Surprising first level glitches

[NeatNit]

So, I decided to replay the game today. I barely made it to the second level, and already noticed a surprising amount of glitches:

• Ghost tank - right after recieving the tank for the first time, try blocking one of the other tanks for as long as you can - eventually it will simply go through you.
• Ghost terrain - on some spot between getting the tank and the alternate route, on the right side (in case you don't turn around), there is a mountain-like thing that you can simply go through.
• Developer laziness - after taking the alternat route, if the player is looking back the path is suddenly and unexplainably blocked by rubble. I suggest adding some sort of animation to it.
• Dying dood - the guy dies!!
• Leaks* - after the explosion, where you wake up, there are a lot of leaks. I've noticed three already, and surprisingly found a hidden room.

I will download FRAPS and shoot some videos to make all locations of everything clearer.


*Leaks = parts of the map where either nothingness exists, causing strange renders, or there is an unintended gap between two objects or two map parts.



One question - what did you use to record in-game for the trailers? I just hate FRAPS and hope there's a better alternative.

[NeatNit]

Made a video of most of the stuff I could find and uploaded:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl-NekpKacM

I'll just email you to make sure you notice this

[ADMIN]

NN

Where were you when we were beta testing?

Since you've made the effort to find these glitches, let me comment on your bug hunting results.

.;try blocking one of the other tanks for as long as you can - eventually it will simply go through you.

Known issue - if a tank is stuck for a while, it'll try to go around or failing that, the collision is ignored for a moment. However occasionally the engine collision will fail as well - particularly between two moving objects. Messy but not a gamebreaker.

there is a mountain-like thing that you can simply go through.

Looks like the invisible collision geometry doesn't match the level geometry at this point.

after taking the alternat route, if the player is looking back the path is suddenly and unexplainably blocked by rubble. I suggest adding some sort of animation to it.

Stupid dev trick no 8190. As an indie, you have to allocate limited time and resources. As most players (particularly on their first run through) will not likely be looking backwards at that particular moment, the rubble is just placed without reference to an animation.

Dying dood - the guy dies!!

Not entirely sure what you mean here?

Leaks* - after the explosion, where you wake up, there are a lot of leaks. I've noticed three already, and surprisingly found a hidden room.

The level was checked for 'water tightness' and the more obvious clipping problems resolved, but there are spots where the player can clip through the walls if looked for. Messy, but luckily, the on-foot sections are only a small part of the game.

One question - what did you use to record in-game for the trailers? I just hate FRAPS and hope there's a better alternative.

The couple of vids I put up on Youtube were created using Fraps, which seemed to do the job ok - and I believe Meridian4 also used Fraps to create the game trailers. I'm not an expert on vid capture software so I'd be interested to know why you dislike it.

Thanks for finding these - the most serious appears to be the 'tap press the spacebar fast' causing a glitch in the level 2 cutscene. The skirmish editor is taking priority right now, but may look at issuing an update in the future.

Thanks
Madjack
Dialogue Design

[NeatNit]

NN

Where were you when we were beta testing?

In a horrible, Tank Universal-less world... I... I...

.;try blocking one of the other tanks for as long as you can - eventually it will simply go through you.

Known issue - if a tank is stuck for a while, it'll try to go around or failing that, the collision is ignored for a moment. However occasionally the engine collision will fail as well - particularly between two moving objects. Messy but not a gamebreaker.

Yeah, I know

there is a mountain-like thing that you can simply go through.

Looks like the invisible collision geometry doesn't match the level geometry at this point.

Sure... I know exactly what that means... (don't bother explaining, the important thing is now you know this)

after taking the alternat route, if the player is looking back the path is suddenly and unexplainably blocked by rubble. I suggest adding some sort of animation to it.

Stupid dev trick no 8190. As an indie, you have to allocate limited time and resources. As most players (particularly on their first run through) will not likely be looking backwards at that particular moment, the rubble is just placed without reference to an animation.

I know that, but now that the game is released, this is the time to do this. But you know what - forget the animation. At least make a sound for it. I believe Half-Life 2s have a few that fit, and contacting Valve for permission to use them shouldn't be a problem... Except.. Yeah, it doesn't exactly fit a virtual world like this.. Perhaps with some effects added? I dunno.

Dying dood - the guy dies!!

Not entirely sure what you mean here?

Nothing, I was just really bored when I wrote the post so I added this as a "bug"
I was talking about the guy who exploded.

Leaks* - after the explosion, where you wake up, there are a lot of leaks. I've noticed three already, and surprisingly found a hidden room.

The level was checked for 'water tightness' and the more obvious clipping problems resolved, but there are spots where the player can clip through the walls if looked for. Messy, but luckily, the on-foot sections are only a small part of the game.

You've seen the video, right? There's a huge obvious leak in the tank conversion/fixing room.

One question - what did you use to record in-game for the trailers? I just hate FRAPS and hope there's a better alternative.

The couple of vids I put up on Youtube were created using Fraps, which seemed to do the job ok - and I believe Meridian4 also used Fraps to create the game trailers. I'm not an expert on vid capture software so I'd be interested to know why you dislike it.

I dislike it mainly because of the http://www.fraps.com on the top and the people using it instead of the Source Recorder built into all Source-based games. (there's even a imilar thing in the original Half-Life, except slightly more annoying)

Thanks for finding these - the most serious appears to be the 'tap press the spacebar fast' causing a glitch in the level 2 cutscene. The skirmish editor is taking priority right now, but may look at issuing an update in the future.

Thanks
Madjack
Dialogue Design

=)

Laos, I added you in Steam (I'm pretty sure it's you, it had the Indie Gaming logo as a picture and links to both official Tank Universal homepages (this and the one on meridian4). Please accept it, and be online more







THIS FORUM IS ANNOYING. I'm getting a screen capture program and reporting this. The text part of posting is fucking up greatly. Really hard to explain without a video.

By the way, you can change your name here to Madjack - ADMIN makes you seem... I dunno, less friendly