Caveman Craig 1 Special Edition
Hi, everybody.
Tim and I are happy to announce that we are developing a special edition of the original Caveman Craig, as a side project for our anticipated sequel. The special edition will include:
- New bonuses
- A gigantic map
- New dinosaurs
- Rewritten engine for faster performance and more intelligent cavemen
- More tactical control of your cavemen
- Many more features, some yet to be decided!
Tim and I will be taking many of your suggestions into consideration, especially those which we would’ve liked to implement but couldn’t because of time or engine restrictions, which are now removed. Caveman Craig SE will be perfect for anyone who spent hours playing Caveman Craig and supporting us so loyally. The game will be available in a month or so, for less then ten dollars. It will likely be released with the launch of our new Caveman Craig website.
Thanks for your support
Rhys Andrews
Caveman Craig 1.5 – Second BETA
Hey guys!
Thanks very much for your feedback on the first beta release of version 1.5. Most of you thought the game was already too difficult and we’ve put that into consideration – we understand that the difficulty angle is probably the part that needs the most work, not the actual difficulty overall.
You can download the second BETA of 1.5 below. The difficulty is significantly easier than the first BETA, and both easier and harder than version 1.4, depending on what aspect you look at. I have done a few bug fixes, most of them very small. I would appreciate your feedback on this, telling me what you thought of the difficulty angle – were you able to complete the game / receive the mini-game bonus? Without cheats, obviously.
Download Version 1.5 BETA 2 Here: http://www.autumnhouse.com.au/files/ccraigbeta.zip
Regards
Rhys Andrews
Caveman Craig 1.5 BETA – Download Now!
We aren’t sure whether version 1.5 is too hard or too easy just yet – so I was hoping you guys would try it out for us, and tell us what you think.
The main change in 1.5 is that the game has a smoother increase in difficulty and is a bit more difficult overall. Please tell us if you were able to finish the game (without cheats obviously) in version 1.5, how hard it was, how long it took, etc. Also tell us whether you found it more or less enjoyable, etc.
After a while, we’ll make some adjustments according to your verdict and will release it on YoYo.
DOWNLOAD HERE: http://64digits.com/users/RhysAndrews/ccraigbeta.zip
Regards
Rhys and Tim
Caveman Craig 2 – ‘Mini Hud’
One issue that Tim and I wanted to fix in Caveman Craig 2 was the ugly looking hud above the cavemen. You have their name (which fades out when it’s over another caveman) and two little icons on either side of them to show what skills they know – and a brain that throbs when they are learning.
To do this, we’ve designed a ‘mini hud’ which only appears on cavemen when your mouse is rolled over them, or when they’re following you. With this hud you can see their health, their progress towards learning their two skills, and their name.
The cool part is that you can prioritise what the cavemen do. In Caveman Craig 1, if you want a gatherer to take berries instead of carcasses, you have to only teach him the berries task so that he ignores the carcasses. In Caveman Craig 2, you can pick which task the gathere should prioritise. If a gatherer prioritises fruit, he will only go for meat if there is no fruit to pick, and vice versa. For hunters, you can pick between prioritising carnivores or herbivores. Furthermore, you can grab fully-trained hunters to follow you and they will attack whatever you attack – team effort!
Below is a diagram showing the mini-hud that we’ve designed. Please tell us what you think, and make any suggestions if you like. Speaking of suggestions, I’ve created a page that you can access on the right if you want to make general suggestions about Caveman Craig 2. This is just so we don’t clutter the blog section with comments about the suggestions. I’ll also put in a list suggestions that have already been made.
Thanks!
Rhys
Caveman Craig v1.5 plans
When Caveman Craig 1.0 came out the game was very hard and people played for a long long time. Unfortunately, Tim and I made the game a little too easy as versions past and now a lot of people are saying that they found the game pretty boring once they got 10 or so hunters. I want a strong replay value on Caveman Craig, so as a result Tim and I will be working on version 1.5 in the next week or so. Luckily, making the game more difficult is just a matter of tweaking. However, if you guys have any ideas on how we can make the game more difficult without adding much / anything (just tweaking), feel free to comment here!
In other news, I’ve recreated the AI for the hunter, preparer, and gatherer for Caveman Craig 2. In caveman craig 1, I made many holes in the AI that would cause them to act strangly, and as we were very restricted with time I patched up the holes by adding more code, not modifying the current code. So this made the AI a little less efficient (though effective). In CC2, I have made sure the AI is programmed efficiently in a manner where no ‘holes’ / bugs are produced. So far, so good – all cavemen are working perfectly with old and new features. Tim and I really appreciate your suggestions, guys. We’re reading them through and bringing many of them to the table to discuss. Some of them are a little too much concept for too little gameplay, but we’ll of course consider them all.
