SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

I have an idea.....

Something goes tits-up in an underground lab. They've been experimenting on some animals and even a load of death row inmates they managed to acquire. The security systems have also been infected so are set to protection mode.  The Wutan Gang have been called in to clean up the mess due to their Sterling work during variant 19!

So it's going to be a retro action platformer shooter with an element of strategy thrown in.  I'm being quite ambitious as I have loads of ideas - mainly involving carnage.  Ive made good progress and settled on some design decisions.

There will be 4 Wutan members you can select, each with different attributes jump height, shot accuracy, shot speed, reload time and hit points. Each member can walk/run, crawl, jump, shoot, climb ladders and shimmy along bars (like lode runner). You can only shoot while stationary on the ground or on ladders - this is deliberate as you'll have to plan rather than going in gung-ho. You'll be able to duck behind stuff etc..

I think I've nailed collisions using a sort of 2d linepick/Ray on various points of the character and use a tile based bitmasks to determine collison points. Seems to work and is fast so fingers crossed.

Loads of zoomed in screenshots below. Apologies in advance!

This is you and a spider showing hitbox in red and collision points in black (middle one excluded)



This is Hawk, a spider, an oil drum and a dodgy looking broken door. What could be hiding in there?



Zombie inmates! Ajax hides below. The zombies are as stupid as they look and are more likely to kill themselves than be killed.



This is MJ, she was at her senior prom when called into action, hence the dress and white accessories.



This is Dave shooting his gun, he didn't have time to get dressed after last night's bender so still in his jockeys.



Hawk hanging to avoid the wall gun.



Hawk shooting the drum , taking out some zombies and taking a bit of splash damage for his trouble. Blood splatters stick to platforms.



A zombie being randomly sick 




Lots of this isn't quite working as I'd like and some of the shots are mocks/staged. A million things to do but pretty good start I think.

Cheers,
Stevie

Superb as always.

I'm looking forward to this.   

Nice art style.

See that - that ball? The one you just hit out the park... !

Been working on a few things over the weekend.

* Added useless scientists to the fray.  Bonus if you can keep them alive.
* Your gun smokes to indicate overheating at which point you need to wait until its cooled down.
* Added evidence which must be collected to ensure the dodgy goings on are never revealed to the public.
* Added drop doors which will only open with correct color keycard.  The door opens when you are on or beside the door tile which allows you to lock someone/something behind you.  Managed to lock an AI controlled gang member in a cupboard who then proceeded to header the wall until death while attempting to escape 

Here's MJs smoking gun. Notice the dead scientist is bleeding on the floor below.  He went for help but didn't make it. See blue keycard to the left.
http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Untitled/WG09.png

It doesn't look good for this pair. Will you save the day?
http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Untitled/WG10.png

Nah!
http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Untitled/WG11.png

Some evidence, a virus sample and a briefcase of data hidden behind the blue drop door.
http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Untitled/WG12.png

Love the look of this Great to read you're adding life & humour to the characters. Looking forward to playing this but don't make it too good now

I think I'm getting a bit blood thirsty in my old age. Gibbage had to be done. Managed to save out all the heads, arms and feet and even weapons for use as particles.

Having saved the lovely scientist from the zombie, she gave Hawk some cheek so he wasted her too.  In this shot you can see her head, a foot and an arm.

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Untitled/WG13.png

Quote
Managed to save out all the heads, arms and feet and even weapons for use as particles.

Excellent.   

Quote from: STEVIE G on March 02, 2021, 19:40:17
I think I'm getting a bit blood thirsty in my old age. Gibbage had to be done. Managed to save out all the heads, arms and feet and even weapons for use as particles.

Having saved the lovely scientist from the zombie, she gave Hawk some cheek so he wasted her too.  In this shot you can see her head, a foot and an arm.

Hahah, you sick bastard. The more gibage the better

Today I've added:

* Water. Its blended so you can see underneath, unlike the acid. Nice to have would be swimming and blood thirsty piranhas.
* Local coop. This was on the todo. Each player gets 75% of normal health to even the score a bit. You can waste each other and the added bonus is that only the guy carrying a keycard can open that door, so you can lock each other in.    2 player deathwatch on the cards but probably post comp. Hud elements are placeholders.
* Tables and chairs you can stand on or take cover behind. You can already do that with the barrels.
* Leathal spikes you don't want to be standing on.
* Interactive Signs - mainly for a tutorial level to explain  more about the controls

Planning to add some new enemies - guards, inmates with weapons, zombie scientists (a bit more savy), saw blades and maybe a few other creatures. The spider was tough to animate!

The full test level ... with Dave (sporting a new crew cut) and MJ.

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Untitled/WG14.png

Some good progress today.

Sorted the hud, simple and effective - didn't need all that shading. Got a tutorial level built and working. Added 8 bit (maybe placeholder) sound fx. Found and added some great music and sent out a playable 2 level demo to mates for feedback on controls etc..

Tutorial level below. Idea heavily inspired by Thy Sword's tutorial.

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Untitled/WG15.png

What about a video, Steve?

Quote from: Xerra on March 05, 2021, 18:29:21
What about a video, Steve?

Maybe. I've recorded myself playing the 2 level demo but my video editing software is playing up.

Weird issue today. Your guy has a lot of acceleration, eg moving from 0 to 2 velocity in 2 frames. Likewise the zombies have a max speed of 0.5 but this resulted jittery movement sometimes. The animation was basically updated every 2nd frame.  Cast position to int you say. Didn't work. I had to do some weird thing where I only moved in complete pixels every 2 frames. Had to floor the velocity and carry the remaining float. Also had to have acceleration at 0.25. WTF!  Anyway seems to work. Anyone come across this before?

Back on to the main character. His acceleration is now 0.5 so takes 4 frames to get up to speed so makes it easier for pixel sized position changes. Im going to double acceleration if movement direction is different to velocity direction for quicker turns. The question I have is around air control. Some games have complete control similar to just running and originally I did similar so when in air if you let go of left or right you'd come to a halt on the x axis. Ive changed it to maintain the pre jump velocity with ability to change direction mid air similar to being on ground. It feels pretty good but easier now to overshoot the landing. Amusingly when I first introduced it, I forgot about the rails and if you jumped onto one in mid air you'd continue to slide along it in that direction.  Quite fun but too much. Any thoughts/prefs on air control in general?