That level will need some balancing once you decide on the entire enemy and bullet list.I recognized the choppy frame too late, speak after release. But I wouldn't have fixed it anyway for 0.3. The new particle system engine really may be a performance hog. I've to investigate a little bit with my profiling tools.BPzeBanshee wrote:I'm getting a little worried here after seeing the framerate get choppy in this version, though I must admit my computer has been having some performance issues with some programs as well so I'll investigate further. The debug function has been helpful in this - by the debug frame it's going variable from 63.9 to 57 when smoke effects such as the Stage 1 boss are in use.
Are the black dots where turrets were supposed to be craters or something? I guess this is another one of those graphical things left for later.
Are the weapons supposed to reset to Level 1 when you die? If so, that isnt working as I get full power before my shield gets hit and I die, and then upon restart of the level I still have max power.
I also notice there's a few new bullet types, which is good, though the level of spreading blue bullets almost became too much for me.
The use of the shield and ship hitbox makes the game a lot better when it comes to dodging, and the way you've made the second stage boss this is demonstrated well. I'm starting to see a lot more of the Garegga influence this time around, though I felt the first phase of the boss needed a bit more happening and the entire thing should be bigger (an aesthetic nitpick there, Im sure you'll consider all this anyway by v0.4).
One last thing: This isnt apparent in this release but for future releases will you have a scoring system where extra weapon upgrades past max power give you points? In this release I just see them doing nothing, and I understand that.
Overall, its definitely a step forward in development. Could you maybe add a fullscreen mode in the next release? I'm appreciating the debug mode here but fullscreen to test framerate stability would be nice too (my other 'problem' programs run smoothly in fullscreen but not in windowed mode for some reason).
True game play has a chance now that the engine is done. Good stuff, I'm glad to see you've thought this all out and rolling forward. I'm always happy to playtest such programs as long as the developer is willing to listen.hermitC wrote: I recognized the choppy frame too late, speak after release. But I wouldn't have fixed it anyway for 0.3. The new particle system engine really may be a performance hog. I've to investigate a little bit with my profiling tools.
The black dots are crater imposters. Just to remind myself to make graphics for them.
Weapon and shield are kept/reset to their maximum for play tests. I wanted players to easily play through both levels. This config renders later upgrades pointless but will survive until I'm focusing on game play and fun. Up to now the game engine demanded to much time to spare some on the game dynamics. I wrote about that here.
I'm glad that the new stuff works. You know, I'm just combining random patterns and throw them at you to see how you react.
The third phase of the tank boss did not make it into the game only because of time. It would have made the whole boss fight a little bit more attractive, speak shortened the first two phases. I decided the tank to be smaller in its first phase for further metamorposis. Finally there has to go some more work into this boss.
The scoring system is absolutely missing. The more I know about shmup design the more I experience scoring as essential part. Most other genres stripped it out when they left the arcades. Shmupers love and want it!
You are lucky, next step is adding support for multiple resolutions. This is going to be tough but IMO its necessary.
Thanks for your thoughts. You're always helpful pushing Nordenfelt forward.
To be honest: I did not know what Raizing meant until yesterday. I knew that Garegga is something I want to mimic but I could not find any comparable games. Bullet hell and downscaled versions of this genre seemed to be the only option these days. But then I stumbled over this article about Raizing/8ing. That's exactly what I was searching for!BPzeBanshee wrote:Raizing games in general have a deep scoring system with their popular titles, so having 'inspired' features such as the medal chaining system would probably be a good start for scoring. Remember that the placing of enemies is usually directly linked to a way that a certain stage is meant to be played to get maximum score - it is NOT all about placing random junk in an area and seeing how it goes.
You could look here as well:hermitC wrote:To be honest: I did not know what Raizing meant until yesterday. I knew that Garegga is something I want to mimic but I could not find any comparable games. Bullet hell and downscaled versions of this genre seemed to be the only option these days. But then I stumbled over
Hell, those artworks are great! That's what I'm after.
I don't understand the problem. The picture should be small enough with 300x225.BPzeBanshee wrote:Picture wont load on the forum page because it's so damn huge, but it is progress.
My obsessive perfectionism forbids me to keep these circular impostors.BPzeBanshee wrote:I think you'll find in most games there's pretty precise shadowing involved, so don't be lazy.
Well when I clicked on the link that the picture had it took me to an image that was more like 1024x768, and direct Img embeds will retain resolutions. I dunno, I guess embedding methods matter on this forum.hermitC wrote:I don't understand the problem. The picture should be small enough with 300x225.BPzeBanshee wrote:Picture wont load on the forum page because it's so damn huge, but it is progress.
