Zenodyne - Released!

[Kaiser]

Hey, this is Zenodyne, my first attempt to make a game from scratch, it's a collaboration project between me and BP, although BP's only helping with some technical stuff (he made the base, which was the warbird and many other stuff). Now that the game is done, I can proudly announce that it's finally out, about time too!

Thefinal game features:
- 5 Stages (and bosses)
- 2 Player ships
- 2 Difficulty settings.
- A highscore table
- Configurable controls, audio and video
- A credits section
- Railslave's music
- Completely changed control scheme, instead of Shot/Bomb/Cycle, you now have Shot/Alternate Shot/Bomb.

For HV Version:
- Heaven Variant music by courtesy of Jason Koohi who granted me his non-commercial permission to use it in my game (He knows about this game proper). Since Heaven Variant is not gonna get done (it's cancelled remember), figured I would pay tribute to it by spreading the music around, in my game included.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/383vnliny8l6n ... r.zip?dl=0 - Heaven Variant version release
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4rephkd98uin3 ... e.zip?dl=0 - Railslave version release

Gameplay video with HV music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnEdqxc1a4c Courtesy of Emuser

If you enjoyed Heaven Variant's music in my game and want more, visit this bandcamp page:
http://jasonkoohi.bandcamp.com/

The Heaven variant soundtrack is free to listen, if you can, donate a bit to mr. Koohi. His musical quality is ace to say at least and worth paying for (I even donated myself and got a FLAC album, worth it!)

PS. Title ship and background was done by railslave.

[BPzeBanshee]

More people need to have a go at this. For what was originally a 15-second long example it's pretty good even for a prototype.

[ED-057]

whys the boss gotta point-blank me like that? lulz.

Pretty good for one week

[BareKnuckleRoo]

S.C.A.T. music! Good taste.

Bullet hitboxes seem to be pretty huge and I can't seem to get it to go fullscreen, makes it a bit tricky to play.

[Kaiser]

Mind you for now the music's gonna be taken from newgrounds nowadays because of the potential legal issues. And newgrounds music license is that as long as you credit the author, it's all okay.

[BPzeBanshee]

Bullet hitboxes seem to be pretty huge and I can't seem to get it to go fullscreen, makes it a bit tricky to play.

Fullscreen is F4 with every Game Maker game ever pre-GM:Studio (it's Alt-Enter with the new ones).

Hitbox size is supposed to be 'vintage' style. The SHIFT key will still slow you down enough to dodge some patterns providing Kaiser doesn't decide it's old-school enough and rips it out next release (does make the harder patterns quite trivial I must say).

[Dave_K.]

I wish I could try this, but all I get is a black screen (I'm running XP in virtualbox).

[BPzeBanshee]

Some tips to get this working with VirtualBox:

1. Update VirtualBox
2. Install the D3D experimental drivers when installing Guest Additions (if you don't know how to do that you really shouldn't be using VirtualBox)
3. Reduce screen resolution for performance, and then try to make it go fullscreen with F4. If it behaves anything like Xeno Fighters does on my setup it should AT LEAST get a box going on the top-left corner of the screen.

If you're using a Mac I recommend Bootcamp. You're better off that way.

[Dave_K.]

Ok, so it was just window mode that doesn't render properly. Hitting F4 (fullscreen), I do get the game to render in the upper left corner of the screen. Not the best setup, but at least playable now.

Thanks!

[BPzeBanshee]

If you happen to have MSN I wouldn't mind doing some buildtests regarding this issue with VirtualBox. I got a few ideas for some workarounds to make the screen larger (at the expense of performance unfortunately) under VirtualBox but I lack the test environment for it.

[Dave_K.]

I don't have MSN, is this something I have to subscribe to, or are the debugging tools free? Also I'd think it should be very simple for you to setup a virtualbox environment to test with, otherwise I'd be happy to help.

As for G85, nice work Kaiser! Not bad for a week's worth of time. Could use more sound effects for shot and explosions, and some kind of shot powerup once the enemy starts coming out two at a time and twice as fast. Looking forward to more when you get time.

