Yo Frankie Level Competition (Blender Game Engine)
Posted by: Campbell (ideasman42)in Apricot Press
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
To kickstart some new levels for Yo-Frankie I have decided to run a six week competition to create new levels for the game. These can then be included in a future release of YoFrankie, which will include updates for the next blender release and bugfixes.
Goal: Create a great new level for YoFrankie based on the following criteria…
- Level design (the level should be fun to run around, explore, and play in)
- Game play (playing the level from start to finish should be engaging)
- Good graphics quality (nice textures/materials/scenery)
Bonus Points for…
- Efficiency - Creative use of existing Yo Frankie assets (textures/materials/models/sounds).
- Replay value - Come up with a way that makes your level fun to play again and again!
- Puzzles - Its possible to create puzzles with no programming (pushing blocks about, spring boxes, moving platforms)
- 2 player features (when the level is extra fun to play with or against a friend)
No Bonus Points for…
- Slow level logic/python scripts
- Level running slower then existing YoFrakie levels (level_1_home)
Starting Date: January 16th, 2009
Deadline: February 28th, 2009
First Prize 250 Euro
Second Prize 150 Euro
Third Prize 100 Euro
(Payment via PayPal)
Notes
- You may focus mostly on one area, awesome graphics, great puzzles, fun 2 player, challenging platforms to glide between etc.
- This project should be something a non technical artist can finish. You can make a level without adding any logic bricks or scripts, the players have their own logic, so you can get by with knowing 3-4 property names to assign to different level objects - see the wiki for details.
- Your level doesn’t need to use GLSL materials (old texface materials are ok too).
- This level will eventually be included with other levels, start by adding your level to the “levels” directory, and reuse existing groups where possible.
- Even if you don’t win, your level can still be included in the next release of YoFrankie.
- This is not an official Blender Foundation competition, see my contact details below.
- To get updated YoFrankie files from Subversion see projects.blender.org/projects/yofrankie (includes some texture updates but not a requirement for making your level)
- Your not limited to a woodland theme, however if you want to add a new world type (space, ice, underground etc), your giving yourself a bigger project.
- No age limit on participating.
Judging
I’ll run a community vote on blender artists, however I’ll decide on the final outcome if it seems biased in some way or if people are not able to test levels.
Rules
- Collaboration is fine, but I’ll only accept an entry from a single person.
- Final level must be under 100mb compressed (excluding existing assets).
- No modifications to the player logic (jump height, glide distance etc) - bug fixes are an exception.
- Your level must be under the same creative commons license as all existing YoFrankie levels.
- No node based materials (just use material-textures for more efficient shaders)
- You can enter more then one level
- Level cannot have been entered into a previous competition
Guidelines
- Texture dimensions should be one of 1024, 512, 256, 128 etc. With a maximum of 1024×1024, (Animated textures and shadowmaps are an exception, can be 2048×2048)
- I’m purposefully leaving the poly count undefined, use the existing levels as a reference for polygon density and try to minimize the use of alpha sorted faces.
- Level size should be somewhere between the lava level and level_1_home - 20×20 to 120×120 blender units.
Uploading
There is an open ftp space on blender.org. It works like this:
- ftp to: download.blender.org
- user: anonymous
- password: your email address
When logged in, go to the directory ‘incoming’. What you put there is visible here:
http://download.blender.org/ftp/incoming/
This upload space deletes all old files after a couple of weeks, so don’t use it for permanent storage.
Once you have uploaded your level email me and I’ll move it to a permanent location.
Useful resources for level editing
- An overview of the game logic used in Yo Frankie! can be found on the wiki, which describes in detail things like properties in the game, character and level logic, camera, splash effects and more.
- Video tutorial on how to create your own level using the level template (library.blend found in the levels folder)
I’ll answer questions on the thread, but you can mail me personally too.
Contact: Campbell Barton - ideasman42@gmail.com
*Update* the most useful feedback is taking place on the blenderartist thread
*Update* Compatition starts today, added ftp upload information, good luck!
Great idea!
Awesome! I already learned all of the properties and a lot of the logic for characters and environment. This will be fun!
It’s a very nice initiative. Thanks for that Campbell.
Congratulations for the whole team
Great idea! The game really needs some enganging levels.
I’ll try to compete. I’d also like to improve the feedback when taking damage, etc, but of course in a way the levels don’t need to be modified.
