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[KevinCow]

Could it be a "demake" of a more recent game? A site did a Retro Demakes competition a while back, and I liked the idea but didn't really get around to programming anything.

 

[Why would you do that?]

I am not sure whether or not to code it in Game Maker (GML) or Python. I'm much more familiar with the former, and it is much easier for making games, but in Python, it could run not just on Windows, but on Linux and OSX.

Nevertheless, I have a rough idea in my head. It'll be a little hard to code (it's a 2D game in a 3D space, similar to beat-em-ups like Streets of Rage, Battletoads, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... something I've never coded) but I already created a little bit of a prototype with placeholder graphics.

Somewhere along the way, I might ask for a composer or something. I'm pretty good at making songs in NES style, but bad at actually composing them...

 

[Enk]

Oh, I was wondering when will you start GCC II, Enk. Hopefully more people will actually make something than last time. As for me... I won't promise anything. If I was 15 years younger, I'd be all over this, but just the SMW hack last time around took way too much time. But, I'll at least look into some of the game-creator tools to see if I can whip something up.

Edit: I checked the first competition and... what? Massimo has been downloaded a massive 44 times. Come on, people. Try this stuff out, it's good.
My hack is not found at all (I haven't removed it), but why reupload it if nobody cares.

I was beginning to wonder if any of the former participators would pop up at some point. Yeah I'm kinda curious on how many posters who say they are participating will actually make something this time around. I figured the reason the last one ended up with so few participants was because of the 3 month deadline. With a year it should give more people time to learn the program they want to use and make the game they want to make.

About Massimo, by my count the game has been downloaded close to, if not over, 300 times. Filefront deleted my original file without me knowing so I had to reupload it. I think the original was at about 250 before it disappeared. Maybe I should reupload all the games from the last contest and post them on here at some point.

Could it be a "demake" of a more recent game? A site did a Retro Demakes competition a while back, and I liked the idea but didn't really get around to programming anything.

Demakes would be awesome. Mega Man 7 NES was one of my favorite demakes, and there is somebody working on a Mega Man Powered Down that's looking pretty good. I would love to see a demake of Ultimate Ghouls 'n Ghosts someday..

 

[jepense]

I was beginning to wonder if any of the former participators would pop up at some point. Yeah I'm kinda curious on how many posters who say they are participating will actually make something this time around. I figured the reason the last one ended up with so few participants was because of the 3 month deadline. With a year it should give more people time to learn the program they want to use and make the game they want to make.

I only just saw the thread...

Personally, I don't think the longer development time itself will help people finish - on the contrary it may make some take on more than they can handle. But I do think giving such free hands on the tools and type of game will help everyone choose a project they are truly interested in and make them want to finish.

About Massimo, by my count the game has been downloaded close to, if not over, 300 times. Filefront deleted my original file without me knowing so I had to reupload it. I think the original was at about 250 before it disappeared. Maybe I should reupload all the games from the last contest and post them on here at some point.

OK, that's a bit more reasonable. As I said, my hack has been deleted as well. I just realized that's the case, and so I have no idea how many have tried it. If you consider reuploading the lot, I won't bother with mine.

 

[ultim8p00]

I want to join in, but I will need some people to work with as I am already working on Katakijin all by myself. If anybody is interested, I already have a 2D engine with weapons and AI and a HUD ready to go. Most of the hard work is done really and all we will need to concentrate on is making a story and level design. We would need an artist too, but he/she has to be willing to go with the look that I have already established unless he/she is willing to basically redo all the sprites and animations.

I am using GameMaker 8 by the way. Very easy to use and version 8 is significantly faster than previous versions.

 

[:Motorbass]

Oh hell yes, I'm in. I am in this phase of wanting to finally FINISH things I started. I am working hard on my music project and actually just had a nice idea for a retro game.

Will be in Flash and everything from artwork over sprites, sound effects and music will be original by me. :] The year deadline is okay although I don't think I will do an overly long game. Just one I can FINISH. :]

 

[Jocchan]

I'd love to join, but Dudebro will probably eat up all my spare time.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

I am using GameMaker 8 by the way. Very easy to use and version 8 is significantly faster than previous versions.

8 is finally out? Awesome.

