50 replies to this topic

[9_6]

Gm version: 6.1
Resolution: 400x240
Changes resolution: false
Genre: Sidescrolling shooter

You're a pink dragon who brings love, peace and happiness to the world by blowing everything up with exploding hearts and an exploding rainbowlaser!



gameplay video

->DOWNLOAD<-
DOWNLOAD 2

Press f1 in the game for controls and help.
This is one level in an endless loop.

old version

Edited by 9_6, 08 October 2009 - 11:14 AM.

[Alecdude]

Can this game actually CAUSE epileptic problems?

I have very sensitive eyes, and I don't wanna end my day with a seizure. =/

[9_6]

EVERY game can cause epileptic problems and this is no exception because at some point they all have some sort of flashing stuff.

Now this one is not THAT hardcore on the eyes as I replaced flashing screens with smooth bright > dark transitions but it does still have a lot of impact, yes, there are games that are a lot harder on the eyes around here though.

Edited by 9_6, 20 April 2009 - 05:06 AM.

[(Forsaken)AOLGuy]

Excellent start, a pity this game hasn't received more attention just yet. It'd be great to see it finished, so keep up the good work. A couple of suggestions for you:

1. As gorgeous as the explosion and smoke effects were, I often found them obscuring my vision. Perhaps you should make them partially transparent, say with image alpha? Another solution (that is, if this constitutes a problem) might be fading the effects (particularly the explosions) a good deal quicker after they've made their initial appearance.

2. A type of signal to indicate what area of the screen enemy ships will start swarming from next would be a peachy addition. A typical flashing '!' of some kind would do. I feel like this would keep the player from becoming overwhelmed and give them a few adrenaline-pumping seconds prior to a massive onslaught to adopt a new battle strategy. Mind you, this is really only a necessity in my eyes when dealing with the mass deployment of smaller, speedier foes. The bigger ships really aren't much of a threat in this manner since they crawl along at a modest pace and give the player adequate time to make some evasive maneuvers.

3. As much as I enjoy thrashing wave after wave of mindless, generic automatons, I'd encourage you to go all out there as far as the future environments and enemies go. Why not have your pink dragon protagonist romp through a futuristic forest inhabited by airborne mushroom robots, mechanical wizards, and malevolent fauna? The sky and your imagination are the limit I suppose, but I believe that this game could potentially combine the pulse-pounding action of a side-scroller with a slew of creative elements to further its replay value.

I think that's everything. Hope I didn't bore you with my blathering or anything.

[9_6]

Woo, attention!

I think that's everything. Hope I didn't bore you with my blathering or anything.

That sort of blathering is pretty much what I've been waiting for for 2 days.

1. As gorgeous as the explosion and smoke effects were, I often found them obscuring my vision. Perhaps you should make them partially transparent, say with image alpha? Another solution (that is, if this constitutes a problem) might be fading the effects (particularly the explosions) a good deal quicker after they've made their initial appearance.

I'm gonna get rid of all the fancy halftransparent stuff in it anyway since this is an old project I deciced to pick up again and pretty much change the look of it so I won't introduce more fancy halftransparent stuff.
If I made the explosion animations play any quicker (that sideways one is already playing at full 60 fps!) they'd be pretty much nothing but quick flashes.
Even quicker than they are right now!

I don't know if you've noticed but this game is pretty much all about explosions and madness but yeah, I'll make a more appropriate hitspark animation since this is the biggest view obscurer right now.

There are smoke effects in there? I haven't even noticed.

2. A type of signal to indicate what area of the screen enemy ships will start swarming from next would be a peachy addition. A typical flashing '!' of some kind would do. I feel like this would keep the player from becoming overwhelmed and give them a few adrenaline-pumping seconds prior to a massive onslaught to adopt a new battle strategy. Mind you, this is really only a necessity in my eyes when dealing with the mass deployment of smaller, speedier foes. The bigger ships really aren't much of a threat in this manner since they crawl along at a modest pace and give the player adequate time to make some evasive maneuvers.

