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View Full Version : Aero Flux - Vertical Bullet Hell Shooter



dislekcia
04-06-2010, 08:44 PM
Thread started for Pieterator!

P.S. I love SHMUPS :)

pieterator
04-06-2010, 08:53 PM
Hi guys,

Alright! Beta phase commence!

I have just gotten to the Beta stage of writing my bullet hell shooter, Aero Flux. This has been an on and off project of mine for many years now. The game was created using Game Maker 8.1. Each sprite was loving rendered in Photoshop, and the sounds edited in Audacity.

You will notice that the game draws heavily on Dodonpachi, which is one of my favourite shmups.

Here's a couple of screen shots from the game.

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/216/8/2/aero_flux___character_select_by_pieterator-d43l5r7.png
Link (http://pieterator.deviantart.com/art/Aero-Flux-Character-Select-247890787?q=gallery%3Apieterator%2F1017374&qo=2)

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/245/d/8/aero_flux___beta_screenshot_01_by_pieterator-d48n0su.png
Link (http://pieterator.deviantart.com/art/Aero-Flux-Beta-Screenshot-01-256375758?q=gallery%3Apieterator%2F1017374&qo=1)

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/247/c/7/aero_flux___beta_screenshot_02_by_pieterator-d48u1u3.png
Link (http://pieterator.deviantart.com/art/Aero-Flux-Beta-Screenshot-02-256703691)

And here's the link to Aero Flux - Beta V1.5.
http://www.mediafire.com/?80zotjp6naon4o6

Any feedback and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks guys,
Pieter.

Gameplay mechanics

Tapping the fire button makes you move at normal speed, holding it down makes you move at halve speed.
Destroying enemies fills up your experience bar (Red), which increases your firepower.
Destroying enemies increases your multiplier, which increases the rate at which you score points.
Dodging or Grazing enemy bullets fills up your bomb bar (Blue), which when full, adds one bomb to your bomb stock.
If you get hit by an enemy bullet, and have bombs in stock, the bomb save will activate. This will clear the whole stage of enemy bullets for about two seconds, but will not damage the enemies.
There are 8 bonus enemies per stage (Big orange orbs) that double their score each time one is killed i.e. 500, 1000, 2000 -> 64000. They account for a quarter of your score, so don't miss them.
Destroying all enemies in a certain group (Hinted at by "+" signs appearing when enemy is destroyed) will give a bonus.
Destroying the bigger enemies at point blank range releases bonus stars.
Game features


You can choose a different costume colour for your character at the select screen by pressing up or down before you select them.
Alpha Werewolf made a video review of the Alpha version of the game. If you would like to have a look at the game before downloading it, go here (http://www.youtube.com/user/Y1AWSTKMVCP#p/a/u/1/SoR3fCoF7Bo) to check out a no miss, no bomb playthrough of the Alpha.

dislekcia
04-06-2010, 10:28 PM
Wow.

Seriously, wow! Most people who try to make a shmup in GM just don't seem to get it. You very clearly do! That was fun :)

Feedback time:

Yup, can see the Dodonpachi influence, not a bad thing!
Really like the player's shot patterns, they're well implemented and look good. Sound on them is spot on too.
Enemy fire patterns are sweeeeeet! Things that need to be dodged are easily visible and you've got some cool movements going on. Very nicely done - You looked at any Kenta Cho/BulletML stuff?
The actual hitbox is a little non-obvious. Could you make that part of the player's ship glow or something to accentuate it?
The 2nd boss died pretty much instantly, I didn't even get to see what it was going to do :(
Grazing doesn't have an effect, so I can't tell when I'm close enough.
Is there any way to change the controls? I really want to use the arrow keys + zxc, that's what I'm used to.


Sweet game, really looking forward to what you do with it. The profusion of mechanics is really cool, you clearly get what shmups are about.

Cyberninja
05-06-2010, 09:25 AM
Dude.

This game is absolutely amazing. I love it. Cool graphics, cool music and awesome gameplay. It reminds me so much of Raiden in terms of it's gameplay and polish. The enemy fire pattern for the 2nd Boss was just brilliant. It was almost artistry in itself. Any chances of adding different weapons to the game? Next to Raiden, this is my favorite SHMUP on PC, seriously. I can't wait for the next release. :P

I came across this error when I tried to continue:


_______________________________
ERROR in
action number 1
of Alarm Event for alarm 0
for object flying_frigate_bridge:

Error in code at line 3:
player_direction =
point_direction(x,y,target1.x,target1.y);

at position 53: Unknown variable x

When I clicked on "ignore" the game resumed normally.

xyber
05-06-2010, 11:00 AM
that looks awesome :D

SkinkLizzard
05-06-2010, 11:22 AM
this is flippen awesome
I'm looking forward to the rest of it :)

pieterator
07-06-2010, 07:09 AM
Hi guys, thanks for all the positive feedback!




