next »

[imaginationac]

Latest build always available here: http://db.tt/xnDxZY3O (zip file)

I've been working on a game on and off with Game Maker since the announcement of the Yoyo Games Competition 05 (that numbering bugs me). I set out to actually get down and learn Game Maker for the sake of not wasting $20 (the cost of the program at the time).

I've have a few entries about it on my blog (see the link in my sig). I just got around to starting on the graphics.

I doubtful I'll win the compo, but it's a goal to strive for. Missed the deadline

Right now, the problem I'm tackling is getting my animations to work. Works fine.

Current stuff in-game:
[BEGIN SALES PITCH]

• A main menu
• You can move the player around with proper rotation.
• The enemies can die.
• You can die
• I've got respawning that accounts for obstructions
• Sounds galore!
• Scoring! Local High Scores!
• Charging your laser!
• Fancy alpha effects!
• ...and more!

[/END SALES PITCH]

Some screens:




Font I made (that I'm going to have to remake):

Dev videos:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=40CA27FB15514729

Design document (view-only):
https://workflowy.com/shared/93538c49-a4ac-78e8-f223-47380ad1240c/

So yeah, generic, not particularly innovative, but I'm learning. I'll put the game up when I find a good place to host it.

Image album
http://imgur.com/a/UrVTo#.TzhsPoTmuSk.link

Edit: Changed link to game and moved it higher.

[imaginationac]

Got sprites swapping! Next is to adjust the speed of the animations. Also adjusted the pause menu code to conform to the compo rules (I was using an extra key before). Windows blue screened on me. I should probably turn my PC off every once and a while.

Edit:
I put the latest build up here: http://alexpat1.myweb.uga.edu/files/Game.exe

[imaginationac]

So, there's a warning here from the forum software telling me that thistopic has not bee nposted in for at least 120 days. Which fairly safe for me to assume that I haven't worked on this game for over 3 months. HOLY EFF!

Anyway, now that I'm done with school, I should have more time until I get hired or go back to school...

Obviously I missed the original deadline I set for myself, but I actually like working on this game.
Yesterday, I got a charging mechanic in place. It hasn't been translated into actual firepower yet. I'm still thinking on how I want that to work. Levels (aka stages aka waves) are in, along with multiplicative scoring based on level and a score multiplier (which is not implemented yet). I'm probably going to finish the charging mechanic first.

You can download the new version here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/nmnmxtkau3yso3f/Shooter.exe

[imaginationac]

The network at my parent's house is messed up, but my dad won't let me fix it. So I have intermittent problems with connecting to the internet. LOVELY!

Anyway, this is what I did yesterday.

New dev video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r1c646sODs

I changed how the game paused. There's still one more bug to fix dealing with that. I forgot to mention I added sounds, I don't know if they were in the last version, though. I also changed the background color to the stage, as I had problems contrasting the player from the stage. Other various UI things too.

Newest version here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/r1f61ked6t57hbe/Shooter.exe

[imaginationac]

Changes made.

• Implemented interval enemy spawning based on an alarm. Enemies spawn every two seconds (60 steps).
• Changed GUI font.
• Enemies health generated by level.
• Temporary invulnerability after respawn.

I added a changelog and readme file, so the new releases are will be in zip files.

Newest version here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?9dkwm9tgnqv66hg

[imaginationac]

Lots of changes, but not much in the way of gameplay, mostly GUI stuff.
1. Added blip sound effect to main menu and pause sound.
2. Lots of menu refactoring. Added help and credits.
3. A bar is drawn on screen indicating charge amount.

If I keep this up, I think I can get the game to a state for which I would want feedback.

Newest version here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2430986/Games/Shooter/Shooter%2C%20r10.zip

[imaginationac]

The charging mechanic is fully implemented. Now it's a matter of balance, and making the game more interesting by adding additional mechanics on top of that.

CHANGES:
1. Charged shot affects shot strength.
2. Menu placed in game.
3. Wave based gameplay (kill a certain number before moving to the next wave).
4. Made shots actually originate at muzzle of the gun.
5. Drew a proper GUI background with fancy looking text and e'rythang!
6. Shot destroyed only when off screen or strength is not enough to destory enemy.

