Hey, it's time for another demo release of my Spectre clone, Virtua Combat! Be sure to visit the Virtua Combat homepage.
Before downloading, please read this post! It may also be updated.
Download here (5.9 MB) What's new?

• Arena mode, which is a clone of Spectre VR, complete with all levels, enemies, hazards, and weapons!
• "Large grid dots" option for LCD screens

Notes:

• To activate grenades (level 10+) , press the "1" key, and "Control" to fire them afterwards
• I'm only looking for bugs in SP Challenger, SP arena, and the menu system only, so:
• Any problems due to commands entered in the in-game console don't count
• Infrequent math error causes strange things to happen if you are facing exactly north/south, start moving then turning

System Requirments (known to work on):

• Windows 2000/XP
• OpenGL compatible video card - works on nVidia TNT2 and up

Screenshots:



Coming Soon: Multiplayer! [Edited by - matt_j on February 19, 2007 2:57:16 PM]

I always liked this game - nice remake. A couple of things:

1. I think the word 'balance' might be misspelled in the UI, so you might double check that.

2. It seems it's possible to get 'stuck' in objects occasionally.

3. The 'exactly north or south' problem sounds suspiciously like a trig error. Are you using an ATan() function of some sort by any chance?

'Hope that helps :)

Wow! I have wanted to play this game for 10 years! Thanks for the remake! I remember whiling away many an hour on various Macs in the early '90's. I remember making it to level 50 a few times. May I make a few observations?

1. Aiming is a bit inaccurate. I remember being able to reliably hit targets when at the edge of visibility. In this remake I frequently need to move forward or backward to get the hit even though the crosshairs are dead on.

2. Love the console at the top. If my memory serves correctly, the enemies appeared as larger dots in the radar as did the center dot. At their current small size in the radar it makes them difficult to distinguish from refill squares at a quick glance, especially for color blind dudes like me. This seems like an easy fix to me, and would make a huge difference in game play.

3. I don't remember the aim changing (crosshairs getting "jolted" right or left) after an enemy hit. Is this an new addition of yours?

I confess I know nothing about writing software and very little about computers. You should know that I'm running XP on an old Pentium III (750 Mhz) Dell laptop. Running your remake of Spectre devours all of my processor power, so maybe some of the above observations could be caused by this?

If so, I'll definitely want to get a new computer. That's how much I'm psyched to see your remake!

Thanks,
OH

PS: Is there a difference between Spectre and Spectre VR? Though this game seems identical to the one I remember (with the exception of the appearance of the menu and the background animation during the menu), I only remember the game I played as being called just "Spectre." Anyway, keep up the cool work! Thanks again.

Quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster
1. Aiming is a bit inaccurate. I remember being able to reliably hit targets when at the edge of visibility. In this remake I frequently need to move forward or backward to get the hit even though the crosshairs are dead on.

Yes, I did make the cannon shot smaller. I change this in the future

Quote:
2. Love the console at the top. If my memory serves correctly, the enemies appeared as larger dots in the radar as did the center dot. At their current small size in the radar it makes them difficult to distinguish from refill squares at a quick glance, especially for color blind dudes like me. This seems like an easy fix to me, and would make a huge difference in game play.

Very good point. I have a dying CRT monitor at home that could barely display this, had I really bothered to test it on that. I'll increase their size.

Quote:
3. I don't remember the aim changing (crosshairs getting "jolted" right or left) after an enemy hit. Is this an new addition of yours?

If you have an old computer, you'll take a large framerate drop when taking damage due to the visual effects. Go to the Options menu and check off "Simple Graphics", and it'll be much easier on your system.

Quote:
If so, I'll definitely want to get a new computer. That's how much I'm psyched to see your remake!

Thanks!

Quote:
PS: Is there a difference between Spectre and Spectre VR? Though this game seems identical to the one I remember (with the exception of the appearance of the menu and the background animation during the menu), I only remember the game I played as being called just "Spectre." Anyway, keep up the cool work! Thanks again.

I believe the original Spectre was known as "Spectre Challenger". Actually I don't recall where I read that.

Anyway, the difference is that VR includes all the extra enemies and hazards, as I described when I added the "Arena" mode. (I'm not going to call it "VR" mode since I don't want to get sued...)

Cool game! This is a really good remake. I'm actually planning on doing the color scheme in my game with black and blue/green colors like they had in a lot of old video games like this.

It wasn't clear to me at first that I had to collect the flags, maybe put a flag right in front of the player on the first map with text above it that says 'COLLECT THESE TO COMPLETE THE LEVEL' or something. I also think it should get more difficult faster, but other than that the game play is nicely smooth and addicting. Great job!