OK, so if you've been following along, you might have remembered that I was working on "A Fiery Pinball" game... but that project was put on-hold indefinitely. I felt that the other pinball games out there were better. Yet, I had this cool looking fireball and I liked playing with fire. What could I do to build a game around this? So, I decided to try a platformer. At first, I wasn't feeling enthused. After the disappointment with BOT, it sure was tempting to just give up on game development. How can I be competitive in this market... especially when so many developers give away their games for free? Those feelings of doubt started to disappear today. I added wall jumping to my fireball, and I found it to be quite entertaining! View attachment 37278 That screenshot is of my game in debug mode. I'm using sensors to detect for the location of the walls. With sensors on the sides, I can do wall jumps. Technically, it's a trivial accomplishment. But design wise, it brought a huge smile to my face. Arch Fiery went from a tech demo to a game. I could start picturing level designs. I also posted about the Wall Jumps here... http://photics.com/arch-fiery-wall-jumps Previously, I wasn't sure how to kill a fireball. I wasn't about to put fire extinguishers on all of my enemies. So, how to make the game challenging, without being frustrating? That question was being solved today. The result is something that I think is great for iOS. With Left/Right/Jump movement, the game is easy to control. The accelerometer can also be used. I'm also planning to port this game to Mac, so it can be played with just three arrow keys. I think this project is off to a good start. I have a lot of work to do, but I'm planning to keep it simple — and under 20 MB! Perhaps this game will launch by the end of the month! I've added email notification to this thread, so I can be alerted to new questions or comments about Arch Fiery.
Here's another developmental screenshot from Arch Fiery... View attachment 37320 I like this screenshot. It almost looks like a happy face. Those are the coins... no wait... this is not Super Mario Bros. Those are the rings... no wait... this is not Sonic The Hedgehog. Collecting those glowy things... no wait... this is not Hard Lines. Collecting the fiery orbs (they pulsate with a flame effect) will increase the size of the fireball. That's how combat works. If you hit an enemy, it should die. Yet, the impact will cause the fireball to lose power and shrink in size. So, that system should give the platformer a traditional feel, while still being new and unique. Heh, I'll have to test it out with enemies though. Also, today I updated my forum avatar. It's with the new icon for Arch Fiery.
Agreed. Good that you clarified that point about wall jumping, cause I assumed from the pic it was merely ricocheting.
I was in a rush to school and just saw the screenshots, but wait, wall jumping?! Wow, I bet it's a lot of fun Just got me more excited Oh and I assume you new Toucharcade icon is the icon of the game too?
I'm glad that you like it. The fireball does have some bounce. The difference between a wall jump and a regular wall bounce is that the fireball can gain height instead of dropping downwards. Yes, I changed my Touch Arcade forum avatar to the new icon for Arch Fiery.
I encourage you to add a cute bird-type creature at the head of your flame trail. It should be smirking / grimacing. Then you can call your game 'Angry Firebird' or something similar. Then add cool water physics and fish enemies and senseless IAPs and watch the dollars roll in. On a somewhat serious note, maybe you can make the fire trail a Phoenix with a fiery tail? Maybe its wings got clipped?
One thing I want to mention. This game does look (and sounds) awesome, BUT don't rush the development of this game. Take as long as you want creating this game. I (and others most likely) would want a great game that took a year to make than a good game that took a month to make.
How about making the protagonist a japanese spirit, with a bluish ghostly flame? I just think that it would help the player identify more closely to the character if it was anthropomorphised.
That actually made me instantly think of the wisps from World of Warcraft... I don't think it would be such a good idea. Unless you mean a Kodama. Then yeah, that would be interesting.
I'm not rushing the game. I just threw out all of yesterday's work on Arch Fiery — simply because I didn't like it. But even with delays like that, it's really not going to take that long to build this game. That's what's cool about GameSalad. I'm more concerned about the 20 MB over-the-air download limit. I'm working hard to keep file sizes down, but it doesn't take a lot of content to fill that space up quick. It's a good suggestion. So, I tried it... View attachment 37383 Heh, seriously, it is a good idea... but what if I get it wrong? Crash Bandicoot... Sonic The Hedgehog... Bonk... there are people that love these characters... but what about those that hate them? Fire is primal. Playing with fire is something that kids do, but they're not supposed to. That's the main purpose of this game. It's like playing with fire... and fireworks... without getting burned. I simplified the enemies. Instead of robotic bugs, I just added bombs. Again, it's the same reason. Some people might think that the bugs look cool. Others might think that they look creepy. Yet, a bomb is more simple. It's less strain on the performance and I think it makes the game more fun. It's just two-dimensional images on a screen... but when I hit one of the bombs... I could almost feel it. That's the effect I'm going for.