Concept Art and Screenshots for CC2 soon!!
Rhys
I’ve created a monster!! + Dinosaur List for CC2
Today I recreated the Gatherer AI. I’m quite surprised to see that he is running around doing things as he should without too much testing – I slimmed down the code (HEAPS) from the other game, optimised it, and modified it to fit the new engine, and after a few quick fixes he’s happily dragging carcasses around and ripping out berries.
I’ve centralised the actions and code between Craig and other cavemen so that conflicts and visual flaws are minimised. Instead of gatherers having a unique code for walking and ducking that’s different to Craig, they simulate key presses according to their actions, to ensure they act just like Craig does. For instance, a caveman can no longer move unless his image is the walking animation – there is no exceptions. The restrictions on when they can perform certain actions is very strict, and clear, and I’ve filled gaps to ensure that a caveman doesn’t stop doing things just because he is too restricted. This also assures minimal redundancy of code and faster performance.
In other news, I’ve laid down a pretty good idea of what dinosaurs we’ll be implementing into Caveman Craig 2. At the moment, there are 5 herbivores, and 5 carnivores, plus a few ‘background dinosaurs’ that will be present but not on the actual battlefield.
Herbivores
Stegosaurus – Huge and hard to take down.
Pachycephalosaurs – A fiesty herbivore who charges into anyone who attacks him.
Triceratops – He’s back and more irritating this time!
Parasaurolophus – The loudest dinosaur ever discovered. These guys run in herds and are hard to hit.
“Herbivore” – No scientific name as such. This is the green dinosaur you see in the original Caveman Craig.
Carnivores
Velociraptor – They still leap on you, and they still eat you.
Allosaurus – A taste of the t-rex. Eats cavemen whole, but is a bit slower in its attack (though runs fast).
Compsognathus – Attacks cavemen in huge packs and hangs until either they or the caveman dies.
Tyrannosaurus Rex – This big ol’ grumpy beast still roams the prehistoric land in CC2.
Dilophosaurus (Jurassic Park style) – A bit like a frilled-neck-lizard except freaking scary, and spits poison at cavemen.
Also present – brachiosaurus, pterodactyl.
I am still going through all the suggestions you guys have (and good suggestions they are) to revise the list.
Second Place!
The results are in, and YoYo Games has determined Caveman Craig @ second place!
Thankyou to everybody who supported Caveman Craig since its release – anything from one small comment to promoting, discussing, suggesting ideas, reporting bugs, etc, helped Caveman Craig reach second place at the YoYo Games’ Ancient Civilisation Competition.
For all the worthy winners and the judges’ review, go here: http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/competition02
Thanks again!
Rhys Andrews and Tim Andrews
Development on Caveman Craig 2 Started
In the past few days I’ve started physical development of Caveman Craig 2. At the moment, it’s the basic engine using Caveman Craig’s sprites, so it’s nothing to look at for the moment. However, I’m taking careful steps to ensure it’s going to work very smoothly.
We won’t be releasing information about the new features for a while yet, however I will mention that there will be a new control scheme that will resolve the issue of trying to pickup rocks while standing over carcasses or bushes. It’s also setup so there can’t be any jarring of animations – if Craig is walking, he’ll be using his walk animation, there’s no exception. Where as, in Caveman Craig, you could be flying in the air with a ducking animation after being hit by a Triceratops. Simple things like that.
In the meantime, Tim is sketching some concept art for new cavemen looks and the new dinosaurs. I hope to upload some of those sketches sometime soon.
Regards
Rhys Andrews
Caveman Craig 2 Dinosaurs
Hi guys.
We need a list of candidates for dinosaur enemies in Caveman Craig 2. Would you like to help out? Just comment here and give us a name of a *real* dinosaur that you would like to have appear in Caveman Craig 2. Make sure you tell us whether it is a herbivore, carnivore, or both, and whether you would consider it aggressive (attacks without cause), passive (attacks if threatened), or defenceless (runs / ignores).
I don’t want to give you a list of what we have so far, but we have around 5 carnivores and 5 herbivores so far.
Regards
Rhys Andrews
Version 1.4 Beta Out
Hi everybody!
Caveman Craig version 1.4 is now available exclusive to the 64Digits mirror. It is a BETA, so I will be taking copious notes of any bug reports or issues, and if necessary, will revise when finally updating the YoYo Games mirror. You can download the game HERE
For a full list of changes, take a look at the changes document here:http://64digits.com/users/RhysAndrews/changes.txt
Enjoy, guys!
Rhys
