20 replies to this topic

[vertex67]

Zero Vector
Public Beta

Click Here to Download (dropbox)
~67.5MB (zip)

Description

Zero Vector is a unique top-down shooter with an emphasis on exploration and discovering upgrades.
Similar to Metroid or Zelda, the player will traverse an expansive world attaining new abilities as the game progresses.
These new abilities allow further progression and introduce new puzzle mechanics.
In addition to the lengthy main quest, there are 30 hidden stat upgrades to find with which you can choose to invest in firepower, agility, or shields.

Please ensure power saving utilities are turned off before playing ZV. For some reason they can cause a lot of lag.

The game is mostly complete in its current state, but there are a small amount of missing sounds and graphics. The final boss has not been
included in the beta.

"...I'll never see anything else again. I'll never see Nadia's face...even if she comes here, too. Is it really worth it?"

Beta Participation
Zero Vector keeps track of everything you do in a log.txt file in the working directory. While playing the beta, if you run into any issues, you can press 'Z' to record the issue in the log.
When you are finished playing, email the log file to us at mattbgold@gmail.com or PM the contents to my GMC profile and we will fix the issues! Thanks for participating in the Zero Vector Beta!


Screenshots

Spoiler

"You must adapt. I must adapt. Humanity must adapt, if we are to survive"

Credits

Spoiler

Game created by Shattered Labs
Matthew Gold (vertex67): Programming, Design, 3D Graphics, Concept
Jim Nguyen: Music, Sprites, Sound Effects
Todd Parker: Plot Development, Narrative

With commissioned raster art by Dennis Froehlich.
Additional sound by Blake Johnson

Private Testers
David List
Stephen Borden
Brent Latham
Parth Patel

Special Thanks to Ian Schreiber, Britt Briscoe, Ian Phillpotts, Daniel Xiao, and everyone involved in SIEGE 2011.

Uses TheSnidr's Grid Distortion
Supersound.dll by tsg1zzn
Dialog box is built on Textbox Engine by stafff
Cleanmem dll by Halo shg
39.dll by 39ster
Analytics utilize Robert Lord's MadeWithClockwork system

FAQ

Spoiler

• How do I open the game?
  Extract all files from ZeroVector.zip, then run ZeroVector.exe from within the directory.
  
• Why is the file size so huge!?
  Zero Vector features one of the most comprehensive sound tracks ever featured in a GM game. Even using ogg vorbis format, it's a big size compared to most GM games.
  
• Where are the control explanations?
  The controls are all explained in-game You will need to use the mouse to navigate the menus and either the mouse click or the spacebar to advance text.
  
• The game lags on my slower machine!
  Make sure you have any power saver utilities turned off. They really hinder ZV performance, I'm not sure if it's the same with all GM games.
  Zero Vector also features multiple graphics settings. Try setting graphics to 'Low' in the pause menu if you are still experiencing frequent slowdown.
  
• When and where will Zero Vector be released?
  There is no definite schedule but we are aiming for June 1, 2012. We plan on releasing a free version to the GMC, and a Premium version for ~$4.99 that comes packaged with the OST and includes several in-game extras and a bonus game mode, if time allows.

"Daddy, I had the dream again... you turned around and didn't have a face, and neither did I. I couldn't talk anymore, and I wanted to cry but I couldn't. I had no eyes."

Edited by vertex67, 16 March 2012 - 04:34 PM.

[canyouseeitnow]

Hai. Jim here.


Planned release: Nov. 21.
Next Planned update: September 15th. Alpha v2.

What to see in the next update:
Tweaked particles.
Environment Complete.
More music! Track list is at 9 and growing.

Edited by canyouseeitnow, 01 September 2011 - 05:53 PM.

[njp]

21MB, im guessing its your music.
game looks good graphics wise.

edit:
sorry for being rude, it does look very nice graphics wise
and if it is your music taking up that space i can convert it to a lower size without quality loss. gimme a holla, also i was bored, heres a video:

feel free to use it, a tip for the game, let the player play while the dialog is displaying, found it anoying how i had to skip the dialog to play

Edited by Nic James, 02 September 2011 - 11:56 PM.

[vertex67]

Thanks, I appreciate the video, although to use it on the main topic I would need to showcase the live sound and preferably a more interesting section of the game, like a puzzle or a boss. But it is nice for visitors to see some of the particle effects in motion.
As for the music filesize, I had to fight our sound/art guy to get the bitrate to its current state. Before the quality cut, the zip was almost 60MB! If I lower the bitrate anymore he may try to eat me.
The .wav sound effects on the other hand should probably be converted to ogg, I admit those take up more space than they should.

[vertex67]

...

I cant tell if you are being mean, or if you actually liked it...
Regarding the 'powerful narrative', perhaps its not fair to advertise something that's not implemented, but I assure you that most of the narrative is already written and will be added to the game along with all of the cutscenes/cinematics with next month's beta release.

EDIT:
I got the sarcasm on the second read. Troll.

Edited by vertex67, 02 September 2011 - 07:00 PM.

[theg721]

thanks for the inbox spam.

I'd play it, but having read this...

[vertex67]

thanks for the inbox spam.

I'd play it, but having read this...

...that was a misunderstanding, that's why he went back and crossed it out. I don't send random spam PM's...

Edited by vertex67, 02 September 2011 - 03:23 PM.

