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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsSHMUP Creator: build & blast!
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Author Topic: SHMUP Creator: build & blast!  (Read 39108 times)
ZanN
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« on: July 31, 2014, 09:00:33 AM »




We have been hard at work for months on the development of a tool which will enable people to create their own Shoot’em up: the SHMUP Creator!
This tool will help users create their own games and easily build levels without coding at all.


=.... DEDICATED FEATURES ....=

We are focusing on what is important for shmup games and the development of dedicated tools, keeping in mind the sentence “what makes a good shooting game?”. And I can’t help but quote Hiroyuki Maruyama (G.rev CEO): “A good shooting game? We shoot, we blast the enemy, and they disappear in a great explosion!”.


=.... READY-TO-USE ....=

We will include some assets packs with the SHMUP Creator, so that people can start playing immediately, building levels and having fun, without spending 3 months modelling a space ship.


=.... SOME FEATURES WE ARE WORKING ON ....=

. create 2D or 3D games
. vertical or horizontal shmups
. state of the art 3D engine: shadows, shaders, particle effects, post processing…
. scoring systems
. bullets patterns editor
. standalone export
… And a lot more!


=.... ABOUT US ....=

Since 1995 we have been working on the videogame industry: from Fears on Amiga to several AAA video games like Far Cry II and Assassin's creed...
Now, with my partner we left the companies comfort zone and founded bulo studio, a small indie studio.


The SHMUP Creator will be in Alpha at the end of the summer, well we are doing our best to reach this goal!!!


=.... ENJOY!!! ....=






You can learn more about the project and us on our website : www.bulostudio.com
and on twitter : https://twitter.com/bulostudio

« Last Edit: September 04, 2014, 11:39:39 PM by ZanN » Logged

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ZanN
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« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2014, 08:57:30 AM »

=.... TRIGGERS! ....=

For three days I have been working on the UI: triggers appearance.
We had efficient but odd old icons! I made new ones in harmony with the UI look and ergonomic rules.
These triggers are located in the "gameplay tab" of the GAME BOX. We'll speak about the game box later, I promise... This is like the Ali Baba's cave!

There are 11 types of game play elements. We can use them to:

. fx create lights and particles
. trigger swich on or off a gameplay element
. text display messages
. checkpoint
. AI zone keep enemies in a zone
. end of level
. timer
. count down
. invert invert the trigger out signal
. sound
. camera shake the camera and modify its speed


=.... ENJOY! ....=


 
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suny
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« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2014, 02:25:31 AM »

This week I'm working on the assets import in the SHMUP Creator.
This is really typical of the kind of complex task we need to achieve on this tool : it's not really glamorous, we can't make animated GIF out of it, but it's really important for the user experience! (And it's frustrating too, because the truth is, I really want to work on the explosions...)

So, the idea is to let people copy files in an Asset folder created inside each projects, and to automatically and quietly import assets in the SHMUP Creator each time the tool regain focus. The tool then creates the thumbnails, update the GameBox window (which is a kind of assets browser) and checks if files are deleted by the user and behaves accordingly.
Right now it's working quite well, even if I need to test it in the next few days.

I think we'll add the possibility to export and import asset packs between projects, a bit like Unity does, soon.

Right now I'm wondering what should happen if people delete an asset used in a project... Everything in the game is instantiated, so it can have important consequences... And I'm not really sure...

I'll be happy to hear your thoughts about that !
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ZanN
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« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2014, 08:06:44 AM »

=.... WEAPONS MANAGER ...=

I have been working on the design of the Weapons manager because this window is a little "crowded", I admit.

. What a mess!
But what is the Weapons manager ?
The weapon manager can help the user to create your weapons and the behavior of your bullets. This is a big window with lots of options!


. clean/organize!
So I have tried to clean it up, organize the options and make it understandable.
For this kind of task, the first thing to do is, I think, go meet the programmer and work with him with a piece of paper and a pencil.



. prototype!
Then, prototype with a graphic Software.
Now, I have tabs instead of all the options on the same page.
I really don't know if this is the best way to organize the options in the window... Because maybe people won't pay attention at the tabs and will miss lots of properties... What do you think?

Now, as soon as the programmer stop saying rude words coding the new weapon system, I will implement the new Weapons manager!


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eyeliner
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« Reply #4 on: August 07, 2014, 08:50:05 AM »

This looks great! Can't have too many game creator tools. Smiley
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ZanN
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« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2014, 06:07:29 AM »

Thank you very much for your comment Eyeliner. That helps us to keep going on working on our project :D

=.... WEAPONS MANAGER ...=
V 1.1
=.... Should be the good one! ...=

I wasn't very satisfied with the last new version of the Weapons Manager. All the ideas were there, but, the organization of the properties were a little messy, not intuitive again.
I have worked on it again. Grrr!
Working on the UI takes time, papers and pencils, meetings... because usability and ergonomic are very very important, well we are working on a tool, so this if the main rule about designing properties and options!

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ZanN
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« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2014, 05:54:51 AM »

=.... WEAPONS MANAGER ...=
This is not just a question of design, now it must work inside the tool!

