[Ablach Blackrat]

Ablach Blackrat

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Haven't been around much the last few weeks as I was working on a platform game but this week's challenge perked my interest since I always loved watching things go boom. I already have an idea percolating in my mind.

The game will take place in a Space Invaders format with the enemies coming down the screen and the player zooming back and forth along the bottom.  Along with the usual laser attack (which will be intentionally weak) the player can also use a pulse type weapon to charge up an enemy, then with the touch of a button, turn them into a bomb.  The more time spent charging, the larger the explosion and the more enemies get taken out.  The player can either blast away to their heart's content, or strategically blow everything up.

Finished Demo...

http://www.blackratstudios.com/games/vector_scape_pulse.zip

[the2bears]

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This sounds like a pretty good idea. 

Bill

[Ablach Blackrat]

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Early screenshot showing the player ship and the pulse weapon used to charge up the enemies (the blocks are placeholders for the undesigned enemy ships).  It will home in the closest enemy within a short distance, otherwise it will simply go straight up.  I'm thinking of calling the game 'Vector Scape: Pulse' and maybe get a line of Vector Scape games going.

[kdmiller3]

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I'm thinking of calling the game 'Vector Scape: Pulse' and maybe get a line of Vector Scape games going.

Works for me. 

By the way, you might want to make that diamond pattern in the background less prominent.

[the2bears]

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By the way, you might want to make that diamond pattern in the background less prominent.

You mean that Tholian Web?   



Bill

[Ablach Blackrat]

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Funny.    So, okay I ditched the Tholian web and replaced it a moving sidebar background to give it a bit of depth.  I've also gotten the enemies to power up slowly by way of an ever increasing radius of light.  Now I just have to make them go boom.

[kdmiller3]

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I didn't mean for you to get rid of the background, just tone it down.  I do like your new side pieces, though.

[the2bears]

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Funny.   

Just a joke, lighten up a bit.

Bill

[Ablach Blackrat]

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Just a joke, lighten up a bit.

Bill

I was just joking as well.  That's the problem with the web, written words don't express feelings very well.  I found it kind of funny since I was laughing while watching that particular episode of Star Trek.  A feared weapon that literally took hours to create?

I was thinking of getting rid of the web design in the back anyways.  It workes well in a static game field like an arena game, but looks somewhat out of place in the scrolling shooter.

And I'm still torn between leaving a laser weapon and a pulse weapon in the game, or taking out the laser weapon completely and just having the player concentrate on the pulse weapon.  Or maybe letting the player decide that?  Perhaps disabling the laser weapon could make a harder skill level?

[the2bears]

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I was just joking as well.  That's the problem with the web, written words don't express feelings very well.  I found it kind of funny since I was laughing while watching that particular episode of Star Trek.  A feared weapon that literally took hours to create?

Ah, ok, sorry   Great episode.  The contrivance of having to remain perfectly still as the Enterprise did for hours while they built a trap that was fragile up until the final link was in place?    Still, I love that old show.

Bill

[Ablach Blackrat]

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http://www.blackratstudios.com/games/vector_scape_pulse.zip

Final entry, though there are a few minor bugs to work out.  Contains ten levels, the last being a Boss level.  Use the arrow keys to move left and right, hold 'Z' to send out a pulse that will power up the enemies; you'll see a radial glow around them increase.  Hit 'X' to turn them into bombs.  The longer you power them up the bigger the bomb and the more enemies you take out.  I've taken out the laser weapon; it seemed redundant but I've put in a couple of power ups to help.  The high score list does nothing right now but there are two levels of difficulty.

I do want to add a few more levels, about 30 more, to turn this into a real game.  Right now it's fairly static moving from one enemy wave to the next.  It needs a few different types of levels to break up the monotony.

[kdmiller3]

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Neat.  I found it very easy, but that's a nice change from the brutal difficulty that's the norm for the genre. 

(I also got some scripting errors while playing, most commonly after collecting the "F" powerup, but was able to continue past them.)

[Slackluster]

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Ran fine for me.  I also found it easy, got up to about level 7 so far without dying.  I think maybe it is too easy because the gameplay feels a little slow.  Maybe try bumping up the speed of the game in general.  Also maybe you could give a small window of vertical movement instead of locking it completely.  I really like how the weapon charges up the enemies to cause a bigger explosion and the art style is pretty cool too.

[kdmiller3]

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There's also the fact that the most common enemies are essentially passive targets, though that helps introduce the "charge and detonate" gameplay in a relatively "safe" environment.

[Ablach Blackrat]

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Ran fine for me.  I also found it easy, got up to about level 7 so far without dying.

I'm adding more levels, probably about 30 or 40 in total, which is why the first ten here seem so easy.  Trust me, after the first boss, they'll get a lot harder.  Here's level 12...

I think maybe it is too easy because the gameplay feels a little slow.  Maybe try bumping up the speed of the game in general.

I'll add levels of difficulty so that people can choose which speed to play at.

Also maybe you could give a small window of vertical movement instead of locking it completely.

I actually had that a first but decided to remove it so that the player could concentrate on charging the enemies.  Later on in the game smaller enemies will interfere with the beam constantly.  Hopefully there are more things I can add to make it more of a challenge.

There's also the fact that the most common enemies are essentially passive targets, though that helps introduce the "charge and detonate" gameplay in a relatively "safe" environment.

Heh...not for long.

[Matthew Doucette]

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Ablach Blackrat, just played the whole demo.  Pretty cool concept.  Only thing I wished for was faster moving "lasers" to aim.

[Ablach Blackrat]

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Ablach Blackrat, just played the whole demo.  Pretty cool concept.  Only thing I wished for was faster moving "lasers" to aim.

Perhaps I could add that as a power up.

[Matthew Doucette]

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Ablach Blackrat, just played the whole demo.  Pretty cool concept.  Only thing I wished for was faster moving "lasers" to aim.

Perhaps I could add that as a power up.

Good idea!