Comments - jimslade

You could use the forums ;) Indiedb.com

What system do you use? Is it the same box torvaldsen talked of below?

MonoGame does not support many of the XNA features used by SONAR, so some workarounds would be necessary. Also see reasons b and c ;)

I think it's the 32 Bit compatibility mode that causes trouble. I just opened a forum thread: Indiedb.com

Is there an error message box or an entry in the system logs? Also, what graphics card and drivers do you use?

This reminds me of that old game Robinson's Requiem. But your game of course is way better looking! :)

Thanks for the support! I'm glad you like it!

There don't seem to be a problem using indiedb ;)

I read about the possibility of compiling XNA based games in linux using Mono. This would be pretty much work and I cannot assure this will be done by me. About running it with wine I know nothing but I will try it out when I have the time for that.

Uh, that's one old graphics card. Actually you need a card with

Pixel Shader Model 2.0 and Vertex Shader Model 1.1

The reason for this is the Bloom Shader which provides that shiny look.

What OS would you like it to run on?

Hey! Thanks for the clarification! And sorry if this was some negative advertisement or something like that. I thought IndieCity launched already... again: I am sorry for the inconvinience. I think IndieCity is a great platform, for all I saw of it :) That's why I uploaded my game there ;)

Yes, I do, I do. :D

UPDATE: I set up a forum to share thoughts. There is one thread open at the moment. Feel free to use it to rant, share opinions, talk about the mechanics and what you did not understand.

It would be helpful for me to know, too ;)

I could write a tutorial or something. Are there any other people out there who would like to have that? I would appreciate if someone else does that, because:

Finding out how to survive is THE puzzle of the game. You already discovered that the monsters are fast, that you have no weapon and that they somehow always know where you are. So what you have to do, is logically the following: Find out how not to attract them. The game is about sound, so you should be silent if they are around. And you know, when they're around, don't you?

"Their big weakness seems to be that you can hear them before they hear you. That sniff reveals them."

So, when you know they are there, just be silent and sneak around them. And most important: Don't use the sonar. As the second tip told you:

"They probably cannot see you. But they can hear you very well. Especially your sonar pulse. Maybe they orientate like bats. And if they do, maybe their scream for them is like your sonar pulse for you. That given, they always see you, whenever you hear them scream."

Again: Why don't you and others try to provide something like a tutorial? I could write it, too, but I think it would be quite boring to provide a walkthrough or something.

There is one thing I have to ask: There were these tips ingame. What do you think is missing to understand the mechanics?

Thanks for your trust in the game! The thing is: You can't just make you an account on Steam and upload your game. You have to make an application. If there are relevant news, I will tell you guys ;)

Oh no! I never thought you wanted to tell me this! But there were comments on indiegames.com in which people did. That's why I wrote that blog entry.

The plans are to release it on Desura and indievania at least. Maybe on others, too. We will see. Do you have any suggestions/tips/wishes? :)

Cool thing! :D Haha, kind of interesting we both had a similar idea. But its nice that we took a totally different approach with that. So both of us did a game of the new "sonar genre", I guess ;)

Yes, it is, indeed! Try to uninstall the previous installation using your Windows Softwaremanager (found in the Control Panel, should simply be called "Software" in english, I guess). Then install the demo again.

There can be a problem with older installations, I have not figured out, yet.

The folder you deleted could be the folder made by the game itself (at least if you found it in your home directory and it was called "Sonar Demo"). In this folder the current save game as well as additional data are stored, not the game itself.

Oh, that's weird. Just tested it again and it runs fine for me. Could you tell me, what the error message says? Does the first demo runs for you?

I am running it on XP Pro SP3, too, so there should not be the problem. Hardware specs are:

WinXP/Vista/7
3 GHz single core
1.5 GB RAM
60 MB hard drive

The game needs .NET 3.5 SP1 and XNA 3.0 to run which should be installed automatically. Maybe there is the problem.

Have you checked any firewall issues? Also: Does anyone else has this problem?

P.S.: No, I don't use Twitter. But SONAR has a facebook page ;)

Thanks! :)

Hey, thanks for tracking. And yes, the next installer will be in english ;)

Sure, there is no way to distinguish the particles a priori (except that the ones are accompanied by a "slurp" and the others by a "scream", but this must not transport any deeper meaning necessarily). There will be additional tipps in the final version like the ones I gave above, after the player died.

There is a trick. The enemies have a big weakness: You can hear them before they may recognize you and you can anticipate their location because of the "sound particles" they emit. So the idea is (at least for the first level) to avoid them by circumvent them.

But I have to admit that the first enemy has a different position now, so you have some time and room to get around him.

I'll do that, too. But hey, that thing with the copy was the deal, so think about that ;)

What's wrong with the 'S'? Sorry, I'm not a native speaker. :D Should it say "first one who comment" or "first one who is commenting" instead? Btw: The competition is over. ;)

Thanks for the support!! I really appreciate that! :) Where is it rated 6/10?

Oh, it's interesting that the installer is in german!

Okay, you wrote pretty much, thanks for that. Time to reply something. Probably the concept of the gameplay is not clear. The other "blip" as you call it does not know where you are unless it hears you. That's the whole trick. There is a hint in the game, that these creatures won't orientate by vision, which means that they orientate like bats. This implies, whenever they hear you because of a sonar pulse or your steps (e.g. whenever your sound waves hit them) they know exactly where you are. The same goes for their scream. If they scream, its essentially the same to your sonar. They orientate by it at sense you with that, just like a bat. Rocks really can distract them but you have to do this wisely. If you throw a rock at them, they will go to that spot unless they see you. Of course they will scream, because they go on a hunt, whenever they hear something, so you have to sneak around, be silent, and most of all flee of them on contact. But silently. You can use cover also. The best way is to sneak them out because you don't have any weapon and there will be none ;)
Regarding the sounds: I admit that they are not more than background sounds at the moment and especially in the first level. There are other sounds in the later game which mark spots on the map. But I wil think this over...

Oh: You were the first one leaving a comment. So if you want to, I could mail you the finished game, when it's done! :)

Thanks! It's great to get feedback. Regarding the atmosphere: I hope so :)

This is a work of genius. I totally love the monochromatic wireframe style, the soundtrack and the gameplay. The deeper you dig into it, the more you recognize this game as a science: Place the right jump, take the right way, master double or tripple jumps etc. Great stuff!