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Legend of Tux

Domain name registered: http://www.legendoftux.com

Legend of Tux version 0.4 released on November 8, 2009!

Windows binary loaded to www.legendoftux.com. Linux binary coming soon.

Concept

I started development on the Legend of Tux a in August 2009. I wanted to create a game that combined the gameplay of a Mega Man game and the original Legend of Zelda. I had developed a Zelda clone using updated graphics in 2003, using ClanLib libraries. In 2006 I created an engine for a tux Zelda style game using SDL, but it wasn't very good. I didn't have much time to devote to it, since I was working on a master's degree in industrial engineering outside of my full time job.

The controls are simple. Use the arrow keys (or a,s,d,w) to move and spacebar to attack. Press f to throw your hat boomerang, which will stun enemies. Hold spacebar to charge your sword to shoot it. Collect a power orb to get a 3x attack power boost against enemies of that color. Defeat all enemies in a room to move to the next room. Clear all 16 rooms to complete a level. Finish all eight levels to win the game.

Gameplay is completely linear. Move one room to the next until you reach the boss room and defeat the boss. The one aspect that I hate the most about Zelda style games is trying to determine where to go next.

Screenshots

Screenshots of stable release, version 0.4

Ubuntu Linux 9.04 compilation:

Screenshots of development, version 0.3

Archived Screenshots

Patch Notes

Version 0.4 Patch Notes (Stable Release)

See version 0.3 notes for changes from version 0.2

Version 0.3 Patch Notes (In Development)

• New Rendered sprites for Tux and snowmen (Thanks Blender!)

• Background music now working
  • Title screen: Brahms Hungarian Dance No 2
  • Level select: Brahms Hungarian Dance No 5
  • Level 0: Vivaldi Four Seasons Winter

• Boomerang mechanics now added
  • When boomerang hits an enemy, the enemy is stunned for 5 seconds and the boomerang immediately begins to return
  • Doesn't bring back items (like orbs) yet
  • Added code to dynamically calculate the return slope, so that the boomerang returns with a smooth curve if the player is moving while the boomerang returns

• Added level select screen
  • Level select spheres created with Blender, and mapping the level's background image onto the sphere; Used Gimp for the lettering; Two images were generated for each sphere (regular and highlighted); The highlighted sphere just simply has a an extra lamp added in Blender; Used Gimp to select the green background color, expand the selection by one pixel, set the selection to transparent, resize to 200x200, then set the transparent color to magenta (which is the transparent color set in the code)
  • Added grayed out orbs for completed levels
  • Prevents user from selecting levels already completed

• Title screen updated with new 3D render using Blender

• Title menu updated, with the menu items (Start, Quit) selectable with the up and down arrow keys (or w and s keys), and choosable with the spacebar or enter keys. This will make adding new menu items (such as continue, load game, credits, etc) much easier.

• Removed the power orb FIFO pipe. Now you only need one orb to get the 3x attack bonus. Now only one orb displayed at the top of the screen.

• Added calculations to make collision blocks rounded if it is surrounded by two non-collision blocks

• The charge lines will now only display after charging for 10 frames

Brainstorming

• "Mega Man" style level select screen - Maybe make the first ice stage mandatory, with a cutscene following, then the user can select the stage they wish to play.

• Story: Evil villain casts a virus on the various creatures which turned them evil. Tux must defeat each of the creatures and remove their virus.

• After a boss is defeated, Tux will acquire a special weapon related to the defeated boss

• Question: Should certain special weapons be required to complete stages? Should certain special weapons grant access to hidden areas?

• Question: Should levels be replayable? To pick up missed items on the first playthrough.

• Question: Should the player be able to extend their maximum life? This may give an unfair advantage in later stages. Maybe have health boosts within the level to extend your life, but they would disappear after the level is over (like SMB2)

• Puzzles that make the user solve computer science style problems, such as binary arithmetic

• Instead of having the 3 orb bouns give you 3x power against enemies of that color, have the 3 orb bonus apply a special effect to your weapon. For instance, 3 red orbs will make your sword have flames, which will set enemies on fire when you hit them, which causes additional periodic damamge. Having 3 blue orbs would give your weapon the chill effect that will frezze enemies when you hit them. Three yellow orbs could give you shields or something.

• Add a total orb count... Decision:
  • Make orbs like money to buy items
  • Make orbs add energy/magic, which will allow you to perform special attacks

• Instead of having a visible orb FIFO pipe displayed at the top of the screen, have a picture of your sword that glows with the currently collected orb... the glow becomes brighter until 3 orbs of the same color are collected and you get the bonus

• Thinking about removing orbs all together... instead have your sword charged with the color with the last enemy killed. Having the sword charged with that color will make hits on all other enemies of that color 1 hit kills

• Thinking about keeping the orb powerup, but just make one orb needed to get the 3x attack bonus

• Getting rid of anything that could be considered a reference to a specific Linux distribution... Enemies like red hats could cause trademark issues down the road

• Thinking about not giving specific names to bosses... let the player come up with names for them... or take suggestions to name them or something

• Need to make items fade away and disappear after a period of time, to prevent the player from backtracking to previous rooms to get powerups

• Add clear time for each level, which is a statistic that will display after compelting a level

Levels

Eight levels must be completed to win the game.

ASTRO LAND

• Item: Star Cane

BOLT LAND

• Item: Electric Hat
• Music: Brahms, Academic Festival Overture, Op 80

DESERT LAND

• Item: Sandstorm Shield

FLAME LAND

• Item: Devil's Flame

FROST LAND

• Item: Frostbite
• Music: Vivaldi, Four Seasons Winter

JUNGLE LAND

• Item: Iguana Bombs

STONE WORLD

• Item: Brass Trumpet

MECH WORLD

• Item: Gear Magnet

Issues

• If the boomerang hasn't returned to the player when the player moves to another room, then the boomerang will be at the same location in the next room and return to the player
• Enemies get "stuck" at the open space to the previous room Fixed!
• Blue orbs are invisible on Linux Fixed! The img_orb array should have had a size of 4 instead of 3 (no_orb.bmp, red_orb.bmp, green_orb.bmp, blue_orb.bmp)
• The player can repeatedly press "F" to shoot the boomerang over again
• Need pause or inventory select screen
• After installing on a new system, it can take 15 to 30 seconds to load the title screen. Need to add a "loading" screen
• The first time after downloading the zip from the website, extracting, and running, the program exited after the title screen. Subsequent attempts have not had the problem
• Just noticed that it is possible to walk through horizontal moving snowmen, if the snowman moves through the middle of your body. The collision algorithm doesn't detect when a smaller object moves through a larger object, without intersecting any of the bounding box vertices.
• Need unique background music for each stage
• Need unique enemies for each stage
• Need better enemy AI, and differing AI for different types of enemies
• Need options screen to change sound/music volume, change control options, etc
• Need ability to save and continue
• Add additional powerups
• Add boss enemies
• New enemy killed animation
• Make better level complete screen
• Add two rows of blocks to the tops of all rooms, so that the player won't overlap with the status bar
• Add sound effects
  • Sword Swing
  • Enemy killed
  • Level select: selected level changed, invalid level selected
  • Orb pickup
  • Player hit
  • Boomerang

Software Docs

Setting up the Development Environment

Requirements Definition

Level Design

Finding Memory Leaks

Adding Music