Star Scavengers - Syntax Bomb Game Competition Sept to Oct 2018

Started by Matty, September 01, 2018, 06:18:50

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Matty

Added:

Credits
Artefacts
Experience
Gameover/mission over conditions
Splat icon on zombies
Exploding gaseous zombies
Mission end screen (see image)



Matty

To do:

To do.
Chatter (back and forth)
Help (officer and console)
Redo newgame buttons and screen.
Redo mission brief buttons (3)
No skip. No credits. Difficulty influences tough zombie probability.
Redo buy equip and back buttons
Alter hulk text
Redo ground and wall tiles maybe.
Set start credits
Do level up button.

Matty

Some updated images (improved/added bits and pieces)

Idle Chatter now exists between squad members


Improved interface design


Improved interface design


A variety of the last set of actions have been completed.....(on the to do list)

Matty

Example maze layout....

Two generation programs for generating mazes used (combined)



First method applied:
1. Carve out a room, carve out two corridors in different directions from the room, place another room at the end and repeat to a certain depth.
Second method applied:
2. Randomly select grid cells that have an adjacent 'empty cell' and carve them out as well until the number of grid cells carved equals a certain proportion of the remaining cells.


iWasAdam

Definitely like what I'm seeing.

Heres a few thought for you to mull over:
1. Large meandering mazes tend to not be as fun to 'play'. think smaller with landmarks so you always have a sense of place.
2. we're on a ship/whatever. but the play space is just a big square. maybe suggest looking at FTL or Spacehulk to get a general idea of layout, etc
3. Logic. spaceships have logic. so engines will be (probably) at the back, there will be holds, crew quarters, flight deck, etc.

That would give you some basic tasks: clear the bugs out of engineering. block up the airlock, etc :)

Matty

Thank you Adam, those are good points - the first one especially...for the purposes of this game the other two are 'less of a significant issue' but the first one is....

(the reason the second and third are less of an issue is because although it's a ship it's intended to be more like 'space junk/installations' that have floated together and formed a large mess of corridors and mazes...rather than a specific craft with engines, command, crew, mess hall etc etc...

But the first point is good. I need to perhaps revisit how I design the maze and either place more obvious 'landmarks' around the maze so that it doesn't look too 'samey' and identical everywhere...I could make it smaller, although perhaps rather than doing that I could perhaps simply change the tiles to different appearances throughout the maze .. although will think on this for some time.

On another note;

I've added doors (automatic doors that open and close, they block line of sight for shooting)


iWasAdam

All looking great :)

Are you moving in cells or smooth movement between cells?
I'm using smooth movement between cells and need to do extra hit testing...

Matty

Currently moving in cells.

Your game looks pretty nice too:gameplay looks great.

iWasAdam

Thanks Matty. It's an interesting concept - sort of a roguelike but with enemies that have pre-defined routes.

I think that if any game can still be played by the author and beaten by the AI then that is a good place to be. But it must have the 'fun' factor too.

Matty

New enemies...

Second tier enemies....



Think Diablo - as you progressed in skill/level the nature of the enemies changed to increase the difficulty with your character's increasing level.

In this case the two new enemies are the

Dark Gunner


and the Dark Knight


One of them has a ranged attack - both are more deadly than the earlier zombies but are still killable.

Once the player's team averages at or over level 2 (all Veteran or higher status (start at Green)) then these units become the norm.

My thoughts are that once the rank then proeeds to averaging at or over 4 then the third tier will become available which will be creatures that can shoot with magic (merely need clear path but not line of sight) and also there will be some who are more powerful and faster in melee.....

At the same time - now that I've developed tier 2 monsters I need to start working on more second tier equipment.

Matty

Been playing game on my new samsung tablet for a few days.

It's good to test with and I'm enjoying it.

The current squad has levelled up over several days play and is useful for testing the tiers of enemies.

2nd tier is excellent. 

Oh progress is saved so you can continue later after every battle that you survive and every time you purchase equipment outside the level (since you can also purchase and equip items in level at pcs)

Attached is a picture of my current squad (surprisingly they're all girls even though gender is 50 50 random)

I've just managed to purchase an autocannon for my most experienced squad member.


Qube

Great looking unique graphical style you have going on with this one :) - Look forward to playing the final game.
Mac Studio M1 Max ( 10 core CPU - 24 core GPU ), 32GB LPDDR5, 512GB SSD,
Beelink SER7 Mini Gaming PC, Ryzen 7 7840HS 8-Core 16-Thread 5.1GHz Processor, 32G DDR5 RAM 1T PCIe 4.0 SSD
MSI MEG 342C 34" QD-OLED Monitor

Until the next time.

Matty

New Units (Tier 3 and Tier 4 monsters: )

Alien Race 'Gnaki' Flamer Units and Dual Blade Units





The flamer sets squares on fire (you need 'fortitude' bonuses to avoid damage - life support/rebreathers etc)

Psionic Race the 'Illuminos'





The psionic attacks leave clouds of psionic energy on the map which are dangerous to enter (need fortitude bonuses again)

Also there's now background ambient sound in the level itself

Fire


Psionic Clouds




Matty

Added:

Ambient space interior sound effects ($40AUD cost) (60 second looping track of interior 'hum' sounds plus the odd 'glitchy' sound here and there within.

Enhanced:

'map loop' optimised:
1. one for loop of 10,000 iterations removed (checking the entire map for something built into another method)
2. another for loop of 10,000 iterations replaced with a for loop of between 5 and 20 iterations.

'maze generator fixed':

1. Sometimes the maze generator would generate broken maps (huge swathes of empty rooms) - I've hopefully prevented this form recurring.

'weapons and equipment added'

extra equipment and another weapon added.

'final victory' added when players reach a combined experience total of 'n'

.....on a related note: I'm having ideas of doing a party based rpg sort of thingy (start in a town, investigate dungeon, buy equipment) using this 'engine' - it would need minimal modification...but after the competition when this game is finished.