final game is available here: http://www.richmakegame.com/?page_id=266
well done to everyone who got something in for GPCv6!

graphics update:


er, did anyone else try it yet?

update I've not got much time left so can't really change where I'm going with it too much, but if anyone has any tweaks or ideas which fit the current general framework, I'm all ears! particularly control suggestions, and maybe variations on orb/enemy behaviours. Cheers!

NEW VERSION: http://www.redprodukt.com/GPC/ElectroBLAM!_02.zip

changes:
improved control of the 'orbs' (friction and power adjustment)
added different enemy types, player health, difficulty levels

health continuously drains, and you need to kill baddies to refill it and keep playing. Kill as many bad guys as you can before your health runs out





if anyone has a go, please shout let me know how it went appreciate it!

wollay: maybe the climb will work, but I guess I was wanting the feeling of say zelda when you can just run about a landscape freely. I have the feeling climbing will still give a stop/start feel to moving around

just a thought, I think it might be nice to have a feature where you can just hold a direction and if you're about to hit a 1 block height increase it jumps just enough for you to make it, so you can run around freely.. one of the things that strikes me about minecraft is you have to jump *everywhere*

especially with the smaller blocks, I think it'd be nice to just be able to run around freely without spamming jump. you'd still need to jump to get around trickier terrain, i just mean for the flatter areas

Thanks Spydog!
hmm, I think the no.1 thing I'd like to tackle is the control..

I'll try the friction adjustment you suggest
effects and stuff are definately on the way, i just need to get the feel of it right first

if anyone has any more ideas on creating better control, please shout out! only 2 more days to go :S

if I get the time tho I would like different orb types yeah

update!
the game is now called ElectroBLAM!
the loose idea is you're a nanobot fighting infected rogue nanobots inside various computers

DOWNLOAD:
http://www.redprodukt.com/GPC/ElectroBLAM_01.zip (3 meg)








to play, you need to charge up the yellow orbs, and then smash them into the enemies. your power is limited and recharges, and can also be replenished via pickups.

at the mo enemies can't kill you, and just respawn infinitely. M changes the map.

love to hear any thoughts if you play it . how easy is it to control? what would you change?

thanks!

it'd be nicer to have roots tho! I'd love to see some cave with roots poking out the ceiling, or roots jutting out from a cliffside with trees up above. adds to the 'richness' of the world I think

Hi all! I've just started a prototype for Game Prototype Challenge 6, which if you don't know is a week long game making challenge. It began on monday..

Even though there's not much to it yet, I want to get it out there as soon as possible just incase the toy state it's in right now triggers some good ideas from someone
I'd love to hear any thoughts that occur to you as you play around with it.

DOWNLOAD: (2.3 meg)
http://www.redprodukt.com/GPC/ElectroBLAM!_02.zip

here's a vid: (old vid)






and a bit of the idea behind it:
the themes this month are Electricity and Closure.

After rooting around on wikipedia and google, I kept coming back to the idea of electromagnets- using electricity to activate them. The current idea in the prototype is you are some kind of electricity controlling guy/thing, and the floor is a grid of magnets. by standing on one and powering it, you can manipulate objects using magnetism..

as for closure, I’m not quite sure yet. I’m thinking of linking it in to the backstory/setting somehow..

for the gameplay, I'm thinking either
- there are some bad guys, and you use the orbs to smack them about and clear the map or:
- the orbs are the bad guys and they hurt if you touch them. smash them into spikes/etc to destroy them but don't let them touch you

like I say, any thoughts are appreciated, not much time left
thanks for reading!

awesome

totally agree on the colours though.

If I could recommend an exercise for you, search out google images, getty images, flickr etc for terms like 'amazing landscape' 'crazy landscape' 'beautiful landscape' and create yourself a reference folder of far out and awesome landscape pictures, then see if you can replicate some of them in your engine.

at the mo it's a bit: rock, that should be grey, ok: .5,.5,.5. sky, it's blue isn't it.. 0,0,1. trees are green! 0,1,0 etc . It definately has heaps more potential!

yeah agree on the wall thing.. I think it'd be better to have something a little more forgiving like a shield which drains when you touch the wall, so you have a chance to quickly correct the mistake

yeah I'd like to be collecting stuff; I think it'd also be nice if collecting could upgrade your sensors, so the more you found the better you can find your way around


nice idea and execution

did you do any tests with the resolution of the blocks? eg. how small could you feasibly make them? just curious..

gameplay wise, I'd like to see what your goals are and how you go about achieving them.

I found the videos nice to look at, but slightly frustrating because there is no gameplay really, just messing about.Yep- what are the goals and how do you achieve them, main question

yeah, I know that feeling! well, I'm registering interest for any follow up

if the puzzle design is partly causing the burnout (I imagine it's pretty work intensive) what about making a level editor and seeing if you can 'crowdsource' some level desings?

just a thought!

hm, i got stuck on the pigs fly one. i tried to jump back to the 'pig cannon' bit and got stuck in the ceiling..

I skipped to the laser one, but I managed to force the platform somehow into the wall and broke the level

anyway, that aside it was pretty cool! enjoyed working my way through, altho I agree about the VO. sorry man but you just don't pass as an evil ancient being or whatever it is

but I had fun which is the main thing!

very nice experience.. i could only get up to 4 petals though, I thought I'd done all the things in the list. the only one I'm not sure about was the seed, I tried clicking everywhere (my missing petal is 2nd on the left)

for me, I think the potential in this game lies much more in the 'oh shit I blew up the wrong thing first' kind of puzzles, much more than 'oh shit I just clipped that spike by 1 pixel, start over' kind of platforming

there's enough (too many?) games out there which do the second one, so the actual puzzle elements are what could (and do) make this concept really fun imo. for me, the dissapearing blocks that blow up when you stand on them were the weakest part- they don't really make any use of the whole games concept, and put the focus on the platforming (which is the less interesting part of the game for me). Maybe they could be used in a different way, but as is I didn't find them adding to the game.

incase I'm starting to sound negative though, I completed the main mode and was enjoying the destruction mode (I gave up when I kept *just* hitting the goal by mistake.. platforming again ) and I think there's tons of potential in the whole thing, which I hope you continue to explore

I have a suggestion- why have the targets in destruction mode at all? better just to try blow up every block in my opinion I hated accidentally triggering the end of level with one block left to blow up, and their inclusion means you're never really blowing up *all* the blocks

well, I couldn't finish it, if there is an end. the 3rd time I crawled around the landscape for what seemed like an eternity and got reset to the same room with the screetching noise, I gave up..

maybe there's a deep hidden message but all I'm getting so far is that girls are generally vacuous, don't like having to think about things and like pink.. I get that the main character (without character) is 'different' but that's basically what you're saying about all the other females I've encountered right?

not what I'd hoped for

I gave up at the garden boss after a few gos, he was way too hard for a first boss (dodging the projectile is just too hard imo)

didn't really like the 'you fail' message either, I was like *no you do! quit*


but anyway I was enjoying it up to there, it's really promising