View Full Version : KickyFighter!
BlackShipsFillt
11-01-2010, 01:18 AM
Okay, so I've been distracting myself with a little project these last two weeks, this has interrupted my work on my Competition 24 entry, which in turn is disrupting work on my other (larger, slower) project... But I'm putting it to rest for the moment.
http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/kickyfighter/KickyFighterTitle copy.gif
It's not a game yet, it's just a sandbox beatemup experiment, you can't win, or lose. What I was trying to achieve here is get a nice sidescrolling beatemup feel on an iPhone. As the iPhone doesn't have a keyboard, and touch screen buttons are a bit toothless, beatemups miss out on the button bashing experience... So what I've done is allowed for rapid dragging of the mouse, it sort of achieves the same effect...
http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/kickyfighter/kickyfighter.html ... You will need the Unity Web Player.
The only things you need know is that "m" turns off the music, drag left or right for a punch, up for an uppercut, horizontal and then up for the dragon punch, and some combination of up down horizontal for the whirlwind kick.
If you drag around like crazy some unpredictable things may happen... the character keeps queueing your commands indefinitely at the moment and this can produce undesirable effects... apart from that it works reasonably predictably...
This thing actually runs on an iPhone, which is why the blood is so low res as well as why there are a few other odd things I did to keep it running okay.
Let me know what you guys think.
Nandrew
11-01-2010, 08:47 PM
Oodles of fun. And low-res is always cool. :P
I do actually quite like the control scheme (admittedly took me a bit to warm up to, but smooth sailing followed). In particular, it's always nice to see how gestures logically correspond to action: the motion for uppercut is naturally vertical, and stuff like that. I've seen a startling number of mouse gesture games which don't really give the nature of their gestures any ties with the game action itself. It's meh.
Are you taking this any further, or is it more of a toy for you? You mentioned this interrupting a gazillionty-one other projects.
Gazza_N
11-01-2010, 09:15 PM
This is fantastic! I love the art, and the click 'n' drag mechanic keeps things intuitive (and makes discovering combos a lot more accessible and fun!). If it's this enjoyable at this early stage, I reckon it's well worth expanding.
EDIT: Also, extra awesome points for the title. It made me like the game before I even played it. ;P
BlackShipsFillt
11-01-2010, 09:54 PM
Thanks guys! ... Yep I do want to finish it, but I'm hoping to find someone to assist me with the illustrations because, while I could just finish the whole thing myself, most of the rest of the work is illustrative and someone else can handle that while I do more programmery things. I do plan on releasing it, even if I give it away for free.
I think the gestural interface works a bit better on the device because the gestures are smaller and drawing lines with your finger is kind of magical. After playing the webplayer version a bit I noticed that (because of the inflated larger screen size of the web player) it's actually quite a chore on the mouse hand (though still playable)... It still needs to be tweaked and more intuitively represented (improving the hinting at possible moves)
I'm hoping to put in a few more special moves (though unfortunately these will be limited by the size of my spritesheet, not by my imagination) a few more levels with an interconnecting story, some character progression (such as learning and upgrading moves) and a couple more enemy types (mostly unique bosses though, once again the spritesheet limits me)...
If I could have my way this might become a homage to Zombie Smashers 2... fighting zombies, pirates, nazis, nazi zombies, ninjas, vampires, robots, demons and finishing it off by killing Satan himself. But I don't have the time for all that, so it'll probably just end up being something more along the lines of a world where normal people didn't really notice that everyone was turning zombie, not with all the daytime television and free sms's to distract them, until eventually only you are left remaining human because of the awesomeness stored up in your sweet afro (as well as your trusty red skinnies), and now you're going to have to dismember your way to the mysterious source of the zombies... could it be cellphone radiation, or cheese flavoured snacks? Maybe it is due to Global Warming, or perhaps it is a plot unleashed by undead zombie Hitler once again bent on ruling the world? I don't know, but I'll know sometime after I write the story. (Though I'm open to suggestions)
HolyMackerel
12-01-2010, 03:22 PM
Very very good! Especially the low-res takes me back to Doom. . .Definitely worth expanding your horizons with KickyFighter!
Fengol
12-01-2010, 03:44 PM
You really must do an article or similar as a startup to 2D dev in Unity
Chippit
12-01-2010, 03:53 PM
Yes, please do.