 

[Like the hat?]

anyone familair with XNA? is it something a novice could learn and create something with in a year?

 

[ThatObviousUser]

anyone familair with XNA? is it something a novice could learn and create something with in a year?

XNA is pretty great if you know any Java/C#. Using it, I had a basic engine for my RPG done in a very small amount of time (before I began porting it to Android, which is a different project from the one I'm doing now.) I have nothing but good things to say about it.

 

[rohlfinator]

I don't want to commit to anything at this point, but I'd really like to finally put together the game idea I've been tossing around for a couple years.

Hopefully this thread will be bumped often enough to guilt me into starting. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone makes!

 

[ultim8p00]

8 is finally out? Awesome.

Yeah dude go get it nao! Also, if you bought GameMaker 7 in 2009, you get GameMaker 8 for FREE!

As soon as I ported some of my stuff over to it, I noticed a significant cut in load time. Plus they have built-in alpha transparency support so no more target_set_alphas!

 

[baultista]

I was going to make a Tetris-like game this weekend as a brush-up... does that count?



I have a rough story and some of the coding knowledge required to build a 2D sidescrolling adventure game. What I lack is the ability to design levels, create art, create sound effects/music, or anything else that doesn't involve computer code or creative writing. My idea sucks though, so I don't think I'd mind buddying up with someone that has the inverse of my skill set :lol

anyone familair with XNA? is it something a novice could learn and create something with in a year?

XNA is a great tool for a C# developer or even a Java developer that wants to take a stab at creating a game. Almost all of the hard work is abstracted for you, allowing you to focus almost entirely on game logic. I'd say that you could learn how to develop a 2D game in 1-2 weeks at the most, giving you the rest of your time to work on your game.

If you're new to programming, game design is not a good place to start.

 

[Tain]

Game Maker is the best tool to start from the top, I think.

Still tears/stutters (depending) like a mother, though, so 30fps or bust.

 

[Enk]

Alright, just signed up for the premium XNA Creators Club service and ready to get down an dirty with some tutorials!

I have a rough story and some of the coding knowledge required to build a 2D sidescrolling adventure game. What I lack is the ability to design levels, create art, create sound effects/music, or anything else that doesn't involve computer code or creative writing. My idea sucks though, so I don't think I'd mind buddying up with someone that has the inverse of my skill set :lol

XNA is a great tool for a C# developer or even a Java developer that wants to take a stab at creating a game. Almost all of the hard work is abstracted for you, allowing you to focus almost entirely on game logic. I'd say that you could learn how to develop a 2D game in 1-2 weeks at the most, giving you the rest of your time to work on your game.

If you're new to programming, game design is not a good place to start.

hmm... the game I am working on is (sort of) a sidecrolling adventure. I lean more towards the game design side rather than programming. If I'm not able to grasp XNA and C# I might hit you up for some help.

 

[Oblivion]

Gamemaker costs monies, right?

And holy shit, there's actually an editor for LttP? :O :O

 

[Safe Bet]

Gamemaker costs monies, right?

I downloaded it yesterday.

The 'lite' version is free.

 

[ultim8p00]

Game Maker is the best tool to start from the top, I think.

Still tears/stutters (depending) like a mother, though, so 30fps or bust.

What?

Katakijin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI9_QhK5_Hk

It runs at 60fps, with no tearing so I don't know what you're talking about. The tearing issue with GameMaker is usually the programmer's fault. GameMaker sucks at synching if you don't design your game with the right room speed and don't tweak the default settings yourself...which most GM programmers don't do.

EDIT:

Shotgun Fun Fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5IgEt9EEP8&feature=related

another one running at 60fps

 

[Mr_Appleby]

sounds like fun, i'm in. could be worthwhile to actually finish something

 

[Bay Maximus]

I'm in. I don't want to cheat, so I'll have to pen a new (short) story for '10. Also, I gotta see if anyone can do some passable pixel. Let's do this!

 

[Chris R]

Xna/C# is really easy to pick up, even with almost no experience with coding. I can't decide if I should use Xna or do an iPhone app though

 

[Tain]

What?

