Desert Bus Java Applet

[Ergo]

Hey all,

Figured I might as well post this here too. Those of you following along with Desert Bus for Hope may have seen this already...

http://desertbus-game.org/

Windows users will probably need to grab the latest Java Runtime from here.

It's a pretty faithful recreation of Desert Bus scratch-written in Java, created to support Desert Bus for Hope 2009 (and beyond?). Compared with the original, the bus handles a little differently (more like a bus?), it actually has a properly working day/night cycle, and there is no 99 point limit (phew! ). The graphics in this version are also debatably slightly better - to be honest that was probably easier than making them crappier (i.e. exactly like the original). Other than that, it should be pretty much accurate.

I've tested it up to 12 points (via a bot), and several hundred points via in-game time acceleration. And no, this version doesn't allow time acceleration.

Was it a pain to make? Why yes, yes it was.

(Seemingly every iteration of "Ergo" was taken as a username on Ustream, hence I am "RogerExplosion" in the Desert Bus for Hope chat etc.)

EDIT: APPLET UPDATED 2009-11-30

Slightly enhanced bus handling at low speeds.
Made the brakes more effective (and thus more true to the original).
Slightly increased the time it takes to stall on the side of the road at very low speeds.
Modified the gravel sound logic; now works while stalled and while being towed.
Player can now only open/close the door at a full stop on the side of the road near a bus stop.
Added sound for opening/closing the door.
Added sound & logic for spinning the wheels - happens if you try to move with the door open.
Added some music to the intro and made some slight changes. Because I could, mainly.

[Emperor Gum]

Hey Ergo, its cool you made this, but its not working for me.

[masamune]

works for me and it's rad.

[Evil Jim]

It looks great & so far is the best recreation of Desert Bus available online. I commend you on your work.

However, there are a few differences: you can operate the door while in motion, which isn't possible in the original, & your door has no sound effect. About the only rewarding thing in the original besides actually achieving a point is successfully pulling over at the bus stop & opening the door, even if it is only for nobody.

The steering is also different, which really annoyed me at first because I was so accustomed to the original (I couldn't drive in a straight line,) but I got used to it & it's fine now. Fix the door & you'd have an excellent recreation, but as-is it's still great.

[Ergo]

Awesome; thanks guys.

you can operate the door while in motion, which isn't possible in the original, & your door has no sound effect. About the only rewarding thing in the original besides actually achieving a point is successfully pulling over at the bus stop & opening the door, even if it is only for nobody.

Thanks for the feedback; I forgot about that! Fixed!

The door behaviour should be largely identical to the original now - including the whole wheel-spinning thing if you try to move with the door open.

I also changed/fixed a few other little things while I was at it. (I've added a changelog to my original post above.)

The steering is also different

Yeah; I may try for a more accurate recreation of the handling at a later date. The main difference is that mine is all floating-point (i.e. modern) math behind the scenes, whereas the original likely used an integer "ramp" for different degrees of turning. It's by no means impossible to recreate, but it would take a lot of trial-and-error.

Hey Ergo, its cool you made this, but its not working for me.

Is it coming up at all? Or are you just getting a blank window? If it's displaying graphics etc. you might just need to click inside the window before it'll accept keyboard input. Usually this isn't necessary, but it does seem to be necessary every now and then.

If it's not working at all; you need to check that the Java Runtime (and the plugin for your browser) is up-to-date & installed correctly. So long as that's the case, it should work. Making sure your browser is up-to-date might also help.

Assuming you're running Firefox, you can check that the plugin is installed by typing about:plugins in your address bar and looking for something like "Java(TM) Platform SE 6 U13".

If you're running Windows you can grab the Java Runtime from here. From memory you can select during installation which browser plugins to install; so make sure to select the appropriate one(s) - or just all of them if you're unsure.

Under Linux the setup is slightly more complex depending on your distribution. Under Ubuntu it's pretty easy, just make sure you install the sun-java6-plugin package (works with Firefox/Mozilla browsers). For other distributions/configurations there should be documentation somewhere on the net for getting Java going for your preferred browser.

If you're on OS X and it doesn't work I'd be surprised, as Java is a part of the core OS (and hence automatically updated). You might want to try a different browser.

EDIT: One other thing - I can't guarantee it will work with the Windows 64-bit Java Runtime. The 64-bit Runtime is still very much experimental (at least at time of writing), and last time I checked it isn't compatible with 32-bit browsers (i.e. most of them). Even if you have 64-bit Windows, I highly recommend sticking with the 32-bit Java Runtime at this stage. If you're running 64-bit Linux, getting Java working in Firefox isn't impossible (I've done it); but you're likely in for a hell of a lot of work depending on your distribution. Definitely more than Desert Bus is worth.

Hopefully that helped; let me know!

[Emperor Gum]

Wow, Ergo, that's a long post. I use Vista and Opera, when I load the web-page all I get it the background a grey box where the game should be. However, it works perfectly in Internet Explorer, so the problem is my end.

I've never played Desert Bus before so I don't know how accurate it is, but I got bored after about a minute so its probably pretty good. I tip my hat to you, sir! My one comment is that the steering feels cumbersome, but that might be true to the original.

Also, next year we should do a forum thing, where we each do an eight hour shift and see how many days we can keep it up. Or see who can do the longest.

[[The]Rock]

Why didn't you break the day/night cycle? also, because I can't be bussed, is there a bug splat?

[Ergo]

Yep, the bug splat is in there.

I didn't break the day/night cycle in keeping with the spirit of verisimulation. (Actually I just thought it was a pretty silly bug.) There will be a new version at some point which will have many new options; including the broken day/night cycle. Too many things going on to do anything much in time for this year's event unfortunately.

[[The]Rock]

Yep, the bug splat is in there.

I didn't break the day/night cycle in keeping with the spirit of verisimulation. (Actually I just thought it was a pretty silly bug.) There will be a new version at some point which will have many new options; including the broken day/night cycle. Too many things going on to do anything much in time for this year's event unfortunately.

yay!

[Evil Jim]

I like how after a 2-year silence, this thread was necroed & the conversation continued as if nothing had happened.

Edit:
This was my 7,000th post!

[the amativeness]

I like how after a 2-year silence, this thread was necroed & the conversation continued as if nothing had happened.

It's Desert Bus. Desert Bus defies the law of time itself. It somehow manages to exist on its own plane of reality, phasing in once a year to fuck with us.

[War Monkey782]

I played this for far longer than I care to admit.

[DuelLadyS]

I'm most pleased to find this, as I'm not able to download the Android version on my phone (it gets to 'authorizing purchase' and just stops. It sucks.)

Now, to torment my friends! Tor-ment!