GRIKARUGUN *Insert coin(s) to continue*

[Gleeok]

Well, it's been a while since I posted a demo of anything, and this one is sure to not disappoint. Especially for those of you who thoroughly enjoy a challenge and/or getting your ass handed back to you on a silver plate, typical of Gleeok fashion. For the rest of you I have implemented a built in difficulty mode that you can access from the options menu in the title screen, more on this later. So, where to start...lets see...


***UPDATE 8-13-13***
* RELEASE BETA for 2.5: http://filesmelt.com/dl/GRIKARUGUN.qst
* All Levels are complete!
* All bosses are finished!
* Difficulty has been further tweaked. Enjoy!


Features:
* Full custom-ripped and re-drawn 8-bit tileset.
* Certified organic scripts from a massive script farm. (Guess the LOC count, win a prize!)
* Bullets, bullets, and more bullets! =p
* 5 Levels.
* 7 Custom Bosses.

Difficulty Setting:

Easy Mode For little girls. Better play with your my little pony dolls instead.
Normal Mode You should play for your first attempt.
Hard Mode - Cruel, Unrelenting, and Unforgiving Difficulty setting.
Insane Mode - Those sensitive to flashing lights and moving objects should not be playing this.

Bonus Waves and Powered-up enemies and bosses: The game can "sense" when you are kicking ass or racking up a huge score, and will send extra enemies and/or increase the power of some existing enemies to compensate. This is also useful for getting an even higher score..or unlocking Bonus Boss Attacks. Pow++.

Movement Type:

Z3 movement - Disabled]
Custom - Slightly improved control scheme for this genre, allows the ship to move somewhat faster and gives greater response with diagonal movement.

Ship Type:

Speed Type - Self explanatory. Use the R button to speed up.
Weapon Type - [Disabled]

Option Type:

Follow Type - Standard. (Currently Direction type)
Directional Type - Will follow the player.
Freeze Type - Hold L to lock options in place. (Similar to directional type)
Spacing Type - Use the L button to increase/decrease spacing.
Rotation Type - Use the L button to increase/decrease orbit radius.

The Controls:

A Button - Main laser cannon. (Variable damage based on enemy polarity)
B Button - Switch shield polarity.
Ex4 Button - Deflection Swords. (Heavy damage but short range. Will also deflect green projectiles)
R Button - Speed Up.
L Button - Switches main laser cannon to aft lasers or used for options.
L + A - Aft Lasers.
Ex3 Button - Homing Missiles. (Massive damage to enemies)-Uses energy.
Ex1 Button - Switch between fixed and floating shield types (note-floating options consume energy to fire)
Ex2 Button - Fires Mega Crusher Laser but uses ALL of your remaining energy reserve. <3


The Scoring System And Gameplay:

Each enemy has a specific color: Blue, Red, Green, or Colorless. *Bosses can utilize any or all colors, but themselves are usually colorless*
Blue, Red, and Green enemies can be chained together for a higher score.

Opposite color lasers and projectiles than their target deal double the damage. Use this to your advantage. EX: A blue laser will deal 1 damage to a blue target, whereas a red laser will deal 2 damage to a blue target.

Absorb shots! Projectiles of the same polarity (color) can be absorbed by your energy shield, (floating or fixed) and will increase your current stored energy. Green bullets cannot be absorbed by your shield, however you can deflect them by using the sword. Yellow and Grey bullets cannot be stopped.

Scoring System: Basically like Ikaruga. See that little number with the three dots in the upper-left hand corner of the screen? Yep, that's the one. Kill a blue enemy and it turns blue. Kill another one and you've made two. One more and congrats, you've just completed a chain! So now it should read "1" and be grayed in. Now kill three more enemies of a certain color and bam! Two-chain. I think you get the idea. Currently there is an on-screen display limit of 99 chains. Anything past that point will read "max". Maybe there are secrets that unlock if you get enough?

Suicide bullets Sometimes spamming laser shots is the worst thing you can do! Beware.


Dash some screen-shots for seasoning.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda027.jpghttp://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda031.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda032.jpghttp://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda035.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda047.jpghttp://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda011-4.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda035-1.pnghttp://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda038.png
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda043.pnghttp://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda005-5.png
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda015-1.pnghttp://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda010-4.png

And your quest link;

***Updated 2-14-10: DEMO2 - Level 1 and 2 - Unpassworded version. It's about freakin time! Uses build 1170 or higher. :)

GRIKARUGUN_lv2_demo (http://www.mediafire.com/file/vtygymjytn2/GRIKARUGUN.qst)

[C-Dawg]

Yeowza. THIS is why I thought it was wise to script and design out in the open, rather than in secret. This looks bad ass. Downloading now!

<<Plays, gets hammered by first boss>>

Haha holy shit. You really did get the bullet hell concept working on ZClassic! Are the bullets all draw primitives? So that you can control the hit box?

The problem now, of course, is that I have to revamp my own shmup levels because they're pretty tame in comparison to this stuff. Well done!


<<Waxed by boss again>>

I can't seem to get your special weapon combinations to work. Backwards shot works, nothing else.

[Russ]

This looks good. I'm obviously using easy mode, but this defiitely shows what ZC has come from. First, it could just clone Zelda 1. Now, we have arcade games with it. Simply amazing!

[Gleeok]

<<Plays, gets hammered by first boss>>

<<Waxed by boss again>>

I can't seem to get your special weapon combinations to work. Backwards shot works, nothing else.

Are you using a keyboard or controller? I did a run through of it before I posted it and I didn't notice anything not working correctly. (besides the stuff that only almost works correctly)

Damn, what settings do you have it on? I'll look into it, there's a small chance I overlooked something with weapon type, but it should be working correctly.

Also, OK, by now you've figured out that easy mode is just the same as normal but with more hit points basically. ;) So...yeah...I never got motivated to actually make easy mode substantially easier. I'm going to have to go through lots of code. XD Next demo, I promise. ;) I'd hate for you to not see the rest of it though. :( If you want the cheat code, I give it to you no problem. ...everyone else, tough luck :p


Also bonus points for anyone who can name all the games used in the title.

[Joe123]

Do I get the cheat code Gleeok? =P

This is just insane =P


EDIT:
Well, I managed to get to the second boss in the end anyway.

Pretty impressive I must say.

[C-Dawg]

I hate you, first boss.

These sort of madness SHUMPS are so pretty, and I'm so bad at them.

[Russ]

Dang it! I almost beat the first boss! Almost! Wow, I have to say, that was pretty impressive Gleeok.

[AgentLym]

Wow! What a game!

I got to the first boss! I beat the first boss! And I got to the 2nd boss! With only one and a half health bars left... on easy mode... DANG IT!

Can I have the password? I have no idea how Joe beat the 2nd boss, but I need some scripting help, inspiration, and techniques that could probably be found in your .z file! PM it to me, PLEASE! (Although I could just use the one from your previous game...)

Either way, I am just in awe of your scripting abilities, Gleeok!

