Nordenfelt - 2D Steampunk Shmup

[Udderdude]

Very uh, 50's plastic orange color there. Not sure if it works. I would try changing the color a bit.

I got bored and sprite-ized it. Note that my sprite work sucks, view at your own risk :P

[hermitC]

When the color is the most improper thing I'm done with the model

I've moved improving color/texture to the far, far away polishing phase.

[BPzeBanshee]

I like the new design, and I couldnt be assed in terms of the colour - so long as its remotely chrome or bronze-coloured its relevant to steampunk IMO.

[hermitC]

I like the new design, and I couldnt be assed in terms of the colour - so long as its remotely chrome or bronze-coloured its relevant to steampunk IMO.

Thanks. You know I'm still learning. For me game development is like climbing a big mountain where the finished game represents the crest. Artistic disciplines like modeling, texturing, sounds, etc. are the small and steep paths throughout this journey. Programming is second nature. At the moment I'm happy to have reached this first stable plateau.

[BPzeBanshee]

I like the new design, and I couldnt be assed in terms of the colour - so long as its remotely chrome or bronze-coloured its relevant to steampunk IMO.

Thanks. You know I'm still learning. For me game development is like climbing a big mountain where the finished game represents the crest. Artistic disciplines like modeling, texturing, sounds, etc. are the small and steep paths throughout this journey. Programming is second nature. At the moment I'm happy to have reached this first stable plateau.

Everything is a learning curve of some extent, so you're dead right in that sense. I envy your programming ability though - my "big mountain" is being able to program what I want into my project on the code level.

[hermitC]

Visual changes from Nordenfelt 0.1 to 0.2:

(click to enlarge)

[BPzeBanshee]

I'm not so sure as to why you left the enemy aircraft in a grey shade as it doesnt fit in with the rest of the enemies, besides that it is a VERY GREAT improvement over the previous release - a lot more consistent for sure.
Are you using anything like bilinear filters that will lag my legacy machines for that result?

[hermitC]

I'm not so sure as to why you left the enemy aircraft in a grey shade as it doesnt fit in with the rest of the enemies, besides that it is a VERY GREAT improvement over the previous release - a lot more consistent for sure.
Are you using anything like bilinear filters that will lag my legacy machines for that result?

I simply rerendered the sprites without considering the basic colors. There are some other sprites which have experimental colors to like the end boss. I'm testing which colors/textures work and which don't. Therefore your opinion is important. I've noted your objection.

Bilinear interpolation is used due to rotation. I'm not sure how this fact decimates support for older graphics cards. That's another point on my "not considered yet" list which may affect the audience. Thanks for the tip. I'm taking a deeper look into this topic.

[hermitC]

Are you using anything like bilinear filters that will lag my legacy machines for that result?

Just did some research for Nordenfelt's minimum requirements. Details like "which video cards support bilinear filtering" is a tough question. I'm using SFML which is built on OpenGL which supports bilinear filtering at least since version 1.2 (1998). Therefore a 10 year old PC should have no problem with it.

Your question made me pondering about the minimum requirements again. Only the minimum resolution is fixed to 1024x768. I'm aiming for older PCs to, 5-10 years old. Therefore you can expect something like 1GHz single core/64MB VRAM/512MB RAM as minimum.


It would be great if some of you could share hardware details of your older machines which are still in use. Details about netbooks would be cool to.

[Observer]

Ok, I'll pass you the specs of the two oldest machines I have at home. The oldest is from 1996 if I'm not wrong, and got some upgrades and it was heavily used until 2002 with occasional upgrades until 2000.

It was a Pentium II 400mhz with 128MB of RAM and a 4gb HDD divided in 2GB partitions with a Diamond Monster Fusion (3dfx anyone? I still remember the 3dfx exclusive Unreal Tournament demo and how my jaw dropped with the music of Turbine and how fast paced it was... its beauty simply killed Quake 3 for me, but everyone loved Quake 3 back then) of 16mb and Windows 98 SE. Pretty lulzy configuration nowadays so maybe it's not something to take into account. It still works and runs a bunch of old PC games without dramas.

The second oldest is a Celeron of 2.0ghz, 512mb of RAM, a 40gb HDD divided in two 20gb partitions, a GeForce FX5200 with 128mb and Windows XP SP2. This one was used extensively from 2002 until late 2008 with several upgrades now and then. This one could run the older Touhou shooters (up to Phantasmagoria of Flower View) without much problems.

