Fractalus 1.0.0 released!

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Luke
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Fractalus 1.0.0 released!

Post by Luke » 2020-Dec-18 18:36

Fractalus 1.0.0 is now available for download from the Fractalus project page.

See blog post at https://www.lsdwa.com/blog/2020/12/18/f ... -released/ for more information.

Let me know any thoughts, comments or feedback.

Enjoy!
Luke's Software and Design
http://www.lsdwa.com

Loafmeister
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Re: Fractalus 1.0.0 released!

Post by Loafmeister » 2020-Dec-27 16:25

Oh my goodness you released version 1.0!! I’m looking forward to trying it out in the morning, on the trimonitor setup and in VR!

Congrats on the release!

Loafmeister
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Re: Fractalus 1.0.0 released!

Post by Loafmeister » 2020-Dec-28 00:27

Hi again!

I tried it and man what a joy to play in VR and for certain the game feels much more complete now (and thanks for the credit shout! :) ).

Playing at higher levels, I purposely opened airlocks early and glad you didn't forget to add what could happen back in the day in :).

One issue I have playing on the Valve Index (SteamVR) is that the re-centering doesn't seem to work as it should. No matter what I do, it keep recentering to the original spot towards the middle of my playroom. This is a desk game so usually in most seated VR games, I re-center through the game and can play in my new position but it doesn't seem to allow that.

I also noticed the x-axis auto centers (actually really well done). But I don't seem to have by default the ability to bank while going straight. I've not checked out the full control options yet and I will but I thought I remembered it used to default to the right analog stick on the older versions (I could be mixing it up with another game)

Zipping through the canyons, shooting the bases, etc. Rescuing the pilots. Facing the aliens (well done!). It's really the old game brought back to the modern era. The Fractal landscape is outstanding!

Thank you Luke, your work is appreciated. I'll be posting some noticed on reddit and other facebook groups in the hope it generates more traffic here. This is fantastic, looking forward to trying the 3 monitor setup again to see how it plays.

Whether in normal flat screen or VR, this is a treat to play!

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Luke
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Re: Fractalus 1.0.0 released!

Post by Luke » 2020-Dec-28 02:41

Hi Loaf!

Thanks for all the kind words and I'm glad to hear 1.0 plays well!
One issue I have playing on the Valve Index (SteamVR) is that the re-centering doesn't seem to work as it should. No matter what I do, it keep recentering to the original spot towards the middle of my playroom. This is a desk game so usually in most seated VR games, I re-center through the game and can play in my new position but it doesn't seem to allow that.
Not sure what's happening there as the calibration is intended to offset from the center of the play area so that no matter where in the play area you are, the camera gets offset to the position I set for it. I've tested this with my Oculus Rift and my Oculus Quest 2 and it worked, so it might be an issue specific to the Valve Index. Do you still have your Oculus and/or Vive to test with to see if it behaves the same way with other headsets?
I also noticed the x-axis auto centers (actually really well done). But I don't seem to have by default the ability to bank while going straight. I've not checked out the full control options yet and I will but I thought I remembered it used to default to the right analog stick on the older versions (I could be mixing it up with another game)
The control system automatically rolls slightly when you turn/yaw your ship, with no way to manually roll. I did implement manual rolling way back in 0.4.3 which was before I had released the remake publicly, but the first public release 0.5.0 had the automatic roll.

I've also received a few reports of other issues with the 1.0 build so I'm currently working on some fixes for these issues, and I will do some research and further testing on the VR centering issue to see if I can find anything.

Thanks again for the feedback and I look forward to hearing how it goes on the triple monitor setup!

Cheers,
Luke
Luke's Software and Design
http://www.lsdwa.com

Loafmeister
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Re: Fractalus 1.0.0 released!

Post by Loafmeister » 2020-Dec-28 04:01

Hi Luke

Roll: I must be mixing it up with another game. Imho some people may face issues with the manual roll because with VR anything that moved you artificially can do that BUT I find it’s finally and your auto leveling is really done nice and at the right speed so I suspect it’s good with most . That reminds me I have some rhinos hotas around here I’m gonna have to try that out with them ! I’m also contemplating ordering the high quality Star Wars yoke remake. I wonder if this would work with it?


I don’t have the old vive or the Rift anymore but i do have the quest 2 so I can try via link. Will do so and test the 3 monitor setup later today. Sometimes stuff like this can happen when using the steam vr beta so I will experiment with the default steamvr and let you know

Quest 2? Have you contemplated having a basic version working natively on the quest 2? That would be an outstanding effort. I love my quest 2, had the quest 1 before and sure the darks were better and for those affected it sucks there is no full SDE slider but everything else is next gen with that headset (well except for the need of a Facebook account ugh)

Anyway you pop that on the sidequest store and it might find an audience alongside half life, return to castle wolfenstein and the upcoming Doom 3 for nostalgia gaming fans

Not sure if it’s doable but maybe if you lose particle effects, detail and cut down on resolution maybe it’s possible at 72hz? Maybe a project once the hardware is good enough anyway lol

Well for now we can focus on what you’ve given us, which is fantastic . I find the saucers harder to hit now (in a good way), at least at level 10 . So much heart and soul in this game , it’s evident your intention was to honor the original title and creators . I love the radar you added, perfect!