:D
dislekcia
12-01-2010, 03:56 PM
You really must do an article or similar as a startup to 2D dev in Unity
Yes, please do.
:D
This!
DukeOFprunes
12-01-2010, 04:47 PM
Really digging this, it'd be fun to have a training dojo to teach you some moves. Very reminiscent of Zombie Smashers as you mentioned.
As for a backstory, DUH! Everyone knows zobies come from eating monkey brains, just send your guy to pull the plug on Monkey-Brains-In-A-Can? and we got a modern day nameless hero good to go.
Also, wigga fro is win.
Fengol
12-01-2010, 05:15 PM
Everyone knows zobies come from eating monkey brains, just send your guy to pull the plug on Monkey-Brains-In-A-Can? and we got a modern day nameless hero good to go.
Use this and add billboards and marketing stuff in the background promoting the product. Also have zombies wearing a soda suit like they were giving out samples.
Cyberninja
13-01-2010, 01:16 AM
Fantastic game! I love it. It's tons of fun. I dig the animations, too. Please finish this game. ^_^
Also:
You really must do an article or similar as a startup to 2D dev in Unity
This.
Kensei
13-01-2010, 09:26 PM
Now THIS is an action game I would want to play on my iPhone :)
Granted I don't have time to waste wading through all the millions of apps on the iTunes store, but I love this interface, it really lends itself to the iPhone. I have played a few games on my sexy toy and found that they try to impose a control system like traditional handheld games (a touch analogue stick for movement, circled areas for fire or jump) and this doesn't work well on the phone (or iPod Touch...)
There is some awesome little addons you could do with this. Like shaking for your ultimate combo/room clearing technique. But the concept is brilliant.
How do you calculate what combo to do?
xyber
14-01-2010, 11:01 AM
pretty cool, and funny :D .. "I like it when the head comes off"
BlackShipsFillt
18-05-2010, 01:24 PM
Hi guys, we've been doing a little work on the graphics... this is just a mockup of some of the new graphics
http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/kickyfighter/ToughStreetsMockup.png
FuzzYspo0N
18-05-2010, 05:18 PM
looking pretty neat!
Graal
18-05-2010, 07:30 PM
I like the 8 bit-ish graphics in the first post a bit more. Sorry. xD
BlackShipsFillt
18-05-2010, 08:10 PM
It still does that, the thing it is doing in the first post, the recent image is scaled down to 50% and there is no blood, the blood hasn't changed.
http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/kickyfighter/KickyFighterShotnew.png
This is an actual screenshot
Though the gradients in the background do give it a less 8bit feel. It's been tricky incorporating other illustrators' styles (Filip Orekhov's style), it's not the way I would have done it myself, but (personally) I think it's much better than I would have done myself.
(if it looks like Kicky has his fist in the head of a zombie and he is using it to club other zombies then you aren't mistaken)
Graal
18-05-2010, 08:25 PM
Ooh, looks awesome again, then. I also love the buckets-of-blood.
dislekcia
18-05-2010, 08:28 PM
Y'know, those gradients are so sneaky they're causing cognitive dissonance... I love it! I kept staring at that shot wondering what was up, why my brain was going "Hey! Hey! Hey! Look at that! Hey!" until you said gradients.
That's so awesome.
BlackShipsFillt
26-05-2010, 11:26 PM
Ugh, the illustrations have been coming along, but this one has been stumping us...
http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/images/kickyfighter_meatshot.png
It's for Mr Meaties Meat Factory, the one that has been producing the contaminated meat that has been turning the zombies, kind of what the Duke suggested... The difficulty has been making meat that isn't too gory, the game is already pushing the violence level that Apple will allow and so we've had to be careful about how we illustrate the meaty bowels of the factory. There's still a reasonable chance of App Store rejection (and I'm ready to whip out the PG13 green blood if necessary)
dislekcia
27-05-2010, 12:48 AM
http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/images/kickyfighter_meatshot.png
It's for Mr Meaties Meat Factory, the one that has been producing the contaminated meat that has been turning the zombies, kind of what the Duke suggested... The difficulty has been making meat that isn't too gory, the game is already pushing the violence level that Apple will allow and so we've had to be careful about how we illustrate the meaty bowels of the factory. There's still a reasonable chance of App Store rejection (and I'm ready to whip out the PG13 green blood if necessary)
:O
:O~
:O~~
:D~~~
That is so totally awesome!
