Spectrum Chase

[Strife]

Spectrum Chase, formerly known as Time Heroes, is an action platform series that I'm current developing with MMF2. The games follow the various adventures of the Spectrum Chasers, a group of peacekeepers and explorers from the planet Eco. Their advanced technology allows them to harness the power of a substance known as "stardust" and use it to protect their homeworld from the various evulz that threaten it. Y'know, standard science fiction dealies.

So far, I've only made Christmas Time Heroes, but I'd love to keep going and make another (slightly more serious) game at some point. I'll put all of the general game stuff in a spoiler tag to save space.

Christmas Time Heroes

This is a holiday-themed version of what the first official game might be like. I created it for a Christmas competition for game development. You can download it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/1qiscqpz6d2svsa/THxmas_v098.zip

Video of version 0.92: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4ljeDCIc_Q

Screenshots:

I've gotten a lot of really useful feedback on the gameplay, both from you guys at SFGHQ and from outside the forum. I'll see what I can do about organizing it a little bit so that I know what works and what could be changed to make the engine more enjoyable.

Here's what I figure so far...

Good Points:

+ Good graphics and smooth animations

+ Good presentation

+ Customizable controls

+ Decent variety of powerups and weapons, which encourages experimentation to see what works best against different types of enemies

+ Efficient use of space in the levels by diving them into multiple missions (Mario 64/Banjo Kazooie feel)

Bad Points:

- Enemies have cheap attacks that are executed with very little warning

- Cheap enemy placement

- Physics can be a bit awkward when using level gimmicks (springs, etc)

- No mercy invincibility means that it's possible to get attacked repeatedly without being able to retaliate

- Health system is vague

One of the first things I've been considering adjusting is the health system. At the moment, a heart symbol appears over the player's head if their health dips below 50%. Pressing the Heal button (Q by default) automatically drains some of the player's stardust in exchange for health. This enables players to restore their health completely if they are patient enough to wait for their stardust to refill a few times. To balance this out, enemy attacks cause high damage, and there is no "mercy invincibility," which means that players need to stay out of crowded spaces or else they risk getting combo'd to death.

I'm definitely thinking I should place a health indicator somewhere on the HUD, since there's currently no way to tell exactly how much you have unless you try to heal yourself. xD

[Vexus]

Now that this game has its own topic I can say how much I really enjoy this game... alot. I will wait eagerly for the next release.

I spent a couple of hours on Christmas Time Heroes and I can really see the effort put toward making this look as good as it plays, and it plays really well. You've made a good use of level space and the movement and shooting work well together. The second boss though? So much health...

I agree that a more permanent health indicator for the player would help (me at least). Maybe the bosses should also have one, or an indication that they've gone critical (I don't think there is, though I might have missed something). The health system is fine otherwise.

[Strife]

Thanks PSB!

I find that I can take out the second boss in around 3 minutes with Violet if I hit him with a charged Lightning shot every time he comes down. Indigo's fire weapon in the latest version also works really well against the first two bosses, especially if you can dash into them while shooting at the same time.

Depending on what kind of graphic I use for the player's health bar, I could give bosses an identical bar on the opposite side of the screen when they appear, or I could give them their own version of the heart symbol.

[squallff8]

whatced YouTube gameplay....O_o

Wow!All those graphics and animation...megaman conception and Nights atmosphere!Cute'n'Awesome!

Well done,Strife!keep going!

[ECLIPSc70]

YES! I was waiting for this Strife...Not to sound like a stalker or anything haha but this game looks awesome and it's a big inspiration for me and my game. Keep it up and I cant wait to see more.

[FanGameRevolver]

Funny I started playing as indigo, and I cant seem to get past the second boss, its just really difficult to hit him for a lot of damage, especially since many of his weapons have limited range. I had generally less trouble on that boss with violet+fire. The first boss was just the opposite though. Really hard time on him with violet, no trouble at all with indigo.

Those last two missions are just diabolical btw :3 Still fun despite the insane challenges.

