My own manic shmup project, take a look :)

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:45 pm

looks like you're working hard, and working thoroughly which should guarantee that this will be a good game. one that i will be proud to be affiliated with

Kenshudo · Post by **Kenshudo** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:07 am

Eh ok i always wanted a manic shooter

. So im gonna donate my skull of the ancient cyborg. Its not great but its better than pac man sprites haha

ill tell you if i improve it.

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:33 am

Kenshudo wrote:Eh ok i always wanted a manic shooter . So im gonna donate my skull of the ancient cyborg. Its not great but its better than pac man sprites haha

ill tell you if i improve it.

Hehe, thanks ^^
I'll mess with it a little and turn it into a small enemy for stage 4/5 if you don't mind ;p

Kenshudo · Post by **Kenshudo** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:50 am

k thanks

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:58 pm

It's been a while since my last update here.
I've been working on and off the game for the last few weeks, mainly doing sketches and coming up with ideas. The system I'm using is very solid now, all I need is content. This means artwork, sprites, music, explosions, bullet patterns, and everything else a good Shmup needs. Since I haven't really showed anything of my game yet, here's a short movie I recorded with fraps:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rjJQRLvRs5A

Yes, the quality is bad, and fraps makes the game run slowish. The stage I showed is just a short test, it's not something that's getting in the final game

It demonstrates some things I've worked out, and should give you an idea of what to expect.
Thanks to Io (indstr on these boards) for the lovely background tune. The boss tune is temporarily ripped from DDP:DOJ, excuse me for that

I've been thinking about re-writing the game entirely in C++. GML is fast enough, stable enough, and easy enough, but just not safe enough. Any decent hacker could cheat through a GM-created game, or even decompile it. So yeah, if I decide to switch to another language it will delay the game another few weeks. But it will probably be worth it if I decide to go through with it.

Motorherp · Post by **Motorherp** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:13 pm

Looking good. You've got some very nice bullet pattern creation going on and everything seems to be running smooth.

Shion wrote:I've been thinking about re-writing the game entirely in C++. GML is fast enough, stable enough, and easy enough, but just not safe enough. Any decent hacker could cheat through a GM-created game, or even decompile it. So yeah, if I decide to switch to another language it will delay the game another few weeks. But it will probably be worth it if I decide to go through with it.

I wouldn't change to c++ if this is your only reason. People can easily cheat in a game written in any language if they really want to, for example by using a simple memory scanner to find the lives variable. Not much you can do about that without going to great lengths to move around, hide, and verify your variables which just isn't worth the effort.

PS: And a few weeks is a very unrealistic estimate for swapping a game over from a game creation package to a raw programming language assuming you'd be starting in that language from scratch. Id go with months, and that's only if you're already very comfortable with the language you're using. You'd have to re-create the underlying engine which game maker provides for you.

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:40 pm

progress is looking great !!!! definitely a game i would want to play. i'll get my music writing juices in gear this weekend for sure!

who cares if people cheat though ?// if that's how they want to play your game, why not let them? most people won't so i don't see why you should waste weeks/months of your precious time just to prevent people from doing something they already want to do ...

dunno

anyway, looks awesome & keep up the good work! i'll get you some new content soon

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:02 pm

Well, hacking prevention isn't the only reason I'm considering the change.
It would also bring me:

-Better control over memory management (which would lead to better performance on crappier PCs).
-The ability to easily use the code for another possible future project (like, if I ever intend to make a NDS/GBA version of my game).
-The fact that it would teach me a lot more (I study programming).
-Being able to implement certain features that would be a drag to do in GML.

And yes, perhaps a few weeks is taking the whole conversion thing too lightly. Most of my code would be usable in C++ though, since the syntax is only slightly different. And of course the function names would have to be adjusted depending on the lib I'm using. Anyway, it was just an idea

I'll be experimenting a bit with existing libraries in C++ and then decide if it's worth the trouble.
And no, I don't really care if people cheat through. But if I were to implement some more serious features, like an online highscore (I have no plans for this though), I would want the game to be hackerproof. I was just thinking about this as a challenge to myself really

I'm glad you liked the pattern creation Motor. It's capable of much, much more dense and complicated patterns, but Fraps would stop being able to record at 60 fps then, so I went with some "light patterns" xD

Looking forward to hearing some new stuff Indstr

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 10:37 pm

haha, i sent the link to my gf and she is the one that posted the comment on youtube. (sorry) , LOL

just don't pull a Hexen: edge of chaos... they started development with doom 3 engine, tried to convert all their stuff to quake 4, it didn't go as well as they hoped, and they had to convert it all back to doom 3 .... wasting like 6 months in the process... the game still isn't out and it was announced like over 3 years ago

nlen83 · Post by **nlen83** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:00 am

How awesome...you are doing a great job. Keep with it.

