Nov 6, 2024 at 12:12 AM
Been here way too long...
"Big Joe Tire and Battery Restaurant! Opening Soon! Eat at Big Joes!"
Join Date: Oct 7, 2013
Location: India
Posts: 529
Inspired by Soaprun's reopening over at this thread, I was inspired to bring back Pixel's other online multiplayer game, viz. Akantares.
I've been working on this on and off for about a fortnight now and I think it's in sufficiently functional shape to release, but since I'm not really a programmer you can probably expect to see unexpected issues crop up so please bear with me. The source code is on my GitHub in case you want to suggest improvements or host it yourself or whatever.
(Note from the hosting service: "Your free instance will spin down with inactivity, which can delay requests by 50 seconds or more.")
So yeah I hope you guys can enjoy this. Judging from this thread it looks like Akantares was originally released sometime in December of 2009, so I guess you could call this a preponed 15th anniversary celebration!
Edit: Yeah okay after some more playing with people and testing there seem to be a lot of bugs. I'm sorry about this. If anyone can help out please do
Bugs:
Level regenerates randomly at times
Desynchronisation issues with scores and gameover/newgame scenarios
Upon level transition, a new level briefly appears before immediately regenerating
You need to press 'fire' again after both of you have pressed 'fire' once
~~Goal:
You need to shoot down your opponent. You can control the direction/angle of your shot. Various obstacles situated in space will affect the trajectory of your shot via gravitational attraction. If you successfully hit your opponent, you get a point. The first person to get 5 points wins.
~~Controls:
Up/Down arrow keys on title screen to change game mode, space to confirm.
Left/Right arrow keys (or drag 'Direction' slider) to change angle. Hold shift when using arrow keys for slower/finer control.
Space (or click 'Go!') to fire.
Z to toggle 2x zoom.
Esc to pause (doesn't work in online multiplayer).
On touchscreens:
Esc = top-left corner
Z = bottom-left corner
Up arrow = top right corner
Down arrow = bottom right corner
~~~~Game modes:
~~Single player:
You are the blue planet. You play against the computer (which for now just picks a random angle so it's pretty easy...).
~~Offline multiplayer:
You take turns playing against an opponent. Both you and your opponent use the same controls. Blue aims and presses fire, then red aims and presses fire, after that the shot is actually 'carried out'.
~~Online multiplayer:
Initially a Lobby is displayed with a list of players hosting games. On mobile devices you may have to press a little downward arrow on the right side of the white field to see the list.
You can host a game by pressing the 'Host' button, and your name and the time is added to the list.
You can join someone's game by selecting their name/time from the list and clicking the 'Join' button. Once a hosted game is joined, it is removed from the lobby and the players (host and guest) are transferred to the actual gameplay screen to start playing it.
The shot is carried out once both players have made their move (and they may do so in any order).
There is also a chat function. You can also choose a funny face for your player from the drop-down list.
~~Issues:
Physics isn't an exact copy of the original game.
Server is not robust to disconnections. If either player disconnects, no matter how briefly, both are kicked back to the title screen.
~~Credits:
Akantares by Studio Pixel.
Javascript recreation of Akantares, and music, by IdioticBaka1824.
Game code template by Alula.
Server and communication code template from Socket.io.
Support and inspiration from the Cave Story Tribute Site Forums and Development Room Pixel (Discord server).
You need to shoot down your opponent. You can control the direction/angle of your shot. Various obstacles situated in space will affect the trajectory of your shot via gravitational attraction. If you successfully hit your opponent, you get a point. The first person to get 5 points wins.
~~Controls:
Up/Down arrow keys on title screen to change game mode, space to confirm.
Left/Right arrow keys (or drag 'Direction' slider) to change angle. Hold shift when using arrow keys for slower/finer control.
Space (or click 'Go!') to fire.
Z to toggle 2x zoom.
Esc to pause (doesn't work in online multiplayer).
On touchscreens:
Esc = top-left corner
Z = bottom-left corner
Up arrow = top right corner
Down arrow = bottom right corner
~~~~Game modes:
~~Single player:
You are the blue planet. You play against the computer (which for now just picks a random angle so it's pretty easy...).
~~Offline multiplayer:
You take turns playing against an opponent. Both you and your opponent use the same controls. Blue aims and presses fire, then red aims and presses fire, after that the shot is actually 'carried out'.
~~Online multiplayer:
Initially a Lobby is displayed with a list of players hosting games. On mobile devices you may have to press a little downward arrow on the right side of the white field to see the list.
You can host a game by pressing the 'Host' button, and your name and the time is added to the list.
You can join someone's game by selecting their name/time from the list and clicking the 'Join' button. Once a hosted game is joined, it is removed from the lobby and the players (host and guest) are transferred to the actual gameplay screen to start playing it.
The shot is carried out once both players have made their move (and they may do so in any order).
There is also a chat function. You can also choose a funny face for your player from the drop-down list.
~~Issues:
Physics isn't an exact copy of the original game.
Server is not robust to disconnections. If either player disconnects, no matter how briefly, both are kicked back to the title screen.
~~Credits:
Akantares by Studio Pixel.
Javascript recreation of Akantares, and music, by IdioticBaka1824.
Game code template by Alula.
Server and communication code template from Socket.io.
Support and inspiration from the Cave Story Tribute Site Forums and Development Room Pixel (Discord server).
(Note from the hosting service: "Your free instance will spin down with inactivity, which can delay requests by 50 seconds or more.")
So yeah I hope you guys can enjoy this. Judging from this thread it looks like Akantares was originally released sometime in December of 2009, so I guess you could call this a preponed 15th anniversary celebration!
Edit: Yeah okay after some more playing with people and testing there seem to be a lot of bugs. I'm sorry about this. If anyone can help out please do
Bugs:
Level regenerates randomly at times
Desynchronisation issues with scores and gameover/newgame scenarios
Upon level transition, a new level briefly appears before immediately regenerating
You need to press 'fire' again after both of you have pressed 'fire' once
You can now ask for a rematch with your opponent after finishing a game, and accept/refuse a rematch offer
Shots curve more, stay on screen more
Hosts can no longer join their own games
Direction slider no longer disappears right after accepting a rematch
Button clicking/depressing graphics added for the lobby
Shots curve more, stay on screen more
Hosts can no longer join their own games
Direction slider no longer disappears right after accepting a rematch
Button clicking/depressing graphics added for the lobby
Last edited:
Did any message show up when you clicked the host or join buttons?
hopefully it's a little more accurate now!