MetritronHF

[Taylor]

Hi.

MetritronHF: http://tayl1r.itch.io/metritronhf

A while ago I made a game called Metritron for Molyjam 2013. Afterwards I decided to turn it into a fuller game with a proper level structure, more enemies, bosses, etc. and re-branded it MetritronST for XBLIG but that didn't work out. However, this month is the Ludum Dare October Challenge and it inspired me to dig the project out, add the finishing touches to it and unleash it on the internet. As per the challenge objective there is an asking price of a whole one British pound, but don't worry you can download it for free as well by clicking "no thanks."

It is an arena shooter, which I appreciate is a dirty word around these parts, but it does feature some bullet helly concepts. It has 40 stages made of 6/12/20 waves depending on how deep you are, it technically has over 20 enemy types but I'll admit many of these are a variation on a theme, and it does have some bespoke bosses like this guy who totally wasn't inspired by Progear's final boss.

I'm totes accepting feedback, in fact I've already made some adjustments based on peoples suggestions, so fire away. Time to neon up this thread with screenshots... Oh yeah, I should also point out there are options to dim particles, remove bloom, and/or darken the area around entities (press escape/start and go to extra options).

[nasty_wolverine]

WHATS HAPPENING IN THOSE SCREENSHOTS!!!

[BPzeBanshee]

Can't wait to give this a go. My internet's giving me the shits though.

[Taylor]

A lot about this project has been balancing readability and the visual overload. I imagine you can see what's going on in the two game play animations? There is also darkening around entities to make them pop out that don't really show. Either way, you can still customise all this and even remove all the particles and bloom if you want.

[n0rtygames]

[Rozyrg]

Is this a game or some arcane techno wizardry that can somehow project the contents of Jeff Minter's brain onto a computer screen in real time?

(I totally approve either way)

[Taylor]

Yes yes, I believe I have mentioned you can tune the effects if you don't like them.

Is this a game or some arcane techno wizardry that can somehow project the contents of Jeff Minter's brain onto a computer screen in real time?

It's a game and maybe that! The Jeff Minter inspirations cannot be denied. The original game was made for a 48-hour jam so it's a nice style to emulate to get things done on time.

I've added a trailer to the website although youtube has not been kind. I'm trying vimeo to see if that's better.

[n0rtygames]

Yes yes, I believe I have mentioned you can tune the effects if you don't like them.

I was being serious

Have a look at some Touhou replays. The screen practically turns white in some sections due to the additive blending and you can't see shit!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Have a look at some Touhou replays. The screen practically turns white in some sections due to the additive blending and you can't see shit!

Got some examples? Literally the only spellcards I can even think of that had bullet visibility gimmicks or wacky screen visual/brightness changes are a couple from SA that Utsuho uses. I haven't played any Touhou since UFO, though (I think Nue in the extra stage has an attack where black clouds are used to obscure bullets, but like Utsuho, that's clearly an intentional visual obsfucation). Are you talking about something from one of the more recent games? I'm just curious because Touhou is a series where bullet visibility is rarely if ever an issue. Even the PC 98 ones were quite good about this.

[Taylor]

Oh, I see, that’s a Touhou hitbox. I guess you mean when water/fire/butterfly bullets overlap in some of the crazier patterns? I could see that happening but I only play on normal so I've not experienced it myself. Anyway, yeah I don't actually render anything additive and I also darken the area around game entities... although obviously I apply liberal bloom as well.

[n0rtygames]

Got some examples?

What, you mean other than the timestamped video you linked exploding in to a sea of massive white additive balls as soon as I click it?!

[Formless God]

When the explosion occurs you're 20 miles away from anything that could potentially kill you. When the balls crash down you can clearly see that the player is dodging blue, alpha-blended bullets in the red areas. Additive blending is used correctly in this case because it tells you to stay the fuck away from anything that isn't red or blue. You need to brush up your pattern analysis skills nort.

[n0rtygames]

I think you're reading a little too much in to my joke about Touhou's additive blending at this point

[Formless God]

When people "joke" about something functional it looks less like a joke and more like a lack of observation.

[n0rtygames]

When people "joke" about something functional it looks less like a joke and more like a lack of observation.

I assure you me being rubbish at Touhou is no secret. I'm just not overly fond of its aesthetics in places but y'know, I've made no secret of that really. I know some may disagree.

Back on topic, OP's screens aren't really any more visually offensive than say Geometry Wars which has particles and shit flying all over the place and is really quite playable whilst staying easy to keep track of.

[Pteriforever]

The game won't run for me, I just get the standard "MetriTronHF has stopped working" error.

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: MetritronHF.exe
Application Version: 1.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 524fdb04
Fault Module Name: KERNELBASE.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.2.9200.16451
Fault Module Timestamp: 50988950
Exception Code: e0434352
Exception Offset: 00014b32
OS Version: 6.2.9200.2.0.0.768.101
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 5861
Additional Information 2: 5861822e1919d7c014bbb064c64908b2
Additional Information 3: f3d5
Additional Information 4: f3d5be0cad2787556264647dc02181c3

[Taylor]

Oh deary me. Do you have the XNA and .net stuffs? Even without them it shouldn't crash though, just not run.

[n0rtygames]

Oh deary me. Do you have the XNA and .net stuffs? Even without them it shouldn't crash though, just not run.

Just downloaded and ran it. Works fine for me. Are you doing any disk IO stuff or anything like that using environment paths or some shit?

Also, all the particles are very flashy so I stand by what I said. It's not like your screen is full of white or anything it's just on the same level as Geometry Wars for having lots of shit flying all over the place.

GJ.

[Pteriforever]

Oh deary me. Do you have the XNA and .net stuffs? Even without them it shouldn't crash though, just not run.

That was the problem. Thanks :3 I'll give some proper feedback once I've played it (:

[Taylor]

Hooray! Crisis averted.