My GM shmups - Last Chance,MEGATANK, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

[TomuS]

Flying V; The logo is really awesome! I like the arcade feeling this game gives. But because of the explosions, there is too much stuff flying on the screen.. I like the bigness of the graphics too!
Now just some music playing in the background, and this would be great.

Difficulty is good on normal. Almost finished this on hard, but the wave 4 last pattern is pretty brutal.

[Rozyrg]

Wow...congrats, I can't get that far myself.

Thank ya! Feedback has been pretty consistent about the level of chaos/confusion..how to deal with it is the problem. I tried taking out the debris fx; but without that extra visual feedback, it takes away too much of the energy IMO. Hmmm...

As for the music, I'd much rather have something original rather than something 'borrowed' and being that I pretty much suck at making music (outside of some crap Garageband mishmashes)..there ya go. I've been wanting my friend to make me some for the longest time; but he's always busy, so no music for now.

Disregarding the fact that enough GM folks have already mined Vgmusic.com dry for their games, I have nothing against placeholder music. It's just that I find I get really REALLY sick of it in no time while testing.

As much as I don't want to, I might have to get some outside help with it at some point. Just not sure where to look/ask.

[emphatic]

As for the music, I'd much rather have something original rather than something 'borrowed' and being that I pretty much suck at making music (outside of some crap Garageband mishmashes)..there ya go. I've been wanting my friend to make me some for the longest time; but he's always busy, so no music for now.

Disregarding the fact that enough GM folks have already mined Vgmusic.com dry for their games, I have nothing against placeholder music. It's just that I find I get really REALLY sick of it in no time while testing.

As much as I don't want to, I might have to get some outside help with it at some point. Just not sure where to look/ask.

I could maybe do some music, but I'm really busy with lots of projects + haven't got space or a fast enough computer anymore to run my app of choice. What's your fave game music?

[null1024]

I could definitely do music... if you don't drop off the face of the earth like other people I've done stuff for...

[Rozyrg]

Awesome, guys! If either of yall have the time, that would be most appreciated.

I just want something simple, upbeat and driving in the classic Toaplan or Seibu tradition. Think Twin Cobra's "Tsugaru" (especially the Genesis version). Beyond that, maybe something like one of those awesome, fast insert credit or game over 'jingles' like in Truxton or Grindstormer?

@null: I don't *intend* to, as the deadline I've given myself on this is December. Even if I do burn out before then, I should definitely still be around.

[Rozyrg]

Doh! Forgot to link to the song. http://www.imeem.com/people/mImeQrw/mus ... a-tsugaru/ Most of the shmup-related stuff on that profile is also pretty much what I'd want, actually. <_<

Updated the game today (just minor stuff, of course) and it looks like I *might* have someone else on board for the music, too.

[Rozyrg]

Updated again today... this one has a brief snippet of level 2 and a new mode that uses a more standard powerup and combo system (M.D. Mode ).

Also, the comp. deadline is next week, so if anyone has any music ready for me, now's the time. The next version I upload will probably be it for awhile.

[null1024]

Eeack, I totally forgot I said this.

I'm working on something now. I'll post a bit of what I have done when I pack in for the night.
It's not nearly as happy sounding as that song you posted, but it is in that same sort of 16-bit vein [even though I'm using Famitracker, I'm making heavy use of the VRC6 and DPCM channels to not sound 8-bit chiptuney at all]. If I didn't suck at making FM instruments, I'd have done it with Amusic.


Here's so far:
http://www.4shared.com/file/159218269/8 ... Vorso.html

[Rozyrg]

Hey, not bad at all! I dig it.

Much appreciated, sir. I'll try to get it in there and see how well it fits before all the holiday madness starts this week. I like it enough that I want it in for the comp. version, though... alright if I credit you as null1024 or would you prefer something else?

[null1024]

Just credit me as null1024.
And thanks.

[zebdal]

I love the gfx of these games.
Maybe I'll try the games if I have time.
They look like pro games

EDIT:
ok I've tested flying v, it's really fun but a little short

zpultra is too hard for me o_O

[Rozyrg]

@zebdal Thanks very much!

They're both very much works in progress. I want FV to be two or three times it's current size for a decent 'demo' version (I'd like to work on something other than a plain jane shooter eventually) and ZpUltra.... it just has issues. Lots of them. Basically, it needs to be taken apart and put back together again. And yes, it *IS* too hard, I know. I can almost never beat the first level myself... haha.

Anyways... I missed the date for the competition, so if anyone else was working on music for me, please take your time. No biggie, anyways, since the guy who was hosting it bailed from YYG a few weeks before the deadline (very classy, fella.)

[Rozyrg]

Updated Flying V today. I've been putting off updating for awhile and this version doesn't have all the stuff I wanted for the next 'big' update; but here it is.

Anyways, the big YYG competition for this year came along and I decided it would be good to switch gears for a bit. (FV doesn't meet a few of their prerequisites, too.)

