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[Eclipse]

when I play a web browser game there's a certain feeling of detachment.

I always feel that too, I always try to download the .swf and run it in a flash player in my desktop. But even that is becoming impossible.
Perfect example, the other day I was playing that new flash game final ninja, and as I tried to play it outside the browser, it had a protection, it didn't let me play it outside the website, I can understand why, just a protection for people who put these games in their own websites without permission. I was really enjoying the game but if you played the game you'll notice that sometimes when you try to shoot or throw the grappling hook with the mouse you'll click the bookmarks in your browser or the refresh button or whatever by mistake. This really put me off a game I was actually enjoying.

press f11 to fix that (or whatever key is fullscreen mode in your browser)

[___]

when I play a web browser game there's a certain feeling of detachment.

I always feel that too, I always try to download the .swf and run it in a flash player in my desktop. But even that is becoming impossible.
Perfect example, the other day I was playing that new flash game final ninja, and as I tried to play it outside the browser, it had a protection, it didn't let me play it outside the website, I can understand why, just a protection for people who put these games in their own websites without permission. I was really enjoying the game but if you played the game you'll notice that sometimes when you try to shoot or throw the grappling hook with the mouse you'll click the bookmarks in your browser or the refresh button or whatever by mistake. This really put me off a game I was actually enjoying.

press f11 to fix that (or whatever key is fullscreen mode in your browser)

I dont like fullscreen games either though, teehee :I

[skaldicpoet9]

This'll be the last time I'm going to post here. I've lost the greater of my faith of anything good coming out of this project under the current direction. Unless your definition of "good" is a half-finished messy, broken, and boring game.

inb4 good riddance, I've tried to help you guys.

Hmm, I don't think it is fair to completely shit on the project in the formative stages. Anything that has been thrown out so far is merely speculation and does not mean it will end up in the game when all is said and done. I agree that the controls need to stick to the pick up and play variety. My suggestion was not to have long, drawn-out, elaborate sequences of button mashing by any means. As far as I am concerned the controls are fine using the Smash Bros. scheme the only thing that I was trying to illustrate was a slightly more fleshed out system with our own slant to it to differentiate it from the Smash Bros. system.

[Xion]

My suggestion was not to have long, drawn-out, elaborate sequences of button mashing by any means.

Maybe we all just have different definitions of button mashing. When I hear that term I think random pounding on random buttons/keys without any knowledge of what you're doing, but still coming up with some effective actions. It's in no way capable of being elaborate, to me. Perchance this whole frictious* moment was due to a mere misinterpretation of an ill-defined term? Perchance Skofo is truly the most kind and gentle being on earth, with a rose for a heart and bunny tails for eyelashes?

But yeah tho, "Hmm, I don't think it is fair to completely shit on the project in the formative stages." wot he said.

[kyn]

press f11 to fix that (or whatever key is fullscreen mode in your browser)

Already did that of course, but in firefox the buttons are still there in fullscreen.
Playing a game shouldn't be this hard, the developer is the one who should find a decent solution.

[PenguinHat]

No, I really don't want this to be like other fighting games. Most require stupid-long button combos and joystick rolls just to do anything, and then you get people who just button mash or just stand in a corner and hadoken for the entire battle.

What made SSB unique was the simple attack system. You just held a direction and pressed a button and you had all your moves available for you. I think that adding long scripted "combos" would just alienate most of the indie/casual crowd. Not quite what this game is looking for.

So, I would prefer the SSB set up, or something similar. Having to press thirty-two buttons in sequence perfectly does not interest me. Make the controls simple!

In other words: I agree with Skofo.

The controls for Indie Brawl work exactly the same way as those in SSB. Making special attacks unblockable adds some depth to the game without adding many complications.


By the way, there's apparently a new version of Game Maker in the works that's compatible with Macs. If it works out, Indie Brawl will be cross-platform.

Dude, release the source code to the project please. We can't expect you to do all the coding, and I'm alright at the old GM.

[Soulliard]

Dude, release the source code to the project please. We can't expect you to do all the coding, and I'm alright at the old GM.

I can release it later today if you'd like (there are a few things I'd like to clean up first).

Ideally, once the framework is complete (and it's getting there), adding new characters shouldn't take a whole lot of code.

[PenguinHat]

Dude, release the source code to the project please. We can't expect you to do all the coding, and I'm alright at the old GM.

I can release it later today if you'd like (there are a few things I'd like to clean up first).

Ideally, once the framework is complete (and it's getting there), adding new characters shouldn't take a whole lot of code.

That would be awesome.

Once you have released the framework, you and me (does anyone else have GM7 Pro?) can add the characters to this. As blocks first. Once we get it working with blocks, we can add the graphics. Release an .exe or .gmk very often, and we are cool.

Edit:You know what we need? A list of things about the project that have been decided. Then when people ask about things or are thinking up of characters, they can just refer to the list and not say anything stupid.