[Gleeok]

OK, now this is why I needed to get a demo out at a still somewhat early stage in development. Thanks for the feedback guys, your comments are useful. :)

Some major revamping in regards to the game modes that are now very far reaching indeed, without losing any of the 'artsy' visuals, cool patterns, or compromising the structure in how the game plays.

The enemy death retaliation fire is now adjusted according to difficulty setting. (2 shots slow / 3 shots medium / 4 shots fast speed)
Medium, large enemies, and bosses now have a variable HP respectively. (The boss bar still shows a full bar, and drops by percentage of boss HP)
Likewise with some of the more diabolical enemy groupings and patterns, but perhaps more importantly , bullets. (they start shooting at you later on mind you :o )


Added 7 new enemy types and finishing up stage 1c...It's a doozy. I think what I'm gonna do is make it so you can continue at the last boss of the final stage in each level...which is like a whole level in itself. That way I don't really have to worry about people complaining that it's the most fucked up thing ever to have to start from the beginning of each level for the final bosses. ;)

I gotta post some of these enemy movement scripts too, and, anyway's...I'll try and update the demo with all the changes I've mentioned, and lv1 fully complete, as soon as possible.

[Joe123]

Can I have the password? I have no idea how Joe beat the 2nd boss

I didn't, I said I got to it, not beat it =P

[AgentLym]

Oh... my bad. Heh. Well, that makes me feel alot better!

[Gleeok]

Wow! What a game!

Can I have the password? I have no idea how Joe beat the 2nd boss, but I need some scripting help, inspiration, and techniques that could probably be found in your .z file! PM it to me, PLEASE! (Although I could just use the one from your previous game...)


I'll be posting pretty much everything I'm tinkering with sooner or later. You can find alot of what I'm doing in this thread. (http://www.armageddongames.net/forums/showthread.php?t=102677) Plus I'll release the tileset when it's complete also, so it should be easy enough to reverse engineer the game, with a little work that is. If you wan't to know anything specific just ask away, it's really not a big secret.

Oh, and I've got enough results out of the lab mice :P (for now), so the lv1 cheat is 'help'. They get progressively harder to figure out from there, not that you'll need them, seeing how every one of Link->Inputs is disabled anyway. Next version will be easier guys, I promise. ;)

EDIT: Why the heck can't anyone beat the second boss? Look at the pic of it on hard mode for pete's sake. It was originally supposed to be a miniboss. :p

[C-Dawg]

Can't beat it because I'm down to one third of my health after the first boss. Just can't last that long.

So far I enjoyed the first part of level 2 the best. The part where you had to quickly switch colors to evade the long solid beams of nastiness coming at you from both sides. Pretty, all around.

I'm guessing you did alot of ripping out of gradius, ikaruga (music anyway) and other deals though. Any custom work in there?

[jman2050]

This is certified win. I'm too much of a masochist to go any lower than hard though, so the first boss is killing me XD

[C-Dawg]

You get some credit too, Jman. As I recall, scripting was your idea. Now we've got at least three, maybe more master scripters out there pushing Zelda Classic far beyond what anyone thought it capable of.

The challange for you devs is going to be keeping ZClassic accessible. The tools are there for ZClassic to be a development engine that caters to ANY skill level. Just getting started? Really simple to make your own Legend of Zelda 1 clone game. More experienced? You can add custom graphics and start making your own Zelda 3 clone. Really motivated? You can use scripting to do whatever you want. ZClassic is really, as you say, "certified win" if we can get the initial stuff intuitive enough for entry level people to use.

[jman2050]

Unfortunately, accessibility and power don't typically go hand-in-hand. One aspect that seems to turn off newcomers is how cluttered the interface is, which is I'm I've been pushing so hard to make large mode the standard. Of course, game making is complicated no matter how you slice it. I mean, even if you ignore scripting altogether there's still a learning curve before you can understand how everything in ZC works :P

Also, DarkDragon is the one who implemented the current scripting interface (I designed the internal engine), so he deserves as much credit as I do.

[Gleeok]

Yeah, you developers deserve most of the credit, especially you jman2050, for this game at least. If you hadn't added the ZScript weapon functions I would have given up trying to make this....In fact I did throw in the towel a few months before said weapons were added. So, thank you sir. You are awesome.

And I'm sorta agreeing with you on the hard mode thing. The plus side is that I've gone through and meticulously redone any instance of enemy bullets, slightly decreased the hit box, and finally added in the hitboxs' offsets. So collision detection is way more precise..and sane. And for the fixed demo I've enabled saving, and made it so you start with a full life bar no matter what game mode.



Can't beat it because I'm down to one third of my health after the first boss. Just can't last that long.


Ahh, see that's the stuff I need to know! But you're supposed to start every level with full life....Is that not happening?

So when you guys are getting to the bosses, is it hard because it's just waaaay to hard, or because your life is low initially? ..I probably should of asked this stuff earlier. <_<



I'm guessing you did alot of ripping out of gradius, ikaruga (music anyway) and other deals though. Any custom work in there?

There's actually more than I care for...I'm not big with custom graphics. I basically just made the tiles 8-bit, then redrew/recolored each enemy 6 times for the different colors. Pretty much all or most the weapon spites and ship/shield stuff are the only thing that are original.


EDIT: Also, Is anyone else getting random crashing?

[C-Dawg]

I was mistaken. The player's health does start at max after each boss, it just goes down to zero almost immediately as I am hammered by unblockable enemy spray.

Got up to the second boss this time. I get the boss' concept - there is probably a pattern, a rythm to the sheild switches to get in synch with the spraying gunfire... but hell if I can keep up with it.

[Gleeok]

I get the boss' concept - there is probably a pattern, a rythm to the sheild switches to get in synch with the spraying gunfire... but hell if I can keep up with it.

When I test the bosses I make sure that there is plenty of strategic options open to the player. With that boss you can stick to the outside and knock down a few of the laser orbs, take out orbs of one color first (this makes it too easy), or concentrate your fire on any single point, to name a few. Consequently, as you can kind of guess, this demo was a bit rushed. I just really needed some feedback for it, so thank you guys for checking it out.


Also a *small* sort of status report. Cool stuff, I think you'll like it.

Basic Weapon Edit functions have been added. This currently includes many subtle changes, but a pain in the arse to add initially. Now when you switch shield modes you get a second option that will fire and absorb shots like the first. Also added four option types, choosable by the player, that include; Spacing type (Will spawn one on each side of the ship, press 'L' to increase or decrease the space between ship and option), Rotation type (Again, press L to adjust the radius), Freeze type (Hold L to lock them in place)..there's still some obscure bug with this one for some reason though... , And Direction type (currently just follows the player).

Also got rid of knockback completely. (Why there isn't a simple "no knockback" rule I have no idea...seems kind of strange, there should be one.)

Multiple ships- I'm pretty certain that sometime soon (very soon) I'm going to simply Get rid of Link completely and turn him into an ffc. This seems like the best thing to do. That way I can use different graphics at my discretion. Anyway, You can now select from two different ships with a slightly different weapons array.

