What is SHUMP? SHUMP is a Schmuplatformer* *Schmup + Platformer = Schmuplatformer What inspired you to make SHUMP? The reason for developing the game has come from a lack of satisfaction with vertical platformers (upwards movement I should note, Downwell is superb). They often feel clumsy and falling down and losing progress rarely feels good. Shooting platformers in particular handle poorly, where juggling not falling off and killing enemies tend to clash (Particularly on mobile where axis shooting isn't often an option). My solution for worrying about shooting was to make firing a default, adopting the schmup function of constantly firing. This on mobile allowed me to focus on player movement and save 1/4 screen space for required buttons. This combined with my messing around with a minimalist bullet hell at the time made it clear that a bullet hell platformer was the way forward for the project! What platforms do you plan to release this on? As with my previous projects, I'll be primarily be launching on iOS, but will be looking at doing a browser version of the game. On top of this, me and Katy will be designing an arcade coin-op cabinet for the game that we'll be placing in local pubs/venues. As with the rest of my projects, I'll be considering android but until Google Play improves it's curation systems for indies, there's not enough incentive to release there. Other platforms would be dependant on how this goes and possibly would involve rebuilding the game in Gamemaker. What is your timeline for the project? It has been 6 months since I released Corporate Salmon, so there is a matter of urgency to get this project done as fast as possible. I'm currently working to get the majority of the work done by May, with the intention of submitting it to Apple early to mid-June (Release July). Apple has introduced a pre-order system which I may investigate adding it to there to create a tangible deadline to finish the project by. Where can I find out more about the project? I post a lot of content on my Twitter before putting it on here, so if you're interested in the scoop, go there!
Here's the first boss in game in action! At the moment in the project, the levels are structured to have 1 mini boss followed by a larger boss. The end of level bosses have less personality currently (Their movement are very similar) compared to the mini bosses, something I'll be exploring in the coming weeks.
Today has served as a clean-up day: I've been pretty messy with my code on this project, so I've been digging through the currently 90 actors in the game to improve how they run. For example, because all the collision checks are consistent across enemy actors (Projectiles reduce health/kill, collision with the player unless they're invincible causes death), I've used a behaviour to store all the health attributes in. This has cut A LOT of code out of the project and has made it much easier to tweak attributes of the enemies/share new functions. Here's some footage of the 3rd major boss in the game along with some intense firefighting before!
Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback! Here's the rest of my to-do list: - Evaluate death particles in game discussed above! - Bullet behaviour to optimise their presence on screen: (kill them as soon as they aren't a threat to the player). This should not only lower the amount of objects that the game has to keep account of, but also reduce the visual clutter in the most intense firefights. - Lava experimentation: I'm considering making the last level a volcano with a rising tide of lava, from which bubbles will slowly expand from and burst, showering the level in projectiles. This would also be considered for earlier levels, in which I want to keep the player moving upwards. - Shell enemy: I want an enemy that can only be killed when it comes out of it's defensive state to fire, so I'll be putting some deisgns together in the coming days. - Design more mid-tier enemies: At the moment, I only have huge bosses with large amounts of health or cannon fodder with a maximum of 3 health. Because of this, I've found that later in the game once weapons are fully upgraded you can just churn through the levels without actually paying attention. Like with many schmups, I want some enemies that take maybe 10 to 15 health that dish out some damage to prepare the player more for the approaching bosses. - Wiggly bullets: I want some more experimental paths for bullets, such as curved trajectories, spirals and crazy concentric patterns. - Experimenting with walls: I've been very hesitant to include permanent blockages in the level, but walls are something I'm considering looking at for more level variation (particularly with the introduction of themed areas). These will likely be basic obstructions, rather than complex mazes that you often see in other vertical platformers. Whether these would be permanent, designed sections or generated is yet to be decided. - Bombs/Powerups/Collectibles: This has been mentioned at several testing sessions, the possiblity of bombs that destroy all enemies on screen/deal massive damage, temporary powerups such as shields, bullet time and x2 shooting and possibly coins that can be spent towards skins/upgrades is definitely something I'm receptive towards. This is particularly important as folks keep maxing out the upgrade ladder and not having any incentive to continue collecting them. Something else I'm looking into is more intelligent powerup spawners; at the moment you can just chill at a spot long enough and wait for power ups to spawn, meaning you can get the top tier upgrades in the first section of the game. Looking to games such as raiden, I might have them as drops for the mid tier enemies I mentioned before. - Flapping bird enemy: Whilst designing my other game, COCAPULT, I designed a very satisfying seagull enemy that would flap