[BPzeBanshee]

MSN's a messenger client - if you have an email account with Microsoft (Hotmail, Live) it's already available either by signing in or by using Windows Live Messenger which is included with new OSes. It'd just allow for instant communication so I could send builds and try to figure out a solution faster. As for setting up my own, I've done it with the Mac but that machine has performance issues under OSX and I don't trust it.

The sound effects is from Warbird, which he built G85 off - it didn't have explosion sounds because I didn't get time to put them into the original Flash port and the GM versions are replicas only. I got some notes for Kaiser to take with a few things anyway:

- use sfxr to make more sounds etc
- fix the damn boss (image_angle instead of direction for the aiming-at-player section)
- if you want to make the scrolling stars look nicer use a random variable for the speeds: GMOSSE does this already at the Ship Select menu
- get Soulcrusher out of the way and get onto it already

[Dave_K.]

Oh, sorry, I thought you were referring to MSDN. I'm typically on shmups IRC over the weekends, where you can send files via DCC.

[Kaiser]

- use sfxr to make more sounds etc - Will do that soon.
- fix the damn boss (image_angle instead of direction for the aiming-at-player section) - Fixed
- if you want to make the scrolling stars look nicer use a random variable for the speeds: GMOSSE does this already at the Ship Select menu - Done
- get Soulcrusher out of the way and get onto it already - Not gonna happen soon, I still have two levels and one boss to do. So that's work until March.

Right i'm currently working on the second level slowly, i'll come out with a new build when it's done and tested.

[BPzeBanshee]

An update for anyone who cares. I've been helping Kaiser with the backend core stuff for G85 and a lot of the improvements, functions and changes will eventually (some have been already) be ported to GMOSSE for all to share. These improvements include:
- backend improvements for aspiring developers
- external config
- displaying correctly fullscreen in VirtualBox with a new "VirtualBox mode", via config.ini
- change the window size by a scale factor, changeable via config.ini
- TATE, via config.ini
- vertical sync settings, via config.ini
- extra filtering if GM looks extra pixelly on your screen, via config.ini

In addition:
- powerups have been added
- the boss is fixed
- SHIFT slowdown button removed
- difficulty adjustments (although the kamikaze enemies probably still need tweaking)
- scrolling stars look very nice now and behave differently from in-warp to out of wap
- some more sfx have been added, I don't think explosions for enemies are in yet though
- music changed to Newgrounds free license music to avoid potential copyright issues

If people want joystick/gamepad support I can port that over from GMOSSE easily too but until Kaiser or I make an options menu you'd have to change your deadzone/button settings via external config and know what numbers your buttons correspond to. I'd like to know people would actually use it before I go and spend time putting it in though.

[Kaiser]

And my personal "shitshmup" (humorous term for an amateur shmup invented by some of the community members I know ) is back on the track again. That's right folks, i'm back working on it seriously this time, i've been putting it off for so long because I was busy with a giant-ass doom mod that I did release back in march, I just waited until my burn-out over and bam, i'm working on this again. I updated the screenshots in the main post.

Few notable changes:
- Implemented end of stage bonus (collected medals * 100), I may implement a punishment for dying, nothing stupid though, maybe losing 20-25 collected medals instead of entirety.
- Some enemies got revamped including the first stage boss.
- Started to work on Stage 2, i'm planning to get it done ASAP when the crucial features and the boss get implemented, then maybe post a demo, or earlier, depending on my mood.

What has to be done for now?
- Improve Stage 1, make it less boring and more exciting, sure it's action-packed right now but there are some dead-area bits that are notice'able.
- Finish Stage 2 obviously
- Maybe implement some form of bombing. Although this is meant to be a shmup inspired by mid 80s where bombs didn't exist in the "now conventional" form and were a rarity.

Here's a sneak peek at what's to come graphically, just a heads up, this isn't meant to be a professional shmup, IT IS unlikely I will improve majorly in graphics department during this game's course of development (the possible ETA is end of 2013/early 2014 for release).

[trap15]

SNIPER GUNBOATS FROM BEHIND PLZ

[Kaiser]

Progress progress... stage 2 boss is coded, working on stage 2, finished the design of stage 3 boss today. I'm gonna add in a lot of things and do a lot of testing before I think about the 2-stage demo.

[railslave]

looks tidy ,be very cool with some animation on the arms ..

