next »

[Montoli]

Current Build:  v1.22 (10/31/2010)




<<Play it now!>>

Or, watch the
<<Gameplay Trailer!!>>

Whee, TIGJam!  I planned on working on some box2D physics fun this weekend, but some random conversations (and unplanned playtest sessions) resulted in me spending most of the time on Negative SpaceCraft instead.


Changes this build: (Playtest v1.22)

• Added comment about slower switching to hard-mode-ship description.
• Lobster wall - lobster now stays closer to the middle of the screen, to make it easier to catch while in a wall.
• You can now switch colors even when you are invincible.  (i. e. immedietely after being hit with shields.)
• Added FPS counter enable to the debug menu.
• Added a "kill current boss" button.  (only works when debug menu is active)
• Added a new ship, "Bonus mode", which only shows up if you have beaten at least two EX bosses.
• Spin Spider now shoots things that hurt you all the time, instead of always black.
• On successful level completion, you no longer get a hint, but rather the idea text.
• Removed WASD from the tutorial text, as it was confusing folks.
• Added a "kill the current enemy" debug button (C) which only works if the debug menu has been enabled.

Instructions:
Fly around and try to drain all the hp from the boss!  Avoid things that are the same color as your spaceship, or you will blow up.


Controls:
Drain:  Z (or / for lefties!)
Switch Colors:  X (Or . for lefties!)
Charge Up Energy:  Shift (either one!  Lefties, I got your back!)


Note!  You move much more slowly when charging energy!  (i. e. while shift is held down)

Cheats
You can toggle debug mode by going to the credits screen, and pressing control+shift+Z.

When debug mode is enabled, you can access the debug menu from the title screen.


Tips:
Hold down Z to prepare a drain zone.  When you let go of Z, everything in the area that is the same color as your ship will be sucked in.  (This is a great way to clear space around yourself.)  Note that you can only do this when you are at 100% power!!!

Win by hitting draining the boss enough times.  (You can tell you caught him in your drain zone because one of the bits you drained will be red, and the sound effect will be different!)

Try to catch as many bullets in your drain zone as possible.  For one thing, they help you charge up faster for your next attack.  Also, if you caught the boss, then they give you bonus points as well.

When you press the button to switch colors, you will flash for a few seconds.  If you cross a color boundary during this time, you will switch.  (If you don't cross a boundary before it wears off, then nothing happens.)  Note that this will cost you a small amount of your shield charge!!!

When you are fully charged, (100%) you can survive ONE hit from the enemy.  Be careful though!  This will set your charge back to 0%!

[Montoli]

Greetings!

So I've started a new game, and am far enough along that I am pretty sure I am going to actually finish it.  So it's probably time for a dev log!

It is called Negative Spacecraft, and it is not going to do a whole lot to dispel the impression that I obsess over shmups.  It is in fact, sort of a weird love-child of Ikaruga, and Shoot the Bullet.  But it's also very different from both!  Let me explain.  With pictures!

So here is a screenshot of the current build of the game.  It has a white ship ship flying through space, dodging sort of fish-scale things, trying to make its way over to the alien ship.  (The thing with the red dot.)



Or at least that's what it is right now, if you want to look at it that way  Is that right?  Maybe it's actually a black ship, dodging giant black fish scales?



The game is about trying to navigate patterns to get close enough to the enemy ship to drain its hp.  Except sometimes the patterns are not really fair.  But that's ok, because every so often, you can switch your point of view, and make the black areas safe, while the white ones kill you, or vice versa.  So sometimes when you see a giant wave of doom approaching, with no where to hide...  you just need to look at it differently!  It's not a dense collection of bullets that there is no way you can dodge!  It's really a giant safe zone for you to take refuge in!  Ahh!

In addition to riffing off of Ikaruga's polarity switch mechanic, am also feeling a bit inspired by STB's camera mechanic, as a method of selectively disrupting patterns.  So you don't have a regular gun to attack with - instead you can, every so often, charge up a giant circle of doom:

and when you let it go, you suck all the bullets that were in it into yourself.


So yeah.  That's about it!  I have most of the annoying UI menu work done, (mostly pilfered from other projects) and am mostly to the point of coming up with and making interesting patterns.  I'll post some more screenshots after I get a playable build up and online.

[mokesmoe]

This game looks really cool! Can't wait for a demo! Another amazing idea from Montoli!

EDIT: I was totally going to mock you, but you ninja'd me. Just take it all literally then. Looks neat.

