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[ThetaGames]

Here is my newest game,



The Red Wedge is an experimental, abstract hyrbid of the SHMUP and platformer genres.  In it, you must shoot oncoming enemies as in any side-scroller SHMUP.  However, you must also avoid falling off the screen by jumping on moving platforms.

The game's graphical style, along its thematic subject, is based loosely on Eliezer Markovich Lissitzky's famous 1919 Soviet propaganda poster, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge ('Whites' refers to the Czarist White Army during the Bolshevik Revolution). 

The game's audio is a mixture of PC beeping (which can be turned off, if desired), self-engineered WAV sounds, and a pleasant little module that I composed.


Screenshot:




Specifications:

Title: The Red Wedge
Genre: SHMUP Platformer
Download Size: 2.39 MB zipped
File Type: A '.zip' archive that contains the main executable, README.txt, and a folder containing the game music.
Resolution: 640 x 480
Version: 1.1
Written In: GM7 Registered


Download:

Mirror 1
Mirror 2


Notes:

- This game's graphical style is entirely vector-based. There is not a single visible sprite image (some invisible sprites are used for collisions).

- I would like to extend my thanks to M. Rijks, for his GM BASSMOD extension (with which the MOD music is played) and to Jedlas, for his PC Internal Beep extension (with which the opening music, composed of motherboard beeping, is played).



Please give this a try, and comment with any criticisms of the game.  I am always looking to improve it.

[Melly]

Well, so far all I have to do is keep the fire key pressed indefinitely and jump forward slowly. What kind of elements are you planning on introducing to make the gameplay more interesting, and what are you planning on the level design front?

I like the aesthetics but I kind of felt my little hammer-like guy should have some animation, even if just a bit of stretching and shrinking as he jumps and moves.

Not really sure I like the machinegun-like main weapon. Like I said, I just had to keep it pressed and jump forward. It's a bit mechanical and there's no skill involved in killing the floating enemies. I'd have prefer a different kind of shooting that emphasised aiming as well (not mouse-aiming, I'm talking about maybe single, powerful shots that can't be mass-fired and you have to be sure you're properly lined up with the enemies before you fire them).

It's interesting though, and could turn into something fun.

[___]

Arrgh, game maker full screen doesnt work on dual monitors... ;(

[ThetaGames]

@Melly:
I like your idea for a slower, more powerful weapon.  It would indeed force the player to aim more, although it would bring the game further from the SHMUP genre.  I'll test it out, and see what it makes the game feel like.

As for level design, I feel that the limited random generation creates a sound difficulty curve, with nothing unfair to the player.


@xerus:
I have never used a dual monitor, so what exactly does it do for dual monitors?  Does the game work at all?


Thanks to all!

~ Theta Games

[Melly]

It may create a fair difficulty curve, but it's in all honesty pretty boring. Maybe if you introduced other elements to the random generator, like walls, hazards, etc.

[Kaczor]

It's very simple but I found it really fun. The music somehow resembles me the one from cactus's MSOIDS, wchich I've been sometimes playing only to listen the soundtrack, not to mention about the artistic design. I'm not saying it's a ripoff because you were certainly ispired by other game (<- edit: I thougt the poster shown earlier is some kind of game art. It's just a poster. My mistake  ) according to what you said. Both games (MSOIDS and The Red Wedge) are just more or less similar and both really fun. Maybe you should make the bullet streak to go less intensive after certain amount time - another thing also featured by MSOIDS but who cares . Good Luck!

[ThetaGames]

@Melly:
What kind of hazards?  Spikes, perhaps?  Or would that become unfair?

@Kaczor:
I just played MSOIDS again to listen to the music, and I do notice some similarities.  The music uses chord structures that are common in many forms of music, (in The Red Wedge's game music, it goes Bb - F - G - Eb, Bb - F - G - Eb, Bb - F - G - Eb, D - - - -).  This opening fourth is present in the music to MSOIDS as well.  I wrote this chord structure as a basis for improvisation awhile ago.

I like the graphics of MSOIDS, but they appear much more shaky and undefined than in The Red Wedge.  I was going more for the abstract art style presented in many forms of abstract art (like in the aforementioned poster, as well as the works of Wassily Kandinsky).  I do notice the similarities, though, and appreciate the comparison to such a game.

And sorry, but I probably won't implement a decrease of bullet fire-rate over time; that's already been done before!


Thank you all for your responses!

~ Theta Games

[___]

@xerus:
I have never used a dual monitor, so what exactly does it do for dual monitors?  Does the game work at all?

It somewhat works, but I'm not a fan of games jumping to low-res fullscreen without letting me know first, or giving me an option not to.  Basically what happens is my primary monitor switches to the resolution desired, and then the game window appears on my secondary monitor which has not changed resolution, making it a little strange to play.

[ThetaGames]

@xerus:
I agree, that would be very strange to play.  Is the full game video image shown in the first monitor (with nothing cut off)?  If so, couldn't you just turn off the second monitor?    I did state in the first post "Resolution:  640 x 480," though I can always make an option to change the resolution.  I originally set it to that resolution in order to eliminate interpolation.  If it didn't set to such a low resolution, what would the game look like on a dual-monitor?

