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Alright, so here's my entry so far. I am taking a little bit of a minimalist approach and designing the majority of the game without anything but placeholder graphics. This has helped immensely, as I usually get sucked into making everything look perfect and then I get bored.

Basically, my entry is an arena shooter with procedurally generated enemies. The enemies will most likely be bosses or minibosses. I wanted to stray away from small enemies, partially because attacking with the player is not especially precise.

Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oIMhg5LTgU) is just a little sample of what the gameplay might be.

I'll try to describe what is going on:
The ship constantly produces bullets, which are held in a shield-layer around the ship. When the player presses a key, the bullets in the shield-layer are transfered to a swarm of bullets, which the player's movement influences. Another key allows the player to fling the swarm of bullets across the screen. This allows the player to attack close enemies or enemies on the opposite side of the screen.

Anyway, I'll stop blathering before this sounds really gimmicky.

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updt1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp2LBCGOH58
V  DOWNLOAD  V
alpha v0.1: http://www.box.net/shared/qdrway3kg0

swarms are awesome! cant wait!

That looks nifty. ;D

looks cool.

my only suggestion is that you might need to make your collision detection a little more generous.

The video is a little misleading. Each of the enemies there takes 4 hits to kill, so believe me, the collisions are generous enough. Also, the player will almost assuredly be fighting against larger enemies such as bosses or minibosses.

More to come soon...

Work it on, take your time, pump in some pep graphics and who knows? Maybe one day we can expect CellFactor sequel!
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/12272.html

Anyway, i cross my fingers. Swarm looks great.

I approve of all things swarmy.

Looks interesting.

Alright, here is a bit of progress with the enemies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp2LBCGOH58

Progress screens. Just some basic 3-armed generations.
(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b177/stwelin/swarmss1.jpg)
(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b177/stwelin/swarmss2.jpg)
(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b177/stwelin/swarmss3.jpg)

to add:

• controls for symmetrical and asymmetrical generations
• weapon turrets on control points
• dynamic segment rotation (melee arms)
• progression (generations that become more complex as they are defeated)
• a name? D:

Cheers.

Alpha version is done (har.)

grab it here: http://www.box.net/shared/qdrway3kg0

Very very VERY basic demo of the concept. The final (yes, i intend to finish it) will have more enemy types and patterns, and will get progressively harder as you go along.

This version includes very basic procedural boss generation (arm length, number of heads, etc.) It goes on infinitely. This demo is just to give a gist of what the final version will feel like.

Comments and suggestions much appreciated,
_stwelin

Very sweet. I think there's something charming about the LoFi feel of this game. Although the PCG aspect could have been used even more.
I would enjoy a full game in that style for sure.

I love the art style and the movement feels pretty natural.  I didn't really understand how to control my swarm once released, though.  It seemed to keep getting sucked up by one of the enemies.  Also it would be nice to have a moment or two of invulnerability when spawning.  I kept dying and then re-spawning into a spray of bullets only to die again before I could move.  Still, a good start!
Cheers,
--Zack