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

[Rozyrg]

Yeah, it was the first hurdle I ran into when I dropped an old project into GMS. Talk about instant disappointment.

What's funny to me is that the official line on this (and every other annoying change that has made me wary of ever upgrading again) is that it's to "encourage better coding". Yeaaaah, good job at that when the obvious solution to the problem YOU'VE created is to go back to less efficient methods that likely waste both computing time and mine having to write out a million different specific comparative statements.

*deep breath*

I know it's all for the sake of lovely cross compatibility and putting smiles on the faces of all of god's precious children; but they could at least explain in advance how badly their latest and greatest "upgrade" is going to wreck your shit because the code you have that already fucking works doesn't meet their high standard of syntactic quality.

Ok, i probably need to just go lie down now. >_>

[mice]

Blood pressure Saturday!

[n0rtygames]

how badly their latest and greatest "upgrade" is going to wreck your shit because the code you have that already fucking works doesn't meet their high standard of syntactic quality.

Premulitiplied Alpha.
XNA 3.1 -> XNA 4.0.

You have my fullest sympathies. Know what this is like

[BPzeBanshee]

Didn't mean to step on a nerve, mate. I completely and fullheartedly agree with you on Yoyo's stupidity, especially when their Free License limiting use of resource files within the IDE is basically asking for syntax abuse.

[Rozyrg]

No worries, was just one of those days. For example, I went grocery shopping earlier and some brain-damaged redneck piece of shit had parked his pickup truck dead in the street in front of a liquor store effectively blocking traffic from both sides. If my head could've turned into a mushroom cloud right there, it would've. >_>

[Rozyrg]

Since I've been tinkering with small (but debatably finished) projects again, I've decided to give LCA a once over as well. I might throw it in as an unlockable for Megatank v2 if nothing else.

- 'speed up' button to compensate for lack of mouse maneuverability
- Enemies have a few more tricks up their sleeve
- More helper effects (like a Space Invaders style shield)
- New bonus rooms, secrets
- Different warp system for higher stages
- Higher stages have random 'gaps' with lower bullet speeds or different effects to keep you guessing (and the difficulty from being too much of a brickwall.)

... and of course, much more pointlessly cryptic and confusing bullshit

I kind of want some creepy speech synthesis to further add to the atmosphere; but nothing too modern or sophisticated sounding, eg the standard Appletalk stuff you hear used all the time. Any recommendations there?

[BPzeBanshee]

I did some filtering of voices with GarageBand once and got.....interesting results.

I remember the laser in LCA was a bit hit and miss in terms of collision, for some reason the one in Megatank v2 aside from being multidirectional (!) feels like it's hitting enemies more consistently. Same code or different?

[Rozyrg]

It's improved from that, yes. That basically fired a really fast bullet to determine what was the first obstacle in the beam's path, the newer one creates a static, self-destructing bullet at every point the beam is segmented at. I've also made it detect collision independently (using passive objects that remain at each segment point) so it can relay where to stop drawing the beam and where not the spawn bullets.

Looking for something similar to the old c64 voice synthesis, I found this. I have to purposefully make the voice 'crack' to get the lo-fi effect I'm going for; but it works.

[BPzeBanshee]

I can't even run it. Complains it's less than 32-bit. Are you still running XP?

[Rozyrg]

Yep. Supposedly the program just interfaces with Windows' built in speech stuff; but there's no MS Sam sounding voice.. hmm. It doesn't sound too far off the old Appletalk voices, so I'm sure the actual guts aren't radically different from most of what you'd find out there. The output and configurability is nice; but it's main 'feature' is really a big soundboard like menu with lots of text presets for prank calls/telemarketer annoyance. >_>

I did find this too, though.

[BPzeBanshee]

Oooo, could be interesting!

XP really is the best for 32-bit. Can't go wrong. GM:Studio games don't seem to want to start on my legacy PC though last I tried: I guess Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs is too far off of vanilla XP for the new shonky system Yoyo's come up with.

[Rozyrg]

Well, damn... that blows. -_- Good thing GM8 is still so damn useful, I guess.

I added an extra mode in LCA that makes it somewhat closer to an actual shmup, with even wackier scoring and enemy waves spawning right after (or in the middle of) each other. Somehow it manages to be even harder, though. I'll try to remember not to make the unlock method too cryptic.

Here's an in-progress build. Some stuff I mentioned a few posts back isn't done yet; but I figure the pseudo shmup mode might be of interest. To access it, just press X(keyboard) or B(360 pad) on the title.

Move - Arrows/ LStick
Fire - Z/RTrigger
Speed up (hold) - X/LTrigger
Pause - Space/Y(360)

[railslave]

Nice ,love the motion blur on stuff, And the "bring 99% imagination" 8bit black backdrops.

I realy liked the secret places, interesting, and as hardcore as anyone would ever want!
Nice file size as well.
Didnt get very far at all!

Love how one of the best indie artists around has completely deconstructed his stuff, thats real art.

[Rozyrg]

Glad you enjoyed it.

I've always had a fascination with the 'less is more' approach you only see in those old, old games. Some of this was just from random ideas I had for adventure and RPG games that I couldn't figure out what else to do with. Seeing this a few years back helped as well, despite the fact we never got the Spectrum over here and I should have no nostalgic attachment to it or games like JSW.

What's really sad is that a Speccy would've whipped the snot out of the $2000 Tandy PC my dad bought in 1987 in terms of graphics and sound.

