Compound Dwellers

by Calus CoRPS
An exciting shoot-em-up single player game that revolves around collecting elements!

GiaD Entry: Compound Dwellers

ID:119062
 
Sep 25 2011, 12:49 pm (Edited on Sep 25 2011, 2:26 pm)
I have participated in every Game in a Day event, yet every single one of my entries were left unfinished. This year I opted to go with a simple game idea, an idea that was actually possible for me to complete in the time limit.

I struggled with coming up with an idea though, so I asked my brother, who is a huge fan of Cave Dwellers for an idea. He promptly said: a game where you be a bean, the character from Cave Dwellers, flying around space while attempting to collect elements to make compounds. So I went with it.



I decided to use Forum_account's pixel movement library and it was horribly slow throughout the development process. But I eventually updated my BYOND client to the latest release and everything was fine, go figure. Unfortunately, I did not get to add all the sounds that I planned on adding nor the chemical reactions when you make the wrong compound. So I simply subtracted points from your score instead.

I have almost an hour and a half left, so I have decided to release this in hopes of people finding bugs for me to fix. I may add a few more compounds too. I hope you enjoy the game!

hub
Sep 25 2011, 1:18 pm
I would help if I wasn't working on my own game! (:
Sep 25 2011, 1:26 pm
Oasiscircle wrote:
I would help if I wasn't working on my own game! (:

I understand; I haven't been able to help much with testing either.
Sep 25 2011, 2:48 pm
It's beautiful.
Sep 25 2011, 2:52 pm
Masterdarwin88 wrote:
<It's beautiful.

Thanks!

I really wanted to add music and sound effects, it would make the atmosphere that much better. But I have ran out of time.
Sep 26 2011, 5:09 am
I forgot to mention, I was able to toss out an update right before my time ended. In this update, the points gained/lost will now appear on the center of the screen for one second. Unfortunately, I was too tired to add more compounds or sound effects.

I only got Masterdarwin's feedback, so I'll assume the game is bug free. Which is great!
Sep 26 2011, 5:59 am
Was there a reason you opted for FA's pixel movement library, instead of using BYOND's newly built in pixel movement?
Sep 26 2011, 7:05 am
Falacy wrote:
Was there a reason you opted for FA's pixel movement library, instead of using BYOND's newly built in pixel movement?

I worded my sentence wrong. I used Forum_account's pixel movement library, which uses the native BYOND pixel movement. I decided to do this since I did not want to be bothered spending my limited time with adding key_up/down, special collision, and so on. The library basically extends onto the BYOND pixel movement.

From the limited testing I've done, I think it turned out decently.
Sep 26 2011, 7:42 am
I see, didn't know he had updated it.
Sep 26 2011, 11:38 am
Falacy wrote:
I see, didn't know he had updated it.

So...are you coming back to Byond, once the Flash client is released?
Sep 26 2011, 1:38 pm
Falacy wrote:
I see, didn't know he had updated it.

I'm interested in what you thought of the game and how it ran for you.
Sep 26 2011, 2:20 pm
Ran fine. Gameplay reminds me a bit of Dot Shot =P. Had to look up the controls, and the help doesn't seem to mention that bumping into chemicals causes damage. Had trouble figuring out what to do for a while, maybe make it end each round as soon as the correct combo is hit? The intro screens and main menu are a nice touch. And the physics, or whatever you want to call them, on the ship controls are impressive.
Sep 26 2011, 5:03 pm
Falacy wrote:
Ran fine. Gameplay reminds me a bit of Dot Shot =P.

I just finished playing Dot Shot. Such a simple game, yet it is so much fun, nice job! I can also see the resemblance.


Had to look up the controls, and the help doesn't seem to mention that bumping into chemicals causes damage.

Dang. I figured I was going to miss something important. Thanks for the heads up though, I will fix it soon.


Had trouble figuring out what to do for a while, maybe make it end each round as soon as the correct combo is hit?

The only reason why I did not do that is due to my original plan of having a physical reaction when you created an unwanted compound. Therefore, if it asked you to create CO2, and you shot O2 and was going for the Carbon, it would check and declare that you mistakenly made Oxygen, punish you, and then move on.

But as I am typing this, I thought of a simply fix. The system would check what compounds you have shot each time an element has been shot. If it creates the requested compound, end the round and move on. Else, continue with the countdown timer. If time runs out, your final compound will be checked.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely add that.


The intro screens and main menu are a nice touch. And the physics, or whatever you want to call them, on the ship controls are impressive.

Thanks!
Sep 27 2011, 6:13 am
It reminds me of Math Blaster for some reason.