Katakijin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI9_QhK5_Hk

It runs at 60fps, with no tearing so I don't know what you're talking about. The tearing issue with GameMaker is usually the programmer's fault. GameMaker sucks at synching if you don't design your game with the right room speed and don't tweak the default settings yourself...which most GM programmers don't do.

EDIT:

Shotgun Fun Fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5IgEt9EEP8&feature=related

another one running at 60fps

I've played Katakijin. It tears.

GameMaker sucks at synching regardless of what the room speed is and whether or not you "use synchronization to avoid tearing." There's zero point arguing over this when Overmars himself admits to both it being a problem and it being something he can't fix. How much you'll notice it pretty much entirely depends on your monitor, but it's a big, unavoidable problem for a ton of people, and it's prevented me from going back to GM.

 

[ultim8p00]

I've played Katakijin. It tears.

GameMaker sucks at synching regardless of what the room speed is and whether or not you "use synchronization to avoid tearing." There's zero point arguing over this when Overmars himself admits to both it being a problem and it being something he can't fix. How much you'll notice it pretty much entirely depends on your monitor, but it's a big, unavoidable problem for a ton of people, and it's prevented me from going back to GM.

Actually, that's not the only thing you do. You have to set the room_speed to the refresh rate of the monitor as well. While it is true that GM does have an inherent tearing problem, it is something that can be at least mitigated to the point where it becomes pretty much a non-issue. Older builds of Katakijin used to have a lot of tearing, but the newer ones practically don't. I experimented a lot with this issue and found that tearing pretty much goes away if you set the room_speed exactly to the monitor's refresh rate, and to enable synching. Then, the game should either change the user's refresh rate to the room_speed on startup, or the room_speed should change to the user's refresh rate on startup. I did this and the screen tearing problems were gone. The people who still had tearing issues were people with ATI or NVIDIA cards that force the refresh rate to a certain number or don't let other applications control the refresh rate. Speaking from experience man.

 

[ultim8p00]

Actually, that's not the only thing you do. You have to set the room_speed to the refresh rate of the monitor as well. While it is true that GM does have an inherent tearing problem, it is something that can be at least mitigated to the point where it becomes pretty much a non-issue. Older builds of Katakijin used to have a lot of tearing, but the newer ones practically don't. I experimented a lot with this issue and found that tearing pretty much goes away if you set the room_speed exactly to the monitor's refresh rate, and to enable synching. Then, the game should either change the user's refresh rate to the room_speed on startup, or the room_speed should change to the user's refresh rate on startup. I did this and the screen tearing problems were gone. The people who still had tearing issues were people with ATI or NVIDIA cards that force the refresh rate to a certain number or don't let other applications control the refresh rate. Speaking from experience man.

EDIT: You know, I take that back. It seems as though there a people who genuinely have a screen tearing problem with GameMaker games, and there are people that genuinely don't. I used to have a lot of screen tearing problems, but by manipulating the speed at which the view moves and by synching room speeds and refresh rates together, I was able to get rid of the problem for me and a lot of people.

 

[Enk]

Hrm, the Building XNA 2.0 Games book seems a bit outdated. I was able to get through the Pong tutorial just fine until the very end when I tried to add sound to my game and it wouldn't recognize the sound files. I then skipped over to the beginning of the chapter where you learn how to make a map editor for a 2d Action Game section, but I wasn't even able to get through that part because my Text class wouldn't recognize most of my sprite commands like sprite.Begin(SprtieBlendMode.AlphaBlend);. Even compared my files to the author's and they were pretty exact. I think I'm going to hold off on the book for right now and look through some online tutorials.

 

[Enk]

Alright time to show some stuff. I've been working on tilesets and other graphics for the past few days and have enough stuff to put together some mock screenshots of the game I want to make. All this stuff is early and nothing is final. It'll be interesting to see how much is changed by the end of the year. As of right now the title is Generic Fantasy Action Platformer Game (title subject to change).


Mock Screen

The style I'm aiming for is somewhere inbetween the 8bit and 16bit eras. I would like the flow of the game to be similar to a mix of Zelda 2 and Mega Man, but it won't be a straight up adventure game (unless I could do some mad XNA learning in the next few months).




Character Moves

Slash

Standard slash attack.





Shield

Standard shield block.