across and drop a rock on the player. I will likely have in this game a flock of these enemies that will strafe across the screen and do the same. - Background decoration/General level theming: At the moment, the game has distinct colour changes for each level (colours subject to change) but the main level chronology is forest, desert, cavern, glacier, volcano, so I need palletes to reflect that. I'm hesitant to put anything else in the background at the risk of distracting from projectiles on screen, but there's definitely the possiblity of decor for the side bars. - Hopping down enemies: An enemy design that doesn't move left and right, only jumps downwards from platform to platform. I currently already have the divebombing enemy, so unsure if that will cause too much confusion. - Side traps: Traps at the side of the level that force the player upwards, so for example an enemy that if it shares the same Y position as the player, fires sideways. I'm thinking to keep it in theme with the game, this would be a spike (that opens it's eye when firing). INTERMISSION: Here's the boss bat! - Improve boss functions: Whilst I am happy with the mini bosses, I want the larger bosses to have more of a gravitas to them. At the moment, they're very similar in function (Move left and right, rebound off the walls at the side and launch incredibly complex bursts of projectiles) and I want to investigate different movement methods (See the minibosses I've designed) or different bullet patterns for different movement states. The other option may be making these bosses the second out of 3 bosses per level, making the final one for each section even more powerful. - Life mechanics: Looking into ways of refilling health, as I'm unsure 5 lives is anywhere near enough to beat the entire game with (I've managed to beat 8 out of 10 levels so far on 5 lives). This might be your points replenishing your hearts, bosses dropping hearts or collectibles giving you a target to gain a life (See Mario). It's a difficult balance for me to strike, as being too generous with life systems will deprive me the restarts that generate my revenue. Compared to Corporate Salmon (that shows an ad after 5 deaths, I'd be probably having to do it at every game over to make an equivalent amount. Whether I drop the initial number of lives to three and allow a maximum of 5, I will just have to experiment. - Shotgun Jump Enemy: as a Subtle nod to Downwell, I want an enemy in the game that shoots a randomised blast of bullets downwards and leaps upwards. - Artillery: One of the earlier experiments that I'm considering re-introducing is explosive artillery; projectiles that explode with a blast radius that engulfs nearby objects. Whether this would be a player weapon or an enemy type, I'm unsure about. - Bounce/Boost Pads: Looking at implementing jump pads to quickly elevate the player. My only concern with this is it could accidentally boost the player into the path of an enemy, so I may make it so you have to actively push up on it to activate. This would give some more variety to boss battles, providing the option of jumping on their heads (The first boss for example). - Implement ad functionality: Getting this in early is often useful, as it keeps it present in your mind to design the project to accomodate for ads (rather than bolting them on at the end of the project). As mentioned before, I think this is the reason for such stigma around advertisement based revenue generation in the indie scene, but I think if we're responsible with our implementation of ads we can make it work for the customer and us. Premium games are a much harder sell on iOS, Apple takes a 30% cut and advertising after store features still generates you revenue from your users. My main stance is give people the option to remove ads and highlight in the description humanise yourself so folks know the ad revenue is helping you keep making games. - Fully implement settings: At the moment the settings symbol is just a dead object. I'll be adding the pop-up/sliding functions in the coming days. I've opted for making my buttons significantly bigger for this project, so I'll need to do more dynamic menus to share the space. - Dividing enemies into levels: This is one I've not done yet, but I'm considering having distinct enemies for levels rather than a mish-mash of all of them throughout the experience. This could help drive the game more thematically but also help the player plan for what to expect on certain levels. I already have the structures in place to accomplish this (Have all the enemy types stored in a list that I make random batch selections (E.g. Enemy Types 1-4, Enemy types 8-12) so assigning those groupings to levels rather than random generations wouldn't be a stretch. - Fix boss snake alignment issues: at the moment, the boss snake alters its floor slam position based on what screen it's playing on. I'll be looking at standardising it rather than relying on the width/height of the screen. - Exporting a build for Testflight: This is a tricky one, as the tool I use, Stencyl has been going through a lot of changes recently which haven't been able to keep up with Apple's requirements. I'm unsure as of yet whether I am able to export builds to Testflight anymore since I'm on an earlier version. I also have to update the project to the latest build to get iPhone X support, but apparently there's been a lot of performance issues on that front (Which I should note they are actively working to fix). Point of all of this is to say it might be a while before I can get builds out, but we will see. Right! That's enough chatter, time for me to get to work on this list! Glad you're all enjoying what I've produced so far, stay tuned for more soon, I'm aiming to get this project done ASAP as it's been 6 months since Corporate Salmon launched and I haven't shipped anything since!
