Nikki and the Robots 1.0 Windows
Sep 18, 2012 Full Version 0 commentsLatest release of Nikki and the Robots: Many fixes, more sounds, more levels!
In a fictional world of the future the infamous super villain Dr. Lacroix schemes to seize world supremacy with his army of robots. You take the role of Nikki and try to cross those evil plans on behalf of a secret organization. Your quest will take you to various locations: from futuristic metropolises to submarine facilities, floating islands, and even as far as orbital space.
Nikki and the Robots renders homage to the classical platform games of the eighties and nineties, while at the same time realizing a unique gameplay idea. The main character Nikki refrains from using any weapons or equipment during the whole quest, and can only jump and run around the levels. However, it is possible to hack into Dr. Lacroix's various robots and to take control of them via computer terminals. The nifty use of the robots and the combination of their characteristic special abilities enable Nikki to solve puzzles, overcome obstacles, and complete the level tasks.
The Story Episodes of "Nikki and the Robots" are now available!
0 comments by qubodup on May 13th, 2013
We were recently asked by James Harriman how we handled movement physics in Nikki and the Robots.
James Harriman:I wondered how you handled the movement of Nikki in your game. Did you make him/her a kinematic body and allow her to be pushed by certain objects? Or is she a dynamic rigid body with enough constraints to keep her from bouncing around?
Sönke, main programmer of Nikki and the Robots:Well, I am kind of an autodidact when it comes to physics engines so I am not to sure about the terminology. What's the difference between a kinematic and a dynamic rigid body?
But to give some overview: Nikki is just a normal physics object in the scene and interacts with the other objects much like every other object.
The Nikki object does not change its shape. To ensure that Nikki does not rotate, the rotational mass is set to infinity. Controlling of Nikki works through applying forces (or -- in case of jumping -- a momentum) on the object. We consciously refrained from manipulating the velocity or position directly. We hope that Nikki's movements integrate better with the physics and feel much more natural that way. Also, it helps to prevent weird behavior in the physics scene. The downside of this is that you don't have full control over Nikki's movements, i. e. you cannot work with traditional animations.
Generally, this was one of the more challenging things that we programmed for our game. Working on this also really changed my perception of other platformers. In most other platformers, the movements of the protagonist are animated and don't feel really physically natural. Well, at least if you spent some months trying to do it differently. ;)
Please feel free to let us know about what implementations of movement physics you have worked with and which you prefer!
Latest release of Nikki and the Robots: Many fixes, more sounds, more levels!
Latest release of Nikki and the Robots: Many fixes, more sounds, more levels!
Latest release of Nikki and the Robots: Many fixes, more sounds, more levels!
Latest release of Nikki and the Robots: Many fixes, more sounds, more levels!
Latest release of Nikki and the Robots: Better OSD, no more Slow Motion Bug!
Latest release of Nikki and the Robots: Better OSD, no more Slow Motion Bug!
Latest tweets from @joyridelabs
Nikki is waiting on Steam Greenlight T.co
Nov 22 2012, 11:31am
Today, together with @diePixelmacher, we jumped and ran from the roofs of @games_academy to the exhibitions of @csm_berlin!
Nov 7 2012, 1:34pm
#NikkiAndTheRobots got a nice review on @SoSoGay : T.co
Oct 25 2012, 12:52pm
New free (catapult-style) download level "L. A. Unch" by S. A. Pristi: #ugc #nikkiandtherobots #indiegames #usercontent T.co
Oct 15 2012, 5:58pm
New free download level "francois_in" by frankoua: #ugc #nikkiandtherobots T.co
Oct 15 2012, 6:39am
New free download level "Command Base" by Nemin32: T.co #ugc #nikkiandtherobots
Oct 11 2012, 11:04am
New free download level "Green Silla" by Q Ro Da T.co #ugc #nikkiandtherobots
Oct 11 2012, 10:55am
Here's a nice german review about #nikkiandtherobots: T.co
Oct 1 2012, 11:16am
Nice, hab euch bei Pixelmacher gesehn :)
You've got my vote! :)
Super cool. Rather excited for this.
looks fun, keep up the work :3
engines name please and maybe a download link or infomation about where i cna get it... thanks
Tracking, interesting game
Hey guys, this game is perfect, I capture a video of this game, it's in portuguese :/ Youtube.com
nice game! i write a little (german) article about it: Topfree.de
heh, you're faster to report about our 0.5 release than we are!
press shift ;)