Bag of Splattering Shrunken Heads

Standard splattering shrunken head attack.





Medusa Snakes

Slithers on the ground and petrifies some enemies. Stoned enemies can be jumped on or slashed into rubble.




So how about anyone else? Anyone have some stuff they want to share?

 

[ThatObviousUser]

That looks so good. T_T

Edit- Have no assets or anything to show, learning the ropes of the engine I'm using atm and working on the general game design (concepts, mechanics, level plan, level designs.)

 

[Why would you do that?]

I am still contemplating how to do the engine for my game before I do any art/assets. I'll post my dilemma in a little bit.

Alright time to show some stuff. I've been working on tilesets and other graphics for the past few days and have enough stuff to put together some mock screenshots of the game I want to make. All this stuff is early and nothing is final. It'll be interesting to see how much is changed by the end of the year. As of right now the title is Generic Fantasy Action Platformer Game (title subject to change).

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c296/SamSawyr/My Games Junk/GenericGameDude.png

The style I'm aiming for is somewhere inbetween the 8bit and 16bit eras. I would like the flow of the game to be similar to a mix of Zelda 2 and Mega Man, but it won't be a straight up adventure game (unless I could do some mad XNA learning in the next few months).

When I saw the pictures, I thought it looked Turbografx-like. Then, when you said that, it sounds almost exactly like the Turbografx.

It looks really nice, by the way.

 

[jepense]

Alright time to show some stuff. I've been working on tilesets and other graphics for the past few days and have enough stuff to put together some mock screenshots of the game I want to make. All this stuff is early and nothing is final. It'll be interesting to see how much is changed by the end of the year. As of right now the title is Generic Fantasy Action Platformer Game (title subject to change).

So how about anyone else? Anyone have some stuff they want to share?

Good stuff, Enk.

I probably won't be able to resist at least trying something. I was thinking of going for a game where I could write an engine and then be able to add contents easily by adding new assets etc. A puzzler would be one option, but I was also thinking about some kind of a loot game/dungeon crawler... I'll have to fiddle around with some of the ideas I've got to see if they make for fun gameplay.

 

[uncledonnie]

I'm definitely in, should be fun.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

I'll put my name out there as someone who will make original midi scores for anyone who wants them.

MSN: Chriswok-at-hotmail.com

 

[ThatObviousUser]

I've taken the OPs advice and will be updating about my game in this fashion in the future.

• The name of my game is 4kg. Title's meaning will be revealed at the end of the game.
• It's still a platformer, I'm going for a hybrid Mario/Metroid-ish style to the levels. Some will be the long stretches of Mario, some will be the labyrinths of Metroid (but much less complex.)
• I said before I was modeling the graphics after the SNES, but I have decided an 8-bit style will both be more distinctive and easier for me to create.

Now, Enk, my game is an Android game. It will be possible to download and play it on a computer (using the Android emulator in the SDK), but not only will that be cumbersome but it may also impact performance. So I humbly withdraw from the Game of the Year contest, unless a better solution presents itself. Thank you.

 

[Bit-Bit]

Sounds awesome as fuck. I've got a couple of game projects that I never finished. Maybe I can use some of my old ideas for this. Count me the fuck in.

 

[jepense]

Damn you, Enk. I could not stay off this one either. An update, to keep the thread kicking.

I decided to go for an rpg/loot game, where the battle system is card-based, kinda like MtG or other CCG's (not that I know how to play any of those, but I like Dominion). The basic bits of the battle engine are now in place and adding cards etc. is really simple, but it'll be quite a job to balance all the cards I intend to add... I'd like the final system to be simple and quick to play, but still such that you can build decks that work completely differently - and have some rock-paper-scissors elements in as well.
Once I'm happy with the battle, I'll see if I can manage to build the rpg around it. In any case, there'll be the card game. :lol

Here's a screenshot of the current game (no backdrop, same sprites...). Graphical style is SNESish, although I made it widescreen just because.

I'm coding in Java, as I'm quite familiar with it and it works on both PC and Mac.

 

[Enk]

Didn't realize this was posted in recently. The lack of a search option keeps me from keeping up with my threads. Guess I'll have to make use of the "subscribe thread" option.

