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[FrankForce]

Bulkhead is a top down action roguelike with large procedural generated maps that are fully destructible. It is built using an open source game engine that I am also working on called Frank Engine. I have been working on it for about two years. I will be posting more details about the development here and the download link will be kept updated to the most recent build.

Main inspirations for this game are: hotline miami, teleglitch, robotron, smash tv, rogue legacy, and loaded

Download Bulkhead

Controls

I recommend a Xbox 360 controller, but keyboard and mouse also works.

• Move – WASD or Left Stick
• Shoot – Mouse Left or Right Trigger
• Reload – R or Gamepad A
• Melee – Mouse Right or Left Trigger
• Select Item – 1-9 or Mouse Wheel or DPad
• Map – Tab or Gamepad Back
• Run –  Shift or Gamepad X
• Focus (Slows Time) – Space or LB
• Magic – Ctrl or Middle Mouse or RB

How to play

Gameplay is currently set up like a classic roguelike where you have 1 life to get as high of a score as possible. Try to get to the teleporter to finish the level which is marked on the map. You can see a larger map by pressing tab. Your powers (focus, fireball, and flash) will help you but they use some energy to cast. Your energy refills by collecting coins. The run button does not cost energy but speeds up time as a balance factor. Break through walls to take shortcuts with your fireball power or rockets. You can buy skills and starting weapons. There will eventually be much more stuff, enemies, decor, more upgrades, more powers, story, etc.

2 Player Co-Op

A second player can join in if you have an extra Xbox 360 controller. Just press any button on the second controller to join in. This feature is still pretty rough but it's solid proof of concept. A versus mode is also planned.

[FrankForce]

Latest Updates:

Vision Casting

I added a vision casting system. I think this is a pretty cool implementation using textures. One nice bonus is transparent objects like doors allow colored light to pass through them which makes fore a neat visual effect. I've had this in for a really long time but it's finally now starting to look good enough to work but I'm still not totally sold on it. Also I may add powers that allow you to see enemies or objects in the dark areas. It's a bit slower to do the vision casting also, if the game is running below 60 fps try changing to medium or low detail in the options menu. If you don't like the vision, try disabling it with the console command "visionEnable 0".

Art Style

I reworked that art style a bit, I think sometimes small changes can make a big difference. I changed how the square tiles are used, so the main path is now mostly a consistent shade of gray rather then the tiles. I also added a randomize floor the tiles to create different size groups of tiles rather then all being in a grid. I hope this breaks up the space better. I also added a bit of blue around the borders of the walls.

New way...


Old way...


Med Kits

I want med kits to be a resource but I don't want gameplay to be about struggling to select and use them while in combat. So I changed the way they work so you still need to collect them but they are auto use. Whenever you avoid damage for 10 seconds the med kits will be used to repair your health. 1 med kit fills 100 health, it works automatically and there is no loss. I hope this is a good solution that gives me the best of both worlds.

Other Changes

Energy refills automatically.
Smaller levels, difficulty ramps faster.
Doors are indestructible, you can still destroy the walls around them but it requires more explosive power.
Supply crates are 1 melee hit to destroy.

[Christian]

Been playing this since the playtesting thread, can't wait to see the game grow. Already has such a solid foundation

[FrankForce]

Christian, thanks! There's much more yet to come.

[FrankForce]

I made a couple gifs...

[FrankForce]

I took some time off from developlement over the past year because I started a new job, but been working on it a lot lately. The visuals are dialed in pretty close to what I want now. I fixed some graphics bugs that were causing weird rendering glitches on many graphics cards. Decided to rename it Bulkhead because the previous name "Corridors of Uncertainty" too complicated. I could use some feedback on gameplay. Here are some of the most recent changes.

