2D Shooting Game Prototype - Arisa

[jebodiah8]

Ok, so here we go. I'm in a game development program in college where we make Game Maker games. This particular game is a two dimensional side scrolling shooter aiming to recreate "bullet hell" conditions (refer to Raiden or Ikaruga for bullet hell reference). In Arisa you have two firearms and a wave attack. The firearms are a submachine gun and a missile launcher. Each one upgrades with kills. The wave attack has limited uses (3 for now) but will destroy all hostile projectiles on screen. Since this is an early prototype only the core mechanics and a level skeleton are in place. Art, music, and level end coding will come later. Below I will post the link to my team's TRAC page. TRAC, for those who aren't familiar, is an open source project management tool which makes keeping track of progress on a project much easier. This is our link: http://trac.bloomfield-gamedev.net/12FA_Team6/wiki

On the TRAC page you will find various tabs with all sorts of information about the team and the project. The following is a list of the different tabs and what you can expect to find when you click on them:
1. Wiki Tab - The Wiki Tab displays our design document, some short bios of the team members, our roles in Arisa's creation, and some early concepts before we had settled on Arisa.
2. Blog Tab - The Blog Tab is just what it sounds like, a blog. Right now there is only one entry, written by me, however that will change as the week goes on.
3. Timeline Tab - The TImeline Tab displays the team's changes to the TRAC page over the life of the project in a timeline format.
4. Roadmap Tab - The Roadmap Tab displays a percentage bar showing how close we are to meeting our next milestone, based on active tickets.
5. Browse Source Tab - The Browse Source Tab links directly to Subversion, our version management tool. In order to play the prototype click the "trunk" folder and download the "Arisa Prototype.exe" file. You are welcome to browse our other resources just don't delete anything, please
6. View Tickets - The View Tickets Tab shows all active and closed tickets, or tasks, created by the team over the life of the project.
7. Gantt Chart Tab - The Gantt Chart Tab shows the team's progress on each ticket in a bar graph format.
8. Calendar Tab - The Calendar Tab shows the team's ticket modifications on a calendar over the life of the project.

Controls for the prototype:
A - run left
D - run right
W - jump
Left Mouse Button - fire submachine gun, hold for continuous stream, note that you have unlimited ammo
Right Mouse Button - fire missile launcher, long reload time with are of effect damage and damage over time, also has unlimited ammo
Spacebar - wave attack that destroys all enemy projectiles on screen

All comments, suggestions, criticisms, and death threats are welcome.

[tails]

Looks Interesting

[Elisto Dragonwings]

Tails, lets please keep this thread on topic to jebodiah's project.

[tails]

Sorry about that I replaced all I said with kind words

[Hakuzo NightFox]

I haven't tried the game yet but I may wait a bit until it's fleshed out a bit more. Screenshots would be very helpful to add to the blog. They are part of the Development process and helps you keep track of what changes have been made from previous versions.

[jebodiah8]

@Tales

Thanks for the kind words, man. We're all pretty new to game development so any criticisms will help. I did see your previous post and I'm not sure how to go about making an effective Sat AM 3D Sonic game. There are 3D fan game engines out there, check Sonic GDK and Sonic Blitz Engine, however I don't have any experience working in 3D yet.

@Hakuzo

Thanks for the suggestion. I agree that screenshots would be very helpful, and up until recently didn't know how to take them in Game Maker. I do now though and plan to include them in future posts.

[tails]

Dear Jeb. Thank you so much for even answering my post I'm surprised and very happy that you did because I had to delete it because I was afraid I was going to get banned of sight I greatly appreciate it thank you very much for all info_ you have offered

Thank you very much

And you're very welcome for the kind words

To further help you out I need to play the game when you get it ready for beta testing please let me know thank you very much no really thank you very much lol

Sincerely tales aka tails

Yeah I had the Spelling change cuz it didn't come out the first time right but either way is good

[tails]

About your project can you play with a USB controller ?
And where can I see screenshot of your game ?

[Hakuzo NightFox]

About your project can you play with a USB controller ?

You can do this easily with a program called Xpadder, if you can find the older free version it works very well. you map what ever keyboard keys you want to the controller.

[tails]

At night fox. Is there any type of special controller you need to use for this program to work ?

[Hakuzo NightFox]

At night fox. Is there any type of special controller you need to use for this program to work ?

nope, it recognizes anything from a Xbox 360 contoller to any other USB controller you have. Just be sure to find the older free version. The new version costs 10 dollars.

Xpadder is the name of the program. I got it years ago from a programming book, so I don't know where you can find the older one at anymore.

[jebodiah8]

Just a quick update for those interested:

Our Beta presentation will happen on Thursday November 15th. Unfortunately, due to Hurricane Sandy, the team lost a nice chunk of work time so our original expectations for beta have been scaled back. We are hoping to have a completly working first level to be played with all mechanics and art implemented. Since it is the first level of the game it won't be too hard as we are intending it to be a kind of text-less tutorial. If anyone decides to play it and finds a bug please don't hesitate to leave a post about it. I will see it, and I will make sure it gets addressed by the team. As for blog posts and screenshots, I know I promised more, I'm going to be doing alot more of those post beta as the work load is expected to drop a little. As a silly little bonus we might post some off the wall marketing materials for the game too. As to what they will include I'm not sure yet, but you can be assured that we will try to have a sense of humor about them. I'm looking forward to any feedback you wish to provide.


Thanks again,
jebodiah8

[tails]

We will need links to play the beta when the time comes

[jebodiah8]

My apologies for being so slow with the link : http://trac.bloomfield-gamedev.net/12FA ... wser/trunk

As last time open the trunk folder on this page but download the file Beta Launcher.exe

The controls have remained the same but for convienience sake I'll reiterate:

W - Jump

A - Run Left

D - Right Right

Mouse - Drag to Aim

Left Mouse Button - Click to Fire Sub Machine Gun (Hold for continuous stream)

Right Mouse Button - Click to Fire a Missile (Area damage and Damage over time)

Spacebar - Press to Clear all Enemy Bullets from the Screen

As with before, your bullets can destroy enemy bullets so the numbers of threats you will be facing has that taken into account. We've had complaints of difficulty level, too high, from a few people already and we're working on that, but I'm looking forward to what a group of fresh eyes can enlighten me on. Thanks again and have fun!

[jebodiah8]

Ok, here it is the gold version: http://www.mediafire.com/?u2rbm0v08ncgpq8

Along with a player's manual: http://www.mediafire.com/view/?7dbs5ptxs4qctnr

The controls have remained the same except now the spacebar attack will damage all enemies on screen and destroy all incoming projectiles for you. We've also included a little unlockable extra mode for good measure. There are three fully playable levels, a final boss, upgrading weapons, and a familiar soundtrack. As always, feedback is greatly valued and good luck!