CombatWii

CombatWii
File:Combatwii.jpg
General
Author	spiffen
Type	Shooter
Version	0.1
License	Mixed
Last Updated	2009/05/22
Links
Download

CombatWii is a remake (slightly enhanced) of the classic game Combat that was available on the Atari 2600 system.

Background

A game based on the old Atari tank shoot-em up game Combat. The Wii version is actually a semi-port of a PC game me and 2 other university students developed as a software project back in 2001. The game was programmed in C++ and utilized the following two libraries; Allegro (gamedev lib), Libnet (network lib). The game worked out pretty well and we had alot fun developing it. The final version (only version to be released) included 4 different game types; Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Panic & Run For It!.

It also included 6 different weapons; Machine gun, Rocket launcher, Laser cannon, Grenade launcher, Mine layer/sweeper and Freeze cannon. Not all weapons were available from start, instead you had to hunt down bonus boxes, aka Pick-ups, that randomly appeared on the map. These pickups did not just contain new weapons, they could also be power-ups that gave more health, increased your speed, increased detail level on radar, etc, so your primary goal was not always to kill your opponents, but instead to hunt down these bonuses.

In the 2 latter game types two special objects were used: Flag; An object you strived to grab and hold on to, and Bomb; An object to stay away from. The game was a multi direction scroller with quite large maps. Only one player could play on the same screen, so network play was a must if you wanted to play against others. To give the player a good overview of what was happening on the map (maps were often 2-3 times larger than the screen) a radar was located on the players sidebar (HUD), where also the players health and score were shown.

Goal

For the WIP version of CombatWii I'm going to reuse alot of the original graphics (but in smaller resolution). Hopefully I will get time later to redo the graphics closer to launch, but for now the main focus is on game objects and game engine code to enable all the features in the game. The game will not be an exact port of the PC version, this because of some constraints of the Wii console and to make the game funnier to play together in front of your TV. First - all players will play on the same screen. Because of this no up/down/side scrolling will be used (maps size will be restricted to screen size), since all players must be visible at the same time.

To maximize the playing field the sidebar with radar and player scores had to go. Player scores will still be shown on the screen, but in a more mimimalistic way. Second - Since the Wii is lacking the functionality of supporting multiple keyboards and mices the controll scheme of the game has been changed from keyboard + mouse to Wiimote + Nunchuk. In the PC version you controlled the gun turrent with the mouse (rotation left/right, fire, change weapon) and the ship with the keyboard. On the Wii version you will control the ship with the Nunchuk control stick, and aim using the Wiimote (turret will follow your pointer/crosshair).

Controls

Menu

The menu is controlled using Wiimote 1

Wiimote	Action
Wiimote Aim	Move cursor
Wiimote DPad	N/A
Wiimote A Button	Select option
Wiimote B Button	Previous menu
Wiimote Plus Button / Wiimote Minus Button	Previous/next page*
Wiimote Home Button	Quit to loader

*) On multi page screens

In Game

The game is controlled using Wiimote with the Nunchuk expansion.

Wiimote + Nunchuk	Action
Wiimote Aim	Move crosshair/aim
Wiimote DPad Left	Change to grenade launcher
Wiimote DPad Up	Change to laser weapon
Wiimote DPad Down	Change to machine gun
Wiimote DPad Right	Change to rocket launcher
Wiimote A Button	N/A
Wiimote B Button	Fire
Wiimote Minus Button / Wiimote Plus Button	Previous/next weapon
Wiimote Home Button	Quit to loader
Wiimote 2 Button	Take screen shot
Nunchuk Control Stick‎	Move around
Nunchuk C Button	N/A
Nunchuk Z Button‎	Previously used weapon

Control scheme is not finalized yet.

Screenshots

Releases

v0.1 09/05/22

• First version to be released. Enjoy!

History

• 09/05/22
  • Finally got some time to finish up the last bits. Game has been packed for release and uploaded to file server. Wiki page has been updated with latest changes and moved to a more suitable location.
• 09/03/27
  • New title screen is in place. There are still some minor tweaks that has to be done to the ticker, but overall it is finished.
  • Screen shot function now working. (Files are stored in sd:/appz/CombatWii/screenshots)
  • A simple homepage has been setup on my domain where the zip-package will be available.
  • Since I don't have so much time over I've decided to skip some functionality that I first planned to include in the first release. This so I can release the game earlier to the public.
• 09/03/05
  • Had some progress on the menu system. All (or actually, the ones planned to be included in the first release) pre-game menus (where you setup the game) is completed.
  • Start sequence count down is completed.
• 09/02/26
  • Completed two new weapons, grenade launcher and laser cannon. Had a real struggle to get the laser "bounce" logic to work 100%.
  • All pickups and the pickup handler are now done.
  • Redid some graphics. Had to increase the tile size for all tileset textures to get them to work nicely with bilinear filtering turned on.
• 09/02/18
  • Done some progress on the pickup and pickup handler classes, almost done.
  • Currently using graphics from the PC version for all pickups, kind of ugly, but it works.
  • Since 'full detail radar' pickup can't be used on the Wii version (no radar exists to begin with) it has been replaced with 'quad damage'.
  • Created a menu that for now only has one screen, select number of players.
• 09/02/03
  • Wiki page created

External links

• Official Website - https://web.archive.org/web/20191017165856/http://thatotherdev.com/
• Wiibrew - https://wiibrew.org/wiki/CombatWii