Sqcolony!

[Alex.]

This is my first GP2X/SDL game. It may not be much, but it got my feet wet with this library, and set the foundations of the bigger things to come. Leave some feedback and enjoy.

For more information and future updates visit http://artraid.com/alex/

- Alex

Edit: Here's a direct link to the file: http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,27,1650

 

[deadlychicken22]

Looks really cool! I will try it out now!

 

[dockthepod]

Hey, this is pretty cool. I just played a few games and here's my quicky impression:

I really like the visual style. Looks nice.

It's really hard! Maybe I just need to get used to the controls. It seems like maybe the jets could move faster.

Another suggestion would be to have the level start out more sparse and have the density of shit coming at you gradually increase. Would give you more excitement as the level went on. Also give you a chance to get used to the controls.

And... one bug. When you restart the level, the screen is full and you get instantly damaged!

I think this could be a really fun game with a little tweaking. Keep up the good work!

 

[a4paper]

This game shows great promise. I think (like dock) that the speed of your movement and turrets needs to be improved because the dificulty is insane at the moment, either that or I'm really rubbish at it. With some tweaking I think this could become a fav of mine.

 

[Alex.]

You are right, the difficulty is pretty high at the moment, the next update will feature increasing difficulty. The bug with the screen being full of enemies at restart is caused because I don't reset the squares every game loop like I should.

This is a super-early beta. I released it as it is now because I wanted to get your feedback on it, and because I wanted to release something for the GP2X by the time I leave for vacation (today)

Thanks for your great feedback and for your kind words, I will be sure to finish this one by the end of the summer (bugs fixed, proper menu, etc.)

- Alex

 

[DaveC]

This was cool. Could be the start of a real different addictive game.

Couple suggestions.

Sound. It could be cool if things made noise when shot etc. Maybe some background mod file tunes.

When the squares are shot maybe have an animation of them being disintegrated. Maybe vary the shapes, have squares, diamonds etc to differentiate different waves.

 

[halo9]

This is a really cool looking game, just the kind of style I really like. Very hard though. I'd love to see this developed a bit further.

Excellent work. Thanks!

 

[Magnulus]

Here's my post-humous stream of conscience while playing:

"Okay, now what do I do... Okay, I move this up and down and...
Huh, it's really slow- No, there we go. Woosh!
hah! This isn't so hard! What was that guy talking about?
I just move up and down and I take everything!
Why's the other thingy just standing still?
Oh well, I guess it's a two-player game or something.
Strange that there's no option for it. Weeee! Oh, wait, I'm dead.
Hey, wait a second... And I supposed to move the OTHER one as well?!
Okay, here goes... How do I move this damn thing? MOVE, damnit!
Oh, wait, now it's moving. But why's the other one stopping?
No, there it stops again, and now the other one's moving again.
What the... Oh, hey! I get it! Oh, now I'm dead again.
Okay, one more round... And now I'm dead again.
I see what that guy meant after all."

 

[Megagun]

Heh...

Anyways, a rundown of the controls for those of you who don't want to go through that kind of mindset and want to go straight to the losing:

Stick up/down: move selected turret along the vertical rail.
Y/X: turn turret up/downwards
A/B: change current selected turret to left or right turret.

And... that's it.
Extremely nicely looking game (I love abstract shooters like that. Noiz2sa, yum) but a bit.. nowait... extremely tough game..

 

[PSyMastR]

This game is too hard for me lol.

EDIT: I just realised that with dual joysticks this game would rock so much. Maybe use ABXY as the right controller and UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT for the left one, such as YX is move right up down, up down moves left up down, and Left+Right turns the angle for left, and A+B turns the angle for right.

 

[starpause]

EDIT: I just realised that with dual joysticks this game would rock so much. Maybe use ABXY as the right controller and UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT for the left one, such as YX is move right up down, up down moves left up down, and Left+Right turns the angle for left, and A+B turns the angle for right.

PSyMastR is definitely onto something with the control idea--MUCH more intuitive!

with that control scheme, the game could also have a two player mode ... add dual life bars, one for each side.

two player dynamics could get out of hand. i could see a two player mode of this game have some volleying action along the lines of twinkle star sprites (one of my favorite shooters and one of my favorite two player games).

an increasing difficulty level (that started out easier) would also be nice, obviously

spout is still my #1 favorite game on gp2x, i don't know why i don't get sick of it, so i'd like to see another refined abstract shooter come through keep up the great work alex!