[BPzeBanshee]

If a notebook/netbook/anything portable is small and uses integrated graphics cards, odds are Nordenfelt won't run on it anyway. Not so much because it's a crap game but because to my knowledge Netbooks dont go to 1024x768 (I may be wrong there, I've seen a larger netbook that structurally appeared to be a normal Laptop with its normal high resolution) and anything, especially Intel integrated cards, run games horribly.

[hermitC]

Ok, I'll pass you the specs of the two oldest machines I have at home. The oldest is from 1996 if I'm not wrong, and got some upgrades and it was heavily used until 2002 with occasional upgrades until 2000.

It was a Pentium II 400mhz with 128MB of RAM and a 4gb HDD divided in 2GB partitions with a Diamond Monster Fusion (3dfx anyone? I still remember the 3dfx exclusive Unreal Tournament demo and how my jaw dropped with the music of Turbine and how fast paced it was... its beauty simply killed Quake 3 for me, but everyone loved Quake 3 back then) of 16mb and Windows 98 SE. Pretty lulzy configuration nowadays so maybe it's not something to take into account. It still works and runs a bunch of old PC games without dramas.

The second oldest is a Celeron of 2.0ghz, 512mb of RAM, a 40gb HDD divided in two 20gb partitions, a GeForce FX5200 with 128mb and Windows XP SP2. This one was used extensively from 2002 until late 2008 with several upgrades now and then. This one could run the older Touhou shooters (up to Phantasmagoria of Flower View) without much problems.

Thanks a lot. Good info.

If a notebook/netbook/anything portable is small and uses integrated graphics cards, odds are Nordenfelt won't run on it anyway. Not so much because it's a crap game but because to my knowledge Netbooks dont go to 1024x768 (I may be wrong there, I've seen a larger netbook that structurally appeared to be a normal Laptop with its normal high resolution) and anything, especially Intel integrated cards, run games horribly.

A netbook support is not planned. I just included it in the question because I'm not sure what the average netbook config is.

[BPzeBanshee]

Netbooks I've seen use Intel Integrated graphics cards so they'll be almost impossible to get working for anyway. My real concern is legacy machines which may have issues with fancy settings like bilinear filtering. My oldest machine runs Kega Fusion games fine until I start trying to use filters, along with Half-Life and other OpenGL games. Having said that I broke the OS from using GameXP so I need to reinstall Windows from scratch, which may cause problems with drivers or actually improve speed.

[hermitC]

A short game play video of Nordenfelt 0.2. The playable demo is coming this weekend:

Video Nordenfelt 0.2

[emphatic]

Looks kinda fun. Is the boss supposed to look like a Swastika? Also, I'd make the player ship just a bit faster, and remove the lifebar.

[hermitC]

Looks kinda fun. Is the boss supposed to look like a Swastika? Also, I'd make the player ship just a bit faster, and remove the lifebar.

The Swastika-shape was not intended but happened. This "Nazi" boss will not stay in the game and will be replaced in the near future. The player ship engine can be upgraded (= +speed). Therefore the default speed is slow, the engine upgrades are missing in this version. The lifebar is indeed discussable. No clue if it will stay or be dropped.

Thanks for the feedback.

[BPzeBanshee]

Since v0.1 the game definitely looks improved graphically.

As for the other conserns I can't really say until more progress is made into boss and bullet pattern design. Healthbars and ship-sized hitbox is generally considered a big no no when combined with impossible-to-avoid bullet patterns, so you have been warned.

[hermitC]

As for the other conserns I can't really say until more progress is made into boss and bullet pattern design. Healthbars and ship-sized hitbox is generally considered a big no no when combined with impossible-to-avoid bullet patterns, so you have been warned.

The player's healthbar isn't the best solution, one-hit-one-death isn't either. Any ideas how to solve this?

The player ship's cockpit marks the hitbox.

[Ebbo]

The player's healthbar isn't the best solution, one-hit-one-death isn't either. Any ideas how to solve this?

None of those really are a problem as long as you design enemy/bullet patterns so that player can dodge them without taking a hit, fair and square. Just don't use healthbar as an excuse to create impossible-to-avoid attack patterns.

