Project 0 2x Demo Released

[iatneH]

Hello, I have made a demo for my first GP2X game (in fact, my first game, period), with myself as programmer/sprite artist and another forum member Justron as as sprite/background artist and sound dude.

It's a simple scrolling shooter, but as a demo it only has 2 levels and no background music, because we haven't gotten that far yet
The artworks are 100% original in that we drew them all ourselves, although some of you will probably be able to see the influences.

The game uses SDL so please make sure you have those installed on you GP2X. This also means that you can e-mail me for source code... or something. Everything else you need to know can be found in the game's readme file. We're not expecting much, but if you like the demo and want to donate a little, my Paypal address is in the readme also.

Onto the game! You can find more info, screenshots, gameplay footage, and the downloadable demo at the following link: http://members.shaw.ca/gctien/gp2xdev/gp2xdev.html

Justron is away for most of the weekend, but we hope you enjoy this release and leave us some feedback here! Thanks for your interest...

 

[PSyMastR]

Wow, this looks amazing.

 

[Axeman]

Looking good... keep it up!

 

[synkro]

AWESOME! Original Games are what we need! Keep up the good the work. . .

 

[peetabix]

Looks amazing, cant wait to try it

 

[X-Code]

Nice looking game, reminds me of the good old classic blasters, well done B)

 

[Godmil]

Very impressive visuals... looking forward to trying it out.

 

[sirlol]

really nice specially cos it's the kind of game i like most

shoot'em ups rule

 

[Willei]

The game looks highly influenced by... I won't say becuase it feels like I'm spoiling it! It'll leap out to any Cave fan right away though. Not that being influenced by two of the greatest shmups of all time is a bad thing!

I've only watched the video so far (2X batteries are on charge) but I reckon the bullets could stand to be a bit larger since it looks quite confusing. Needle shaped bullets are good to help you determine direction at a glance, a load of round bullets have to be watched for a little longer and it's harder to keep track of them. On the whole, it's looking good. B)

 

[Fishbong]

Very nice sprites and good gameplay!

But could you make either the player ship a little smaller or the enemy fire more widespread? Sometimes it´s impossible to dodge the attacks...

 

[sand_man]

Lookin good!

 

[jbrodack]

i love shoot em ups too. very well done and cool to have some bullet hell on the gp2x. the screen orientation is cool but it would be nice if there could be an option to change it to normal or even reverse it so you could use the abxy buttons as a gamepad.

great work on the graphics. its cool that it was inspired by other games but you made all your own graphics instead of ripping them from some other games.

only thing i don't like is the continue system. its fine for this test to give us unlimited continues but you should give a fixed amount of continues or make it so continuing brings you back to the start of the level or something. sure you could just not continue or only insert maybe 2 credits and not more after you die but for shooters i kind of like being forced to get better at the game. for me its why whenever i play neo geo games i always use the home option because theres no thrill to always having the ablility to continue.

still thats just nitpicking really since everthing about this looks like the work of someone with tons of experience not someone just making their first game.

also with how good this is turning out and your taste in shoot em ups ever consider making a game similar to warning forever for the gp2x? it would obviously be your own original take on the game but it would be cool to have a game similar to that for the gp2x and you seem to have the skills to make something like that happen.

anyway great job on the game and extremely nice to see some more nice quality homebrew for the gp2x. please continue working on this.

 

[STTrife]

I played your game it's pretty cool
graphics are cool and everything works as it should so good work!!!!
A few things about gameplay that could be improved:

-coins/continues: what is the point of this? I'd say give a lot of lives, but no continues. The way you have it now is that you don't really need to try the game, just keep shooting and firing bombs, die, press continue etc. etc.

