Space Hero

[darthducky]

...like Guitar Hero, shoot the enemies before they hit the bottom of the screen!

Yeah, I know that's exactly what Space Invaders is. I'm trying to make the enemies move across the screen in patterns, looping around and stuff (think Ikaruga...). How do you do this?

[TheEnigmaBlade]

Is this an idea, or did you forget to attach the game?

[darthducky]

Just thought I'd get potential issues worked out before I really start working on the game. I've got a program right now that doesn't do anything, so I want to add a little more before I post it.

[darthducky]

Ok, you can now choose between 4 ships and battle it out with a guy who will probably eventually become a miniboss.

[TheEnigmaBlade]

A couple things...
1. The game is really laggy...
2. the guy you fight can't hit you.  He always aims just off from you.

Otherwise, I can't wait until you get more working!  Seems like a fun game.

[darthducky]

1. It doesn't lag on my computer. Probably just stats. Play it in the syslab and see if it works.

Problem #2 was because the player's location was at the top left of the image, so the enemy always aimed at that point. That's probably why his shots missed. Also, he's not trying to smash into you; he's just bouncing around the screen.

I'll post another update this weekend when I'll (hopefully) have included music, more weapons (ship-specific?), more enemies, and more levels. I also should make the player take damage sometime.

[TheEnigmaBlade]

But he was shooting to the right of you...

Oh well...  I tried it on my windows computer, and the game is a little jerky...  Consider raising the fps a bit.

[darthducky]

Here is the next release.

1. It will still probably be laggy. I tried to increase the fps but it won't likely have that much of an effect. It still doesn't lag on my computer.
2. I'm testing an enemy who, among other things, won't die right when you shoot him. He will keep flying for a while and then respawn. When he dies, sometimes he shoots a laser the wrong direction. Actually, he shoots the wrong way a lot. He has a health bar, which is kind of pointless since he has only 1 HP. He now shoots to your left. He drops powerups often which give you weapons. He is not a miniboss; I've got too much homework this weekend to write AI for him.
3. You can cycle through your available weapons by pressing the 1,2,and 3 keys. Your available and selected weapon will appear in the HUD on the right.
4. You have 10 HP but when you lose all of them, you regain full health, so you still can't die.
5. There is music. It isn't permanent unless I can't find anything better. You can turn it on or off in the Options menu.
6. Hold down the spacebar to continuously fire, or button-mash it to fire quickly. This is kind of pointless for the yellow weapon though.
7. In case you haven't noticed (or haven't gotten far enough), both the current enemies and one of your ship choices are revamped images from Safeguard.
8. The enemies still don't kill you when they smash into you.
9. You still have only one level.

[darthducky]

New release. I can't remember exactly what I put in this edition so just play it to see what I added. Let me know if there are any huge bugs.

EDIT: by the way, it is okay for the two of you who have downloaded this to provide feedback 

[darthducky]

Haven't done much with this for a while. I think my background was what was causing  all the fps issues, so I simplified it greatly. I also added a few weapons and simplified my input code too. Also, Stage 5 I believe contains a fairly difficult boss. Now that 3rd quarter is over I'll hopefully be spending a little more time on this. Let me know what you think.

[IceFire]

I found a number of issues when I tried the game.

1) You can only watch the tutorial once, it doesn't reset at the end.
2) The tutorial doesn't actually display any enemies, shots being fired, HUD, or anything, so it's somewhat odd when you talk about the enemies attacking you.
3) I couldn't figure out how to switch to the secondary weapon. I accidentally switched to the sword once, but I tried hitting 'W' after I re-read the tutorial and I    couldn't use the sword.
4) The game plays FAR too fast, at least for me. I would beat every single level within 3 seconds by just holding down space and moving left or right randomly.
5) Try adding some non-homing weapons, it makes it a little to easy when you don't even have to aim and everything dies so fast.
6) (Minor Issue) If possible, try making the tutorial slightly more interesting or easier to skip through the parts you know.


It looks like a good game overall, though. Good luck on it.

[darthducky]

This game is just a framework with a few test levels right now. The reason for the overpowered weapons was so when I add something new, I don't have to waste my time playing levels I've already completed. I haven't messed with the tutorial for a while, so I know that needs a lot of fixing eventually. Right now I'm focusing on adding more weapons (many non-homing - a straight missile is in the works) and more difficult enemies.

Also, sorry about the keyboard control issues. I completely forgot I said to use the W key. I've actually been using the ENTER key for weapon switches, so use that instead. I'll fix the tutorial. Did you have any fps issues or did I finally fix that?

[IceFire]

I had FPS issues, but not the same the other people had. My FPS was far too fast. I beat each stage of the mission in about 3 seconds. The FPS looks to be between 100-150, though I'm not certain of that.