You're serious about the Apple certification stuff kicking you in the pants? I'm sure I've seen some pretty violent stuff on the iPhone, unless you're aiming for a specific rating... This is going to be such an awesome game :)
AndrewJ
27-05-2010, 08:04 AM
It looked like the inside of a brain that had metal parts. Maybe an alien brain-ship or something :-) It does looks quite messy and, well, sticky though.
Looking good! Those big "beefy" (sorry, I had to pun this) looking zombies remind me of the big dudes in Double Dragon; is that accidental?
xyber
27-05-2010, 09:26 AM
...
There's still a reasonable chance of App Store rejection (and I'm ready to whip out the PG13 green blood if necessary)
ugh Apple and their rules. Android should just hurry and take over the market.
BlackShipsFillt
27-05-2010, 10:05 AM
Looking good! Those big "beefy" (sorry, I had to pun this) looking zombies remind me of the big dudes in Double Dragon; is that accidental?
No coincidence, it's totally meant to be Abobobo (http://abobobo.tumblr.com/). Also a slight tip of the hat to Derek Yu, but mostly to the awesomeness of Double Dragon.
BlackShipsFillt
06-06-2010, 06:24 PM
http://www.freelives.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/MeatDemonFight1.jpg
This is the interpretation of the meat demon that Gabriele Gabba has done for me, my early versions were nowhere near as awesome.
He's intended to be a multi-part boss, I mean made up of multiple sprites that move around to animate the character, I'm not certain what the correct term for this is.
Once I've got it working in the game I'll post a video grab.
Cyberninja
06-06-2010, 07:47 PM
It looks awesome. :)
xyber
07-06-2010, 10:49 AM
yumee :~
FuzzYspo0N
07-06-2010, 11:06 AM
looks epic. nice!
dislekcia
07-06-2010, 12:23 PM
Plaaaaaay?
BlackShipsFillt
07-06-2010, 04:27 PM
Plaaaaaay?
Soooon, I expanded the demo a while back, but I've butchered it with feature creep, I'll try find some time this week/weekend.
Grim Reaper
08-07-2010, 07:07 PM
Green blood could work on zombies. Damn you app store for restricting the potential of some indie Iphone games.
BlackShipsFillt
08-07-2010, 10:31 PM
I've been playing a bit of Pro Zombie Soccer on the iPad, it made it through the Appstore and it's only slightly less gory than KickyFighter, so I reckon things should be fine, I may still include an option for reduction or greenification of blood to be safe(r).
BlackShipsFillt
12-07-2010, 06:04 PM
A bit f police brutality :
http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/images/ScrnShotPOLICE.jpg
AndrewJ
13-07-2010, 07:55 AM
A bit f police brutality :
http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/images/ScrnShotPOLICE.jpg GIF it up a notch (http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Elzar)! (Spice Weasel (http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Spice_Weasel) optional)
dislekcia
13-07-2010, 12:13 PM
GIF it up a notch (http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Elzar)! (Spice Weasel (http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Spice_Weasel) optional)
... What do your links have to do with anything? (Usually I'd just delete the post, but I'm assuming this is some sort of in-joke in Linux land)
BlackShipsFillt
13-07-2010, 02:12 PM
GIF it up a notch (http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Elzar)! (Spice Weasel (http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Spice_Weasel) optional)
Huh, what? I like both spice and Elzar... but... huh? Have I just been Elzar rolled?
AndrewJ
13-07-2010, 02:39 PM
BlackShips, please would you be so kind as to post a GIF animation demonstrating that intriguing and very exciting screenshot so that all the readers of this thread may join you in celebrating you very good looking achievement?
Thank you.
BlackShipsFillt
18-07-2010, 10:52 PM
Okay so here's a bit of a gif... I did this so that I can then program in the animation the same way.
