Before I get to actually talking about the game, I feel like I must tell a story.
It might be boring, though. If you want you can skip it.
One upon a time (this was a little over a year ago, I guess), I thought of what seemed at the time to be a pretty new idea: A platform shooter... like Nethack. With procedural terrain and lots of weapons and monsters (or robots or whatever) and lots of changing factors so the game was different ever time.
Then I had another idea that branched off that one. I decided to go with something even more roguelike, but still a platformer and in real time. I thought this was a hopeless dream; I didn't think I was proficient enough to make any random terrain. Then I realized that I would never get anything done in life if I kept telling myself I couldn't do things without even trying them. That's when I realized I COULD do random terrain generation, though it wasn't very pretty and it had a lot of problems.
I continued working on this game for a little while, but then my hopes crashed to the ground when I read about the release of Spelunky. It did a lot of the things I was planning on doing (limited inventory space, bombs and ropes [mine were actually ladders, but it's the same principle], random shops located in the dungeons), but it did them
right. It was (and still is) a generally excellent game.
Looking back on things, I now realize that I could have kept going with that game and I would have been fine. Sure, a lot of the general ideas and even some of the specifics of what I was making were very similar to what Derek was doing (and he obviously started before me, since he was working for quite some time before his game was released)... But my game was still pretty different. On the other hand, it was very rough, shallow, and ugly-looking. So it might also be for the best.
Whatever the case, I moved on to something substantially different. I went back to the original idea of a platform shooter, and !°µ1.53 was devised.
I kept working on the game for a few months, but then I slowed down a lot... things moved along at a very slow rate, and, at several points, came to a complete stop. Just recently, though, I decided to really put effort into getting this out. I wasn't happy with a lot of things about the game anymore. There are definitely mistakes I made early in the development process that I really should have noticed right away and fixed. The result is that, by this time, I did not want to take the time to fix anything, so my main goal was just to get it finished.
I did. The game is now playable. I may have set my goals a little too low, but it still feels nice to know I achieved them.
Now, on to the actual description of the game.
!°µ1.53, which is pronounced like the word "pulse" (it's kind of like 1337, only it's even more obnoxious), involves descending through a mysterious building associated with a secret government program. You will find guns, and you will use them to destroy robots and disarm traps.
There are computer terminals that you will occasionally encounter, and they will gradually provide you with new information about the game's setting (most things, however, are never fully explained).
The game continues to infinity. That was not my original plan, but toward the end, I did not have the energy to make it end properly. The core content of the game, however, is contained within the first hundred floors. After that, you will have seen everything.
...You probably will not survive to get that far, though. It's a pretty tough game.
Some features:
-30 weapons
-8 enemy robots
-4 playable classes
-4000+ words of text
-All deaths are logged to a text file
-The setting is weird
...So it's not huge, but it's definitely the biggest thing I've ever finished.
I am more or less aware of all the issues this game has. As I already said, I know about the problems, but I don't have the energy to fix them. It's time to move on to something new.
That said, however, you should still share all of the bugs you find (e.g. enemies occasionally spawn in stuck positions) and any other complaints you may have (e.g. the inventory system is awful).
If you have positive things to say, don't forget about them; it'd be nice to hear those, as well.
DOWNLOAD:
...from Game JoltSCREENSHOTS:
If you liked the game, tell people about it. I worked hard on it.
Also, I don't have enough money to pay for this semester of college (never mind the next three or four years), my car needs a new battery, I don't know how I'm going to feed myself over spring break, and I would really like to purchase the registered version of Game Maker, because I've been using the free version for years and have never been able to upgrade. I don't plan on selling anything in the near future.
So if you're feeling sympathetic,
send me an email. Really, if you can spare twelve cents, it would be appreciated.
