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[JoeInky]

Voltorometer 2 is the sequel to my game; Voltorometer. Or, seen as this is a much better version, Voltorometer recharged, a remake of the original that won free indie of the week over at Bytejacker.

Voltorometer 2 takes the same formula but does it on a much bigger scale, the original voltorometer had only 15 levels and was a score based game, where players had to beat the levels as fast as possible whilst still taking little damage to get on the highscore table at the end of the game. Voltorometer 2 on the other hand is more like an actual game, having several worlds you must progress through each having 10 - 15 levels in each with a boss every 5 levels, branching paths through each world, and a simple storyline (I don't really care much for story in games).
Voltorometer 2 adresses the main complaint most people had with Voltorometer - it was too hard, most people gave up after a few levels and very few ever completed the game in the first place. in V2, the levels in the game are much easier to beat, but just beating them alone won't unlock all the levels and extra's in the game, to fully complete a level you will need to achieve a v-rank on it, a feature which was in the original game which gave you a rank based on score, time left, energy left, amount of deaths etc. so while the levels may be easier, getting a v-rank on every level should still be a challenge.

Anyway err, I'm not very good at writing walls of text about my projects so I'll just post some of the screen shots of what I have so far:

         

       

       


I'm currently in the process of making the levels look better at the moment, they feel kindof empty to me as they are now.

[LazyWaffle]

Looks pretty rad. I really liked VR, and this one doesn't look like it will disappoint.

[Fauxfox]

yea that does look quite rad. keep it going.

[BrixxieBee]

frusterating 

Something compelled me to keep playing despite how much it kicked my ass. Shockingly good time.

[JoeInky]

Some enemy designs.

And for your listening pleasure.

[Destral]

I love the art style. Checking out the Recharged version. From your description it reminds me of N+, which was a brutal but amazing game.

[JoeInky]

Ok apparently that link doesn't work anymore so I'll just have to post the individual links:







Jet Fire
Cool Shock
Boss
Death Theme
Victory Theme


I think Jet Fire's the best.

[JoeInky]

A slightly small bump, seen as I forgot I even had a devlog topic for this here, I usually just lurk the show us your pixels topic, I hope this bump is allowed.

Sorry I haven't really posted about this, not that many of you care eh? heh.

I've been messing around with the setup of my website, which I think turned out pretty well. and even though it may not seem like it I have actually been working on this, I've changed over to GameMaker 8 recently and have completely restarted this project.

Originally it was going to have a world map system where you picked a world, and then an individual map coems up where you select a level, I've recently ditched this idea in favour of a mashup between it and the way recharged levels worked, you picked a factory on the map, and then play through the levels one after another, if you lose all your lives during this you'll have to restart the world, if you get over a certain amount of points at the end of the world, you earn a V rank for that world, the more V ranks you have, the more secrets and extra worlds you'll unlock.


This is an image of what the new menu screen looks like, the original is on the left, there isn't much different apart from the fact that the resolution is larger.


This is a - slightly oudated - sheet that has the map icons of the first 4 worlds as well as the splash screens for each world, the splash screens are going to be redone seen as I've recently decided to add another background layer.

I currently have 9 worlds planned, but theres going to be around about 15 in the end product, I did a few quick doodles of what each worlds levels are going to look like, basically what background or foreground elements they might have in them:



So yeah, I'd like comments, but there isn't really much to comment on at the moment.

[davidp]

whoa, this is loking absolutely magnificient!

i'm digint the site design too, pretty cool stuff.

[Inanimate]

What beautiful artwork and ideas! I always love themed naming of themed worlds.  

ALSO: Fantastic music! Reminds me of Kirby and Megaman, mashed together into a gooey, delicious mess.

[Bones]

Being the sequel I can tell that you seem to be getting a good grasp on this simple style.
Noticed the character put on some weight.  

Your rough concepts yet rough are simple and have some great ideas for your layers of background.
Also your placement of random objects such as pipes, chains, and iron girders is effective.
I especially like the little small side view level ideas.

[namre]

Love the artwork and the name of the worlds reminds me of my affinity to Sonic the Hedgehog's worlds.

[JoeInky]

Thanks for the comments guys, I had a go at making two of the effects that are in those mockups, the lava waterfall type thing and the water.



They both look much better in motion, and they need a few tweaks here and there, but they look quite good imo, the water level can slowly rise or fall, which is meant to be one of the main quirks of flood factory, and each object (the player, enemies etc.) can be given a certain weight so that when it hits the water larger waves will be created depending on how heavy it is.

[fraxcell]

That looks lovely. I would love to see it in motion.

[JoeInky]

http://www.inkidia.net/index.php?p=6

Got some screenshots of V2, the three on the left are ingame screenshots, whereas the two on the right are mockups made in game to demonstrate the water and lava effects.



Here are the two .exes for those who want to see what the effects look like in motion:

Flood Factory Mockup

The mockup for the water in Flood Factory, the up and down arrow keys control the water level.

Magma Manufactury Mockup

The mockup for the lava waterfall effect for Magma Manufactury.

[Inanimate]

Those both look gorgeous.

[JoeInky]

Going to stick to some advice which I saw in another topic and post a shorthand version here, and the slightly longer version on my blog for anyone who is interested.



http://vocaroo.com/?media=v3Yvt42jsOjDLak30

Two more power plug plant levels and one of the WIP themes for that world.

[JoeInky]

http://inkidia.net/?p=11

Would like some feedback on what the foreground should look like.

I've been working loads on Voltorometer 2 lately (see: playing minecraft non-stop for almost 2 days).

when I finally managed to escape it's grasp, I decided to work on adding some things to V2, I added a few enemies, which I'll show some other time when I've actually made a level that contains them, the other thing I decided to do was add a foreground layer, but I don't know how to handle it, so I'm going to ask you:


I can either have the foreground as a solid colour the whole time, as it is on the left, or semi-transparent all the time, like it is on the right, the other option is to have it solid most of the time, but transparent when it's blocking the player.

Leave a comment either here or on one of the forums I'm going to post this on so I can make a better decision.

[JoeInky]

Going to dump some of the images that I've posted on other sites over the past few weeks here:



Added a randomised title screen (really just wanted to mess around getting the particle effects for some of the worlds in the game)



Finished the first world and moved onto the second.



Sinking lava platforms!

[jwaap]

lots of pretty pics here, nice