Well, I'm back. I've been playing various games. I'm going to college in October (don't ask why, I don't know why they decided to set it up that way yet).
Anyway, how have you all been?I've also been polishing up my game, Elemaiden. Here's a cross-post from a few forums:
Engine: Game Maker 8 (will be ported to ENIGMA when Josh@Dreamland makes a fully developed version available)Project started: October 2009 (progress has halted for weeks on a few occasions, but I got back into it)Genre: Danmaku shooterRecommended system specs for the game as it is (to get 45-60 fps):2.4 GHz Pentium 4 or equivalent512 MB RAM64 MB VRAM, preferably GeForce 5xxx/Radeon 9xxx series or higherDecent performance not guaranteed below these specs. The ENIGMA version will be way more efficient.Development Team and Contributors:Purianite (Scripting, soundtrack, some graphics)Sour (Sprites for versions after this, as well as the first few)Alex/Kuro Kitsune-chan (not sure what she wants to go by) (Storyline)Ninji (Logo, scripting assistance, many of the sprites up to alpha 11)rainbow_rena (Character art beyond this version)Runi (HUD template)Doomsday Houjuu (Story assistance, soundtrack assistance)criss990 (Bullet pattern and story assistance)Fusion? (Story assistance)Full Throttle (Website work)Storyline:Centuries ago, the Demon Overlord Larevail plagued the land of Philestra. He wreaked havoc everywhere he went, causing pain and suffering to those around him. When all seemed lost, the Goddess of the Elemental Crystals sent her four guardians to save the land. Using the powers of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water, they vanquished Larevail, and sealed him away. Peace returned to the land, and the Goddess turned the guardians into mortals so they could stay and protect the people of Philestra. They pass their powers onto their descendants, ensuring its safety for years to come. Now, after many years, the seal has weakened, and Larevail has broken free, though in a weaker state. He sends four of his minions to gather the Elemental Crystals so he can be restored to his former power. With the last of his strength, he possesses Seraphina Meiala, the queen of the most powerful kingdom in Philestra, and her two sisters, Serena and Soraya. With the crystals gone, and the continent in jeopardy, the Guardians of the Elemental Crystals awaken, previously unaware of the powers they hold. Amaira Barlow, Rhiannon Stellastira, Mairead Lucentis, and Amelia Bright must defeat the Demon, and restore balance to their land once again.Characters:Amaira BarlowAge: 14Height: 5'5"Element: EarthShe is the youngest of the Guardians. She's overconfident, sassy, and always stands up for what she believes in. She's high-spirited, and talkative, always either laughing of telling wild, random stories. Putting everyone else before herself, she tries to cheer everyone up, even if she is feeling unwell herself. She hates to show people her soft side, and refuses to cry in front of anyone.Rhiannon StellastiraAge: 21Height: 6'0"Element: WindThe eldest Guardian. She is intelligent, mature, and very serious. She is considered the “brainsâ€? of the group, always coming up with plans, and the quickest to react to danger. She is somewhat anti-social, and can come off as a little rude, though it is not intentional. She is painfully honest, and her bluntness often hurts others' feelings.Mairead LucentisAge: 17Height: 5'7"Element: FireThe most agile of the Guardians, Mairead is strong, fast, and a little rude. She's quick to fight, and her back sass often gets her into trouble. She'll say things that are harsh and hurtful, but she's secretly kind, and will act so if the situation calls for it. When it comes to affairs of the heart, Mairead becomes awkward and embarrassed, and she'll have angry outbursts, which she'll immediately regret. She becomes this way whenever Rhiannon addresses her.Amelia BrightAge: 15Height: 5'4"Element: WaterKind-hearted and empathetic, she is the sweetest one of the Guardians. She is quick to cry, but is very forgiving, and strangers often try to take advantage of her kindness. She is very shy, and does not talk as much as the others, fearing her soft voice will not be heard. She is not physically strong, and nowhere near Rhiannon's intelligence, but she is a great spell caster. She devotes all her free time to reading magic books, rather than school books. She can also read people very easily, often discovering how they feel before they discover it themselves.Screenshots:
More:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4083095/Elemaiden/screenshot4.pnghttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/4083095/Elemaiden/screenshot5.pnghttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/4083095/Elemaiden/screenshot6.pnghttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/4083095/Elemaiden/screenshot7.pnghttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/4083095/Elemaiden/screenshot8.pnghttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/4083095/Elemaiden/screenshot9.pnghttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/4083095/Elemaiden/screenshot10.pnghttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/4083095/Elemaiden/screenshot11.pngSome graphics are placeholders, many will be redone by next releaseControls:Z = Shoot (Q for autofire)X = Spell Attack (clears screen and launches a powerful attack (currently brokenly powerful and needs rebalancing, or maybe not, let me know what you think)C = Switch between primary and secondary charactersV = Charge attack (when the meter is 500 or higher)Shift = Slow down (Your options will absorb bullets based on your difficulty level)Arrows = Move (derp)NOTE: Only stages 1 and 2 are completed.Known bugs:-Staying paused too long breaks the game and will give you errors, especially if you pause in certain areas.-Some bullets and enemies disappear, starting with things that are colored teal, purple, blue and green, for some reason. This is both a problem with Game Maker that I have to find out how to fix (maybe a technical flaw of GM). Also more common on integrated graphics, which is why the graphics card might be to blame.-You can bomb during Last Spells, and Vaida's lasers don't show up if you bomb in her third phase and get to her last spell while still bombing. That'll be fixed, spells will be stopped at the beginning of last spells, and they will be disabled.-Spell bonuses aren't ready yet. I misunderstood how they worked when I first made them, and they're broken anyhow.-Icaraine Imenai kills herself after phase 2 for some reason, I'm going to investigate that deeper with help.-Stage 2's sky fortress is missing a wall around frame 9000, no clue if I'll fix that, because Burial Agent will be making a 3D model of the thing, with a new layout and more elaborate design.-Vaida Blümchen's name doesn't show up correctly anymore for some reason. WHY!?Latest version (0.1.11), September 15, 2010: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4083095/Elemaiden/ElemaidenAlpha11.zip(16 MB download)
Oh right… Retry doesn't work yet. And Focus is just for bullet absorbing and slowing down. Amaira, however, is a different case. Her bullets have limited homing capability when focused.