Hey, I've seen BABOOM on tigsource some time ago! Looks like good progress! The action feels intense Good job there! Maybe I'm too old but it seems like it's too intense for me with all these particles Should be fun for the youngins 'tho! How many different bosses are you planning on adding?
Hey! Thanks for the response! At the moment, the game has 12 bosses, I've been working on making the particles less intense/confusing. Morning folks! Today I'm going to be working on integrating new enemy types and the other functionality listed in my post yesterday. Should hopefully cover a lot of ground today! Here's some birdos I worked on last night: They're going to be primarily in level 3 (And will attack in swarms in the main boss!) Here's also some designs for enemies I've been doodling, as part of it you can see the progression of the bird design, a re-do of the spike enemies, the shotgun enemy design and some mid tier enemies. Looking forward to getting all of them integrated! More updates should be coming as the day goes on, stay tuned!
Stuff I've got done today: - Upgraded Baboom to the latest version of Stencyl, meaning I can do iPhone X exports - Designed a selection of new enemies - Fully integrated Bird Enemies that flap across in flocks - Integrated shy shell shufflers that can't be killed when static - Added proximity spikes that fly in from the sides if you are the same Y height as the player. - Remastered the spikey enemy animations to look more cute. Here's a gif of the shell enemies in action! I'm all done with work for today, but I'll be continuing adding the new sets of enemies in, with the intention (Stencyl 3.5 willing) of a TF build out by the end of the week! Stay tuned for more soon!
Here's a closer, updated shot of the mid-tier enemies I've designed; they've adopted some of the traits of smaller enemies, I'm currently considering having the visual traits of the enemies correspond to certain movement types (Diamond for diagonal movement, circle for direct targeting, flat sides for vertical), but we will see! Work wise today, it's absolutely stunning out and I'm going to go drink rum and play outside building controllers for the Nintendo Labo. I'll maybe be posting more videos for screenshot saturday of the game on Twitter, but don't expect any updates on here today!
