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(http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/3089/titlekc.png)

(http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6803/tddash.png)

I guess now's a good time to get off my lazy butt and make some game.

As misleading as the temporary title probably is, it's a platformer, not a shooter.

The goal of the game is to beat the other player to the end of the level.
The players, however, are not on the same level, but in two identical levels! Actions in one level can affect the other. For example, a platform would fall in both levels when stepped on in one, leaving it unusable for the player that gets there second.

Download! (http://www.mediafire.com/?hh22olma3097hxk)

Love the concept. I'm curious to see how you balance things out for the player who inevitably falls a little behind. Or maybe it will be so frantic that players will likely hit all sorts of obstacles regardless of skill.

Good luck either way!

Interesting concept, yep. I'm also curious how you'll solve the problem that the player left behind gets nothing but even further behind.

Best of luck!

Ooh, very interesting!
Level design will be crucial for this to work, good luck with that.

Perhaps there could be items, risky to get, but debuff the enemy, or spawn monsters, or something?

The idea of two identical levels is clever, too.

Alternatively, cutting off routes farther ahead could open up things farther behind, or something to that effect.

I already have some items that spawn monsters for the other player.
Another thing that helps others catch up is that not all things you do hinder the other player.

For example(pardon my art), the green platform here disappears when stepped on opening a shortcut for the slower player:
(http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/1650/exampleai.png)

EDIT: I trying to think of better names. "Passive Aggressive" sounds better, but a bit too generic. I think a pun on the term passive aggressive would be good though, if I can think of one.

Interactive objects so far:
Item that spawns ground robot enemy for other player - working
Item that spawns flying robot enemy for other player - working
Platform that sinks for both when stepped on by either - works for one person, buggy when both players are on it.
Platform that rises for both when stepped on by either - ditto
Platform that fades away a second after being stepped on - working


This list seemed longer before I typed it.

This reminds me of a game called Captain Claw, in which the multiplayer consisted of level racing with "curse" powerups scattered in hard-to-reach places. Even though each player was playing the level separate from everyone else, they could still indirectly interact with each other by getting these powerups, which did things such as freeze the other players for 5 seconds, deplete their ammo, or even kill them. I've never played the game in multiplayer, but it sounded interesting.

This game takes a similar mechanic but carries it a lot further, building the "powerups" into the structure of the level itself. I'm very interested in seeing how this turns out! Good luck!

Are you going to put laps in? And if so, is the environment that was changed in the previous lap going to regenerate to the default? Like, falling platforms come back after the first person goes onto his second lap.

Or maybe you could have them regenerate or change back or whatever over a time period of say, 10-15 seconds. Just a couple of ideas.

Oh, and does the lack of art right now mean you're looking for an artist, or are you just doing the graphics last? I'm pretty handy with pixel art, and I thought of a couple of characters for this game if you don't already have an artist.

This sounds like a fun idea.  I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with for indirect interactions.  Pun idea: passing agressive(?-since it's about racing/passing your opponents).

Add an enemy, that attacks first player, and if he kills it, the second sees a zombie!

Perhaps enemies killed by one player first become ghosts to the person in second place, which are invincible, intangible, but don't hurt you; they just slow you down.

Maybe ghosts could activate switches too, so they could open secret passages?

That's a great idea, but I don't currently have any way of attacking, and I don't want to add very many buttons, so you can play with one hand. Four hands on one keyboard can get crowded. I currently have up for jump, left and right for moving, and was going to use down for switches. (or WASD for the other player)

I had an idea though. I should add items that you can use (with down), as opposed to instant use items that just effect your opponent's level. I could have random items like mario kart to make the levels not perfectly identical. These items would still follow the two levels gimmick, and could allow a way to deal with enemies too. I would also help with catching up, if the behind player just so happens to get better items more often.

What do you guys feel about making it random though? And what about combining monster spawns with items?

Random is perfectly fine, and the idea of using down is good.

Why not just have goomba stomping, as well? That works fine with this kind of idea.

I thought of goomba stomping too, but discarded the idea when I though of trans-dimensional grenades.

I think I will go with random items, because the more I think about it the better it sounds. I don't think I'll include enemies in the items though. They will have their own pre-placed non-random items, or be already on the map.

I think I also might add a survival mode as well as a race mode.

@Rooky
Missed your post earlier, sorry.

I wasn't planning on making laps. I was just going to have a long course, first person to the end wins. This way I can gradually up the difficulty near the end too. I also plan on making multiple stages too.

I was planning on making the graphics at the end, but the graphics wouldn't have been good. If you are willing to make some for me, I would greatly appreciate it! Just PM me and I can give you some more details.



I might not be very productive for a week because exams are coming up.

Also, am I allowed to post demos?



EDIT: I think I like the name "passing aggressive". I'm not going to change the tread title until later though, because I don't want to confuse people changing the name whenever I think of something better.

Bump for new name and demo.

I have working platforms, and items.

wasd for player 1, arrow keys for player 2

(old version)

"Passive Aggressor"? Meh

"Passion Aggression?"

A really good way to deal with a player falling behind is much simpler than you would think.

Death.

Plain and simple, make death's a quick and useful part of the game.

Say the player in the lead renders a platform useless for you, so you just run into the pit and die. Respawning nearly exactly where the other player is, maybe even a little ahead given network lag. And these deaths add on to your total time at the end. This way you're never truly left behind, but not gaining the lead would be disastrous if you fail to recover too many times.

You death idea wouldn't work because I want the racing to be position based, not time based.

NEW VERSION!(old now)

Changelog:
- Menus!
- New item: Running shoes. 50% chance of receiving when in last place. (I will lower it later)
- New mode: Battle. 5 hit points, run out and you lose.
- New test map to go with battle mode.
- You can win race now.


EDIT: I fixed a couple things right after uploading. Please re-download.
(http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/4853/dashe.png)

(http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/7893/battlemu.png)

New/Changed Levels!

Switches!

Mines!

The game is releasable now, but I'm gonna try to make as many levels as I can before I call it finished.

Making levels is hard.


Should I make less longer levels, or more shorter levels?

Shorter levels seem better, probably.

http://www.mediafire.com/?1jft5vgefhwts2j

Finished! (although I may add more levels after the compo)

I have 5 levels of each type now, and some new stuff like missiles and health bars.

I fixed a part of a level that wasn't mirrored correctly, and fixed some balance issues I found after playtesting.

There's no new content, so it should still be good for the compo, but I'll keep the old one up just in case.

http://www.mediafire.com/?hh22olma3097hxk