45 replies to this topic

[GeothermalDuck]

This is a game I've been working on for just under a month when I can.
I been making this game on and off for about 5 years, and now after studying game design at uni for the last 2 years I'm gonna finish it.

This DEMO is of the First two acts and boss room of the First World.

NEW UPDATE:
-Slowed foxes down
-First Level
-Second Level
-Boss (bear - Sprites are just place holders)

Future Updates:
-Buy weapons and lives with money

Old Updates
-Fixed the Turtle bug where you get caught in it
-New Menu (only start and exit work)
-Added Water
-poison now does 1 damage
-places a turtle at the end of the demo so you can see what happens when you can shoot it
-controlls are back to "z" and "x"
-added money (will make it look more fly in future)
-Snakes
-Turtles
-Spikes
-fixed poison
-added moles
-changed spikes

YOUTUBE LINK FOR GAMEPLAY!

Here's some screens:

These are the most current screens, watch YOUTUBE link for latest gameplay.
EVERYTHING IS DRAWN BY ME but credit goes to Vadim647for help on the character movement.

And the link:
-> DOWNLOAD <-
17^th-April

Controls:
Move - Left Right keys
Duck - Down key
Jump - Z
Shoot - X

COMMUNITY INPUT!
-I need help thinking of ideas on how to end the levels. Link
-The game needs a name but PLEASE don't suggest names for the game, unless they are totally 100% PURE AWESOME!

-Joel

Edited by GeothermalDuck, 17 April 2009 - 05:50 AM.

[A saurus1]

Very good game. I would really like to see this be completed. The graphics are great, and the fact that you are making it with GM lite makes it even more impressive. The only parts I would recommend changing is that you not use GM's built in show_message() and that you add more levels soon.

Keep up the good work!

[GeothermalDuck]

Very good game. I would really like to see this be completed. The graphics are great, and the fact that you are making it with GM lite makes it even more impressive. The only parts I would recommend changing is that you not use GM's built in show_message() and that you add more levels soon.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the feedback man. I been using GM for a while and I lost my GM6 registered version when I got my new comp so I'll be getting pro soon.
Yeah, I know the built in messages are cheap but they were just used so I could get this in the WIP section ASAP.

I'm very dedicated to finishing it, due it's hard to find jobs in game design in Australia due to this resession and 1 of our companies going under.
I've gone to extreme lengths to finish this game this time, even writing up design document as so forth.

I've almost finished making the turtle enemy/helper and he'll be in the next release.

-Joel

[RadGH]

I really like the look of this game now! The health bar is very creative, I like how you lose chunks of it.

I didn't like how the snakes attacked though, I noticed there is really only one projectile but all of the purple "particles" make it look devastating. You should make the particles less spread out or make them transparent. IDK though, you might have a better idea for when you get pro.

The spikes seem cheesy, I mean spikes are fine but they look too perfect... they should be more spread out or jagged but you only have so many pixels to work with in that low res. Alternatives to spikes could be water with a turtle/dolphin(like mario), a cliff with a bird flying between... things like that.

You could use easter eggs for bonus lives

Sorry, I don't have any ideas for the name though.

Great progress so far!

[Johnnsen]

Controls. Work on the controls.

Don't use Z and X for example. Because there are different keyboard layouts, and here the Z is next to the T it is annoying to control, almost impossible since other characters are switched as well. You should take this into consideration because people from other parts of the world may want to play your game as well. Except of that, I like the graphics.

[GeothermalDuck]

I really like the look of this game now! The health bar is very creative, I like how you lose chunks of it.

I didn't like how the snakes attacked though, I noticed there is really only one projectile but all of the purple "particles" make it look devastating. You should make the particles less spread out or make them transparent. IDK though, you might have a better idea for when you get pro.

The spikes seem cheesy, I mean spikes are fine but they look too perfect... they should be more spread out or jagged but you only have so many pixels to work with in that low res. Alternatives to spikes could be water with a turtle/dolphin(like mario), a cliff with a bird flying between... things like that.

You could use easter eggs for bonus lives

Sorry, I don't have any ideas for the name though.

Great progress so far!

I'll tone down the poison effects, maybe just have them have a trail.
I agree with the spikes, they don't fit the style, because they don't have the black outline like everything else.

EDIT: Fixed the poison, looks way better

Controls. Work on the controls.

Don't use Z and X for example. Because there are different keyboard layouts, and here the Z is next to the T it is annoying to control, almost impossible since other characters are switched as well. You should take this into consideration because people from other parts of the world may want to play your game as well. Except of that, I like the graphics.