If there were enemies that come from behind or above or something then yes.
Right now the only strategy you can resort to is shooting everywhere without losing your breath because if you stop shooting, you're pretty much dead and there's pretty much a consistent stream of enemies so where should I place those warnings anyway?
It'd be like telling a person standing under a waterfall 'hey, watch out, there comes water from above!'.

But yeah, as the enemy variety increases, there will be some enemies that'll require a heads up so that'll be considered.

3. As much as I enjoy thrashing wave after wave of mindless, generic automatons, I'd encourage you to go all out there as far as the future environments and enemies go. Why not have your pink dragon protagonist romp through a futuristic forest inhabited by airborne mushroom robots, mechanical wizards, and malevolent fauna? The sky and your imagination are the limit I suppose, but I believe that this game could potentially combine the pulse-pounding action of a side-scroller with a slew of creative elements to further its replay value.

You haven't seen anything yet *sinister grin*

[9_6]

I bumped up the resolution to 400x240, replaced 'lives' with a timer, changed the upgrading system from experience-based to pickup-based.
That's all I got done till now, sorry.
First post has been updated with a new version.

[booyaw007]

wow those effects gave me a little buzz.

if i liked arcade games i would play this all the time.

very nice.

did i mention i like the effects,their quite good.


only thing maybe is their isn't any room to maneuver,i died pretty quick.

[freestyle]

i keep getting 'runtime error 216 at 0040418A'
im using vista if thats da problem
looks good tho.

[9_6]

Yeah, it doesn't work with vista since, as the first post states, this is made with gm6.
You would have to run it through the converter to make it work.

[banov]

Hey! I am also surprised at the lack of comments here, as this is a really solid game-- and you're a gnerally helpful and responsive member, so you'd think people would want to help you out, too :d

First off, let me say I think this is pretty neat. A dragon being used in a SHMUP was a cool idea, and the abundant graphical effects are what really bumped up the play experience. I feel like there isn't much that needs to be said-- every particle sparkle, spite explosion and white flash is in place and works great.

My main issue in the game is with enemy placement; you could be more tasteful about it. Sometimes enemies came in single file lines from end of the screen to the other, and killing them was just a test of my dragon breath's lifespan. Other times they swarmed is massive numbers at the edge of the screen, waiting to be shot down and not posing much of a threat. I'm hoping you plan to add some bosses too, right? Or maybe there's one already and I didn't make it? I perished at the appearance of the helicopter...

The menu and interface could use some work, too, but we can chalk that up to WIP stuff. Particularly, I'm hoping you'll drop that built-in Help file for an in-game tutorial, or some kind of control screen.

Edited by banov, 11 December 2008 - 04:11 AM.

[9_6]

I included the source in the zip so if you wanna look at it, now you (legally :P) can.

My main issue in the game is with enemy placement; you could be more tasteful about it. Sometimes enemies came in single file lines from end of the screen to the other, and killing them was just a test of my dragon breath's lifespan. Other times they swarmed is massive numbers at the edge of the screen, waiting to be shot down and not posing much of a threat. I'm hoping you plan to add some bosses too, right? Or maybe there's one already and I didn't make it? I perished at the appearance of the helicopter...

Those 1 hit enemies are mostly there to confuse the player when everything gets white and the screen shakes if you shoot them.
They also shield other enemies from non-piercing shots, other times they just swarm you and you have to rationate your breath to stay alive so they have their place.
But of course will there be bosses!

The menu and interface could use some work, too, but we can chalk that up to WIP stuff. Particularly, I'm hoping you'll drop that built-in Help file for an in-game tutorial, or some kind of control screen.

Yeah, all the hud is still more or less wip.
I never spend much time on menus or huds because they're booring :P

Edited by 9_6, 11 December 2008 - 11:23 PM.

