Ninja! (Be my testers)

[Dooey Jo]

I had a crash with no explanation other than the default windows XP message I get when programs crash.
This said, it did occur after about a hour of continuous die->load->die looping.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 no idea if it's 16 or 32 bit thou.

Definitely not 16 bit

Which level did it happen in?

[Purple]

The one with the spear that falls from the ceiling and when you have to do the double flip jump that no matter how hard I try (and I mean for like hours) I can't get done.

You are a genius, but I feel you might have made this too hard for the average player.

[Dooey Jo]

The one with the spear that falls from the ceiling and when you have to do the double flip jump that no matter how hard I try (and I mean for like hours) I can't get done.

It's probably the caves then (definitely seems to be some subtle bug there. I prefer spectacular crashes to these sneaky bastards). With the double flip jump, do you mean the places where you have to jump up the walls of a shaft?

You are a genius, but I feel you might have made this too hard for the average player.

It would seem so, considering apparently only one person made it to the end so far.
I think that, while I wanted people to figure things out for themselves, I might have made the learning curve too steep. I can understand now why people have difficulties with the wall jumping for instance, as you have to have pretty much perfected it the first time you encounter it...

Anyway, I should have an update up later today, that will at least fix the "sliding walls" issue, and I have added a few animations so hopefully it will look a bit better when you're walking slowly, like in the water (which is actually supposed to be sludge or something). Plus a fancy patching program so you won't have to download and extract and stuff if you've already done that once.

[Purple]

I just hope it does not break my save games.

The only real tricky thing about the acrobatics is the timing really. And it takes a lot of practice. And I mean a lot.
Than again, so does Kaizo Mario World...

This said, the game is addictive and cool. You are sure to win that thing.

[Dooey Jo]

Okay, let's see it this thing works.
Here is the patching program. (~758 kB)
Unzip it into the game's base directory, where ninjaGame.exe is (let it overwrite config.ini if it asks). Then just run Patcher.exe, click the huge button "Get Patches", and everything should work automagically if there are updates.
(I have also updated the whole game download file, but if you've already download it, you only need the patcher from now on)


Man, I should have written this thing a long time ago. It makes things so much easier.

I just hope it does not break my save games.

It won't break your save games, but it might overwrite your volume and fullscreen settings (controls should be fine though if you use the patcher).

This said, the game is addictive and cool. You are sure to win that thing.

Actually I already lost

[Dooey Jo]

Oops, there was a little bug there if you tried changing the volume again after updating.

Oh right, guess I'll just... patch it.

[Purple]

Can I ask for just one thing for any future patches.
Could you make the exe produce some sort of acknowledgment that it has completed it's work instead of just running it's thing and well not even opening a window or anything. Just so we know we have done the work since with my PC you newer know.


PS. The game runs fine in windowed mode. But if I try and put it in full screen I have to restart the game for it to take effect. And when I do that I get an error message saying:

Blarg
In config.ini, line 10: Expected value for 'patchUrl'

I can't open the game at all to change it back and manually changing the value back to false does not work either.


However I have repaired it via overwriting the ini again with a copy of your patched one and it works.
And since manually changing the value to true in the ini for fullscreen does not break it it only leaves the option that the part where it writes to the ini file in the game somehow breaks the field in question.

Also, here is a comparison between the standard one and the one after the fullscreen option is selected: Spoiler

controller: false;
defkeys: Config/defKeys.txt;
fastload: true;
fullscreen: false;
keys: Config/keys.txt;
music: 1;
newgame: default.nsv;
patchFetchers: 4;
patchLocal: Config/localManifest.xml;
patchUrl: "http://www.nightlyninjas.net/patches/ni ... nifest.xml";
preload: Config/preload.xml;
savedir: Saves;
screensize: 3;
sound: 0.75;

Spoiler

controller: false;
defkeys: Config/defKeys.txt;
fastload: true;
fullscreen: true;
keys: Config/keys.txt;
music: 1;
newgame: default.nsv;
patchFetchers: 4;
patchLocal: Config/localManifest.xml;
patchUrl: http://www.nightlyninjas.net/patches/ni ... nifest.xml;
preload: Config/preload.xml;
savedir: Saves;
screensize: 3;
sound: 0.75;

The writing process writes to the file but omits the "" symbols.