Campbell while I appreciate what you’re doing, if you ask me, if you really want to spur blender game engine activity you’d simply make a series of Python tutorials for people to watch. Most BGE users don’t know how to use Python in the engine. If they did, I think you’d see more projects going forward in BGE.
That said, this is also wonderful what you’ve decided to do here.
Happy Blendin!!!
@DiThi, Improvements to player feedback is possible but no promises for now. If you want to do this yourself that would be great, Ill review for inclusion in svn (as with any other improvements ofcourse)
@BlenderLovingSquirrel, agree this would be good to have more python tutorials, Id hope this situation is improved by the recent Blender Game Kit (docs are always needed but I cant do Everything!).
My small contribution to docs was to add a commented template for a Python controller, its small but does explain things a bit.
My aim is to add levels to YoFrankie specifically -
So much work went into the animation, game logic etc, Adding levels is relatively easy and would be a shame not to build up more content to play through.
Having a fun game thats maintained and extended along with blender should have good flow on effect to the BGE too.
Doesn’t work right. I think I’d work all of the bugs out of the original before attempting to expand the game. When trying to use my controller, Frankie keeps walking in a circle, as if a button is stuck. My controller works fine with other games. Just this one is messed up. Good game, if it would work.
Hey Campbell: did you considered to post the “Level Creation” tuts from “Yo frankie” inside this post?
This will help to promote nice entries!
@desoshade, can you try change the keys used in the startup options? we found some keyboards have trouble with certain key configurations, its not even a but in YoFrankie spesifically, even testing events from the OS gave the same issue, which is why we couldn’t use spacebar for instance as a default jump key.
@Francisco Ortiz, Can you give a link to the URL for these? - Im not really involved with putting YoFrankie files online and didnt see these yet.
Hi Campbell !
The videos are already online! Sorry i think it wasn’t:
http://www.vimeo.com/2507450
http://www.vimeo.com/2507952
Bye!
There is a guy posting spam in the “Yo Frankie online release” post. Please delete it. thx
couldnt find the library at the source files, where can i get those.
i want to support as well.
by the way…… whese do we pass ous entries?
@marwin. should be in levels/library.blend
No official signing up but if you can poist on the blenderartist thread and give a brief into about what kind of level youd like to make that would be great.
(Updated with blenderartist thread above)
Campbell, i don’t know if you are the right person to talk to, but I guess you are the only ine answering all the comments, so here it goes…
One good thing to add in the game i think would be a menu or something so when you are playing the levels you can always go back to the main menu or the level select place without quitting the game.
A portal somewhere in the level would be nice…preferably where Frankie spawns initially…or is there a way you can do that already?
One other thing that was bothering me: Are all the levels that came with Yo Frankie just free for all, do what you want kind of levels, or is there a specific thing you can do?
By the way there are some glitches or what ever you call this…in the game…like in lava level I got stuck b/w 2 rocks and somehow got inside of one of them and couldn’t get out, so i had to restart the game.
So… it would be nice if there was a restart button or keyboard key so the level restarts or Frankie dies and spawns in a safe spot.
Whops…accidentally hit submit… so I didn’t say tnx in advance so thanks!
sir campbell still couldnt find it. i downloaded the demo source files and the no gsl demo of apricot for windows… is this where it should be? tnx so much for the reply… i really want to support as well…
all i see is the arena.blend file =’c
@ddd, I wanted to have a portal in every level to make them all interlink, though Im not sure we ended up doing it. Should be fairly easy to do. Making F10 load the menu is even simpler. I also managed to get stuck inside a place I should not when a friend threw me into a rock wall. Theres probably a workaround for this - if you touch a wall you always get dropped for instance.
Closer to the end of the competition when I integrate the new levels, Ill put together a shortlist of bugs to fix, as well as update the logic to run with the latest blender (maybe 2.49?) - Your suggestions are reasonable, so Ill try get them in.
@marwin, you’ll need the full levels (not just the demo) http://download.blender.org/apricot/yofrankie_bge.zip
tnx so much sir campbell… ill start working asap…
Hi Campbell..thanks for the last response…
I have some more questions, comments and suggestions for you/game:
First of all do the levels that came with the game have any point to them; meaning are they just do-what-you-want kind of levels?
