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itch.io Community » Game Development » Devlogs

SCRAPSHIP (Still going!)

A topic by 40wattstudio created Feb 16, 2020 Views: 17,296 Replies: 392
Viewing posts 101 to 120 of 299 · Next page · Previous page · First page · Last page
40wattstudio3 years ago

8 AUG 2020:

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo


This week I fixed a few bugs like . . .

. . . the one where the player ship would sometimes explode at the top of screen after colliding with an unseen ship. 

. . . the one where enemy ships sometimes couldn't steal dropped icons.

. . . the one where sound would still play even if the sound was turned off.

Some of these bugs have been around for a while, so I'm glad I finally got some of them fixed. Right now I'm at the point where I'm slowing adding things back in and testing as I go so the next release will be as bug-free as possible. 

As for new features, I'm working on a "Warning System" which will simply inform the player what direction to expect attacks from. It would suck to be flying around the right side of the screen, only to get side-swiped by an enemy ship that you weren't expecting.

Look for the newest demo sometime next week!

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40wattstudio3 years ago

15 AUG 2020:

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo

Proud to say that I finally got a new demo of Scrapship released!

There are some key differences compared to the last demo:

-- I added the much-requested Difficulty Level. You can now play on Easy, Normal or Hard modes.

-- More variety in gameplay -- random numbers and types of enemies spawn from random origins.

-- This is the first version of Scrapship to feature the original soundtrack by Tyson Cazier.

-- A new power-up system that includes a Repair icon so you can fix your ship mid-battle.

-- Lots of graphical improvements.

The last 48 hours leading up to release were pretty hectic -- it seemed that I would fix something and then something else would break. Never a good thing! 

Fortunately I got most of the bugs fixed. Balance seems to be the tricky thing due to the randomization. For example, if you don't upgrade your main weapon at all, the boss ship is extremely difficult to destroy (but possible). On the other hand, if you get an upgrade then the boss ship becomes rather easy (I think).

So what's the roadmap for the rest of Scrapship? 

I see this as being the second-to-last demo of Scrapship. I'd like for the next demo to be "The final demo". After that I'll be working hard on Story Mode.

If at all possible, I'm aiming to have Scrapship completely done by the end of the year.

But we'll see about that because as I mentioned in a previous post, I have a business trip starting next Monday and lasting for 3-4 weeks. During this time I won't have access to my gamedev setup so I'll have to find something else to work on. Then after that there are other business trips I may have to go on. 

So I'll just take it in stride and see what I can do.

Play the latest demo here . . .

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo

. . . or if you're curious what Hard mode looks like, I've uploaded one of my playthroughs.

As always, thanks for reading and I look forward to your feedback!

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40wattstudio3 years ago(+2)

6 SEP 2020:

Finally back from my NY business trip! 

I watched a lot of game design videos which led me to one major conclusion:

Scrapship needs a LOT of work!

In particular I hadn't even bothered with taking color palette's into consideration. Check out these two screenshots:

On the left we have the very first demo. Very primitive . . . but the colors really stand out because there are so few of them. 

On the right is the latest demo (5). Looks fancier, but the spaceships don't stand out as much as they should. There is also a severe lack of consistency: Why are the fighters red and the cruiser blue? Why is the player almost purple? Why are some projectiles red, purple or white? The earth background further complicates the image.

So with that being said, here are some of the things I'll be focusing on:

-- Color Color COLOR! Going to work hard to find combinations that work together and really stand out.

-- The player only has 3 weapons (because I only have 3 sound effects for them). Nothing inherently wrong with only having 3 weapons, but they each need to have more purpose than simply "this one does more damage". I'll be working on balancing these 3 out. 

-- Hit detection has always been a sore spot in Scrapship. Ideally I'd like "pixel-perfect" hit detection, so I'm going to see if that's possible or not. 

Lots more on my mind, but that's the main gist of my thoughts. Stay posted for more updates!

The latest demo can always be played here:

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo

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TheSneaK3 years ago(+2)

Ah yes, I learnt that color pallet lesson the hard way as well, when I had to redo every sprite in Roopit and Boopit!  xD

Good to see you're still going man!  :D

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Sepi3 years ago(+2)

There are a lot of pre-made color palettes online. I think changing the colors of your game to match different color palettes is a great practice to understand color theory better. After trying a couple of pre-made palettes you can create your own palette by chosing the colors that work best together for your game. Anyway, I think you have a very solid gameplay and scrapship is super fun to play, so I think trying out new colors at this point is a great idea! Cant wait to see the results!

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Badeorne3 years ago(+1)

Hi, Just to find out, I hit the hud wall in my game, how do you plan to do it in yours? because that cuts the immersion ...

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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

Are you trying to figure out whether or not to use a HUD in your game?

Not having a HUD can be a good idea if you're going for minimalism, but can be confusing if you need to show information to the player.

At the moment, Scrapship doesn't have a HUD, but I do plan on adding one in the near future so I can better display data like Player HP,  Score, Enemy HP, etc. I originally planned to not have one, but after a while I realized that it wasn't very practical.

In top-down shooters, most HUDs are a solid bar along the top or wider bars along the left and right sides of the screen.

