Author Topic: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]  (Read 21062 times)

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Offline Stahlkaiser

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Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« on: October 16, 2008, 11:07:41 am »
Hello!

I want to introduce my shmup(shoot 'em up) project on which i am currently working(on a demo).

The game is an abstract, fast paced 2D shooter with seven levels all themed by 7 fictional elements: fire, water, earth, air, darkness, light and chaos.
I am doing the graphics and programming.

here`re some pictures:





Those are for the last and most difficult + very differend level:


Here comes a mockup:

Abstract drawings will be used as backgrounds.

Here are some works in progress:


This is the rad stylized player ship:

[ Only the small zone in the middle is the hitzone. the wings are not affected by enemy fire and slightly disappear when dodge large amounts of enemy bullets ]

This are only a few graphics, i have much more sketched and in work.
There are around 55 ships in the finished game.



Feedback would be highly appreciated :)
« Last Edit: November 02, 2008, 01:03:48 pm by Stahlkaiser »
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Offline -Skykanden-

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2008, 11:26:30 am »
Well, i think that graphically is great

I don't know why but i think that i saw that purple space ship somewhere
i would do the wings of the player ship shorter and the ship longer, not so much
I really like the blue ship on the top, it's amazing

What about the backgrounds?

Offline Stahlkaiser

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2008, 11:38:26 am »
I don't know why but i think that i saw that purple space ship somewhere

Yes that is because i am chess from pixeljoint, am on bit digita and deviantart and have my own site. i have different names everywere and show my stuff everywere as well.
+ i had an old account here showed my stuff as well but forgot name and password.... so i have this new account.

Thank you for liking i really appreciate!


making the ship not that brode and longer is a good thought i am actually thinking of it because maybe it really is TOOextreme in style !  :|


Well, the backgrounds are kinda problem. they are NOW less saturated because they really disturb the "readability" of all ships when they are high saturated!

it may be that it looks bad... and seriously i don`t know how to fix it except of removing the whole "abstract backround drawing" from the game and replace it with another, better idea. i am open for constructive suggestions.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2008, 06:45:41 am by Stahlkaiser »
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Offline ~Niko~

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2008, 11:41:37 am »
it's... amazing... and pixelated style is nice too :D

Offline -Skykanden-

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2008, 12:23:30 pm »
Stahl, what you could do is something like in space, and make different layers, so they move. i don't think that it will be the hard part for you

Offline Sticky

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2008, 12:47:46 pm »
That looks nice, can't wait for something playable. Last I heard though, fire, water, air etc. weren't fictional things!

Offline tehsnipah

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2008, 02:10:47 pm »
Holy shit..... Make sure you announce to us when it's on man!!!
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Offline Lord Frunkamunch

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #7 on: October 16, 2008, 02:35:02 pm »
Looks nice. Just remember, don't skimp out on the frames. It's definitely worth the time.

And...good luck. When do you estimate finishing it?
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Offline Hair|Trigger

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2008, 02:02:25 am »
Cool, pixel art style shooter.  they're always fun ;D

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Offline -Zombie-

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #9 on: October 17, 2008, 04:48:07 am »
Really nice pixel art :D Your top blue ship looks very cool

Btw, make sure you add in huge explosions and lots of particles later on :)

Make sure you don't rush it aswell

Offline Stahlkaiser

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #10 on: October 17, 2008, 09:46:23 am »
it's... amazing... and pixelated style is nice too :D
Thank you it is nice that you like it !

Stahl, what you could do is something like in space, and make different layers, so they move. i don't think that it will be the hard part for you
Yeah something like space or abstract worlds would really be a nice idea of which i thought yet... scrolling and with different layers too... but i  don`t agree with you that it would not hard for me :(   i have really no inspiration on that issue at the moment.... but will keep on tracking and mind your words... okay lets say i would maybe not be that hard pixelwork so i agree partially ;)

That looks nice, can't wait for something playable. Last I heard though, fire, water, air etc. weren't fictional things!
Thank you i will send you a message when it is finished .. or you just keep following this thread  ;)
I agree with your element issue. you are right. the reason why i wrote fictional was only because light, darkness and chaos are fictional so i must correct my self here.

Holy poo..... Make sure you announce to us when it's on man!!!
Thanks for holy pooing on my thread! :)
i will send you a message... or as i said: you just keep following the thread O:-)

Looks nice. Just remember, don't skimp out on the frames. It's definitely worth the time.

