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[Coriform]

I finished my exploratory technology research.  I've decided to use Game Maker (surprise!) so I don't have to spend 90% of my dev time futzing with SDL.  

So far I've hacked together a basic two-player environment with dynamic split-screen.  I will hopefully have some sort of simple demo in the next few days.

[Coriform]

Alrighty!  I have a VERY basic tech demo that exhibits potential airship physics.  WASD are used for player 1, and the arrow keys are used for player 2.  If all is working properly, both players should be able to fly around the level, and bounce off of the level walls and the gray blocks, as well as each other.

Download Fisticuffs Demo 1.0

Please, go ahead and break it!  I am not expecting the collisions to be working 100%.

I'm going to work on some background music this week.  I'm thinking something similar to the Henry Hatsworth soundtrack.

[Will Vale]

Runs fine here, the collisions are quite vigorous though! Two other things caught my eye:

* The split playfield is *really* nice - great job!

* I think the balloon movement would be more interesting if X and Y behaved differently - at the moment it feels a bit like a top down game with side-on sprites, if you see what I mean?

Will

[Coriform]

Thank you, Will!  The dynamic split-screen is hacked together from a couple other Game Maker projects, so I really can't take the credit.  I totally agree with you about the movement, although I haven't quite figured out the best approach.  In the least, I will probably increase the max horizontal speed and momentum, as well as reduce the vertical bounce.

[Coriform]

Still programming...

One of my friends made (pre)fan art!  I think it looks pretty awesome:

[Fluff]

Yes! I was looking forward to some fan art for this one. 

[DrOctapu]

I have a friend who loves stuff like this.

[Coriform]

Short post: some updates:

- Finished the finalized movement, collision, and upgrade systems for racing section
- Creating a pause screen

Huh, that somehow managed to be even LESS interesting than I was expecting.  I will upload a new demo soon, perhaps tomorrow!

[Mega]

I didnt know gentlemen told each other about their mothers in hot air balloons.

unbecoming I say

[Coriform]

I've made some updates - significant additions include traps, boosters, and some basic animations.  
Controls: P1 holds the 'W' key to increase altitude; P2 holds 'Up'

Next: backgrounds, combo system (!), enemies, etc.r





Updated technical demo:

Fisticuffs Tech Demo 1.1

[Polygraph]

I dunno if you fixed it in 1.1, but I broke something as you asked.

If the two balloons are coming at each other from the top and the bottom and collide correctly, they fly through each other at a great speed.  Replicatable.

[Coriform]

Title screeeeeeeeeeen




Should have next demo by tomorrow, methinks.

[Coriform]

Tomorrow... ten days later... same thing...

Alright, here's the latest demo of Fisticuffs: The Legendary Journeys.  Or whatever the subtitle is.  It is about 50% completed, although unfortunately, I'm not ready to show off some of the fun/simple/stupid attacks!  With all the free time I'll have next week, I am fairly confident this project will be completed by the deadline and/or a later date.

Click here to download the latest build

Additionally, if anyone is interested, they are certainly welcome to look at the brief design document I put together.

[Will Vale]

Definitely feels like a complete game now - I like the start where you choose your quarrel.

It worked for me up until I got (I assume) to the end - the timeout for the other player counted down but then I just had a black box in the middle of the screen.

Will

[rivon]

Could someone post a screenshot please?

[Coriform]

It worked for me up until I got (I assume) to the end - the timeout for the other player counted down but then I just had a black box in the middle of the screen.

Right you are!  From there, the game will transition to the second phase of the gameplay (a beat-em-up), which is currently being worked on as we speak (I am multitasking  )

[Coriform]

Could someone post a screenshot please?

Here's a few! (click to view full size)

You and your opponent input your names and select your scenario:


Some racing:


Dynamic split-screen:


Once one player reaches the end, a countdown timer begins to allow the second player to finish:


Bonuses!

[Coriform]

Finished!  Probably full of bugs, but that adds to the flavor!

Download Linkey

[Fluff]

We thought this game was really cute with a lot of personality. It takes you on a little journey and tells a little story and at the end you're satisfied with the experience. But, you don't really have any motivation to play again.

Some thoughts:

We liked entering names and choosing what to fight over.

The dynamic split screen was a big hit.

The pickups were hard to distinguish and we didn't really know why we were picking them up or what the colors meant.

We thought there really wasn't enough time to react to things in the race mode. What you hit was pretty much random.

Some of the art works well, like the gentlemen fighting and pipe menu selector, but the visuals don't come together as a cohesive whole. Most jarring is the difference in sprite resolutions. All the "pixels" on the screen should be the same size! And is that 4 different fonts used on the main menu?

Took us a little while to figure out what keys to use on the purchase upgrade screen between the two modes.

Overall, a fun little game! It seems like the kind of thing you would play to settle a dispute. "No it's your turn to take out the trash. Ok let's settle this in Fisticuffs!"

Thanks for making it!

[Starflier]

Alright, so, the split-screen doesn't work for me. When the two balloons are far enough apart that it should be working, the orange balloon's  half goes black. The game is still playable, but the blue balloon kinda has an unfair advantage...

I'm Running Windows 7 on an Alienware M15, with a 1.60GHz Intel Core i7 processor and an Nvidia GeForce GT video card.