Xenon III: GYGABLAST

DaphydTheBard · 22 November 2005, 16:40

Hey All

I've just started work on a Xenon 2 sequel, for the PC.

I'm using most of the original graphics from Xenon II, with some minor tweaks such as colour changes, etc.

Whilst I'm at this early stage of development, if anyone has any suggestions or ideas for things they'd like to see in a Xenon game, post them here, and I'll take them into consideration.

Planned Features:

All of the original weapons from Xenon II, plus some new ones.

A level editor for you budding shmup fans

A random level generator, for endless hours of fun.

A 2 player mode, allowing both players to be on-screen simultaneously.

Re-worked shop, allowing you to determine which slot weapons go in, ie. Nose, Tail, Left Wing 1/2, Right Wing 1/2.

I'm going to include asteroids in the game as well, like in Xenon 2000.

Post your ideas here!

DamienD · 22 November 2005, 16:58

Hello DaphydTheBard,

Been read your thread on your game engine in Visual Basic 6 and DirectX... Sounds really cool, wish I could program

I like your ideas for Xenon III: GYGABLAST. I'll try to think of any cool additions for this nice project of yours.

Will be watching this thread with anticipation.

DaphydTheBard · 22 November 2005, 17:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by DamienD

Hello DaphydTheBard,

Been read your thread on your game engine in Visual Basic 6 and DirectX... Sounds really cool, wish I could program

I like your ideas for Xenon III: GYGABLAST. I'll try to think of any cool additions for this nice project of yours.

Will be watching this thread with anticipation.

Programming is like any other hobby. Anyone can do it, but doing it WELL takes time, practice and patience.

There are plenty of online resources for budding novice programmers, as well as a host of good books available from Amazon.

I've been programming since I was 8 years old - and I do it professionally now as a career (although serious software).

Games programming for me is a both a hobby and a passion - I love it.

Being able to imagine a game in your head, and then sit down and make it a reality is a very rewarding experience.

Xenon III *will* happen. It will probably take me a few months to write, but when it's done, I'll post it to the Zone.

I'll be more than happy to share the source code here, as well.

Laters

andreas · 22 November 2005, 17:35

Hopefully there will be no LEGAL problems.

Bitmap Brothers are known to not be the most cooperative team on earth if it comes to (re)using their sprites, gfx ...

kriz · 22 November 2005, 17:47

Great DaphydTheBard !! Remakes who manages to capture the feel of the old, and manages to bring in new elements are great!! Good to see you have real passion for this

It would be fun/intersting if you posted regulary about this project...

DamienD · 22 November 2005, 18:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaphydTheBard

Programming is like any other hobby. Anyone can do it, but doing it WELL takes time, practice and patience.

You're so right, I guess I've never really set aside the time.

My father's a programmer / electrical engineer. He knows quite a few different languages, I think atleast five. From memory, C++, Cobalt, Oracle, SQL etc. He used to design automated systems while working at HoneyWell...

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaphydTheBard

Games programming for me is a both a hobby and a passion - I love it.

Being able to imagine a game in your head, and then sit down and make it a reality is a very rewarding experience.

I can imagine. The only thing I've really created are a few basic VB things in Excel / Access. I do enjoy writing batch files though. At work I've made a few cool boot disks for connecting to different servers, played around with ASCII menus, colours etc... LOL

It is good when something comes together as you've imagined. Especially after you know all the hard work that's gone into it has paid off...

Coagulus · 22 November 2005, 22:06

Didn't the Bitmaps make Xenon 2000 for the PC though?

BippyM · 22 November 2005, 22:19

ll as 2 player simultaneous how about 2 player with 1 ship?

I player controls the ship and the other the weapons and firing etc..

The game could be changed enuff to make it harder etc!

Just a thought!

Dastardly · 23 November 2005, 09:45

Good luck with this project. I hope the gfx are as good as the Xenon 2000 demo

Any chance you could mention this project at our forum too?

http://web628.silverline-s17.de/forum/index.php

DaphydTheBard · 23 November 2005, 10:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by bippym

ll as 2 player simultaneous how about 2 player with 1 ship?

I player controls the ship and the other the weapons and firing etc..

The game could be changed enuff to make it harder etc!

Just a thought!

Funnily enough my best friend and I were discussing this sort of idea recently.

We were trying to think of a new twist to the shmup formula, and one of the things we considered was either what you said, about 1 ship with 2 people controlling it, or having 2 seperate ships, but that have different abilities, like only one can collect pickups, etc.

The danger with writing this sort of game is that you restrict your player base immediately. That, or you have to write some pretty good AI code for "mr no friends". Personally I'm a "solo" gamer, which is why I play games like X2:The Threat (and now X3:Reunion) a lot, because I can spend time by myself and do my own thing.