[mcoot]

Wow.

This is really good.

Liking the story. It's well told, and the textbox system works nicely, with smooth animation and so forth.

A couple of small things:

• You should make it possible to speed up and continue dialog with the left mouse button. The current setting of Spacebar feels unnatural, seeing as how the main game controls are WASD+Mouse
• The continue screen and game over screen should also be selectable with the mouse, like the main menu.
• Are you using Game Maker's default saving system? If so, I'd probably try implementing one yourself using the text, binary or ini file functions. GM's default save system, aside from being slow, tends to produce unwanted, hard to find glitches due to it e.g. saving data you didn't actually want it to save.
• Are the level designs final? I haven't played too far beyond the tutorial, but at the moment it basically drops you straight into the action. Perhaps it might be a good idea to have an easier area where you start after the tutorial
• Occasionally, I had trouble navigating junctions, where it was difficult to line the character up properly.

That said, the game looks nice, and plays well. Obviously there is a lot still to be implemented, but this is a WIP I'll be keeping my eye on.

[njp]

thanks for the inbox spam.

I'd play it, but having read this...

that was my bad, the game is worth playing trust me

[vertex67]

Wow.

This is really good.

Liking the story. It's well told, and the textbox system works nicely, with smooth animation and so forth.

A couple of small things:

• You should make it possible to speed up and continue dialog with the left mouse button. The current setting of Spacebar feels unnatural, seeing as how the main game controls are WASD+Mouse
• The continue screen and game over screen should also be selectable with the mouse, like the main menu.
• Are you using Game Maker's default saving system? If so, I'd probably try implementing one yourself using the text, binary or ini file functions. GM's default save system, aside from being slow, tends to produce unwanted, hard to find glitches due to it e.g. saving data you didn't actually want it to save.
• Are the level designs final? I haven't played too far beyond the tutorial, but at the moment it basically drops you straight into the action. Perhaps it might be a good idea to have an easier area where you start after the tutorial
• Occasionally, I had trouble navigating junctions, where it was difficult to line the character up properly.

That said, the game looks nice, and plays well. Obviously there is a lot still to be implemented, but this is a WIP I'll be keeping my eye on.

Thanks for the constructive comment. To address the issues you mentioned: I like the idea of have the mouse speed up dialogue, i will be sure to add it, I also plan on including a 'skip' button for those who don't want to sit through dialog they have already read.
The current menu system in place is mostly a rushed job, future releases will be totally mouse controlled.
Yes, Zv actually does use GM's built-in saving, as well as an ini file for universal data outside of individual saves. I am noticing some scrambling of particle iD's after load, and may switch to ini for all save data, other than that, GM's built in save is working fine.
Level designs are not final, and feedback on level design/difficulty is the most valuable to us for this alpha release. We have received mixed reports on difficulty post-tutorial, once we get enough opinions we will add support for normal and hard difficulties. The alpha release will most likely be more towards the hard side.
Thanks for the reply!

[vertex67]

Update coming next week:
All dialogue and cinematics up to boss 4 will be added, including special cutscenes that trigger when you get enough upgrades.
Beta is scheduled for early to mid october . Before that time comes, any feedback will be highly valued to us, especially in the area of game difficulty and pacing.
(legal bump)

Edited by vertex67, 10 September 2011 - 04:07 AM.

[vertex67]

Much thanks Robert. We do plan on releasing a premium version of the game for digital distribution for $4.99.
Due to hardware failure, development has been delayed for a couple of weeks, so the promised 9/15 update has been pushed back to 10/1.
Until then, there is still plenty to do in this alpha

[StallionTG]

Beautiful game, well done. Love the geometry wars style background that warps with the explosions. I'd like to know your method for this effect. I'll be showing my friends this game so they can see the viability of game maker, ha ha.

[canyouseeitnow]

The game uses TheSnidr's Grid Distortion extension (http://gmc.yoyogames...howtopic=445247).

Gamemaker is great for simple 2d games.

[michael pw]

This game looks amazing and the graphics and feel is really nice, i love the menu too!
But the game needs some more content ! But great work so far!! Really clean gameplay :D!

[michael pw]

<whoops, old one only appeared after i clicked this 0.0>

Edited by michael pw, 21 September 2011 - 06:30 PM.

[vertex67]

This game looks amazing and the graphics and feel is really nice, i love the menu too!
But the game needs some more content ! But great work so far!! Really clean gameplay !

Thanks for playing. Did you reach the end??
Most of the content is already in place and accessible in this alpha release. There are 6 finished bosses, about 15 non-boss enemies, and a game world making up approximately 100 rooms.
There are also 6 unlockable abilities that expand the gameplay including 3 new weapons and a navigational ability similar to Zelda's hookshot. Not to mention 30 hidden stat upgrades.
I like to think that's a decent amount of content for indie freeware.

[michael pw]

Oh right, i thought i had reached the end after boss 1 xP! Nvm take back what i said ! My Bad : >
*Shuffles back into lair to play more Zero Vector*

[canyouseeitnow]

Update: got some setback due to machine breakdown. T_T. We'll get a new .exe soon.

In the meantime, have a listen to one of the original soundtracks we have in store!

Edited by canyouseeitnow, 03 October 2011 - 05:58 AM.

[vertex67]

MASSIVE UPDATE.
Beta released!