• Added acid pools in some areas. Acid will damage you or enemies and enemies will avoid it. There's also some cool lighting and splash effects.
• Bloody footsteps. When you or an enemy steps in blood they track footsteps. There are also slime footprints.
• Camera turrets. Sweeping vision cone, will fire homing missiles at you. Vision can be blocked by crates.
• Broad sword - Longer range, does double damage, more hit impulse, does not use ammo, can not reflect bullets.
• Combat Knife - Shorter range, faster attack speed, does not use ammo, can not reflect bullets.
• Magic doesn't refill automatically, it will only refill from coins. (eventually coins will also buy upgrades/unlocks)
• Run now does not use magic, the only drawback is time going by faster when you run.
• Tweaked level generation for smaller levels with more predictable length of gameplay time.
• Hack system for doors. Right now it's just a placeholder, actual hacking system is coming soon.
• Randomize player between 3 different types (eventually this will be customizable)
• Many gameplay tweaks. Like your own rockets do less damage to you, turrets are nerfed, doors break easier, more enemy sounds, etc.

[FrankForce]

Updates for this week...

• You can hold up to 3 knives
• Hacking mini game
• You can hack turrets and they will attack enemies
• New particle effects code
• Hacking mini game
• Many other bug fixes and tweaks

Hacking...


New effects...

[Spidi]

Wow, just wow ...
The game looks really cool !

One suggestion for the last update though: I understood the mechanic of the hacking game after watching the three tries once, so the concept is great, but the speed/difficulty looks a bit too much .

Br, following.

[FrankForce]

Thanks, I will probably iterate on the hacking a lot over the next few months.

[Christian]

Yes! This is still alive! Really enjoyed the early "Corridors of Uncertainty" version

[FrankForce]

It never died, I've been working on it here and there over the past year, but just so busy starting a new job. Also the game design has finally started to crystallize in my mind so it seemed like time to get moving again. Hopefully I can get pretty close to final by the end of the year.

[FrankForce]

Added awesome new melee weapon, a sledgehammer that breaks through walls.
Mostly just been polishing and fixing minor bugs.
Big update coming soon with skill upgrades and better player progression.

Check out these gifs of the sledgehammer in action...

[FrankForce]

Large update, many things have changed. The biggest thing is that there is now a skills system in the game, and 32 skills to choose from. Also coins can actually buy stuff now and progress is auto saved to disk. You don't start with any weapons now, but can buy new starting weapons pretty early on.

Changelist

• Start in the hub area now
• Money carries over between lives & auto saves
• Added skills system, use money to buy them
• Skills are also limited by skill points
• Added 32 skills, more to come.
• Added metal pipe weapon
• Added flashlight weapon
• New energy sword sounds

Skills Menu


Metal Pipe Weapon


New Start Area

[Christian]

Maybe it's just me, but a regular old sledgehammer seems kind of incongruous with the sci fi environment.

[FrankForce]

made a leaf particle system today, also some balance changes and bug fixes..


Christian: The main melee weapon in Half life is a crowbar. In Red Faction it is a sledgehammer. Many other games have had similar weapons. So not only is it thematically consistent but it's been done before. The giant sword is less so, but I am not sticking to hard sci-fi. i may even add a crossbow.

[Christian]

made a leaf particle system today, also some balance changes and bug fixes..


Christian: The main melee weapon in Half life is a crowbar. In Red Faction it is a sledgehammer. Many other games have had similar weapons. So not only is it thematically consistent but it's been done before. The giant sword is less so, but I am not sticking to hard sci-fi. i may even add a crossbow.

Oh, a hammer is fine as a weapon. Just the appearance seems a bit odd IMO. Like it looks like a regular old sledgehammer you'd buy in Home Depot or in my dad's garage, and not the kind of sledgehammer you'd find in a high-tech complex.

But I get what you're saying. Although to be fair, the RF sledgehammer has a sci-fi look to it.

[FrankForce]

I will continue doing art passes to make stuff fit the theme better but I don't mind the sledgehammer, maybe they have home depos in the future. Also the sledgehammer in Fallout 3 looked like just a regular sledgehammer. The crowbar from half life was just a regular crowbar. The wrench from Bioshock was just a regular wrench. And the sledgehammer from RFG looked like an ostrich head.

[FrankForce]

This weeks's updates...

Many More skills...