[Montoli]

Haha, awesome.  Glad I had the 2nd part all typed up and ready to cut-and-paste then!  You were crazy-fast either way then, since it was only up for about 30 seconds before I got the 2nd post up...

[Montoli]

Ok, build up.  Have at it!  Let me know what you think, what parts you like, what parts you think suck, etc!

[mokesmoe]

I wasn't watching the forums or anything. I just went on right then and got lucky.
I think it's neat, but it seems kind of all-or-nothing. You only get one shot to hit the boss  at a time, because it takes your whole bar. It's less like one big fight with the boss, and more like a few short fights in a row. I think it would work better if the boss had a health bar, and you would drain more of it depending on your charge and proximity. Also having a full charge take your whole bar still, and you can still only drain at 100%, but make smaller charges take less of your bar. This wouldn't work with your current set-up due to spamming drains, but would work with mine because small drains that just reach the boss wouldn't do that much damage.

Also, I've only played a few levels. Scales is really hard due to the randomness, as I'm having bad luck with it.

[BadgerManufactureInc]

I like the visual style and the use of monochrome works well along with the shape changing algorithm.  I'm sure it's still early days but I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes along.

If you need playtesters I'm in!

[Montoli]

Yeah, I'll be honest, several of the levels are not easy.  My plan is to have a bunch of levels, and the idea that people can play them in (mostly) whatever order they want, so if they get stuck on one, they can just skip it and move on.  (They will probably unlock in blocks, where you start with groups 1-2 unlocked, and when you finish say, 75% of the levels in one group, a new group unlocks.)

My problem right now is just in figuring out which ones people think are hard.   I think I have a fairly skewed idea of their difficulty, since most of them I made already knowing at least one way to solve them.  (Also I've discovered that designing levels after warming up with a quick game of Touhou on Extra Difficulty mode tends to result in levels that make friends go "what the heck".)

Unrelated:  Some more random screenshots I had laying around:

[mokesmoe]

All the "hard" levels aside from drifting are really easy. In side shot, once you get in the laser, you can just stop moving and do your drain whenever it charges. Rings and lasers are not as easy as side shot, but I still beat them both first try. The second set is really hard.
I would say make the second set a later one. Take scales from the first and put it in the third. Make the enemy in side shot move or something else that would make the level not so easily broken. Then make the third set an early one, maybe right after the first.
The biggest thing that affects difficulty is predictableness. If you know what's going to happen, It's easier to dodge, if it's random, it's hard.

[Inanimate]

This looks beautiful, and the gameplay sounds fantastic.

[Montoli]

All the "hard" levels aside from drifting are really easy.

Cool, that is good to know!  Yeah, right now they are nowhere near well-ordered.  Drifting is hard, I think, so I put that last, and "wall" is intended to be super easy, so it came first.  But beyond that, they're sort of a jumble.  I'll probably reorder them some next build.

Yeah, side-shot is intended to be one where eventually you make the transition from being outside to inside, but I may want to make it less trivial once you make the switch.  (The last hp it sends out some spam, but maybe I'll move that up a little earlier.  I think you're right, right now it's a little too easy.)

(This is great feedback btw.  I have my own ways that I usually beat levels, but it is valuable to me to hear how other people do it, since sometimes they come up with clever ways I have missed that make things much easier than I intended.)

[mokesmoe]

I didn't even notice that the last wave sends out spam, because the meter charges up before he shoots any bullets.

[Montoli]

A good indication that it needs tweaking then!

[Montoli]

Wow, I got nothing done this week.  Between relatives in town (Long lost cousin from australia visited!  It was like a sitcom!) and a friend choosing this week to introduce me to "League of Legends", my productivity took a definite hit.  Still, I got at least a few things done.  And am committed to trying to post a build a week, both because feedback is awesome, and it helps keep me honest if I have a self-imposed deadline.  (Otherwise I have a bad habit of never getting feedback on things because I keep telling myself "ooh, if I wait to show it, then it will have THIS new crazy thing too!  I should wait!" and never getting feedback until the very end.  And then acting surprised when it turns out that there are glaringly obvious things I could have made better, except I didn't notice them because I was staring at it too closely.

So anyway, yeah!  Build!  Only one new level though.  Retweaked sideshot though, so that's almost like a new level!  That's like 1.5 levels total!  Most of the other changes are things like minor particle system fixes, etc, which probably no one will even notice besides me.  Let me know what people think of the new level!

[mokesmoe]

Zip shots was hard, although I manages to beat it first try. I give a thumbs up to that level.
Side shot is really hard now, because it's ridiculous how many black bullets there are. I probably need a new strategy.