Finished the last stage of level one, and the lv1 end boss known as the Patralike. :D Takes up the entire screen, has 22 orbiting bodies, the smaller 'eyes' are invulnerable and will block harmful fire and absorb homing lasers while protecting the inner eye, and did I mention they shoot solid beams? Also has three forms. Good luck with that...

I think I will add a mini boss right before the main one also, Something really easy where you probably wont even get hit once, but something really pretty to look at, like some cool touhou type patterns. I have about a 45 second space to fill.

Also re-organized all the screens in ZQ and some code to make it fit in with the extended soundtrack. :) (optional, but shouldn't be more than 100 MB)

Adding an "Insane" difficulty mode :p and adding loops at some point. When you beat the game you can replay it on a harder setting where all the levels are completely different! ...and harder.

Oh, and finished a "Level Clear" screen. Will show you how many enemies you killed in that level and your max chain. Later on it will have remain bonus, boss destruction bonus, and total score.

Maybe a few weeks for a demo.

[C-Dawg]

Multiple ships- I'm pretty certain that sometime soon (very soon) I'm going to simply Get rid of Link completely and turn him into an ffc. This seems like the best thing to do. That way I can use different graphics at my discretion. Anyway, You can now select from two different ships with a slightly different weapons array.


I know it's just another minor step, but somehow taking the game engine's automatic Link functions out of the equation seems like the final lynchpin between using ZeldaClassic and basically just programming your own game. Not much is left of the ZeldaClassic API after that except drawing functions on the screen and easy graphics processing, ya know?

And with what you've learned here, you could probably go out and make a C++ version of your game from scratch. Just need to learn a little bit about Windows programming and you're set.

[Gleeok]

I know it's just another minor step, but somehow taking the game engine's automatic Link functions out of the equation seems like the final lynchpin between using ZeldaClassic and basically just programming your own game. Not much is left of the ZeldaClassic API after that except drawing functions on the screen and easy graphics processing, ya know?

And with what you've learned here, you could probably go out and make a C++ version of your game from scratch. Just need to learn a little bit about Windows programming and you're set.

Well I've actually thought of that, but become adept at bending ZC and Zscript how you want and programming a game from scratch are two completely different things. I just simply don't know enough about programming to conceivably finish this as such a thing. Granted, having the ability to use and recycle objects rather than ffcs would be much less constraining, but look at all the awesome projects people have started on the web only to see an 'abandoned' or 'cancelled' tag next to it. Tons of them. I couldn't really hope to learn a new language and make a game out of it by myself with my spare time like I could with zc.

I've also decided against that, and am just making Link translucent. That way I can get the ship to 'roll' and whatnot.


You know, I could ask you the same thing. You're putting together an entire side-scroller and shmuper with a zelda clone, yes?

[bigjoe]

I,for one, think that using ZC to create projects outside of it's top-down adventure intent is awesome.

For one, you can draw from a community of Zelda Players, and for two, you can show people outside of the community what you're with doing your project, and attract them to the project, if not Zelda Classic in general.

As for the quest, it's really cool and shows off just how far we've come from the days when you couldn't even have animated combos.

[Petoe]

The challange for you devs is going to be keeping ZClassic accessible.

And bugfree? What happened to bugfree and stable? ZC is accessible and simple enough, but why the fuck no one cares about stability and bugfreenes anymore? No matter how many cool new features there are, ZC is pure shit as long as there isn't a full and stable release. Why the hell I'm the only ZC user (or ex user in this case) who cares about stability? Sigh.

Forgive me if I crossed a line with my comments.

EDIT - Now I'm not saying that eg scripting is bad, you could potentially make really great games with the good old overhead adventure stuff and have some space fights or cool sidescrolling parts in the game too, but it is just so infuriating that there's no stable ZC in sight and no one else seems to be worried about it. People are like this "woah, new cool feature! Who cares about bugs, this feature is a must have!!!" :(

[_L_]

Hey, I care about stability too!

[C-Dawg]

What are you talking about, Petoe? We're not talking about new features. We're talking about scripting. We make our own new features nowadays. The devs can focus entirely on stability. We quest-makers will take care of the feature creep.

[bigjoe]

And bugfree? What happened to bugfree and stable? ZC is accessible and simple enough, but why the fuck no one cares about stability and bugfreenes anymore? No matter how many cool new features there are, ZC is pure shit as long as there isn't a full and stable release. Why the hell I'm the only ZC user (or ex user in this case) who cares about stability? Sigh.

Forgive me if I crossed a line with my comments.

Go to shardstorm.com and check out the feature listings. You will notice a significant rise in bug fixes and a significant decline in feature additions. Now, there was at one point an agreement to make a feature freeze. There were a couple additions since then, but only ones that were considered necessary enough to be added in before the next public release. That way, once that release is made, they'll be in already, and we won't have to wait the usual 3-4 years pulling our hair out. While I was in support of the feature freeze, I'd say the decisions on which things got past it were wise. As well, very few (if any) bugs seemed to be produced as a DIRECT RESULT of those additions.

A lot of those additions do not affect the gameplay whatsoever.

Cases in point:

Integrity Checks/Quest Reports - They do nothing to the game whatsoever, and are used to pinpoint design flaws in quests.

Renaming of Stuff - Used to better convey the effect of rules/combos/etc. Again, no effect to gameplay whatsoever.

General Tidyfying - Not necessarily bug fixes, but effect the game in a positive way and do not produce bugs.
Example :


* Surprise! Link's sprite decorations are now drawn on Link when he scrolls between screens.

This means that if Link is on shallow water and walks to another screen, the water covers him for the duration of the scroll. If you were a quest developer for 2.5 and this issue wasn't addressed, wouldn't it kind of gnaw at you?

If anything, judging by the trends, it seems more and more like they are preparing for a release. So uh, have a bit more optimism.


What are you talking about, Petoe? We're not talking about new features. We're talking about scripting. We make our own new features nowadays. The devs can focus entirely on stability. We quest-makers will take care of the feature creep.

QFT.

It used to be Developers -> End User. The developers had to do all the work in creating productivity for the quest makers.

Now its more like Developers -> Scripters -> End User.

Developers add the core features and fix engine bugs. Scripters script the fancy wangimazzangs. The end user sits back and makes his quests from the many available resources.

Any script-related feature that makes it past the feature freeze is fine by me. That way the developers will have no more part in the designing of new items/enemies/etc, and therefore can turn their guns directly towards engine bugs and obliterate them.

With all of this out of the way and taken care of, 2.5 will be the magnum opus of all the developers work, rather than a shoddy "almost" like previous releases. And we definitely won't be bored waiting for 2.6, because we'll have an infinitude of things to do with 2.5.

Egh, forgive me for hijacking the thread, but I had to give Petoe some perspective on the issue.