Enemy fire patterns are sweeeeeet! Things that need to be dodged are easily visible and you've got some cool movements going on. Very nicely done - You looked at any Kenta Cho/BulletML stuff?


No I haven't, but I will check it out.




The actual hitbox is a little non-obvious. Could you make that part of the player's ship glow or something to accentuate it?
Grazing doesn't have an effect, so I can't tell when I'm close enough.


This will definitely be in the next update, as well as an indication of where the grazing area starts. Also some sort of visual cue for when you gain a bomb. The cockpit of your fighter is the hitbox by the way. If you hold down fire you will see a brief flash over the cockpit indicating where it is.




The 2nd boss died pretty much instantly, I didn't even get to see what it was going to do :(


Sorry about that, it still had its debug hit point. Fixed and re-uploaded the Alpha.




Is there any way to change the controls? I really want to use the arrow keys + zxc, that's what I'm used to.


This is the very next feature that will be going into the game, so by the next update you will definitely be able to setup your own keys.



Any chances of adding different weapons to the game?

There is another character in the works (a Ninja coincidentally :) But since you're a Raiden fan, I'm guessing you want a pickup that changes your weapon type. Unfortunately, this goes against the the two core philosophies of my game:

1.) Shoot everything that moves (then everything that doesn't)
2.) Dodge the incoming bullets.

I intentionally reduced the game down to these two concepts to try and get to the core of what makes these games fun. Even flying into airborne enemies will not cause you to lose a life, bosses being the exception.

But, you have planted a seed of creativity, and I am already thinking of incorporating a character that can use all the bullet types (Once the Ninja's done of course). Thanks for the inspiration.



I came across this error when I tried to continue:

Thank you very much for reporting this error, when I read it, I knew exactly where to go to fix it.

To everyone else, thanks again for all the feedback. I hope to wow you even more with the next update.

Alpha Werewolf
21-06-2010, 07:14 PM
Ah, shmups. My favorite short games (and probably the only games I'm really good at).
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/9721/aeroflux.png
Bullet Hell difficulty, no bombs, no deaths. Strangely, I almost always seem to get higher scores with Asuna (has to do with her focused shots fitting my playstyle more, I guess), but Satsuki's hot and Asuna isn't so nyah.

More feedback in a video LP I'm planning to make soon.

pieterator
22-06-2010, 07:17 PM
Bullet Hell difficulty, no bombs, no deaths. Strangely, I almost always seem to get higher scores with Asuna (has to do with her focused shots fitting my playstyle more, I guess),
Wow, 5 542 450, no miss, no bomb. That's a seriously high score. I'm seriously thinking about putting in a multiplier for the different difficulty levels. Or at least something that rewards you for playing on "Bullet Hell".


but Satsuki's hot and Asuna isn't so nyah.
I'm in the process of redesigning Asuna, been meaning to for a while. Next update should have her new portrait.


More feedback in a video LP I'm planning to make soon.

Cool, let me know when it's done.

Alpha Werewolf
23-06-2010, 10:30 AM
Uploading part 1 right now, should be up in an hour and a half. Roughly same time for part two. Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/Y1AWSTKMVCP).

pieterator
24-07-2010, 11:59 PM
Whaka!

Sorry for the long absence, but I didn't want to post till I finished the third character design for Aero Flux.
I have bounced this design of some people and have come up the these two final designs.

So I'm asking you, the players, to choose the design you like the best, which will be used in the final version of the game.
Just post either A or B in a reply to this thread.

So here she is:

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/206/c/3/Ninja_Girl_Compare_by_Pieterator.jpg
http://pieterator.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2uqrd1

[Edit] By unanimous decisions, the fans have chosen A. This will be the costume used in the game.

Fengol
25-07-2010, 08:08 AM
No need to be unnecessarily vulgar. I choose A

Cyberninja
25-07-2010, 09:20 AM
A

BlackShipsFillt
25-07-2010, 09:58 AM
Imagine if the characters in a game you were playing were all oiled up men wearing speedos barely covering their erections with come hither expressions on their faces. I'm assuming you wouldn't like it.

Well that's the same experience straight women may have when looking at some of your character art.

A

pieterator
25-07-2010, 10:35 AM
Thanks for all the feedback.

