Water Panic Released! Options

[BorisE]

Download

This is it, barring bugfixes.

Any new ideas after this will have to wait for Water Panic II.

Oh I nearly forgot, here's a screenshot (50% scale).



Also see my Gamemaker page

This post has been edited by BorisE: Dec 3 2004, 05:21 PM

[GZ_Storm]

The graphics are a little inconsistant in my opinion. For instance, the water and some of the ball objects (soccer ball, beach ball, etc) look realistic while other sprites look cartoonish. The whirlwind level was pixelated greatly, which wasn't very easy on eyes. This department could use some work, but overall I wouldn't say it's horrible or anything like that.

The gameplay is refreshing however, so good job. I can't recall playing a game like this, and it's fairly catchy. I think you could have made it a tad more easier though, you only get one life then you have to start all over. I found myself getting in situations where I would lose over half my life because I couldn't regain control because of all the bouncing. Perhaps you should have different difficulty levels, lives, or a level system where once you beat a level or sector you can play those levels again any time.

You did fairly good on presentation, it's very common for people to use the classic GM high score dialog, and the title screen is fitting for the game. However, I feel the graphics clash -- the text is pixelated for example and the colors could use some better choosing -- on this side of things.

The sound and music are suitable, I don't have any complaints or praises here.

[MattCreations]

its pretty fun but its pretty hard...i mean once you die you have to restart all over again!

[gamez93]

show show screens and info

[darthlupi]

Man this game is pretty. I love the fake claymation style that you have going with everything the game.

I remember you releasing this demo a while ago, and I am glad that it has finally reached a completed state.

I have no real complaints other than a continue feature would be nice.

Smooth game, good arcade fun, and excellent presentation man!

[AVataRR]

mm.. the water animation seems a bit choppy. maybe it should have just a few more frames. if that happens, I'll be wanting to post this on sheepsheet.

[seal]

NICE! It runs very smooth, and graphics are all...3-Dish.
I like it, I think I'll give it a 8/10. Woohoo!

[kylethompson]

10/10 very sellable!

[tapeworm]

I think this is a very fun game. At first I thought that the disparity in the graphics bothered me, but after a few minutes I realized that I like the way things look. Between the graphics, the catchy music, and the gameplay, this game really has a lot of charm.

Seeing some screenshots of this game in the WIP forum (I had about half of the final demo downloaded before I realized the game was released in the Creations forum), I figured it would be similar to the old arcade game Toobin.' But the only real resemblance is the guy in the tube, and even that is probably a coincidence. Plus I've had a lot more fun with this game than I ever did with that one.

So far my highest score is 1495 and the farthest I have been is the Corners level. Very nice how you gradually throw in variety like the whirlpool and some of the powerups (and anti-powerups) that you don't see at first.

Anyway, really nice work. Hope to see this at http://www.gamemakergames.com :)

[aaron7114]

Like i said in your W.I.P. in my opinion this is the best gm game ever, but I have now seen a new W.I.P. "hamster trouble" so its a close race between water panic and hamster trouble. Anyways I love this game. It has GREAT graphics, great gameplay, challenging, original. I also nominated you for "Making Games" in the The Gamemaker Awards 2004. VERY VERY good job on this game. Can't wait until Water Panic II. I can't even imagine how awesome that will be.

[BorisE]

Hey thanks for the great response everyone!!

GZ_Storm

You're right about the text, it's a tradeoff between file size and quality but with hindsight I see I should have made a banner sprite instead of using draw_text for the game title.

I'm wary of implementing continues. I'd like to have some way to skip lower levels though.

Mattcreations

I agree it's hard. Still I believe it's possible to finish, though I'm not 100% sure about the last two levels.

Gamez93

?

Darthlupi

Glad you liked it, yep I'm still thinking about continues...

AVataRR

That's a 16 frame cycle. If I want to improve on it I'll probably have to write the renderer myself, Ouch!!

What's Sheepsheet?

Seal, Kylethompson

Thanks!!

Tapeworm

I hope the graphics aren't too off-putting. I did put quite a bit of work in but some drawing tasks were beyond me really. Maybe I shouldn't have used the photo objects but they just looked too good to resist I really needed the player sprite with lighting effects from a whole lot of angles but that was more than I could draw.

I'm glad I didn't just poach music off Sonic the Hedgehog, my original plan.

I remember Toobin, one of arcade gaming's great missed opportunities. It really suffered from the "blue striped conveyor" school of water effects. Also the main difficulty in the game seemed to be it's controls and it seemed to be written to eat credits at a set rate. And the characters were a bit ugly. I thought about using ripped sprites, NOT!!

I hope the anti-powerups weren't too bad. I do give you a clue, the arrow never points to them.

aaron7714

I'd really like to follow on from this but it'll take a while, I've used up my initial rush of ideas.

Some bits need a ground up rewrite, like I'd really like to have line of sight rules. I know how but it takes time. I'd like the monsters to have default paths when not chasing. I'd like to have two player play but at present that would break the AI. I'd like to dream up some alternative monsters.

I'd like more water effects.

[ptancred]

It's good!

[MJGamesInc]

I think its pretty sweet..Im not much of a fan of the neon colors but...Can't wait 'till partII ;0)

[Tarik]

Hey BorisE, sorry for the low replies in the wip topic. I remember you PMed me(very kind, thank you) but I was really busy at that moment.

Anyway, this game went great.
I just love the effects you used. At first I thought, how in the world did he do that animation rotated! (Back in 5.3A that wasn't easy) But then I saw the gmd and I thought it was very clever.

I like the graphics, though I'm more a fan of either really nice 3D or pixelated graphics, but after about 20 seconds you get used to your new graphics style.

All in all, pretty damn sweet game. The graphics, sound and music effects, and the gameplay was great. At the first few Demo's I couldn't think of any goal in this game, but along with the highscore system, the challenging levels you were able to create a finish.

Great work, you used some clever tricks in it. I hope to see more in the future. I'll keep this one on my HD!
-Tarik