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Wild and Groovy Moon Combat

Description

Playable 1-level demo, check it out!

The film upon which "Wild and Groovy Moon Combat" was to based was originally conceived in the mid-1970's as a big-screen adaptation of Robert Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", to be directed by Sam Peckinpah. Russ Meyer also expressed some interest in the project, but sadly all copies of the work print and script were destroyed in a fire for insurance purposes. This videogame (and a Swedish erotic graphic novel) are all that remain of the project.

"Wild and Groovy Moon Combat" is the tale of Ivana Supernova, Russian martial arts expert turned superagent, who is on a top-secret mission on the moon when trouble erupts -- the kind of trouble that involves food riots, lunar gangsters, and a "peacekeeping" mission from the Earth Confederation.

This game is sure to feature:

• a mix of action-RPG adventuring and side scrolling space combat
• an original soundtrack, ranging from porno-funk to avant-garde jazz
• an epic plot filled with bloodshed and intrigue

This is my first time attempting a competition of this sort, it is sure to be a learning experience but I am pretty psyched about this.

Inspired by

Download
Demo 1

How to play
Z + left/right arrow to thrust, X to bomb

[h_double]

Okay I have uploaded an initial prototype of the space flight mechanism. Some notes:

• Z + left/right arrow to thrust, X to drop bombs. That number in the corner is a fuel gauge.
• Graphics are super crude right now but I am pleased with my initial bit of moon music.
  
• Currently there's just the one screen and it's entirely possible to fly off into the void. The actual game will have horizontally scrolling levels though I haven't decided exactly how flying off the top will work
• Dropping bombs burns fuel (I might have a separate ammo counter, but I like the idea of making the player have to decide between manuverability and offensive power). Bombs explode against other bombs and these explosions can kill the player. I want the bomb physics to be actively dangerous to the player and will probably make them a little floatier to that end. I also plan on making it a little harder to land successfully.
• There will also be enemies on the ground / in the air shooting at the player.
  
• I will probably make the player ship (and bombs etc.) about half the current size, to give more usable screen real-estate, and a bigger sense of scale.

These space levels will alternate with on-foot levels, which will probably be either top-down or else a River City Ransom type perspective (free vertical movement but stuff seen from the side). Or maybe just straight up side-scrolling platforming -- I'll have to see what I can get to look good, and work well with some gameplay ideas I won't get into just yet. Performance in the on-foot levels will potentially alter the flight missions (e.g. you might be able to get extra fuel, or a ship with different stats, etc.)

[h_double]

Prototype 2 uploaded! I downscaled the sprite sizes (much better I think), and added some gun bunkers which shoot at the player and can be bombed. They're still placeholder graphics, and there's a couple things I haven't put in yet (like bounds checking for when the player flies offscreen) but I think this is a decent approximation of how the space combat is going to play.

Does the difficulty feel about right (in terms of movement physics, bullet density, etc.)?

The game is going to have unlimited lives but there will be a (hidden) score kept that will give you a ranking at the end, which also could give different titles for different play styles (a la Hitman, MGS, etc.)

I'm still tooling around with different ideas for the on-foot gameplay. I am thinking about something with a stealth component, where certain areas/actions will raise a (hidden) alert meter, and once it hits a certain level, chaos will ensue. I still can't make up my mind about the presentation -- top down, side scrolling, etc. I think I'm going to try hashing out some people sprites over the next couple of days and hopefully that will give me useful insight. (You can ignore the maze screen that's in there now, it's only there as a very simple test of an alert meter).

[Melly]

It looks interesting, but the way it's set up now it's very challenging. Maybe reduce number of bullets and the player's bounding box for being hit by enemy projectiles?

[h_double]

I have uploaded the latest version (demo 1) which now has more polish and gameplay. The goal is still to land (gently) on the landing pad, I'm hoping everything else will be evident from within the game.

I toned down the enemy shot speed a bit, and I'm thinking what's there now will probably be representative of about halfway up the game's difficulty curve.

I spent a good deal of yesterday re-acquainting myself with POVray (freeware raytracer) + Moray (modeler for same), with the aim of making some slick looking ships and gun bunkers, but I still haven't decided if I want to go with a rendered look for the sprites, or something more simplistic and pixelart-y. So there's still a lot of placeholder graphics there.

Also I still haven't decided to do about the on-foot segments (right now I've definitely got moon combat, I want to spice it up with something a little more wild & groovy) -- in an ideal world I'd like something like the 2D Metal Gear games and the old 2D Castle Wolfenstein. But given time constraints, I'm not sure whether this will be a fully developed gameplay mechanic, or closer to a handful of interactive cutscenes.

I do have some awesome voice acting talent lined up, and was playing around with some animations of protagonist Ivana Supernova: