[F8] The Game I'm creating- Also I am looing for help!

[Sauceofallevils]

Hello, I have been working on a side scrolling space shooter for awhile now. Now I know what your all thinking, "Wow I've seen this before!". But I am adding some originality to these kinds of games. For one I added a mouse control cannon with a cross hair that you aim and fire with, also the enemies and objects including yourself are all models made in 3dmax.

Screen shots:
Basic In Game

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...creenshot1.jpg

Enemy AI test

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...creenshot2.jpg

Ship Model Shots

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...vils/right.png

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...levils/top.png

Files:
At the moment I am having trouble with file hosting, but ANYONE WHO POSTS ON THIS THREAD WILL GET A COPY OF THE FLA VIA EMAIL PERSONALLY FROM ME!

More Info
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This game currently has it's own music created especially for this game(all songs are completed songs are done). The ship has inertial movement to give it a more space feel. Also the game is in a pre-alpha stage.

I have very many plans for this game. You will be able to chose from classic mode(where you just use space bar to shoot, which I already programmed) or New Age where you get the use of a cannon. I'm currently working on a battle mode, in this mode you flip when you move from left to right and you scroll through a level. I want this to be for two players and maybe eventually even online(which would allow use of the cannon!). Also I made a coop mode, but in coop mode you can only use classic mode, because you only get one mouse. In classic mode you control your ship using the arrows and shoot with space bar, in New Age mode you control your ship with w, a , s , d and shoot with the mouse(In this early stage space bar still shoots like it does in classic mode in new age mode if you hit space bar).

There will also be other game modes, like Campaign(you scroll through stages trying to beat the game), time attack(See how quickly you can take out 100 enemies), survival(see how many waves you can live through). Also I am making the stages constantly change up, meaning the platforms constantly change so you will have to endure different kinds of obstacles while trying to defeat enemies. The future back rounds I will be making with Terragen.

Other things I have in mind are new weapons. Also I want to create a neat weapon system where you have primary weapons, secondary weapons and a special attack. Your primary weapons is a weapon you have infinite ammo for and when you get a new primary weapon it replaces your other weapon. The secondary weapon is a weapon where you get limited ammunition for and you can scroll through these weapons. The special attack will be managed with a manna bar, once your bar reaches full capacity you can fire your special weapon and it will kill all enemies on the screen at once.

Right now there are enemies that just come out in straight lines randomly. But I have also created enemies with AI which I will soon implement, and also enemies which follow lines and fly in neat flight patterns. So you'll have to deal with enemies, varying in intelligence, speed, hp, and flight limitations.

Why I Need Help
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I need help because to make this game something great I require a team. I need people who can offer new innovative ideas and also program random things. These things can be of your own imagination, I will not try to limit you from anything you desire unless the idea is completely outrages.

Some specific elements of the game which I want to incorporate in the future I need help with. So if anyone is interested please do not hesitate to help.

My Contact Information
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MSN/Email: [email protected]

Soon I will try and create a forum and Irc channel.

LAST WORDS!
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Feel free to do whatever you like with the fla you receive from me via email.

Thank you and have a nice day.

[Evaman]

Your 3ds Max skills don't seem to bad. Maybe you'd want to spice the game up with a story? Because of course I've seen this before, but every person brings another opportunity and especially with a group. I'd love to help, but I'm in the middle of my own mess. But a completed thumbs up on this!

[Sauceofallevils]

Thank you very much Evaman. I am an actor to, so if anyone would want to make cartoons that I could voice act for with some help, I could write up a script for the game. A storyline would be excellent! I want to send you the game via email, but it seems you don't want to receive emails, so if you want a copy of my game so far, just tell me how I should send it to you.

As for 3d max, that isn't my work. All the models are made by my friend, the action script is done by me. The problem is my friend seems to be to busy to keep modeling for me at the moment so I need to find new 3d max talent, and I'll probably try and learn it myself. The music is also made by another one of my friends.

Edit: Modeler has found time and returned to the project.

[Alluvian]

(dont need the fla file, just commenting)

I really like the look of the enemy ships you have in the screenshots. Unfortunately, I think the sideview of the player ship needs some more attention. I like the top view, but that probably won't bee seen too often. As far as side views you might want to take some inspiration from car and/or jet/plane profiles. If the ship does a lot of tilting when moving up and down (so you can see the top/bottom views a little) then maybe it will look fine in motion. And yes, I know, pre-alpha Just trying to be constructive!

For controls, I don't know if you can get flash to support joystick, but dual analog controls would fit well for a game like this as a third control scheme.

I like the idea of flipping and being able to go left or right. One of my favorite retro games in recent memory is a game called "Space Tripper" by Pom-Pom games. You might want to check out their demo for inspiration. I believe the full game is also well worth the purchase if you like shooters.

My issue with Space Tripper was that I thought the arenas were too small, a game with larger levels with left and right movement like you alluded to would be a nice move I think.


Here's a crazy idea off the top of my head if you go with dual analog control as an option. (could also work with mouse keyboard I guess, but a little more clunky) A mix of the gameplay concept behind the pinball multiball. When the ship 'dies' instead of going to the next life, split the ship in two and let one stick (or keyboard) control one half and the other stick (or mouse) control the other half. This would be a blessing (more firepower) and a curse (hard to manage both ships with one brain), in terms of gameplay. Each ship would either fire right, or as I would prefer, fire in the direction they are moving. Mabye if the player keeps both halves alive for a set period of time they are allowed to reform the large ship, or if either small ship dies they are stuck until the other dies and THEN they lose a life.

Might not fit with your gameplay ideas, but I don't think it has been done before. Hey, you get what you pay for

Games looking good so far, good luck!

[Sauceofallevils]

At the moment the ship does tilt up and down. So you get to see some of the bottom and some of the top. In the future I might add an animation where you see a top view of the ship and it flies away to the next planet after you beat each stage. The ship still needs to be skinned so it does not look as cool as it could, but in the future it will look even better.

I'm new to this forum and I'm having trouble finding out what peoples email addresses are. Also everyone I click on to email the user it gives me a message that this user does not want to be emailed. So if you want a copy of the file, please just give me your email in your post or allow yourself to be emailed.

As for that nifty mode you where thinking about, that would be something I could add very far in the future. That could be another mode on top of battle mode, I could also try and add base capture and ctf. But those plans are not for me to program at the moment, if anyone else wants to program that for fun be my guest, but I have a lot of stuff on the agenda to program first. Good idea though.

[Alluvian]

I know what you mean. My programming ToDo list is about 17 pages long before I even get to restarting my own game project, heh. Ah well, still having fun, and I still have a TON to learn that would all come in helpful with the game when I do get around to doing it.

[Sauceofallevils]

Ya I'm trying to keep making this game better in better, but first I need to learn more and more stuff. I have programmed in other languages as well as action script but I'm not as experienced in action script. So I run into problems here and there. haha

[renderhjs]

why not uploading a swf to
http://imageshack.us/
for example,- that way you can share some interactive expierence.

anyway since I can only assume from the screenshots,- some tips from my side:
- need a font for the interface? (you still use arial), try www.dafont.com
- red is always aggressive towards black background- try varying some of the red- tones like one more going orange - the other one more into whine- red, ect. - like now it´s to agressive - use it wisely
- paralax moving (multiple background layers shifting against each other to create the illusion of depth) could give the background some nice improvement (look it up in the forum if you don´t know what I mean right now)

well anyway- try uploading somewhere a swf- so we can have a closer look

[Sauceofallevils]

Thanks for the advice, I'm still a new to action script and stuff. But I programmed in other languages so I should learn quick. I have had some problems getting file hosting thats why I have not put a swf up yet, but I will. I'll try and email you an fla of the game.

[renderhjs]

why should I need the fla? - a swf file is enough to watch

[Sauceofallevils]

A test of the game is now released! I have created a newer version with out the blue circle and it has a menu, just be patient I have other things to do. So when testing, forget about the blue circle.

http://northernmost.org/cosmos/

Click on the html file(top) not the bottom, the bottom is messed up.

[renderhjs]

direct url:
http://northernmost.org/cosmos/Cosmos%20v1.7.1.html

[Sauceofallevils]

Yes I guess thats better, haha. Well thanks for that. So have any critiques(don't mention the blue circle, I know.) that you could give me? Your experienced at this and I respect your work.

