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[flex$]

hack&/

DOWNLOAD v2.2  (.EXE, 2.5 MBs zipped)

ONLINE LEADERBOARDS

CONTROLS:

WASD: move
LEFT MOUSE BUTTON: primary attack
RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON: cast selected ability
1234: select ability
Q/E or MOUSE WHEEL: cycle selected ability
SPACE BAR: cycle to previously selected ability
ESC: pause

Left click an ability icon or press the corresponding key to select it. Right click to use your selected ability or right click the ability icon to instantly cast it (even if it isn't your active ability).


VIDEOS:

(version 1.9 gameplay, outdated)






Credits:

Created and programmed by Fabio Biancarelli.
Sound design by Bryan Ploof.

[flex$]

Today I added a new hero.

Meet Chamber.



Chamber is a revolver-toting vengeful badass. His skillset relies on precision and accuracy.

His first ability grants him a second revolver that faces the opposite direction he aims in by default.



You can tap this skill to aim both revolvers frontwards for a limited time. Upgrading this skill decreases the cooldown of his primary attack and increases the amount of time Chamber can aim both revolvers forward.



Chamber's second ability is a rolling evade maneuver he can use to quickly escape trouble. Upgrading this skill reduces the cooldown of the ability.

His third ability makes every sixth bullet he fires a powerful silver bullet that passes through both enemies and trees. Upgrading this skill adds to the amount of solid objects a silver bullet can pass through.



His final ability, Concentration, is a passive ability that gives Chamber a clip full of silver bullets if he lands 6 consecutive shots from his revolvers.



Chamber is a glass cannon in every sense of the word. He has a low starting health, so taking his Roll ability first is a must. To reach full potential, he relies on accuracy and landing consecutive hits.



Keep checking back for more hero spotlights!

[Gib]

Was telling myself "damnit this looks like Naked Farmer a lot, this is weird oh wait it's the same guy"

Looks tight then

[flex$]

Was telling myself "damnit this looks like Naked Farmer a lot, this is weird oh wait it's the same guy"

Looks tight then

Yes, I'm very guilty of using a similar graphical approach to most of my games. This time, I think it's improved though. It's less plain, and there's more going on. People who remember NAKED FARMER will notice that this time around I really wanted to focus on usability and readability in the UI. NAKED FARMER I feel lacked a solid UI and that was always something I wanted to build on.

[jeffrobot]

what are you programming in?

love the art.

[flex$]

what are you programming in?

love the art.

GameMaker 8. I've been using GameMaker since version 5, years and years ago. I've wanted to learn something new and switch, but honestly I'm just very comfortable with it and it makes games I think are fun.

Thank you for the compliments on the art--my graphical skills are by far the lowest point in my repertoire but each time I'm trying to step it up. Take a look at the progression from my last two titles:



ORCSLAYER 2000. Block characters, bland environment, and the gameplay was sluggish. I like my blood effects, though.



NAKED FARMER. Characters are still blocky but have a bit more personality. This is when I added a lighting engine to my top-down games. HUD is still pretty messy and unreadable.

This time around, I'm trying to give the environment more life. Yes, it's still a square arena/gauntlet where enemies spawn at you. But now there are trees and things moving around--fireflies, bugs on the ground, there's junk everywhere. You can use the environment to your benefit as well! For example, Grove Ranger can string wire traps from tree to tree. He can eat trees too, to gain health! This is just one example, though. The characters have more personality, from their graphical representation to their abilities and playstyles. Same goes for the enemies.

[flex$]

Another day, another hero spotlight!

Say hello to Mire.



Mire is an shifty, amorphous slimeball hell-bent on a barbarian genocide.

His first ability provides a speed boost and lays down a sticky trail of slime that slows down advancing enemies.



His second ability creates an illusion of Mire at the target location for a cost of health. The illusion is invulnerable and lasts for a limited time.



If a shot from Mire's primary attack hits the illusion...



Mire immediately teleports to the illusion, taking its spot!



His third ability is a passive effect that makes Mire a smaller and faster target as he loses health.

His fourth ability is also a passive, allowing his primary attack to travel through enemies.

Mire has a very mobile playstyle and a high skill ceiling. His second and fourth ability mesh well, allowing for tight escapes throughout the match. You can set an illusion down as a fire escape, or click and press 2 at the same time to do a fast blink forward. His first ability is also a great escape maneuver, but is better when used to corral a large group of barbarians and slow them down for easy kills.

[flex$]

New hero today!

It's Rikishi, the sumo wrestling demi-god. He is the first melee hero I've added and I think I've struck a nice balance between tankiness and risk/reward melee gameplay.



His first ability is a passive that regenerates his health over time. Usually either the first or second ability I take, as it scales very well.



Hi second ability is Belly Bounce, which creates an AOE around him that scatters surrounding enemies. Rikishi can cast this spell while he is stunned.



His third ability is a double slap, which creates a sonic wave that stuns all enemies in front of Rikishi. This works well in tandem with Rikishi's final ability.