Ninja edit: added a bunch of stuff

Loafmeister
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Re: Fractalus 1.0.0 released!

Post by Loafmeister » 2020-Dec-28 08:27

Hi again,

Tried the trimonitor setup and it didn't work. One reason why it didn't is because I switched GPU and I guess Nvidia handles the triple monitor setup different than AMD. AMD would show me the full 5760X1080 while nvidia separates the different 3 screens.

Well I did get it to work, I had to select the video option "Windowed" and just dragged the screen, but it's not the preferred way but... it does work! So I've decided to play through from 1st level on both this triple monitor pc and on the other PC in VR, should be fun.

The saucers are def a little hard early on. I would def recommend first few levels they be a bit easier than bring up the difficulty.

I'm having a blast, looking forward to seeing just how hard it becomes after a while. Once again Luke, well done!

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Re: Fractalus 1.0.0 released!

Post by Luke » 2020-Dec-28 17:06

That reminds me I have some rhinos hotas around here I’m gonna have to try that out with them ! I’m also contemplating ordering the high quality Star Wars yoke remake. I wonder if this would work with it?
The HOTAS should work, though you will likely need to manually bind all of the controls for it. I included default bindings for the Saitek X52 and the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro as those are the only two joystick type controllers I have, and I think other controllers will have no default bindings. I'm not sure about the Star Wars yoke. I am also working on a rewrite of the control system for the next build to resolve some controller issues, and as part of that I'm hoping to improve the rebinding workflow for controllers that don't have included bindings.
I don’t have the old vive or the Rift anymore but i do have the quest 2 so I can try via link.
Trying via Oculus Link should be enough to test whether it behaves differently with another headset.
Quest 2? Have you contemplated having a basic version working natively on the quest 2? That would be an outstanding effort. I love my quest 2, had the quest 1 before and sure the darks were better and for those affected it sucks there is no full SDE slider but everything else is next gen with that headset (well except for the need of a Facebook account ugh)

Anyway you pop that on the sidequest store and it might find an audience alongside half life, return to castle wolfenstein and the upcoming Doom 3 for nostalgia gaming fans

Not sure if it’s doable but maybe if you lose particle effects, detail and cut down on resolution maybe it’s possible at 72hz? Maybe a project once the hardware is good enough anyway lol
I would like to do a native Oculus Quest build but I'm not sure if it would work and I haven't yet tried it. The two main issues would be that currently Fractalus is using the legacy XR system in Unity 2019 which I'm not sure supports running on the Quest, and it also requires a separate controller as VR controllers do not work, and I don't know if a separate controller can be used with the Quest. Again I haven't even tried any of this, so it may be a case of just doing a test build and seeing what happens. I'm not sure if performance would be too much of a concern as the hardware in the Quest 2 seems fairly capable, but I would need to test it out and see. The need for a Facebook account with the Quest 2 certainly makes me uncomfortable, hopefully they'll either come to their senses and remove this requirement, or be forced to remove it.
Tried the trimonitor setup and it didn't work. One reason why it didn't is because I switched GPU and I guess Nvidia handles the triple monitor setup different than AMD. AMD would show me the full 5760X1080 while nvidia separates the different 3 screens.
That's a shame, I would have expected Nvidia's Surround to work the same way AMD's Eyefinity does, though I'm only really familiar with Nvidia as I don't have any recent AMD GPUs.
The saucers are def a little hard early on. I would def recommend first few levels they be a bit easier than bring up the difficulty.
By easier do you mean easier to hit, or less accurate in their targeting of the player's ship?
I'm having a blast, looking forward to seeing just how hard it becomes after a while. Once again Luke, well done!
Thanks! I know from my testing (both in my remake and the original game) it gets brutally difficult around level 40, and levels 50 through 99 are chaos.

Cheers,
Luke
Luke's Software and Design
http://www.lsdwa.com

Loafmeister
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Re: Fractalus 1.0.0 released!

Post by Loafmeister » 2020-Dec-29 00:35

Saucers: yes to shooting them, maybe an easier flight pattern for them, just for the first few levels. At least in the original game, I don’t recall them being that difficult early on but memory is fickle that way, I’ll need to try it out again.

