First off, the game is a blast. Music is very upbeat and exciting, and it fits the pacing of the game to a tee. I don't think I've ever seen a shmup with quite this degree of fast pacing about it!

That said, around the climax of the first level, it gets a little too frantic - feels to me like avoiding obstacles/collecting powerups is more about luck than reflexes; perhaps a little touch of "forward momentum" to the other objects at high speed can fix this.

Protip: You can never get too many shields. XD Maybe selling those in bundles of 3 would work best, but they seem to stop having any effect once I reach level 2 for some reason. Also, I agree about the ammo, it drains very quickly. Double it up, and that should be all the fine-tuning it needs.

Things I've hit in this build:

Remapping directional keys does *not* remap "map page" keys, which are still set to default. Minor inconvenience, nothing to rant over. You may consider adding them to the config screen, or defaulting them to -/= (IE: +).

The spread shot still works right with mouse aiming, but with manual/key aiming it will shoot all 3 shots in a single direction (shoot a door that way, and you'll see what I mean) - it will still only do one point of damage at enemies upon hitting them, however.

Inputting an off the wall name can result in very interesting experiences - for instance, I used "ZZYXZ" as a name, and the powers went directly to Super Missles/Grenades from the get-go; and allowed a certain entertaining level of sequence-breaking. This is not a complaint, btw, simply an observation. "Quixote" was intriuguing as well. I also noticed that using the same name over resulted in a similar structure in the world, perhaps using a (+day) command to shuffle the letter-effects around a bit could fix that? Or, you may make a mention to try different cool names.

Finally, after hitting a couple of trouble spots, it's kinda occuring to me: Grunts with charge shots? Fair game. Grunts with special shots? Fair game. Grunts with "special charge shots?" o.O Maybe not so much, save for boss rooms. Boss rooms are just about the right level of challenge - maybe adding an optional third boss enemy (if minor/lower level) would do it just right.
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I love the new flow of the game, btw. It's a lot more smooth and focused this way and less... volleyball-like. (IE: the older "bounce across the entire map for each key item" approach. You've hit a good balance, here.) Plus, it makes sense to use the Teleporter in wiser ways than I'd mentioned before. I did start a "Full" game before, using an older version, but I have a feeling I'm gonna scrap it in favor of a newly-built one.

Is there a way to change the default resolution of the game? Tried playing it on my netbook (800 x 480), and half of the "Instructions" panel was all I could get to. Far as I can tell, there wasn't a way to pan the screen, either.

I'll buzz it and give some feedback. Just have a bit of patience, Kelkka. It may look like people live on this site, but it's just not so.

Kickin', TY. I'll mess with it a bit, and see what I can find. It may be a bit before I'm online again.

OMFG, yes. Agreed. Not only is this incredibly insightful (and has me thinking more in layers now; TYFT), it practically defines what it is I'm struggling with, in a way that I never knew how to explain before. The "metacomputing" is the part I have down, the part I do really really well. The base programming code is the part that's killing me.

A walkthrough way to "drone" as you call it (in something like GM or FlashDevelop, for instance) would be priceless! It's funny that you call them that too, as I was going with ".AID" files to set priorities (similar to your chicken AI, but using certain measured variables) to make "AI Drone" characters.

One that for instance, after tracking the distances (remaining on the current ledge) and (from the tip of the oncoming/destination ledge), could appropriately replicate another player's jumping/risk-taking habits (including abandoned attempts and "boomerang  jumps" and failed attempts, the failure thereof).

I got a kick out of those illustrations, too. They add a nice flavor to your ramble-blog, it's certainly worth following. I now have this thread individually bookmarked, btw.

 

I'm not completely sure where to post this, and at this point most of it is simply rambling, so logic is telling me to post it here for the time being. Correct me if I'm wrong.
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Having the privilege of playtesting projects and chattering with developers; along with some insight into differing perspectives has given me a strange perspective on something. Or a lot of little things, as it may seem at first. All of these things appear to be large steps towards an eventually mutual outcome, a "procedurally designed" MMO gaming world.

Loose concept:

1. Server

Begins with a server and user/social site ala GameJolt/TIGSource. Developers/Players make profiles, make "friends and foes," real-time chat/IM available with them. They identify preferred genres of gaming, art, settings, and music styles, and their style of gameplay according to 3 difficulty variables (Hardcore/Masocore, Habitual, and Casual Gamers); and when online/active, can interact with similarly-connected users, identified by "Let's compare..." and huddled into server hosts like those of InfiniteBlank's.

A variety of clients can be used to connect to these servers, including a browser-based website interface, an iPhone/iPad application, an XNA/XBL application, and a couple others.


