Over the Christmas holidays I've been playing with a new prototype based on the terribly difficult section of my favorite game, Rayman 1 where you get to fight 'Space Mama'. Put simply, there is a section in the fight when she shoots laser beams at different heights towards Rayman, and to dodge them you either need to jump or crawl. The aim is to get as close to 'Space Mama' as possible in order to inflict damage, but obviously doing so reduces your chance to react to the next shot. I like the simplicity of the fight.
I wanted to simplify the movement of the characters to only y-axis with bullets traveling along the x-axis
I was also inspired by 'Nidhogg's' vast depth within it's simplicity; elegance. Every attack has a counter, every defense has a weakness.
It's inspirational knowing that such a deep fighting game was made using the same software I use; Gamemaker:Studio.
I played with a lot of different variations of the idea and I'm considering expanding the game into a space cowboy themed, shooter/platformer similar in part to Gunman Clive.
Not that Gunman Clive was one of the original inspirations of the idea, it certainly shares some aspects of what I've created.
What I've created
A variety of different prototypes about the same idea.
2 Player Mode:
Shoot your friends and dodge their shots. The simplest version of the game.
Arcade Mode: (3 different difficulties)
Shoot the red rings and dodge the bullets. Watch out for recoil as the speed increases every turn.
Dodge Mode:
Dodge multiple shots at the same time as they bounce back from the wall behind you.
If I ever made this into a full game I'd certainly include these fun mini-games/prototypes as bonuses.
I'm currently working on a Cowboy Shootout/ Jet-pack Cowboy Collection V2 with more variations on theme, updated graphics and a night/day cycle (which will effect game-play). Watch out for sandstorms by day and Spaceships by night.
I've also started experimenting with the x-axis and platforming too.
The day/night cycle has only been implemented in the 2 player version thus far but I think it looks pretty nice. I also added shadows.
I bought the HTML5 expert module a little while ago too before GM:S announced that they'd been bought by Playtech. Turns out that building for the web has a loads of extra things you have to consider when programming or your game will run like shit.