[Petoe]

Sorry that I kind of took this thread off topic, but bigjoe, no matter what you say it doesn't make me feel any better. We've been waiting for "ZC 2.5" about 2 years and a stable ZC version for abour 4 years and there's still no sign of one. It is true that the developers do not own anything to the community and it has never been easy to be one because some people want features and others want stability. But still, so many mistakes have been made it's not even funny, why doesn't anyone take a look at the quote in my sig and think about how much sense it makes? I guess it makes too much sense. *shrugs*
Here:

GET a stable version, THEN add more with the builds, DON'T just keep adding bloat to something that doesn't work already.

Sorry that I'm such a whiny little bitch, but it just feels like I've wasted the last 6 years of my life on ZC. I've worked so hard for my quests and dreaming that they and ZC too will do well and be succesful some day, but instead people are losing interest and ZC is slowly dying. Oh well, maybe I'm just the only one who holds ZC dear and who wants to see ZC succeed. It really feels that way. :(

Even though I have lost all hope of there ever being a stable ZC ever again, I find it too hard to just give up on the program and walk away. I'd love to help some way, but scripting is out of my league and ZC testing is arranged so poorly that if I were to start testing again, I would have no idea where to start and what to look for. The devs just keep adding and changing things and they never clearly tell about these changes and they rarely care to explain this new stuff which makes it hard and frustrating to test ZC.

Now I promise I'll stop ruining this thread, the game looks awesome, Gleeok.

[C-Dawg]

I've worked so hard for my quests and dreaming that they and ZC too will do well and be succesful some day, but instead people are losing interest and ZC is slowly dying. Oh well, maybe I'm just the only one who holds ZC dear and who wants to see ZC succeed. It really feels that way. :(


http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/1/1f/Dramallama01.jpg

Seriously, what? You've been hanging around PureZC too much. ZC isn't "dying" or anything of the sort. Development on both the designer and programmer side is more brisk than I can remember.

[jman2050]

The current betas are pretty stable based on my usage and the bug reports given. Stable enough for release honestly, once some of those nagging loose ends are taken cared of (some of them a bit more difficult than you think to fix). Unfortunately, there may be a bugs and issues that simply COULD NOT be fixed without rewriting the whole thing, mostly because it's becoming clear that using Allegro and 8-bit color for this was a bad idea. Oh, and keep in mind that even if ZC itself is ready for release, we still need to get it prepared, updating all the documentation and crap. The only real major addition I still want is migrating the ZQ GUI to use large mode exclusively, but there might be too many problems with that. We'll see.

Anyway, too much drama, not enough discussion about this awesome quest.

[Gleeok]

I made a star wars crawl (http://www.starwarscrawl.com/?id=1278) about it. :P ..Unfortunately they don't tell you that it has to be under 650 characters, so I had to delete about two-thousand of them and now it's nowhere near as funny. :( ..Bastards.


Anyway, Petoe; There is exactly one zc bug in this quest currently. The rest are my fault. XD And no one else is even seeing it. (Random crashing on screen start..after the enemies are loaded though...might be Screen->Wavy..I dunno) Check out the next demo though Petoe, seriously c'mon. Back when in 2.10 time I'd mess around with zc, I'd always try and make whacked out bosses. Massively buggy and not really fun to even fight boss battles. It was like watching the screen have a seizure with poorly drawn combos making babies in there somewhere. Not only that but I'd make levels (rooms with floor and some blocks and water, thats pretty much it) as big as overworlds, with more enemies than anything you have ever seen...Nobody could even beat level 1... XD Well anyway, I remember playing MMDWR and thinking 'wow, those are much better. Ahahaaa... I may be late to the party, but nobody loves intense boss battles more than I do. Well now it's come full circle. Now maybe you can play this and get inspired in the same way, and maybe think to yourself "How the hell do you do that?!" in the same way other people have, myself included. ..Actually wait a couple of days though, I'm almost done with it.

And that reminds me! ...Two new bosses. A new crystal bonus boss, (accessible directly after the final boss of lv1...Yes _L_, I know, that wouldn't make it the "final" boss then, would it. :P) And a miniboss right before the boss....Did I mention I like bosses? :D Most advanced ones yet. Screenshots don't really work with this game too well though. <_< Best described through the words; "Pulsating, and Hypnotic"


Also, yeah I do agree that it is getting much more stable, I'm not really sure it's good enough for an immediate release though...


EDIT: Well, the ship's graphics are now displayed via ffc, (...I still might go Drawtiles here...we'll see..) and as such I'm going to add in the ability to select from one of multiple ships, each with a unique weapons system. So does anyone have any suggestions for ship design, laser pattern, attacks, movement??

[Petoe]

Yeah, I will eventually download this, that's for sure, I love ZC stuff that makes me go "how the hell did he do that". I might even get motivated to get back into zquesting again, and start testing the ZC betas as well, though I doubt I would be any use since it has been almost a year when I last touched ZC and I have no clue of all the changes and additions.
But yeah, I do appreciate and watch in awe all the stuff you and C-Dawg have been producing lately. *thumbs up*

C-Dawg, I haven't been hanging around PureZC too much at all, but it is true that I have wasted too much of my young life on ZC and that's why the state of ZC keeps worrying me and I keep panicing. ;) But we both have been members here for over 5 years and you cannot deny that this place was way more active in the "good old days". Nowadays all ZC forums are pretty dead and new quest releases are rare, oh well, whatever, no one else seems to care or notice. And even though all this scripting stuff is awesome, I still shake my head at the fact that instead of releasing a ZC 2.5 a few years ago the developers kept adding things to a thing that wasn't working even before all these new features. But yeah, those are old mistakes and I can see the devs are working quite hard now to fix bugs... but like always I keep wondering if ZC will get stable ever again.

[C-Dawg]

I still disagree. I bet we average about one quest release per month over here, with a good third of them being really quality quests. Now, its true the community only gets a Lost Isle quality gem every year or less, but it's always been that way.

And I always remember the ZC forums being sort of slow. I mean, whats the basis of comparison? Somethingawful.com, PennyAracade.com, TheStraightDope.com? Those forums move at lightning speed. Over here things have always been more relaxed, with threads updating once a day when they're really popular.

Not that it would hurt to get new members in the community. The more the merrier. But I don't think things are so bad.

[bobrocks95]

I made a star wars crawl (http://www.starwarscrawl.com/?id=1278) about it. :P

*Sprays milk all over computer causing me to electrocute myself*

hilarious.


On another note, why is it that when I click the download link it takes me to a page full of gibberish then crashes my internet browser?

[C-Dawg]

*Sprays milk all over computer causing me to electrocute myself*

hilarious.


On another note, why is it that when I click the download link it takes me to a page full of gibberish then crashes my internet browser?

Cuz Gleeok didn't zip his quest.

Just right click and "Save As."

[Din]

Wow, funny thing happened when I got it. When I played it, I lost on the first boss tons of times, thinking it was unrelenting. When I looked at the end of stage, however, it said, "Hard Clear!" My question: How do you change difficulties? I don't think there is a title screen on the new version.

[Elmensajero]

My question: How do you change difficulties? I don't think there is a title screen on the new version.

