Angry Mudokons [Playable Game]
 

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Disclaimer:
Angry Mudokons is being developed solely as an educational, not-for-profit fan activity and in no way intends to infringe on copyrights held by Oddworld Inhabitants, Just Add Water, Microsoft, Electronic Arts or other respective companies and is not affiliated with any of these companies in any way.
Angry Mudokons uses assets borrowed from Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee.
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Hi Everyone!

As you'll probably know I am currently studying Game Design and Development at the Utrecht School of the Arts. During the past two weeks I had the assignment to create a physics based game.

I decided to create a simple but fun physics game featuring my favorite universe, Oddworld. That game is now Angry Mudokons.


http://timcottenham.nl/oddworld/angr...eenshot_01.png


I have only one week left to develop it as a school project, but I intend to keep on developing it after this for the sake of learning a thing or two and of course for your enjoyment. However, I need you to test it.

Currently there is only 1 playable level, but I did my best to make it as fun as I can. Please, give it a try, and remember that feedback is more than welcome, please tell me what you enjoyed about the game, what you did not like about it, and what you would like to see added to the game. If there is any interest I intend to make this a "full" game with a good amount of levels to play and maybe some extra stuff.

I hope you enjoy it and have as much fun playing it as I do developing it.

Play Angry Mudokons here:
http://timcottenham.nl/oddworld/angryMudokons/play.html


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Note:
To play Angry Mudokons you will need to have installed the Unity Web Player. The Unity Web Player is available for download here: http://unity3d.com/webplayer/
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Controls:
- Click and drag from the "slingshot towers" to aim a Mudokon.
- Let go.

To-Do List:
- More levels (challenges).
- Add gamespeak for Slog's, Slig's, Big Bro's and Glukkons.
- Add main menu, Level selection screen.
- Add options menu featuring mute option.
- Replace temporary interface.
- Tell me!

Update History:
- [January 17th 2013] Launched the game. First playable level.

Haha! This is brilliant! Nice job capturing the Oddworld vibe so far, I can't wait to see more. :)

Oh god it's so good. Why is it in Fan Corner?! It's awesome

EDIT: Is it possible to obtain 3 Mudokon Heads? (score)

It should be an official Oddworld game.

I like it, but how on earth do you get all three mud heads? I've managed to kill all of them with just 2 muds but the game doesn't move on so I'm forced to just launch the third randomly (which is quite funny actually).

Also, you can throw muds to the left, and I believe it was not possible in Angry Birds

WAAAAAOOOOOOHHHHHH

Edit: I think it's cool you can fire them to the left, keep it in.

Thank you for the kind words guys :) Gives me so much more motivation to make it a lot better and more fun! :) Mudokon's that are unused are now required to be shot, but that will be changed in an upcoming version. :) (Added to to-do list)

It is in fact possible to get three Mudokon heads, but the method how-to is a bit mean. ;) Take Varrok's second post as a hint. :) Consider it an easter egg. :)

Really? You probably won't believe me now, but I actually tried that before but I just couldn't manage to hit the sheep so I thought that was impossible. I did it now, and got 3 heads. Nice.

Hehe, this is quite awesome! Excellent work. :)

EDIT: I used all the mudokons and the score screen appeared before the last enemy was killed - Even though it did update itself. Maybe you should add a 3 second timer after using the last mudokon.

Great idea. All complains I got are that when "enemies" are falling, their stiff as an iron bar. And even if they don't completely fall, after awhile, they explode.

You should add a "Fast Restart" hotkey, which would also instantly center the camera on muds

A bug:
The smaller rock sometimes dissapear while moving

I was surprised at how good this is. Well done Tim, I hope to see this expand.

Thank you guys for all the feedback, I am busy getting the next version ready and your feedback helps me very much! I will make sure there is something fun to play very soon. :)

Anything you guys would like to see in the new version? (Beside the obvious more levels, bug fixes etc)

The Glockstar!

If you won't use different types of mudokons with specific features, ala Angry Birds, can you generate randomly the mudokons? Like, Abe, a Native and a scrub or something like that?

Also, easter eggs, everyone love'em.