[Xion]

does anyone else have GM7 Pro?

o/

[Valter]

So. I wonder if we're going to implement items into this game. Of course people will go "OMG SSB clone!", but I've found that basing your game off of a working model is a fairly good idea. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Also, balancing tends to be a rather difficult chore, especially in games with such diverse characters like this. Items are a good way of covering up any inconsistencies in balance by making things more hectic/fun. Just a personal thought.

[Soulliard]

In the past few days I've finished most of the code for Naija. This means I'm just waiting for you art people before she's complete! I'll release the current build some time tomorrow morning.


On the topic of items:
I've already done most of the coding for thrown weapons, though I don't think we should worry too much about items until we've got more of the basics finished.

I want to make sure items aren't too powerful, because the characters and players should be the focus of the game. This means no invincibility or ridiculous healing, among other things.

While I plan on including single-use thrown items, I don't want to include any other items that replace a character's normal attacks (like the beam swords or hammers in SSB). This reduces away the uniqueness of each character.

The main problem with including thrown weapons is that it requires a few extra animations for each character.

[Soulliard]

Naija is Complete!!!
(or at least the code is)

That's right. I coded all of Naija's attacks and abilities. She still needs animations, sounds and balancing, but that will all come with time.

Other new features include:
-Wall-Jumping
-Wall-Gripping (Naija can't do this, but the code is in place for other characters)
-Picking up and throwing items
-Controller Support (Well, you need to edit the source code to use a controller, but the framework's in place for when we add an options screen)


So grab a friend, beat each other to a bloody, fishy pulp, and tell me what you think!

Player 1 Controls:
Move: Arrow keys
Attack: P
Special: O
Guard: I

Player 2 Controls:
Move: WASD
Attack: F
Special: G
Guard: H


Oh yeah, download it here!

[policedanceclub]

This is really cool.


 

[Soulliard]

Has anyone had a chance to battle a friend yet, now that the gameplay is basically done (for Naija, at least)? I haven't had a chance to play a friend yet, so I could certainly use the feedback.

[Corpus]

1. You dirty, amateurish peasants should bow down to Skofo, King of Excellent Opinions, immediately.

2. I think the outlines are stylish, saucy and titillating, unify the disparate characters in terms of appearance and also, basically, just give it some shazam.

3. This has been discussed elsewhere, but I think online play is a must. This would make epic games night material, if nothing else, and a lot of people (i.e. me) tend not to have anyone with whom they can play this kind of game. I'd have a hard time trying to get friends to my house to play a fighting game featuring characters they've never heard of, squished up uncomfortably on a keyboard with me.

[Valter]

I agree with Corpus. The other option is working in AI for the enemies. You'll have to do that anyway, but it'll be a nightmare just by itself :D

[Soulliard]

I agree that online gameplay is a necessity. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no experience making online games (and for that matter, very little experience playing them). So, if anyone wants to help with that, speak up. We need you... 

[Soulliard]

I got a chance to play with a few of my friends yesterday, and we may some observations:

- Dodging is nearly useless. Jumping and regular movement usually does the job just as well and doesn't have a cooldown time.

- Shielding is not terribly useful. Maybe this is because we're n00bs, or maybe it's because it's difficult to predict another player's attacks without animations. However, I think it's because most standard attacks are so quick that they're difficult to block, and specials are, of course, unblockable.

- Since both shielding and blocking were rarely used, the guard button was barely pressed. For this reason, I'm reconsidering making shielding automatic (when no other button is pressed). Alternately, it may be better to remove dodging entirely and leave the guard button (with shielding being its only function). Keep in mind, though, that more keys means a greater danger of key-locking (most keyboards can only read four or so keys at a time). Or, of course, we could try to find some way to make dodging more useful.

- Naija's ranged attacks were overpowered and spammable. I increased the charge up and cooldown times, but also increased the missile's traveling speed. This way, it is still useful to fire off one at a time, but less useful to spam them.

- Whirlpool's knockback was a little high, and the Spike Seed took a little too long too summon. Both were very fun attacks, however, once this was fixed.

- The low ground was often better than the high ground, since it was quicker to move up through platforms than down through them. To fix this, I made it possible to fall through platforms by holding down while falling (just like in SSB), which also increased falling speed.

- We need more animations! Badly!

[Valter]

Hmmm. Why make special attacks unblockable? Those are the things that you would want to block, and most special attacks have a charge up time in which the enemy has a chance to react anyway. I would definitely make specials block-able, with a very small number of exceptions.

[Soulliard]

There was a lengthy discussion on this topic a while back. In short:

Unblockable attacks mean we can do away with a complex system of shield HP.

Standard attacks are usually quick, so they're good for interrupting specials. Shielding blocks standard attacks, and specials defeat shields. It's a simple little Rock-Paper-Scissors system to give the game more depth.

Making all specials unblockable and all standard attacks blockable is a simple system that makes it easy to tell which attacks are blockable and which are not.