Killer Kim - Top down shooter

Here is a demo of a game I am currently working on - Killer Kim (and the blood arena). It is still early and may have some odd bugs but it is currently playable. This includes the first three rooms, when you've faced off against four of the 'heavy' guys you've reached the end of the demo.

What's planned for the future:

-Short term

A full intro that sets up the story

At least 20 unique rooms to fight through with different backgrounds, traps, and surprises

Three additional enemy types for a total of six enemies

An end boss battle that leads to a player decision to experience three different endings

Gamepad support

-Long term

Upwards of 100 rooms and different branching paths up to the player's choice

Power ups and different weapons that the player can swap out

at least a dozen different enemy types

Multiple boss battles

Two player support for the main game and a deathmatch mode for up to four players

**This is a work in progress so any feedback is greatly appreciated**

Scirra arcade link: https://www.scirra.com/arcade/action-ga ... -011-23038

Pretty cool

The weapons feel good and the wounded enemies are a nice touch

Tbh I can't identify what the background/floor is supposed to be.

Also not easy to tell what's going on, when the scene is littered with corpses.

What are your plans for the enemies, right now they're very easy to defeat? Will you introduce more challenging types later or are you beef up the current ones?

facecrime

Thank you for playing and for the feedback.

Honestly I don't know what the background is supposed to be either. When I get around to making more art I'll be adding some real backgrounds to each room.

I agree the layout can get cluttered but I really like that "littered with corpses" feel. I'm planning to add some kind of filter to distinguish corpses from foes who are still a threat.

I plan to add at least three enemies that are much more challenging than the "grunts" currently in the demo - one is a scout (ninja) type that uses a "smoke bomb" (teleporter) when shot at and ends up behind the player and uses a sword to deal a lot of damage. Another is a droid enemy that has a lot of defense and uses explosives like the player can. The third will be an "elite" type. They are meant to be almost as dangerous to the player as the player is to them. They will be fast, armored, and have accuracy so good that the player cannot simply rely on sidestepping to avoid getting hit. I want the difficulty to ramp up to a point where the last few rooms will be controller throwing levels of tough. If anyone has any ideas for enemies I'd be interested to know and may even use it for the final game.

outstanding start for the game, i like the attention to the smallest details. if you dont mind me asking, how did you do the empty cartridges flying out from the player? are you using the bullet behavior for them with different angles/distance traveled to get them to litter around the player? do you mind explaining how achieved that fx?

your idea for the enemies and the progression is well thought, just a thought: you mentioned an "elite" enemy type and weapon upgrades for the player...just a humble suggestion...balance the player weapon upgrades with the enemy abilities, so that the game doesnt loose its current edge...it doesnt become too easy (weapons are too powerful) or too hard (enemies are insanely difficult). just a simple suggestion, for what its worth.

hyem

Sure I don't mind sharing the fx. Here's how it was done:

The shell sprite is spawned on an image point on the player every time a bullet is fired then the code takes over from there. 'Shellguide' is an invisible sprite pinned to the player sprite just off the side of the gun. I know this can also be done without the need for the invisible sprite but it was the quickest way I came up with at the moment.

Thank you for the feedback and suggestion. I'm trying my best to keep the challenge progression balanced. Honestly I'm finding it one of the more difficult parts so far in making the game.

Create an evaluation system and use the Scirra ranking

The game is very cool, but in the third part, I killed the enemies and did not appear others.

sean080

thanks a million for sharing your technique with me that was wonderful of you. i'll play around with it and if i come up with a technique of doing it without the invisible sprite, i'll share it with you.

I've been also thinking of your game and came up with some ideas (just a few humble suggestions, per your initial post):

1- how about making some rooms dark, so the player has to get a flashlight and their visibility is limited to immediately before them.

2- what about environmental dangers, like security cameras that should be shot from a distance and not walk into their line of sight (otherwise tons of enemies decent on you)

3- i love the idea of your ninja teleporting enemy...keep that for sure, and expand on it.

ok, i have to take off now, if i come up with any tweaks to your code above, i'll share them with you asap. good luck in building the additional levels to your game, i'm sure it will be an awesome game...cannot wait to play it.

guimaraf

Thank you, I think you may have reached the end of the prototype, I'm working on adding more rooms at the moment. I'll be adding the ranking and evaluation when the game gets closer to complete.

hyem

No problem and thanks for the ideas. I like the idea of having to fight in the dark only lit by a flashlight and gunfire. Security cameras is something I would like to use in a future version. I originally planned for the game to be an infiltration mission that took place in a very large mansion and underground lair and this would be perfect for that. That was going to take a much bigger time investment though so I simplified it to a more arcade like room clearing game for now to get the mechanics working. I look forward to sharing an update soon with the new enemies.

Very fun, I so wish it could be two player, because it reminds me of my arcade days with SmashTV. Perhaps with gamepads that would work? Actually dual stick gamepad would be an ideal controller for this type of game (e.g. Robotron style.)

Check out

for some other fun ideas that you can put your unique twist on (whirling blades of death shield, etc.)

Mikal

Yes SmashTV was definitely in mind when I first started making the game. I recently added gamepad support so you can now play it with dual stick style controls. Two player mode will 100 percent be a feature at some point, I will likely finish a single player run through first and then move on to multiplayer modes. Thanks for trying out the demo and for your feedback!