Staker v0.6

Staker is a 3-D artillery game inspired by Tank Wars and Scorched Earth.

Staker is a 3-D artillery warfare game that was inspired by Tank Wars and Scorched Earth, BASIC games I played many years ago. This is just a beta version, so it doesn't have everything in it that I would like. For instance, there is only one type of terrain to battle on. I wanted to release this version first to get some feedback from people on the basic interface, and to see how well it works in other Matlab versions and on other machines.

This second beta version (v0.6) is the same as the first except for one thing: it can now run independently from the Image Processing Toolbox! You should be able to run it with nothing but core MATLAB functions. If those without the IPT are still having trouble, drop me a comment or email and I can go on a bug hunt sometime after the holidays.

KNOWN BUGS (these haven't changed since v0.5):
1) Button background colors don't render properly in Matlab version 7.1. I believe this has been corrected in version 7.5 and later. However, I accidently happened upon a fix recently. If you issue the command "feature('JavaFigures',0)", the button background colors will display as they should, although the formatting of other uicontrols and text will change a little too. If you don't like these other changes, undo them with "feature('JavaFigures',1)".
2) The bomb trajectories will not impact the stakers. You should aim to hit the spot on the ground that they occupy, not the stakers themselves. I've already fixed this for the next version I'm going to release.
3) If you are ever in a situation where both players have their stakers under water, then there is effectively no way to hit each other. The game has bombs for blasting out of the water and bombs for plunging below the water, but no bombs that can do both (shoot out of and then back under the water). For now, the only way to end a game in such a situation is for one player to forfeit or blow themselves up. I've already fixed this for the next version I'm going to release.

VERSION 1.0 STATUS:
In the past few months I've made quite a number of improvements to the game. Currently, there are 10 unique types of bombs, 2 types of bomb attachments/modifications, 6 battle terrains, completely retooled projectile motion physics and surface intersection algorithms, improved explosion rendering, and greatly improved GUI interfaces, particularly for managing player profiles. There are 3 major improvements left that I want to finish before I release it:
1) The addition of 2 more battle terrains.
2) The inclusion of sound effects.
3) The inclusion of AI profiles so players can play the computer (something I think people really want for the next version).
I posted a few screenshots of the newer version at:

www.greatgamesexperiment.com/game/Staker

If you have any ideas about what you would like to see in the game, don't hesitate to post a comment or shoot me an email. I'm very interested in collaboration and am open to any ideas people may have for improving the game.

Have fun!
Ken