Cool Game Show remakes.

Begin by importing FF6's Skills/Talents system and SMRPG's Timed Attacks into Chrono Trigger's main framework (direct/line/radius/flood ranged spells/techs and Team Techs), and polish that off with a position-influencing element.

Or, screw it altogether. Just use GG Izuka. :D

ACTUALLY FUN Sports games.

Fix't. And that might actually be a good competition idea, too.

In some cases there's hardly a difference. I mean, you can create fun-to-replay areas with performance (IE: high score) goals, and a means of returning to them, while still keeping it level-based and progressive. Both Super Mario World games are good examples of this. All else fails, you could take a level-based shooting game with loopback points, and make something like MegaMan 9-10's Endless Attack mode, for those who want that kind of experience within your more linear, plot-driven game.

Most shmups in particular, however; NEED bosses. That's a lot of what gives it flavor and character. Unless you're demaking Galaga, here.

It is pretty nice looking. 250 levels is a lot to push through in one sitting - perhaps a branching/multi-linear kind of system would work best, to allow multiple, varied playthroughs.

As far as difficulty variations, I'd go with three and simply vary parts of the AI/shooting scripts. The casual gamers with straight-angle shots and lower-range obstacles, maybe a bigger margin of forgiveness (more shields, or a shield-crash/bounce-off effect from hitting terrain with them engaged), smarter-directed shots and a standard-faire experience for main gamers, and finally, lots of multi-shot spreads and explosions to dodge, and enemy types that require more/multiple hits or ones that are explosive-vulnerable (or otherwise conditional) only.

You can also adjust the pricing for shipshop upgrades accordingly as well; and/or keep powerful options only available on harder difficulties (as they may expect/require you to use them at some point, depending on your path selection).

Ideally, the game should be "beatable" within 20-25 levels, total. You could also consider "sandboxing" the stages as well (with some kind of "Galaxy Map" or roaming system), allowing players to additionally enable and defeat as many of the 250 stages as they'd like.

Either way, keep me posted! :D Sounds like HydoraH may have a new challenger!

Obviously, pause and exit are key, maybe an actual game over cycle with stats and so forth; but I doubt you need that explained to you. About the only other suggestions I can make, which seem to be prevalent:

Adjusting the dog/fox's animations - it tends to bonk it's head a lot in one-tile corridors (which is often, since a lot of the game's mechanics revolve around that sort of thing), and not move very far as a result - it seems to cancel it's horizontal speed/momentum when it does. Perhaps allowing a 1.5-tile across hop, within the single tile's worth of height, if a collision is detected at the peak of it's normal one.

Perhaps, if possible, adding ONE PIXEL to the base jumping height. This will make it possible (but very difficult/precise) to reach a 2nd tile of height to grab an edge; provided you can do so within your horizontal movement range, and some floor-based obstacles around the area could make doing so risky and exciting (and often a tragic end from miscalculation; a far better option than simply "don't even try, you can't make it regardless").

Have 4 (or however many) different shops, one for each potion. Then simply a "press up/down" to buy. This will eliminate the need (and distraction) for the menu. Also, click anywhere (during gameplay) to use the teleport potion (bypass the input) - now, that's the only mouse function (IIRC), and it streamlines the use of those. Add potion symbols and counters to the lower left (who's gonna look down?) for your inventory. Possibly, add a "beanstalk potion" that gives you a climbable surface for so many tiles (3-4 or so); or that could be used to block enemies. Or perhaps a "block creation" thing instead (like the opposite of a corrode).

Finally, the worms. Who says they can only go one direction, or for only one tile? There's a lot of untapped fun potential with those boogers, there. And what if there were something similar to those, that was SAFE to contact?


BTW players: You can still Alt+F4 the app to close it.


1500 ft. and climbing


EDIT: BTW, is there a way to safely "climb down" without sliding at mach 7? I may be missing something here. (Do I have to press down before I release up?)

Alternative tileset/item GFX for Gentrieve available here.

  Oh. My. Fucking. Job. "!".

I just spent 2 solid weeks with 99% of my waking time and attention there, including 3 call-ins and a double-shift. Hence my conspicuously prolonged absence. Not only was it exhausting and highly time consuming, I kinda lost my place on what specifically I was working on.

Then idiot me went to level-test, only to find that 250-300 objects (in GM) were all created assuming direction 90 = down. FAIL'T. But on the plus side, reverse-gravity works great for a change!

