Attack of the Meeplings

joshuasmyth · Post by **joshuasmyth** » Sat May 03, 2008 8:59 am

Hi all first post here

Here is my latest game, its a retro 2D shooter. The game can be played in any java compatible browser. The game is somewhat of an exercise in minimalism, I just wanted to create something that was a bit of fun. There are online hi-scores - No ones broken a million pts yet

Z to fire
Space to superbomb
Arrow keys to move

Should mention that it loops infinately over 3 levels getting faster and faster as it goes. I'd imagine hard score shooter players might find it a little easy at first (many non-shooter players find it difficult at first) but eventually you will succumb

play the game at
http://www.tinyfrogsoftware.com/aotm/

Screen shot

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worstplayer · Post by **worstplayer** » Sat May 03, 2008 10:29 am

Couldn't you map bomb to X?
Other than that, it rocks. Better than 99% of browser shmups i played.

EDIT: And make difficulty ramp up faster. I haven't noticed any significant increase until 4th loop.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Sat May 03, 2008 7:20 pm

uh oh... this is one hell of an addictive game...

Some of the enemy bullet sytems are harder to dodge than the modern curtains too (the rotating stuff needs to killed immediately if one doesn't want to become a sitting duck thing.
Also...lovely music there.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Sat May 03, 2008 7:34 pm

Enemies need to stop firing once they reach 3/4 of the screen. Getting shot right in the face = annoying.

Edit: Wow, the BJ they gave you over at jayisgames is ridiculous. "brilliant, complex bullet patterns" ... lol?

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Sat May 03, 2008 7:53 pm

Udderdude wrote:Enemies need to stop firing once they reach 3/4 of the screen. Getting shot right in the face = annoying.

I agree.

Edit: Wow, the BJ they gave you over at jayisgames is ridiculous. "brilliant, complex bullet patterns" ... lol?

maybe not complex by some standards, but surely pretty deadly to most unsuspecting players.

Come on, admit you like it too UDD...

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Sat May 03, 2008 8:00 pm

Super Laydock wrote:Come on, admit you like it too UDD...

It's fun for a bit .. the biggest problems with browser games (can't fullscreen, low framerate, need to use joy2key to use a stick) are there as usual though.

Also infinite looping/playtime=scoring is kinda useless, unless there's a counterstop, and that only sortof fixes the problem.

Some medium sized enemies couldn't hurt, either. I would make the bosses medium sized enemies and make new bosses that are screen-filling monsters with multiple targets to take out. Then again, if you know the games I made, I've allready done so ~_~;

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Sat May 03, 2008 8:08 pm

Udderdude wrote: Then again, if you know the games I made, I've allready done so ~_~;

Yeah, what happened to that Dreamcast version anyway?
I'd like to play on that instead of getting another PC thingy...

Please tell me it was released and I missed it...

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Sat May 03, 2008 8:28 pm

Super Laydock wrote:
Udderdude wrote: Then again, if you know the games I made, I've allready done so ~_~;
Yeah, what happened to that Dreamcast version anyway?
I'd like to play on that instead of getting another PC thingy...

Please tell me it was released and I missed it...

Apparently they are still working on it, I have asked them for CVS access so I can work on it myself but they haven't gotten back to me on that either. Anyway this is extremely off-topic so if you want any more info just PM me or something.

joshuasmyth · Post by **joshuasmyth** » Sat May 03, 2008 10:53 pm

Thanks for all the feedback, I will update this version with a couple of little things, such as x as an alternative to smartbomb and give you a rank when submit your score.

Enough games have been played that most people won't get on the scoreboard so it would be nice if they had an indication as to how well they're doing realitive to other people

The counterstop to the infinate looping is supposed to be the speed increase at each loop, I don't know if it should be faster or not - As with everything else with the game I just tweaked it until it "felt right to me"

I'm going to play lots more shumups (I'll check out your games udderdude..,) and then make a sequal (which will be a downloadable game)

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Sat May 03, 2008 11:05 pm

joshuasmyth wrote:The counterstop to the infinate looping is supposed to be the speed increase at each loop, I don't know if it should be faster or not - As with everything else with the game I just tweaked it until it "felt right to me"

Actually, counterstop is a term for when the score counter stops going up. It's usually a series of 9's, sometimes the last digit left unchanged. Here's an example : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsOFaTgIU5E

What you are referring to is a Kill Screen : a point in the game where it is literally impossible to play any further - you are 100% guaranteed to die/fail/etc. I don't know how many loops it takes to get to that point in your game, but I'm guessing it's lots. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_screen

joshuasmyth · Post by **joshuasmyth** » Sun May 04, 2008 2:28 am

Ah.. I see. Yeah I only guessed as to what you were talking about. Good to know new terminology so I can think about it more in my next game

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Sun May 04, 2008 6:47 am

Well, if the game records how many loops you've done, it can still be a fairly accurate way to gauge ability.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Sun May 04, 2008 1:05 pm

grmbl... enemies coming flying from behind without warning suck.

Also opening two browser window in firefox made my second browser window game go like 2 times faster than the other... as a challenge I want to see Promotheus and Sikraiken play that "version"... more fair to other players with some less skills.

P_HAT · Post by **P_HAT** » Sun May 04, 2008 3:13 pm

this game is awsm.

- AAP

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Sun May 04, 2008 4:03 pm

What would be nice is the "loop" reached included with the player score in the top 100 and when you get the game over screen.

overkill55 · Post by **overkill55** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:04 pm

Should have known Sikraiken would be the one to shatter the top score

Very fun game, I really like the style!

joshuasmyth · Post by **joshuasmyth** » Sun May 04, 2008 8:02 pm

nimitz wrote:What would be nice is the "loop" reached included with the player score in the top 100 and when you get the game over screen.

I think thats a good idea, I will implement that in a couple of days. Of course everyone on the board atm will show ? for number of loops.

bitkid · Post by **bitkid** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 12:13 am

I like it. Gets a big boring after playing it for an hour straight but it is a fun diversion. I wish there was different music for each stage. Hearing the same song over and over and over gets kind of numbing.