Here's the old KickyFighter Punch, which some of you would have seen in the original gameplay...
http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/images/KickyPoliceFightShowOld.gif
And here's the new improved one : http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/images/KickyPoliceFightShow.gif
It's been kind of hard getting the pixel art right, I've never attempted animating anywhere near this much content and neither has Gabriele who is helping me (pixel art that is). But I think we're improving, and as we're learning new tricks we're going back and fixing things. The other problem has been that until now I haven't been able to work on KickyFighter full time.
There are a bunch of other moves animated... but it's really time consuming laying it out in gifs (sorry AndrewJ)... I want to make a little video once I've got a bit more to show.
Grim Reaper
19-07-2010, 05:54 PM
Much better. You do that yourself?
BlackShipsFillt
19-07-2010, 08:06 PM
Much better. You do that yourself?
Yes, otherwise I would have specified. Please, if you have nothing positive to contribute, or no constructive criticism, refrain from commenting, that is the spirit of this forum.
Fengol
19-07-2010, 10:48 PM
Silly question, but how are you making your animations? Is it some kind of video capture? I'd love to do some for my games.
ScrewAttack has been talking a lot about Final Fight and every time I see your new moves I think "Final Fight with Zombies!". I hope you're going to add some special moves and item destruction and weapon pick-ups!
Cyberninja
19-07-2010, 10:56 PM
I really like the new punch animation. It looks much more fluid than the earlier version. Besides the moves shown in the demo, what other attacks are you including in the game? What about adding a 3 hit (face strike, gut punch, standing uppercut) combo? A knee strike grab attack, ala Double Dragon, would be pretty rad too (perhaps the zombie's head could pop off after the last knee strike) What about a shoulder throw or Bruce Lee-style side kick, that sends your foe crashing into the other zombies/enemies?
BlackShipsFillt
19-07-2010, 11:58 PM
I'm doing it pixel by pixel in Fireworks, but mostly using reference (the first punch in the new animation is based on Jam's dash attack in Guilty Gear)... the timing is better now, studied how they did it in "OMG PIRATES!". Final Fight is of course a huge influence, some of the backgrounds are based directly of Final Fight ones.
Duke of Prunes sent me an amazing link, I guess some of you guys will have seen it before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll5qW9_ex0g and his blog is at http://probertson.livejournal.com/
It is so unbelievably good! and there are a lot of KickyFighter themes, in particular the Akira like monsters are a great reference for improving our meat factory meat demons. So I've been studying it looking for ways to make KickyFighter better.
There are only a couple of moves implemented that aren't in the current demo... the punch will be extended from just the two in the animation, probably one two three then headbutt. There's also a flying kick attack and a aerial two handed bash implemented, but still only animated there's a M.Bison roll, a Force Unleased Force Block, a Ryu Fireball, a pick up backbreaker, and a Zangief Spin or Punisher spin with enemy...
The whirlwind kick in the demo might be coming out though.
I also want to put in a E.Honda multiple repeated punch move (there's one in 4 billion% that looks great). I wanted to put in an over the shoulder throw but the controls don't allow really for it. (I've simplified them somewhat)
I'm going to try get the project working in Unity 3, which will make publishing for web a single click and then I'll show you... I should have finished all of my paying work today, which means I can finally start the process of rapidly becoming destitute, working on KickyFighter (and being happy).
Cyberninja
20-07-2010, 09:49 AM
Yeah, I agree. E.Honda's hundred hand slap, could be a bit difficult to pull off. Dragon from World Heroes and Ryo from Art Of Fighting, use similar moves. But they perform it from a standing position, instead of going into a sumo squat like E.Honda. Perhaps, visually, a standing variant would suit your character better? I can see your character using any one of those three variants, to be honest.
+10 for the Punisher Spin. I'm assuming, after the spin, the foe will crash into the other enemies on screen? What if, in addition to the spin causing damage to a single foe, the move also allows you to take out/damage multiple enemies that are in the vicinity of the spin animation? That would be pretty cool. Also, I'm not sure if you've played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. The game has a spin move that lets you throw your opponent against the "monitor screen". After getting thrown by the hero, the opponent slams against the screen, then slides off. That could also be something that could work in your game.
