Hi All! Just wanted to share with your my next project (in progress). It's a little while away from release yet, but I'm super excited about it and want to let you guys/gals have a sneak peak now. It's a super fast scrolling shooter with a retro vibe - well it's a Four5Six Pixel game, so you wouldn't expect anything else would you? I'll be sharing progress over the course of the development. For those that have been around games since the 80s you may recognise some influences..... Gameplay Video Screenshots
New screenshot Coming along nicely, added some enemy formation code with dynamic patterns. New gameplay screen:
Hi psj, Uridium is one of my favourite games so it is a big influence, as is some of the stuff from the '80s by Costa Panayi (Vortex Software) such as TLL. I have the controls down - spent ages playing around with momentum and damping. But yep the ship moves and flips, and is really easy to control, allowing 'flip dodging' and the like. I'm very happy with how it turned out - it took a lot of effort though!! Anyway, an awful lot of work still to do, but the mechanical foundations and engine are in place, and that means it will become a released game
Gameplay preview video Some early gameplay footage to give you all a feel for the game.... Its starting to come together. Still a lot of work left though, building levels, enemies, bonus features etc etc What do you guys think?
New gameplay video New gameplay video showing a couple of the levels: Since last update a lot has been going on under the hood as well as creating the levels etc. - Some subtle lighting has been added to give a little more atmosphere - Player collision animations updated - Composed a completely new music soundtrack (fiddling with the bass on the old one was't working out) - Lots of techie stuff under the hood. At the moment the game is hitting about 30% cpu on an iPhone 4s, so there is going to be tons of room to add extra polish later. I've re-written and hugely optimised my routines since Medieval Monsters, so I'm getting a lot more performance and room on this game despite it being much more technically challenging. Currently putting together the level completion scene and score bonuses. The new soundtrack is still only 50% complete so that will be extended soon. I have a lot of the other levels planned and designed on paper. So head down for some drawing and coding! All feedback, gameplay suggestions etc very welcome as ever (p.s. how do I do an embedded youtube video instead of just a link on the forum?) Edit: Thanks to fractures for info on getting the video embedded
I think it looks awesome. More variety in the backdrops would be welcome - though you're the artist! Digging the style all the same. Also: can you change your ship?
Hi Cmdr, Thanks! The video is of 2 different levels. There will be a whole lot more levels in the finished game, each will be uniquely designed and coloured. I haven't decided yet on the ship, whether it will have upgrades or different ships available or whatnot. But it's definitely on the consideration list. Cheers, F5SP
Project update... Got the code converted over to run on iOS9, Xcode7 and Swift 2 last night. It was all a bit of a faff to get it up and running again, but everything works fine now - except some lighting issues which looks like an iOS9 bug at the moment. On that note - SpriteKit and iOS9 appears to be very buggy right now. Had to code around some issues that have cropped up, and the CPU usage is a little higher under iOS9. It looks like lots of devs are seeing the same kinds of issues. Hopefully these things will be tidy up by Apple soon. Anyway, aside from that it all runs nice and smooth ... In terms of gameplay, I want to have some sort of score grazing going on (this is already slightly implemented, but I want to extend it a little). Also I'm going to be adding end level skill score bonuses. Which should sort the the men from boys and women from the girls Some exciting news updates coming soon too.....
Oh man, I cannot wait to play this! Uridium, as unforgiving as it was, is one of my favorite shooters! I can't wait to see what you do in this homage to the game!
@retroboy27 & @wovencharlie, I'm not ready just yet to move to beta testing, but I will absolutely require it later on. So yeah, keep a look out on the thread where I'll keep giving updates and let you all know when I'm ready for beta invites.
Out of the blue, I just noticed that we've got a front page preview here on Touch Arcade. WOW! I'm super excited about that - it's made my day. My heart and sole is going into this - it's a game I wanted to make for myself first and foremost, so it's awesome to see others excited about it too! I will do my very best to make it as good as I possibly can for everyone
This game looks amazing! Good luck on that, and I for sure would love to beta test when the time comes!
Oh hell yea! This is an instabuy just from the gameplay video alone. I want in on beta testing. Test flight ready to rock! Seriously I can't wait for this one! Billy
More previews in the press We're in Indie Game Magazine...check out the preview: http://indiegamemag.com/screenshot-weekly-sentinel-couriers-headed-for-the-cathedral/
