MIX-IT-UP Comp Entry - Creepy Crawlies

Started by Xerra, September 18, 2019, 17:23:24

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Xerra

This is my entry for the mix-it-up competition - Creepy Crawlies. I'm going retro shooter here as it has elements of Gridrunner (a classic Vic 20 game), Centipede (which needs no introduction) and whatever else inspires me along the way.

A few lovely bugs that you'll be shooting at are also attached for a look at.

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Ever since human life evolved on Earth the insects have always been there.

We thought they were indigenous to Earth.

They were not ...

Defend the solar system from the threat of the insects who have colonised all the planets in the solar system
and now seek to wipe out the existence of their greatest threat. Man.

Shortly after the evolving of our solar system the insects colonised Earth. They hoped no other life would
form there but instead evolution went out of control and the colonised Creepy Crawlies found they were forced
to share the Earth with a species that mostly both hated and feared them. Now their ancestors have returned
and decided they want it all.

In the Twenty-Fourth century man had finally achieved its greatest goal in setting up airborne colonies in
the hemisphere of the gas giants that could not be directly populated. With outposts now being present on
Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus, humanity had spread to every possible world in our solar system short of the
cold, lifeless chunks of rock in the Kuiper belt that were too far from the Sun to be worthwhile.

Realising the very real threat from the insect species, huge planetary grids were placed in the vicinity of
the 8 major worlds in our system. As Pluto had been qualified as a planet once more in 2023, it was also
included in the plan and defence systems were installed to protect each one from the invading insects that
had proven remarkably resistant to each of the harsh worlds they invaded.

This was a war with heavy casualties on both sides but the general consencus was humanity were losing.

Enter you. Elite pilot and top of your class in the academy. You've been given access to a brand new
prototype ship and given the task of eliminating the Creepy Crawlies from each planet that have come to the
grid to destroy it.

You are the humans last hope as extinction beckons.

Only you can save the worlds.

Where have we heard all this before?

Who writes this stuff anyway? ...
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Latest game - https://xerra.itch.io/Gridrunner
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3DzForMe

Oh my, the narrative and the quality of your insects..... words almost fail me. Having some time to wait for this competition has given everyone the chance to re-invigorate their indie coding genius.

Really looking forward to your entry - there used to be a coder back on old blitz forums that made an impressive 3D entity path thing - its eluding me for now.

Could you maybe track the input of a mouse - and use the varying inputs as the base for how your different insects fly?  ;)
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Steve Elliott

#2
I always loved Centipede and Millipede in the arcades, and the home conversions/variations.  Fast frenetic gameplay - good luck.
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Xerra

I think the code for my centipedes may have gone a bit wrong  :-X

M2 Pro Mac mini - 16GB 512 SSD
ACER Nitro 5 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core™ i7, RTX 3050, 1 TB SSD
Vic 20 - 3.5k 1mhz 6502

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3DzForMe

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iWasAdam

Keep a thought for everything having the same look.
Mixing hard style graphics with retro with alpha blending can make thing look a bit nasty - if the styles are completely different.
Pick a visual style (or the same artist) and keep everything looking the same  8)

Xerra

Quote from: iWasAdam on September 21, 2019, 10:33:58
Keep a thought for everything having the same look.
Mixing hard style graphics with retro with alpha blending can make thing look a bit nasty - if the styles are completely different.
Pick a visual style (or the same artist) and keep everything looking the same  8)

Yep, those are just placeholder green circles i put in for sprites to test run movement patterns. Oh, and the terrible centipede head graphic that I drew to get rotation stuff right that's not in yet. That image is from the first run after i put in all the code in one go for the centipede rather than do it bit by bit. Lots of obvious work needed now but I was chuffed it at least ran first time without any syntax errors , even if it did fuck up completely, lol.

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ACER Nitro 5 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core™ i7, RTX 3050, 1 TB SSD
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Latest game - https://xerra.itch.io/Gridrunner
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3DzForMe

QuoteNow their ancestors have returned
and decided they want it all.

I like the ominous sounding nature of that narrative......  :o
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Xerra

Some more stuff gone in now. The Centipede itself has placeholder graphics (along with most of the rest) and is also moving at 32 pixels which looks crap on video recording - especially as the game plays faster when not recording with Snagit. I'm definitely changing that but thought I'd throw a new video out as I've been grinding away the last week on this game.

https://youtu.be/L2pOVWaKJvw
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Matty


Steve Elliott

#10
This is progressing nicely Xerra.  Less programmer art now and some satisfying sound explosions - although they could still do with something extra.  Hopefully the pace picks-up to frenzy speeds on later levels.
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Qube

Coming along well and I like the art style :)
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Until the next time.

Xerra

Quote from: Steve Elliott on September 24, 2019, 15:03:28
This is progressing nicely Xerra.  Less programmer art now and some satisfying sound explosions - although they could still do with something extra.  Hopefully the pace picks-up to frenzy speeds on later levels.

Absolutely. The video makes it seem a fair bit slower than it actually is I've noticed while rewatching it. I've got to get a balance right with the number of shots fired and the speed of them in comparison to clearing mushrooms. The original centipede arcade game got it fucking perfect because there was always something there to shoot at - even if just a mushroom. And that game was like Boulderdash in a way, where OCD people actually enjoyed clearing the mushrooms to keep things tidy, just like I always used to clear out all the dirt in a boulderdash map to move all the rocks.

It'll be fast and bullet-hard if I can get away with it. There's a section in the video where i hit a spawn bug key rapidly in succession to get loads of mosquitoes flying down the screen rapidly. Thinking there's a bonus section doing something like that potentially.

I've got 10 insect types I could potentially use so there will be a lot more going on too. Just need to get the Centipede right first.
M2 Pro Mac mini - 16GB 512 SSD
ACER Nitro 5 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core™ i7, RTX 3050, 1 TB SSD
Vic 20 - 3.5k 1mhz 6502

Latest game - https://xerra.itch.io/Gridrunner
Blog: http://xerra.co.uk
Itch.IO: https://xerra.itch.io/

Steve Elliott

Great to hear, one of my favourite games back then.  Millipede takes it up a few more notches though.
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3DzForMe

That is bewildering to watch, my wife remarked she'd play it (she doesn't ordinarily play games too much).

Love the electronic whooshing sound effects, the whole centipede meets Galaga vibe. Thats defo the third substantial gauntlet thrown down for this compo, the quality of the entrants so far are knocking it out of the park. 8)
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