Pandora 'Spirit Shard', commercial quality 2d shmup for pandora.


Wrath Of Khan

Soul soother...
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Hi all,


We are currently developing a commercial quality 2d shoot em up for the pandora. It will be free for the pandora. We also aim to release it commercially on a variety of systems including android, ouya, g.o.g (good old games) and hopefully ps vita .


Here's the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpTPJrKqbXw&feature=player_embedded


Spirit Shard is an old school 2d shoot em up, similar to what you might find on the neo geo or snes/genesis. there are 5 large levels in total. There is also a neat story running through the game and we are aiming high in terms of enemies and character design. We have an excellent concept artist who has produced, I think you will agree,some superb work so far. We are now ready to start building the game itself and want to move forward at a greater pace.


The team comprises of Mikael Johannson, (programmer and some graphics)


Myself (Game design, story and game document)


Linux swat, (Music) It rocks!! The music in the video was composed by linux swat.


Rico, Concept art (Freelance)


So where are we and what do we need right now?


We need an additional graphic artist who can produce high quality 2d sprite art and animations, and who is willing to collaborate with M Johannson with graphics duties.


We a very detailed game document that is approximately 85% complete and should be finished in the coming weeks. Most of the programming is done except for some specifics like weapons and enemy movement patterns etc.


Please only offer your services if you genuinely have the time to devote to this project. I want to speed up the pace of this project a little and am looking to have a finished demo of level one in a timely fashion.


Also we would like to see some previous examples of your work, graphics and animation, if possible.


This will be a commercial venture released under the name 'Silverhawk games' and there is much to organise in this regard. All those involved in the game will recieve a percentage of all sales of 'Spirit shard' on all systems.


As such matters are several months away yet, there is time to deal with such details later. Getting a level one demo built is the priority atm. Enjoy the video.


Ps. post here or pm me if you are interested and please provide samples of previous work. Cheers.
 
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I just want to leave a litle tip... Maybe it was already taken in consideration but I will give the tip anyways, I think that  pixel joint http://www.pixeljoint.com/

 is the perfect place to hire a fulltime pixel artist (wich seems to be the right direction for this kind of game).
 
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Well we found a suitable sprite artist and animator for this project; so from now on we should start seeing some major progress.

No eta yet. When I have a completed one level demo, then I should be able to estimate a release for this.

Pandora, pc, ouya and ps vita are the target systems.

Btw this game will see the light of day unless, I die in a freak accident or something; even then I may return in ghostly form to finish the project.

S0:

The game document is 85% + completed. (Its bloody detailed)

Work will be commencing on default animation frames for enemies tomorrow.

Mock-ups of sprites and some backgrounds will also be prepared.

The game document will be completed in the next few weeks.

A series of mini programs will be built to adjust and define all enemy behaviours, before being inserted in the game.

Upon completion of the game document I will start building a map/level layout for level one.

Oh and Linux-swat is composing some very groovy electric guitar music for us.

Did I forget to mention that we have superb concept art for all enemies and boss's; this means Spirit shard should look top class.

Well when we have more to show I will put together another video.
 
Sprite art for level one enemies is approx 50% done and progress is rapid. All level one enemies should be done quite soon.


Then there are 3 bosses to do; just for level one alone.


Background art has now properly begun too. Concept sketches for level 3 enemies is being done and should be finished in 2 or so weeks.


Level one shall be built first and balanced and tweaked. This should then serve as an excellent template for the other 4 levels.


So: we are moving towards a level one demo atm.
 
Pretty cool. What are you developing the game with?
Its coded with open gl and C' I believe. I'm no programmer though.

Pro-motion and mt paint are being used for the sprite art.

There's not much left to do in the game doc, i just need to find the time, as i'm doing it in my spare time.

The enemy graphics and animations are turning out brilliant imo. I'm really happy so far.
 
Well progress is still slower on Spirit shard' than id like but its picking up. All level one enemies are finished, drawn and animated sublimely. Simply incredible quality.

The two level one end of level boss's are being worked on right now. Background graphics are also ongoing.

Two cool beta versions of 2 pieces of music are done.

The sprite artist for enemies and boss's is comissioned, full-time; as such progress is rapid. I hope to have a proper first build soon.

i'm funding this project myself and am in the process of establishing a company to sell it and hopefully many more games in the future.

I will update with a video as soon as something playable is available.
 
Good luck with this Wrath of Khan

Have you thought about the scoring mechanics for your game? IMHO this can really add to the appeal of SHMUPS, look at something like Dodonpachi or Star Soldier that have risk / reward built into the scoring system.

For the Android port please allow people to define the controls for physical controllers as per DraStic / MAME4Droid.

Any plans for online leaderboards?

Good luck with this, really looking forward to playing it on Pandora. :)
 
I really cant wait for this you know i love Pandora SHMUPS. i cant help feeling CCF would have loved it too, shame is suddenly left the community.
 
@comradekingu thanks for the offer of help but were good.The doc is almost finished anyhow.


@mr loon atm a basic scoring system is in the doc.A cumulative credit system like zero gunner 2 and a weapons specific power up idea of mine is also planned.


Its actually fairly ambitious as 2d games go but ill get there.


The sprite artist is a pro so all the enemies look amazing thus far.
 
Attached is a small sample of the level 2 mid-boss.There is alot more done than just this of course. edit. ok heres another.

- Level 2 enemies are 50% done now also.

- Level one background graphics are being drawn.

- I am currently creating the level one colission map.

- Level 3 concept art is nearing completion.

- The level editor has been improved to facilitate better placement of enemies.

- Most of the level one enemies have been coded.

- Soon I will have the arduos task of building level one.

- I will then aim to polish and tweak level one and all weapons/game mechanics asap.

- Sound fx - Nothing done here yet.

- Music: Two full beta tunes exist from linux-swat. I shall be prodding mr swat in due course. ;)

This games budget has balloned but im going for it anyways. It will be a commercial product for other gaming systems of course.

TwinGun_boostpunch02.png

OrangeFalcon00.png
 
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Im curious in what coding lang was it written? C++/SDL, other?

What system will be targeted for game [OP except] ?  Caanoo, Linux, Wiz, Windows, DOS?
 
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