More Oddworld environments? I would love to see some from AO and AE if that's possible :)

Can't wait to start making more in Unity myself, good work!
How did you get the Oddworld models into the game? Just curious

Again, thanks for the feedback, I will see what I get done, it might not all get into the upcoming version but it's defiantly not forgotten. :)

I have spend like, literally a month trying to get the best way to salvage models from the original assets using various converters and file versions, it's still very unstable and I usually need to try at least a couple of times before I have something working. :) Have you been playing around with the original assets?

I haven't been playing around with it, but I'll be glad If I could take a look at these models/textures for my personal use only, may I?

Also, it's quite nicely done in the programistic aspect. Could you direct me to some good Unity + physics engine tutorials? I'm totally newbie at this, and I'd like to give it a try

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BEFORE I SHARE THIS INFORMATION: Please be aware that when you decide to do this, you are working with copyrighted stuff (I'm talking about the Munch's Oddysee assets), so NEVER use it for profit (you will get sued), and accept the fact that if any of the copyright holders decide they don't like what you're doing, and tell you to stop it, you WILL STOP, and all your hard work will have been for nothing. :) Have fun!
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The file versions I use for the conversion of the original Munch's Oddysee models are: .Nif 10.2.0.0 (models) and .KF 10.1.0.0 (animations). Here is the way I found to get the most out of the original assets:


MODELS
To convert models from the original .NIF 3.3.0.13 to .NIF 10.2.0.0 I use a converter called "NifConvert" which I found somewhere on the internet (I don't have a link sorry). I believe that it was ripped from the developer tools which came with the Gamebryo 1.2 software.

Now that the filed are file version 10.2.0.0 they can be opened up by NifSkope (I use 1.1.3). NifSkope can be downloaded here: http://niftools.sourceforge.net/wiki/NifSkope. Within NifSkope I rip all textures, which can be done by right clicking the textures (pink flower icon) in NifSkope's "Block List" and select "Texture -> Export".

The thing I do then is open the models in 3ds Max (I use 3ds Max 2010 SP 2 because there is a good NIF Importer available for this, I don't have a link but I found it on the NifSkope forums.) I import the .NIF in 3ds Max instead op exporting from NifSkope is because NifSkope has no way to export a model with it's rig, it just exports the rig. If the import was successful you should now have the model in 3ds Max, and it's probably turned in a weird angle and not aligned to its rig, I fix this by saving, closing, and reopening the 3ds Max file, the mesh should now be aligned to it's rig.


ANIMATIONS
To convert animations from the original .KF 3.3.0.13 to .NIF 10.1.0.0 I use a converter called "EZ Nif Converter 2.0", which can be downloaded here: http://www.alexff.com/eznif.php.

Once I have the animations files in the 10.1.0.0 format, I open my 3ds Max file containing the model and rig, and I import an animation file. I found that there is a good chance that the animations will get imported wrongly, so my fix for that is just to try until it is imported correctly. Don't try to play with the importer settings, I've already tried all of them and they just make it worse (in my experience). I know this sounds weird but it really works. To import more than 1 animation file, make sure to import 1, then save and shut down 3ds Max, then restart it, open the saved file, and import the next one, check if the animation was imported correctly and hope for the best. Once you have a saved 3ds Max file, I found out that it is pretty safe to make changes to the animation etc, just remember to save a lot (to different files!) just in case :)


The way I have always learned programming is by opening existing projects (The Unity tutorials at http://unity3d.com/gallery/demos/demo-projects are a good start!) and by tearing the code apart and just playing away. I have worked with Unity for about 4 years now and am still learning stuff this way. Also, once you have the basic skills, make a plan of what you want to make, and just try, if you run into an error, Google it, fake it, do anything you can to get it working, at first it will be really hacky code (just like this version of Angry Mudokons actually is) but once you get it working, you can focus on cleaning up the code, making faster code etc. :)

The version of Angry Mudokons that you got to play was hacky as hell but it worked, you guys liked it, and since then I've cleaned it up a lot, made sure that the code was still working, and now I can fine-tuning things and create new features.

Thanks! :D I'll try to translate this model part for Blender somehow (I don't own 3dsmax) :) Which mesh format does Unity use?

Would be nice if some kind soul could export all the 3DS models and host them, if only so that everyone else doesn't have to do all the hard legwork xD Unity tutorials taught me a lot, but a lot of it I also learned from looking at all the forums and common questions.

