "spit" and "turn" buttons were easy to mix up, and I noticed that most people just pushed both at the same time. After that I merged the two buttons. I also experimented with "push left twice to turn left" sort of control, but it felt like double clicking on the mouse, but very intuitive and very difficult while maneuvering between enemies, so I dropped it. I traded a lot of games as a kid, so it is entirely possible that I played Slurpy. I don't distinctively remember the game, but it is possible that the mechanic was somewhere in my mind when I started work on Vacuum Magic. Vacuum Magic's gameplay is different: spitting is actually useful, you can eliminate enemies by spitting at them, gameplay is continuous, there are boss fights, multiple players, etc. Also I find some of the comments unfair: I don't see everyone knocking any shooter for not crediting Galaxians as a predecessor, and I haven't seen Blizzard sued for cloning Dune 2. (Or Dune 2 makers sued for cloning the real time strategy aspect of Populous, or Populous slammed for not crediting whatever game came before it). That said, I will credit Slurpy somehow in the next version. You can help me with the exact wording. About artwork: unfortunately I can't draw for beans. I have requested help on sourceforge.net's recruiting board three times. If any of you can help create replacement graphics, I would be very grateful. About music: They come from music compos with permissive licenses and other free games. Thanks for your comments again, and I hope this clears up some concerns. Further comments and discussion is welcome. UPi out.
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Re: Artwork and origins posted by Viliam @ 78.141.86.48 on Jan 12 2009 2:04 PM   Perhaps you could mention on the game's page (right at the beginning) that you need help with graphics. If someone visits that page, there is higher chance that they are willing to help, compared with asking for help on a general programming forum.   [Reply]   Re: Artwork and origins posted by UPi @ 80.98.198.83 on Jan 12 2009 4:26 PM   Good idea! :) I did that.   [Reply]   Re: Artwork and origins posted by SCIBOTIC @ 124.170.113.25 on Jan 26 2009 7:33 AM   I might be able to do some quick art, sourceforge rejects email from gmail so I couldn't contact you directly, could you please contact me at info at scibotic dot com with a different email address? What are you looking for as far as sprites go? Also I found the single key for both spitting and turning to be awkward, I really wouldn't mind having separate keys as an option even if I'll press both most of the time.   [Reply]   Re: Artwork and origins posted by SCIBOTIC @ 124.170.113.25 on Jan 29 2009 11:37 PM   Unfortunately I am unable to provide what this project requires, anyone else who wants to contribute art please understand that he wants the designs replaced as they are without radical differences.   [Reply]   Re: Artwork and origins posted by UPi @ 80.98.198.83 on Feb 8 2009 11:36 AM   That is not entirely correct. I want to give artists as much freedom as they want. What I do need, however, is that you know what you want to do. Simple...   [Reply]   Re: Artwork and origins posted by Viliam @ 92.52.28.192 on Jul 2 2009 4:29 PM   I think the moving could be more intuitive, it the player would turn left/right automatically. It means, when I press left arrow, the unit moves left and also turns left... unless it is eating something, in which situation it only moves left but remains turned in the original direction. The fire button would mean fire, nothing else. It would be complicated to fly backwards while trying to eat things in front of me. But this could be done by moving backwards and only sometimes shortly clicking the right arrow, trying to catch something quickly. In return, I think such controls would be much less confusing.   [Reply]

	Thanks! posted by jrodman @ 64.142.12.203 on Jan 10 2009 10:55 PM
Thanks for the game, and if you're interested in adding free artwork, be sure to let artists know!
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Re: Thanks! posted by UPi @ 80.98.198.83 on Jan 12 2009 4:33 PM   Can you recommend a good place to do that? Sourceforge has a recruitment feature that I tried before, with no success.   [Reply]

	Retro posted by sss72 @ 80.222.212.65 on Jan 9 2009 8:28 AM
This game looks like it's from the 80-90 arcade machine or Amiga. Nothing bad with that, it was good times :) Works well, only thing was that i have widescreen monitor and the bottom of the game screen isn't shown in fullscreen mode. I give 3 stars, it's not ,y type of game, maybe for the kids ;), ithe game plays well nothing in that.
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Re: Retro posted by riksweeney @ 83.244.174.157 on Jan 9 2009 1:13 PM   It's actually based on the arcade game Three Wonders (uses some of the graphics). http://www.klov.com/images/11/1181242182314.png   [Reply]   Re: Retro posted by ezekiel000 @ 86.7.219.62 on Jan 9 2009 11:39 PM   That's quite stupid to use ripped sprites in a GPL game, isn't it? Or is there a loop hole for this?   [Reply]   Re: Retro posted by Scarfy @ 78.32.238.94 on Jan 10 2009 9:13 AM   Simple solution - Have the source and data files as separate downloads and mark the data files as Non-Free.   [Reply]   Re: Retro posted by Puzzud @ 75.132.196.163 on Jan 10 2009 3:36 AM Even worse, the author not only ripped the graphics and gameplay of a really fun arcade game, but the gameplay (the vacuuming aspect) is also ripped off of an old Commodore 64 game called slurpy: http://www.gamespot.com/c64/action/slurpy/index.html http://www.gb64.com/Screenshots/S/Slurpy.png I don't mind the fact he did this. But the author needs to give credit where credit is due.   [Reply]   Re: Retro posted by god64 @ 62.158.5.163 on Jan 10 2009 9:36 AM   well, lets not overact here, noboy gives credit to william higinbotham if he does a tennis game.... or a video game at all - the idea to suck stuff in is not so special that someone could not get it alone.   [Reply]   Re: Retro posted by Puzzud @ 75.132.196.163 on Jan 11 2009 10:13 AM No, it's pretty obvious--down to the very mechanics of the "sucking" aspect. ie If you don't suck in all the way, you blow it out. Play Slurpy. Pretty sure the white dots from the sucking region is a direct copy. I was excited to play a new take on "Chariot." I have no problem with an amateur game developer rehashing an older game. I go to play it and I notice another deliberate rip from a game I played when I was three. The author just needs to mention these games on the website. On a side note, I wrote this cool song, "Mary had a Little Goat..." It's awesome and the kids are gonna love it.   [Reply]   Re: Retro posted by velex @ 76.235.172.188 on Jul 5 2009 8:24 PM   What kind of sick pleasure do you get out of posting comments like this? Does it make you feel better about yourself when you detract from others' hard work? Or let me guess: you think that for example Rock Band and Guitar Hero /should/ credit Guitar Freaks/Drum Mania/Karaoke Revolution since after all Rock Band is just a rip-off game that's already been done before, but since you're such of a petty person you have to find someone smaller to bully. Let's take a look here: I was excited to play a new take on "Chariot." I have no problem with an amateur game developer rehashing an older game. Ah good. You are in fact excited about the author's game. I go to play it and I notice another deliberate rip from a game I played when I was three. So what's up with this flame? Don't tell me you seriously sit around playing Space Invaders all day because every other shmup is a deliberate rip? I don't know. Maybe you do. Would you care explaining the difference between a deliberate rip and an amateur rehash for those of us who aren't worthy of your vast intellect and encyclopedic knowledge?   [Reply]