Defender in Mutant Storm clothing

[PaulCunningham]

Hi fellow shooter fans.

Sorry my first post here is a blantant plug but I thought you might be interested in a little shooter I've developed. It's a Defender / Sheep in Space tribute done in the style of PomPom's excellent Mutant Storm.

Head on over to the Alien Abduction page at Pumpkin Games for more details

Screenshots

[TGK]

well, the plug is no prob to me. I'm happy that someone make a shmup . Will check when I'm home.

(Hey, where can shmup makers plug if they can't plug here of all places?!)

[SteevTee]

Just had a look at the site, although I have not downloaded it yet, Ultratron looks very cool. What are you using to code these??

[kong]

Ultratron is made by www.puppygames.net. They program in Java. I'm not sure what language Mr. Cunningham used to develop Alien Abduction.

[PaulCunningham]

I used C++ and Open GL to code Alien Abduction. Lua was used for the scripting system.

Version 1.3 is coming soon with online high score table

Yes, Ultratron is very cool. It's Java as kong mentions and uses a lightweight game library that they developed.

[mrMagenta]

Ultratron is really nice! great presentation and charming graphics. I also enjoyed super dudester, even though it should come with a huge epilepsy warning

If you don't mind me asking... Can you make a living out of your games, or do you work other jobs at the side?

[PaulCunningham]

I code business app by day for a local software house. Not bad - keeps me coding and pays well.

I couldn't make a living out of selling hardcore shooters unfortunately The big money is in casual puzzle games.

PS - 'Troid is another good shooter from www.hermitgames.com. Remake of Asteroids with some nice scoring twists.

[mrMagenta]

sounds like a good combination. i'd like a similar setup, only in the field of graphics. i've recently started making games on my own, during spare time, and i'm loving it.. but it's not everyday i can find the energy to program something like guided missile targeting or a load/save game parser when i get home from work.. but i do something every day, and however little i do, it's quite satisfying.

I checked out 'Troid and I like it. those graphics are actually close to the stylization of the vertical shmup i'm making, only 'Troid has more polish and cool plasma-type effects.. since i'm using a highlevel environment (gamemaker), i just can't do stuff like that without a huge performance hit.

i'm curious about your multiplatform solution. does there exist a minimal programming environment, and libraries suited for simple multiplatform games that are also quick for a beginner to get started with? the thought of low-level programming or the hugeness of visual studio .net make me nervous.. not to speak of the learning curve just to get past the intitial windows obscuria. i just want to make games, but i'm willing to take the bull by the horns if i have to.. any tips for a next step?

[Molloy]

Had a go of Ultratron there. Great graphic design and presentation. The gameplay is slow as treacle though. I only got about 10 levels in but it was incredibly, ridiculously easy.

I know when you're trying to sell the game to casual people you have to be careful. And a keyboard as interface means you need to make it a hell of alot less difficult than Robotron. But the pacing at the moment is leanten. You've got one enemy on screen at a time..

On the level or two with lots of enemies I found the bullet trails annoying. You can't see where the bullets are. You really need to tone down the trails. That way you could have much more happening on screen and the player would be able to see what he was doing.

[PaulCunningham]

i'm curious about your multiplatform solution. does there exist a minimal programming environment, and libraries suited for simple multiplatform games that are also quick for a beginner to get started with? the thought of low-level programming or the hugeness of visual studio .net make me nervous.. not to speak of the learning curve just to get past the intitial windows obscuria. i just want to make games, but i'm willing to take the bull by the horns if i have to.. any tips for a next step?

I'm not familiar with Gamemaker but I've heard good things about Blitz Basic.

Puppy Games use Java for their cross platform solution - they've also created some nice game libraries so that could be an option too. They had a nice forum as well until somebody hacked it.

I use SDL (www.libsdl.org) with C++. SDL really is dead simple to use and takes all the agro out of setting up your windows, etc. I don't use C++ at work so I'm totally self taught and to be honest know just enough to do what I want. This may be a step too far though.

I learnt graphics programming (OpenGL) from NEHE (nehe.gamedev.net) - nice beginner tutorials and definitely a place to look if you want to do Troid style particle effects.

email me if you want a more in depth discussion.

[PaulCunningham]

Had a go of Ultratron there. Great graphic design and presentation. The gameplay is slow as treacle though. I only got about 10 levels in but it was incredibly, ridiculously easy.

I know when you're trying to sell the game to casual people you have to be careful. And a keyboard as interface means you need to make it a hell of alot less difficult than Robotron. But the pacing at the moment is leanten. You've got one enemy on screen at a time..

On the level or two with lots of enemies I found the bullet trails annoying. You can't see where the bullets are. You really need to tone down the trails. That way you could have much more happening on screen and the player would be able to see what he was doing.

I too find the first 10 levels or so of Ultratron a little pedestrian - I wish you could start at any level you'd previously completed. Does ramp up nicely after that though. Email Cas with your views - he's still tweaking it I believe.

Agreed on the presentation though - that's the work of Chaz. here's some more of his stuff...

http://www.puppygames.net/chazeem/