I think he didn't do that, because they still belong to OWI. which doesn't care

Ah yeah. Probably one reason I used my own models for my slig unity game. Might as well stick with them for now.

Unity support a variety of mesh formats, I like to use the .FBX file format due to its great compatibilty with a various set of tools.

I see how that would be usefull for the creative Oddworld community, but for now I do advice strongly against this, mostly because you would be sharing copyrighted material. Before anyone would do this I advice them to seek official permission from the copyright holders (which I don't exactly know who is who for Munch's Oddysee). If however, there would be permission to do this, I would be willing to make a usefull database with models. :)

Edit: Just to make sure, please remember that this thread is about Angry Mudokons, not about ripping the Munch's Oddysee models. I am of course happy to help and explain my methods, just don't make that this thread's main focus.

I am still looking for more idea's, possible bug's in the current version, and other feedback :)

I believe the official statement* on sharing the ripped image assets from AO/AE is that it's fine as long as it's not for money. I don't know how MO would work with regards to what Microsoft own, but if you emailed through the worst that can happen is that they say no. I'm sure lots of people would love for you to get permission and release them, maybe in a different thread.

*Wil said it here. I think there was more communication earlier on in the .LVL files project, but I can't be bothered finding that.

I send a message to Wil asking if it was possible to get an official "Yes" or "No" regarding the models. :)

Edit: Here's an update about Angry Mudokons. The next version will have:
- Lots of bug fixes, better code.
- If you don't use all Mudokons you get extra points.
- Game checks if all enemy's are really dead.
- Between 10-15 levels, depending on how much time I waste on bug fixing.
- And probably some more stuff!

When will it be ready? I am hoping to have a new version online before februari. :) That's my personal deadline.

Fantastic progress on the game Tim, can't wait to play it some more.
How long did it take to make an Angry Birds style game engine? I wouldn't even know where to begin with trying to get a slingshot mechanic working!

Thank you! :) Well, the thing that's so great about Unity is that it already includes a ready-to-use physics system (albeit it can be glitchy at times!) so the only thing I had to do was to come up with a way to utilize it the way I wanted, like a slingshot.

That's done quite simple, by letting the players drag away from a specific point (in this case the sligshot tower) I can get the direction to shoot by inverting the way the player is dragging the Mudokon, so if you drag to the left, the direction to shoot is right, drag down, and the direction to shoot is up. Then I need to calculate what power to shoot with, and this can be done by measuring the distance between the center point and the mouse (withing pre-determined bounds so there is a max distance). I translate this distance to an amount of force, and add this force to the Mudokon, in the direction that I calculated. :) And then we just have to watch and enjoy the Mudokon smashing into things! :)

Got a suggestion to make it slightly funnier - Instead of the realistic "thud" that the mudokons make when they land, try replacing it with the classic mudokon pain sounds, maybe randomly alternate between the two or so. I included them in a zip file here.

+1

So you cheat and let it do all of the trig for you?

I need to give Unity a look.

Doesn't every language do the trig for you? Even if your using some funky language that doesn't you should surely be able to import a math library.

That's a great suggestion! It will get done! :) Thank you!

Don't underestimate it, there's still a lot of work to be done ;)

You are right, but the point I was trying to make was that Unity is pretty much a ready-to-use engine, and because I work alone it's nice to just get to the making of the actual game, and not worry about writing my own engine, physics, or have to collect all libraries. :)

I'd actually been playing around with making a game quite similar to this, however you were instead going to be a mudarcher firing arrows, I had the code fine I just never thought it was good enough. This though is really good quality, well dones! I look forward to future updates!

+Rep for you, good sir!

Cool! If it's actually playable, even just one level (like this) you should post it! :D Let people enjoy it, get feedback, and see if you want to develop it further.

That's the reason I have posted this in such an early stage, with the feedback I can get a fairly good direction that people want this game to go, and that helps me with development a lot. :)

Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a go and let you know how I get on

Can you guys guess what the theme will be for the first 12 levels?

http://timcottenham.nl/oddworld/angr...eenshot_02.png

I have no specific date for when it's done, i'm moving to my new place this week, getting a new pc to develop on, so I might not have a lot of time this week. Early (first or second week) of February will be possible. :)

Is this what you meant? :)

A circus?

I am pretty sure that it's going to be something from Stranger's Wrath.