So far my attempt at learning C# and XNA hasn't been too kind so far. Designing has always been my forte but I have always lacked on the programming side of things. I may end up having someone to help build me an editor to work with and learn from them. I already have most of the tiles completed for the first stage (plan is having a stage worth of tiles finished per month) and am already working on mock designs on how I want the stage to flow.

So if anyone who feels competent with their XNA/C# skills wants to help out just give me a shout.

I've taken the OPs advice and will be updating about my game in this fashion in the future.

• The name of my game is 4kg. Title's meaning will be revealed at the end of the game.
• It's still a platformer, I'm going for a hybrid Mario/Metroid-ish style to the levels. Some will be the long stretches of Mario, some will be the labyrinths of Metroid (but much less complex.)
• I said before I was modeling the graphics after the SNES, but I have decided an 8-bit style will both be more distinctive and easier for me to create.

Now, Enk, my game is an Android game. It will be possible to download and play it on a computer (using the Android emulator in the SDK), but not only will that be cumbersome but it may also impact performance. So I humbly withdraw from the Game of the Year contest, unless a better solution presents itself. Thank you.

That should be fine with me. Remember if you don't think you can finish the game this year you can always put together a demo/video to show off your progress.

Damn you, Enk. I could not stay off this one either. An update, to keep the thread kicking.

I decided to go for an rpg/loot game, where the battle system is card-based, kinda like MtG or other CCG's (not that I know how to play any of those, but I like Dominion). The basic bits of the battle engine are now in place and adding cards etc. is really simple, but it'll be quite a job to balance all the cards I intend to add... I'd like the final system to be simple and quick to play, but still such that you can build decks that work completely differently - and have some rock-paper-scissors elements in as well.
Once I'm happy with the battle, I'll see if I can manage to build the rpg around it. In any case, there'll be the card game.

Here's a screenshot of the current game (no backdrop, same sprites...). Graphical style is SNESish, although I made it widescreen just because.

Great to see you back in the game! A loot game with card battle system? Intriguing. What exactly are you using to make it?

 

[jepense]

Great to see you back in the game! A loot game with card battle system? Intriguing. What exactly are you using to make it?

Yeah well, I thought I'd try something a bit more exotic. I got around to playing TWEWY last fall and found it to have a battle system that made the fights actually fun. So I'm also trying to make the battles interesting enough to make one want to play them instead of not. Of course, I realize that this is much easier said than done, and balancing will be a bitch. I won't be too disappointed if eventually I end up with something that is good on paper but not that fun after all... Anyway, desinging a full fledged battle system is pretty fun on its own.

Choosing the loot genre serves two motives: Firstly, there will be lots of cards, so the player will need to collect a lot of them. (Or all of them, if one has OCD. ) Secondly, if I end up short on time for building the actual rpg part, I can just whip up randomly generated dungeons and call it a day. I have lots of ideas on what to do with the story if I ever get there, but it's good to have a plan B.

I'm coding in Java since it works both on PC and Mac and it's the language I'm second most familiar with. (1st is Fortran, so yeah... :lol) I thought of using some dedicated game/multimedia platform first, but eventually ended up writing my own sprite engine on Java as an exercise. It's not pretty or super efficient, but it works. And since the sprites don't do anything too fancy, it's quite sufficient. So far I've implemented only the battle screen and engine (almost all of it anyway) and some 50 cards are recognized. I'm currently working with the opponent AI - which isn't very difficult since most of the strategy will be in deck building and the AI only needs to choose the best action with the current hand - but it's still rather tedious coding with all the possibilities you can end up with. After that I basically just need to keep adding new cards (and graphics...) to complete the battle part. And playtest ad infinitum.

 

[Chris R]

Didn't realize this was posted in recently. The lack of a search option keeps me from keeping up with my threads. Guess I'll have to make use of the "subscribe thread" option.

So far my attempt at learning C# and XNA hasn't been too kind so far. Designing has always been my forte but I have always lacked on the programming side of things. I may end up having someone to help build me an editor to work with and learn from them. I already have most of the tiles completed for the first stage (plan is having a stage worth of tiles finished per month) and am already working on mock designs on how I want the stage to flow.