FSR · Post by **FSR** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:46 am

Very impressive Shion. I especially like the bomb circle, the bullet patterns, the way the power ups dropped and the background transistion for the boss battle
.
You also implemented a “guard” feature (auto bomb on hit, maybe the offical term is different, I only know this from Blue Wish ressurection) Cool!
And your option screens are really packed!

I wish you good luck with the stage design and finding a graphics artist ( I looked through my game for graphics that I don’t use anymore, but everything I found looks horrible in a vert. shmup)

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:47 pm

Yup, auto-guard is up when you have 2 or more bombs left. It consumes everything left though

and will cost you points in the final version.

Btw, anyone for some mushihime sama? xD

I love coding bullet patterns. I never imagined math would come in this handy.

Blue Peace · Post by **Blue Peace** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:05 pm

Looks awsome dude keep up the good work!

Krooze L-Roy · Post by **Krooze L-Roy** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:34 pm

Looking pretty impressive. I must say I'm saddened to see the Pac-man sprites gone, but I suppose I'm perhaps a bit biased toward things Pac-related.

The bullet patterns on the first boss look really fun. Looking forward to playing the finished product.

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:21 pm

Damn good. Can't wait to try it out.

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:13 am

got started on a little tune tonight ... with the intention of boss music but i don't think it's menacing enough .. should work for level music though. i've never really liked the sound of synthesized trumpets myself but from your comment i figured i'd just experiment with it ... thought the trumpet sound i managed with rhythmic gating and reverb sounded pretty cool

http://djio4sdcompo.googlepages.com/lev ... ogress.mp3

this is a rough work in progress, still have a lot to do.

Shion, let me know if you like the vibe though and i can continue

if not i'll scrap it and start something else. still need to get my antegrade edit together ( i was planning on writing different melodies for the second loop)

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:18 pm

indstr wrote:got started on a little tune tonight ... with the intention of boss music but i don't think it's menacing enough .. should work for level music though. i've never really liked the sound of synthesized trumpets myself but from your comment i figured i'd just experiment with it ... thought the trumpet sound i managed with rhythmic gating and reverb sounded pretty cool

http://djio4sdcompo.googlepages.com/lev ... ogress.mp3

this is a rough work in progress, still have a lot to do.

Shion, let me know if you like the vibe though and i can continue if not i'll scrap it and start something else. still need to get my antegrade edit together ( i was planning on writing different melodies for the second loop)

Hey man, nice hearing from you again. I've listened to the sample a good number of times, and I think it's pretty good. Like you said, it's not menacing enough for a boss tune, seems a little too.. floaty (:D) for that purpose. I still think it's really good though, and it could work well for one of the later stages. Do what you think is best. I don't know too much about music, else I'd gladly try some stuff myself as well.

But on the topic of boss music, I've always favored tunes that start with a heavy bass line, building up for the main theme. Ketsui is a prime example (http://youtube.com/watch?v=dOaTEuRfOlU). Or the DDP:DOJ tune I temporarily used in my demo movie.
But the thing is, I'm not sure if stuff like this would fit in with the rest. I think fast/heavy drums or bass combined with a nice tune would work perfect, if the song has a good (energetic) buildup. But like I said, I know little about this stuff so I'll leave it to you ;p

On another note, I've been slacking a bit myself lately. Got a few busy weeks up ahead due to school and life, so I won't be working much on the game until 2008 I'm afraid. I'll work on my artwork in the meanwhile, since there's a lot of work to be done on this part.

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 4:07 pm

Shion wrote: Hey man, nice hearing from you again. I've listened to the sample a good number of times, and I think it's pretty good. Like you said, it's not menacing enough for a boss tune, seems a little too.. floaty (:D) for that purpose. I still think it's really good though, and it could work well for one of the later stages. Do what you think is best. I don't know too much about music, else I'd gladly try some stuff myself as well.

glad you like it. i'll try to make it a little harder, it didn't really come out how i meant it to ... but seriously if you don't like something i do, don't be afraid to say so because i welcome criticism. it's your game so i want you to like what goes into it

plus, if we scrap something that was intended for the game, i can still always use it later just as a song for myself

Shion wrote: But on the topic of boss music, I've always favored tunes that start with a heavy bass line, building up for the main theme. Ketsui is a prime example (http://youtube.com/watch?v=dOaTEuRfOlU). Or the DDP:DOJ tune I temporarily used in my demo movie.
But the thing is, I'm not sure if stuff like this would fit in with the rest. I think fast/heavy drums or bass combined with a nice tune would work perfect, if the song has a good (energetic) buildup. But like I said, I know little about this stuff so I'll leave it to you ;p

i can definitely do a tune or 3 like that... i'll keep doing more research playing other shmups to get more ideas, and then i'll get a couple of drafts down.

to address the issue of "it might not fit in with the rest" .. what i'll try to do is use traditional shmup boss music songwriting, but use instrumentation that is more like hard electronic music... it should work out with a pretty good balance

Shion wrote: On another note, I've been slacking a bit myself lately. Got a few busy weeks up ahead due to school and life, so I won't be working much on the game until 2008 I'm afraid. I'll work on my artwork in the meanwhile, since there's a lot of work to be done on this part.