[Observer]

What Ebbo said, else, you can use the Ether Vapor approach and put "shield" points (usually no more than 10 throughout the entire game) and a starting amount of two. The player could earn more shield points through score instead of picking a power up that does the same. On top of the "armor"/shield, you could add one or two extra lives/ships. Kamui does this, RefleX and Ether Vapor are insta game over once your run out of shield points, AlltyneX 2nd has a "defense barrier" that lets you resist one hit before losing a life, you get lives through score extends. This helpd beginners without toning down the difficulty. And the three games are mentioned are quite difficult.

You could reward skilled players with an achievement/juicy score bonus for keeping those two extra lives, etc. I guess there is margin to play with that kind of thing and make it a bit bit more diverse than the one hit and you are toast.

I still prefer the one hit deal, usually with the ability to counter bomb/auto guard to help newbies.

[hermitC]

@Ebbo: I try to avoid unfair situations. There should always be a way without taking damage/lifes.
@Observer: These systems sound interesting, didn't know them yet. Some new ideas to consider. Thanks.

BTW: Nordenfelt 0.2 was released today!

Download Nordenfelt 0.2

Have a try and tell me what you think. Thanks in advance!

[BPzeBanshee]

For future reference HermitC, you'll find that Mediafire is a far better download service. It's free for making an account and you can have folders etc containing whatever you upload. Even on the free service the downloads are surprisingly fast.

[hermitC]

For future reference HermitC, you'll find that Mediafire is a far better download service. It's free for making an account and you can have folders etc containing whatever you upload. Even on the free service the downloads are surprisingly fast.

Thanks for the hint.

I just don't understand why you mention file hosting here. Did you face problems downloading Nordenfelt?

[Sasupoika]

There are few problems I see. Since there is a health-bar, I still would strongly recommend invulnerablity-frames and strong hit-indication. Enemies are currently more dangerous than bullets since they can almost kill you in instant compared to the bullet. Turrets take kinda long to kill ( not that bothersome ).
Also, I would suggest that ground-targets won't fire when player is hovering above them.

Otherwise it looks pretty cool!

[hermitC]

There are few problems I see. Since there is a health-bar, I still would strongly recommend invulnerablity-frames and strong hit-indication. Enemies are currently more dangerous than bullets since they can almost kill you in instant compared to the bullet. Turrets take kinda long to kill ( not that bothersome ).
Also, I would suggest that ground-targets won't fire when player is hovering above them.

Otherwise it looks pretty cool!

Interesting observations, extending my TODO list. Thanks!

[BPzeBanshee]

I just don't understand why you mention file hosting here. Did you face problems downloading Nordenfelt?

I had some issues that were the result of download speed, otherwise I would've been able to test this game last night. I will try again later today.

Also, I would suggest that ground-targets won't fire when player is hovering above them.

Raiden Fighters has a system if I recall correctly regarding the distance between the player ship and ground-based unit to fire. If you're within the distance and its something like a tank it won't fire, but larger cannons will.
This distance decreased with difficulty though, if you're using a preset difficulty the deadzone for ground units should be preset as well.

[hermitC]

I had some issues that were the result of download speed, otherwise I would've been able to test this game last night. I will try again later today.

Raiden Fighters has a system if I recall correctly regarding the distance between the player ship and ground-based unit to fire. If you're within the distance and its something like a tank it won't fire, but larger cannons will.
This distance decreased with difficulty though, if you're using a preset difficulty the deadzone for ground units should be preset as well.

I've just tested the download, I didn't face any problems. Please drop me a line when you still run into problems downloading Nordenfelt_v0.2.zip.

The fire condition for ground units seems easy to implement. Thanks for the tip!

[BPzeBanshee]

No worries hermitC, it seems to have worked this time around. Though for future reference I do find Mediafire to be the best external filehosting download option. Even on a uploading level I find I can upload stuff better through them than I can to YouTube.

[hermitC]

Some repetitive answers to questions about Nordenfelt's basics gave me the idea for this FAQ list:

Nordenfelt FAQ

[ShmupSamurai]

For me game development is like climbing a big mountain where the finished game represents the crest.

I think I know what that feels like...

Anyway, This is starting to look really promising congrats!!

I dig the main ship.