[Strife]

squallff8 - Thanks! Christmas Nights was actually a pretty big inspiration for some of the levels. I even borrow Ode To Christmas Joy as the BGM for Sleighbell City. xD I'd like to be able to compose some original songs to replace the ones I didn't make, though.

Eclipsc - Ooh, really? You mean Sonic: King of the Ring? In any case, thankies.

FGR - Hmm... That's definitely something for me to consider. Since Indigo can't charge up his weapon like Violet, he has to settle with scratch damage against fast-moving bosses like General Rudolph.

Have you tried running towards him, jumping over his fist as he punches and dashing straight through him? Indigo deals continuous damage to enemies he's overlapping while dashing, and since bosses are generally massive in size, it's easy to rack up some decent damage this way.

Otherwise, I'd probably recommend the Soul (pink) element, because it's got the same range as his Lightning element, but you can also summon a clone by pressing Up+Jump to help you deal extra damage. (Which reminds me - I've been wondering if I should change how that works because I only mention how to use it in the text file. Maybe I can make the clone permanently appear beside him instead?)

Edit: I've been trying to tack a health bar onto the stardust meter, but I can't figure out what looks balanced. Keeping in mind that it will appear on the bottom-left side of the screen, which of these looks the best?

The top one is the old meter.

[GSF]

Since the HUD will be at the lower left corner, I think the smaller meter should be above the bigger one. So... #3, but center it a bit more. (there's too much blank space below the bar.)

[LarkSS]

I still need to take some time to try the updated demo. ^-^ In the meantime, maybe this edit I did to the second health bar could work too?

[Vexus]

I prefer the 3rd one, it just sits with me better.

[Strife]

Ooh, thanks for the idea Lark.

Three more choices:

The top one puts more focus on the health bar, while the middle one puts more focus on the stardust meter. The bottom one is just where I make the health bar completely independent from the stardust meter. I could change its location if needed, or make it vertical instead of horizontal.

Heck, I could even make it so that when the player takes damage, the size of the health bar slightly decreases, and collecting heart powerups would increase it (much in the same manner that the stardust meter grows).

[Strife]

Because it's Friday. :3

[P3DR0]

Because it's Friday. :3

And now I love friday even more!

[Kessler12]

I wonder how it would look vertical? epic pic btw.

[Strife]

Thanks guys.

As for what the healthbar would look like vertical, I'd say something like this:

It's not too bad, but... I don't really like how it brings more focus to the left side of the screen. I would prefer to keep the HUD information confined to the bottom edge of the screen so that the viewing area feels more open-ended.

Maybe something like this?

[Vexus]

I actually really like that new bar design. I think you could have the health/stardust bar at bottom center and the timer just above that, then have the mission icon on the bottom left (because, as you said, the stardust bar will grow faster). That should keep things close together and unobtrusive.

PS: Awesome artwork, hopefully an Indigo counterpart is on the way.

[Strife]

It's definitely something to think about. In the meantime, since there's no way for the health bar to increase in Christmas TH, I've decided to go with the horizontal layout in the second screenshot of my last post.

Also, I totally want to make similar artwork for Indigo at some point, yes. =D

Anyway, new version up:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/1qiscqpz6d2svsa/THxmas_v098.zip

Here's the lowdown on what's new:

- Added a health meter to the HUD.

- Both characters' jumping animations have been improved.

- Lowered the damage of Violet's Fire weapon slightly.

- Fixed Lord Sled so that he flashes when hit. His bubble mines also rotate correctly now.

- Add a new explosion graphic.

- Changed the "enemy hit" and "small explosion" sounds.

- Moved one of the portal rings in Holiday Hill Act 3. As Violet, it required an air kick to reach in previous versions, but now it doesn't.

I've also eliminated some of the MMF2 extensions I used in the game, meaning that once I get the SWF exporter, I can export the game to Flash. I can't afford the exporter at the moment, but here's hoping. xD

[FanGameRevolver]

anyone up for some score competition?

Completed this run ending with 44,252 points, took about 40 minutes (every level completed in under 7minutes) on the newer build using Violet +fire, only one death on 3-1.