2. Asset Collections

This part essentially runs like "Assemblee Part 1, 2.0." While the method of creating artwork may vary according to style, the in-game interface will still run it like a scaleable vector image; so lo-fi pixel art for instance, can be scaled to larger sizes while remaining true to it's original form. Universal design widgets ala OmniLudiCon will be available, and can be reskinned to fit different degrees of graphics/sound effects as well.

Graphics and music samples are grouped and generally range for minimal (ala sparky), lo-fi, 8-bit, 16-bit, or hi-fi, and you can upload custom assets to your profile/page and associate them with the different settings and styles (8-bit urban, for example).


3. World Development

This part is mainly based on the PG world/galaxy creation systems utilized in the following:

Procedural Place To Be / nikki
World Generator / azagthoth
Super Space Rogues

Each player gets a procedurally generated world that fits their preferred art/music style, by using the assemblee leech tool to assemble and load assets that relate to the player's artistic preferences. In a way, science/technology ~= mysticism, it just varies with your preferred setting.

These planets then act like "world maps" where each genre of gaming establishes a new region within it. In turn, that acts as a "submap" between levels. Finally, each of these submaps includes a hub where you begin, and can use to travel to: other regions (IE: the world map), the corresponding user's friends and foes' homeworlds (directly), your homeworld (from anywhere), or "outer space," which allows you to manually explore that way, in a shmup'y environment - big groups of mutual friends are huddled into galaxy patterns, which are then tied in proximity to one anothers' other systems. For instance, a high degree of commonness between multiple communities will result in being physically close to one another.

You can also upload standalone elements, like artwork, sprites, music, or even fully developed projects to your planet, to be played and shared on the fly. Every new player that joins the network develops a new planet that correlates with their preferences.


4. Level Generation

Depending on your genre/subgenre preferences, the physics and map development may vary somewhat in layout, but the methodology is very much the same. It makes key points (like starts and ends) and various "scene types." Scenes may vary according to style as well, but generally will encompass an area between 1x1 to 3x4 screens in size. sparky's TinyCrawl, phr00t's Gentrieve are prime examples of this approach. These are then graphically referenced to match appropriate terrain.

Different types of scenes (scene groups, perhaps?) however, will be hand-crafted in their design/layout, more similarly to titles like Momodora and The Happy Fun Game, and littered with 6 levels of hazards: 6s are always hazards, 0s are always powerups, and others vary depending on your difficulty combo (1-5, see below). Upon playing and/or quitting a level, it can be customly named and saved (the variables involved in creating it, not necessarily the datastrings themselves), custom-edited to preference, or it can be completely scrapped and rebuilt from scratch for next time it's played.

The player/planet's soundtrack is assembled into playlists, and then streamed in a way similar to the Aquaria OST page. There's two "radio" options available to you at whatever time - your own planet's, and the planet's that you're visiting.

5. Gameplay

When you start off a day, you can elect your choice from sets of default powers (I'm aiming at one attack style, one agility style, and one "other ability" for now, but other gameplay types may each require a variable or two to correspond, like a magic/tech style - suggestions?), or to randomize them. Powerups located throughout the different worlds will allow you to collect more abilities, but only through the remainder of your current session.

You can also enable "surprise encounters," similar to the way random encounters work in RPG's, but they occur when your character and another character of equal connection collide on a submap, and a challenge is issued. Different battle systems will engage, depending on what you have in common - you like RPGs, you'll get an RPG battle. You like fighting games, you'll fight like that. Or if you like puzzle games, you might clash that way, instead!

It may seem inevitably crowded, but log onto your Facebook or MySpace, or whatever, look at your online friends list (IE: the population), and then consider - there will still be an entire world produced for every one of them altogether - and the offline ones as well!

Finally, the difficulty curve. As mentioned before, there will be three options for players to define their gaming expertise; and each corresponds to an additive variable:

0.5 = Hardcore
1.5 = Habitual
2.5 = Casual

The level generator (and elements factored in) will be determined by playerstyle (you) + playerstyle (planet). A Habitual gamer visiting a Hardcore world, for instance, will result in a level 2 margin of error/difficulty. The overall layout of scenes will remain much the same, but different things will be added/removed by design to fit the differing difficulty scales (1-5). 1-2 will create deathspikes/obstacles in some places, whereas 4-5 may create additional powerup frequency, including the ability to build/destroy obstacles rather than navigate around them. Think of how the Magnet Beam in MM1 can be used to skip disappearing block puzzles or spiked corridors, for instance; or how being able to fly ala Tails could do the same kind of thing. Then consider the level layouts of IWBTG, and how that experience would totally change because of this.

Then there's the physics and the pacing, which again, is purely genre-defined, but again, a lot of the projects I've been playtesting already have that pretty well polished.

