Adventure Apes And The Mayan Mystery Pt.1, Metroid/Mega Man inspired platformer Options

[ScaryPotato]

Growing up with the old NES, my two all-time favourite series of games will always be Metroid and Mega Man. I have been working on this for a good while now, and it's so close that I can taste it!
It tastes like....monkeys!


Here's a little info on the game:

Single player
640x512 resolution, non-resizeable
File size is around 2.33mb, zipped

The controls are fairly straight-forward: arrow keys for running/jumping/rolling, 'A' key to lift and throw blocks, 'S' key to shoot your weapon, 'P' key to pause/up-pause. The Enter key will start the game, the Space key scrolls through your weapons, and the Escape key closes the game down. I put together a PDF file for an instruction booklet to give an even more retro feel to the game...it's worthwhile checking it out

Here are a few screenshots to give you a sense of the game:





Here is a link to a quick demonstration of the weapons that will be made available in the full game!


Download the game here!
Or here!
Try the Instant Play feature at YoYoGames here!


I have to give a special thanks to kalzme and Eoi, who have really done a lot to help me on my way putting this game together. They are but two of the standout people on this site, and I'm very grateful for their knowledge and patience!!!

This post has been edited by ScaryPotato: Sep 22 2009, 01:40 AM

[Mailas]

Hah amazing game!
Movement was fair, but everything else rocked! The lighting, the morph ball effect (hehe) the enemies were great
graphics looked very professional, music was a tiny bit annoying but still went well with the flow of the gameplay.

Excellent job: 8.6/10

[ScaryPotato]

I'm glad you liked it Mailas! The funny thing about the morphball, is that I was trying my best to avoid having to use it. I had originally intended for the monkey to crawl around, but his head and body would have been more than the 8px restraint I had set up with the graphics. The morphball was the perfect solution, even if it is a not-so-subtle nod to Metroid. Those guys definitely knew what they were doing!

[poke25]

Very Nice game, I really like the like the lighting effects, I can't really point out any flaws in the gameplay at all. I really enjoy playing this.

[ArchMageOmega]

Off to a very good start. A few things though.

First, I think the levels need a few more landmarks. It can get pretty hard to tell one area from the next, and I only stumbled upon the boss (and pretty much everything else) by accident. I couldn't keep up with where I'd been or not. (A map would also work.)

Second, I thought it was a bit too easy. I know it's only level 1, but I never got close to dying or running out of ammo. Just my opinion, but either the enemies should do more damage, or drop fewer healing items.

Also, I noticed one physics bug. It's possible to get caught on the edge of a thin platform when jumping up or falling down. It's easy enough to get off, but it's a bit annoying.

Keep up the good work.

[ScaryPotato]

***Update!!***

-It is easier to take damage
-The boss has been made more aggressive
-Mini-game has been included when you lose all of your lives (screenshot up top)!

[Lithium]

I played it before going to school, so heres some praise and suggestions.
- Nice graphics, but they looked rather blurry.
- Very metroid like, I love metroid. I also noticed the amount of monsters coming at me, which is probably where megaman fits in.
- It felt to open. At the start you have 4 ways you can go, the first time I played I went the wrong way and ended not getting the first weapon. In metroid you can't progress to areas without the right weapons to clear the way, I suggest you either stop players from leaving the first area without the weapon, or make it more linear.
Overall I liked it, especially the chimp noises It's a great start to what will be a great game.
EDIT: I forgot to mention, the game was really choppy and unfluid. You should change it to delta timing and put the FPS up to around 90.

This post has been edited by pat_stix: Aug 17 2009, 05:56 AM

[Eoi]

Overall this is a great little game and look forward to seeing it when it's fully polished and released and more people should try this!

There are still some issues with being able to get stuck in walls while falling or, sometimes, even when running.
The post-death minigame is a little boring too, I know you added it as a little after thought type thing. But there should be more stuff happening on the screen.

I also think I got stuck at one point. The only exit I could find was out of reach, I think I went bottom right. But for debugging purposes you should have a little number somewhere letting you know which room number the player is in so that they can report bugs more easily.