Proof:

This felt really easy on this second Violet run, really short and underwhelming

I think what im trying to say is the replay value is pretty lacking.

[Strife]

44k isn't bad at all. =D

Actually, that reminds me: The way I have the Christmas bells setup is that you'll earn more Spirit from them if you collect lots of them in a row. I wanted to have some sort of on-screen display that indicated this, but I couldn't think of anything satisfying. xD; In any case, collecting strings of bells as quickly as possible is a good way to rack up your score.

On a different note, does anyone have good recording software and/or a fast computer? I've been meaning to record some decent footage of the game for my YouTube account, but my attempts so far have resulted in a really choppy framerate. I have CamStudio, but my laptop isn't very good at recording stuff unless it's at a small resolution.

[FanGameRevolver]

I noticed that in the way the bells chimed, its just tricky to combo some of them. Nice to have it confirmed though.

Also I can record, I just wont get any sound, suppose I could narrate over it instead or something though.

I use camstudio and set the quality pretty low, which doesn't seem to affect this game much slightly more grainy looking but that's about it.

Also I set the default FPS on my copy to 30FPS, which provides consistency.

[Djawed]

I love this fangame, that's all.

[Perfect Chaos Zero]

I love this fangame, that's all.

I don't think it even counts as a "fan" game. Since it's his own creation, it's just a game, which makes it even more awesome =O

[Strife]

I guess in a way, you could consider it a fangame of action games in general. ^_~ In any case, thank you.

FGR - Ah, okay, that would make sense I think. I'll try playing around with the settings some more and see if I can get a better framerate, since I seem to be able to record sound just fine. ^^

[LarkSS]

Finally got around to playing the new version. Right now I'm at mission 2 of the second area with Violet and only just starting out with Indigo. The controller issues were fixed which as a result made the game exceedingly easier. Seeing my health also helps me to strategize my actions better, though I still admittedly get my butt kicked around sometimes. ;> In any case, the animation work is great and the levels are pretty creative. I agree that the enemy placement can be a bit unforgiving at times, but overall I'm having a lot of fun.

Some comments regarding build 0.98:

During one of the "You don't have enough spirit." prompts, pressing Escape did not allow me to skip the message. This may or may not involve all of these prompts, but if not, it was for the gateway to the first area's third mission.

Is Indigo supposed to be able to fire both of his blasters off at once? On the keyboard I can do this by pressing left and right simultaneously. With the controller, I only have to flick left and right and then I'll be able to run, jump, and dash around with both blasters firing. This does not work while on ladders, which makes sense since one hand has to hold on, so I'm guessing this was purposeful. If it was on purpose though, I found that there are times when one of the held-out blasters do not fire. This is prevalent if you stop firing and then fire once more before your hands drop down.

Have you considered having the background in the title screen slowing to a gradual scroll rather than a stop? It'll make it feel less frozen when the protagonists finish their dance. :3

I think I would be more tolerant of the enemy respawning if they weren't allowed to reappear while doing so would allow you to see them returning. In other words, they should not be allowed to respawn if you're near their respawn zone.

I thought for sure there was one more thing, but 10 minutes later I just can't remember what it was...

[Strife]

Thanks Lark! It's good to the know that the changes so far have made a positive difference.

It would seem that I forgot ESC functionality for the "Not Enough Spirit" prompts. As for Indigo's dual blasters, it's definitely an intentional feature, but I wasn't sure how to explain it to the player.

What I'd be interested to know, actually, is if the dual-blasting is practical enough to remain one of his abilities. From my personal experience, I find that it doesn't really make a difference unless you're surrounded on both sides by stationary enemies, or if you overlap the center of a huge enemy such as a boss. xD;

As for respawning, I think I'd have to agree about changing it, especially since the game doesn't have a proper method of pausing, so standing in one place and going AFK can have deadly results. xD I've got the Rednose soldiers set to respawn after a given period of time in some levels, but only if they're offscreen, so perhaps I could just translate this to every other enemy as well.