[Prototype] Space Shooter 01
For practice fun, I decided to make a simple game in a short time.
It's a simple 2D space flying, shooting, asteroid bothering game.
I wanted to do it right from scratch (depending on your definition) with no pre-existing 'engine' and create all the assets.
Load Down
It requires the VS 2012 redistributable to run.
For this one I was a bit lazy and relied on some of my favorite weapons of choice (SFML, C++).
Small steps first I guess.
It took about 19 hours which was longer than I initially wanted, though it did land fairly close to what I was aiming for.
Many things took longer than expected and there were a couple tricky bugs, but a few things got a bit of polish.
It was definitely a fun exercise and I'm intending to do more, trying various types of games and tools (depending on time away from main work).
What I like the least most: controls could be better, ship shading not done, asteroids' lighting makes no sense, no music, lack of depth...
What I like best: The blue thruster trail, the whoosh of asteroids going past!
So, how terrible is it? What did I get wrong? Does it run at all?
Edit: Link fixed. Thanks Tuism.
It's a simple 2D space flying, shooting, asteroid bothering game.
I wanted to do it right from scratch (depending on your definition) with no pre-existing 'engine' and create all the assets.
Load Down
It requires the VS 2012 redistributable to run.
For this one I was a bit lazy and relied on some of my favorite weapons of choice (SFML, C++).
Small steps first I guess.
It took about 19 hours which was longer than I initially wanted, though it did land fairly close to what I was aiming for.
Many things took longer than expected and there were a couple tricky bugs, but a few things got a bit of polish.
It was definitely a fun exercise and I'm intending to do more, trying various types of games and tools (depending on time away from main work).
What I like the least most: controls could be better, ship shading not done, asteroids' lighting makes no sense, no music, lack of depth...
What I like best: The blue thruster trail, the whoosh of asteroids going past!
So, how terrible is it? What did I get wrong? Does it run at all?
Edit: Link fixed. Thanks Tuism.
Comments
http://www.runestorm.com/PublicDownloads/SpaceShooter01_WIP_0_19Hours.7z
I hope you do more of these! I'd also like to see you take this a little further.
I know it's called "Space Shooter" and not "Asteroids". But the really great thing about Asteroids was the asteroid splitting, that feature added the tactical play that made spamming the shoot button not actually a great idea (whereas in Space Shooter there's never an advantage to not perma firing).
(Not that splitting asteroids is the only way to add a tactical dimension to the game, but it is a wonderfully elegant mechanic).
I love the little recoil on the ship when it fires. The little particle effects on bullet hits, the flashes on the asteroids as they take damage, the parallax stars and the camera lead are classy effects. I also like the sound of an Asteroid whooshing by, though I'd like it to be a bit more context sensitive, at the moment large asteroids whooshing by seem to make the same sound as small asteroids whooshing by.
All in all the juice is VERY impressive for a 19 hour prototype. Though there is no camera shake on the explosions : )
MOOAR!
I agree, splitting asteroids seems like great mechanic. I'll make that the first change if I get back to it.
Varying the whooshing sound can be the next change.
I have plenty of other crazy ideas to expand this of course, only I tried to make sure to stick to a reasonable goal and avoid getting bogged down in incomplete features. Woot, are you sure? It seems to be in full effect here.
In any case, it sounded like you'd already achieved the goal that you set out to achieve.
I'm not sure if it is the case, but I'm thinking you might be a little bit inspired by the Game-A-Week plan? http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RamiIsmail/20140226/211807/Game_A_Week_Getting_Experienced_At_Failure.php
Although I might be wrong, I'm certainly keen to set myself homework experimenting with things that test the weaknesses in my skills as soon as I have a bit more free time.
I might have just been unobservant about the camera shake on the explosions. Maybe I just felt that they could be more impactful.
Anyway, I'm stoked you are posting cool little prototypes here.
That definitely makes me more determined to get some more prototypes out and post them here!
Both my personal projects and RS ones.
Hopefully with the latest VCD released there'll be a bit of time to make more stuff and advance the other prototypes.
Game-a-week sound like an awesome idea. I want to do that, but I'm also torn with wanting to work on another more-than-a-week prototype that has been really fun and of course VCD devouring almost all time.
The real challenge seems to be getting things to fit in the limited time...