Made a new video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUrWnBBlLOw

Newest version here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2430986/Games/Shooter/Shooter%2C%20r10.zip

[imaginationac]

Did I mention how much I hate my ISP? NO...hmm..

Anyway, read the changelog for what I did. Newest files will now be hosted at the same URL
http://dorianpatterson.com/games/Shooter.zip

So look to first post for the download link.

[Dozer]

Pretty solid so far. I played until I had about 65,000 points. Wanted to give it a chance to become a little more hectic. Unfortunately it did not, but I am sure that will probably be changed in the future. A couple notes. It seemed that the charge was over powerful. I counted 15 uncharged shots at later levels to take down a baddie while a little less than a half a charged shot took him down easy peasy. For some reason I really really loved the ship sprite. The enemies were nice too. I especially liked how they kind of faded in from the edge of the screen.

My biggest complaint though would have to be the menu. I could not tell what I was selecting. Maybe add mouse control for it? Would make the most sense to me.

All in all it seems pretty good. Definitely see some potential. What exactly will you be doing to make the gameplay more compelling? I see alot of room for powerups, different enemy types, among other things, but what do you have in mind?

EDIT: Just read the devlog and had to add something... Thank you SOOO much for adding a comment in about sfxr... I had that program a while back ago and lost it and could not for the life of me remember what it was called... You rock man :D

[imaginationac]

Thanks for playing and the feedback!

I've reworked the menu drawing function last night in hurry, and it's drawn in the wrong position, plus I still have to put the cursor back in. I'll be adding mouse selection too.

Right now, for testing, I've set each wave to include only 1 enemy. Originally I had 100 per wave. I might get back to testing balancing soon.

Some vague ideas I had to make the game interesting/challenging:
1. Recoil based on charge level.
2. Mirrors and lasers.
3. Physics based corpses of your enemies clutter the stage. They can both be assistive and a hinderence.
4. Actual level design with some semblance of story.
5. More weapons...cause more is always better.

[imaginationac]

I took yesterday off, and spent most of today out of town, so the only things I've done today is correctly positioned the menu (and gave it a background color). Once you started the game, hit the spacebar to play.

[imaginationac]

Yet another day spent on GUI related work. BUT I actually think it was well worth it. Ended up making a menu object and button object. Next time I make a Game Maker game I'm going to design things in a more visual way. Anyway, the main menu now responds accurately to left clicks, and mouse overs with a fancy highlighting effect (the draw color for the button is changed to white). Escape no longer quits except from the main menu. You'll have to hit escape to leave the help, settings (still blank), and credits screen. Oh and new title!

New version will be up shortly. I made a minor change to the URL, this should be the final one:

http://dorianpatterson.com/downloads/Charger.zip

[Montoli]

I have to admit, UI work is my least favorite kind of work.   Stupid users!  Why do I have to coddle them!  Can't they just interface via neural link or something?


Also:  Fancy alpha effects are fancy!

[imaginationac]

No new download, but some work done. So, I love object-oriented programming, but the way GM handles it had me confused for a bit. Thanks to a helpful Twitter @reply, I got that you had to call "event_inherited()". All this time I was wondering if GM had a "super()" like function, and it did. (My work around before this was to take all the child specific create event code and put it in a timer that ran at the first step).

But like always, things get messed up. The old code I had for pausing the game would not cooperate with deactivating the menu while playing. Either I could Pause once, unpause, and then never pause again, or pause and not unpause. So, for now, I took out the game menu and pausing completely.

I spent most of today working on other stuff, this was mostly yesterday.

[imaginationac]

New download today. It's weird that the built in functions for joystick button input do not have pressed and released version like they keyboard and mouse have. The room size has been set to 640 by 480. The GUI is pretty much done, so I'll be working on design for the rest of the week. There's a rudimentary knockback mechanic. You'll immediately pop back to a position based on the direction your currently facing (a max of 100 pixels). Waves have 100 enemies each.

Download link is the first post.