TMC's Shoot Em Up Dev Diary

[JDog053]

Wow you are progressing at some rate!

[T_M_C]

If you have a score based game as most shmups are then there really isn't a problem to solve IMO as the penalty for switching ships is that you start with a zero score again.  If someone wants to go to the trouble of switching players to grind through the game then let them...it's their loss.

Yeh, thats true.

I think the main motivation for this game will be to complete it via one of the routes though.
No doubt there will  be high score chasers but i think these will probably be in the minority.

I'd rather a player complete the game by switching controls than not being able to due to the games difficulty.

But when 2 or more players are active i will increase the difficulty of the game by increasing the hitcounts for the enemies.
If a single user decides to activate a second player by himself then he has that increased difficulty to deal with.  And if i include a minimum time limit for that difficulty to last ( say 1 minute ) then even if player 1 dies dies, the user is still has to play on that difficulty setting for a limited period.

So, there will be a penalty.

Wow you are progressing at some rate!

Thanks Jdog.  


Update
----------

I spent most of yesterdays dev time designing vector background images.  Things like, buildings, domes, windmills and trees.

See attached screenshots.

At the time i thought they were quite cool, but looking at them today i feel differently.  So i think i'll scrap them and start again.

I've also implemented the player energy system.  

Players energy gets reduced on contact with scenery and regenerates at a slow rate over time.

I want to code the player explosions today.  And i think i'll use lots of small copies of the player graphics and shower them over the screen.

Just experimenting to find out what looks cool.

TMC

[T_M_C]

You know i just love posting screenshots.   

TMC

[JDog053]

Nice screenies, but I can see what you mean about the vctory art, it doesn't quite fit, though i can't put my finger on it... Maybe you're trying to get too much detail into such a small space? makes the little things stand out a bit much...

Still very impressed though!

[prince caro 19]

this game looks amazing, and i disagree with you jdog, i think with a commercial product you need to put some detail in there, and i like the trees and grass, though i think they could use a bit more variety in color.
i really want to play this game looking at those screenshots! i love the neon 80's arcade game feel it gives off, it really looks like something that would be fun to play with my friends. 

[JDog053]

I meant it in the vein of it being a little too different from all the other graphics in the game so far. If they were maybe simplified perhaps...

[fog]

I meant it in the vein of it being a little too different from all the other graphics in the game so far. If they were maybe simplified perhaps...

IMO it's because the existing graphics had extensive glow and little in the way of actual line definition, whereas on the new graphics the lines are prominent but there is little or no glow.  There's just a slight clash of styles.

For dev graphics they look great IMO and can be tidied up and the style made more consistent when the really important stuff is done

[JDog053]

I meant it in the vein of it being a little too different from all the other graphics in the game so far. If they were maybe simplified perhaps...

IMO it's because the existing graphics had extensive glow and little in the way of actual line definition, whereas on the new graphics the lines are prominent but there is little or no glow.  There's just a slight clash of styles.

For dev graphics they look great IMO and can be tidied up and the style made more consistent when the really important stuff is done

Yeah thats what I meant, clash of styles! I just didn't articulate it that well and came off sounding ignorant...

[T_M_C]

Thanks for your input guys.

It's great to get other people opinions.  

I'll use those small vector graphics as place holders for now.  I was really just experimenting.  And it doesn't quite work.

Ideally i'd love to create the vector graphics along the lines of Gravity Crash.  But i havn't yet found a way to mimic the effect in photoshop, that allows me to have an alpha layer.

When i add the alpha layer i lose alot of the glow.  I think they may have used a seperate image for the background glow.   

I'll still keep experimenting until i find a style that works.

i really want to play this game looking at those screenshots! i love the neon 80's arcade game feel it gives off, it really looks like something that would be fun to play with my friends.

I could really do with some playtesters for multiplayer mode.

I'll be releasing a single level demo for feedback at some point.  Your input will be invaluable.


Update
----------

I've now got all the player explosions in game.  And they look pretty cool.  I'm really pleased with the way they work.
It's simply a case of using the player ship sprite as a particle and showering about 50 of them from the players position all over the screen.  Sort of like a fountain effect.
Along with a really loud Boom of course.

I've also been trying to track down a small problem i'm having with the rate of fire for my player bullet sfx.

Although my game is locked at 60fps and my bullets are fireing at a constant rate, the sfx stalls slightly every one or two seconds.

I'm pretty sure this is a hardware issue and not code related.

