Archive: 12 posts

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I just thought I might announce the latest level I'm working on. It's slow work, as it's a hypercomplex engineering beasties (think the TSR - Three Stage Rocket and then multiply it by 10). I've mentioned it in my blog a few times, and you can get more current updates by checking over there, but I thought I might make a project thread here so people can get an idea of what I've got in development. This project was inspired by NinjaMicWZ and CCubbage's work, although it's an original idea in and of itself. Both of those authors know that I'm working on something based on their ideas or innovations. The idea is to make a vehicle controlled shooting game, similar to Space Invaders or Galaga. It's a bit different to the previous authors work as it will be vehicle type combat with the player not directly fighting sackboy to enemy ship, but rather by controlling the ship they pilot, the Good Ship Prometheus. It's also different well, because it's LBP. I've developed a complex engineering system which allows for very simple controls to allow for both piloting the ship as well as power ups to the ship itself, both player activated and from shooting power ups as you continue. The idea is that the player(s) board the Good Ship, and then are faced with wave upon wave of enemy ships to destroy. I've mentioned power ups already, but there will also be a scoring system as well as you progress. There won't be any retries though. I've decided the health system built into the ship should be enough for one play through. If you die mid way through you get taken to the scoring area and then scoreboard. You can always restart the whole level though. I'll announce in this thread progress as I go. More detailed things will be in my blog, where I usually rant about LBP for 2 pages at a time. Let me just give a current status update. I've built a prototype "Good Ship". It moves, fires, has a health system, an entry and exit system in place, and a way to kill the players if they fail. It does not look super awesome, but the framework for further playtesting is built. I've also built a prototype enemy wave of ships. They move, fire, avoid, have variable health and shooting patterns. They also have a system for when the entire wave is defeated to allow for additional events to occur when this happens. I've also built a rough start to the level. I'm planning to move the starting checkpoint, work is slowly being done to account for this. Eventually I'll get it to the point of a beta, where some of the gameplay elements are coming together enough to allow other players to see what's going on. It's not at that level yet, however, you cannot playtest the game outside of create mode. When it gets to beta I might publish it as a level locked open beta to see what other people think of the work in progress. I'll have to take some pictures of things as they progress. Be aware at the moment I'm more focusing on engineering gameplay elements rather than being artistically beautiful. At the moment the "enemy ships" are square blobs. So, feel free to comment and give some feedback about what you think. That's why I've gone and made this project thread, after all. Update: Here are the pictures previously promised. Here we go... http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c336/Elbee23/TheGoodShipPrometheusPrototype.jpg This is a shot of the Good Ship Prometheus itself. You can see a few of the details on it. Needless to say not everything is visible to the player in terms of controls. I'm hoping to add power-ups and multiplayer functionality as the level building continues, and of course, improve the overall look of the ship itself. At the moment it can move, shoot, take damage, kill the player when destroyed, and allow the player to enter and exit the vehicle. http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c336/Elbee23/Prototypeenemies.jpg Here you can see the sample enemies I built for playtesting purposes. They look crap, but are very functional and do everything I need in terms of testing out the gameplay mechanics. Needless to say the final enemies will look a lot better than this. http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c336/Elbee23/Prototypesinaction-1.jpg Here you can see a sample of the main gameplay action. The enemies and the ship have taken damage, and one of the enemies has been destroyed. It looks better when it's moving. :blush: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c336/Elbee23/ProtoypeGSP2.jpg Here's one more shot of the Good Ship again. I'm trying to wear the Chinese New Year outfit. :blush: I've also gone and built a working model for the moving checkpoint system at the start. That does not look nearly as exciting though. Feel free to comment on what you have seen and read, so I don't just update the front post constantly.

2009-01-27 04:58:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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Cool! This idea sounds fantastic. Obviously I love ideas that stray from the normal platforming in LBP. :hero:

2009-01-27 13:32:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430

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Yeah, it does sound great and I am excited to see what someone with alot of technical know-how can do with this kind of vehicular combat. Ever since Libidus, I've been wanting to see someone make a balls-to-the-walls shooter. My friend deboerdave was the first one to do something crazy with it that I know of in his AIRBLASTERS level, and he inspired my Paintball 3000 ship design. If you get a chance, check it out... he rarely creates anymore and just makes ramp parodies nowadays but that was his greatest contribution lol.

2009-01-27 13:45:00 Author: Unknown User

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Ahhhh... Ramp parodies... this could be a genre in its self! Anyway, I can't quite tell from the photos - the firing mechanics - are you doing more of a uni-directional or the player fires straight up at the enemies?

2009-01-27 14:33:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430

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The gun which is on the ship at the moment only fires straight up. I'm planning in the future to incorporate powerups including a rapid fire shot and a 3 way shot. I'm also planning to put in an additional gunner point, which will be a gun turrent that either autotmatically swivels or is controlled by the player in terms of angle. The aim of the second gun is to give a bit more variety to a multiplayer experience. At the moment it's just the main gun that fires at a constant rate straight up. I can't put in the rest of the firing mechanics until I playtest the game with the camera zone working, which means putting the gameplay mechanics into a working level. If it does not break the gameplay by being overpowered, I might put in some sort of rocket power up as well. There is also a plan to have a player activated on call shielding system with a limited number of charges, as well as a powerup that does a similar thing. Again, this will be revealed as the level is built.