Okay, second playthrough, and here's what I have to say. On the top are things I feel were important, and on the bottom are things that I think you should worry about later.
- The gameover error was an extraction failure on my part.- I noticed the homing bullets on the second run.- I don't know why you choose a secondary character. Anything like Subterranean Animism/Imperishable Night?- After continuing, the music from the continue screen will keep playing, and the level music won't resume.- Boss patterns were predictable and had very many safe areas. Most of the patterns were simply cages. If those cages moved or changed occasionally, they'd be much more fun.- On that note, don't be afraid to have bullets accelerate/decelerate. It decreases predictability.- Bullet fire sound is probably a bit loud. I like how you added the hum that you hear when you're actually hitting an enemy.- You don't have deathbombing. >=[- Third (ice) stage boss (or miniboss, music didn't change) couldn't be killed. After running under zero health for that spellcard, and having the card timer run out, she wouldn't die.- Remember that in Touhou, bosses have normal attacks and spellcards. Feel free to make Easy mode have more bullets. Overall, it needs to be more hectic.- The "Alice Bullets" (most of the ones in your two screenshots) are probably the most interesting. Most of the other bullets are easily avoided.- MOAR BLEND WHORING- Add some sort of death animation.- Add some sort of bullet fade/create animation (includes when bullets are destroyed at character death).- The green spinny circle bomb of doom hits like a truck.- The character with the homing focus needles (possibly more) can't capture some spellcards due to low damage output.- Need more sounds.- Polish graphics eventually.…That's all I can think of right now. I know this game isn't near complete, so the graphics/sound suggestions are just for the future. But I can easily say that with a little polish, I'd play this game like a Touhou game.Also, Normal mode has a HIGH difference from Easy.But mostly the thing that bothered me was the enemy bullet movement, and bullet destruction. Other than that, it's looking great so far.what's deathbombing?
EDIT: Is it using a bomb to regain some health after you've been hit?EDIT: Yes it is :P, thanksBasically, when you get hit by a bullet, you have about half a second or less to hit your bomb button, which will save your life and use a bomb in its place.
Touhou games (and this) don't have health, by the way. If you're hit, you die.@Kilin: Each character has an element, as do the enemies. A hit of the same element does half damage, whereas an elementally effective hit does 1.5x.
Level music should resume, I'm confused. Was it on stage 3? Because there's no music for it yet.Cages, eh? I should probably do something about that. Would you be able to help me rearrange some of these patterns? Bullet acceleration and deceleration would be hard to implement, but bullet speeds can be set up to 8 times on 8 alarms. Bullet sounds are already going to be balanced. Just wanted to put the sounds in there this release.Nonspells would've been done, but when I first made the engine, I didn't know how to make the healthbar work the way it does in Touhou. I'm going to consider implementing them in future stages, but I won't be making the healthbar work the Touhou way, considering how the phase system is set up. This model is actually based on that of eXceed.Blend whoring is too much for GM. I tried it. Plus, it looks bad with my bullets.Death animation will be done with the new sprites.Spells are broken still.Homing focus needles? Who?Yeah, I need more sounds.The graphics are getting an overhaul once Sour starts spriting.@Kilin: I mean, I have like 50-something bullet objects (originally was going to be a lofi game, so drawing sprites with color, especially might be too much for that). Applying this code to all of them will be hard, the way things are set up.
You don't have to.
for(i=0;i<36;i+=1){ bullet=instance_create(x,y,obj_bullet); bullet.speed=8; bullet.direction=i*10; bullet.decelerate=true; bullet.sprite_index=spr_bullet;}You can use the same object for everything using this method.Edited.I've gone too far to implement that. I should've done that a long time ago. But I plan to release a public version of this for some friends' projects. My friend Aimiyuki might be using it.
Kilin <3's 6