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[Netsu]

This will be the devlog for our new game Hullfire. We currently have the engine, including network play, finished. The game has 4 weapons for now, 4 ships to choose from and just one map.
Next on our list is adding sounds, a map editor and an AI. After this we will release a playable version.

The game is being made for Windows and Linux and will be free.




Any comments on the trailer?

SITE
http://doubledude.com/hullfire

[sonicblastoise]

Hmm. The trailer looks pretty good so far. Gameplay also looks smooth and easy-to-learn.

I'm wondering if you're planning on more gametypes? In the trailer it doesn't specify, but it looks like some kind of "secret collect!" mode. I assume there's going to be some kind of standard deathmatch mode too, but have you considered CTF, defend the base, VIP escort, etc? Maybe this wasn't in your intention :X.

Sorry. I just ask because this type of game reminds me very much of an old online top-down shooter engine(and many games built on it) which focused primarily on multi and objective-based game modes. It was called InfantryZone, and it was eventually acquired (and basically killed by turning it from F2P to subscription-based) by Sony Online Ent. I think if you took some of the modes and concepts from there and infused them into your game, it could be awesome.

It's now F2P apparently: http://www.soe.com/casualProduct.vm?Id=039
here's some gameplay (it's a 10 yr-old game :D ):



But even if you don't, your game still looks like good fun.

[Netsu]

Actually the game mode in the trailer is just simple deathmatch, the crates you collect is ammo for your secondary weapon
We plan on having additional game types but they will probably be more racing centred.
There will be team deathmatch for sure, maybe CTF and beside that maybe some race tracks where the first one that makes it to the end in one piece wins. We haven't thought about the details of this yet, but we'd definitely like to put some deathmatch-racing in it.

Thanks for your comment!

[tmth]

Hello, I'd like to introduce myself as the artist guy for Double Dude and Hullfire.

Currently, I'm looking for a nice color palette for the game, so that it both reads well and conveys the atmosphere. The idea is to take something Wipeout-ish futuristic and make it a little bit rusty and used, so that the emphasis is more on the gritty dogfighting and not the smooth flying. Here are three color versions of a placeholder map I'm quite satisfied with. I've also changed the light walls seen in the trailer to dark ones, as they took the focus away from the fights inside them.

It's a constant struggle between making everything just brown and gray, these colors being the safest but the blandest, and spraying strong color everywhere, like later Unreal Tournaments did. I think Brink has a pretty nice palette, but I don't like how its menus' graphic style clash with the content of the game - I'll try and avoid that in Hullfire.

[BoxTLG]

Hi there, looks like you guys are developing a decent game, surely a game I'd play for a few hours, from what I've seen right now it basically looks like a free for all death match game or a team death match game. I'd love to see some tactical objectives in a game like this, for instance capturing various checkpoints or performing a task whilst the other team must prevent you from performing this task.

The game mechanics look really smooth, not very complex so I expect everyone would be able to easily play around in this game.

The trailer looks pretty decent yet it makes me wonder how the in-game SFX are. But over all this looks decent yet promising, I'm looking forward in playing this!

[astrofra]

Rapid dogfight action, with a 90's SciFi atmosphere ... Metal tiles, bevels, ala-Designers Republic HUD ... LOVELY

[Netsu]

Thanks guys The trailer only has the music because the game doesn't have sounds yet.
Few days ago I wrote the sound module for the engine (using openAL) and started implementing place-holder sounds, but it all went to hell together with my HDD yesterday, so I'll have to do it once again.

[Netsu]

I was supposed to upload a video showing the sounds, but I can't get my desktop recorder to capture it correctly and after a few days I give up, so a text description has to suffice.
I finished the sound module some time ago and been fiddling with different game sounds. The 4 previous weapons have all the sounds in place, although some of them are still place-holders and all of them require some further refinement. There's also this neat engine/exhaust sound that we're still improving on.

I'm also adding two more weapons to the game, one primary and one secondary:

• Bio Cannon (primary) - basically a giant shotgun that shoots green goo. The substance does little damage but sticks to ships slowing them down, so you can easily finish them off with your second weapon
• Shock Mines (secondary) - small mines with a 5 second fuse that also go off when an enemy touches them, we plan to balance them in a way that encourages using them as offensively as possible (cutting your enemy's path and placing them right in front of him)

[Netsu]

Today I managed to make the first map using our map editor. I hope this development tool will be ready for use in a week or so, then Tymek will be able to fill the game with delicious map content.



As you can see maps consist of blocks and tiles which are scriptable and distributed with the map as simple text files. Once all different types of blocks are scripted they can be used to build the map. It’s quite fun, like Lego bricks or something

We plan on releasing the editor together with the game, but the interface probably won’t be very friendly as I’m writing it mainly for ourselves. It will have a tutorial of some sort though.

[ANtY]

tracking, looks promising

[Netsu]

We finally got around recording the sounds we’ve been adding to the game. In the video you can see two new ships, Shock Mines, Plasma Blaster, Machinegun and the Bolt Driver.

[Netsu]

The map editor is finished, it still might have some bugs and as the game will gain more features so will the editor, but for now it has everything we need: placing and rotating blocks, pickups and spawn points (both with optional snapping), changing background colour, rotation and dimensions of the map and switching between various views.

Having a WYSIWYG map editor is already showing it's great advantages. Tymek should soon get down to making some more tilesheets and maps.

[Netsu]

After a little vacation/exam session break we’re back at development. While Tymek is busy drawing the artwork for all the characters I made some adjustments to the map editor, wrote the AI (still needs a little polish and more than one difficulty setting) and a simple spectator view which allows you to follow other players around before you respawn.

See the video above for two bots fighting each other seen in spectator mode.

[Netsu]

No video this time, but I just felt like sharing the fact that I finally got around to optimize font rendering and it sped things up significantly.

Also, text can now be colour coded, AI has 4 difficulty settings, GUI can be used with just the keyboard, we have a second tileset for new maps, there is a ton of bug fixes, ships can now be instantly exploded by a hit instead of always just catching fire upon being shot down, there is message log, and last but not least expect a playable beta build pretty soon!

[ANtY]

No video this time, but I just felt like sharing the fact that I finally got around to optimize font rendering and it sped things up significantly.

Also, text can now be colour coded, AI has 4 difficulty settings, GUI can be used with just the keyboard, we have a second tileset for new maps, there is a ton of bug fixes, ships can now be instantly exploded by a hit instead of always just catching fire upon being shot down, there is message log, and last but not least expect a playable beta build pretty soon!

I'm waiting :D

[Netsu]

The beta is here, please download and give feedback in the feedback topic here:
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=23043.0

We'll probably stop posting here from now on and post in feedback section instead.