AlarCity: Development Thread

[Tsak]

Greetings to everyone!

As some of you may know, we recently released the very first (and very early) playable, "Survival mode" demo of our new AGA game: AlarCity.

In this development thread we'll be posting news and updates about the work ahead of us. At the same time we hope to get some critical feedback from you: Good or bad, trully every opinion is welcome and will surely help us to create a much better game! So we'd largely appreciate all reports, things you liked, things you didn't, ideas, bugs, compatibility issues e.t.c.

In the upcoming weeks/months there will be continuous development and constant upgrading of the Survival mode which serves currently as a first basic entry and a gameplay example for other things to follow.

Finally, me and Earok would like to personally thank everyone for their continuous support! We surely hope we'll bring some extra quality to the Amiga gaming scene (which looks super promising and thriving those latest years)!

Q&A:

Q: So, is this gonna be the final game? Just a Survival mode?
A: No. We've got plans to create a level based "Story mode" also and we're considering other modes as well. But future will tell, depending on how the whole thing progresses.

Q: What is considered 'final' in current demo?
A: As I mentioned, it's just a starting point and we've got loads of work ahead of us! Hopefully the whole game will gain much more quality in nearly every department and as the development continues.

Q: How much time for the next update or the final release?
A: Generally we've progressed quite fast so far (it took us just less than a month for this first demo)! Nevertheless, we'd like to take our time and not rush anything beyond this point. So, we'll make any necessary announcements in due time once we're comfortable with our results.

Q: Any thoughts for a 2 player mode or multiplayer support?
A: We're currently reviewing our options regarding this matter.

Q: What are the specs needed?
A: The game is designed to play at full 50hz on any vanilla AGA machine.

Update: Pre-Orders Available! Help us fund this game and pre-order your copy now!
http://amiga.net.pl/index.php?kwt=4191&hss=1&lng=eng

Playable demo v0.2:
http://pixelglass.org/AlarCity

Gameplay video:
[ Show youtube player ]

A few new pics:

Another fun day at the park!


Getting cornered!


About to blast them to bits!


Get those delicious coins!


Upgrade time!


They're coming to you at greater numbers!

[Predseda]

You are being watched from now!

[LieutLaww]

Looks interesting, great job !

[Gzegzolka]

I wish You good luck with Your game demo was very fun and I would love to see more of it.

[Cobe]

When you already mentioned, two player mode would be really great.

[Tsak]

And so they move and die!

Here's a showcase for enemy move and death anims. You can see the middle sized enemy currently featured at the demo, as well as the small and large one that will be added next. Generally speaking I went for a very basic blob/ghost design for enemies as I found it quite fitting for the purposes of the demo. However I'm having thoughts of exploring some more original enemy designs as well. What do you think?

[Gzegzolka]

Cool, but will those big blobs won't stuck between trees and other obstacles? How do they navigate?

[Tsak]

They won't stuck.
It's in the way the level is designed, how collision with obstacles is managed and the enemy's AI which already includes avoiding obstacles. Have also in mind that the game has a slight perspective which allows us to make the base of the enemies (which interacts with the background) smaller than the actual height of the enemy

[Tigerskunk]

Looks very good...

Nice to see more Amiga games...

[Amigajay]

Looks great guys!
I see you have shadows on some objects but not others, the bushes have a small shadow, the trees need a bigger shadow to give the illusion of depth, they look a bit flat atm, but certainly i like the look of the game, keep up the good work!

[Gzegzolka]

Would it be possible to add random weather effects like rain, darkness, storm or snow? Or You do not plan that.

[Tsak]

@Amigajay: Very nice observation, thanx! I'm basically torn between adding those tree shadows (or not) cause it will then severely limit current ability to place trees in a variety of ground formations. But I will definitely consider this

@Gzegzolka: Well, that would be awesome! Some palette related stuff, like darkness or lightning effects e.t.c. we can do easily but I'm unsure if we could add an extra layer like snow or rain given the fact that there's not a huge amount of bandwidth left with current sprites and bobs. Still I wouldn't rule this out completely. I think Erik could surely spread some further light into this matter.

[Gzegzolka]

In that case those effects are not important, keep standard screen. Speed is stuff that matters

[Tsak]

Currently we've got enough bandwith left for double the amount of sprites (that is +8 if we implement multiplexing) and many, many more bobs without sacrificing an inch of speed! I just don't know if those left are enough to accommodate the extras we want to add plus a screen filled with an effect like rain. Anyway, if we indeed implement something like this be sure that in no way we'll do this in expense of performance!

[earok]

Just popping in mainly to say hi!

We're currently using all eight bitplanes as well as sprites so there's not currently anywhere we could slot rain and snow effects into. But as Tsak mentioned, lightning and darkness effects are certainly possible.

Regarding two player mode - is there anything specifically people would want? I think a full blown co-op mode would probably be too complicated (especially in regards to the shop, onscreen UI etc), but I figured some form of deathmatch or mode where Player 2 controls the onscreen enemies (ala Bruce Lee C64) would be possible.

[ExiE]

changing weapons doesnt look very intuitive and break the game fluency...

[Cobe]

Originally Posted by earok

Regarding two player mode - is there anything specifically people would want? I think a full blown co-op mode would probably be too complicated (especially in regards to the shop, onscreen UI etc), but I figured some form of deathmatch or mode where Player 2 controls the onscreen enemies (ala Bruce Lee C64) would be possible.

I thought of co-op but yes I didn't take in regard shop and UI. Deathmatch sounds fine. But if it's gonna took you too much time and derail you it's not necessary.

[Gzegzolka]

Co-op and deathmatch? Sounds great for me

[Selur]

Especially cooperative game would be great.

[Franchute13]

Hi.

Thank you for creating a new game for the Amiga.
Could write more information about what used to develop the game? Programming language, tools for creating images, utilities to create sounds, etc.


Thank you again.
I hope they have success with the game