...and there will be loads more secrets later on!

[railslave]

Dunno if the excessive aimed shots are too predictable after a while ..


I like the tie fighters

[mice]

The speach is superb! More of that!

[Rozyrg]

If I remember correctly, bullet speed and spread multiplication cap out around 60 or 70 to keep things from getting too ridiculous and at Round 40 or so you start getting random, non-targeted bullet sprays; but that's about it for shot variety as of now. I've added code for wall bouncing shots and I have some other ideas to mix things up; but I'm not sure where to have it all start changing. I might just put it at 50 and set the 'hard mode' warp back a few rounds.

The speach is superb! More of that!

A little menacing speech synth goes a long ways, huh? I'm quite tempted to have it spout random lines from Berserk or the Sorcerer pinball game. Also, it's kind of funny that I'll need to credit something called Shit Talker now.

[railslave]

Those little intermissions reminding me of pitfighter a bit now
I have genuine respect for that wizard after i shot him the first time

oh yeah, this font... would complete it ..




for max jeff minter thrills

[Rozyrg]

TOTALLY STUDLY!

Also Smash TV with how it counts up all the junk you've collected while playing those oh so pleasing sounds (I keep bringing that game up lately.)

I could probably come up with something more appropriately depressing for this, though. I was thinking like a game over death count showing how many human lives were lost because of your incompetence, with the possibility of failing so bad that the whole of humanity/all life on earth gets wiped out.

[railslave]

TOTALLY STUDLY!

Also Smash TV with how it counts up all the junk you've collected while playing those oh so pleasing sounds (I keep bringing that game up lately.)

I could probably come up with something more appropriately depressing for this, though. I was thinking like a game over death count showing how many human lives were lost because of your incompetence, with the possibility of failing so bad that the whole of humanity/all life on earth gets wiped out.

Something like how many families broke up because of your carrots impotence ?
(with suitable grunged up clip art )

[mice]

Congrats on the NEO XYX release. Looks gobsmacking! \o/
Will have ghegs video on repeat for the rest of the evening.

[railslave]

Congrats on the NEO XYX release. Looks gobsmacking! \o/
Will have ghegs video on repeat for the rest of the evening.

So that "where he goes" :O

truly stunning, maybe the best looking game in that generation of consoles... one of them at least ...


I love how he takes it all in his stride as well

[Rozyrg]

Thanks, guys...I'm just glad it's done.

Some updates for LCA:

• -added shop,special items and 'coin' system for purchasing them
  -enemies can now shoot wall bouncing shots,persistent homing missiles and lasers
  -added button that locks movement to fast speed
  -fury mode now has proper powerups
  -non boss enemies now have an outline/shadow so they don't end up as an amorphous blob when spawned in tight groups

[railslave]

I can imagine you have to shoot the items to buy them ? if so, that a bit of a half life "man of few words/strong silent type" dialogue opportunity there lol

Love the seemingly random junk in your inventory

Thanks, guys...I'm just glad it's done

lol, i bet those stills were hard work !!

[Rozyrg]

Yes, indeed, they were. >_>

I can imagine you have to shoot the items to buy them ?

Yep. I was thinking more oldschool Zelda where you smack what you want to buy with your sword. It just seems the most straightforward way to go about it, honestly.

The thing about the items, though, is that they can cause unique events (yes, I've added even more pointless B movie references in case anyone was wondering); but the characters you meet will also take/steal them... even the expensive ones. Some are part of sets, too... like the crown, ring and chalice.

Since I've already got a heart as an item in there, I can probably toss in a few more body parts to work in a Castlevania 2 reference as well.

[railslave]

It would be quite cruel if you shot too long/to much on an item and got accused of stealing lol

Only to face some mustached law enforcer

[BPzeBanshee]

Saw Ghegs' video of stage 3 water graphics, best I've seen from you in that department.

I feel bad for saying this, but much as I love this carrot game I'd totally pay money for you to actually finish YOUR XYX too. NG:DEV have nothing on your programming IMO.

[Rozyrg]

Well, the thing is... when I have a particular idea, I tend to keep going with it as long as I have the drive. Basically, I hate to just drop stuff when I already have somewhere to go with it. Being faced with lots of time-devouring redrawing/recoding (ZPF) and generally stuck for ideas (XYX,Last Chance), is something else... though I would accept any flak for being too lazy or absent minded to finish anything.

I know this is just a little weird tinker toy of a game and even if I could put it up for sale right now, people would probably just go "WTF is this?" and walk away; but right now, working on it amuses me.

I have thought about porting XYX, though. If nothing else, I'd like the characters/ships to make cameo appearances in another game. The sentiment is very much appreciated, though!

[BPzeBanshee]

Fair enough man.

If nothing else, I'd like the characters/ships to make cameo appearances in another game. The sentiment is very much appreciated, though!

I have a very dull fifth ship slot in GMOSSE that could do with a replacement. One of your more oddball ships from XYX would probably fit right in!..... aside from the graphics looking a kajillion times better than mine.

[Rozyrg]

Haha, true. The guts of it/how it plays is what really matters I guess though. I would say you could take your pick from Last Chance as well; but I don't know how well the up/down gimmick would work there aside from just being something to make it stand out.

My first crossover pick will always be the black Twin Cobra-esque chopper, though. *hums level 4 tune*