2009-01-28 00:22:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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Looking forward to this Elbee. If you need testing then I would be more then happy to

2009-01-28 01:01:00 Author: OCK Posts: 1536

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Yes, sounds very cool! I'm in too if you need any playtesting!

2009-01-28 03:06:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430

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can't wait, I am free to play test if you need me. but i am sure it will be the best side scrolling shooter that will be out there. Cheers!

2009-01-28 05:14:00 Author: RAINFIRE Posts: 1101

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Hmm, good idea, I like all the basic ideas and all the power-up possibilities. I could think of many ideas you could do with power-ups, although some which would rock will be restricted by the abilities in create mode. I also think that, along with power-ups you could have some 'power-downs' which could be things like the ship going the opposite way to what it's supposed to. This could make things tricky, which would always add to the quality of this level. I'm aware that you said you would change the appearance of the ship and the enemies, which would be great. At the moment, I think the ship looks fine, only a few minor changes would need to be made. However, the enemies are just blocks, which should be changed, but I can see that they definitely work properly. I'm guessing that you would change the appearance last, as it isn't a major aspect of the level. Overall, I love the idea and can't wait to see it. I'll be sure to read some of your blogs on this, as I haven't yet.

2009-01-29 18:42:00 Author: Bear Posts: 2079

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31/1/09 I've gone and written a new blog entry (http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/blog.php?b=245) which talks in detail about my thinking on the level. Here is the short version on how progress is going: Added a permanent switch door to block people seeing the checkpoint move. Added a 2 stage lift which goes firstly to the tutorial room area and then to the ship launching area. Written out the schematics for a system to project tutorial pictures. The next step is to build the tutorial projection system prototype. It won't be fully functioning until the level is fully built and I can take pictures of everything. I'm hoping the design I've developed will cut down on the "emitted smoke" that is often seen with these things. I won't know until it's built though. :blush: I don't have any pictures for this entry. It's all just Gekko Armor Material with no decorations, and that does not make for interesting pictures. At the current rate I'm going I'm hoping to have the meatier gameplay elements roughly in place in about a week. It will only be the prototype system that was in the photographs by that stage, and it won't be fully polished graphics wise or have all the features planned in place. When it gets to this stage though I'll make a password level lock, write the code on this thread and in the blog, and then publish the rough gameplay in this open beta form. Be warned it will be quite rough graphics and gameplay wise though. It's going to be a fair while before everything is all in place and the completed level is out. :blush: I've also considered expanding the level with a hard mode, but that's talked more about in the blog. Lastly, thank you all for your kind words of encouragement so far. It's boring building elevators and basic level structure, but it's good to see people are interested in this project. --- 7/02/09 A new blog entry (http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/blog.php?b=256) is out and it's time for another update on this project. I've got a new picture to show: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c336/Elbee23/StartinglayoutforGSP.jpg This is a zoomed out view of the starting area for the level. Although it's pretty much all one type of material and no decorations added, you can see the rough layout I've already built. You start in the lower left corner, go past the player limiter gate (and a story character that is not yet there), hop in an elevator which takes you up to the tutorial floor (the middle of the picture). The white piece is where the projected instructions will be. You can then ride the elevator up the landing area where you can see the GSP waiting for launch with a door open. I still haven't finished putting in all the launch mechanics yet. Also the tutorial room is not functioning yet as well. I've got the spacing for what I need in place though. It's slowly getting there. In the blog I talk a bit more about plot ideas. To keep it short, you are on the colony ship Olympus, being pursued by an alien race that is using ships too small and fast for the main guns on the Olympus. It's up to the prototype ship the Prometheus to defend off these attackers and save the day. I'm getting closer to a gameplay test, but I'm not there yet. I'll keep you all posted for when I get there. --- 13/02/09 Another blog (http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/blog.php?b=266) has been released. It seems like things are going on a once a week basis. I don't have any pictures for this update though. Although things are looking good, they don't necessarily make for good static pictures at this point. :blush: New additions: I've added a race gate just before the launch area. The storyline for the yet to be made story character is written. The gameplay elements of the launch sequence are in place. The launch was pretty hard and complex. It used a tonne of permanent switches and magnetic keys and sensors. Basically it simulates the Prometheus being moved into postion within the Olympus before the player launches the vessel into the main gameplay area. It sure was a pain designing, testing and calibrating everything though. I had to rebuild permanent systems whenever things didn't line up or malfunctioned, which is a real pain to do. I'd then often forget to reconnect one small part, and have to review the entire long system to work out what's wrong. Still though, even without the bells and whistles it's looking good. The rockets on the Prometheus finally come alive when the player gains control of the Prometheus, which is a great visual effect. It will look even better when I've gone over it all and added more graphical and sound touches. I'm not sure when the beta will be released though. I've had to overcome some serious creators block to get this far. In order I have to: Add prototype enemies. Add a landing sequence if you kill all the enemies and don't die. Add a rough scoring system. Recalibrate the initial moving start point to the true ending point of the level. Add in the scoreboard. So... I don't know when I'll go beta. Hopefully soon, but I won't put a date on it. Getting behind on the previous date due to being busy moderating is part of the reason for my creators block I fear. :blush:

2009-02-12 18:52:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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Looking forward to it. This looks like a really unique level. Just had to throw this message in here so you know we're reading your stuff.

2009-02-12 20:16:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430

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Wow yep cant wait~!

2009-02-14 02:05:00 Author: Madafaku Posts: 738

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