Happy Halloween!

These are the first images for a horror/adventure game I want to make with a few of my friends (who I collaborate with on small writing projects off and on.) Basically, these would be like those startling and memorable 'YOU HAVE DIED' screens from games like Shadowgate or the Uninvited, where you get a horrific description of your own death coupled with a closeup of the nasty that just did you in.

I love those games for that fact it utilizes your imagination more than any actual visual depictions of gory deaths and is no less effective in creating a horrifying and threatening atmosphere for it.

The actual part of the game you interact with I imagine being much simpler visually.. again, to force you to use your imagination more than you would normally playing a game. That said, I have yet to put down any code on this yet, so there's no telling what it'll actually look like. Here's hoping I can get some good stuff written and this thing doesn't fall off for a few more months (or longer.)

A MANIACAL LAUGH ECHOES
IN THE INFINITE DARKNESS
THAT SURROUNDS YOU .
YOU REALIZE YOU ARE DEAD!

ZPF - new footage

Just showing off some of the new enemies and backgrounds.



Apologies for the absolute shit quality, though. The eternal battle with screen recorders goes on.

More

New, more futuristic HUD for the appropriate ships.

Anyone who's played my old Blast Works stuff may recognize this guy. :)

ZPF things

I'm back to working on ZPF.

As you can see, I've decided to go a slightly different route with the theme. The original idea was for it to be a sort of techno-fantasy cross all the way through; but fiddling with the game recently has given me a few alternate ideas.

Basically, now it's going to jump back and forth between different settings, this way I can cover more familiar bases (ie. bio horror ala R-Type) as well go back to some older ideas I'd like to re-use. Every one will have a playable ship to match it, too. :)

New demo

Took long enough -_-

New music, 3 levels, 3 bosses. Not finalized by any stretch of the imagination'; but enough new stuff that I think it's worth showing.

(swiped from my post on shmups)
Performance notes:

For lower spec systems (ie netbook), set fx to no blur or minimum, set debris off, music off. Medal mode might also cause a hit from the higher instance count. None of these have a *huge* impact on performance; but it's enough to help.

'No blur' gives the game a slightly sharper look, too. I think I prefer it slightly.

Random stuff/glitches/ little crap I forgot to fix:
- small medals are occasionally counted twice at the end of a stage
- if you change weapons while a powerup is moving towards you, it will keep moving
- snake segments sometimes won't die with the head section
- train sections sometimes take longer to self-destruct than they should
- Talons sometimes target enemies that can't be hit

Almost.....there....

Sound Test

I just finished a creepy little song for the Game Over/ Continue countdown screen, too.

New boss!

One to go (for Level 2) and the demo's a wrap I think...

Working on ZPF again, new Flying V demo soon..

Maybe it was just burnout from working on the same thing for so long (Flying V); but i started tinkering with ZPF again.



- Updated enemy bullet patterns. No more messiness, patterns screwing up once the enemy starts/stops moving.

- New sound effects (mostly from Kyutwo.com and Shockwave Sound.) The ones I had made in SFXR were generally fine until they all played at the same time..ugh.

- Options (into which the Enemy Test mode is embedded)

- Enemy Test is more configurable and up to date with FV's now. You can select variations on the current enemy's behavior/ movement patterns, how many times to loop, and number of steps between loops. (1 step = 1/60th a second)

- New Maximum Fire mode which replaces each weapon's previous level 3 setting. When the meter is visible (the flaming sword in the HUD), hold X to a fire a more powerful shot.
- You can now use all three ship variants I've made so far.

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

New FV demo coming soon, too.

I had to cut down some of the content of level 1, leaving stuff that could be added in other places. Basically, the demo will have 3 levels instead of 2 now, although they will probably be on the short side. I think I just need a few more enemy types to fill in the gaps that are there.