[Kaiser]

Main post updated, new title name announced.

[BPzeBanshee]

As you can see from the screenshot, pausing is implemented. Full list of core stuff:
- pause implemented
- as a sidenote from that, surface rendering is available for pause menu and configurable via config.ini (for the alternate pause method for the few that have issues with background/sprite_create_from_screen)
- music changed to Railslave-made music

Todo:
- music mod support if Kaiser and/or anyone else cares to switch between this and whatever you have
- joystick/gamepad support
- some kind of highscore saving, even if its a basic one

[railslave]

- music changed to Railslave-made music

Seriously though, realy pushing the boat out !!!! https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/844 ... killer.mp3

EXCITED for this game so hard.

[BPzeBanshee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38Te0f5FpZU

Video up showing off what Zenodyne's looking like at the moment. Sorry for the only 240p quality, still getting the hang of Open Broadcaster Software's quality settings (and I thought YouTube would accept it as 320p like the GMOSSE videos, guess not).

I wrote a detailed description in the guide, but for those who read this only and haven't kept up to date: railslave had some computer issues (PSU detonated) and until he gets back in (long-term, like a few months) we're rolling with Cyber Rainforce music. Quite unfortunate that we've had to do this, considering Railslave's music was so good, but the consensus was that consistency was key for the next beta, and the replacement's pretty good too.

[Kaiser]

One more stage to come with the demo.... this is a little teaser

[Ebbo]

The game looks refreshingly old-school. Both stages and bosses feel long enough to stay intense, yet short enough to keep the flow going - although the first boss did seem just a bit too simplistic.

I'm certainly giving it a try once the demo goes public.

[Kaiser]

The game looks refreshingly old-school. Both stages and bosses feel long enough to stay intense, yet short enough to keep the flow going - although the first boss did seem just a bit too simplistic.

I'm certainly giving it a try once the demo goes public.

Well since the video's been made, BP's been working on implementing the title menu along with a bunch of necessary options, I made the first boss more complicated and longer a bit, whereas the second boss got a HP buff because I felt he died too easily when the ship was powered up, of course because of this also the max powered up ship (5-way) got brought down a bit power-wise to the 4-way. There's still quite a bit to be done, most importantly, get the stage 3 done as I want the demo to end on a high fun note. I'm considering implementing a trizeal-styled weapon system where you switch the weapons with a button because short to say, the arsenal isn't varied.

[BPzeBanshee]

Well since the video's been made, BP's been working on implementing the title menu along with a bunch of necessary options

Credits currently aren't in yet (there'll be a readme with credits in addition to this on launch), options via in-game are limited to music and sfx volume control (the rest is still available via config.ini only for now), but within the next week I'll be getting those in via interface as well - and just like GMOSSE, it'll be properly categorised and accessible via pausing the game at any time as well as in the main menu.

I just don't have the time today when I've got an assignment due tomorrow along with work, otherwise I would've had it done by now.

[Kaiser]

Dear ladies and gents, I am proudly bumping my own thread to announce that the demo's out, go grab it and enjoy! (For those curious, there's screens and a video from BPzeBanshee coming)

[Kaiser]

For those who are interesed in something non-MSX sounding music-wise, railslave composed music for this game specifically a bit ago before his PC blew up (he's back though).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/00ucbm61jx1tb ... emusic.zip

Just extract the music to the content/music folder and enjoy his FM coming from his classic yamaha

[Ebbo]

Well I finally managed to clear the demo. After recovering from the initial shock (those are some fast bullets) it didn't feel too overwhelming aside few strange difficulty spikes. Stage 2 Boss was one of them; for some reason the three laser pillars the boss fires seem pretty hard to dodge, especially since I keep confusing the middle part of the stage background with the laser. Maybe it's just me but it certainly feels like its playing tricks on my eyes.

I also kept mixing up bullets and medals. The yellow bullets simply feel more "shinier" - maybe the medals could have more distinct shape? One final gripe considering the visibility is the weapon UI, which felt somewhat cramped and it can be hard to notice in a hurry which weapon actually has a bomb ready.

I also noticed this minor error in the stage result screen:

Shouldn't that be 100 instead of 500?