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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 and Linux binaries loaded to www.legendoftux.com.

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.

The Legend of Tux is free software, but I am not currently releasing the source code. However, I am documenting the software development process.

Screenshots

Screenshots of stable release, version 0.4

Ubuntu Linux 9.04 compilation

Running under Ubuntu Linux 9.04 Live

Running under Mandriva 2010 Live

Windows compilation

Running under Windows Vista

Archived Screenshots

Patch Notes

Version 0.5 Patch Notes (In Development)

• Added ability to save which levels have been completed by pressing "v" from the title menu; Pressing "l" on the title menu will load the saved game; Additional menu options will need to be added
• Added "Loading" message on startup; On slower systems, it may take around 30 seconds to load all of the image files
• The player can no longer move while swinging the sword
• Fixed collision detection problem of player being able to walk horizontally through an enemy without getting hit
• Got SDL_ttf working, and I wrote my own custom methods to display text to the screen
• Added level play time and FPS for debugging display at the top of the screen
• Added unique music for each stage
• Added boss music for the last room in each level

Version 0.4 Patch Notes (Stable Release)

Stable release

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

Levels

Eight levels must be completed to win the game.

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
• 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

• Tried running Legend of Tux on a Windows XP system, but the game screen ran slowly; The Task Manager reported 98 to 99% CPU usage. Maybe the problem is because I compiled under Vista, but my Vista is running 32 bit. On the other hand, there was barely any loading time to get to the title screen

Resolved Issues

Software Docs

Setting up the Development Environment

Brainstorming

Requirements Definition

Level Design

Finding Memory Leaks

Adding Music

Installing on Linux

Saving and Loading

Collision Detection

Setting up SDL_ttf