First time programming a game. Decided to try making a space shooter. My inspiration came from old arcade games such as Bostonian.
Aim of the game is to protect the planet that looks like Earth.
-Your ship can travel is 8 directions.
-main weapon (z) is unlimited
-secondary weapon (x) is limited to 3 shots.
-top right bar (green) is ship health
-blue bar is planet health.
-the green box will blink red when enemy ships are close to the planet
-if you are in the dark-blue zone around the planet your health increases
-planet health will regenerate
-green generation stations generate small fighters and larger battlestations
-red text in top left gives number of generation stations left.
-small yellow fighters attack your ship with a laser inflicting minimal damage
-larger yellow battle stations fire larger bullets inflicting more damage
-battle stations only move when fighters are close to the planet
-mini-map shows your location in red, generation stations in green and battle stations in yellow
-map has periodic boundary conditions - so you fly through and end up on the opposite side of the map
Hints:
-you can find behind the planet as a temporary shield
-early in the game try to destroy green stations that are very far away
-if you collide with an enemy you take some damage but become temporarily invincible.
v1.8 update:
-odd local-var problem with high-scores resolved
-added explosions when home planet is hit.
v1.7 update:
-another fix to the high-scores. I think it's working now :-)
v1.6 update:
-fixed high-scores to work when you lose :-(
v1.5 update:
-high-scores are now saved
-point-score dependent on difficulty level
-new win/lose screens
v1.4 update:
-tweaked enemy speed and regeneration rate for easy/medium levels for better game balance
v1.3
-clean-up for endgame screens and time-outs.
v1.2 update:
- there is now an end-game screen.
- menu choice of easy, medium or hard
v1.1 update:
- moved mini-map to lower level. Sprites no longer hidden
- reduced number of background stars/fighters to reduce CPU load
- added CPU limits for bullet/enemy generation
- added warning sound/visual when low on energy
Enjoy!
Nice game! And addictive too. You got good game mechanics. Hit collisions are very precise, which means that small objects are tough to hit, but that's fair. I've only blasted 6 or 7 green ships generators, but I'll try again! Is it possible to finish the game btw, or ennemies won't stop coming and your goal is just to live as long as possible?
My only small complain is that there can be quite a lot of bullets and the game then slows down a lot. Maybe you should track the total of bullets to limit their number, or check stat(1) for CPU usage: if it's going close to 1, then stop adding bullets. Or managing collisions differently, I didn't check your code.
The map position is sometimes frustrating too, as it hides targets and ships firing at you. Why not putting that map at the lowest level, ie drawing sprites above it? I know it sounds strange, but when you get foes around you, showing them is top priority, and this map is more useful in calmer moments when you're looking for your way; that is, precisely when there are less foes to obscure the map.
Anyway, I enjoyed!
ElGregos,
Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it. I'm glad you enjoyed the game.
I will investigate CPU usage as you described. See if I can speed things up when enemies get crazy. Can I ask what system you are running on?
I agree the map can get in the way, I'll move it to the lowest level as you suggest.
Thanks again!
oh.. I forgot. If you destroy all the bases the game restarts, but I think it would be much more rewarding to add a victory screen.
Version 1.1
- moved mini-map to lower level. Sprites no longer hidden
- reduced number of background stars/fighters to reduce CPU load
- added CPU limits for bullet/enemy generation
- added warning sound/visual when low on energy
Adding a 'You Win screen' is on the to-do list.
Version 1.2
- there is now an end-game screen.
- menu choice of easy, medium or hard
Cool game... Rather hectic (I didn't survive long) but I like the simplicity of the concept :-)
Thanks fuchikoma71 for the nice comments!
It's been a lot of fun making my own game.
I've adjusted the enemy speed and spawn rates to make the 'easy' and 'medium' levels consistently beatable.
nice one! The small flying saucers sure are pesky even if low damaging they bug like like hell. Next step would be making a kind of Star Control hypermelee combat game.
I like the way you enter your initials for HIGH SCORE. I had forgotten it was something like this - so simple for good arcade games.
Maybe it's just me and I still don't understand how to play, but difficulty still needs balance imo. Even in easy level, there's no way I can go beyond destroying a third of green bases. Then the big yellow saucers keep coming to Earth and player spaceship is far too slow to reach distant bases and go back to defend Earth. Game mechanics are still good though, but the difficulty is a bit frustrating.
Very nice game! The sound effects are perfect. The first time my health meter beeped I paused the game and thought "crap, what the hell is beeping now?!" because I thought it was something around my house, not the game.. hahahaha (I had just woken up, don't judge.)
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