So if anyone who feels competent with their XNA/C# skills wants to help out just give me a shout.

http://nickgravelyn.com/archive/#tileengine

I'd totally suggest watching each video if you have the chance. You work along and build up a tile based game engine as well as an editor. Or you could just download the final project and tinker around with it and plug your tiles in :lol

The only thing I didn't like about the tutorial series was the fact that it tried to be too much IMO with the inclusion of a dialog addition. Would have been better if he just stuck to tiles.

 

[BlazeHedgehog]

Oh man it is too bad I am always so preoccupied with everything else otherwise I'd probably do this. I have too many existing game projects I still need to finish.

But that's always my excuse for everything... gah.

 

[NotWii]

I'd do this if I wasn't so bogged up with other projects :/

 

[Deleted member 8095]

Alright time to show some stuff. I've been working on tilesets and other graphics for the past few days and have enough stuff to put together some mock screenshots of the game I want to make. All this stuff is early and nothing is final. It'll be interesting to see how much is changed by the end of the year. As of right now the title is Generic Fantasy Action Platformer Game (title subject to change).

Slash

Standard slash attack.

That looks awesome! The only thing I would suggest is increasing the attack range a bit. The slash looks just a tad bit too short. Other than that, I look forward to trying it!

 

[Why would you do that?]

I'm still working on the design of the game. I've settled on a... well, I guess you can call it a 2.5d platformer. Kind of like beat-em-ups from the 90s.

I have a dilemma, though. I don't know how to do the graphics.

Here is how the game will play:

However, I don't know if I should do the graphics this style:

or this style:

The first style would be easier to program (I think), plus, it would be a little easier to have moving or dynamically changing ground, like if you have a pillar that raises and lowers, it'll look better and make more visual sense. Since everything is square, and thinking about how game systems deal with palettes in squares, it will also be easier to color.

The second style looks better, and is easier to play on... like, it has less of a chance to confuse the player. Also, I can make the graphics look even better with shading like this:

No matter which style I choose, I've never programmed anything like this before, so it'll be a fun challenge. I've already programmed the player, but before I go further, I need to settle on a style.

Examples of existing games with the second style:

I will have to end up studying these types of games, especially when doing the graphics, which I will probably suck at doing.

Edit: I should also say that I'm liking the sound of the other projects. Sounds like there will be nice variety.

 

[Why would you do that?]

I should also add a couple of resources for those who want to make 8 bit style music and sound effects.


Sound effects:
SFXR: http://www.drpetter.se/project_sfxr.html (win, mac, linux)
You can change a bunch of settings to create sound effects, or you can randomly generate sound effects suitable for certain situations (like randomly generate "jump", "collect", or "hurt" sounds), tweak them, and export them to .wav format. Example of an indie game using this for sfx.


Music:
Triforce: http://www.tweakbench.com/triforce (win)
Magical 8bit Plug: http://www.ymck.net/english/download/index.html (win, mac ppc+x86)
These are Windows VSTi plugins and Macintosh AudioUnits plugins, so you will have to import it into your favorite music composition software (I use FL Studio*). After you import it into your program of choice, you can compose with the instruments of an 8 bit system.

Magical 8bit Plug is better, was made by YMCK (Japanese chiptune artists), and is also multi-platform. However, feel free to try both. YMCK's site has some music examples.


Note that, if you are like me and want to be as close to 100% faithful to a specific retro system as possible, you should probably learn about that system's capabilities and limitations before making music and sound effects.



*FL Studio is not free, but you can get a free, unlimited demo, and you can even export your music to wav, mp3, or whatever, just not save projects for future editing. Some other examples of programs that support VSTi or AudioUnits plugins: Win - Cubase. Mac - Logic, Digital Performer, Garageband.

 

[Enk]

http://nickgravelyn.com/archive/#tileengine

I'd totally suggest watching each video if you have the chance. You work along and build up a tile based game engine as well as an editor. Or you could just download the final project and tinker around with it and plug your tiles in :lol

The only thing I didn't like about the tutorial series was the fact that it tried to be too much IMO with the inclusion of a dialog addition. Would have been better if he just stuck to tiles.