Invisibility Magic - Uses magic like fireball and stun to make you temporally invisible. I still need to work on the logic a bit for how enemies react to you when invisible. For example what do they do when they see you kill someone while you are invisible, right now they don't react. Energy swords also don't disappear quite enough either.
Invisible Enemies - I also hooked up some randomly spawning invisible enemies. There is a greater chance as difficulty increases.
Very Warm - Basically makes game work like Super Hot, time moves when you do. Pretty fun to play with this one.
Motion Detector - Shows blips on mini map when things move
Bullet Deflector - Pushes bullets away from you to help reduce chance of getting hit
Electronics Sensor - Shows electronics outside of visual range. Good for avoiding turrets.
Nice apartment - Start in an upscale furnished apartment instead of a padded cell. There's no real point to this one, just a fun cosmetic thing. Maybe as I work on the story it will make more sense.
Short Stuff - You are 20% smaller. This is mostly cosmetic but does effect melee range while also making you as slightly smaller target.

Better shotgun code
- works much more like a real pump shotgun
- added pump sound effect and logic
- shell is ejected when gun is cocked
- fix delay when starting reload
- will add auto shotgun soon with different tradeoffs

Many under the hood changes. Fixed some issues with slow motion causing the mouse and gamepad hard to aim. Reworked the skills screen so things can be arranged easier. Fixed a bunch of bugs. I got rid of the score display, though it still shows it when you die, all that score stuff will be replaced soon with more tangible stats.

We are up to 40 skills. Some are pretty cool, some aren't very interesting. I will probably separate out buying loadout weapons and magic from skills soon. I want to add more magic skills, there are a few ideas that I think could be cool. Also many more weapons.

I also changed around the control layout so that the weapon select is now on the dpad, and the magic and time scale buttons are on the bumpers. The main reason for this was to allow the right stick to be used while using magic, because I want to add magic powers that need to be aimed. Time scale moved to left bumper so it could be used simultaneously while weapon swapping.

Played for a while today. One run I got to level 10 which is farther then I ever have, though I got super lucky, and was playing with the very warm skill which I might need to increase in skill point cost. I found so many med kits that time so I reduced med kit drops by about 1/3. Also that was before there were invisible enemies. > A few other times though I got destroyed, playing with invisibility is hard and I'm not sure how to really use it yet, I may need to lower it's skill points and magic use.

Invisibility


New Skills Screen

[FrankForce]

New stuff...

Less Ambient Light - reduced by 10%. Wanted to get a bit darker and increase contrast.

Spark Effects - I was inspired by another game I saw a few days ago. Decided to hook up some spark when you shoot stuff. I will hook them up to more stuff eventually

Slow Time when changing weapons - This is kind of an experiment. I've noticed that players sometimes struggle with changing weapons, even myself on occasion so I hope this fixes that. The trade off is that there is a small delay before you can fire your weapon and if you do anything else ore press any buttons the time will speed up again.

Many other tweaks and improvements. Coin collector now triples coin pickup radius, invisibility requires only 4 skill points. Difficulty has increased slightly due to 10% greater damage to player and about 1/3 less random chance of med packs.

Here's some spark effects....

[FrankForce]

Many amazing updates...

Versus Mode - 2 player versus with 2 gamepads or 1 gamepad and mouse/keyboard. Map is randomly generated. Players start with random weapons. Can only hold one weapon at a time, press LB or middle mouse to throw weapon. Enemies spawn in randomly. Get coins from kills, drop coins on death, most coins at the end of 3 minutes wins. Med kits heal you instantly. Many other gameplay tweaks to make better vs gameplay. I tried a camera that moves and zooms but i found it too confusing, seems better when it is just stationary. There's a lot more I want to add and clean up here but I think it's a pretty good start for versus mode. Would be great to get some feedback on this.

Show health on ring around player - this is a big help in vs mode

Throw item on LB or middle mouse - slow time moved back to L3, LB or middle mouse is now throw weapon and you can throw non-melee weapons!

Better hub area - now has better control display, separate vs area, and a way to skip to level 3 for players who want to jump into higher difficulty. shows highest level and most kills. much of that will be changing eventually but its good for now.

More skills - extra large, you are 20% bigger, longer melee swing for larger target. Heavy boots - no damage from acid slime.

Other stuff - doors stay open for a while after being hacked, much more use of spark effects, show active skills on hund under minimap, fix some sound issues, many other tweaks and fixes

Here's a few randomly gernereated versus maps....