[renderhjs]

the controls (W,A,S,D btw. for those who wonder) are a little bit to slow paced- a little faster reaction might be better though the drifting has potential.
I´d add more paralax effects (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_scrolling) to give it more depth,- also the shots and perhaps the engine from the ship could use some glow/ alpha effects - like imitating a laser. Perhaps adding some smoke trails/ or particle trails so that the overal image action has more pace (looks yet very quiet).
Use no arial as font (but I guess I wrote that already)

[Sauceofallevils]

Ok, awesome! I was thinking of adding fire coming out of the back thruster of the ship. So the particles are soon to come! As for the paralax effect, good idea. I did not think about that, but now that I do, it makes me wonder. I'm definitely going to add that, but first I'm trying to make a multiple platform system so the stages change up constantly, so that the game will also have random obstacles that you have to avoid. Ya your right about the speed, it's a little slow, I'll speed it up and make the game more fast paced. I'll stay away from arial font, it looks boring anyways.

PS: If you hit spacebar you'll notice that the projectiles come out constantly just by holding down the button, when I apply the same method to the mouse cannon, it still does not fire rapidly. How would I make it so all you have to do is hold the left mouse button down, to fire rapidly? I'm still new to this language. Thanks:P

[renderhjs]

PS: If you hit spacebar you'll notice that the projectiles come out constantly just by holding down the button, when I apply the same method to the mouse cannon, it still does not fire rapidly. How would I make it so all you have to do is hold the left mouse button down, to fire rapidly? I'm still new to this language. Thanks:P

that´s because flash has a built in delay for keyDown events (me wonders why?) and the mouse hasn´t. Do something like this:

var mouseDown = false;
var timer = getTimer();//flash running time in MS right now!

btn.onPress = function(){
    timer = getTimer();//capture start time
    mouseDown=true;
}
btn.onRelease = btn.onReleaseOutside = function(){
    mouseDown=false;
}


_root.onEnterFrame = function(){
    if (mouseDown){
        if (getTimer > (timer+200)){
            timer = getTimer();
            shoot(_xmouse,_ymouse);//your shoot function
        }
    }
} 

but use a mouseEvent listener or what you did uptil now- I just wrote it like this because I can´t remember the excact syntax for the other version.
It basicly now fires every 200 miliseconds a shot (the number 200). GetTimer is used to check if the last Timestamp (variable timer) + 200ms is greater as the current time (in other words if already 200 miliseconds have past since the last time stamp.
When you click you need to create the first TimeStamp so that the scripts knows from where to start.

[Sauceofallevils]

Ok, I see. I'll have to rewrite this code a bit to get it work, but this seems to make sense. Thanks.

[Sauceofallevils]

I tried writing the code in my own style, in the same method you were presenting to me.

var mouseDown = false;
var timer = getTimer();//flash running time in MS right now!
}
onClipEvent(mouseDown)
{
timer = getTimer();//capture start time
mouseDown=true;
}
onClipEvent(mouseUp)
{
mouseDown=false;
}
onClipEvent(enterFrame)
{
if (mouseDown){
if (getTimer > (timer+200)){
timer = getTimer();
shoot(_xmouse,_ymouse);//your shoot function
}
}
}

There is no errors at all with this method in the way I typed it out. Thing is, it does not work. haha
Maybe you know why? I'm still going to try and figure it out to. I have also made a new weapon by the way, it's a secondary weapon. So this weapon functions without effecting your primary weapon(laser). It's a giant whip with axes on it, and it swings in the direction you move in, you can build momentum up with it to, but eventually I'm going to make it only last a limited amount of time, just like all secondary weapons will.

I also created a menu, and credit screen, so as soon as I fix a few things I'll post up another link of a updated version of this game!

[renderhjs]

1.st please try to use the [ php ] tags (just like quote but then just php) wich makes the code reading alot easier.

do you even have a function called "shoot(x,y){"? put a trace() command in it so you know it works , e.g

onClipEvent(load){
    var mouseDown = false;
    var timer = getTimer();//flash running time in MS right now!
}
onClipEvent(mouseDown){
    timer = getTimer();//capture start time
    mouseDown=true; 
}
onClipEvent(mouseUp){
    mouseDown=false;
} 
onClipEvent(enterFrame){
    if (mouseDown){
        if (getTimer > (timer+200)){
            timer = getTimer();
            trace("I´m shooting baby!!");
            shoot(_xmouse,_ymouse);//your shoot function
        }
    }
} 

[Sauceofallevils]

It does not seem to work still, the trace message does not appear either. I'll try to get it to work, hopefully it will. Do you have any other ideas on why this is not working?