Thanks! Hey Folks! Just a quick sign-off for today, got a bunch of stuff implemented into the game, I'm now at 38 enemies in the project! (including bosses) My plan is to divide this collection of enemies up into levels, with a probability system to dictate how often an enemy from a certain level pops up in others: For example, this is how the enemy batch is decided for Level 1: Type 1: 100% Type 2: 50% Type 3: 25% Type 4: 12.5% Type 5: 6.25% Contrast this with level 5: Type 1: 6.25% Type 2: 12.5% Type 3: 25% Type 4: 50% Type 5: 100% Or level 3: Type 1: 25% Type 2: 50% Type 3: 100 Type 4: 50% Type 5: 25% I'm still figuring out the kinks of the new system, I currently have it pick a random batch of enemies out of a list of them to state what enemies to have descend the level. As the game goes on, the size of that batch increases. Main issue with this method is you could end up with a batch of extremely hard enemies on level 1 at the start of the game (Not great) and also at the moment all enemy difficulties are weighted the same in spawning, so I'll be breaking them up into batches. Here's the list for the bosses, enemies and traps: 1. PLAINS: Bosses: Stomp Boss, Spread Boss Enemies: 1. Lil' Hoppers 2. Drop Shooters 3. Dive Bombers 4. Dropping Hops 2. FOREST: Bosses: Snake Boss, Toad Boss Enemies: 1. Sniper 2. Diagonal 3. Artillery, 4. Side Shoot 3. CAVES: Bosses: Bat Boss, Bird Boss, Enemies: 1. Birdo 2. Spiral Enemy 3. Creeper 4. Tilt 4. GLACIER: Bosses: Fish Boss, Bear Boss Enemies: 1. Bomber 2. Zig Zag 3. Shy Shell 4. Invader 5. VOLCANO: Bosses: Hog Boss, Final Boss Enemies: 1. Drop Beam 2. Beam Enemy 3. Diagonal 4. Shotgun Trap Spawn (Throughout game): Spike Enemy, Spiked Enemy Stay tuned on more developments tomorrow, I have a plan over the next few days to document and describe each enemy type in the game (accompanied by gifs!) so look forward to that.
Hey Folks! Here's a quick update; I've implemented all the enemies and put them in chronological order, given the spikes/traps a separate spawning system long with the bigger enemies. Currently there's 2 states: - State 1: (Where the enemies that are supposed to spawn in the level are randomly selected from a list within a range (e.g. 0-2) - State 2: (A random enemy is chosen from the full list of enemies (e.g. 0-18)) Here's a preview of that in action: I'll likely be signing off for today (insanely warm inside, computer is wheezing), but stay tuned for my upcoming gifs breaking down the various enemies in game! I'll also be looking at putting together a video playthrough or compilation of highlights so you can have a closer look at gameplay, so keep an eye out for that! Main thing I've got to do in the coming days is get this version working on mobile, which may be a challenge with the Stencyl 3.5 Update!
Hey Folks! Got the arcade cabinet working and the game running smooth! Super happy with how the project is coming together, had a couple of days relaxing and getting other stuff done, so over the next week I'm going to get back into development! Here's my to do list: - Get a functional Mac Build under 3.5 - Get the rest of the UI implemented - Get out a Testflight build - Scale back the difficulty of the first boss - Increase the gaps between the bosses - Build the functionality of the notification screens - Main title shoot-able after first jump (shoot to bits) - Section titles (Once you kill a boss, it presents the name of the next section e.g. jungle) - A variety of tiny refinements such as tweaking the spike colour for the first boss, updating the spiked enemy later level graphics and fading the UI as it goes off the side of the screen for windows builds.
Hey Folks! As promised, here's the first breakdown of the enemies in BABOOM! But first, here's the terms I'll be breaking them down with: Name: (Does what it says on the tin, some names are TBC and would LOOOOVE suggestions for names.) Type: The two main types of enemy in the game, platform (climbing down the platforms) and float (not constrained by platforms) Ability: (Features such as Bullet pattern/Defensive method/Jump pattern) Description: Further details about the enemy! Lil' Hoppers Type: Platform Ability: Attack in numbers Description: I wanted a nippy enemy that could soak up bullets as part of a greater group and feel satisfying to shoot. A later design I implemented for this enemy that I feel gave it a lot of character was a subtle jump variable (That checked if the character was colliding with the ground and if so, give it a little hop. I implemented this into other enemies in the game and really added another layer of personality to the enemy type. It's also a non-projectile based character, since I didn't want to overwhelm the player (Unlike it's larger counterparts). The lil' hopper is what I would see as the first enemy you should face in the game; quick to kill, enough time to see their movement patterns without danger and adorable to look at. I think I'm going to aim to do one of these a day, so keep an eye out the next one soon! Keep in mind as well I will probs do general updates on the project, so stay tuned for those too!