If you have other questions feel free to email me at 40wattstudio@gmail.com

Thanks for reading my devlog, btw! :)

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Badeorne3 years ago(+1)

I got a lot of thing to show and it happen i started a side bar left and right just before reading your reply xD (only solution i found if want keep all enemy move possible)

And thanks for the offer, if I had the information beforehand I would have spare myself some brain explosions for the main code. I take it ;D

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40wattstudio3 years ago

12 SEP 2020:

This is the new look of the player ship!

I fixed the symmetry of the wings, added a transparent glass texture to the cockpit, changed the color palette and made lots of other changes to the mesh. What do you think?

After much thought I've concluded that the game is more fun when the player decides when to change the weapon. In addition, I've integrated little "indicators" into the ship's design to clue the player which weapon is selected.

Next, I finally added a feature that has been much-requested in Scrapship: Full screen mode! 

Finally, I fixed a bug where there was a missing frame in the opening animation where the player ship drops down.

That's all for this week! Don't forget to check out my Instagram for daily progress and motivation!

https://www.instagram.com/40wattstudio/

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Sepi3 years ago(+1)

The new model looks great! I love that a different light is turned on for each weapon, that looks amazing! Also the fullscreen mode will be a life saver for my supid laptop haha cant wait for the next demo.

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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

Thanks! I'm currently working on even more animations for the player ship. Right now I have about 20 of them.

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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

19 SEP 2020:

The player's ship now has 56 frames of animation! In addition, it also comprises of 4 hit-boxes and can now have chunks shot off in combat. Most shmups do not have this level of destructibility and I can see why: It's very VERY tedious to do! But I think the end result is worth the effort, how about you?

A new scoring system is also being tested.

Look for the next Scrapship demo late September/early October!



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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

26 SEP 2020:

Most of this past week I was on (another) business trip, but I did manage to work on something I've been meaning to do for a while:

Particle explosions! 

In the GIF above you can see the small explosions when you hit enemy ships, but I also have a new one for when the player ship explodes. 

It took a lot of figuring out, but now that I know how to implement it in code, I'll be experimenting with more cool effects along those lines. 

New demo out Monday! Additions/changes from the last version include:

  • Player ship can have different segments shot off.
  • Player can now change the weapon at any time by pressing "C"
  • Full screen mode support (press "F")
  • New scoring system

The new demo will be available at the same link as always:

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo

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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

3 OCT 2020:

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo

What a difference 30 degrees makes! This week I took the basic Fighter model and angled it for a more 3D look.

I also used the Fighter to create a new ship -- the Shield Fighter. The shield is still a work in progress.

You can see both of these ships in the GIF above. What do you think of the new look?

But wait, there's more! 

The Cruiser has always had a little notched area at the front which contains a gun. In past demos, I didn't make use of this and simply had the ship fire aimed projectiles at the player. Now, I've scrapped the aimed projectiles and replace that weapon with a beam. This is also a work in progress, but I'm hoping it will add a little more strategy to the game.

Finally, I just want to say thanks to all those here on Itch.io and Instagram and anywhere else that have given me feedback on Scrapship. Each comment (good or bad) has been most helpful in influencing changes to the game. 

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo

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Badeorne3 years ago(+1)

Hum, i will just steal your behavior' idea with the beam :  i hope it don't bother you (￢_￢)'

Ps : don't know why but your 2nd gif give me a surge of desire to play your game, maybe the beam, well done.

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40wattstudio3 years ago

Beam weapons are definitely nothing new in shmups, so feel free to use that idea in your game.

Glad you like it! 

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JR3 years ago(+2)

Mystery: What programming language is this being developed in???
Is it C or C# or C++?

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40wattstudio3 years ago

Qbasic

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JR3 years ago

I was close....

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TheSneaK3 years ago(+1)

The laser beams on the enemies look cool.

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40wattstudio3 years ago (1 edit) (+1)

10 OCT 2020:

Cruisers now give a little bit of warning before firing their lasers. I think the animation turned out really well!

When the "pincers" are open it reminds me of this Toe Biter I took a picture of during one of my Iraq deployments:

(Fun side note: You would not believe the bugs in Iraq. They're all HUGE! Camel spiders the size of your hand. Ugly mole crickets. Toe-Biters the size of soda cans . . . )

I'm still adjusting the Cruiser firing animations and behavior but I feel it's definitely on the right track.

Then later this week I found a rookie mistake I was making. I corrected it and ended up reducing my code by 200 lines. Woot!

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Badeorne3 years ago(+1)

Warn before shooting ???! but the object of the game is to KILL THE PLAYER, right? .... no ?

Ps:  Look great, congrat. 

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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

17 OCT 2020:

Lots of progress to report on!

- I fixed the "wave" system. More waves of enemies fly in every x number of seconds (determined by the difficulty level). This gives the player more variety of enemies to fight at any one time, but also ramps up the challenge significantly. I might have to rename Hard mode Brutal!

- That being said, I did fix an issue with the battleship boss being too hard. You can now shoot it with the green laser to permanently stop it in its tracks!