Hum... And the programmer at my side tried to be focused... Not so easy to deal with old code and new design...
Not so easy...
The Weapon Manager, little by little looks like a real Weapon Manager from the 2d software design to a real window working inside the tool!!!

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ZanN
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« Reply #7 on: August 18, 2014, 09:45:38 AM »

=.... TEXT STUFF....=

We keep focusing on the last big and not glamorous tasks before the alpha.

There are not so many, but this is typically the kind of tasks you keep for "another moment" and you postpone and postpone thinking and working on it!

One of the last tasks was "text" stuff for the trigger/text (displaying messages during the game ) and, in the Game Editor/Menu editor (create your menu for your game).

To help us making the good choices for the design of these parts, we tried to find "good" reasons.
I said "good choices" and "good reasons" because we have to sacrifice possibilities and controls for a real pleasant and comfortable usability.
Indeed, we are not working on an Engine. We just want to develop a dedicated tool without programming which goal is to have fun and build a game easily.
So, for the text options we have decided to limit the options and offer presets.
And, by the way, who loves spending hours designing menus?

Rought trigger text properties :




New cleaned and easy to use properties for trigger text :





« Last Edit: August 18, 2014, 09:59:01 AM by ZanN » Logged

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« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2014, 03:48:27 PM »

So this is essentially the Blastworks editor without the UI that makes you want to throw up your salami sandwich from a week ago, right?  My Word!

Ha, joking aside, this definitely looks interesting and well thought-out. Interested to see where this will go. However, I'd do something about all that white menu coloration. Its very unappealing to look at.
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« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2014, 07:23:58 AM »

Quote
So this is essentially the Blastworks editor without the UI that makes you want to throw up your salami sandwich from a week ago, right? 
I don't know about the salami (but I can understand  Smiley ) , but Blastworks is a level editor on top of an actual game (Tumiki fighters). So, its use is limited to making blastworks level, in a way.

With SHMUP Creator, we are trying hard to provide people with tools they can use to create any shoot em up, with any art style and such. Which is the hard part, to be honest!

For the whiteness of the UI, we are right now racing to finish the alpha, or maybe pre-alpha as soon as possible. Now ee are focusing on the usability and the menus layout more than the esthetics. So, I'm sure it will evolve in the few weeks Smiley
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jctwood
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« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2014, 10:17:23 AM »

So much nostalgia for an old game creation tool that was vaguely drag and drop, I need to find that now.
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pottering
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« Reply #11 on: August 20, 2014, 12:23:30 PM »

Hard to know without using it (or playing some game made with it) but looks useful, keeping an eye on this.
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suny
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« Reply #12 on: August 28, 2014, 06:29:38 AM »

We'll post a game demo soon to let people understand better the type of games they can make with the tool.
Unfortunately, we are doing contracting jobs for a few weeks right now, which is useful to pay the bills and keep our independence, but really frustrating when we want to make progress quickly.
We'll keep you posted of our progress when we'll be able to go back to work.
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Scott
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« Reply #13 on: August 28, 2014, 06:59:23 AM »

Nice. Always interested in game dev tools. Keep up the good work!
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suny
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« Reply #14 on: September 09, 2014, 09:43:15 AM »

I wrote a post about the problems and solutions I encountered when I implemented splines in the tool. To be honest, most of the solutions are not mine, but I hope this post will be useful!

You can read it there:
Splines and shoot 'em up


And as an update, after posting this on reddit, Gtoknu posted an interesting way to avoid arc reparameterization:
https://github.com/libgdx/libgdx/wiki/Path-interface-%26-Splines


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eyeliner
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« Reply #15 on: September 10, 2014, 03:00:52 AM »

This is getting all kinds of awesome.
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« Reply #16 on: September 10, 2014, 03:54:33 AM »

I wrote a post about the problems and solutions I encountered when I implemented splines in the tool. To be honest, most of the solutions are not mine, but I hope this post will be useful!

You can read it there:
Splines and shoot 'em up

Nice to know people are still finding my tutorials useful  Smiley.  This looks really good, looking forward to seeing the finished thing.
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suny
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« Reply #17 on: September 12, 2014, 12:03:57 AM »

Thanks guys for the nice words Smiley

And yes motorherp, I still find your old tutorials absolutely well made and still informative.
They are more and more difficult to find on the web though.

Some other links from motorherp for people interested :
   
Art Of Collision [part 1] : Gunbird Collision

Art Of Collision [part 2] : Circles, Dynamic Testing, and Time Filtering
Bullet management

S.
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Julien
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« Reply #18 on: September 12, 2014, 03:36:57 AM »

I might have missed to part on what paltform you can export your project on. I assume that this is for pc gaming ?
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suny
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« Reply #19 on: September 13, 2014, 02:03:44 AM »

Quote
I might have missed to part on what platform you can export your project on. I assume that this is for pc gaming ?

Yes it is, for now. Maybe, maybe a mac version one day, but no plan for android or ipad.
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