A Hole In the Earth (Blaster Master type game)

Here's a small update for everyone.

I made a force field last night that I think will work well. With a few tweaks I'm sure I can get it looking pretty cool.

Amazing

Thanks MadSpy!

I have some other things in the works that I hope to show pretty soon as well.

I don't doubt it.

The force field already looks very cool, great job on the effects!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to give a little update on what's going on with the project and why it's taking so long to get some of this new stuff done.

Currently I am working on underwater mechanics, which turned out to be more intensive than I thought. Thinking about how the vehicle, character, projectiles, enemies (and all the effects that accompany them) behave under water is taking a while. Knowing the limitations of what mechanics I should implement to keep the project from bloat (and eventual failure) and thinking of how the level design could accommodate such mechanics is reshaping my ideas.

Since I want to have one giant layout to have my game world, and have some areas that are flooded or other environmental hazard, I can't very well have just any old enemy follow you into a flooded area and jump into the water with you. If I had 50 enemies, that would mean I'd have to have double the movement behaviours depending on if enemies are underwater or not. So my idea was to have every section separated by a quarantine room (might also double as save rooms) that would euthanize all creatures when they enter. These rooms would also serve as my jumping off point for resetting the creatures in the next area. This would actually fit with the story I have planned, and I hope won't feel misplaced. Ultimately it's my hope that this will relieve some of the workload of having to write 2 or 3 X as many events for each enemy, while also giving me a convenient point to reset some stuff.

On a side note, it's spring here and as a parent of active kids it's hard to find time to sit and work on my projects. So that is also delaying development a bit.

Thank you for being patient with me. Everything will get done, it just might take more time while I try to figure everything out.

Awesome! Excited to see this implemented.

Not sure how you are going about handling this, but I wonder if putting enemies in a family and applying the (underwater) behaviors to the family, would make it easier to manage for your underwater portions of the map...

The enemies are in families, but that is most used for hit detection and movement timing.

Currently I'm using the platform behaviour for the enemies, so if they go underwater they would need their gravity, max speed, acceleration, etc. adjusted. I have it set up that on overlap with the water I store the initial value in a variable and set the new value, then on exiting the water restore the old value from the variable. Since most enemies types have unique initial values, I'll still have to store/set the value depending on if they are underwater or not.

Phew! It's certainly been a while since I've posted about the progress, but things are getting done albeit slowly.

I've made a video containing some of the new things I've added in the past month or so.

The shield is getting closer to being finalized and it now pulls in the item drops. The water has been added and tweak into something that resembles liquid. The movement feels pretty good now, entering and exiting the water. Also and jump extension power-up has been added.

A few small things have been touched up, like the hover flame and the energy drop.

I'm going to continue working on the shield, especially the mechanic behind how it will absorb projectiles, and then work on enemy behaviours.

That shield ability is pretty rad. The water portion of the map and splash animation ryanrybot ... Whoa! That looks really good!! Keep it up man!!

I'm agree with — : shield design and splash animation are really good... eager to see a new demo ryanrybot

Ugh so good! Blaster Master is one of my all-time favorite games and I love the direction you're taking. Like the name you're using too since the Western story for the NES game was so silly.

Subbed to this topic to keep an eye on it. Great job!

Thanks — and MadSpy! I always appreciate the feedback.

Another build should be up within the next week or two.

Hi bclikesyou, and thanks a bunch! The story really was silly for the western release, but it kind of had that charm of being totally ridiculous.

I think I'm going to go in a more surreal direction, and hope to shift the mood from familiar to uncanny as the game progresses.

ryanrybot That shift (from familiar to uncanny) is always welcome by me. I feel a lot of my favorite games / tv shows / books do that. Just having that uncanny setting sets up a feeling of unease / wonder / danger which is crucial for later levels.

Cool the graphics/animation/controls are pretty slick, this could be a really cool metroid meets moon patrol, keep up the good work!

Do you have more levels designed ?

What about 360° aiming with the mouse/analog stick?