That being said, I *am* married!! But my wife hates computer games, and I don't get to see any of my buddies much, so I tend to like games I can play alone.

I'll give this some thought, but my aim here is to bring Xenon into the 21st Century and try and re-capture the magic

BippyM · 23 November 2005, 11:29

This is good but I was thinking about this as an ADDITION to the normal 1 player and 2 player modes

There is so much you could add if you wanted to spend the time researching/implementing it.. but I appreciate that these things need to be finished at some point

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaphydTheBard

The danger with writing this sort of game is that you restrict your player base immediately. That, or you have to write some pretty good AI code for "mr no friends". Personally I'm a "solo" gamer, which is why I play games like X2:The Threat (and now X3:Reunion) a lot, because I can spend time by myself and do my own thing.

That being said, I *am* married!! But my wife hates computer games, and I don't get to see any of my buddies much, so I tend to like games I can play alone.

I'll give this some thought, but my aim here is to bring Xenon into the 21st Century and try and re-capture the magic

Also do you think the Word GIGABLAST goes better than GYGABLAST.. the reason I mention this is because it sounds more associated with megablast

Marcuz · 23 November 2005, 15:00

i used to play Xenon 2 with my brother, i piloted the ship, he fired, as we had just one tac-2 joystick with no autofire. it was a great laugh.
i second BippyM idea, then.
best of luck with your project!

DaphydTheBard · 23 November 2005, 15:12

BippyM,

Yes you're right, things do need to get finished

The reason I've abandoned my last project for the time being at least is because I realised it was probably a bit too ambitious for now - and I'd probably spend six months working on it, discover I was no-where near finished, get, bored, and sentence it to gather dust on a CD-ROM somewhere behind my PC

At least with this project, the coding will be relatively easy (shoot-em ups are piss-easy to write), I can complete it in a matter of months (maybe sooner) and it will be fun to play afterwards, too.

As far as the whole issue with the Bitmap Brothers getting arsey about me using their sprites, I was actually intending to send it to them as a sort of job application when it's done!

You have to have dreams...

DaphydTheBard · 25 November 2005, 11:42

Ok, prelimary design, class building and toolset construction is under way.

Here's the title for the game:

Click image for larger version

Name: title.png
Views: 565
Size: 1.5 KB
ID: 9788

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:

Click image for larger version

Name: weaps.png
Views: 555
Size: 1.5 KB
ID: 9789

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.

Marcuz · 25 November 2005, 12:12

i so badly want an amiga port of this

DaphydTheBard · 25 November 2005, 12:20

If I knew anything about development for the Amiga Machine then I would offer to port it once it's finished, but I don't.

I assume you have a PC you will be able to run this on when it's done?

Rest assured, you'll be amongst the first people to get a beta-copy of this when it's playeable.

I'm planning on using mod-tracked remixes of music by Orbital for the game as well (all remixed by myself).

Title Screen - Orbital - Chime
In Game - Orbital - The Box
Boss - Orbital - Gravity Drive
Shop - Bomb the Bass - MegaBlast

DeAdLy_cOoKiE · 25 November 2005, 12:56

Very cool Daphyd. Always liked the graphics and weapons in this game.

Your galaxy generator and planetary system stuff is great too btw.

Looking forward to it, especially since it will be a PC game.

If you (or anyone else) are interested in doing more conversions, please consider Exile. Map/sprites/whatever is already ripped:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=10901

DamienD · 25 November 2005, 13:37

Cool ideas / concepts. The screen shots posted look pretty nice. Can't wait for this to be finished (ovioulsy in your own time though)...

Keep up the excellent work sir

DaphydTheBard · 25 November 2005, 13:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeAdLy_cOoKiE

Very cool Daphyd. Always liked the graphics and weapons in this game.

Your galaxy generator and planetary system stuff is great too btw.

Looking forward to it, especially since it will be a PC game.

If you (or anyone else) are interested in doing more conversions, please consider Exile. Map/sprites/whatever is already ripped:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=10901

PM Sent.

DaphydTheBard · 25 November 2005, 16:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by DamienD

Cool ideas / concepts. The screen shots posted look pretty nice. Can't wait for this to be finished (ovioulsy in your own time though)...

Keep up the excellent work sir

Thanks.

I'm working on this whenever I get the chance at the moment, while the enthusiasm is still at 100%

22 November 2005, 16:40	#1
DaphydTheBard AGF [PC] Games Developer Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Birmingham, UK Age: 46 Posts: 58	Xenon III: GYGABLAST Hey All I've just started work on a Xenon 2 sequel, for the PC. I'm using most of the original graphics from Xenon II, with some minor tweaks such as colour changes, etc. Whilst I'm at this early stage of development, if anyone has any suggestions or ideas for things they'd like to see in a Xenon game, post them here, and I'll take them into consideration. Planned Features: All of the original weapons from Xenon II, plus some new ones. A level editor for you budding shmup fans A random level generator, for endless hours of fun. A 2 player mode, allowing both players to be on-screen simultaneously. Re-worked shop, allowing you to determine which slot weapons go in, ie. Nose, Tail, Left Wing 1/2, Right Wing 1/2. I'm going to include asteroids in the game as well, like in Xenon 2000. Post your ideas here!