What he was talking about wouldn't look anything like a wisp, so that's not really an issue. Of course, if you're looking for a burning, bouncing, evocative entity with a degree of personality, something along these lines would work:
...but would it work on a second generation iPod Touch? The wolf reminds me of Shadow Dancer on the Sega Genesis. That was a fun game, but the wolf didn't do too much. A fiery wolf with two tails and limbs is a bit more complex for proper collision detection and animation. One tail is hard... this one has two. Seriously, if you look at Angry Birds, the game is made up of simple shapes. That helps with maintaining the performance of the game. I think Arch Fiery has a flashy look already... what's more important is building a fun game. One of the most popular games in the world is Soccer (Football for those outside the United States). It's just a ball. Arch Fiery is also a ball... but with speed and good physics, the game can feel fun. I think that's the most important thing... making the game fun.
Here's another update... I've set the final game design... The objective for each level is to get to the goal. To get extra points, and help unlock new areas, collect the three stars. To get even more points, get a perfect... don't hit any bombs and get the four power ups. A timer will be added for even more points. I pretty much finished the first level. When I was done, I was like... wow! The reason is because I tried a speed run... get all the stars, get all the power-ups, avoid the bombs... as fast as possible. Wow... I just kept saying that... wow. (Not loud like WOW... just wow. HA HA.) With the wall jumps and long drifts through the air, I was having fun. Heh, I liked the little sense of panic as I got near a bomb. And what's nice about the game is the quick reset. So if you're playing to be a perfectionist, it's quick to restart. I do need to add some more features though... Pause Menu On-Screen controls... for those that hate the accelerometer The goal... (I'm not sure what that should look like, but it shouldn't be a flag poll. HA!) Level Select / Title Screen I also spent a lot of time today playing with sound effects. I wanted the fireball to have a swooshing sound effect, but I didn't want it to get too annoying. Music might be an issue. With a 20 MB game, 4 MB of sounds could be an issue. Right now, I hit the technological limit. Arch Fiery runs at (approximately) 30 FPS on a Second Generation iPod Touch and around 60 FPS on an iPhone 4. That's perfect. If I added much more to my game, the performance would suffer. I'm still planning to send this game to Apple next week. I might be able to do that. I'm still not sure how many levels there should be. I think that depends on how productive I am and how much space is left. If the game needs to be delayed. It will be delayed. I think this game is really good, so I don't want to ruin it by rushing it.
The game is moving along nicely. I think I have an idea for the number of areas. I'm aiming for four areas. (I'm still not sure how many levels will be in each area.) The city is one area. Here's a screenshot of another area... View attachment 37484 The Burnt Forest The story is that the fireball crashed in a forest. It's part of a military experiment that went astray. (I'm thinking of adding a short comic-book style intro, as this is part of the Revisions / BOT storyline.) When it crashed, it damaged an already dying forest. The level has a creepy feeling to it. I wasn't trying to go for a Halloween theme, but it seems to be fitting for a late-September / early-October launch. It reminds me of Super Ghouls and Ghosts on the Sega Genesis. There are five levels of parallax scrolling. The first area is basically a tutorial. It's meant to be easy, so that players can get used to controlling the fireball and understand the objectives of the game.
No, the advice wasn't "make the game something else". The advice you were given by multiple people in this thread was to try making your action/adventure/puzzle game's protagonist a bit easier to relate to than a basic faceless object; it didn't have to be a specific object or creature, and nobody said you should change the nature of the game entirely. You were simply given examples of potential options that could work within the "fireball" paradigm: phoenix, Japanese spirit, spirit fox, etc. Consider Burn the Rope, or Burn It All, which feature anthropomorphic flame-based characters with personality:
This post I read. It was shorter and seemed less hostile As I mentioned before, I considered having an anthropomorphic main character, but I see two problems... Performance — How do I make it look good without killing the already strained performance levels? What if I get it wrong? — A cute character might be more appealing to a younger audience, but might be a turn-off for others. Personally, I don't like the look of the Burn The Rope character. The third problem is that it doesn't fit with the story. It's just supposed to be a burning ball. What's at the core? It's a machine. (I might illustrate that in the pre-game comic.) It's part of a science-fiction story, so it's not fitting to be something supernatural.
Here's another update... I got a little stuck the last few days. I was having trouble figuring out how I should end a level. I didn't want to have a flagpole like in Super Mario Bros. So, I was trying to think of something that looked cool. It also had to be obvious. I didn't want players getting frustrated, trying to figure out how the level is supposed to end. View attachment 37554 For the Burning Forest level, I went with two fiery pillars. I like how the particle effects worked out. I just sat there for a little while, watching the two burning fires. I think it looks cool. I was actually thinking about giving up on this project. Yet, I don't want to disappoint those that are looking forward to this game. Plus, I already put a lot of work into this game. It would be wasted if I just gave up. Although... more time would be wasted if I didn't start feeling excited about this project again. This morning, I started feeling more motivated about this project. That's because I used a new GameSalad feature to add a Halloween treat. This game is time sensitive. During the second half of October, the bombs turn into pumpkins. It's a minor change. It only took a 4 KB image and a rule (two conditions) with a change attribute. Yet, it made the game fun for me again. It also put more pressure on finishing the game. The Burning Forest does have a Halloween feel to it, so I think I should launch this game. I'm still aiming to finish the game this week... but a minor delay is OK. The target is late September / early October.