Well good luck with that... doesn't bother me, it will give me more time to put more quality production into the music

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:29 pm

again i appologize for my dumbass friend posting another stupid comment in the youtube .. geez

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:41 am

I can live with it ;p

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:24 pm

In case anyone was wondering how the game is getting along, I've put it on hold for a indefinite period of time. The reason for this is that I'm simply not good enough of a pixel-artist to make all the sprites I'm going to need. I could probably have finished it in a few months, but it wouldn't have looked as good as I want to. So instead, I'll wait until I find a dedicated artist who's interested in working on this together with me.
Sorry to those who were interested or helped out. As I said, if I get the chance I'll finish it one day

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:49 pm

d'oh

well i'm still interested in doing music. i'll finish the trumpet tune sometime soon and send you the final. i'll also write a couple other tunes, just in case and you can use them when you eventually finish the game. and please contact me if you ever need any more help. djiomusic@gmail.com , although this might be changing soon as i'm going to change my music writing alias, i'll have it forward to my new account indefinitely.

thanks and i really hope to see this project get finished one day. it looks really sweet

also, did you ever try going on the shmup-dev forum or some other forums? maybe you're just looking in the wrong places. i'm sure there's tons of people who make pixel art that do nothing with it that would be willing to do art for a game, it's just a matter of connecting 2 & 2

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:20 pm

indstr wrote:d'oh

well i'm still interested in doing music. i'll finish the trumpet tune sometime soon and send you the final. i'll also write a couple other tunes, just in case and you can use them when you eventually finish the game. and please contact me if you ever need any more help. djiomusic@gmail.com , although this might be changing soon as i'm going to change my music writing alias, i'll have it forward to my new account indefinitely.

thanks and i really hope to see this project get finished one day. it looks really sweet

also, did you ever try going on the shmup-dev forum or some other forums? maybe you're just looking in the wrong places. i'm sure there's tons of people who make pixel art that do nothing with it that would be willing to do art for a game, it's just a matter of connecting 2 & 2

Cool that you're still supporting and willing to help me. I might try to actively look for a pixel artist on forums and such, but I know how hard it is to find someone. Good pixelartists rarely work for free, and if they do, they won't do it for any random person who has a little homebrew project going on. Anyway, I'll probably start working on it again sooner or later. Perhaps when I've developed some better artistic skills myself. At least the engine is finished, so all I'll have to do is make content.

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Thu May 29, 2008 4:12 am

New song, which you're welcome to use if you ever still get this together

http://www.loopproject.com/filebase/sdc ... _razor.mp3
(changed my moniker to "organic io" a couple months ago)

Edit:
Also, Shion, I was watching the youtube demo again and I noticed there is a pixel artist who posted a reply a week ago saying he needs a project to work on. You may want to hit him up before it's too late and maybe it will bring some spark back into this

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Thu May 29, 2008 3:11 pm

indstr wrote:New song, which you're welcome to use if you ever still get this together

http://www.loopproject.com/filebase/sdc ... _razor.mp3
(changed my moniker to "organic io" a couple months ago)

Edit:
Also, Shion, I was watching the youtube demo again and I noticed there is a pixel artist who posted a reply a week ago saying he needs a project to work on. You may want to hit him up before it's too late and maybe it will bring some spark back into this

Hi again. The new song sounds good, I'll definitely include it in the game.

I plan on resuming (and hopefully finishing) the project in aprox. 3 weeks, when my vacation starts. Working on a college project at the moment, so don't have much time (or mood) to code beyond the scope of school at the moment.

I've actually spoken with several people who were interested in helping out with graphics. Some reached me through the youtube movie, and some from this board. While some were just below my expectations, I received some really cool examples of what they could do. When I continue writing the game, I'll contact them and see if they're still up for helping out.

I'll write an update on the project in about 3 weeks, stay tuned~

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Thu May 29, 2008 5:12 pm

Sounds sweet.

I can make an edit where the song begins during or after the break since that's where the main part starts, I'd rather people hear that during a shmup level than the intro.

I'll gear up to write some game exclusive tracks then since it looks like we're rolling again

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 7:51 pm

What's up Shion?

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:30 pm

Nothing much, really. Been working on some new stuff and ideas for the game, and now have an artist helping out with a lot of the graphics I need. I'm trying to give it some unique playing value, so it won't end up as just another cheap doujin danmaku.
It's much more work than I expected. I'm still working on it, but very slowly

In all truth, I'm not dedicated at all. I just work on it on and off whenever I feel like it. For me, rushing things never works. It'll be done when it's done.

Maybe in 10 years we'll have a demo up