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[JasonPickering]

well here is something i was working on. its a very simple game with randomized enviroments.


holding the space bar makes your balloon go up. the plan is to make a game where the player sees how far they can get, but your record only counts if you actually land the balloon on the ground. so if you get 1000 ft but then hit a cloud it doesn't count. once i get the kinks worked out of this much I will move on to the next part. i will have different things appearing on the ground and my original plan is to have lots of interactive things, that the player can do to unlock new balloons, giving them lots of balloons to choose from. the balloons will all handle the same, but they will just be graphically different.

download
http://www.mediafire.com/file/muc2mmahyzm/Aeronaut.zip

edit:
forgot to mention. i was having trouble design a guy with so few pixels until i saw oddballs character sprites from the competition.

[ortoslon]

i like the artwork. consider giving direct control over vertical acceleration rather that vertical speed for smoother and faster movement

[JasonPickering]

so do you mean switch to a control scheme more liek pong, where you contol the up and down using two keys?

[Golds]

so do you mean switch to a control scheme more liek pong, where you contol the up and down using two keys?

I think he's suggesting that instead of setting something like moveVelocity = 5 every time you hold the space bar, you set if(moveVelocity < maxMoveSpeed) moveVelocity += SomeConstantAcceleration * timeSinceLastFrame.

[JasonPickering]

okay i get it now. yeah that would make sense, I was worried about losing the precise control but i think this sounds like an idea I should try.

[JasonPickering]

alright, so i switched the controls to an acceleration as opposed to a definite speed and actually the control is much better. its actually very easy. so now i need more obstacles. so just let me know if you have any ideas and I am going to be uploading a new build hopefully soon.

[Golds]

Cool!

Obstacle ideas:

stormclouds, giant birds, hills, windy currents, helicoptors

[JasonPickering]

all good, all good.

goofing around with art stuff.

original:


color one:


color two:

[Frostblade]

The game was entertaining enough, but there were a couple of things I found irritating. The very slow pace of the game didn't particularly increase or reduce the challenge, it just forced the player to wait for a few seconds between every decision; and I once encountered a literally unwinnable level. I'm not so sure how you might fix the latter, but it should be simple enough to (let's say) double the speed of every object- check out Canabalt for an example of how a fast-paced version of your game might work out.

its actually very easy. so now i need more obstacles.

I'd be wary of making the game too complicated. Predictability is the only thing keeping the game winnable; how about an obstacle that moves in a basic "zig-zag" pattern, so the player has to put a little more thought into timing his actions?

[JasonPickering]

3rd time attempting to post this

Frostblade: i didn't want to make the game to fast as most people have the ideas of slower hot air balloons in their head. i did make it so as you go the clouds are created sooner and sooner.

right now when you start you come to a grey screen. the top number is your record, and the 3 following ones are the month, day, and year that record was set. In the game you will see a black number in the corner when you beat your current record it will change to red, but remember a hi score is only counted if you actually land the craft. currently working on a way to remove the possibility of being trapped in a situation with the random generation of the clouds.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ztkyjzyodn4

[JasonPickering]

Update!!!



all new art!! and I am working on making it so the player doesn't have any problems with the the randomization. I also added a snooty monocled cloud who slowly moves up and down.

next:
- fix randomization
- add more obstacles
- find some good ragtime music.

i am currently waiting on the title screen. I have a friend who might design a vintage style event poster for it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?hmg2m31hzyd

[BinaryMind]

I as well love the artwork, especially the new stuff. Though I hope the shifty-eyed cloud stays in the final version.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems this game was inspired by the Helicopter Game. Going for a high-score like that wouldn't be a bad idea either, depending if you have time to implement that.

In general I think the game needs to be faster paced and there needs to be more going on. Adding music and more enemies shows you're working there, maybe having the ability to pick up a power-up (or any powerups) and shooting down a random cloud could help, but I'm just sky-balling.

[JasonPickering]

so thats what my game would look like as a helicopter. i ahve never actually seen that game. I dont know about making a global high score, but I do have a local one, where it counts the players record. but it only counts if you successfully land your balloon. I like the idea that a player has to know when to quit. cause you could have a chance to land at 1000 meters but decide to go further and crash meaning you didnt get the high score.

yeah I keep hearing the faster paced thing and think I might have to do that and I have been thinking about powerups. I am thinking of having the player spell out Sunny at which point a sun shows up and clears all the clouds for a certain amount of time.

[supershigi]

Ahh!  The clouds have monocles!  So cute!

[JasonPickering]

alright some changes. better hud, and hopefully the music plays now. let me know if it does not. now I am trying to think of obstacles to add to the game.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ig3zwyanaoz

[J. R. Hill]

Just some observations and suggestions:

Movies in the silent film era tended to run a bit faster than real speeds.  It might add to the fun and challenge of the game if everything was a bit "faster" (I.E. scrolling, thrust, gravity increases)

One of the most charming things to me from silent films is the written dialogue.  I think it'd be fun to give the player a few free smacks into the clouds just to be able to throw up a dialogue screen saying some random old-timey exclamation.  (e.g. a W.C. Fields-esque "Shades of Bacchus!!")

Also, if you need help with the title screen I might be able to whip up something like this that fits your resolution + dimensions.  Something like this?  http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope/images/s53e.2.jpg

[Noisefever]

damn! I planned to make a very similar game. now I have to find a new idea. thank you!

just kidding... that's life
your game looks really cool so far!

[JasonPickering]

NoiseFever: I say go for it.

JR Hill: yeah I guess I will have to speed things up. everyone keeps saying but i just don't do it. I want to do the cutaway talking but i think ti will really break gameplay. I might do a quick cutscene in the beginning to explain the controls and goal.

also that would be totally cool to get a intro screen like that. its 320 by 240 and the one thing i will need is the current record needs to be listed somewhere on it. and then I can just change the sprite that goes in that specific spot to read the correct date. right now I just have it up in the corner but anywhere would be fine.

[drChengele]

This is very nice! Music and visuals really capture a proper "feel". I particularly like those old movie reel effects.  I did a pixel shader recently that does basically the same thing so it's a matter of interest to me.

I can see that in addition to thick moving brown lines there is also some fluctuation in the image I just can't put my finger on. Might I ask how you achieved this?

[J. R. Hill]

Does the guy have a name?  Or the clouds, etc?