So yeah, just some ideas. Looking forward to playing the updated demo. I'm eager to see how the other moves work in the game. When can we expect to fight against a boss character? :P
BlackShipsFillt
25-07-2010, 02:25 AM
Here's a look at one of the in between bonus levels... it still needs a lot of work
http://vimeo.com/13609134
BlackShipsFillt
28-07-2010, 10:35 PM
I made a poster at the suggestion of Duke Of Prunes http://www.freelives.net/images/TREX_KF.png
Of course things still have to change, but it was a nice exercise to test the look, and show off Gabriele's T-Rex.
Sadly the T-Rex could not fire lazers from it's eyes, though I may be able to coax this feat from it at a later date.
Small croppings (for anyone too lazy or apathetic too follow the link) :
http://www.freelives.net/images/TREX_JOYRIDE_SHOW1.png
http://www.freelives.net/images/TREX_JOYRIDE_SHOW2.png
DukeOFprunes
29-07-2010, 12:46 AM
Dude, holy wow. Any dinosaur that can puke lasers is pretty freakin okay. PS Any chance we can get that in high res 4:3 ratio? :]
BlackShipsFillt
29-07-2010, 01:04 AM
Dude, holy wow. Any dinosaur that can puke lasers is pretty freakin okay. PS Any chance we can get that in high res 4:3 ratio? :]
Trouble is the composition is very long, so there might end up being a fair bit of sky, but We'll figure out something.
Desktop wallpaper I assume? or printable?
AndrewJ
29-07-2010, 08:42 AM
Dude, that picture is seriously cool! Really well done!!!
Late additional (possibly "secret"?) punch suggestion: The dragon punch (flying twisting uppercut.)
Gazza_N
29-07-2010, 09:05 AM
Blackships, that looks absolutely incredible. I'm rarin' to see the full game in action. Frothing, even.
Cyberninja
29-07-2010, 07:24 PM
+10. The T-REX looks awesome dude. Also, I'm not sure if you're still doing the E-Honda Slaps, but I came across this image that might be a good reference for you:
http://i26.tinypic.com/37kpi.jpg
Thought it might help, seeing as both characters are Chibi-types. Their poses are quite similar, too.
dislekcia
30-07-2010, 01:34 PM
Poster of win :)
...
ROOOOAAAR!
BlackShipsFillt
10-08-2010, 12:53 AM
Filip (the guy who helped me refine the style and who did a bunch of the backgrounds) played some awesome riffs and I went a bit ape**** with the kicky-drum to produce our first piece of music for the game. It's still rough and may yet to be replaced by something even more awesome, but it was a lot of fun all the same.
Check it out : http://www.vimeo.com/14015233
Also, if you follow the link, 50% more explodiness and 25% more VW Beetle chucking epicness.
Fengol
10-08-2010, 07:52 AM
very grungy, very atmospheric without coming to the foreground. It's good work and the gameplay looks so sweet. Have you got a release date yet?
dislekcia
10-08-2010, 11:27 AM
What happened to the music guy in Milnerton? The new track fits the game really well without taking over (and making your own music gives you procedural opportunities to up the tension during bigger fights), but I'm curious if that worked out or not?
BTW: I'm loving the way Kicky zips around the screen now, that's awesome. It's a little jarring when he seems to leap backwards sometimes to start an attack (but I reckon that could be dealt with by adding little dust clouds where he starts and stops, creating secondary movement cues), but it deals with the thing that I've always found annoying about these sorts of games: Being in the right plane to hit things; I always get it wrong and end up wailing at empty air for a while. Looks like you're solving that really nicely :)
BTWx2: I find it really hard to see the fat explodey zombies in that clip. Any chance of giving them some sort of glow or other distinct identifier to stop them blending into crowds of normal zombies (unless that's the desired effect)?
dislekcia
10-08-2010, 11:27 AM
What happened to the music guy in Milnerton?
BTW: I'm loving the way Kicky zips around the screen now, that's awesome. It's a little jarring when he seems to leap backwards sometimes to start an attack (but I reckon that could be dealt with by adding little dust clouds where he starts and stops, creating secondary movement cues), but it deals with the thing that I've always found annoying about these sorts of games: Being in the right plane to hit things; I always get it wrong and end up wailing at empty air for a while. Looks like you're solving that really nicely :)
BTWx2: I find it really hard to see the fat explodey zombies in that clip. Any chance of giving them some sort of glow or other distinct identifier to stop them blending into crowds of normal zombies (unless that's the desired effect)?
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