42 replies to this topic

[thetagames]

Ceramic Shooter
by Theta Games


Ceramic Shooter is an "Anti-SHMUP;" that is, the goal is to not shoot anything. You are the pilot of a malfunctioning ship with a constantly shooting gun, who must make it through a civilian area while causing as little damage as possible.

The game consists of seven bizarre, abstract levels, each filled with things for you to avoid shooting at. Each level concludes with a boss "fight," in which you must use special tactics to keep your bullets from hitting the boss. Each level is timed, and destroying things or crashing loses you time. If you run out of time, you lose.


Controls:

Move with Arrow Keys
<SPACE> pauses the game

Screenshots:

Title Screen
Game Image I
Game Image II

Gameplay Video (First Three Levels) on YouTube
Thanks to Tim W. for uploading this!


Specifications:

Title: Ceramic Shooter
Download Size: 5.54 MB zipped
File Type: A '.zip' archive that contains the main executable, README.txt, a folder containing the game music, and two DLL's used to play the Ogg Vorbis music.
Resolution: 640 x 480
Version: 1.3
Written In: GM7 Registered


Download:

Mirror I (WillHostForFood)
Mirror II (Host-A)
Mirror III (YoYoGames)


Everyone is welcome to post their high scores for each level.

Edited by thetagames, 26 December 2008 - 03:33 PM.

[TGOC]

Very neat idea! I'm a little jealous I didn't come up with this. Took me like 3 tries to beat the first level. The dialog moves a little fast too. You may want to slow that down a bit. Good game. Truly is an "anti shmup".

10/10

Edited by Theghostofchristmas, 21 July 2008 - 07:22 PM.

[just one question]

Please, change it to where it does not change the resolution. It messed up my start bar, windows, and DS. Changing the resolution slowed it down to unplayable status and I had end the process.

Looked good though.

[thetagames]

Very neat idea! I'm a little jealous I didn't come up with this. Took me like 3 tries to beat the first level. The dialog moves a little fast too. You may want to slow that down a bit. Good game. Truly is an "anti shmup".

10/10

Thanks a lot! Did you try any of the later levels?

I have already slowed down the dialogue, and am uploading a new version as I write this. I guess I was so used to reading it that I thought it was slow enough.

Please, change it to where it does not change the resolution. It messed up my start bar, windows, and DS. Changing the resolution slowed it down to unplayable status and I had end the process.

Looked good though.

What stats does your computer have? Do you have Vista? I am very sorry if the resolution change messed anything up, though I have never seen anything like that; as most old games ran in such lower resolutions. Also, I am surprised that it ran slowly; most of the time lower resolutions run faster than having to stretch everything.

I considered not changing the resolution, but when the view is stretched to the screen, there is too much interpolation between pixels.

[TGOC]

I made it to about level 3 so far. I plan to play more later though.

[2Dcube]

I really like it. Pretty tough but I will try to get far.

The retro-feel, the menu, the random objects in the game, as well as the story; it's all very original, and also very good.

There are other retro shooters but this one also adds something new. Great concept.

[Carnivac]

Well it's ok but I found it a bit boring after a very short time but the style had a very nostalgic feel for me so I kept with it a bit. Thanks for changing the resolution by the way. I'm sick of nearly every game here stretching to fullscreen in the cheap looking blurry manner that renders every game looking crap.

Might give it another go later when I got some free time.

[just one question]

What stats does your computer have? Do you have Vista? I am very sorry if the resolution change messed anything up, though I have never seen anything like that; as most old games ran in such lower resolutions. Also, I am surprised that it ran slowly; most of the time lower resolutions run faster than having to stretch everything.

I considered not changing the resolution, but when the view is stretched to the screen, there is too much interpolation between pixels.

1.8g ghz pentium 4 processor
1280x1024 resolution Sony monitor
1GB ram
Windows XP SP2
ATI 9250 series 256mb videocard

My pc isn't the best but I can run any game maker game with great FPS, except for this and that 3d platformer (But almost no one could run that as it is.)

Edited by just one question, 21 July 2008 - 08:52 PM.

[thetagames]

@Theghostofchristmas:
Level 3 can be tough, but the boss isn't that bad, if you figure out the rhythm of its attacks.

@2DCube:
Thank you very much. This game is my biggest finished game, and I'm glad you like it. There are many, many random objects in the game (62 in all, not including the background stuff like rivers and clouds) that you must avoid shooting, and most of them have some sort of symbolic meaning, with references to a variety of things. So I guess this could be an "art" game, but not in the sense that gameplay is completely sacrificed for artistic meaning.

