Nordenfelt - 2D Steampunk Shmup

[Udderdude]

Check out the lightning weapon in Shienryu (ST-V/Saturn)

[hermitC]

The gauge on the left shows the energy left for using the weapon. It has to be charged up by collecting recharge items dropped by destroyed enemies.

Coloring and shape are not fixed yet. I have something procedural, flickering and sizzling in mind. First I'm going to code all must-have mechanics and attach their faces later.

Thanks for the references to other beam weapons. Templates are always welcome.

[koleslaw54]

Did you read any tutorials when starting to sprite? I just finished coding up the gameplay for a shmup I'm working on and its time to replace all of my temporary graphics (different colored circles) with actual sprites. You made quick progress learning to make your ships look very nice, so I was wondering if you'd read up on the subject somewhere.

[S20-TBL]

Did you read any tutorials when starting to sprite? I just finished coding up the gameplay for a shmup I'm working on and its time to replace all of my temporary graphics (different colored circles) with actual sprites. You made quick progress learning to make your ships look very nice, so I was wondering if you'd read up on the subject somewhere.

Check here: http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/tut ... s/tsugumo/

[hermitC]

This post includes a sprite tutorial list (right after the green awkward fish-ship sprite) which helped me a lot.

This tutorial is great for advanced tile creation: Getting More out of Seamless Tiles

[koleslaw54]

Thanks a lot I'll check those out and start spriting!

[hermitC]

Thanks a lot I'll check those out and start spriting!

I'm looking forward to your results.

[hermitC]

Oops! Forgot to show you the latest progress of Nordenfelt.

To wrap it up: I've started a regular dev log 3 weeks ago:

Nordenfelt dev log start
Nordenfelt dev log 1
Nordenfelt dev log 2
Nordenfelt dev log 3

Keeping all my report outlets in sync isn't that easy.

I'll do my best to keep you informed here.

Cheers,
Thomas

[BPzeBanshee]

Man, that's a fair bit of particle effects you got going there.

I don't recall shmups needing a decent computer ever before, but this may well be the first if the particles bog down the game performance on anything less than a hyperthreading multichanneling Crossfiring watercooling overclocked fancy lights and bells and whistles shiny brand spanking new bloody 750 watts 4.8 jiggahertz $9001 gaming computer.

It's been good reading your blog though, do keep it up!

[hermitC]

Man, that's a fair bit of particle effects you got going there.

I don't recall shmups needing a decent computer ever before, but this may well be the first if the particles bog down the game performance on anything less than a hyperthreading multichanneling Crossfiring watercooling overclocked fancy lights and bells and whistles shiny brand spanking new bloody 750 watts 4.8 jiggahertz $9001 gaming computer.

It's been good reading your blog though, do keep it up!

There's one situation in the first level where dozens of kamikaze enemies enter the screen: 2000 particles popping up there!

I know I'm overdoing particle effects at the moment. Mainly because I don't have the balance feeling for them yet. I will (have to) gain it.

[hermitC]

Some level assets I'm working on:



There are no textures because I use asset prototypes until I'm happy with the level design. Then the sprites get details and colors.

This is a grass tile test done with Blender:



It looks quite nice but loses it's charm when scaled down to ingame tile size. Crop circles may be a gain. :grin1:

Read more about it in the latest Nordenfelt dev log.

[hermitC]

A brief glimpse of the current asset work: an evolving, yet incomplete level part:

[hermitC]

Another level segment on the anvil:

3d model:


rendered background:

[Udderdude]

I like the rendered version quite a bit, however it could use some more texture work on the hanger and fence.

It would also help if the hangar and other buildings were slightly angled like the dock is.

[tiaoferreira]

TIGER HELI! TIGER HELI! TIGER HELI!

A SUBLIMINAR MESSAGE! HEHEHEHHE!

PS: The colors are not TOO COLD, man?

Hermitc, copy my MSN: cabrumzine@hotmail.com
I have some resources to you!

[hermitC]

I like the rendered version quite a bit, however it could use some more texture work on the hanger and fence.

It would also help if the hangar and other buildings were slightly angled like the dock is.

Due to my current "show regardless of completion" attitute just the ground is detailed. The buildings are still in the works.
Different angles sound like a good idea. Should give the scene visual tension.

The colors are not TOO COLD, man?

They are not finalized yet. Colors will be adjusted to contrast enemies and bullets. Future fine tuning will determine the color palette.

