My stuff related to the #bullethelljam.
10 SECONDS
- 10 seconds of what? Cooldown? Special effects?
- What about a multiplayer game?
- What about a platformer instead of shoot'em ups?
- Should I make a "Honey the Cat" game? What about "Fueled by Hate"?
"Fueled by Hate" is a bullet hell platformer.
You have access to a "star mode" where you become invencible to bullets and have a chance to attack your enemies by hitting them (not shooting them). This star mode lasts for 2 seconds and is only accessible every 10 seconds.
The goal depends on the task: you may need to kill every enemy, defeat one particular enemy, or just survive as long as possible.
I can see the multiplayer idea flourishing here but it will probably be too hard to implement right now.
I don't have right now
I will start developing the "Fueled by Hate" idea. I will use TIC80 right now but I will probably need to check if I can spawn that many sprites on screen.
Should this be a platformer in the first place? I think I will try to nail the idea first then I see if I should make this a platformer or not.
By the end of the day, I was able to make a character that walks around and take bullets and another character that shoots bullets.
Stuff I would like to be done ASAP so I get started testing and iterating:
- Draw HUD indicating how many lives and the cooldown for star power
- Allow player to die from taking too many bullets
- Allow player to use star power every 10 seconds for a given amount of time
- Allow player to kill enemies by using star power
I should also change the bullets speed from a number to a function. This way, I can change their trajectory over time.
Today I would like to turn that into an actual game that I can improve over time. This means:
- Implement splash screen
- Implement tutorial
- Implement level counter screen
- Allow players to start next level
- Implement credits screen
I decided to include the tutorial on the splash screen. The idea is to make this a pretty serious game and I think this is going to be a good part of the aesthetics of the game.
Now, I would like to make the game fun! That's what it should be about, right?
- Create interesting patterns with bullets
- Allow enemies to move around
Regarding creating bullet patterns: don't forget yesterday's suggestions!
Today is Monday, so you all know what it means: let's get back to work. Today I would like to make the game longer and more presentable.
- Include more levels
- Improve animations
- Improve backgrounds
- Improve tutorial text to mention how to move
One way of improving animations is to change the theme of the game a little bit. The first thing that came to mind was to convert this to another Honey the Cat game. Hate mode would mean Honey is ready to attack her enemies. Talking about enemies, they could be rats throwing something at her. For instance, it could be water, bullets, trash...
After improving the game a lot today, I think there is one last thing before I can consider this game somehow complete: sound!
- Compose theme song for main menu
-
Include sound effect when bullets are shot - Include sound effect when Honey is hurt
-
Include sound effect when anger mode is activated
Playing sound effects when bullets are shot makes the game unbearable to play. The same applies for anger mdoe.
Feedback:
- Make bullets bigger
- Add more levels
- Maybe include a boss level
From 2021-04-22: I wasn't able to complete these two tasks on time, so I am removing them from the game jam release.
I also am not satisfied with the music, there could be more stuff there:
- Play "game over" music
- Play "game finished" music
Today is delivery day! Let's be sure the game is packaged and presentable.
- Upload the game to itch.io
Player:
x: X positiony: Y positions2: how many lives the player haves2cd: invincibility timesp: flag for checking if star power is activatedspcd: star power cooldownd: direction
Enemy:
cx: X coordinate focuscy: Y coordinate focusdx: X coordinate distancedy: Y coordinate distancefx: X coordinate frequencyfy: Y coordinate frequencys: sprite ida: flag to check whether enemy is active or notx: X coordinate positiony: Y coordinate positiond: direction
Bullet:
x: X positiony: Y positiona: flag to indicate whether bullet is active or notvx: speed on X directionvy: speed on Y direction