Across all the forums I posted, everyone unanimously chose Costume A, so that will be the costume used in the final version of the game. Thanks again for the input.

DukeOFprunes
27-07-2010, 02:44 PM
Only recently tried this, and it's like Dis said. You totally get what a good bullet hell SHMUP's about, and you pulled it off looking and feeling aces. I'd love seeing more levels and ships for this thing.

pieterator
04-09-2011, 06:39 PM
I bid you welcome after my extended absence :)

Aero Flux has just moved into Beta. You can download the newest version here (http://www.mediafire.com/?qugw57vlb92rphb).

Feedback and suggestions welcome.

Here's a partial change list:

Visual Changes
*Enemies now flash pure white when hit.
*Revamped Main Menu.
*Added Extra Effects (Preliminary, might get dropped).
*Added tons of new HUD sprites. (Power bar, Bomb bar, portraits etc.)
*Lots of enemy and player sprites.

Gameplay Changes
*Added new enemy that doubles its score each time its destroyed.
*Added new scoring mechanic by removing "Max Bombs" limit.
*Added 1ups. Get your first at 750 000, then every 2 000 000. These values are multiplied by the difficulty multiplier for each difficulty.
*Bosses now have a timer (Yellow bar). The Boss dies when it's depleted.
*Added name entry for High Scores.
*Added very basic High Score viewing.
*Added 'Difficulty Multiplier' which is multiplied with the normal score multiplier.
*Balanced the scoring: 1/4 For the stage, 1/4 For the boss, 1/4 For end of stage bonuses, 1/4 For Bonus enemies.
*Added Stage 3.
*Added 2 New Boat Enemies.
*Difficulty now affects all enemies.

User Interface Changes
*Added Music On/Off option.
*Added Sound Effects On/Off option.
*Added Key Configuration option.
*Screenshots are now saved to their own directory. Press "o" during gameplay.
*Screenshots are now saved each with a unique name.

Game Engine Changes
*Externalised a lot of assets.
*Cleaned up code.
*New Sound Engine (Thanks to SinBass).
*New Ini saving routines (Miles faster than Game Maker).
*Vastly reduced game size by using mp3's

Cyberninja
15-10-2011, 10:36 AM
I finished playing the new version. It's even better than the previous build, which is no surprise. :) Love the new bomb FX, multipliers and bullet patterns. I've noticed that the jet doesn't move diagonally, when you hold down the fire-button. I'm not sure if it was designed to be like that, just thought it was worth mentioning. Other than that, there's nothing else I can comment on, gameplay-wise. You've pretty much nailed the fun-factor, in my opinion. I'm looking forward to the next release.

Gazza_N
16-10-2011, 03:28 AM
This game wins so hard. It looks good, it sounds great and it plays brilliantly (the bullet patterns in particular are el-neato).

The only thing that grated on me gameplay-wise was dislekcia's earlier peeve about the hitbox not being too clear. Does the game only register collisions when projectiles hit the very centre of the player's ship? More than once I found myself in the centre of a plasma hellstorm, but because I kept my centre clear of the projectiles I survived barrages that I feel I shouldn't have. I realise I shouldn't moan about surviving, but I want to survive in a way that feels fair. :P

Please have the escape key move you to the previous screen in the menu interface? I kept closing the game when all I wanted was to exit the options menu.

Finally - WHO DID YOUR MUSIC? It's absolutely sublime.

Keep it up! You're right on track to releasing something chiselled out of crystallised awesome. :3

pieterator
29-05-2012, 09:14 PM
I have just uploaded Aero Flux - Beta V1.5. I really wanted to add stage 4 to show some of the new enemies, but I also really wanted some feedback on the new characters. I'm still in the process of making the game more challenging on the 'Very Hard' and 'Bullet Hell' settings. Unfortunately I have not finalized the TATE mode, sorry guys, but don't worry, I will include this feature in the future :D

Here's a brief description of the two new characters' weapons.
Haruka Hiso - Specialist -> Heavy Enemies
Main Weapon - She has a special dagger bullet that sticks to the enemy it hits. After 1 second it will do it's damage to the target. A large percentage of her damage is contained in these daggers, so if they hit smaller enemies most of their damage goes to waste. But against heavier enemies that can soak up more damage, her damage per second is about 30% higher than that of the balanced characters (Asuna and Satsuki).
Bomb - This full screen attack destroys halve the enemies on the screen regardless of max health, and bosses receive heavy damage. Great if there's lots of big enemies on screen, not so great if there's a 100 small ones.

