Ok, prelimary design, class building and toolset construction is under way.
Here's the title for the game:
The weapon editor in the toolset is about half-way finished.
A neat feature I've added is that weapons that you would expect to sit on your "wings" can be set up to be connected to your ship's nose now, and vice versa.
For example, the cannon, laser, etc. can be mounted on the nose of the ship, replacing the default weapon. Equally so, the basic blaster weapon, twin shot, flamer, and missile launcher can be mounted as side weapons.
If a weapon which would normally sit on the nose is mounted on a wing, it get's a "powerplant" assigned underneath it, as the following screen illustrates:
The shop is now going to be mouse driven. You'll see a preview of your ship with it's current weapon configuration, allowing you to click on a weapon "slot" to move it, sell what's there, or buy a weapon for it, power it up, etc.
I am also going to have ship configurations available for purchase from the shop, if you've got the cash available. Like all lasers, or cannons and missiles, etc.
The random level generator will ensure that you can play the game almost indefinately - basically until you die. This should provide hours of fun!
Anyway, I'm currently finishing off the weapon editor section of the toolset, including a "test" area where you can see your weapon in action!
The toolset functionality means that budding players can create their own new weapons for the game as well, which should be a giggle.
At the moment there are four weapon types available:
Basic "shot" weapons, such as blasters, missiles, etc.
There are a host of sub-options available such as pass-through enemies/walls, explosive (splash damage), timed-life, homing, etc.
Then there is a new type, "beam" weapons, which shoot a constant beam up the screen, like a traditional laser.
Then there are mines (drop out the back and sit there until touched), and bombs, which fly up the screen for a set time and then go bang.
Obviously once the coding is done and the toolset complete, you can create some interesting combinations by playing around, like homing bombs/mines, etc.
I'll keep everyone posted as things progress.