I was trying to make a moving platform out of the objects in group called “platform_disc_01″. without success. i made a ray sensor and a simple motion actuator, but that didn’t work…
It would be nice is the game counted the number of acorns you pick um just like it counts the bones.so then you know how many you can throw.
Why is it that when you collect the bones from killed enemies you cant throw them, but when u put bones in the map by themselves you can?
Some of my friends, including me were wondering why Big Buck Bunny is not in the game. One of them said that he could be the boss or something.
I wonder if you can make a story by using the levels that people submitted…a continuation of big buck bunny? or something else? i feel that the game needs a story in addition to the do-what-you-want levels…
Thanks for your response.
PS sorry about the length of the comment…
But… how create a level? I have to model it in blender or what?
Let somebody do a simple tutorial “How to create a level for Yo Frankie”.
kordix, there is already a tutorial posted.
http://www.yofrankie.org/tutorial-level-template/
level template: http://vimeo.com/2507450 or http://www.yofrankie.org/tutorial-level-template/
library linking: http://vimeo.com/2507952 if you want to add anything that u made use linking…very easy, very effective.
Good luck
@kordix, did you see teh video referenced on the post? - There could be more, but if you know how to use blender it should not be too hard to link frankie into your blend file and start modeling the terrain.
@DDD
Hah!, I have to say most of the things you suggested we wanted to do, but didn’t get around to (remember we did only start the Blender version half way through the project) - We might have been able to so some of these things but adding menu’s fixing bugs and writing docs really sucked up time.
With some of my spare time I chose to add 2 player mode and the character Momo rather then more enemies.
* Game goal, Yes its too simplistic, this is a problem Ton was very keen to have a more complex purpose to the levels with in-depth character interaction. If your able to fit in a story into your level that would be awesome.
* For moving platforms, try do this with a cube first, the group instancing is probably messing this up.
* acorn counter was in an older version but I didnt add it to the new HUD. :/
* On screen Bones from enemies is your enemies life meter (not bones you throw)
* We really wanted to have Buck as an end boss but had to cut it out.
* Would really like to have some story in the game. Though this is not planned for the moment.
Campbell, thx for the advice…I tried to move a cube…I found a mistake i made in my game logic…i made it work…i dont know if there is a better way to do it though…anyway tnx
I would make a story in my level but i don’t think i would be able to b/c then there will be a need for the game to tell the user what to do or something similar to that. am not an expert on blender or python, i learned through what ever online tutorials i could find. Anyway I think It would be better to take some good levels submitted and make a big story…like a real game…using the levels… Maybe u could announce another competition (not necessarily for money), but it could be on making a story to go along with the new release of Yo Frankie (which will have some good levels that people submitted? is that what you said?). Then maybe make a “Campaign” option on the title screen? Hmm I just thought of maybe making a save option?….I dunno i am just brainstorming here… Maybe in the campaign adding Buck?
“* acorn counter was in an older version but I didnt add it to the new HUD. :/”—aw why not? out of time? It would be nice if you could add it in the new release.
one more suggestion…maybe make a run button?…(right now you hold the kick button to run)
“* On screen Bones from enemies is your enemies life meter (not bones you throw)”—i checked that out…it seems it is how many enemies you killed? but anyway it would be nice if you can make a bone + acorn count meter in the new release…
Not sure if I will enter yet…depends on how good i think my level is…I am thinking of doing a fighting arena(2 player required) I just thought of maybe some sort of power ups….. but i am not that good at blender so i would not be able to make those.
But just in case if i do decide to enter, i dont understand how to submit the levels—you said something about “ftp to: download.blender.org”—dont know what that means.
I made a long reply again….sorry… but thx
Campbell, as I said I made the platform move…yay!…bu-u-u-u-t… when i linked them into my level there where problems.
*When Frankie jumped on one that moved sideways, and the platform changed direction, the platform would just slide under him (moving him just a little…i think) like there was no friction.
*When Frankie jumped on one that moved up and down, if the platform moved up he could barely get off the ground when i pressed the jump button. when the platform reached its apex and moved back down Frankie was launched up a little (it looked a lot when the platforms where moving fast, when i decreased the speed he was launched like half his height? maybe.)
So any suggestions on how to fix this? Or is it too complex and i should forget about moving platforms?
Tnanks!
Hey DDD, your right, the bone counter is how many you have killed, I was thinking of the bones that show up when you hit something.
regarding the moving platforms, can you upload a simple blend with the moving platform and Ill look into how the logic might work?, I find this stuff hard to communicate by writing.