Also, if a bat is ON you you can't shoot him until you move away. Is this deliberate?

That's all I can remember for now.

[ScaryPotato]

Thanks for the good crits on the the game everyone! I have gone through and made a number of changes on all the advice this round:)

-First issue is the blurriness. The graphics were scaled to 250% originally and this probably affected how it looked. Now it's down to 200%

-pat_stix, your suggestion of the blockades to prevent you from getting too far into the game without a weapon was an idea I tried to avoid using in order to give the player more play-style options, if that makes sense. In the end though, your idea is much more fair. Blockades added!

-I've got the game set to 12fps, and may see about changing it a little bit, but all the animations are deliberately made to be limited. 90fps would be overkill for these little sprites:P

-I went through the game and tried getting stuck on edges etc, and have tweaked things a little bit. It shouldn't happen nearly as much now, but am still having some issues with rolling.

-There was indeed a room Eoi that you could enter from the left, but would have been unable to jump onto a ledge to go further. That has been fixed:)

-The bats have been tweaked so that rather than buzzing around you, they fly past!

-In an attempt to make the game a little easier to navigate, I've added a tips feature! I'd really like your feedback on it since it is new, but I think that it does a lot to help develop the characters in the overall story!

[Eoi]

I haven't yet playtested your latest version. However, I found some issues which may have not been addressed.
-It is sometimes possible to get back a thrown rock. I think it only happens when throwing close to a wall
-You automatically throw the rock at the door (between rooms) if you're standing close to them
-Arrows have, twice, passed through me if I'm standing one body length away from the source. It hasn't happened again

That's all that I found. Glad to see you've fixed the previous bugs I'll be on the lookout for more!

[Lithium]

-I've got the game set to 12fps, and may see about changing it a little bit, but all the animations are deliberately made to be limited. 90fps would be overkill for these little sprites:P

image_speed=fps/12

[ScaryPotato]

Okay!

Eoi,

-Rock-throwing is all fixed. I kept the automatic throwing when you get close to a door however.
-The issue with the arrows should be fixed.
-I've tweaked the tips system. Messages work as required, and I made them colour-coded to make it all a little easier to follow.

pat_stix,

I think the issue with it looking choppy is the number of frames used in each animation. The run cycle for instance is only four frames. The image_speed is set to 1 for all the objects, which is correct according to your formula image_speed=fps/12. I'm not sure I will go and add additional frames of animation, but as my little project grows I'll give it more consideration. Hmm, actually, I'll do this....

To everyone that tries the game, I'd appreciate it if you would let me know your thoughts on it, specifically what you think of the animation. Should it be a little smoother, or does it pass muster as-is? I would like this to be a highly polished game in the end, so your opinions will help me a lot!

[Lithium]

The movement was actually felt choppy. It felt like I was teleporting when I was moving.

[gep_150]

Wow.Nice.This is funny game.
Graphics:7/10
Sound:5/10
Gameplay:6/10
Total:6/10

[ScaryPotato]

All right guys and gals, this is what I am hoping will be the final update for this portion of the game!

Updates this time around include:

-Disappearing blocks are the same sprite.
-Green Blobs give out more coins!
-Minor room tweaks here and there.
-Message boxes have been refined/narrowed down.
-Last but not least....CHEAT CODES!

I figured that since lots of the old games I loved playing as a kid had them, why not add them to this game as well (Justin Bailey anyone?)? So, in the spirit of the old classics, I've added two cheat codes; one gives you the full weapons array, the other code gives you full weapons, full abilities and ten lives
Now, I'm not going to tell you what the codes are, because that would ruin the fun...but there are two codes, and they are similar, and anyone who knows me should be able to unlock them. If you want to take a crack at it, just type what you think it is when the opening screen is up. I will tell you this much, it is all lower case, and there are no numbers or spaces. Good luck, bwahahah!!

