SECTOR91.com - Free Java/SVG Games

[ACE91]

SECTOR91.com is my personal website from which I run my own one-man independent game development company, SECTOR91 Productions. I specialize in Java games with complex and challenging game mechanics, and I am trying to create a fan community that can help me develop and improve my games. In case it wasn't obvious already, the location of my site is:

http://www.sector91.com

SECTOR91 games are completely free (well, for now...) and open-source (although there's a catch--if you use my games' code in anything you make, you have to give credit). I encourage players to join the SECTOR91 Forums and tell me what they would like to see me do next, or what features I should add or problems I should fix in my games. And speaking of games, here they are:

GAMES:
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SECTOR91 games are called by names of the format "Project (insert Greek letter here)" while in development. So the first one is called Project Alpha, the second Project Beta, etc. Technically, these names are placeholder codenames until I decide on a final name for these games, but in practice these have become the "official" names of the games, so the names are probably not going to change.

The biggest and most popular game on my site, and probably the reason you're here, is Project Gamma:



If you've played any of the dozens of online Flash RPGs out there, you've probably noticed that they lack any kind of strategy or deep game mechanics, and are generally about fighting endless random battles to farm for shiny new weapons and equipment that only differs from the other weapons and equipment in that it's stronger and looks cooler--no strategy involved. Project Gamma intends to change that--and, in order to help support open standards (and save me lots of money), it's made with Java/SVG, not Flash.

Artix Entertainment, which made the well-known AdventureQuest online RPG, recently made a game called MechQuest, a similar RPG game based around anime-style mecha combat. I found this game extremely disappointing after all of the hype that surrounded it, so I decided to make a superior alternative to it. And that's what Project Gamma is--my attempt to create a game that is better than Artix Entertainment's MechQuest. But it's not a clone of MechQuest; although the basic concept is the same, battles are real-time instead of turn based, and the battle and customization mechanics are much more complicated and in-depth. It is powered by the Batik SVG Viewer engine, and as far as I know is the largest and most complex game made with SVG ever, period.

Project Gamma is not an MMORPG, although it has rudimentary multiplayer features. The current version of Project Gamma allows players to create accounts (like most similar online games, but no personal information is required at all), have up to 10 mechs and infinite weapons in inventory, buy, sell, and salvage mechs, battle computer-controlled versions of other players' mechs (the latest update introduces Team battles), and much more.

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Another, less popular game (probably because it requires a download) is Project Alpha:



Project Alpha is a sidescrolling shooter similar to the old Mega Man and Metroid games, but with puzzle elements reminiscent of games like Chip's Challenge. It is extremely difficult, but also really fun once you get the hang of it. (And it has a high score system. Think you can beat my scores?) The normal game has 13 levels, but you can build new levels using the freely available Mappy map editor program.

[Blarumyrran]

SECTOR91 games are completely free (well, for now...) and are supposed to be open-source, although so far the only game that I've managed to release the source code of is Project Alpha.

peculiar management skills you have

[ACE91]

SECTOR91 games are completely free (well, for now...) and are supposed to be open-source, although so far the only game that I've managed to release the source code of is Project Alpha.

peculiar management skills you have

Actually, the reason I can't release the source code of Gamma is that I'd have to modify it to run independently of the website. Otherwise, anyone who downloads it could use it to hack my database. So yes, it would be work to release the source code of that game. As for the other, older games, I don't have source code versions of the current versions that are on the site (I never made backups), and would have to make modifications before the source code would compile correctly. Not to mention any source code release involves branding every file with the license agreement, packaging all of the files that are needed for it to run properly... so it's not as odd as it sounds.

[DDR]

Can you say LOADING? A 15 to 30 second load time really bogs the game down. Still, a nice game. It would be nice if you had a little button before battles, saying 'click to start'. I go do other things while I am waiting for the LOADING, and more than once I leave a LOADING and come back to find my mech defeated.

Still, like the game.

[ACE91]

Can you say LOADING? A 15 to 30 second load time really bogs the game down. Still, a nice game. It would be nice if you had a little button before battles, saying 'click to start'. I go do other things while I am waiting for the LOADING, and more than once I leave a LOADING and come back to find my mech defeated.

Still, like the game.

Ironically, I just recently modified the game to decrease loading times... But yeah, there have been so many people who have requested a "click to start" button that I may just have to put one in.