I do have to bare in mind that my system has some hardware issues.  I think related either to Ram or my AGP port.

But i do plan on getting a new computer ( upgrading ) some time this year, so i hope that will cure the problem.

I'll also have to take a demo of my game to a friends house and play it on his much more powerful machine and see what happens.

I'm all about ready now to make a start on the enemy attack waves editor.  Using splines to define the paths.

I've already got the hard part coded, with my camera spline code, so it will be simply a case of creating a system that will allow lots of spline paths instead of just one.

I expect this editor to take the most time to complete so far.  So my updates may not be as regular until this editor is finished.

TMC

[fog]

When i add the alpha layer i lose alot of the glow.  I think they may have used a seperate image for the background glow.   

I'll still keep experimenting until i find a style that works.

I find I need to duplicate the alpha glow layer several times to get the effect I want.  I don't do subtle mind 

[T_M_C]

I find I need to duplicate the alpha glow layer several times to get the effect I want.  I don't do subtle mind

Right.

Graphics are on hold right now.  But i'll be trying lots of different techniques to try and find the effects i'm after.

I havn't found many tutorials on the net for creating vector neon glow stuff either.  Not for games anyway.



Update
----------

I've had a quite productive weekend as far as coding goes.  In between watching the Olympics and playing games.

I've made a start on the enemies attack waves editor.

I can now scroll around the level and place any number of spline paths for the enemies to follow.

I can also set the trigger point for each enemy spline, along the camera path spline by moving a cursor along the camera spline to the required position.
When the camera reaches or passes this trigger position along the camera spline the relevent enemies are set in motion along their respective spline path.

I need to add the ability to delete enemy splines and points next and then to add speed points along the enemy splines to control the speed of the enemies as they traverse thier path.

After that i can make a start adding enemies to each path.

I'm also going to include options to allow enemies to shoot at the player also.  So that needs to be coded when i come to add the enemies later on.





I'm also not very happy with my player shoot sfx.

Getting this sfx right has proven quite tricky becaused it's the one sfx that gets heard for 99% of the playing time.

I've tried lots of different ones and none seem perfect.  They are ok, but i havn't found that one sfx i thought was perfect for the game.

So, i've decided to include the option for the players to choose any number of different included shoot sfx or to turn it off completely via the audio menu.

So, players can choose which sfx they like best or to turn it off.  I've also added the option to set it's volume too.



TMC

[fog]

It sounds like you're building all the editors I've always wanted but never found the time to do    Great stuff.

As far as sfx are concerned, for 1982 I spent ages playing with SFXR just hitting the Randomize button over and over and saving out any interesting sounds it threw up.  Then if necessary just load anything decent into Goldwave and tweak.

I know I've posted this link before, but it's free and well worth playing with if you need any inspiration.
http://www.drpetter.se/project_sfxr.html

 

[T_M_C]

It sounds like you're building all the editors I've always wanted but never found the time to do    Great stuff.

Thanks.

Yeh, although my platformers dev time has mostly been taken up with writing the editors, it is time well spent as the editors are multi purpose.

As far as sfx are concerned, for 1982 I spent ages playing with SFXR just hitting the Randomize button over and over and saving out any interesting sounds it threw up.  Then if necessary just load anything decent into Goldwave and tweak.

I know I've posted this link before, but it's free and well worth playing with if you need any inspiration.
http://www.drpetter.se/project_sfxr.html

Thats a great idea Fog.  

Thanks for the Link.  I had totally forgotton about that.  

I'll muck around with it today and see what i can come up with.



Update.
----------

Spent most of my dev time yesterday doing small things.

I've added the ability to delete spline points or an entire spline path now.  Much needed option, and it took some fiddling to get right.

Next Job is to start on the Speed Points along the spline.

Again it should simply be a case of porting across my camera code.

TMC

[fog]

I know I've posted this link before, but it's free and well worth playing with if you need any inspiration.
http://www.drpetter.se/project_sfxr.html

Thats a great idea Fog.   

I've got loads of little things like that I do when needing a bit of inspiration or a break from coding.  There's nothing worse for killing your motivation than staring at an editor waiting for inspiration to arrive so I go looking for it instead.

[T_M_C]

Update
----------

Managed to get some real nice sfx from that utility you pointed me too Fog.

Masked = Happy now. 

Didn't get much work done yesterday apart from rewriting my player bullets code to streamline it better.

Had some nice pancakes too.  Being Shrove Tuesday and all.   

TMC