Nvidia’ surround: Maybe it’s how I have it set up on my system. I dunno, I just know affinity just worked and this one does not. I’ll have to research that a bit

Quest 2: I do believe there are many sidequest games that support using a gaming controller via bluetooth connectivity so pretty sure track controllers are not mandatory, well at least on sidequest. In fact, I googled and there is a link from Oculus themselves that show how to connect a game pad. Apparently the requirement is the controller needs To support Bluetooth 3.0 class 2.

HOTAS: Yep, I understand a rebind is required, appreciate you making it even possible.

I apologize if this is listed somewhere but is there an end level to your recreation?

Def at some point, I hope you add a high score mode where it’s “how long can you last at level 50 or 99 or whatever” infiniy level with the AI keep sending in saucers/ships, bases shooting at you, etc.

I see on facebook a few people complaining about the fact the monsters shows up too often. I’m not certain they fully realize you need to blow up the ships after rescuing the pilots.

Facebook again: The few who commented on the missing “surprise” sound effects when the alien appears have a good point. I did see your responses and understand the challenge, hope you can sort out a proper music queue solution. BTW I’ve dabbled in a bit of voice acting, if you need help with this, I’d be glad to try and put something together that gives honor to the original sound effect.

I am repeating myself but it really was a stroke of brilliance to change the radar display to use similar resolution and frame rates as the original game. Such an awesome touch

Have any of the original devs commented on your version 1.0 yet?

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Re: Fractalus 1.0.0 released!

Post by Luke » 2020-Dec-29 23:46

Saucers: yes to shooting them, maybe an easier flight pattern for them, just for the first few levels. At least in the original game, I don’t recall them being that difficult early on but memory is fickle that way, I’ll need to try it out again.
In the original game they didn't move across the screen very quickly, but approached fairly quickly and were hard to target due to the frame rate. I figured as a way to compensate for this in the remake I'd give them faster and more erratic movement to keep them difficult to target. I can adjust this and/or make it level dependent.
Quest 2: I do believe there are many sidequest games that support using a gaming controller via bluetooth connectivity so pretty sure track controllers are not mandatory, well at least on sidequest. In fact, I googled and there is a link from Oculus themselves that show how to connect a game pad. Apparently the requirement is the controller needs To support Bluetooth 3.0 class 2.
Sounds like I need to do a test build and see what happens :)
I apologize if this is listed somewhere but is there an end level to your recreation?
I actually discussed this with David Fox and he said that there was no ending for the original game as they never thought anyone would make it that far. I have a trained version of the original game for C64 so I tested what happens in the C64 version if you complete level 99, and it appears to just stay on level 99 after returning to the mothership and won't progress beyond it. In my remake I have added a short end-game sequence if you beat level 99, and you get a high score entry for level 100 to indicate you finished the game :)
Def at some point, I hope you add a high score mode where it’s “how long can you last at level 50 or 99 or whatever” infiniy level with the AI keep sending in saucers/ships, bases shooting at you, etc.
Sounds like a good idea for an "endurance" game mode in 1.1 :)
I see on facebook a few people complaining about the fact the monsters shows up too often. I’m not certain they fully realize you need to blow up the ships after rescuing the pilots.
It seems a number of people don't know that you need to - or are even able to - destroy the crashed ships after rescuing a pilot. I certainly didn't when I was playing the original when I was young :) However I still plan to review the alien spawn frequency, as it is based on David Fox's original timings and I may have misinterpreted them when converting the timings to the remake.
Facebook again: The few who commented on the missing “surprise” sound effects when the alien appears have a good point. I did see your responses and understand the challenge, hope you can sort out a proper music queue solution. BTW I’ve dabbled in a bit of voice acting, if you need help with this, I’d be glad to try and put something together that gives honor to the original sound effect.
Thanks for the offer to help, I may need it depending on how I go with creating a muttering sound - alternately I could find a sound effect of an animal growling and apply some effects to it. I'll see how I go with it first :)
I am repeating myself but it really was a stroke of brilliance to change the radar display to use similar resolution and frame rates as the original game. Such an awesome touch
Thanks!
Have any of the original devs commented on your version 1.0 yet?
David Fox has been actively commenting on my posts both on Facebook and Twitter, and he was commenting in the conversation on Facebook about the alien sound missing from the remake. Other than the missing alien sound, his feedback has been positive which I'm happy about :)
Luke's Software and Design
http://www.lsdwa.com

Urbinoo
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Re: Fractalus 1.0.0 released!

Post by Urbinoo » 2020-Dec-31 01:28

Hello Luke,

I just registered to be able to warmly thank you and congratulate you for your work, this is an awesome remake !

Maybe a suggestion : when the game is paused and I want to resume, I press the A button, but the game remembered that button press and is immediately firing ! Too bad for that poor pilot in sight... :D

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