Campbell, I would upload a file but i dont know where as i said i didnt understand what you said about how to upload
I´ve done my mouse look script but how can i get my sensitivity into a property of the blender game engine.
I realy need ur help,I´m stucking along time (sorry for my bad english ) mgs-schiefer@web.de
conntact me
BTW I LOVE this game
@DDD, Are you just looking for platforms that move say - from 1 cliff ledge to another (and back) at a constant speed? (like in mario), I can have a go at doing this. Otherwise the FTP upload instructions are on the top of the page see ‘Uploading’,
@need help, this isnt yo-Frankie specific, better ask on the blender artist game engine forum.
Campbell,
*i guess it is like Mario. I dont know how else they could be moving. I got them to move, but Frankie slides on them when the switch direction….
*I know the instructions are on the top of the page, I just don’t understand them.
It says to go to http://download.blender.org/ but when i do all i get is this:
download.blender.org: browsing this website has been disabled.
Here are some cool places to look:
Blender website (main portal)
Projects website (svn, bug tracker)
Download Blender (all versions)
Blender E-shop
*What is FTP? File Transfer Protocol?
@ddd, Ill have a go at making an example, ftp is a way on can copy files online, search for some introductions to FTP to get a better explanation :), youll need an FTP client to upload - I find filezilla good.
Restricting http://download.blender.org is intended, but you can browse http://download.blender.org/ftp/incoming/
Tried making a moving platform and theres no reall issues with it.
* add a cube
* set bounds type to box
* add bollean property “ground” set to True
* add keyframes that moves the platform back an forward
* add an always sensor attach to an AND controller, that to an IPO Actuator that playes the animation (choose one of the loop options)
You might also want to increase the friction on the material so you dont slip off. (Material buttons, see the “DYN” toggle)
If this looks too complicated then perhaps start with a part of the level that doesn’t require any game logic.
Campbell,
Hmmm, I thought of using IPO’s but then i wanted to generalize the movement of the platform (dont ipo’s have set coordinates? ex: frame1- (0,0,0,), frame 10- (10,0,0) moving along x axis always from x=0 to x=10) so i used simple motion actuator along with some simple python. there are 2 more objects with properties. if my platform is near one property it moves forward when it reaches the other property it moves back and so on and on, moving between 2 objects…
does your platform slow down before changing directions? (mine does not)
i will try to change the friction i think that will solve the problem
did u try to make an up/down platform? test it out with Frankie? (it was hard to walk when it was going up for me)
FTP is File Transfer Protocol. i never knew that it is used this way…
ok i uploaded my .blend it is called moving_platforms
Hey there, had a look at your logic heres one I edited,
* added frankie, so copy this file into levels/
* only changed the logic for the platform on layer 3
* Tried DLoc but frankie which worked but you couldn’t walk very well on platforms this way, so used servo motion with LinV, so you get some ‘give’ when landing on the platform and walking on it works better - though you may want to use dloc still for other reasons.
* changed the platform logic so the motion actuators only apply to 1 object thats a parent to the others (should be faster too)
* you don’t need to use the visibility actuator, the render option in the outliner.
http://www.graphicall.org/ftp/ideasman42/moving_platforms.blend
PS-
About slowing down before changing directions with ipos, just change the ipo interpolation type to linear
What’s with the movies in /incoming/ ?
(Hint: FTP server is being used for warez trading
removed the movie & some other unrelated files.
Hey Guys,
Campbell and team, great work, thanks for sharing YoFrankie with us! I’m experimenting with the stuff and I need some help.
I’m trying to make Frankie start out from a box and then with the help of jumps to push it off an edge. I’ve tried to add objects that are rigid&actor, the same way invisible objects are used for ‘ground’ and ’slip’, but then Frankie’s walking animation stops showing and after the first jump Frankie stops jumping. Maybe there’s other way or a good reason why it shouldn’t work. Any guesses?
BTW as you might have guessed I am also working on a level with a story, so I hope you’ll like it once it is done.
@Makedonski, can you upload a blend file?
most of the activity is on the blender artist thread now.
im new to this so how can i play yo frankie or download it
I just noticed that I’m unable to turn to the left while running. I can turn to the right while running though. Anyone else have this issue?
My friend on Facebook shared this link and I’m not dissapointed that I came to your blog.
wow thats was coooool