Hatsune Miku - Specialist -> Light Enemies
Main Weapon - Some of her shots explode with a white flash on impact, dealing damage to all enemies in the area. So firing into a swarm of small enemies can push her damage per second a high as 50% above that of a balanced character. Firing against heavier/bigger enemies negates the advantage of her area of effect bullets, and subsequently she does less damage against them.
Bomb - This full screen bomb uses the amount of bullets on screen to determine how long it will last, and thus how much damage it will do. It does very low damage per enemy, but it is usually enough to destroy every light and medium enemy on the screen.

Hopefully they complement someone's playstyle, or at least add some fun to the game :D

I've also added a new shock wave effect to the game (upon player death and Miku's bomb), unfortunately this is very resource intensive, and tends to slow the game down if you don't have a dedicated graphics card. To turn it off, go into the file named 'settings.ini' and set 'advanced_effects=0'.

And finally, character pallet swaps have different ships. Colour 1's ships have white halos, and colour 2's ships don't. Please let me which ones you prefer.

Here is the link to Aero Flux - Beta V1.5:
http://www.mediafire.com/?80zotjp6naon4o6

Here is the changes made since Beta V1.0

Gameplay Changes
*Esc no longer quits the game. Use Alt+F4 instead.
*Stage 3's boat boss is now actually worth points :)
*You now drop a power level when you die, but never lower than level 2.
*Introduced enemy types (Light, Medium, Heavy and Boss).
*Added two new characters - Haruka Hiso (Heavy enemy specialist) and Hatsune Miku (Light enemy specialist).
*Added new enemies.
*Added new scoring mechanics:
**Destoying all enemies in a certain group (Hinted at by "+" signs appearing when enemy is destroyed) will give a bonus.
**Destroying the bigger enemies at point blank range releases bonus stars.
*Bomb saves now work differently:
**A halo around your bomb bar indicates that the reflex bomb will activate on the next hit.
**Normal Difficulty - Replenished at start of a stage and when you die.
**Hard Difficulty - Replenished at start of a stage.
**Very Hard Difficulty - One bomb save per credit.
**Bullet Hell Difficulty - Bomb saves not available.
*Change how Satsuki's lightning bomb deals damage. She now has a reservoir of damage that limits the amount of damage she can do.

Visual Changes
*Player ships update, and banking animations added.
*Added new font for bonus text.
*Added descriptions for characters at select screen.
*Loads of new sprites added for bosses and enemies.
*Changed how the Bomb save looks and sounds.

Game Engine Changes
*Basic TATE mode added (But not implemented yet).

Legion
30-05-2012, 11:30 AM
Well i am a huge fan of scrolling shooters.
So far allot of stuff is nice.. but the weapons effects need heavy visual some 'love'.

Cyberninja
01-06-2012, 08:35 PM
Finished playing the new version. Firstly, the music in the main menu is absolutely kick-ass! :P

Really like the new characters. The Haruka illustration looks great. I also like her ship's projectiles. Just one suggestion with regards to the kunai that gets stuck onto the enemy. Perhaps have the tip of the kunai removed, so it looks like the kunai is plunged into the enemies, instead of stuck in front of them. Other than that, and perhaps being a bit overpowered, Haruka rocks. ;)

Miku looks cool. I think maybe she needs a skirt, but that's just my opinion. ;p Her ship's projectiles look awesome. Something I noticed, is that her normal fire does way more damage than her special attack. Her special does very little damage to the bosses. Maybe increase the damage on her special just a bit? I love the effect that her special creates, though!

The ships hitbox still needs some tweaking. The Star Bonus can be very distracting when you are under heavy fire. Perhaps limit their numbers or make their sprites slightly smaller.

Also, I got this error when I tried to continue:

http://s7.postimage.org/nuiztmh4r/bug.jpg (http://postimage.org/)


So yeah, that's just my thoughts on the new version. The complaints are mostly superficial. The gameplay is still great. Looking forward to the next version. :)

Edit: Just read that Miku's special is meant to be more effective against normal enemies. So forget what I said about increasing damage against the bosses. :P

pieterator
05-06-2012, 03:09 PM
Thanks Cyberninja for the detailed error report. With it I was easily able to track down the error and fix it.

I'll look into having Haruka's kunai penetrate a bit deeper so it looks like it's stuck in the enemy.

I'm busy updating Miku's apparel, and I will definitely keep your comment in mind. I'll do some play testing with her bomb to come up with a better balance.

I'll maybe add the option to make the bonus stars invisible, but they are part of the visual chaos that these games are know for.

@Legion: I'll look at upping the effects of the player's weapons in the next release.