Video Tag:

An optimally-multiplayer platformer game where each player is given a different objective, and whoever's "it" is given a competitive one. Say that three players all have to do something different in a level, from start to finish - one has to collect 50 coins scattered around, one has to collect 3 keys, and another has to finish within 3 minutes... then the "it" player wins by defeating the other three. Or the "it" player must run the level, and the others are scattered throughout the level, and they have to defeat whoever's "it" before they can complete it.

Testing! Testing! One-Two...

For some odd reason, it tends to offset horizontally (and duplicate the mouse), making it difficult to navigate the lower part of it; but conceptually, it's wonderful! It's simple, but addictive, and the timer keeps a frantic pace to it when you hit close to level 5 or so.

Apart from the minor hangup, this is solid.

1. Get my party started. As in running. (Years 1-2)
2. Get an audience, and get some AID (AI Drones) networked around, do some bug-fixing, polish the first project. (Years 2-3)
3. Use the framework/experience to expand project into a bigger, commercial-quality release. Or possibly a net-based application with "marketable space" within it. (Years 3-4)
4. Finally, use that income to put together a professional-level team, create a modern remake/re-expansion of it for console/PC markets, and "go pro." (5 Years)

When I burn out on my projects, sometimes I see what I can contribute to others' projects. It changes the pacing a bit and keeps it fresh, but still keeps me engaged. Or all else fails, I have a 3-day rule: Any 3 days of the month I want/need are mine to do with as I please. I treat this like another line of work, and if I need a "me day," I take one without any code-writing whatsoever. And I always take all 3 days, even when I don't think I need them.

Well, I suppose this goes around default abilities of the players. There's a lot of abilities a character can always have, but not be required to utilize until quite aways into the game (and thus, they're introduced then); though earlier levels were designed so that this ability could be somewhat exploitable. SuperMet and the Wall Jump immediately springs to mind, but a lot of games do this.

Arguably, you could design the layout of a game to be duplex, one using a certain unhinted ability, and another without using it, and leave the spoiler for the end - that way, upon replaying, it's a totally different experience.

P.A.D. - Pussies, Asses, Dicks.

A social website-oriented platform-action game where one's profile sections (like "About Me") create tilemaps, and variables like their height or astrological sign determine settings and certain widgets. You can use portals to travel to "other worlds" based on the profile's friends list, or to return to your own world, at any given time. Inherently competitive, and full of shooting, lobbing, mine-type, and melee weapons, it's your task to navigate the entire world of social websites collecting booty (and "whipping" as many opposing players as you can in the meantime). Additionally, it will allow you to have up to 4 allies from your friends (but won't guarantee they'll be mutual!); doing so will disable "friendly fire" from hitting. Finally, based on a quick personality test, will make you one of the following:

Pussy
As a Pussy, you get 3 states: Armed, Disarmed, Dead. If you're armed (and thus protected), you can withstand one attack of any kind, including spikes, and it will disarm you. But if you're disarmed and hit, you're down. Given this state of Mario-like vulnerability, Pussies alone may accumulate and use Extra Lives; which will restart your current page, until you run out of them. You also gain increased effects from lifeups and the like by sharing, so it's always a good idea to be around as many other kindly Pussies as you can be, and might consider hanging out with another, stronger type for their protective assets; but be generous with weaponry to them, as anything you collect will immediately replace whatever you have. Finally, you always have some form of collision-based attack to fall back on, but use it wisely; don't just put yourself out there and get penetrated!

Ass
You're a typical tag-team adventurer duo that can withstand a few hits (4-8) before you're taken out. If one falls, the other can continue (similarly to an Extra Life), and even be able to rescue the defeated partner on occasion, so it's not totally unforgiving. Being able to arm each seperately allows for a bit of unique versatility, but each can only be armed in one way. Other powerups are average in effect, and don't really change whether they're shared or hoarded. But even the two of you can only be in one place at a time, so like the cheeks of a real ass, you're better off working in pairs and sticking together.

Dick
As a Dick, you're at your best when you're working alone, as you get added benefits from using powerups on yourself; but you can usually make an agreeable deal with a few Pussies to offer your greater protective assets in exchange for their powerup-enhancement abilities. You're a powerhouse with a whopping 16-24 HP; so you can take some brutal damage without yielding, and only you get an inventory management system, so you can collect and change freely between different attacking items you've gotten as well. But the problem is, you're a Dick. There's only one of you, and when you're gone, that's it: Game over.