Rikishi's fourth ability makes him charge in the direction he is facing. While Rikishi is charging, he cannot be stunned. This should be the first or second ability you pick up on Rikishi, as it serves as both an initiation (with his Double Slap stun) and an escape.

[flex$]

New hero that I'm pretty excited about today.

Say hi to Princess. The undead prom queen.



Princess is a melee hero, and utilizes bodies in most of her skills.

Her first ability is Consume, which allows Princess to consume a nearby body for a health gain. This is very important for survival and is usually the first ability I take with her.





Her next ability, Rage, sends Princess flying into an uncontrollable rage that boosts movement and attack speed for a flat cost of 3 health. Princess cannot be stunned while enraged.





Princess' third ability, Bloat, will make the nearest corpse explode, dealing AOE damage and destroying the body.





Her final ability is a passive that keeps bodies around for longer and creates arrows on the HUD to display where nearby bodies are.



With Princess, it's all a balancing act between your health and the bodies on the ground. Deciding whether to use a body as an offensive tool or a defensive one is the decision you'll face a lot with Princess. Her Rage ability also has both offensive and escape potential, which makes Princess a very versatile hero overall.

Something else new: mystery boxes.

These strange crates have a chance to spawn every morning. You can choose to open one by slashing/shooting it. You never know what you'll find inside...







Decide fast, though--they don't last forever!

[Kurt]

It looks great! But the blood... eh...

[flex$]

It looks great! But the blood... eh...

Working on it just for you.





Still debating on whether or not to keep the pools... Opinions?

[Kurt]

Maybe make the pools look more like the pixelly blood trails?

[Rez]

Looking good so far!
What I'd suggest is make the more "splattered". Now it's a straight, thick line.
Something like this is what you should aim for, I feel:

Start thick, scatter it into smaller drops over a larger radius as it travels.

[flex$]

Looking good so far!
What I'd suggest is make the more "splattered". Now it's a straight, thick line.
Something like this is what you should aim for, I feel:

Start thick, scatter it into smaller drops over a larger radius as it travels.

You're right, that's good advice. Tweaked things a little, what do you think? I also changed the blood pool color to match the streaks more. Still undecided on whether or not those will stay. As of now, they expand and then disappear in time. They look a little better in motion, expanding and all, as does the blood effect as a whole. I need to start recording video!

[Rez]

Lots better!
Maybe try making the blood pools in the same pixelated manner to make it blend in more with the rest of your art? Maybe having them at 75% transparency works too? Just to throw a few ideas out there

[flex$]

Lots better!
Maybe try making the blood pools in the same pixelated manner to make it blend in more with the rest of your art? Maybe having them at 75% transparency works too? Just to throw a few ideas out there

Definitely keep the criticism and suggestions coming! I feeeeeeed off this shit! I got rid of the blood pools and I think it looks much better now. The blood pools only will show up for ability/rune related effects. I'd love to make them pixelated but I'm drawing them right now using a function in GameMaker. Still fiddling with how to achieve the effect. But I liked the idea of turning the opacity of them down to 70%, so I went and did that and I'm happy with how it turned out.



In other news, a few changes.

Rikishi's first ability is now lifesteal on hit, instead of over time. The hits need to be landed quickly in a row, though! His Belly Bounce and Double Clap ability also count as a hit to proc this ability.

The enemies also now come in more of set 'waves', with breathers in between. As the game goes on, those breathers get shorter and shorter until you're at a full sprint. I'm liking how the difficulty is ramping up, but there is still tweaking that needs to be done.

I'm also working on new enemy types. Giant barbarians, shamans that heal the other barbarians, and more. There's going to be a whole new set of enemies for the night time, too, enemies that utilize the dark and light.

There will be a playable version very soon!

[Rez]

Can't you simply add a graphic at the coordinates where the enemy died?

In any case, I can't wait to see how the game actually plays, it sounds pretty promising!

[flex$]

New hero that I'm pretty excited about.

It's Korak.



Korak is a Polynesian prince imbued with ancient powers. He's a melee hero who has a unique and extremely fun to play skillset. His skill ceiling is also very high.

His first skill is a passive which gives his left click attack a chance to mini-stun the enemy.

His second skill places a totem down. Totems have an aura that, while Korak is inside, will boost his attack speed and damage. The aura also heals Korak over time. The aura does not stack.



His third skill is an AOE nuke/stun that he can activate on the fly.



His fourth skill is a vine grapple hook. Korak can grapple to trees, enemies, and even totems. Any enemies in the way of Korak are stunned as he is grappling. Korak can cast spells while flying through the air, but cannot use his primary attack.









Korak is highly mobile and has very high damage output in the right hands!

[matriax]

Minus screenshots and more videos! 

[flex$]

Minus screenshots and more videos!  

Ah! I know, I need to get on this.

In the meantime--I made the control scheme much better. You now press 1, 2, 3, or 4 to select an ability, and that ability is highlighted on the HUD. Right click uses the selected ability. You can also press Q and E to cycle through abilities. Now there isn't as much button pressing necessary. This especially makes heroes like Strikes much easier to play.