[AI]

peculiar management skills you have

Actually, the reason I can't release the source code of Gamma is that I'd have to modify it to run independently of the website. Otherwise, anyone who downloads it could use it to hack my database. So yes, it would be work to release the source code of that game. As for the other, older games, I don't have source code versions of the current versions that are on the site (I never made backups), and would have to make modifications before the source code would compile correctly. Not to mention any source code release involves branding every file with the license agreement, packaging all of the files that are needed for it to run properly... so it's not as odd as it sounds.

Sounds like you have a complete lack of security with an obscured protocol. Anyone with a packet sniffer or some good reverse engineering skills will still be able to get into your database.

[ACE91]

Actually, the reason I can't release the source code of Gamma is that I'd have to modify it to run independently of the website. Otherwise, anyone who downloads it could use it to hack my database. So yes, it would be work to release the source code of that game. As for the other, older games, I don't have source code versions of the current versions that are on the site (I never made backups), and would have to make modifications before the source code would compile correctly. Not to mention any source code release involves branding every file with the license agreement, packaging all of the files that are needed for it to run properly... so it's not as odd as it sounds.

Sounds like you have a complete lack of security with an obscured protocol. Anyone with a packet sniffer or some good reverse engineering skills will still be able to get into your database.

As opposed to what? Really, the only thing that someone could do with the source code would be to hack their own account (give themselves any mech/weapon they wanted, etc.), and the only way to prevent that is to obscure the protocol. The way the protocol works, you have to know the password of an account to modify it, but I still couldn't let people modify their own accounts because it would make any future multiplayer features grossly unfair.

[AI]

Well, what I'm trying to say is that not releasing the source doesn't make it impossible, it merely makes it harder.

[DDR]

Ironically, I just recently modified the game to decrease loading times... But yeah, there have been so many people who have requested a "click to start" button that I may just have to put one in.

ok... wow... Thanks...

Also, in rank battle, I often fight myself. That seems slightly buggy...

[ACE91]

The site has been updated now! Actually, it was updated quite a few times since I last posted, but I had kind of forgotten about this place until now. Some points of interest:

* The source code of Project Gamma is now available! I'm sure there are quite a few people on this forum who'd like to see how I made this game, and now they can.
* In Project Gamma, the Mega weapon class is now available. You have to be Level 12 to get a mech that can use Mega weapons currently, but that will change in the next update this Monday.
* Brainstorming and development has started on Project Delta. There's nothing about it on the site right now, but I am starting on Project Delta, the genre and details of which will be announced on the site sometime soon. I could use some help with this project, so if you are a spriter, graphics artist, or music composer, or if you can just contribute ideas, post here and I'll consider you when I start recruiting people to help with the project.

[cool evil]

Umm, in case you haven't noticed, everytime someone use the concept of another game into their own, it usually is inferior, because the game maker usually likes to copy off the popular games in hopes of getting their share of the glory. But they often lose due to the fact that popular games like Runescape or MechQuest are owned by studios or companies that have way more resources than you, and also a larger work force.

Unless you catch up really fast and beat your competitors in someway, i'm afraid their game is just gonna get way more popular than yours, thus making your looks even more inferior.

[ACE91]

Umm, in case you haven't noticed, everytime someone use the concept of another game into their own, it usually is inferior, because the game maker usually likes to copy off the popular games in hopes of getting their share of the glory. But they often lose due to the fact that popular games like Runescape or MechQuest are owned by studios or companies that have way more resources than you, and also a larger work force.

Unless you catch up really fast and beat your competitors in someway, i'm afraid their game is just gonna get way more popular than yours, thus making your looks even more inferior.

I know that; I don't actually think that my game can get thousands of registered members like MechQuest or anything. AE has the advantage of a larger workforce and that everybody already knows about them. But you have to start somewhere, and MechQuest seemed like a simple enough game that I could easily create something that was superior to it in game mechanics. The whole "better than MechQuest" thing was more about making a point than anything else; to show that successful commercial Web games like MechQuest are only successful because of flashy graphics, or because they ride off of the success of other games like AE's AdventureQuest/DragonFable.

Web RPGs like that are easy to make, and I needed the experience, and wanted to make a point while doing it. Their studio took 2 years of work (at least, the game way hyped for two years before being released) to make MechQuest, while I singlehandedly made a game that had all of its features and a better battle system within a few months. Of course, I can't possibly create the amount of content that they have without a team of graphics artists and storywriters, so I'm left with a superior game engine that runs a game that's only entertaining until you reach about Level 10. Such is the fate of any upstart developer who doesn't have anyone to help him.

[charlieg]

Project Gamma looks interesting. I'll post it on Free Gamer. You may want to post it over at the FreeGameDev forums too:
http://forum.freegamedev.net/