[tiaoferreira]

Looking good, the layout of the map looks more like Raiden, than with TIGER HELI ...
Another subliminal message?

hjahahhahaha

[hermitC]

IMO there always will be a game looking similar. Hopefully people don't raise expectations for comparable gameplay.

[tiaoferreira]

Don't worry, man. My PIXEL FIGHTERS is a MIX of various games, hehehe!

[Horacechin]

The inventory and shop feature is cool

[hermitC]

The inventory and shop feature is cool

Thanks. It's quite hard to streamline shopping/equiping for fluent gameplay. Going for 1cc may suffer from these features. So I'm working hard to make it smooth. GUI stuff can be tough sometimes.

[hermitC]

Just working on the last segment of level 1, a huge dam. The current draft:



Now that I'm nearly through with the background graphics starting presales for Nordenfelt becomes realistic.

[tiaoferreira]

After you release game, can I make a COUNTER-STRIKE version of this map?

[hermitC]

After you release game, can I make a COUNTER-STRIKE version of this map?

Sure!

[tiaoferreira]

Thanks, bro!

[hermitC]

As some of you already may have noticed:

Nordenfelt is available for preorder now!

Here you have some screenshots from the current version 0.5.1:



Releases are much more frequently now, every 2-3 weeks. Gaining momentum rocks!

Check out Nordenfelt's website for more info. I would be pleased to welcome you in the secret development forum, accessible for preorder folks only.

[hermitC]

First screenshot of the second level: Sky Fortress

[BPzeBanshee]

To be frank I'm quite worried going by the demo. It plays better than it used to gameplay-wise now that the first stage is conceptualised but those damn particles are being a bitch for performance on a machine that should be able to run games like this just fine. Furthermore since the demo doesn't have any of the key features of the game itself (like this shop system I've seen you mention) it makes me feel very skeptic about considering this as having commercial value.

As for the gameplay itself, comparing Raizing to it seems just silly. It's more like Raiden not-quite-done-right, which is okay because there's at least room for improvement that is noticable based on playing said games. The random medal system further solidifies this ideal, but by itself I suspect it might be a bit shallow due to being luck-based.

The graphics themselves do look pretty good across the board at the very least, which is good.

Anyway, subscribed. Hopefully I might win that lottery and be able to critique it in its entirety as it approaches full completion.

[ptoing]

Tho I have to say the demo is pretty boring. Not much going on and I agree with BPB about the random medal stuff. It does not add much of interest to the game. If you want to do medalling do something which is closer to Raizing games or the Raiden series. Something with progression.

Also the graphics are a bit drab. I reckon most of this still is placeholder to some degree.
I would suggest against shading with black. It makes stuff look lifeless and muddy. There are no black shadows in nature generally. The colour of shadows is complimentary to the lightsource. Meaning that your shadows should have a blueish/purple tint. You do not have to go too colourful, just not black. Also I can see the tilegrid on the grass, try to make that a bit more seamless.

I had no problems with the particles, but I am on a decent machine here. Tho I reckon they are not really needed. I would rather make the explosions a bit cooler (again, see Raizing stuff) and get rid of some of the smoke perhaps. Or make it optional for people with older machines.

As far as gameplay goes I found there was not much going on. Could have used about 2-3 times as many enemies and be faster as well.

Also, I am wondering if you are doing all this in 3D. as in landscape and enemies. If you indeed do then I do not understand why you are choosing a top down perspective. The only benefit you have is that you can easily rotate stuff and do not need to pre-render different views. But it would make the game look a lot more interesting if you did it in a slanted perspective like the Cave stuff or Crimzon Clover. If you would use pixelart I could understand the top down thing. Way less work, but if you are really doing models of everything you perhaps should give it a thought.

Either way I am looking forward to where this is going and hope there will be a more extensive demo in the future.

[BPzeBanshee]

Also, I am wondering if you are doing all this in 3D. as in landscape and enemies. If you indeed do then I do not understand why you are choosing a top down perspective. The only benefit you have is that you can easily rotate stuff and do not need to pre-render different views. But it would make the game look a lot more interesting if you did it in a slanted perspective like the Cave stuff or Crimzon Clover. If you would use pixelart I could understand the top down thing. Way less work, but if you are really doing models of everything you perhaps should give it a thought.

As been mentioned before he took the route of pre-rendered 2D sprites based on 3D models. Some of the bullets are definitely placeholder graphics though, that's for certain.

...unless you actually bought it and found he's gone completely 3D in a different way again, but then that further proves my 'trial does not accurately represent the game' view.