What buttons do you suggest.
I don't like using space, ctrl or shift because I'm using an old keyboard and some buttons conflict with them.
I'm adding joypad control soon.

-Joel.

Edited by GeothermalDuck, 08 April 2009 - 09:22 AM.

[Johnnsen]

Maybe use arrow keys and A S D? They are close to each other.

[GeothermalDuck]

I've updated the link, and changed it to A and S so it's better fo different countries.
Gamepad support is on it's way.

[Jext]

I remember playing this game in 2005. It was pretty much one of the best games back then, what with the cutscenes and all (lol, damn foxes). Don't change the keys, instead add a custom key system for people not using QWERTY keyboards. Anyway, it's great you're starting this up again. Good luck.

[ZZ man]

Nice game man!
got anther title for ya!

Bunny + Gun - Fox = Revenge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eddie7k]

I like it.Smooth engine+really cool graphics=smexy game+good gameplay

[Potnop]

LOL ever played Jazz Jack Rabbit?

Here's the second one...


The game was made by Epic Megagames, same people who made the Unreal series and Gears of War heh...

This game reminds me of it quite a bit...

Edited by Potnop, 11 April 2009 - 09:25 AM.

[GeothermalDuck]

People have mentioned jazz to me before. Never really cared for it, or played it.
I never really liked epic, but Gears of War is awesome. I absolutly hate UT2k4, since that was the main engine I worked with in Uni.
If you played the original (the one Jext mentioned) it's not at all like it.

How would I go about making a custom key system?

Thanks for the replies people.

-Joel

[Dizzi D]

wow...it's a little too fast paced for me.
The enemies kill you in seconds and move too fast. There's also too many enemies at once in the first part of the area.
I hope this isn't going to be the official first level, it's way too hard.

[Jext]

You could assign keys to global variables. Like global.keyShoot would be 83 (or ord('S') if you will) by default. And global.keyJump would be 65. Then in the option menu, people could change it by selecting an action (like jump, shoot, duck, etc) and press the key they'd wanna use for that, and it'd change the global variable to that key (global.keyWhatever=keyboard_lastkey, for example). Then within the player object, if you're using any of the key events, copy that code and put it in the step/draw event, but add if(keyboard_check(global.keyJump)){/*jump code*/} around it. Of course this wouldn't save the keys when closing the game, so you might wanna save them in an ini. Every time you'd change the keys in the option menu, it would save them in an external ini file. And, every time you'd load up the game, it would use those keys by default. Hmm, may sound confusing. Here's an example.

if(file_exists("setup.ini")){
loadKeys();
}else{
global.keyLeft=37;
global.keyRight=39;
global.keyDuck=40;
global.keyJump=65;
global.keyShoot=83;
saveKeys();
}

_file=file_text_open_read("setup.ini");
global.keyLeft=file_text_read_string(_file);
file_text_readln(_file);
global.keyRight=file_text_read_string(_file);
file_text_readln(_file);
global.keyDuck=file_text_read_string(_file);
file_text_readln(_file);
global.keyJump=file_text_read_string(_file);
file_text_readln(_file);
global.keyShoot=file_text_read_string(_file);
file_text_close(_file);

_file=file_text_open_write("setup.ini");
file_text_write_string(_file,global.keyLeft);
file_text_writeln(_file);
file_text_write_string(_file,global.keyRight);
file_text_writeln(_file);
file_text_write_string(_file,global.keyDuck);
file_text_writeln(_file);
file_text_write_string(_file,global.keyJump);
file_text_writeln(_file);
file_text_write_string(_file,global.keyShoot);
file_text_close(_file);

And just call saveKeys() whenever you save the new key scheme in the option menu.

Edited by Jext, 11 April 2009 - 02:14 PM.

[GeothermalDuck]

I have this code in my game

key_right = vk_right;
key_left = vk_left;
key_up = ord('A');
key_down = vk_down;

Some where in the option menu I can change it yeah? That should work.

Dizzi D:
No, this wont be the first level, I just had to squish all the enemies I could in the area. As you can see when you start the game, the room is labeled Test Area

-Joel

[jackyboyhenry]

great game with sprites , im amazed at the quality of your work..

[GeothermalDuck]

Thanks, the rabbit and fox sprites are about 5 years old and I've updated them with betther shading and they used to have a thick outline.
I plan on making this the best I can for retail purpose.

[ZZ man]

the last boss shal be an ice bear

[GeothermalDuck]

One boss will be a bear, not a polar one but.
Adding money into the game now so you can buy weapons.

-Joel