The new version didn't have a title screen? I downloaded it like three days ago and it worked for me. Are you using the correct beta? I am at work right now so I can't really check it out to see if it changed.

[Gleeok]

Wow, funny thing happened when I got it. When I played it, I lost on the first boss tons of times, thinking it was unrelenting. When I looked at the end of stage, however, it said, "Hard Clear!" My question: How do you change difficulties? I don't think there is a title screen on the new version.

Haha! You found an easter egg. ...Also see below.




Update - New Demo:

Level one now fully completed. (They'll still undergo minor changes and fine tuning, especially once I finish more large enemies.) This should be the last demo for level 1 also.

New stuff:

Basic functionality for Ship Select screen. Currently has four crafts. No limit has been set for the number to choose from in the future, but probably lots and lots. ;p

Option Select screen - Hold the R button to move around freely! (Note that freeze type is both buggy and annoying, and you won't be able to fire secondary lasers after selecting this....and certainly won't be fixed anytime soon, as it's turning the code into swiss cheese...fixing it will probably be the last thing I do.)

Score Screen - Currently shows enemies killed and max chain bonus. More stuff later on. If you're wondering; enemies x 1000, first 10 chains = 100,000 + 100,000 for every chain thereafter.

Fixed the save screen, which was actually a bug with quest rules and intended for all demo versions. Now, even if you suck something fierce at this game, with a few tries you should easily see all the bosses and such. The stages are fairly short too.

Hopefully *gulp* easy mode is implemented enough to where it shouldn't be too hard at all. *Note- If you want to see the "cool stuff", you have to play it on hard though. ...especially the last boss. XD

HITBOX! - This should be fully fixed now. The area of your ship that can get hit is TINY. The center to be exact. bullets should graze past the ships wings if not on a direct course. If the collision checking is behaving like zelda for some bullets, then It's a bug so let me know.

Hundreds of other things, most of which might not be noticed. Also the midi stuff might not quite match up with the levels in spots, as I am designing the game with an extended soundtrack in mind.

Also I am always listening to suggestions and feedback, for this is my beta testing group right here. ;)

Enjoy.


Some pics of the Patralike on hard mode:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda010-4.pnghttp://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda015-1.png

Original post always updated, but here's the link again: -GRIKARUGUN_b798_6-06-08.qst (http://fast.filespace.org/Tiamat_AD/GRIKARUGUN.qst) *USES BUILD 798*

[C-Dawg]

I love this game.

But once again, DAYMN, it's gonna make me go back and do a ton of work to get Zodiac's shooting levels up to par.

[jman2050]

Holy freaking CRAP @ The main Level 1 boss. You sadistic little

:O

[Gleeok]

I love this game.

But once again, DAYMN, it's gonna make me go back and do a ton of work to get Zodiac's shooting levels up to par.


Yes but keep in mind that I'm way past the point of making this into anything but a vertical methodical puzzle shooter. Or even doing simple things like switching to sideveiw, using standard item classes, or even using standard ZC solidity without re scripting the entire global script. I kinda think of it as a one-trick-pony at this point, but what a cool trick it is. :D




Holy freaking CRAP @ The main Level 1 boss. You sadistic little

:O

;)

Just restoring a sense of urgency and accomplishment to bosses is all. Well if Nintendo won't do it, someone has to.



Also anyone check out or make it to the second bonus Crystal boss?

And I'm shaping easy mode entirely on suggestions from people playing the demo, so did I get it right this time? Too hard still, or too easy?

Anyone good at vertical shooters and want to post a high score? :)

[Sam Atoms]

Umm..... I got curious and I'm trying to download your quest, but the link is redirecting to a page that is..... less than helpful.....

[bobrocks95]

Right Click -> Save As or Save Target. It's not zipped is the reason.

[Sam Atoms]

That isn't working for me. It ends up downloading an HTML document instead of the quest file.

[Gleeok]

Are you using IE? Usually when this happens to me I'll switch over to Firefox and that pretty much fixes everything. Try that, otherwise I'll upload a zipped folder for you.

[lucas92]

Yep, the download link doesn't works for me too.

[Gleeok]

Gotcha. Adding another link...

Mirror(zipped): http://rapidshare.com/files/121016453/GRIKARUGUN.zip.html


Also I think that some peoples problems with the original link is due what security settings you are currently running in IE. Simply setting it to medium should fix the problem. It is a direct link to the quest so you won't be redirected. _L_ links his NeoFirst quests in the same way.

First download link is much faster though if you want to try that again. Let me know if that was the case.

[lucas92]

Rapidshare is very stupid with his silly codes. I just cannot see the cats! Can you provide us a new link?

EDIT-Finally succeeded to download it. Awesome!

[C-Dawg]

Seriously, is the spinny boss supposed to be beatable? The one that shoots arcs of blue, red, and green sprays? It's absolutlely impossible :(

Oh, and if you save your progress and come back, it reverts to normal or hard mode even if you started on Easy.

[Gleeok]

Crap...It turns out I cheezed the firing delay for the outer rotating bodies. Yeah, It's a bug. Sorry. There was supposed to be greater spacing between the shots on easy. My bad. :(
...Maybe I'll make a video for it.

This is why I need one beta tester to run through the levels on easy.
Sign up for easy mode testing!
1)_____________________





Oh, and if you save your progress and come back, it reverts to normal or hard mode even if you started on Easy.

Gaaaaaahh!!! Are you serious?! If that isn't a zc bug then I don't know how to fix it. Make Duplicate levels for every Game setting??!! There's no way. Shitfuck.


EDIT:
int global_int;
ffc script t{void run(){global_int=77;}}

The value of 77 IS supposed to be saved permanently into global_int between saves, right?

[jman2050]

Gaaaaaahh!!! Are you serious?! If that isn't a zc bug then I don't know how to fix it. Make Duplicate levels for every Game setting??!! There's no way. Shitfuck.

Aren't you keeping track of the difficulty variable somehow? You can easily use a dummy item for that purpose.

[Gleeok]

Aren't you keeping track of the difficulty variable somehow? You can easily use a dummy item for that purpose.

Doesn't ZC allocate memory for storing changes to global data? Or was I grossly misinformed?

[jman2050]

Actually, I was in the middle of implementing a feature of that nature a while ago. I had forgotten about it until now :P

[Gleeok]

Yay! I did some more adjustments to easy mode. I really DO want this thing to be playable by anyone without any sort of modern tactical shmup experience. (Or god forbid someone using a keyboard to play this also >_<) Also another point to mention is that as the weapons get more and more completed, the easier it gets also.

In the meantime I threw together this video of the level 1 boss. Hope that helps. LV_1_Boss (http://s235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/?action=view&current=Grikarugun_LV1_Boss.flv)

[Sam Atoms]

Ok, now I've got my hand on it. It is remarkable that this sort of thing is possible with the ZC engine. Are there any power-ups that enemies drop? It would provide an extra element to fighting the waves of enemy ships that come down.

When I got to the boss at the end of the level, it was on normal mode, and I was still like "Yeah, no way this is going to happen".