I'm not suggesting for a second that anybody here abandon their projects - but quite the opposite... to embrace them and their potential even more completely. After all, enthusiasm hasn't been an obstacle to much of the community here, as long as it doesn't drag on forever - and a lot of impressive stuff has already been created in a relatively short amount of time, it seems. I believe this could be done by year's end, in fact.
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  Maybe I'm just crazy, though. Oh well, thought I'd throw it out there anyways. Like I said, at this point, it's nothing but a ramble/discussion about... I guess a dream/daydream I've had. For now, I'm getting back to work on Dynamic Music Gen, and iZ's/Player's enemy objects and screen layouts, since that's where I'm at there.

EDIT: I explained this a lot better before, and in more detail, but it got "submitted into the void" when our ISP went down. I hate when that happens, don't you?

A "demake" is a stripping-down remake of a game... it simplifies the graphics, input, and so forth to core elements with a little bit of flavor still involved. For instance, simply having "research" and then "development" instead of different types - research tells you what assets you'd gain from colonizing a world, then you can choose to "develop" if it's what you want. Maybe a means of protecting it with drones or shields or so forth.

My netbook is a bit below specs, I'm afraid. Even my mouse-refresh rate is 0.25 FPS! XD Kinda makes it hard to navigate around, so I can't really give much on it at the time, unfortunately.

That. Looks. Badass.

And Chevy, that's a good mapgen/pathfinder so far, all I'd suggest doing is bind tile costs to the character/sprite/object instead of the tile itself. Possibly considering proximity to other things as well (for instance, a negative tile cost for something it's likely to pursue/like, a positive one for objects it's likely to avoid).

If it adds knockback, do you think additionally strong attacks should compensate with additional range or mobility? I guess that just comes down to whether it's intended to cap comboability or extend it.

I'm getting really psyched about where this is going, btw. :D

Something like Tekken Force/GG Boost meets MegaMan/X, maybe? Simplicity? Complexity? Hmm...

Original characters/soundtrack? Metroidvania-style exploration/world-building? Ahh... so much potential...

Holy crap! I think I just saw "gaming as a whole" completely converge and balance in my imagination! I don't even know how else to describe it, in fact!

  "And then, it hit me."

[The eventual outcome I'm going for here, is a browser-based "MMO Gamer Simulator/RPG," a virtual, online "Gaming World" so to say.]

I'm probably "jumping the shark here," as it's been put; but after seeing and playtesting everything I have already; I think it's really time to put it all out there.

The eventual outcome I'm going for here, is a browser-based "MMO Gamer Simulator/RPG," a virtual, online "Gaming World" so to say. And at first I expected a give-or-take of about 5 years for everything to be right with that. By that, I mean:

The gaming community. The internet. The hardware, and the capabilities of software along the lines of Flash/Java/HTML#/whatever the future may hold there (including console potential like XNA), things like that; as well as the fine-tuning of elements in the project, fine-design-crossed-with-procedural-generation balance (a topic most of this community seems highly interested in as a whole, it seems to me), the appropriate player-tracking variables to create virtual AI to access and copypaste them between different "friends" and so forth (or something more server-based and interactive - InfiniteBlank for instance, is *already* a terrific example of what I'm talking about!). Not to mention my own capability of being able to produce enough content contribution to it as well; not just delegating everything.

"Player Won!" and "Player, Too!" are planned to be the logical expansions of these core concepts, where I'm hoping to branch first (P1) into more popular gaming genres and into being a commercially viable project (as opposed to open-source/creative commons freeware, like the current projects/experiments), and then (P2) more degrees of graphical sophistication (IE: super-lo-fi/minimalist, high-dollar 3D, 8/16/32-bit, etc.). And TBH, I'd rather that outcome potentially become more like a "TIGSource Community" title, rather than simply "mine," especially considering all of the fun and exciting games's I see and playtest all over the place here, and in this tight-knit, talented hive-mind community. I'm serious, this place is a godsend! (And we all know it.)
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But just today, it struck me. I actually believe the members of this hive-mind community, in fact, are ALREADY CREATING THIS ANYWAYS!! Maybe I'm building the wrong side of this all along... it might be all in little disorganized pieces right now, but all of the basic framework to it is already in existence:

Assemblee resources and it's "leech tool." TigDB, and GameJolt hosting. Loads of ProGen world-builders and gaming concepts that work with it. An ever-expanding musician and soundtrack database. Aquaria's OST-streamer. Various kinds of plug-and-Slug gaming engines. OmniLudiCon's simple-but-intuitive flash widgets. The browser-basis of GameJolt and it's game-streaming capabilities (all it's lacking is a "friends and foes system" and multiplayer titles). Even the friends-oriented approach to Facebook/MySpace games and apps, and the way social-oriented games like Mafia Wars work.

All of these things are available right here today!! The only thing missing is a way to tie these respective elements together into something "whole," and of mutual gain to everybody; just like this place itself already is. Even that's not completely true - it kind of IS tied together loosely, in fact. It just has yet to be really optimized.