Here's a few screenies:

(Title is only temporary. possibly my worst game/project name yet... not that that's saying much)

[Ebbo]

I downloaded the latest version of Flying V and gave it a try. I think my first thought was "Holy shit, what this has been eating?!". Huge explosions, enemies and bullets everywhere, flying at you at the speed of liiiiight.
But once I got hang on it, I was enjoying the overall feeling and style, and the fact everything is so fast paced - still, when the bugs started coming I felt absolutely overwhelmed.
I played mostly the M.D.Mode, since I just like collecting power up icons and seeing my weapon's firepower increasing. However, many times I picked accidentally a wrong weapon because I was so close to enemy and the icon spawned right before me. I can see that icon flies first a bit backwards, but I think you should increase the distance so that player has more time to react and pick up the weapon he wants.

Overall, it isn't the most deepest or polished shmups around, but still, it's just plain fun and although sometimes almost frustratingly hard, it's also suprisingly satisfying.

Also, the screenies of your latest project look rad. That's all.

[Rozyrg]

(Hehe..I only play MD mode now, too. I'm glad a friend of mine suggested it.)

I know exactly what you mean about the powerups... I think that was one of the last goofy problems I was hacking away at before I decided to take a break (and didn't quite solve.) It mainly happens to me on the train sections, maybe something to do with the downward motion and the brief delay before they die? But yeah, that's definitely something that needs ironing out.

Level 2 is currently a complete clusterf*** I know, too.. sorry.

Anyways, thanks much for the feedback.
I must've played it so much I don't notice the frustrating bits as much as I really ought to.. one of the drawbacks of being a one man team I guess. It really does help to hear these things.

Also... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD4uETxSOM0

[nimitz]

Any chance we ever get a download-able version of ZpULTRA?

[Rozyrg]

There ya go

I really need to get back to this one. I fired it up in GM8 just for the hell of it the other week and apparently it gives it a pretty nice performance boost.

[Udderdude]

First impressions ..

ZpULTRA: Screen is so cluttered and covered with stuff I can't even see what's going on.

Flying V: Much better visibility, but the enemies have a very bad habit of flying straight down the screen and shooting you right in the face, and your weapons aren't powerful enough to kill them before they do. I found myself resorting to flying circles around the edge of the screen just to survive. 99% of my deaths came from those fucking yellow jets that ram straight into you and fire right next to you.

Notes for both games:

It feels like the sprites were designed for a game with almost twice as much resolution/game screen size. They're huge! The scaling is way off. This is prob. my biggest issue, I'd reccomend re-doing both games at a higher resolution.

Both games need a fullscreen option. :X

I like the sound effects for the most part.

[Rozyrg]

I appreciate the input. Glad you liked something at least...lol

I still stand behind my oversized, chunky graphics; but I do get what you mean about the scale thing. It didn't really bug me before; but now that I'm doing it pixel by pixel with this new one (and have to stick with a fixed resolution while I'm drawing everything), it catches my eye right away.

What to do about it, I'm not sure, though. My first thought is to just soldier through, leave the foundation how it is and have something I can call 'finished' in a reasonable timeframe rather than take them apart and rebuild again; but that's already going to have to happen in ZpUltra's case at least. It's an absolute mess right now, I agree.

...and yeah, those yellow bastards do need fixing. I've been meaning to something more interesting with them forever... I guess I have my excuse now.

Also, F4 does fullscreen on both. I guess I took it for granted because it's the Game Maker default. Oopsy.

[Udderdude]

If you have to start over from scratch, you should do so now, or you'll just have to do it again later. Just my opinion.

[Rozyrg]

Well, I messed with it some the other night and I'm already glad I did... having that extra screen real estate is nice. Now I just gotta figure out what to do with it all.

[Udderdude]

That is looking better already, but I don't think it's 4:3. Might want to make it 300x400 instead of 300x450, that way it fits onto a rotated 4:3 screen.

[emphatic]

That looks MUCH better. And +1 on the 4:3 screen.

[ShmupSamurai]

Both games make me think of Toplain's VV and Zerowing, with a little Konami spin here and there from Xexex.

[Rozyrg]

Thanks! I'm glad that came through...Toaplan's games are a huge inspiration to me.

I pretty much killed my weekend working on it; but Flying V is now in proper 3:4 screen ratio (450 x 600) and running a good bit smoother on my low end pc (laptop.) Next version's a good ways off, though. I think I'm going to cook up a few new enemies/ground targets to help fill in some of the extra space as well as possibly rewrite some of the background stuff to let them do more interesting things (and looping the same thing over and over certainly isn't.)

Also, XYX needs a goofy little intro story if anyone wants to write one (I'm thinking a paragraph at the most.) I promised some free art to the 'winning story' on my devart page, so I guess that stands here as well. >_>

[Rozyrg]

The theme for the YYG competition is portable games, just having a little fun with that.

[Rozyrg]

Updated title screen for XYX... note the snazzy new fonts.

Bad news is that my laptop went loopy not 10 minutes after uploading this shot. If I can't get it working again long enough to get my game/ art stuff off of it, that might be it for all of these.

[monkeyman]

this all looks quite promising so here's hoping yor laptop plays nice!

[Rozyrg]

Thanks! I hope so, too... I'm taking it down to the local repair shop soon to try to get the data off of it; but in the meantime, I'm working on ZpUltra again (had a backup lying around.)

[emphatic]

Thanks! I hope so, too... I'm taking it down to the local repair shop soon to try to get the data off of it; but in the meantime, I'm working on ZpUltra again (had a backup lying around.)

My laptop went berserk a while back. I fixed it by vacuuming the fan exhaust. Big dust bunnies got sucked out, and then it worked much better.