And...good luck. When do you estimate finishing it?
A g r e e d!! but.... which time are you speaking of ? i don´t understand..
aauuuh i can`t say.. i am SORRY.. i don`t know when it is finished but it will still take me a lot of time, work and effort to finish it!

Cool, pixel art style shooter.  they're always fun ;D
yeah, like soldat i hope/think  :D

Really nice pixel art :D Your top blue ship looks very cool

Btw, make sure you add in huge explosions and lots of particles later on :)

Make sure you don't rush it aswell
Thanks a lot ! :)

i see many like that blue ship!? here is a sheet were you might see how i did it:



i have no idea on the explosions but i think they will be as angular [ lol ] as the rest of the graphics XD and i promise i will add the mas you said !

no rush yeah i agree! i will take my time and struggle making a good job.... with looooots of time....



i appreciated your post so in addition here are some WIPS.
i will keep this topic alive through posting my progress.

this will be the "bomb" animation:

it moves over the screen and crushes everything. it will look like somethink entirely made of energy. it is just a crappy sketch but you might figure out..


this is anothr earth enemy. BTW: all enemies in the earth elvel will be bosses. that means there are only few ships but they are big and not the players best friend at all ! ..

this is finished but:

... i will recreate it several times and completely different because i still need some very small and simple, a-bit-bird-alike enemies for all levels... will show you examples later ;)

this has still its wrong colours and is also only a better sketch:

it is a air-enemy and will updated soonish  (did i mention i will take my time XD ? )

tho' i said there are only bosses in the earth level this is one "normal" enemy.... BUT it is summoned by the last boss as reinforcemends in this level so it doesn`t count.... O:-)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

because i want to be nice to everyone and was too stupid to post further descriptions in the beginning of this thread i now paste a text about what this game is about and why the ships look so ... different*cough*....


First of i need to explain what those "enemies" are because i did the mistake of saying... those would BE ships. well i just CALL them ships: those are no real ships but spiritual reflections for an abstract art game. Me and some others just call them "ships" because they are based on the idea of ships for a shmup.

Lets say they are some abstract "ghosts" based on a dynamic and/or weird ship idea.

So they don`t really fly or anything tho they are normally moving in a shmup as enemies. There is also no "space" where they "fly" in [ THO I AM THINKING OF CHANGING THIS ]. They are shown moving in an also abstract world using abstract backgrounds like on this mock up of mine.


Somewhat in this style. abstract drawing done by me called "the cold void".
Sorry that i don`t have any kind of animation mockup but i am working on a one level demo in which you can see the most of the above shown enemies in action.

There are known problems with the readability of the ships on this background. As you can see i also added a few finished ships.

They shoot their bullet-patterns simply by summoning bullets around their body, but also there are rare situations were those bullets spawn from designated parts of the "ships".

They are also static forms often moving fast over the screen. Those who stand for a longer time on the screen will not be animated except of performing a HIT-animation when you hit one of them with your shot(+ there will be a destruction animation for each of them).
In addition i have a finished playership which is somewhat very different from most playerships in normal shmups everybody knows:



Of course only the small zone in the middle is the hitzone and as well i am thinking of letting those large wings slightly disappear at least while the player is into a difficult labyrinth of enemy-bullets and/or somewhat trapped in any other kind of large amount of those bullets. the main thought behind this is that those large wings might puzzle the players mind while dodging bullets in a manicshmup(dodonpachi is a very good example of a manic shmup).


As i want to avoid misunderstandings on what are ships and what is BG here are the ships i added to the above showed BG:









End of post.....
« Last Edit: October 17, 2008, 03:06:07 pm by Stahlkaiser »
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Offline Dairy

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #11 on: October 17, 2008, 09:55:41 am »
Really ,really very nice artwork I see here. Your pixelwork is just awesome.

Love almost all of what you've done, the only thing which is bothering me is the way you made the main character (spaceship). Otherwise everything is really nicely done.

I'm looking forward this and I wish you good luck.

Maybe I could even try to help you with something. [pigtail]

Offline poopdogg

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #12 on: October 17, 2008, 10:05:12 am »
it's nice and awesome, very original.. . . . . Were looking forward on it :)

and 'bout the abstract BG I think it does not fit on the spaceships. . .

(Sorry if I am unintelligent, since the knowledge I have only comes from a school text book...)