Direct links:
Here(AdventureApes)
And here(ScaryPotato)
Or even here(GreatGamesExperiment)
Lastly, use the instant play feature here(YoYoGames)

This post has been edited by ScaryPotato: Aug 30 2009, 03:48 PM

[ScaryPotato]

My fellow monkey-lovers, lend me your ears!

I went through and made a few little changes to the game today:

-If you pressed 'T' before the first auto-message was displayed, the two messages would overlap. This is fixed.

-The maximize/minimize/close icons didn't serve any purpose as you use the escape key to exit the game. Icons are gone, but the border remains.

-Made a VERY minor increase in the game's overall speed. I tried using a couple more sprites for the animations, but thought that they took away some of the cartoony energy that I am trying to get across in the game.

Download the game here
Here
Here too!
Or try the instant-play feature at yoyogames!

Also, if you haven't seen the instruction booklet but have been playing the game, I highly recommend downloading the PDF. It will definitely help clarify a few things, as well as give you a little eye-candy and background on the whole story going on, check it out!



Download the instructions here!

Of course, some of the baddies and bosses won't be around until I get the rest of the game designed, but it is already in the works!

[broken shadow]

Man, that was a good time. Gameplay was solid (though platforming still feels a bit wonky at this point), and I admire your use of a large window (I'm so sick of the 200x200 views noobs seem so fond of). There's something I have to get off my mind, though:

That booklet... that wonderful, wonderful booklet... what are you, a design wizard? Are you the Richard Branson of classic-style videogame booklets? Because WOW. That thing is impressive. I still can't believe something so professional-looking came out of the GMC. Applause. So much applause.

[ScaryPotato]

Hey broken shadow, thanks for the comments! Yeah, I worked pretty hard putting that instruction booklet together, drew it after work for several months on and off. I thought it'd be a nice way to set my game apart from others, especially since the instruction booklets that you do see are usually just screenshots and a couple little drawings. Can you explain to me how you felt the platforming was choppy? Does it respond too slow, or do you feel too limited with the jumping and other movements?I'd be thankful for any more input!

In the meantime, I've made a couple minor updates here:

-I'm continuing to tweak the Tips/Message box system, and have ironed out a couple overlapping messages.
-The disappearing blocks disappear slower now, so you don't feel quite as panicked about making your next jump!
-Instead of getting 25% of your energy back when you get a green orb, you now only get 12%, so the difficulty has been inreased:)

As usual, here are the links....
Download the game here
Here
Here too!
Or try the instant-play feature at yoyogames!

[AuthenticKaizen]

the booklet looks really charming indeed!
very good work!

the game itself isnt bad, but needs some work to be enjoyable.


what should be improved (in my opinion):

-having the option to turn off the music.

-remove the lighting effects since its all too dark and not very pleasing to see only the half of the screen.
it would be far better to see more of the actual levels.

-the framerate...the engine doesnt feel smooth (would like to see how the game looks with 30 fps instead of the current 13 fps)

-transistion between the rooms should be more elegant.

-the font of the text box doesnt match the graphical style of the game.



cheers

This post has been edited by AuthenticKaizen: Sep 5 2009, 09:13 PM

[ScaryPotato]

Thanks for the suggestions AuthenticKaizen! I worked away this week and incorporated a few of them...so here's the list of changes!

-Music can be muted
-Extra sound effects have been added to make the 'mute' experience a little more interesting(Roll, Unroll, Jump, Enemy fire, Bomb Laying)
-Spiders only shoot at you from a certain distance (they used to shoot continuously)

-Kept the darkened screen, but reworked it so that moving from room to room doesn't reveal what is in there as you walk through doors

-A few minor tweaks to several rooms with block placement etc

-And now for the big change...FINALLY, I sat down and increased the framerate! The previous version ran fine for me, but it did feel a little soft, especially with the jumping. Now everything should feel and react a lot better. Enough comments on this issue were made so you knew it was eventually going to get done

New Screenies:
Opening
Boss Fight


Here are a few links:
Download the game here
Here
Here too!

This post has been edited by ScaryPotato: Sep 12 2009, 05:23 PM