[C-Dawg]

When I got to the boss at the end of the level, it was on normal mode, and I was still like "Yeah, no way this is going to happen".

You and me both.

But looking at Gleeok's video, it looks more like I just dont know how to use the weapons appropriately.

[Pineconn]

Gleeok, I think you don't know what the word "easy" means. :p

Very impressive demo. I wish I could have gotten farther, though...

[jman2050]

You and me both.

But looking at Gleeok's video, it looks more like I just dont know how to use the weapons appropriately.

Wait, so you *haven't* seen the thing on Hard?

hahahahahahahahahaha

[Gleeok]

:(


Sigh...Dammit, I had a feeling this might happen....All my stuff is way too hard for people.. :( ....hmmmm....Alright, there is a few things I can do. I was trying to avoid this but it looks like it can't be helped. Would some of you guys mind answering a quick survey? I would greatly appreciate it. I'll make it mostly yes/no answers if you don't want to elaborate any on them.




1- I know that you're not supposed to be able to kill every single on screen enemy and that's part of the strategic and puzzle element in the game.

2- I mash button A alot and make them all die!!..But when I fight the boss I am too low on life.

3- Anyone ever use the single shot? You can tap the A button once for a quick bullet useful for taking out clusters of enemies that come in packs of multiple colors.

4- The last boss of Level1 is WAAAY too friggin hard on ______ mode.

5- I die constantly on the first two bosses on _____ mode.

6- When I complete a stage I have about ____ life remaining.

7- This game would be better if:




Wait, so you *haven't* seen the thing on Hard?

hahahahahahahahahaha

Is this a bad time to mention that Insane Mode is almost functional. :D

[jman2050]

1- I know that you're not supposed to be able to kill every single on screen enemy and that's part of the strategic and puzzle element in the game.
Indeed, but sometimes attempting to increase my combo is too tempting :P

2- I mash button A alot and make them all die!!..But when I fight the boss I am too low on life.
Only if I know I can dodge their fire. And obviously, if I'm too low on life by the boss I did something wrong.

3- Anyone ever use the single shot? You can tap the A button once for a quick bullet useful for taking out clusters of enemies that come in packs of multiple colors.
Yah

4- The last boss of Level1 is WAAAY too friggin hard on Hard mode.
Extremely hard, but beatable. I almost got him a few times.

5- I die constantly on the first two bosses on Hard mode.
Not anymore. Homing missiles are your friend, and the second boss got easier once I realized you could destroy the laser shooters.

6- When I complete a stage I have about ____ life remaining.
Depends on how I did

7- This game would be better if:
Hard to judge the game as a whole with only 1 level, but the control scheme does seem kind of confusing. Guess that's partially my fault ;)

hmm

[bigjoe]

Wierd bug happened to me at random.

http://bigjoesquests.googlepages.com/grikbug.png

My blaster rays were turning into... the other ship?!!?

This hasn't happened the numerous other times I've played it, but it continued to happen until I created a new save.

1- I know that you're not supposed to be able to kill every single on screen enemy and that's part of the strategic and puzzle element in the game.
Yeah, but I try frantically to do it.

2- I mash button A alot and make them all die!!..But when I fight the boss I am too low on life.
Err, I can't seem to access some of the documented ship functions for some reason. So yeah. Although, I do occasionally switch shield/weapon colors.

3- Anyone ever use the single shot? You can tap the A button once for a quick bullet useful for taking out clusters of enemies that come in packs of multiple colors.
I haven't really tried this yes, thanks for the tip.

4- The last boss of Level1 is WAAAY too friggin hard on ______ mode.
Hard.

5- I die constantly on the first two bosses on _____ mode.
I don't really die CONSTANTLY. Just, you know, takes maybe another try after I get used to it's pattern. Now and then I goof up though.

6- When I complete a stage I have about ____ life remaining.
Dick (as in, very little)
7- This game would be better if:

I could get the rockets to work. :mad:

[Din]

1. Yes, but I try to increase my chain, especially when the entire group of enemies are only one color.

2. I just attack when tempted, so I don't get pummeled by a variety of death-bullets.

3. Nah, I just fire a stream of shots, usually using L + A, (or whatever it was,) to bring out my mini ships in rotation mode, if I have energy.

4. The first boss isn't a problem for me, even if it is on hard. I just focus on dodging the bullets that aren't my color, (start at blue for the win!)

5. On hard the second boss I died a few times, until I discovered the aiding turrets could be destroyed.

6. If it's not hard, I usually have a little over half, if it's on hard, I'm on my last bar of health.

7. This game would be better if any of the combinations besides backward shot and mini-ships could work.

[C-Dawg]

Hey, hard is not bad. Hard is good. A game should be hard. But a game should ramp up the difficulty gradually so the player gets into it before getting hammered. This quest actually ramps up evenly, but is short so it gets really hard really fast. I don't know where else you have to go after the stage 1 boss! :D

Plus, ideally, a game should be hard like Punch Out! or AoL. In both cases, once you "get" how the game works or memorize the attack patterns, it stops being super hard and becomes workable. I think you're on the right track with that here, but the weaponry might need to be a bit more intuitive.

EDIT - And another thing. Since my previous quests were criticized alot for being too hard, I decided to give the player more options. For instance, in Zodiac, if things are too challanging you can farm for money and stock up on Life Tanks or other consumables to make the going easier. This slows you down, but means more people can finish. (The final boss will still be nigh-impossible, of course).

You could do something similar here. Right now, the chain bonus doesn't seem to do anything for you. What if your energy refilled faster as your chain went up? Or your weapon got stronger / wavier / etc? Or maybe you earned additional options as it went up? That would let a skilled player use the level to build themselves up rather than just making them survive. Of coruse, if you did that, hitting an enemy not in the chain should only reduce, not eliminate, the chain score or the player would get reaaaallly frustrated...

[AgentLym]

Yo Gleeok! How's it coming?

(have yet to try the new demo...:P)

=====EDIT=====

Tried it, loved it.

[SpacemanDan]

Hey, hard is not bad. Hard is good. A game should be hard. But a game should ramp up the difficulty gradually so the player gets into it before getting hammered. This quest actually ramps up evenly, but is short so it gets really hard really fast. I don't know where else you have to go after the stage 1 boss! :D

Plus, ideally, a game should be hard like Punch Out! or AoL. In both cases, once you "get" how the game works or memorize the attack patterns, it stops being super hard and becomes workable.


I agree. That's a problem with today's games; alot are too easy. That's why I want to try this quest so bad. It looks like it'd be something challenging and fun, even if I want to rip my hair out at a few times. But, I can't because my internet security blocks the site... >_<

[Gleeok]

I agree. That's a problem with today's games; alot are too easy. That's why I want to try this quest so bad. It looks like it'd be something challenging and fun, even if I want to rip my hair out at a few times. But, I can't because my internet security blocks the site... >_<

There should be two working links for the demo; Filespace & Rapidshare, Does your internet block them both?..