Offline Farah

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #13 on: October 17, 2008, 11:02:32 am »
Is this being made in gamemaker?
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Offline -Skykanden-

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #14 on: October 18, 2008, 02:12:03 am »
I think that you like too much those abstract ships, lol.
It's not bad, because they are great, but you could try to make some more 'realistic' i mean, with visible weapons and so

Offline Espadon

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #15 on: October 18, 2008, 08:27:55 pm »
I think it's great the way it is. Maybe even go a bit more abstract. Alien goo ships anyone?
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Offline Stahlkaiser

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #16 on: October 19, 2008, 09:57:06 am »
Really ,really very nice artwork I see here. Your pixelwork is just awesome.

Love almost all of what you've done, the only thing which is bothering me is the way you made the main character (spaceship). Otherwise everything is really nicely done.

I'm looking forward this and I wish you good luck.

Maybe I could even try to help you with something. [pigtail]
Wow thank you a lot ! :)
Okay about the playership: i know it looks kinda weird and i am thinking of changing it. i got suggestions to make it not that broad. any additional suggestions?i would like to hear some :)

I will of course inform you when it is done thanks for watching it!


it's nice and awesome, very original.. . . . . Were looking forward on it :)

and about the abstract BG I think it does not fit on the spaceships. . .
Thank you as well a lot!
Well about the background issue: i am bothered by it too. i had the idea of those abstract drawings as backgrounds but i see that this causes a lot of trouble: e.g. the contrast or that they are not fitting with the spaceships as you said. here are some versions i did over the time:

this here is the hand drawn version of my pic, the original:


then i have the version how it looks like at the moment of which i further more think it works at least best right now:


then here comes kinda abstracted version of an abstract drawing:

at least there is no problem with the colours of the ships on this because it doesn`t puzzle the players mind while looking at it. the blue ships are a good contrast to the white BG. Actually this drawing is only for the water level( added some darkness enemies to the first posted mockup in this thread because they are blue as well and i don`t have much water-enemies done right now).

Well i don`t know exactly about this version but it is kinda bad working i guess:



Is this being made in gamemaker?

Yes Farah this will be finished in game maker which is no big deal because a shmup is kinda simple to code.

I think that you like too much those abstract ships, lol.
It's not bad, because they are great, but you could try to make some more 'realistic' i mean, with visible weapons and so
Skykanden i of course respect your opinion :)
i tho think it is more a matter of looking at this "art" in different ways... well people are different, people like different things :)
there is no problem for me that you don't love abstract shmup ships as much as i do :D

But talking about abstract and/or realistic art:
i started out with the whole game creation thingy through wanting to create a soldat similar game.. a top down shooter which i have some graphics for








i cancelled it because i found shmups much more interesting to create and wanted as well something different then soldiers and tanks + the fact that i love abstract art and wanting to create something really new!


I think it's great the way it is. Maybe even go a bit more abstract. Alien goo ships anyone?

Wow thank you this comment is really nice because i am continuously trying to NOT let them look to REAL. my style is all about "weird" abstraction  :D

For your obviously interest i have these black "ships"which are white-outlined.. they are for the chaos level and do not completely fit the rest of the ships design/style.
they are abstracted to the bones you could say.. xD

they are made because the last level(chaos) is very special in every case.. i wanted to totally make something which is really weird and so : for me a lot of fun to create! the more weird they become the more i like what i do.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional footage:




What that one was looking like as i started him. NOOO please don`t i do not want to make an animation from it    :'( :'( :'(

Watertype enemy:


what that weird one above is ment for:

using in great numbers in "waves" + only used on darker BG`s because of the contrast. it looks boring as single ship on bright BG.

What the hell is this????:

i don`t know what o do with it, it is weird!

And finally a WIP what the last boss in the earth level spawns to reinforce itself:





EDIT!

I forgot to post those weapons! maybe i will do a soldat interface mod later:


« Last Edit: October 19, 2008, 10:12:34 am by Stahlkaiser »
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Offline -Skykanden-

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #17 on: October 19, 2008, 10:03:11 am »
Hey I rememver those weapons, and that guy. Heh now i know who you are.

Those tanks are just awesome, i really like them.

I think that we all know that the graphics part of those games are for sure great, but what about the coding? I mean how you will make them work

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #18 on: October 19, 2008, 10:12:05 am »


This is really awesome. You can turn it 45 degs and have a new player ship right there. Or at least keep the wings. Too bad you don't want transforming ship sprites since that would make for some really cool bosses and player ships. What's the issue?
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Offline Farah

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Re: Fast paced 2D shooter [ Shoot 'em up ]
« Reply #19 on: October 19, 2008, 11:11:50 am »
Ah, you using particle effects for the explosions or are you going to use an image? Also which version of GM do you use(I prefer GM6.1 pro).
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