25 November 2005, 11:42	#14
DaphydTheBard AGF [PC] Games Developer Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Birmingham, UK Age: 46 Posts: 58	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.

25 November 2005, 12:56	#17
DeAdLy_cOoKiE Registered User Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Netherlands Posts: 122	Very cool Daphyd. Always liked the graphics and weapons in this game. Your galaxy generator and planetary system stuff is great too btw. Looking forward to it, especially since it will be a PC game. If you (or anyone else) are interested in doing more conversions, please consider Exile. Map/sprites/whatever is already ripped: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=10901 Last edited by DeAdLy_cOoKiE; 25 November 2005 at 13:06.

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22 November 2005, 16:58	#2
DamienD Banned Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: London / Sydney Age: 47 Posts: 20,420	Hello DaphydTheBard, Been read your thread on your game engine in Visual Basic 6 and DirectX... Sounds really cool, wish I could program I like your ideas for Xenon III: GYGABLAST. I'll try to think of any cool additions for this nice project of yours. Will be watching this thread with anticipation.

22 November 2005, 17:35	#4
andreas Zone Friend Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Germany Age: 50 Posts: 5,857	Hopefully there will be no LEGAL problems. Bitmap Brothers are known to not be the most cooperative team on earth if it comes to (re)using their sprites, gfx ...

22 November 2005, 17:47	#5
kriz Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: No(R)Way Age: 41 Posts: 3,195	Great DaphydTheBard !! Remakes who manages to capture the feel of the old, and manages to bring in new elements are great!! Good to see you have real passion for this It would be fun/intersting if you posted regulary about this project...

22 November 2005, 22:06	#7
Coagulus Gets there in the end... Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Wales Posts: 863	Didn't the Bitmaps make Xenon 2000 for the PC though?

22 November 2005, 22:19	#8
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	ll as 2 player simultaneous how about 2 player with 1 ship? I player controls the ship and the other the weapons and firing etc.. The game could be changed enuff to make it harder etc! Just a thought!

23 November 2005, 09:45	#9
Dastardly Into the Wonderful Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: England Age: 49 Posts: 2,335	Good luck with this project. I hope the gfx are as good as the Xenon 2000 demo Any chance you could mention this project at our forum too? http://web628.silverline-s17.de/forum/index.php

23 November 2005, 15:00	#12
Marcuz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: . Age: 48 Posts: 5,562	i used to play Xenon 2 with my brother, i piloted the ship, he fired, as we had just one tac-2 joystick with no autofire. it was a great laugh. i second BippyM idea, then. best of luck with your project!

23 November 2005, 15:12	#13
DaphydTheBard AGF [PC] Games Developer Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Birmingham, UK Age: 46 Posts: 58	BippyM, Yes you're right, things do need to get finished The reason I've abandoned my last project for the time being at least is because I realised it was probably a bit too ambitious for now - and I'd probably spend six months working on it, discover I was no-where near finished, get, bored, and sentence it to gather dust on a CD-ROM somewhere behind my PC At least with this project, the coding will be relatively easy (shoot-em ups are piss-easy to write), I can complete it in a matter of months (maybe sooner) and it will be fun to play afterwards, too. As far as the whole issue with the Bitmap Brothers getting arsey about me using their sprites, I was actually intending to send it to them as a sort of job application when it's done! You have to have dreams...

25 November 2005, 12:12	#15
Marcuz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: . Age: 48 Posts: 5,562	i so badly want an amiga port of this

25 November 2005, 12:20	#16
DaphydTheBard AGF [PC] Games Developer Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Birmingham, UK Age: 46 Posts: 58	If I knew anything about development for the Amiga Machine then I would offer to port it once it's finished, but I don't. I assume you have a PC you will be able to run this on when it's done? Rest assured, you'll be amongst the first people to get a beta-copy of this when it's playeable. I'm planning on using mod-tracked remixes of music by Orbital for the game as well (all remixed by myself). Title Screen - Orbital - Chime In Game - Orbital - The Box Boss - Orbital - Gravity Drive Shop - Bomb the Bass - MegaBlast

25 November 2005, 13:37	#18
DamienD Banned Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: London / Sydney Age: 47 Posts: 20,420	Cool ideas / concepts. The screen shots posted look pretty nice. Can't wait for this to be finished (ovioulsy in your own time though)... Keep up the excellent work sir

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