As for a progress report, I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had much time to work on it. (Actually haven't even opened up zc in like two weeks.) Plus I admit that I've been having ADD, and goofing around with random projects, including writing some string based applications in C++ an C#, and playing some internet poker whenever I happen to be at my computer....Anyhoo..

Stuff completed and being worked on since the last demo include but not limited to:

Some Spriting
Pseudo-solidity functions for lv2 and 3
Some new bosses plus designs for future bosses
Level balancing
Bug fixing
New enemies
Insane mode added, yay! :D (Lets all join hands and challenge!);p
Random stuff

Currently plan on finishing up lv 2b and the bosses..Should be about 4 bosses in that one level alone, It's looking to be a doozy! This one level is proving to be quite time consuming, lots of complicated math too (for me at least), Plus I've still got to finish up the end boss. (If you recall his killing power is getting increased by 70. XD )

Over all, I have to say that this could end up being the most complicated design point in the game, plus I've run out of graphics and have to make some. It's time consuming creating everything from scratch too.. Anyway, no real time frame for a new demo just yet.

[SpacemanDan]

There should be two working links for the demo; Filespace & Rapidshare, Does your internet block them both?..

Apparently so... The only sure-fire method I've known of is through e-mail. for some reason, my internet will not allow me to download anything, but it let's me download attachments from e-mails.

[Legend789]

That's really bizarre Blaman, what browser do you use? It might be that; and in that case, might know of a way to fix that problem.

On-topic: This looks amazing Gleeok :D :thumbsup: I've seen a few of the screenshots before, but this looks like it will be a great game. I can't wait to try it too when I get my computer working = D

[SpacemanDan]

It's not my browser, actually, it's my internet security. It just doesn't let me download stuff. (It pretty much forbids me.)

Sorry for going off topic.

[C-Dawg]

Gleeok - How are you dealing with enemy spawns in Gika? Are you doing something like Zodiac, where all the FFCs are running a script that takes over enemy behavior when activated? I'm still getting some slowdown in Zodiac using that method in some areas.

[bobrocks95]

It's not my browser, actually, it's my internet security. It just doesn't let me download stuff. (It pretty much forbids me.)

Sorry for going off topic.

Did you try turning off your firewall?

[Gleeok]

Apparently so... The only sure-fire method I've known of is through e-mail. for some reason, my internet will not allow me to download anything, but it let's me download attachments from e-mails.

No prob. Sent you a copy.




Gleeok - How are you dealing with enemy spawns in Gika? Are you doing something like Zodiac, where all the FFCs are running a script that takes over enemy behavior when activated? I'm still getting some slowdown in Zodiac using that method in some areas.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. To be more specific, I'm using the built in ffc arrays for data reading, that is, ffc->Data; ffc/npc/weapon->CSet; ffc->[D]; weapon->Tile; etc.. Broken down as lists (sorta, but with basic else logic).
->CSet is used for weapon interaction and damage (even using 8-bit tiles)
->Data controls enemy behavior and so on.
Basicaly something like this:


script{
enemy1{
en_subset1{
en_color1{
dir1{}
dir2{} //etc
}
en_color2
}
en_subset2
} //etc

Then I have ffc#7 run the level generator script or the script that tries to kill you, which, funny bit of trivia here since I am not without a sense of irony, is the same ffc that is used as your shield. hehe.... ;)

Also; Since there is lots of repeated code, such as enemy death sequence, bullet firing, etc, these have been removed and organized as functions also to save space.

Really though, the proper way to do this is using Classes!

I ran straight into a brick wall with this one when I tried to convert them using arrays. Namely random bugs with arrays, so I wouldn't try using them for functions just yet, so I devised a workaround.

What I plan on doing is something like so:


int Class_Enemy1_Update(ffc this, int dir, int int1, int int2){

// code

int2 = Enemy1_GetBullet(int2);

return int2;
}


This should allow me to have hundreds of seperate enemy types in one script, plus let any other script have access to these as well! Still in the pre-implementation phase though, still not much time to work on it. I've been meaning to get more unpassworded versions out too, my bad. Pretty soon though.

[Legend789]

ZScript is beginning to look less and less like JavaScript, or even C++ :( There goes my dreams of ever making a ZQuest. Although, I'm hoping it's just a caprice of some sort. I'm still going to try :D

[C-Dawg]

Gleeok, you'll be happy to know that I've implemented some of your scripting functions into Zodaic and dramatically improved my SHUMP levels. Sometime next week I'll probably do a special update of Zodaic that just takes you through the SHMUP levels in order, awarding appropriate items in between, sort of like TGL mode in Guardian Legend. Then you can give me comments on how to improve the SHUMP stuff as I go back to work on the sideview levels.

For instance, I'm getting screen slowdown with only a few dozen bullets on the screen at once, it seems. That doesn't seem right.

[Gleeok]

Cool. ...and what!? Slowdown from only twenty or so bullets? I've got over two-hundred alot of the time... How are you doing the bullets; eweapons or enemies? That doesn't seem normal....mainly because I've got collision-checks between bullets and shield/both options, various ship weapons vs 25 npcs, and other abilities (like deflecter swords for example) that have to re-check enemy bullets every frame, not to mention other cool things in the upcoming demo.


Are you sure it's the bullets? Did you try overclocking various loops with lots of checks? ...what I mean is this; Take the code you think is giving you lag and replace the waitframe(); with : if(n%x==0)Waitframe(); If you don't really see a big difference, the problem is elsewhere.


The most annoying thing about making this quest is I had to redo alot of the checks and re- and pre-optimize. In the end though you'd be suprised at how easy the end result is!


For example, the one bit of code that is always running is this, where the first version of it was way slower because I was using and's and or's' instead of simple bools.



int ew_num = Screen->NumEWeapons();

if(polarity_shield){

if(white){

shield->CSet=0;
for(int e = ew_num; e>0; e--)
{
ew_sprite = Screen->LoadEWeapon(e);

if(ew_sprite->CSet==0){

esx = ew_sprite->X;
esy = ew_sprite->Y;

if(Abs(lx-esx)<18&&Abs(ly-esy)<18){

if(Link->MP<Link->MaxMP)Link->MP++;
ew_sprite->Y=200;
}
}
}
}
else if(black){

shield->CSet=1;
for(int e = ew_num; e>0; e--)
{
ew_sprite = Screen->LoadEWeapon(e);

if(ew_sprite->CSet==1){

esx = ew_sprite->X;
esy = ew_sprite->Y;

if(Abs(lx-esx)<18&&Abs(ly-esy)<18){

if(Link->MP<Link->MaxMP)Link->MP++;
ew_sprite->Y=200;
}
}
}
}
}
else{

if(white){

shield->CSet=0;
option->CSet=0;
for(int e = ew_num; e>0; e--)
{
ew_sprite = Screen->LoadEWeapon(e);

if(ew_sprite->CSet==0){

esx = ew_sprite->X;
esy = ew_sprite->Y;

if(Abs(shield->X-esx)<9&&Abs(shield->Y-esy)<9){

if(Link->MP<Link->MaxMP)Link->MP++;
ew_sprite->Y=200;
}
else if(Abs(option->X-esx)<9&&Abs(option->Y-esy)<9){

if(Link->MP<Link->MaxMP)Link->MP++;
ew_sprite->Y=200;
}
}
}
}
else if(black){

shield->CSet=1;
option->CSet=1;
for(int e = ew_num; e>0; e--)
{
ew_sprite = Screen->LoadEWeapon(e);

if(ew_sprite->CSet==1){

esx = ew_sprite->X;
esy = ew_sprite->Y;

if(Abs(shield->X-esx)<9&&Abs(shield->Y-esy)<9){

if(Link->MP<Link->MaxMP)Link->MP++;
ew_sprite->Y=200;
}
else if(Abs(option->X-esx)<9&&Abs(option->Y-esy)<9){

if(Link->MP<Link->MaxMP)Link->MP++;
ew_sprite->Y=200;
}
}
}
}
}


How are you doing the bullets?



