GZShmup

[LilWhiteMouse]

http://www.prdarkfox.com/lwm/flyer.7z
- Re-textured, and re-modeled most stuff.
- Nerfed the boss HP's to speed things up.
- Added the boss HP bar.
- Added music.
- Shields regenerate faster if you don't fire (primary only).
- Missiles uses ammo, but regenerate when not used. Max 5.
- Added an auto turret to the player. Does minimum damage. I had to disable it's graphics because it can't keep up with the player. Only way to reduce the stutter was to slow the player to half speed, which I didn't think anyone would accept.
- New enemy & boss turrets.

[HavoX]

Sweet, this project proves we could probably make Gradius/R-Type/Thunder Force/etc. fangames that way. :P

I did come across one little problem with the latest flyer.7z...

[LilWhiteMouse]

I did come across one little problem with the latest flyer.7z...

Works for me in GZDoom r1353.

I discovered the FORCEXYBILLBOARD flag, so I can use regular sprites instead of faking them.
Added a proper starfield using a portal.
[EDIT]

Bosses now drift off the bottom of the screen instead of just disappear.
Enemy spawns have been tweaked.

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In theory (at the whim of the random number generator), enemies in the beginning of the list spawn more often then enemies at the end of the list.
There are currently 5 enemies, so #1 has a 33% chance, #2: 27%, #3: 20%, #4: 13%,and #5: 6%. Percent is calculated automatically, so I can just add/sort them to the list.

[LilWhiteMouse]

http://www.prdarkfox.com/lwm/flyer.7z
Renamed the project to GZShmup.
Added another enemy type.
Added another attack possibility to the boss.
Reduced the shields from 20 to 15.

[Enjay]

This is just getting better and better. It now looks superb. I can't get over how well it plays. The controls feel good enough to give the illusion that it is an actual shmup engined game and not using a FPS engine at all.

[edit] Oh, and Havox's error is because he is not using a recent SVN version. The last official release gives me the same error. [/edit]

[LilWhiteMouse]

The basic enemy (homing fighter) can now appear in a formation. Might do the same for some others.
Tweaked the spawning code so that it won't spawn two enemies too close along the X axis.
Score counter is gone. Replaced it with a thin red bar at the side of the screen. The boss appears when it's filled. Dubbed it antagonizer. IE: When you've pissed off the enemy enough, the boss shows up. Slowly reduces over time, forcing you to destroy things faster.

[Project Shadowcat]

Could there be a score counter, too? Well, for those who like that sort of thing.

[printz]

This looks quite impressive...

[HavoX]

[edit] Oh, and Havox's error is because he is not using a recent SVN version. The last official release gives me the same error. [/edit]

In my defense, I'd rather play it safe and not risk possible stability issues with the SVN builds. But whatever... *shrugs*

[LilWhiteMouse]

Could there be a score counter, too? Well, for those who like that sort of thing.

Part of the reason I got rid of it was because of the random nature of the project. Currently, I fixed it so the boss appears at 1500 points each wave (bearing in mind you lose points when not destroying things). I wanted to make GZShmup something you didn't have to invest any time in. I had considered adding a "survival" mechanic, where you'd receive no armor restores. The bosses appeared at regular time intervals, and when you died you're time would be displayed. If you'd like, I could re-implement the score as a new mode (like before), and perhaps survival if anyone wanted it. BTW, modes would be implemented via the difficulty menu. Difficulty wouldn't actually change, I'd just hijack it to make use of GameSkill().

Post release changes:
Bosses are now randomly named, like Chibi Rebellion's episode titles: "Adjective" and/or "Noun" and "Proper Noun". Examples, should give a clue as to their origin.

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Super Frigate Tyrian
Mega Battleship TwinBee
Ultra Corvette Cotton
Space Dreadnaught Paradius

Added another enemy.

[PlayerLin]

Holy cow... A flyer shooting game in FPS engine...

In my defense, I'd rather play it safe and not risk possible stability issues with the SVN builds. But whatever... *shrugs*

It's not a bad idea, but you have to want the next ZDooM official release out...

Well, actually I think SVN builds are NOT that too unstable at all, risks still acceptable for me.
Unless someone broke it so hard.

...I had considered adding a "survival" mechanic, where you'd receive no armor restores....

How about something like this one(Warning: Japanese shit)...? Reminded me about that "dodging-shitload-of-bullets-on-whole-screen" survival game...but player cannot shoot shit in that game.

[Gez]

About stability of SVN builds, there are sometimes a few issues (like recently, crashes induced by teleports) but they are quickly discovered and fixed (like, in the following day).

Randy is seemingly ramping up to get a 2.6.0 release sometimes soon, so ZDoom is currently more stable than it has been for a long while. Tons and tons of bugs have been fixed in the last month. There used to be six pages of backlog in the bug forums, it's down to two right now.

[Nash]

There used to be six pages of backlog in the bug forums, it's down to two right now.

Now, about the Feature Suggestions and Code Submission forums...

[Gez]

They'd be a good way to fill the bug report forum back up!

[Project Shadowcat]

Could there be a score counter, too? Well, for those who like that sort of thing.

Part of the reason I got rid of it was because of the random nature of the project. Currently, I fixed it so the boss appears at 1500 points each wave (bearing in mind you lose points when not destroying things). I wanted to make GZShmup something you didn't have to invest any time in. I had considered adding a "survival" mechanic, where you'd receive no armor restores. The bosses appeared at regular time intervals, and when you died you're time would be displayed. If you'd like, I could re-implement the score as a new mode (like before), and perhaps survival if anyone wanted it. BTW, modes would be implemented via the difficulty menu. Difficulty wouldn't actually change, I'd just hijack it to make use of GameSkill().

Fair enough. I actually wondered how hard it would be to have a score counter separate from the aggravator, but if it's too much effort or isn't worth the effort in the first place, you don't need to bother just for me.