-bombs: with this eternal continue functions getting 2 new bombs ever live seems pointless, at the second boss I just kept firing bombs, die, continue, fire bombs and I killed him quick without dodging any bullets.
I think it would be better if bombs are timed... like if you are out of bombs you always have to wait 30 or 60 seconds and then you just get a new one (and max 2 or 3 bombs)

-the explosions for the bombs start flickering which looked bad and annoying to me. I'd rather see a nice smooth long explosing or something, or multiple explosions. Not one flickering explosion

-there are too many bullets in a level it's pretty cool , but if your first 2 levels have THAT many bullets then either your game is too hard, or you'll have to make an energybar so you don't die of one bullet.
Also so many bullets makes it impossible to see what you are shooting at. I think that your game would be more fun if it started way more easy

-IT's not clear when you are hit by a bullet. I mean, ofcourse you know when you are hit, because you die, but.... sometimes It seems like you are invincible because a lot of bullets seem to hit you but apparantly they don't hit your 'hitbox' as you call it but sometimes you are busy dodging bullets and you think you'r doing good but then you die


So a few suggestions:

No more continue, but a lot of lives
Better bomb explosion
Bombs are given over time, not with each life
Less bullets (WAY less in first levels)
Clearer (and maybe bigger) hitbox, so it's more clear how to dodge bullets
Items you can find: lives, powerups, bombs, etc. etc.
background music, and cool boss music

I think between levels you should be able to buy upgrades with the points you earn (or else I don't see the point of getting points)

powerups are cool you should try to make those


anyway the game looks awesome, I hope you can improve the gameplay. Ofcourse having so many bullets seems pretty cool, but I'd like to play a game a little longer. And I like to get my ship stronger while I'm playing it. Those old arcade machines with these games, they were designed to let people insert as many coins as possible, so I don't think it's a good idea to mimic those games exactle!.

Keep up the good work, hope to see an update soon!!!

 

[Nickmon]

Looks ace- well done !

 

[Willei]

Just had a quick go, initial impressions are very good. The bullet patterns are interesting to dodge, very unusual for a homebrew game. I think the bosses are possibly a bit too durable for my liking. Having destructable bits on them is nice, but they seem to work in a wierd way - the boss gets easier as it's components get destroyed, which is back to front IMO. All the other design aspects are pretty spot on - the amount of bullets and enemies, amount of bombs, the size of hitbox (although it seems a bit far back on the ship which I find confusing), the way continues work. Lack of powerups doesn't bother me one bit, although I know some people like them. I wouldn't mind the odd extra life (score based or collectable) or bomb once in a while though. The difficulty level seems pretty sensible - although I one life'd it on the second go (what I'd expect from the average Cave game really), it's intense enough to keep you on your toes. It does my head in when you can practically sleep through the first level or two of a shump. If the scoring system is worked on a bit (the current chain system is a bit loose doesn't seem to require any thought like it does in DDP) it could be really good. An alternate fire would be nice as well - I'm not bothered what really (lock-shot would be nice though ) just as long as I can hold down the shot button to slow the ship down. If you're planning on making it energy based on the feedback of others, can you make it a selectable option? For every Guwange that gets it right, there's a million-and-one Xexex's that just aren't suited to it and end up worse for it.

The only real complaint I have it the framerate for now, but that can presumably be improved, with overclocking options failing all else. As for the music, maybe you could borrow Manabu Namiki's original tunes for the time being? Or provide an MP3 option for the less scrupulous of us!

 

[nem]

Shmups.com heritage can definitely be seen in this ;-)

Good work!

 

[jbrodack]

A few things about gameplay that could be improved:


-there are too many bullets in a level it's pretty cool , but if your first 2 levels have THAT many bullets then either your game is too hard, or you'll have to make an energybar so you don't die of one bullet.
Also so many bullets makes it impossible to see what you are shooting at. I think that your game would be more fun if it started way more easy

its bullet hell or "maniac bullet curtain" as the author put it. its meant to have a crazy amount of bullets at pretty much all times. the way it is now its hard but not impossible. games like this can be much harder. and why would you want the hitbox to be bigger if the game is already too hard for you. the small hitbox is what usually saves you in these games.

not trying to put down your suggestions just that i don't think you understand the style the game is and that it is the way it is intentionally.

 

[Dzz]

Very nice work!

 

[Willei]

I think the bosses are possibly a bit too durable for my liking. Having destructable bits on them is nice, but they seem to work in a wierd way - the boss gets easier as it's components get destroyed, which is back to front IMO.

I must have missed one of the rear pods on the first ship, since it definitely gets harder after all it's components have been destroyed. The second boss's final pattern is defintely easier than it's inital pattern though. :huh:

 

[iignotus]

It looks superb so far! I've only looked at the screenshots at the moment, I'm going to be playing it as soon as possible.