[Dooey Jo]

Can I ask for just one thing for any future patches.
Could you make the exe produce some sort of acknowledgment that it has completed it's work instead of just running it's thing and well not even opening a window or anything. Just so we know we have done the work since with my PC you newer know.

A message box is supposed to come up and say if everything was patched correctly, or if there was an error. Does it just stop? If so, could you post what it says in the status bar?

The writing process writes to the file but omits the "" symbols.

Yep, that's the bug I mentioned. It's easily fixable though by putting the quotation marks back, but with the latest patch it should write them correctly.

[Purple]

A message box is supposed to come up and say if everything was patched correctly, or if there was an error. Does it just stop? If so, could you post what it says in the status bar?

Nothing.
There is no reaction at all. I mean, I put the Patcher.exe where you said and double clicked it and absolutely nothing happens.
I assumed you just had it do something in the background without opening a window.

[Dooey Jo]

Nothing.
There is no reaction at all. I mean, I put the Patcher.exe where you said and double clicked it and absolutely nothing happens.
I assumed you just had it do something in the background without opening a window.

I see... No, there's supposed to be a window telling you which files it is downloading and stuff. I'll look into this. I seem to recall I had another GUI program years ago that just wouldn't load on certain computers...

[Dooey Jo]

Okay, it seems it's a few missing DLLs. Stupid new version of libcurl, the old one only needed two (also weird that it doesn't give an error)...

I'll update the zip file, after I get it to work on Vista.

[Dooey Jo]

There, let's see if it works now. There was a slight oversight that made it crash, but apparently only on Vista, which seems to be better than XP at telling you when your programs don't work...

[Purple]

Er... where is it?

[Dooey Jo]

Should be the same link as before.
Here (about 1.5 MB this time though)

[Purple]

Yea it worked now.

Just out of curiosity, what language was this game written in? If it is no secret.

[Dooey Jo]

Yay!

Nah, it's not secret. It's written pretty much from scratch in C++ (with lots of use of the upcoming new standard), and Javascript for scripting (with the Spidermonkey javascript engine which I did not write though I did write a fairly awesome wrapper).

[Dooey Jo]

There's a new update up now. It fixes a bug that I found that might explain why Alan Bolte could finish the game without meeting the wormguy. Also, the game will pause now if the application loses focus (this was actually added in the last update, but I forgot to mention it).

Perhaps most visibly however, the kunai is now fully armed and operational. I find that it's really helpful in some places (like the goddamn cog wheel rooms), so maybe it will make the game a little bit easier. Don't worry though, I'll get around to making some evil obstacles that utilise these new possibilities.

In case you hadn't discovered this already, you can angle things that you throw, including the kunai, by pressing up or down. So maybe by throwing it at an angle upwards you can make the kunai stick to the ceiling and help you jump to difficult places (including accessing some previously one-way sections).

[Purple]

Not a bug but a question.
I passed through the game and now it has me jumping over roof tops until I return to the point where I started.

What now? Is that it?

[Dooey Jo]

No, if you've defeated all bosses, there will be a new opening somewhere. Spoiler

It is in the old cemetery in the lake level.

But it is a non-linear game, so it is possible to come back to the beginning. I'm guessing you found the alternate route in the caves that connects to the village.

Also, I should have another update by tomorrow that makes the squidman more dangerous, and also there's a new fun way to use the bombs...

[Dooey Jo]

It should be up now. There are lots of files to download, but it's mostly graphical enhancements. More important changes to this version:
- The battle with the squidman is sure to be more difficult or at least different
- Punching and kicking works a little bit differently
- Smoke bombs work underwater
- You'll now notice if you pass the new opening after defeating all bosses (OMG teh cutscene)
- Fixed a stupid script bug
- Fixed a bug that made it impossible to have more than five save files (any more wouldn't show up in the menu)