Another Sideways Scroller

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by HeshamAmiri, Sep 5, 2010.

  1. HeshamAmiri

    HeshamAmiri Well-Known Member

    Aug 19, 2010
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    One of the things I enjoy most is reading other developer's blogs and post mortem, for my next little project I decide that I will also keep a diary of my development and progress.

    Another thing that I enjoy, is good old fashioned side scroller, ala R-Type and Armalyte. Like many here I'm sure, I've spent countless hours playing those games and still do.

    So it is no surprise that my next project is an old school sideways scroller. I have pretty much a good idea of what they game will be like in general, however, this time around I'm going to approach things a little differently when it comes to development.

    Rather than plan out everything is detail before had, I will start with getting the basic elements in place (ship control, level setup, enemy patters and movement and the level up system).

    Once I have the basics for the game, I will start building the game play levels. If need be, I will add more basic gameplay elements for each level as needed.

    I hope that great level design and fun factor will emerge on top as opposed to good technical design.

    Development is only two days old, however, I have been able to setup basic level structure and I think I got the player ship control to where I want it.

    Next on the to do item, is creating enemy pattern generator.
     

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  2. HeshamAmiri

    HeshamAmiri Well-Known Member

    Aug 19, 2010
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    Instead of starting with the enemy engine, I started work on the weapons and upgrade engine.

    After messing around with Quaternion for almost 2 hours, I think I got it down. The player now can shoot a single shot and a triple shoot. With the system in place it is just a matter of plugging in new weapons as they are created. I'm very pleased with the system as it is now.

    Here are some screen shots, the art is still long ways away from being finalized.
     

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  3. HeshamAmiri

    HeshamAmiri Well-Known Member

    Aug 19, 2010
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    Decided that I should also implement the power up engine, and now, the game has a complete power up system that is flexible and scalable. For now, I got only one power up implemented, but adding more is super easy.

    I also increased the fire rate on the weapons. Things are looking good.
     

    Attached Files:

  4. HeshamAmiri

    HeshamAmiri Well-Known Member

    Aug 19, 2010
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    • New Plasma Weapon
    • New PowerUp
    • Weapon Engine Additions
    • Upgrade and Power ups Matrix
    • Curve and Path for enemies are ready for use
    • Fixed Collision Issues
     

    Attached Files:

  5. HeshamAmiri

    HeshamAmiri Well-Known Member

    Aug 19, 2010
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    #5 HeshamAmiri, Sep 8, 2010
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2010
    Spent most of the day fixing how enemy ships appear on the screen. Actually I spent about 2 hours trying to figure out why the ships did spawn when they are supposed too and discovered that it was just a matter of checking which layers collide with each other, oh well.

    I did a small test of about 30 bullets and 25 ships at once and the frame-rate didn't drop, which is pretty good, especially that I dont plan on having more than 30 objects on screen at any given time.

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  6. eugekava

    eugekava Well-Known Member

    Jul 8, 2009
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    Melbourne, Australia
    In the first 4 screenshots the background is too busy with too many stars. I like the darker, less busy ones because they don't detract from the gameplay.

    It would also be great if the projectiles/weapon fire had the glow effect to mask the jagged outlines.
     
  7. HeshamAmiri

    HeshamAmiri Well-Known Member

    Aug 19, 2010
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    @eugekava thanks for the feedback, and I agree the background need to be a revised, I hope to ge the gameplay done before polishing the art work.

    I have spent the past few days converting the game to a top down scroller. I did this for a few reasons. First, I'm now officially in love with top down scrollers, second I think the style of gameplay I have in mind would suite that orientation better.

    I also ran into some iPhone optimization issues, so I spent almost all day today reducing texture sizes and trying to get the maximum amount of batching done. I'm back now to the previous levels of around 40-50 objects on screen.

    I also decided to use sprites for the player bullets rather than line-renderers (particles), as they were just too expensive. Though I i will still use some line-renderers for one-time weapons that I have planned.

    I'm also glad to say that the enemy and wave systems in place appear to be functioning well. Whats left is just designing weird and interesting waves of enemies. Something I'm really looking forward too.

    I have also decided on a few other things:

    - I will be commissioning a few soundtracks for the game.
    - I will also be providing the player the options to play music from their library
    - Game Center is definitely in, but I will have to really look into it and see how this whole thing works.
    - I have a library of almost 40+ alien ships, so the variety should be there.

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