[PREVIEW] meteor busters ~ stage 1

just taking a small pause from forgotten myths (the link is in my signature), here's a simple *cough* shooting game that i wanted similar to a real gameBoy game.

limitation: 5 colors (might look obvious because i added a TV-like filter). actually i took the time to animate almost everything: sprites, background, extra animations in the background like other spaceships flying etc...

the game is supposed to be released before the end of the year, january the later. remember it's supposed to be a quick game (well, quick Ã* la marmotte :D )

how does the game work?
you can control up to 6 different spaceships (1 is hidden, and it's... ssshhht), that have completely different weapons and power ups (up to level #4).
basically when you begin a new game, you only have 1 spaceship. if you are destroyed, it's a game over already. between each level, you have the ability to buy new ones (actually you will be rewarded depending on how you played, and there are several techniques/additions to increase your points, like combos or distance calculation). so let's say you have now 2 spaceships: the original one and a new one that you bought. as soon as you are defeated, you play immediately with the other one at the same point (so there's no check point).

another interesting point: you accuracy is calculated all throughout the areas, so if you don't destroy enough meteorits, the area you just passed might be destroyed!
oh, did i mention that the sound in stereo (like explosions) is calculated depending on your position? honestly i'm surprised that the game runs so fast with so many animated things and sometimes dozen of sprites (explosions everywhere, missiles everywhere, meteorits everywhere). and i tested it with flash player 6 "only".

actually some people said that the taking off sequence was one of my most amazing work. weird but true (squize, are you here? :D )

anyway, enjoy those screenies:

title screen / game logotype
http://www.pixelboy-designs.com/mete..._prw/img01.gif

it's time to take off!
http://www.pixelboy-designs.com/mete..._prw/img02.gif

spaceship#1
http://www.pixelboy-designs.com/mete..._prw/img03.gif

spaceship#2
http://www.pixelboy-designs.com/mete..._prw/img04.gif

spaceship#3
http://www.pixelboy-designs.com/mete..._prw/img05.gif

oups? this one is supposed to be hidden!
http://www.pixelboy-designs.com/mete..._prw/img06.gif

thanks for your interest...

Looking good :)

Great concept, may be difficult to handle all six, do they go on autopilot when you're not controlling them?

Cant wait to see it done :D

Great idea with the stereo sound based on position, should add a cool effect to the gameplay :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Phlook
Great concept, may be difficult to handle all six, do they go on autopilot when you're not controlling them?

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nay nay, you play with 1 spaceship at a time... as soon as you are defeated, and if you have another spaceship in your garage, it comes in the place with its beautiful reactor effect *cough* . so the spaceships you own aren't visible on the screen when you are not playing with them actually.

but i'll probably write an autopilot feature for the game rolling demo... unless it's all precalculated like in the old "escape the planet" (i played it once, recorded my actions in the array, so the rolling demo shows how i played at this time)...

oh btw, the game uses and abuses earthquake effects, the window is almost constantly shaking depending on the explosions. it adds something unique to the game, very arcade maybe...

Quote:

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Originally posted by marmotte
oh, did i mention that the sound in stereo (like explosions) is calculated depending on your position?

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I actually made that in my first game ever :D And yeah, it was a zelda-clone:p

Nice game! Can't wait! (You know i'm a big marmotte-fan;))

... but.. 5? that's few... I hope we can still eazily separate the different things, and everything doesn't melt together...

Looks very good. Where could we test a beta ?

Ooeeehh very nice Marmotte :)

The 5 colours seems like a very good idea, realy basic ;) Love the screenies :D

georgous work as usual marmotte. the effects look like there pretty cool!:)

t1ger
yep, 5 colors is really few, but look at those screenshots... i did my best to have the sprites and the whole background separated. actually i used a little technique: the game is pretty much done in 4 colors in fact. the 5th one is used to seperate sprites from the background mainly (it's the color that is almost white). so i din't think that 5 colors is an issue ;)
and thanks for being a faaaaaaan :P

hasufel
yes and... no. it's too early to be a public demo, i don't want it to be spread all around, since we are talking about possible sells of the game...

SaphuA & blinkOk
thanks ;)

simply great ... and i've seen it in motion (ha!)

yet again my usual comments about the dimmensions beeing too small ...
seeing it on 1.6k*1.4k somewhat degrades it to an animated thumbnail :| - lucky me i can play it on the second screen ... ;)

<olli/>

Hey Now, nGFX, don't get us all mad, we want to play it too!!

Great work Marmotte, like usual, annoying us by showing us your awesome skillz and keeping us from playing it ;)

-Keep it up.

just out of curiosity - i noticed the "maxspeed" in katakana in one still - do you know japanese or did you get someone to do that for you? anyway i love your style, totally retro. right on. you make me want to make better games. keep it up.

astrocalder

Yummy. And it plays as nice as it looks. Oh, and the parallax is just sex.

Squize.

thanks everyone!

astrocalder
bingo! i'm surprised to ear that you have some knowledge in japanese? actually i said to willoughbyjackson to write some katakanas for me concerning that hidden spaceship (yep, he's alive). this will be my 1st game with more than my only name (credit) at the end :D
i have people devoted for the sound too, and it sounds as it should be...
and yes, i'm still in a retro mood. i will not be surprised that my next game will be totally experimental and photorealistic :D we'll see, i have several game projects involving puzzle ideas...

nGFX
yep, actually 192x160 isn't a lot for a game (though my screen resolution is not far from you). i may add a simple x2 option (via html probably, i need to find a solution)

squize
i'm sure that you mean it, little sexy man. btw you missed the new version with the additions: lots of details here and there. the game is almost alive.
*pimp*

"the game is almost alive."

Well I know of a certain new games site that is almost alive too my balloon loving chum :)
Maybe there should be a connection between the two things ;)

Squize.

Quote:

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Originally posted by d3s_inc
Hey Now, nGFX, don't get us all mad, we want to play it too!!

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Yeah! It looks like there's some secret society of developers with plans for world domination... :)

:D

btw the game has a nice language selection feature implemented already, might be good to have it in lot of different languages (and yep, this will increase the amount of ending credits, which is totally good!). again, i'm using a custom function that is writing all the texts not in dynamic fields, but with bitmapped fonts...

If you want to make it in russian, I'm at your service!

Dutch (Netherlands) translation also available here ;)

Excellent game, plays even better than it looks! Loving those 'earthquake effects', really adds to the overall experience.

Nice work mate,

Marmotte, it looks awesome... I really like the limited palette (similar to sepia tones, which gives it an old look).

I can contribute with Swedish :). Though it is only spoken by 9 million people... But Sweden has the world's highest internet penetration rate at least. Have you included the letters åäö in your bitmap font? No? We use those a lot. ;)