Top down shooter - Ideas and features

Salami_INC · 28 October 2016, 21:05

I'm coding a game in my free time (not enough of it !) and I decided to make it the best top down shooter ever. Not an easy task, but it'll happen... eventually.

So here's a small list of the things I want to do and you tell me if that sounds good or stupid.
KB + Mouse controls mainly. You can aim freely with your mouse. Bullet weapons will just fire in the direction you point to, projectiles (bazookas etc. ) will go exactly where you aim them, so you can explode a rocket on the floor (and get a speed boost too)
The whole game would not have "levels" but maps. By that I mean, there's no Level ending screen with a score and other stuff like this. There's just loading of the next map, just like in FPS games such as Half-Life
Quicksaves... not much to say about that one
Lots of enemies at the same time, no hitscans, melee and projectiles. Ever played Serious Sam ? That's what I'm aiming for.

It's using SDL2 to create a screen and do the input management, but everything else is coded by me. The game uses 256 colors (32 colors in 8 shades) in a VGA-like mode with all bliting functions written by me. I decided to do it this way because
1) Making retro pixel game that requires 2Ghz + CPU is LAME
2) I have a laptop with a crappy built-in Intel GFX chipset, doing it the "normal" way was actually much much slower.
Another advantage of doing it this approach is that it should be fairly easy to port this game to a really old PC. I don't have one (the slowest PC I have is 1.5 Ghz cpu with 128 mb ram, runs on it with ~150fps) to test it on, but my dream would be to make it run on a pentium I or pentium II with win95

I include a small video of what I have. Not much to show off, but I wanted to include it to show that I'm actually working on it and I'm not just ideas guy.

[ Show youtube player ]

s2325 · 28 October 2016, 21:12

Alien Breed 2 or 3 had very god control idea - retreat mode.

Salami_INC · 28 October 2016, 21:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by s2325

Alien Breed 2 or 3 had very god control idea - retreat mode.

I started playing Alien Breed II 2 days ago (I've got my first amiga just few weeks ago) will take some notes on how they do things for sure, although I can already tell that some things are different from my idea, mainly the controls (only 8 directions) and few enemies at the same time (understandable hardware limitation)

LuMan · 31 October 2016, 22:20

Well, I've got to admire your enthusiasm, considering the competition you've got - Alien Breed is a classic example of how to do a top-down shooter, then there's The Chaos Engine, of course. And, if you want mouse-controlled, top-down shooting, Cannon Fodder is an absolute must!

I think you should check them all out, pick out the best bits of each, and incorporate them into your game. It'll be really interesting to see what you come up with.

Good luck!

Adrian Browne · 01 November 2016, 22:47

Looks like a nice start. Im curious to see how it developes. Theres quite a few indie amiga games in developement atm. Good times.

wizard · 02 November 2016, 08:54

One indie top-down shooter that I've enjoyed in later years is Larva Mortus; http://store.steampowered.com/app/11340/

Predseda · 02 November 2016, 09:00

I would like to have an early prototype for a test.

onkelarie · 02 November 2016, 09:15

you might even want to look a second at a game like geometry wars (pick any version) and its gametypes it offers. just for inspiration.

28 October 2016, 21:05	#1
Salami_INC SALAMI INC. Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Second Reality Posts: 17	Top down shooter - Ideas and features I'm coding a game in my free time (not enough of it !) and I decided to make it the best top down shooter ever. Not an easy task, but it'll happen... eventually. So here's a small list of the things I want to do and you tell me if that sounds good or stupid. KB + Mouse controls mainly. You can aim freely with your mouse. Bullet weapons will just fire in the direction you point to, projectiles (bazookas etc. ) will go exactly where you aim them, so you can explode a rocket on the floor (and get a speed boost too) The whole game would not have "levels" but maps. By that I mean, there's no Level ending screen with a score and other stuff like this. There's just loading of the next map, just like in FPS games such as Half-Life Quicksaves... not much to say about that one Lots of enemies at the same time, no hitscans, melee and projectiles. Ever played Serious Sam ? That's what I'm aiming for. It's using SDL2 to create a screen and do the input management, but everything else is coded by me. The game uses 256 colors (32 colors in 8 shades) in a VGA-like mode with all bliting functions written by me. I decided to do it this way because 1) Making retro pixel game that requires 2Ghz + CPU is LAME 2) I have a laptop with a crappy built-in Intel GFX chipset, doing it the "normal" way was actually much much slower. Another advantage of doing it this approach is that it should be fairly easy to port this game to a really old PC. I don't have one (the slowest PC I have is 1.5 Ghz cpu with 128 mb ram, runs on it with ~150fps) to test it on, but my dream would be to make it run on a pentium I or pentium II with win95 I include a small video of what I have. Not much to show off, but I wanted to include it to show that I'm actually working on it and I'm not just ideas guy. [ Show youtube player ]

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28 October 2016, 21:12	#2
s2325 Zone Friend Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Gargore Age: 43 Posts: 17,789	Alien Breed 2 or 3 had very god control idea - retreat mode.

31 October 2016, 22:20	#4
LuMan Amigan - an' lovin' it!! Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Nottingham, UK Age: 55 Posts: 557	Well, I've got to admire your enthusiasm, considering the competition you've got - Alien Breed is a classic example of how to do a top-down shooter, then there's The Chaos Engine, of course. And, if you want mouse-controlled, top-down shooting, Cannon Fodder is an absolute must! I think you should check them all out, pick out the best bits of each, and incorporate them into your game. It'll be really interesting to see what you come up with. Good luck!

01 November 2016, 22:47	#5
Adrian Browne Jackie Chan Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Ireland Age: 46 Posts: 986	Looks like a nice start. Im curious to see how it developes. Theres quite a few indie amiga games in developement atm. Good times.

02 November 2016, 08:54	#6
wizard Registered User Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Sweden Posts: 46	One indie top-down shooter that I've enjoyed in later years is Larva Mortus; http://store.steampowered.com/app/11340/

02 November 2016, 09:00	#7
Predseda Puttymoon inhabitant Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Tromaville Age: 46 Posts: 7,545	I would like to have an early prototype for a test.

02 November 2016, 09:15	#8
onkelarie Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Spijkenisse / the Netherlands Age: 54 Posts: 525	you might even want to look a second at a game like geometry wars (pick any version) and its gametypes it offers. just for inspiration.

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