My 1st SSS for this project. At this point I have a pretty rough idea of what eventual gameplay will be so I'm knocking out routines that I KNOW will be in the final game. NOTE: 60FPS game recorded at 30FPS (slight video stutter). At this point I'm using static graphics but trying to put as much life as I can into them with programmed motion. Once the graphics themselves become animated it should greatly enhance the effect.
I've always loved helicopters so this is a game I've wanted to play for a long time. Most flying games are variations of Defender. I want to stretch the concept by having you be responsible for a LOT more than simply flying left/right and firing (even though thats a FUN part of it). The buildings and your squad will be a HUGE tactical part of the game. Also didnt want the typical right-only gamefield so in CSquadX you can move across the entire field at any time. The playfield can also be a big as I want it to be. The game virtualizes the game field and never creates a surface larger than the game screen no matter that size of the play field. (the video ram savings are HUGE vs creating a game area sized surface)
Early versions used digital movement and reacted too precisely to the player. converting to an analog systems adds the drift that a floating chopper needs. When the chopper changes direction I flip the player so they'll know they're intended direction but still allow them to drift backwards for a bit. I'm still scaling graphics and the troops I'm gonna use are larger than those shown (not at those routines yet just making sure their level scrolls with everything else). I'm still in the grind phase of building my core toolkit routines. There are just the basics for the player field and player movement.
Using GameMaker:Studio and having a LOT of fun with it. For a old school guy like myself its a dream to have a engine that does so much of the heavy lifting for you. There are limitations but I havent run into any game breakers yet. I conservatively estimate a 30%-50% speed increase over pure hand coding. So far so good. Hopefully the game FPS maintains as I add enemy movement and AI.
Progress: ALL GRAPHICS ARE TEMPORARY PLACEHOLDERS -
* Added Infinite Scrolling Field
* 3 level Parallax + Earthquake effect
* X,Y (mouse) Explosions + Particles (can be placed anywhere)
* Create/Draw random sized buildings - (multi data layers)
* Keyboard and gamepad active* Basic mini-map, backwards movement
* 'Floaty' feel * Easily runs at 100's FPS atm. Optimized
* Base 1920x1080 scales on-the-fly to any screen size
* Auto-tilt chopper. (math based on speed)
Engine: GameMaker:Studio 1.4.1474
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