That's good, though I can imagine your perfectionism will be challenged further when you get into the gameplay aspect. You're probably going to get annoyed by me reminding you, but when you say you want to make a game in the style of Raizing's popular releases you're trying to fill big shoes, especially in regards to Yagawa (the programmer for Battle Garegga et al)'s dynamic rank system. Then there's the choice of accessibility - you'll find a lot of people that complain about how ruthless the rank is for Garegga. Even on the subject of rank systems alone I know of at least two other projects in this same forum trying to work out exactly what they want out of a rank system and how it will be implemented. It requires a lot of planning and understanding of how it works.hermitC wrote:My obsessive perfectionism forbids me to keep these circular impostors.BPzeBanshee wrote:I think you'll find in most games there's pretty precise shadowing involved, so don't be lazy.
) Garegga, Bakraid, Batrider and others will tell. Sounds like you know what you're doing. That's good news.hermitC wrote:The longer I'm developing Nordenfelt the more I become aware of different mechanics and design elements in shmups. I've played many of them but playing is not designing. IMO following the masters of design is good, comparing to them is suicide for newbies like me. Therefore I'm analyzing the Raizing genre and use the parts which can make a good game. It will be much work but I'm still motivated to do it. Learning the trade is done best by getting your hands dirty. There is no guarantee for me to make a good game, only good experience. If Raizing is too hard to do after all I'll have to follow another path. Investigating (speak excessive MAMEing
Shadows improved:hermitC wrote:Currently I'm working on drop shadows. The initial draft has simple semi-transparent circles:
Further versions may have different sizes, blurred edges, etc. I don't know how much effort will go into this. At the moment I'm happy with this basic shadow system. Polish is always possible
Looks great, would be even better if exhaust fumes cast no shadow though.hermitC wrote:Shadows improved:hermitC wrote:Currently I'm working on drop shadows. The initial draft has simple semi-transparent circles:
Further versions may have different sizes, blurred edges, etc. I don't know how much effort will go into this. At the moment I'm happy with this basic shadow system. Polish is always possible
| My games - http://www.emphatic.se | (Click) I have YEN stickers for saleRegalSin wrote:Street Fighters. We need to aviod them when we activate time accellerator.
Keyboard controls are already available: cursor keys for navigation, Enter for toggle (as expected).BPzeBanshee wrote:Menu graphics are looking nice and steampunky indeed!
I suppose they're all toggled by mouse? If so, a keyboard highlight option with Enter to toggle may be a good alternate for those using controllers and joystick-to-keyboard emulators like Xpadder.
I'll certainly check the game's next release once it's out when I have time. University course + senior school can be quite a taxing start to a year! :O
By the way, not meaning to sound like a promo spammer but if you've got time you may want to have a look at my new project GMOSSE. It's in Game Maker, uses various scripts by members of this forum including myself and may give you an idea of the sort of 'minimum' standards a shmup should have. Of course bombs being unlimited is a debug feature though.
- I'll have a look on GMOSSE. I'm always interested in other people's games, especially when they have something to teach like min standards.
Cool, didn't know about that Garegga guide. Makes desiging my game much easier.S20-TBL wrote:Hmm. The GUI is clunky. Lots of wasted space on the screen, clicking the dials is slow, and it's a tad hard to read because of the Script-style font used. However kudos to you for including a lot of good options in there at this point. I suggest streamlining the options menu and putting everything in table format, like this:
In fact, since your game is steampunk, I suggest looking at the game where that menu came from for references. The first post in the link has a bunch of videos you can download, and there are more on YouTube.
As for the game itself, I didn't experience any slowdowns on my machine. However, the whole thing just feels off. I know this is just an alpha or a prototype, but everything is too static, slow and monotonous, and the designs are boring.
One reason would be the proportion of the sprites--at this point they're a bit too small, with the large grey planes seeming like popcorns compared to your ship, and the ground turrets being a LOT smaller. Another reason is the flight patterns. Right now the missiles are interesting to look at compared to the grey planes because they curve toward your ship and move fast, but the grey planes need a lot of work. Try making them come in from the sides, follow curved paths, fly at you in a formation and then break away to the sides as soon as they come near, fly down in a sine-wave path, etc. to liven up the action.
Also, as for that boss...try not to make him edge down to the bottom of the screen so much. Maybe fly down there for a bit, then quickly go back up again (as opposed to lingering around for a long while, forcing me to pointblank him to score the kill).
