Particle Engine and Alpha

The game is now closing in on Alpha. All the basic engine stuff is done, except for sound which I will be getting to very soon.

Here’s a short demo of the particle engine I implemented yesterday: Particle Engine Demo

I used the outline presented in this article, adding classes and functionality as needed and then used blitting to render the particles. Even without optimization the performance is satisfactory, but depending on how many particles the game will need I might have to go over the code again and add a little magic dust here and there.

Prototype updated

Prototype 0.4 is up.

The balance should be better, it’s actually possible to beat wave 7 now! There are some small graphical improvements, but this version is not using CopyPixel yet.

You can try the new version here.

I also set up a super-short survey (less than 10 seconds if you’re quick), if you would like to give some feedback.

CopyPixel FTW

So I’ve been working on the rendering code the last couple of days and I’m now considering switching over to blitting for everything.

The main problem with the flash vector renderer is that it has performance issues when displaying a large number of objects at the same time, a problem that simply doesn’t exist when using blitting (see this awesome example). Another problem is that it has trouble with the 2d free-scrolling background, making it move in jumps at times which gives the impression that the game isn’t running smoothly. Perhaps I will be able to fix this with blitting by applying a slight motion blur effect to the background.

Update wise, I will be upping a new version soon with better balance and couple other smaller changes. I think most people haven’t even seen all the enemy types yet, because waves 5 and 6 are way too hard. I will also set up a survey so people can give me their take on the prototype and make suggestions.

Until then you can still play the original prototype here.

Prototype updated

Just uploaded Prototype 0.3:

High scores now work the first time you launch the game and I made the pointers scale proportionally to the distance to it’s target.

Link is the same as before: play!

NoNameShooter Prototype launched!

I just finished the prototype of NoNameShooter after two gruelling 16-hour days.

There still seem to be some problems with occasional slow downs and balancing hasn’t gotten enough attention yet, but besides that I’m quite happy with the results.

You can try it yourself —> here!

Let me know what you think!