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[guille]

Overview

Back in 2006 I released the first version of the R-Shmup Engine, a game engine and editor that let users make simple horizontal shoot 'em ups like Gradius.

Levels were made using a script language and you could make your own enemy patterns, bullets, bosses, weapons, power-up's, ships, etc.

I'm working on a new version of such engine, the goal now is to make it even easier to use and to add some features people suggested back then.

Of course, the engine objective is the same, make simple games quickly, just for fun. It allows a good amount of freedom while keeping things very simple.

This is a video I found of some level some guy made back in 2006 so you get an idea, as I don't have much to show just yet.







New on this version (so far)

- I'm simplifying everything. You won't need to script your levels (but you can still do it) you will be able to make levels on the editor alone.

- Support for animated gifs (in the previous version sprites had no animation)

- more to come...

Commands

The previous version had 21 commands, I trimmed down the list to just 10 without losing any function, commands now are less but a bit more complex.

bad - creates a bad guy
itm - creates an item
loa - loads a level
shp - changes your ship
ply - plays a sound
msg - displays a message
bul - changes default enemy bullet
bck - changes background image
hud - hides/shows HUD
bos - creates boss

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I'll be updating this worklog daily, hopefully soon I'll have something to show to you so you can give me some feedback. Thanks for reading!

[baconman]

Coolsauce. Is this side-scrolling, up-scrolling, stillscreen (think Galaga or Asteriods), or open-ended? And how's the hitbox definition on this... predefined, sprite-wrapped/precise, choice of either-or?

[guille]

Hey! It's side-scrolling only (ship advancing to the right). It uses a single screen that works as a "wrapping" background, meaning as it goes offscreen a copy appears on the opposite side, kinda like old cartoons used for never ending scenery. You can change such image on the fly and it's scrolling speed too.

Collisions are pixel perfect only, so you can't have a hitbox smaller than the sprite, like many shmups do.

Although, I would love to hear how important people think such things are. I'm open to suggestions but my main objective is to keep things really simple, as I think making levels (and sharing' em) is part of the game, part of the fun. It's an engine for gamers not developers, so above all I wanna keep it simple!

I hope I can post a video this week!

[guille]

Today I found a really nasty bug that appeared when I moved the source from Multimedia Fusion 1.5 to Multimedia Fusion 2.

It's one of those Multimedia Fusion bugs... I haven't been able to track it but I still have a long list of things to try. I'm also seeing how crappy the code is. I may rewrite some of the code, hell, I might end rewriting most of the code... But, no problem, is not that much.

My goal is to get rid of that bug tomorrow  

[baconman]

Considering it's namesake, is there any plans for something along the lines of Force Unit manipulation, or some kind of satellites (like Gradius options)? And would you define a shield as "an alternate ship," or as a specific type of bullet? How about a shield that can deflect basic bullets (but not advanced attacks like boss' lasers)? Finally, is there an option to enable vertical screen-wrapping (for making mazelike levels, for instance)?

TBH, I don't have a lot of shmup-coding experience here, though part of my current project is aimed in favor of something similar being part of it. Making a vertical or semi-stationary title shouldn't be difficult to do; it's generally as simple as changing the background scrolling direction, and most firing and enemy patterns from horizontal to vertical. I do hope to learn a lot from messing around with this once it's ready!

Pulling off Gyruss or Tempest, on the other hand... 

I'd go for a three-option approach to hitboxes:
-A definite box (ala Galaga)
-Precise collision detection (a good spray-and-play default, btw!)
-Color-specific precise collision (so if somebody wanted a Touhou-style shmup, they could simply discolor the cockpit and affiliate the collision system with that one color, and size it accordingly)

[guille]

Those are nice ideas, you can create items with several effects, like speeding up your ship, getting a new kind of shoot, changing your ship image and speed, warping to another level, adding points to your score, etc. I'll consider adding more stuff of course, like those you mention.

I think this could be a very good tool to test a basic level design for another shmup you could be working on. As it is quick and easy.

Those are good hitbox ideas, I never thought about the last one, sounds good, I'll try to implement it.

I'm gonna post a list of most features tomorrow, maybe you have more ideas, you seem to be pretty much into shmups. 

[baconman]

If you're fishing for ideas, look up Hydorah - I think it's in "Announcements" here. It's very old-school and very polished. If you're looking for something like physics variables or gimmick ideas, that's a great place to turn to!

[guille]

@bacoman
yeah! such a nice game, I haven't got too far though, have to play more. 

a little update, I updated Multimedia Fusion to the recently released version and their bugs are gone, so I'm happy about that. I will have this game on hold for a month, though, as I want to dedicate all my time to my entry for the A Game By Its Cover compo.  No more updates until then.