@Carnivac:
I'm glad you liked the graphical style. Basically, the screen is 120x120 pixels stretched to 480x480 in 640x480 mode. If I tried that without changing the resolution, it would indeed become very blurry.

@just one question:
My only guess is that some computers' video hardware has difficulty "downgrading" to a lower resolution, and perhaps that could be your issue. Do other games in 640x480 resolution work?


Thanks for all the replies!

Edited by thetagames, 21 July 2008 - 09:27 PM.

[just one question]

@just one question:
My only guess is that some computers' video hardware has difficulty "downgrading" to a lower resolution, and perhaps that could be your issue. Do other games in 640x480 resolution work?

Yes, yes they do. Could you have a no-change version and a change version?

[thetagames]

Hmmm, that's interesting. If other programs in 640x480 work, then it must be something else. Do you usually have problems with DLL's?

I have uploaded a version that does not change the resolution. In order to prevent blurriness, I did not rescale the screen, so, depending on what resolution your computer is set at, the playing area may be somewhat small. I would suggest not playing this version unless the 640x480 version doesn't work.

No-Resolution-Change Version

Just_one_question, please try this version out, and let me know whether it works right or not. The game seems to run fine on others' computers. Thanks!

Edited by thetagames, 22 July 2008 - 12:52 AM.

[just one question]

I'm downloading now, I've never had problems with dlls.

Edit: worked fine. Hard game though.
8/10

Edited by just one question, 22 July 2008 - 01:15 AM.

[Sulfuric]

Fairly fun game, with an interesting concept, but I hate the graphics style. Very boring and I'm generally not a fan of the random.
The road section was cool, as that made sense, but when your in the sky there shouldn't be trees. Also, a lot of those things made no sense to why destroying it would be considered property damage. I got to the 4th level and quit. That key part was cool (though the level itself was very random). I also really liked the pong boss. Quite an interesting idea. The whole idea was good, and I enjoyed it for the most part, but the graphics were generally poor and at times the level was very unfair to you. I did enjoy the text stuff though. While random, it was fun to read.

[TGOC]

I only have 3 more levels to go. Very scary game. So many times I thought I was just going to run out of time during the boss. =O

[thetagames]

@just one question:
I'm glad the other version worked right for you. It is pretty tough, though.

@STARFOXROX:
I was only experimenting with a new graphical style. I haven't used sprites in awhile for a game (R-Theta, R-Theta II, The Red Wedge, and Too Many Isotopes all used things like draw_line and draw_triangle), and I thought the blocky, retrostyled graphics fit with the surreal style. The objects aren't really supposed to make sense with your location, in general, I was going for something very surreal and abstract.

I'm glad you liked the pong boss; it was fun to program!

@Theghostofchristmas:
Just three more to go? I'm glad the timing comes close; it took me awhile to get the perfect difficulty curve for the allotted times.


Thanks for all the comments!

Edited by thetagames, 22 July 2008 - 09:30 PM.

[TGOC]

Yeah just three more. I haven't tried the last three but I'm sure I'll beat them eventually.

[TD Games]

Wow. Too hard for me, but i love the retro!
Now this is a game which definitely deserves a 5/5, such an original idea. I love it!

[gamewizkid]

Great game you've got here. the random stuff sort of reminded me of earthworm jim. but yeah, it was really hard.

9.5/10

[thetagames]

Thanks for all the kind comments!

@Theghostofchristmas:
Watch out for the Ab/G# boss (Boss 6) - he's tough, but also one of my favorites.

@tomo95:
It is interesting that so many people find it hard; most of the time people say that my games have a slow difficulty curve. I wanted the timing to put some stress on the player, so that it is actually a challenge to get from one level to the other.

@gamewizkid:
I've never played Earthworm Jim, but have heard that it has some quite random things (like cow launching).

[gamewizkid]

Yah I beat it!!!

Actually, it wasn't very hard.
Here's an in depth review:

Graphics: 10/10
I like the graphics beacause they're so darn random. I especially like the parts where flying text comes out at you. It was all so retro, but with a very random twist!

Music/Sound FX: 10/10
The music was very good. It really fit well with the game. I actually found myself whistling to the tune. One thing I really like was that when you level select, there was a flat scale being played.

Gameplay: 9/10
The game was fun, but it was a bit easy and the game took not so long to beat each level. What was cool was the bonus level, because you do the exact opposite of what you were doing in the real game.

Well, there you have it. My review. From a flying pig to Floppy disks and Snake, this is truely a fun game that everyone should play.

Oh yeah, that's right. Earthworm Jim is where you fight Evil cats and launch a cow and eat a goldfish and fight a madman with a monkey for his head. (I advise everyone to play that one too. )