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[Rostiger]

I made a... game? Yeah, I guess that's what you could call it. A Game!

Some Background

I'm farely new to Game Maker and really just started to work with it and learn to code from Dereks beginner tutorials (thanks for those again!). It got me hooked pretty quickly so I decided to start a learning project in the line of the tutorials by making a scrolling shooter. I worked a couple of weeks on it and it grew larger and larger with every piece of dirty code I hacked into it in my naive first attempts to understand coding logics.

However, I soon realized that the project was developing into something too complex (especially for a very first learning game) and that the gameplay was too shallow, so I pretty much stopped in mid development, figuring that I learned enough to start working on other projects.

But the game kept on creeping into the back of my mind, waiting to be brought to at least some half decent playable state. So I picked it up once more, cleaned out a bit of the code and decided to release it now the way it is.

Some cheap excuses

It is in no means perfect (not even close) there are quite some bugs, not a lot of variation, it's terribly unbalanced and, as far as the feedback I've gotten so far, it's punishingly hard.

I was quite hesitant to open a new topic on this, but in the end I couldn't resist and figured I just have to throw it out there to see how other people will react.

So if you download it, then at your own risk and don't have any high expectations.

Controls

Use the arrow keys to move around, Control to shoot, and Shift to nuke.

The Game

You play a fearless pilot, who planted a bomb in the star base of the enemy. As you're on your way out of the base, the bomb goes off. Can you reach the exit and escape the infernal blaze?



(Yes, you will probably be seing that last screen a lot..)
Oh yeah, and I totally re-used the Indie Brawl font I did a while ago for the menu.

This is your ship!
This guy drops mines - watch out!
These guys are a little confused and keep on commiting suicide by flying into the wrong direction!
Collect these to completely own the game!
Collect these for a somewhat decent chance to survive longer than 10 seconds!
This powerup will grant you invincibility for a couple of seconds (against all logic you get a blue shield from an orange powerup!)
Collect these and press shift to nuke everything on screen!

Download
Download the game here if you got too much time on your hands!

[oahda]

I like how this thread shows up right after we announce Go! Go! TIKU TAKU TO!.

[Rostiger]

Hehe, yeah I was wondering if I should drop a comment on that, but the I figured it was just a classic example of my incredible 'good-timing' skills. 

However, it stands in no relation - I baptised the game at the very beginning (which is about two months ago), but always thought of it as a WIP title. Now since the whole game will probably never go beyond the WIP status, I figured I'll just leave it.

[oahda]

Yeah, I'm not blaming you for anything. I don't think you saw our thread, got a look at the name, and then changed the name of your game before you posted it. ;3

Still pretty funny, and kind of scary, though. Just a couple of hours between the announcements.

[DrDerekDoctors]

I like how this thread shows up right after we announce Go! Go! TIKU TAKU TO!.

Imagine how *I* feel.

[oahda]

Haha, I had no idea.
Scary indeed.

[Rostiger]

Hrhrhr, I wonder when a game with the title "Go!Go!Dance!" will appear.
Well, at least you can claim the best quality there, Doc.
So was that a Connect2Media in-house production or why isn't there a development studio credited anywhere?

[DrDerekDoctors]

Yup, in-house. My swansong for the company.

Actually I think Sony own the "Go! Go!" brand in some way (certainly we had second thoughts about our title due to them having a title with "Go! Go!" in it), and I suspect it is a dance game. Great minds.

[undertech]

Took me a while to figure out what controls the inferno's progress! Pretty clever. The difficulty isn't that bad once you get the max weapon upgrade and stay parked in one place. In fact, it gets a lot harder if you ever decide to move.
The graphics are really nice. Definitely fits in with the old 80's arcade shmup look.

[FiaStarta]

I was about to report bugs but I realize it's probably another jokeartsy game that makes no sense? 

[falsion]

These guys are a little confused and keep on commiting suicide by flying into the wrong direction!

Never knew Vic Viper's pilot was an alcoholic. Guess he fell under hard times. All those years of no attacks from the Bacterion put him out of work.

[Melly]

Code:

___________________________________________
ERROR in
action number 1
of  Step Event
for object oPlayerShield:

Error in code at line 20:
   x = oPlayer.x;

at position 14: Unknown variable x

I believe it happens when you finish the level with the shield on.

[Rostiger]

These guys are a little confused and keep on commiting suicide by flying into the wrong direction!

Never knew Vic Viper's pilot was an alcoholic. Guess he fell under hard times. All those years of no attacks from the Bacterion put him out of work.

Harhar, Vic must also have cloned himself 500 times in one of his long and lonely nights!
But the design is a total coincidence - I've actually never played gradius.. *ducks*

Took me a while to figure out what controls the inferno's progress! Pretty clever. The difficulty isn't that bad once you get the max weapon upgrade and stay parked in one place. In fact, it gets a lot harder if you ever decide to move.
The graphics are really nice. Definitely fits in with the old 80's arcade shmup look.

Yeah, as said, the game is pretty unbalanced, but with the big powerup you can really own it. Concerning the movement, that's absolutely right - the only downside is that you will get less points. But thanks for the comment.

I was about to report bugs but I realize it's probably another jokeartsy game that makes no sense? 

Hmm, no, actually not. It's a rather flat and more or less unfinished learning project in SHMUP format. In which way doesn't it make sense or seem arty to you?
I find it rather straight forward.. 

But before I ask people to report bugs: do you think this is worth to continue work on?
I was wondering if at least I should replace the dummy tunnel end graphic and maybe add another one or two enemies or moving obstacles, as well as a timeline, to build up difficulty over the course of the game. Also of course a lot mor tweaking would have to bee done, not to mention actual menu functionality (options and credits just start the game also) as well as a working-as-intended highscore table.
Or do you think that would be wasted time on a not-so-much-fun game anyway?

[FiaStarta]

Hmm, no, actually not. It's a rather flat and more or less unfinished learning project in SHMUP format. In which way doesn't it make sense or seem arty to you?

Ok, well you said it was unfinished but not really what was unfinished. I launched the game and 'options' & 'credits' just.. started the game. So I thought, either it's unfinished, or it's one of those artsy "games" with some useless message about our society or whatever artists are against these days.
Then I started playing, and it was done in a couple of seconds, the screen filling with fire. So I thought that there was no game. I'll give it another try if you're saying it can be played (for more than a couple of seconds).