[asural]

That game was totally psycho, I loved it, great fun 9/10. Good Job

[Ceiling Fan Man]

That is amazing. That's the kind of game premis that I would think of.

That reminds me a lot of an old Genesis game (Which had two different release titles... Guess it depends on where you were from as to which one you got) Biohazard Battle or Crying. That is my favourite Gensis game. I give it a 9/10. Multiple levels with an end to the game would make it a perfect 10.

[9_6]

New colorscheme:

Also enemies will be just shapes with few colors but animated:

And no more glowy stuff.

Soon to be implemented.

Edited by 9_6, 19 December 2008 - 05:05 AM.

[Explicit]

loving the graphics, and the simple gameplay

but im not liking the smallness of the screen

Edited by Explicit, 19 December 2008 - 05:34 AM.

[9_6]

but im not liking the smallness of the screen

The resolution is not negotiable.
Also this is not a bullet hell shooter which means this is not about precision movement or dodging (as you might be able to tell from the giant maincharacter), this is about reflexes, memorization and timing so you don't need tons of space to dodge.
Also the enemies don't shoot that much -if at all- so you can, and are supposed to, blast your way through them if there is no room to dodge.

Edited by 9_6, 19 December 2008 - 05:47 AM.

[overboy]

How strange... I would consider this one of the best WIP's I have played on this site... And for some reason, I also liked the menu. I'm just imagining it's a temporary one until you get some more done with the game, but I liked it. It worked.

Nice job, I'll defnetly follow this game's progress.

[drazzke]

I played it a few times (maybe 10), and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The graphics and effects were great, and the gameplay wasn't too bad either.

But, one thing I found very annoying was how small the room was compared to the dragon. The dragon was pretty large, and the room was pretty small. This meant that trying to dodge bullets was very hard, and you sometimes had to react very quickly to ships and bullets that came into the room quickly. This lead to frustration. I felt I should be able to dodge the bullets, but the dragon was just too big.

By increasing the room size (width AND height), I think the game could be much more enjoyable, mainly because you would be able to maneuver around bullets and ships a bit more easily. You could probably increase the difficulty more slowly, and add a lot of interesting enemies and features (bigger bosses, more ships in the room at once, etc).

I know you already said you weren't interesting in making the room larger, but I personally think it would improve the game play. Or, do not change the room size, but perhaps make the dragon smaller?

Great start, I'm looking forward to more.

[9_6]

Thanks for the comments.

But, one thing I found very annoying was how small the room was compared to the dragon. The dragon was pretty large, and the room was pretty small. This meant that trying to dodge bullets was very hard, and you sometimes had to react very quickly to ships and bullets that came into the room quickly. This lead to frustration. I felt I should be able to dodge the bullets, but the dragon was just too big.

As said before, there are very few bullets in the game.
Granted, the ones that are in there right now are easily overlooked in the chaos, I'll try and fix that somehow. I have no idea how though.
Maybe through the leveldesign by not mixing shooters and other enemies that much.

By increasing the room size (width AND height), I think the game could be much more enjoyable, mainly because you would be able to maneuver around bullets and ships a bit more easily. You could probably increase the difficulty more slowly, and add a lot of interesting enemies and features (bigger bosses, more ships in the room at once, etc).

There's no way in hell that I'll increase the width even more.
I've already increased it from 320 to 400!
The height will stay the same but since so many people complained about the lacking room, I've raised the room height and let the camera move up/ down if the player moves up/ down.
That way, the current level turned into a joke that you can easily beat by just flying 'under' all the enemies... oh well, it's just a testing level anyway.
You make it sound like a good thing but bigger enemies -> more memory usage for the sprites and more enemies -> potential slowdown and a constant framerate is vital for this game.
It also takes longer to make bigger graphics you know...

Edited by 9_6, 20 December 2008 - 07:27 AM.

[llama man]

I'd try it if you make it compatible with vista.

... Whats with the theme of the game? How did you end up with a pink dragon blasting stuff with hearts and rainbows?