So, I changed plans last week (as mentioned in my last blog), and started working on a platformer idea I had on paper, then took that and simplified it (to a point).
I've been working on it throughout the week (Though literally every single time I've sat down to work on the project for more than ten minutes, I've been getting calls for computer repair work. Four days straight now. :<)Managed to get some animations and the basic game mechanics done. Went for a movement system kinda like Hunter, added in some Megaman, and am throwing in some Metroidvania. So Megavania? Megavania.Have a (slightly choppy) video:Youtube doesn't seem to like playing videos back at 60FPS for some ridiculous reason.A couple of notes on various gameplay mechanics:The dash/slash moveThis is going to be something you find in one of the early sections of the game, and can use to navigate tricky areas as well as attack enemies with a bit more force than the arm cannon provides. It's called the Plasma Lance.I have a couple of upgrades planned that do things like: - Allow for dashing in at least four directions (Up,Down,Left,Right), possibly eight. - Extend the range and power of the lance (The version in the video is basically full range). - Increase the number of consecutive uses before a cooldown is activated. (At the moment it's unlimited, but I'm adding a Power bar that's going to limit the number of times you can use it like this to about two, with upgrades allowing it to reach around five bursts before it needs to recharge).Arm cannonI'm planning on a basic Megaman style system where you'll be able to steal boss weapons after defeating them. No charge attack, but that's what the Plasma Lance is for.Game layoutI've got a somewhat mid-length set of maps planned out, with a few visually distinct areas that I'm going to aim towards completing for the competition. I want this to be something of a mix, as mentioned before, between Megaman and Metroid, so I want a bit of exploration, and items that help you progress. I'm probably not going to have too many 'forced' items, allowing players to make a Minimal run of the game if they wanted to. And that's enough of that. I'm feeling exhausted after all this running around fixing computers left right and center.
Noice! Will there be 8 directional shooting and will there be ledge hanging/wall jumping?
For the shooting, probably. It'll allow me to make a more varied selection of enemy designs.
Ledge hanging/wall jumping are subject to time though; if I have enough time, I'll add them. Probably as item based abilities. :P"Oh shit, John, you're about to fall off that ledge! Catch yourself!"
"I haven't earned that skill yeeeeeee-"-SPLAT-Looks nice. I enjoy the lemons.
When life gives you lemons, throw them at stuff.
Looks awesome, I love the lance dash.
I still don't get peoples obsession over 60fps though.Nice progress, I want to try it out to get a feel for that lunge. Like the idea of having a melee as well as projectile attacks. Can't wait to see it with backgrounds and enemies!
Also lol @ just hitting play in famitracker to start the music. For some reason it made me imagine a developer distributing their game with FT itself and telling the player to load the ftm and hit play if they want music xD60fps is more natural to the human eye. It's more comfortable for me to watch and I enjoy the smoother motion.
@Pirate-rob: Smoothness of animation, that's what. Makes everything seem a bit more fluid. :P
The game doesn't look or 'feel' the same at 30FPS, basically. @aeron: Heheh, that's an amusing idea. Let's call it "co-op mode". Rope in a friend to change music tracks for you :POriginally, the lance was going to be a sword, but then I made a mistake in the animation that I liked, and decided to run with it. Then I realized that the horizontal motion was similar to the punch in Hunter, so I added the forward momentum to it. Hope it's a comfortable mechanic, though with the way I'm running around spamming it during testing I think it's decent :PHTML5 video if anybody wants to try that instead:It reminds me of certain smash bros characters that have various degrees of lunging in certain attacks. I love watching the pros play that game cause they repurpose the moves for recovery due to how they reset momentum and save jumps (very effective for saving jigglypuff from otherwise certain doom for example). I can imagine yours coming in handy when completing jumps that are just out of reach horizontally.