[Ishi]

I've seen this problem with other games too, I think it applies to any game made in whatever package this was made in. The first monitor still shows the desktop, just at 640x480. It's pretty strange.

The motherboard title tune was damn cool ^_^

[ThetaGames]

@Ishi:
That is weird, though I have no idea how to fix it, other than to just stretch the screen to the user's resolution.  Though, as I said before, that can cause annoying interpolation.

Glad you liked the motherboard beeping!  All I used was a simple GM extension (written by Jedlas) that created a PC speaker beep based on just two arguments:  frequency and duration.  Using this table to find the notes that correspond with each frequency, I was able to program the simple melodic theme.

[serprex]

The menu and the game seemed too different, but I suppose it works a nice endless mode run n gun

[ThetaGames]

@serprex:
I intended for such a contrast between the menu and the actual game.  When the game starts, the player is supposed to be a bit surprised by the suddenly jagged graphics, bright colors, and quirky music, having just heard PC beeps and seen a simple DOS-style menu of blocky text.  I was going for something artistically unique, and I think that this unexpected contrast adds to this.  Besides, I think those old DOS-style menus produce a certain nostalgia that can be lost with high-quality graphics and such (though there is absolutely nothing wrong with them).

Thanks for your comments,

~ Theta Games

[cactus]

And sorry, but I probably won't implement a decrease of bullet fire-rate over time; that's already been done before!

Nothing in your game hasn't been done before, so why's that a valid reason? Trying to have your game completely original is a very difficult task. Maybe you should go for just something a bit different and fun instead?

As for my experience with the game, I found it slightly buggy (getting stuck in platforms) and uninteresting gameplay wise. I did like the style, but as someone said, it's very similar to that of MSOIDS. The PC speaker music was a nice touch though. It caused me some trouble as I was playing in the middle of the night (and it was quite loud)

Looking forward to seeing if you can think of something to spice this up a bit.

[ThetaGames]

@cactus:
Thanks!  I agree; it is very hard to be completely original, not since the very earliest video games.  Therefore, we can only improve upon things by attempting to add original elements.  I appreciate the comparison to MSOIDS; that game was very cool.

You can turn off the beeping, but I guess you would have had to have heard it at least one time.  Unfortunately, the PC Speaker has no volume control.

I already have some ideas to improve upon this.  For example, I might add some powerups, to vary the weapons a bit.

[Farmergnome]

Not really sure I like the machinegun-like main weapon. Like I said, I just had to keep it pressed and jump forward. It's a bit mechanical and there's no skill involved in killing the floating enemies. I'd have prefer a different kind of shooting that emphasised aiming as well (not mouse-aiming, I'm talking about maybe single, powerful shots that can't be mass-fired and you have to be sure you're properly lined up with the enemies before you fire them).

agreed hey, i think that would make it pretty fun if the weapon wasn't just a spam weapon, or if you want to do it as a spam weapon, maybe let the player charge it up or some shit if they alt fire, dunno, that way you could introduce some harder enemies which some need to be killed with the spam shot machine gun (like lameass enemies, and maybe fast jigging ones etc), and have like uber tough enemies that reqire a single well placed charge shot or something, what melly said  :D

but yea man, I didnt think it was bad, just needs more weapons/enemies/shit to do, could be fun with the right additions 

[moi]

Yeah the gameplay needs a lot of tweaking, but I found the game rather aesthetically pleasing and I think it's well done for what it is (i.e an artistic experiment).
If you intend it to be played more than a few seconds you still have a lot of work though.
And don't ever use PC speakers again you filthy capitalist.

[ThetaGames]

agreed hey, i think that would make it pretty fun if the weapon wasn't just a spam weapon, or if you want to do it as a spam weapon, maybe let the player charge it up or some shit if they alt fire, dunno, that way you could introduce some harder enemies which some need to be killed with the spam shot machine gun (like lameass enemies, and maybe fast jigging ones etc), and have like uber tough enemies that reqire a single well placed charge shot or something, what melly said  Cheesy

but yea man, I didnt think it was bad, just needs more weapons/enemies/shit to do, could be fun with the right additions

Are you suggesting that I make two main weapons; one that is charged for a single shot, and one that produces a rapid fire?  That would be a very cool idea.  The rapid fire would obviously be weaker, but still usable for those who prefer to spray bullets around.  Do you have any new enemy ideas?

Yeah the gameplay needs a lot of tweaking, but I found the game rather aesthetically pleasing and I think it's well done for what it is (i.e an artistic experiment).
If you intend it to be played more than a few seconds you still have a lot of work though.
And don't ever use PC speakers again you filthy capitalist.

As I said earlier, I probably will be adding things, either new weapons, powerups, enemies, or a combination of the three.  I agree with your classification of this as an 'artistic experiment;' that is exactly what I was going for.  I will definitely add things, but I would like to preserve the game's simplicity as an artistic minigame.

How does using PC Speakers make me a dirty capitalist?    Anyway, you can turn them off in the 'Options' menu.


Thanks to all!

~ Theta Games

[ThetaGames]

Does anyone else have suggestions on what I should change/add?  Should I adjust the difficulty curve?  I was thinking of making it a bit faster, but not by too much.