Thank you so much for posting this. These have been much more comprehensive than the tutorials I've been working with (the Building XNA 2.0 Games book is filled with holes, capitalization and spelling errors). I still wouldn't be able to sit down and code a game from scratch but this has given me a better understanding on how to read and tweak existing code.

Oh man it is too bad I am always so preoccupied with everything else otherwise I'd probably do this. I have too many existing game projects I still need to finish.

But that's always my excuse for everything... gah.

Ooh, how far along are you now with that Castlevania game? Me wants!

Also what are you using to make these?

That looks awesome! The only thing I would suggest is increasing the attack range a bit. The slash looks just a tad bit too short. Other than that, I look forward to trying it!

Everything is still very early. I just posted the first concept so that way people can compare how it looks before and after I finish. I'm always tweaking the look of the tiles and sprites, especially the main character who needs to be a tad bigger and fleshed out.

...lots of stuff...

I think the second pic you posted looks a bit more pleasing to my eyes and it gives the level a bit more depth, but go for whatever suits the style of level you want to create. If there's one thing you should fix from oldschool 2d beat'em ups is the jumping, which seems to be your focus judging from the first pic. Usually jumping in beat'em ups feel a bit restricted. They tend to jump high but at a short distance and can lead to aggravating deaths when platforming is involved (Golden Axe and Battletoads come to mind). If you can get that working you could add a good mix of platforming and beat'em up gameplay to keep things from getting monotonous.

Also thanks for posting the sound effects and music links! I'll look through those when I'll get around to it.

 

[Olorin]

Sounds like fun Maybe I'll have time to do a retro style game inbetween other game projects.

 

[jepense]

I should also add a couple of resources for those who want to make 8 bit style music and sound effects.

The sfx machine is just what I needed. For composing original music, I may need someone's help, though...

 

[ThatObviousUser]

I started working on a sprite. Not a huge update but I think it's something, especially considering this is where I usually break off in development. :lol

 

[Why would you do that?]

I think the second pic you posted looks a bit more pleasing to my eyes and it gives the level a bit more depth, but go for whatever suits the style of level you want to create. If there's one thing you should fix from oldschool 2d beat'em ups is the jumping, which seems to be your focus judging from the first pic. Usually jumping in beat'em ups feel a bit restricted. They tend to jump high but at a short distance and can lead to aggravating deaths when platforming is involved (Golden Axe and Battletoads come to mind). If you can get that working you could add a good mix of platforming and beat'em up gameplay to keep things from getting monotonous.

Also thanks for posting the sound effects and music links! I'll look through those when I'll get around to it.

Yeah, though I dont know if I really want to, I think I'm leaning toward doing it the second style as well. I'll also try and make the jumping feel good. It really sucks when you play games with weird jump mechanics (which is why I never really got into Ghouls & Ghosts & Goblins)...Thanks for your input!

I started working on a sprite. Not a huge update but I think it's something, especially considering this is where I usually break off in development. :lol

Glad you're making progress! My problem with incomplete projects is when I would start a few sprites, then not want to make the rest... So I hope you pass that point, too.

The sfx machine is just what I needed. For composing original music, I may need someone's help, though...

Glad it's working out for you. The original music thing will be a problem for me as well, as I suck at composing good, melodic music, so I might ask someone in the future (after I get a solid demo running).

If you want, you could also find free MIDIs, import them, and convert them to an 8 bit style. It won't be original music, but it would still be pretty neat.

 

[jepense]

An update:
Since last time, I've implemented a simple enemy AI and a deck-building menu.

So, I basically have a very bare bones playable demo up and running!

 

[Enk]

Gah! Another speedbump in learning XNA/C#. I was midway through Nick Gavelyn's Tile Game tutorial and he's taken down his site due to hackers. :-( I'll have to search for more 2d game tutorials to bide my time until he, hopefully, puts his site back up.

Any suggestions?

An update:
Since last time, I've implemented a simple enemy AI and a deck-building menu.

So, I basically have a very bare bones playable demo up and running!

Great! Barely midway through the second month and you already have something playable. Keep up the good work!

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Yeah the thing is the site hosting the tutorials for the game engine I'm using has been down since January too. :/ It's hard to struggle through with just bits and scraps.

Alternatively, I'm waiting until version 2.0.0 of the engine is released, as it's apparently being worked on right now.