ps - perhaps a possible Grikarugun Screensaver! Hahahaa, I was messing with bullet patterns trying to get 10,000 at once....XD

[C-Dawg]

I converted my bullets to eweapons. Now that I think about it, though, when there are dozens of bullets there are usually also dozens of FFCs zipping around using DrawTile and checking their behavior patterns at the same time.

[Gleeok]

Well I've resumed work on this, so perhaps we'll see a demo this week sometime. :)

Updated some of the older graphics, finished all the functions I need for lv2, added some weapons, so now I can work mainly on level and enemy design.


Some screenshots in case you missed them from other threads:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda042-1.png
Mega Crusher!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda035-1.png
This would be easier with rotation...

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda--lv2shot.png?t=1217042342
Block puzzles???

[Gleeok]

OMG its an update. WHOOOAAH YEAH.

New Demo has twice the bullets, twice the bosses, twice the frustration! Also the controls recieved a MUCH needed upgrade. Here's the scoop on those now:


A Button - Fire main laser cannon. (Variable damage)
B Button - Switch shield polarity.
Ex4 Button - Deflection Swords. (Heavy damage but short range. Will also deflect green projectiles)
R Button - Speed Up.
L Button - Switches main laser cannon to aft lasers or used for options.
L + A - Aft Lasers.
Ex3 Button - Homing Missiles. (Massive damage to enemies)-Uses energy.
Ex1 Button - Switch between fixed and floating shield types (note-floating options consume energy to fire)
Ex2 Button - Fires Mega Crusher Laser but uses ALL of your remaining energy reserve. <3 :p


http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda043.pnghttp://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/Tiamat_AD/zelda005-5.png

While the game is technically almost done now (one final level and boss to go!) there are lots of minor tweaking to be done. Be sure and let me know of any bugs or issues from the minor overhaul.

***Updated 2-14-10: DEMO2 - Level 1 and 2 - Unpassworded version. It's about freakin time! Uses build 1170 or higher. :)

GRIKARUGUN_lv2_demo (http://www.mediafire.com/file/vtygymjytn2/GRIKARUGUN.qst)


PS: I remembered how everyone thought the Patralike was too easy from before, so now it regenerates life when low on health. Have fun! :P

[SpykStorm]

I remember this from years ago. It's one of the most interesting quests ever made with Zscript. ;)


PS: I remembered how everyone thought the Patralike was too easy from before, so now it regenerates life when low on health. Have fun! :P

That should make things more interesting. :p

[Din]

I only have one comment:

:kawaii:

[Gleeok]

UPDATE: 2.5 Release open beta! I know I haven't worked on this much for *gulp* 5 years...but IT'S ALMOST DONE! Hooooooly shit.

* Full 5 Levels are playable now, with a complete set of 7 bosses! (If you're saying to yourself "only 7 bosses?" right now you likely have not played this yet.)
* All bugs fixed so this now runs on 2.5.
* Slight tweaks to difficulty and random things that people suggested.
* Hopefully EASY MODE is a little easier now, as you get a nice HP boost from before. Some levels were made easier also.
* NORMAL MODE also gets you a HP boost as well, so it's a good starting point.
* HARD MODE is still hard. :P


DOWNLOAD - http://filesmelt.com/dl/GRIKARUGUN.qst

Play! Shoot stuff! Die! Shoot more stuff! Report bugs or issues! Take a break! Repeat!

[SUCCESSOR]

O.O Why haven't I heard of this till now?!

[Zim]

Gradius, Ikarus, and Gunsmoke?

[Gleeok]

O.O Why haven't I heard of this till now?!
Probably because the game was broken after build 1000+ and I never really got around to fixing the blasted thing. But now ZC is stable so it's good to go. :)


Gradius, Ikarus, and Gunsmoke?
Gradius, Ikaruga, and Radiant Silvergun.


Remainiing issues are pretty much:
* Possibly reimplement a custom subscreen (I removed the old one) with health, energy, and some counters for score/hi score. I changed it from before, but now I'm not so sure I like it like that.
* Balancing easy/normal modes
* fixing bugs.

[Din]

I only have one comment:

:kawaii:

Good lord. It truly dates the development cycle when this atrocity is the last thing I wrote.

I've been away from the ZC scene for a while, but of course when I saw this, I had to get in on it.

It's still awesome and hard, and I realize how much I'd missed this thing (and yes, I'm rolling on easy mode. LAUGH AND POINT AS YOU WILL). The game really is a fantastic tribute to Ikaruga, though the hitbox is juuust large enough to be a bit of a nuisance compared to other bullet hell shooters such as Touhou or most Cave games. But, unlike other bullet hell shooters, you actually have a health bar, so that probably serves to even things out a bit.

Hope to see this eventually released!

[Gleeok]

Finished!

* Fixed the LV 4 bugs which forced the player off the screen forcing you to continue.
* Fixed Easy Mode revenge bullet bug.
* Normal Mode now has a much increased HP Max so it should be preferable over Easy Mode due to faster energy regeneration!

http://www.purezc.net/index.php?page=quests&id=429

TODO: Add to AGN database.

Ahh....Finally!!!



Good lord. It truly dates the development cycle when this atrocity is the last thing I wrote.

I've been away from the ZC scene for a while, but of course when I saw this, I had to get in on it.

It's still awesome and hard, and I realize how much I'd missed this thing (and yes, I'm rolling on easy mode. LAUGH AND POINT AS YOU WILL). The game really is a fantastic tribute to Ikaruga, though the hitbox is juuust large enough to be a bit of a nuisance compared to other bullet hell shooters such as Touhou or most Cave games. But, unlike other bullet hell shooters, you actually have a health bar, so that probably serves to even things out a bit.

Hope to see this eventually released!

Hey Din!

I'll have you know that I spend some time making Normal mode much easier, and smoothing out some stuff so it should be possible for someone besides me to actually beat now.
In the credits I just put "everyone that posted feedback", but you're in there somewhere.

For the bullets what I did was make the hitboxes tiny. When you fight the 2nd Crystal Boss you can really notice how small they are.