EDIT: Unfixed a typo. Also, though it was originally about something I was hacking together, and who knows, I still might... do you think it's worth consideration to move this thread to TIGSource projects, given the change of perspective in this post? If there really is truth to it, I mean?

By that, I was mostly wondering what kinds of games you enjoy, and really get into playing (and/or developing). What games do you play most? Are there any titles here that you've found yourself endeared to, yet? (I'm up to about 2 dozen of those, and counting!)

A lot of this, as well as the reason for it being "experimental," is because I'm sorta foraying into new development territory with these, in regards to the other elements (platforming, adventure, racing, shmup, and roguelike-dev). Previous to these projects, most of my devving experience has been along the lines of fighting/musical games (hence their clear inclusion in iMAGE Zero, but being less focused on in my DevLog than other elements, I'm pretty sure I can get those parts right). Therefore, I'm used to most games and sprites simply being based on colliding with one-another, often in fixed-range territory and/or with projectiles. Jump physics and attack ranges in fighting games are a terrific example of this.

Practically everything else I'm working on now, I'm still pretty new to; and still learning a lot of little tricks and workarounds. I *think* I know what I'm doing, but I'm not totally sold that I do. And other projects I've done devwork with, I'm usually just coding/troubleshooting sequences like animations, hit reactions, damage rates, things like that. This is the first time I've built an engine from scratch (and that's some intimidating shit!), and maybe my third foray into actual programming; if you count GM as that, which is a "maybe." I AM still using a lot of the drag-and-drop interface for instance, and inserting code/scripts where that doesn't suffice. Also, I really hope I'm scripting right! >.>'

It's a great tool for learning more programming logic, and more about the physics and elements of different games and how they all work, but ultimately it WILL be eclipsed by the time this project's direction is finished.
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Clear vision of the project/scope is now on the "Player" thread.

Alright, I'll give this one a spin, too, and let you know what's up.

Just watching the vid on your homepage alone makes me love this. Your awesome use of minimalism is enviable, btw!

v1.63 has Hangars. I'm close to wrapping this game up for good. Already thinking about my next game and the lessons learned, such as, is it worthwhile to post new games here?

Here in the thread? You could mention it perhaps, but the game itself deserves it's own thread. Here in this forum? If it's Feedback-ready, then yes; otherwise I'd post it in Creative > DevLogs for now. A post-mortem of lessons learned and feelings on your title would be good to see, too. If that's an "intended Final," you might simply crosspost the title to Announcements.

That said, this looks really wicked! I'll be giving it a spin here too. I'm never gonna get finished with my stuff if I keep doing this... but playtesting is so much fun! Actually, my attention is half-and-half between them.

And I know what it feels like, but I doubt that you are talking to yourself, or that I am, either. My DevLogs are a lot like that, but I'm working on stuff that may take a year or two to finish; and it never hurts to bounce ideas around and get creative input from the hivemind we have going on here. (I bet you used to play the "duck and weave" car game as a kid too, huh?)

Finally, if this does turn out as fun as it looks like it'll be, would you mind if I consider a demake for my "Player" project? The Shmup-related stuff in it is lacking in variety a bit, and the concept of this (give or take some GTA:VCS "empire" influence, unless that's already there) seems like it would make a great addition to it, which compared to other styles, is a little "unfleshed out" so far.

Do enemies still try to actively dodge you? If so, whiffing shouldn't drop your meter. For that, I see three main uses: the Dash/Dodge anti-spam, special finishers (chase/juggle attacks, skill/timing based but for really good damage like 5 combos worth), and special openers (generally with the abusable attacks, but in a way that limits players' ability to spam those as well).

This leads to some tactical depth, as intentionally NOT landing finishers will allow for a greater number of high-priority openers at your disposal. But it's "use it or lose it," if you 3-5 seconds or so without some kind of fighting action (trash talking being useful for restarting that btw), it wipes out; possibly with some minor benefit to the player (score, minor life recover, something like that). Certain penalties and "power-downs" or being hit with a demoralizing (IE: funny/embarassing) enemy projectile/attack will drain it outright, too.

So while you build and use it, it's not like you build it up a long long time and use it once or twice. It's a constantly active, integral part of the fighting system. And maybe when it's full, each character can have some Marvel-esque super move meant to take out a crowd of enemies - like those in a line/direction from you, a radius-range, bounding around, a seismic attack that hits any enemies contacting the ground... kinda similar in concept to Chrono Trigger techs, in fact. Just activate it by pressing Smash + Combo. We can call it...

wait for it...

"THE SMASH COMBO!"

It's a balance I'm attempting to stride as well - to capture what's already fun about certain gaming styles, and innovate solely on their execution. It's really about how much risk/reward you're willing to assume. Truly groundbreaking concepts are nearly always high-risk.

The real catch is not limiting yourself into thinking one must come at the expense of the other.