EDIT: On second thought, using a discussion forum would be SO much better, wouldn't it?

IIRC, a lot of old PC games for Win 3.1 had R-to-L action. This leads me to believe it's a controller issue; the hands naturally gravitate towards "the inside." Since older arcade/console games usually featured the movement joystick on the left (remember, they came way before ctrl-pads), the natural tendency is to push it to the right (rather than continously pull it to the left); whereas playing with arrow keys and Ctrl/Alt/Space/Shift, the tendency was to use the Left arrow more than the rest.

Aesthetically, it makes sense. Make the playing as physically comfortable as possible. If joysticks were mounted on the right, the gameplay would've naturally have flowed to the left as a result instead. Standardizing controls (left to control, right for actions) is what led L-to-R to become predominant, until 3D gaming. Now, you'll notice, the analog sticks are usually positioned so that "up"/forward is the more natural motion to make.

Well, some degree of action is essential to get the kind of feeling many fans go for; but I do agree on the dungeon aspect of what you're saying. A world that's a little more Metroidy (but will less item-restriction) in design that allows you to stumble around and explore, each with a quest attached could open well, then the culmination of all of these events would lead you to the plot's climax, another enabled passageway that is a little more linear/plot-driven, but still eventually circles you back around to a major showdown would be badass; especially if the first passageways allowed for more (optional) challenging pathway deviations based on completing the others.

But sometimes, you just want the dungeon-finding/clearing experience too, and there's nothing wrong with that. It would be a refreshing change of pace once in a while, however.

  WOW. Seriously. How did you pack so much awesome into such a simple, straight-forward blast? It has everything great about the 80s short of a Flux Capacitor. (And that's not totally impossible, I still have 3 treasures to find/collect. Those are VERY WELL hidden, and I won't spoil it much, but O-Type's had me busting up for about 5 minutes. Brilliant!) I could see this gem going for $10/copy on XBL or iPad/Touch.

I do understand the irritation about Candy Lander, however. It's not that it's untrue to the original material, quite the opposite. It may be a little "too true" to it, given how different it is from the typical flow of the game. You always have that looming timer that drives the players to play well, and play quick - and that's a game you just can't do that with. Maybe doubling up the momentum (and countersteering momentum) could help that a bit, possibly even 250%'ing it. Up Your Alley suffers from this as well, but not quite as badly. (And WTF do you do to get that bag?! No, don't really tell me, I'll figure it out... someday...  )

Personal favorite subgames:

O-Type, Moonwalk Patrol, 1492, Ninja 1999 (especially L4!), Car Hunter, Star Chores and WW3

Games I avoid:

Candy Lander and Up Your Alley, clearly. And Hail Mary, just because I suck at it past L2 (or I get it done quickly).

I am using one, but on a similarly-related level, I'm not using a pre-built game engine for it, because I expect that my project doesn't fit within the scope of one, and I'm completely unsure of how to combine two or more; or even if you can. I'd hate to build a Zelda-like experience or a Shmup only to have them blindsided by platformer-gravity physics. Or for the BGM in the game to not play unless you're banging a drum controller while you're still trying to play it! XD

Well, on my "full game" restart (3.5 hours @ 87%), I simply added three "Xs" to the front of one of my usual screennames. The result: Half of the powerups were missile expansions. I have over 100 of them by game's end, one of them being "the starter item." Try it, or something like that. I didn't think it did either, but it seems somewhat consistent. I'm not sure it effects map generation (that may have been coincidence), but just the powerups, perhaps.

Maybe just tuning special charge shots a little later on (after factoring normal charge shots?) could work; I did have one or two games with the freezers, and BEFORE SHIELDS. TBH, I couldn't get much further, even ducking for cover constantly, or simply trying to dodge through them. (Latest instance: About 5 items in, no Charge Shots or Shields, and with at least 10 of them, all flying. Two of the items are Rollerball/RB Jump... but no bombs, either. I guess having the possiblity of losing is just the chance you have to take! That does kinda add to the excitement when a player DOES finally win.)

Finally, one more easy-as-pie-to-implement item idea (high-tier like Mega Jump) = Ultra Beam. Basically, it replaces the Charge Beam with always-charged shots; usually found after the Super (Missle/Grenade/Bomb) kinds of weapons, maybe the very last one before you hit the generator (IE: you only use it for the last few corridors and to escape; like Samus does with the Hyper Beam).


You having a lot of fun with it, too?