- I fixed the "bullet wiggle" that was noted on the battleship projectiles. It's a little hard to see due to the low framerate of the GIF above, but the new bullet animations are slippery-smooth!

- The icon-based system has been totally removed. Now, the only way to trigger a Scrapstorm is to collect all the scrap. 

- Cruisers don't overlap each other as much when they warp in.

- Player ship now fires all weapon types from the center of the ship.

- Fixed an issue where the bomber shots would sometimes "idle" on screen and not do anything. Now they track your every movement flawlessly.

- Worked on special animations for when enemy fighters get shot down.

A lot of this week's fixes and improvements were suggested by players like you, so please feel free and continue to leave feedback. Every word counts! I keep a spreadsheet of all the feedback given to me (items highlighted in green have been fixed):


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Sepi3 years ago(+2)

Nice! Being able to stop the boss with the green laser is a great adition, very cool!

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40wattstudio3 years ago

24 OCT 2020:

This week focused mostly on the green laser that disables enemy ships (much like the Ion Cannon in Star Wars). 

I used BlastFX to make that, plus some other cool explosions that you'll see in the next demo.

Speaking of the next demo, look for it next Friday or Saturday! The game is slowly getting better and I can confidently say that this version is more fun than any of the others!

Keep the feedback coming! Scrapship has a dedicated Discord channel now too!

Have a good weekend everyone!

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40wattstudio3 years ago

31 OCT 2020:

A new demo of Scrapship is out and I'm very excited to have you play it!

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo

But first, let's deal with the elephant in the room.

The planet. 

This is the first demo to feature the new planet background graphics that I made in Unreal Engine 4!

Besides looking a lot cooler, it also gives greater contrast and makes for a better title screen. 


A brief list of improvements from the last demo:

- Fighters can be shot apart piece-by-piece.

- Cruisers have a brand new beam attack and animation.

- Explosion and stun animations.


If you give it a try, please let me know what you think! 

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo

Have a good rest of your weekend!

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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

7 NOV 2020:



-- Added more player ship debris.
-- Added fighter debris.
-- Cruisers take more damage when their "beak" is open.

I'm also about 1/3 way done with better damaged versions of the cruisers. This part is one of the most tedious but will look very nice when complete because the cruisers will also be able to be shot apart piece-by-piece.

Finally,  a big thanks to everyone that has downloaded and/or given feedback on the game. The consensus seems to be that Scrapship is heading in the right direction!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo

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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

14 NOV 2020:


-- Enemy cruisers can now be destroyed piece-by-piece!

Equally important is that I now have a better method for accomplishing the piece-by-piece effect that uses less code and disk space. I should be able to make in-game objects destructible much faster now.

Also, instead of using alpha brushes or booleans to deform the 3D objects, I now manipulate the vertices directly to give it more of a "twisted metal" look.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo


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Badeorne3 years ago (1 edit)

well done, if i can give my advice i found it wierd on your gif that the big purple bullet disapear without any effect.

that's all good luck and peace <3

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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

The bomb is currently set on a timer but now that you mention it, yeah I probably should give more indication when it's about to expire.

How is your game coming along? I haven't  seen any updates in a while.

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Badeorne3 years ago

There is no update cause there is nothing done for a long time. I've been called for a job and everything followed it.

But can't wait have a definitive planning and work on it again :D

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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

21 NOV 2020:



- Cruisers now have debris that falls off after taking a hit.
- The speed of debris floating away is dependent on which weapon you use. The rapid laser has a smaller mass, so the debris doesn't fly off as quickly. The scrap cannon has more mass, so it causes the debris to fly off much faster.
- You can see some of the new laser graphics I used thanks to a laser asset pack from Wenrexa here on Itch.io. His prices are very Indie friendly if you're looking for game assets.



- I added a "!" to give the player a little more warning when a cruiser was about to fire - or was still firing.


- Finally, I angled the battleship so it looks more 3D. It's also larger which makes it an easier target to hit.

New demo on the horizon! Watch for it towards the end of November!

In other news:
I've been teaching myself Python programming thanks to an excellent brand-new tutorials series by the London App Brewery on Udemy. Right now I'm making a simple Blackjack game as one of the projects.
I've also been following the Beard Games tutorials and learning more about Unreal Engine 4.

Thanksgiving is coming up!
I'm thankful for all the support this project has received! Especially all my followers here on Itch:
https://yahiamoh.itch.io/
https://hammergames.itch.io/
https://wechenbetelly.itch.io/
https://seothen.itch.io/
https://codegnat.itch.io/
https://badeorne.itch.io/
https://pumky.itch.io/
https://valham.itch.io/
https://mobilelast.itch.io/
https://strvstraja.itch.io/
https://yousoldyourmind.itch.io/
https://vladyslu.itch.io/
https://hiddenoceangames.itch.io/
https://grimbag.itch.io/
https://grin-kin.itch.io/
https://itch.io/profile/mkrone
https://johnblood.itch.io/
https://georgelam6.itch.io/
https://peralta.itch.io/
https://kochetovatanya.itch.io/
https://night-clox.itch.io/
https://terrible-entertainment.itch.io/
https://charliecambray.itch.io/
https://sepigamedev.itch.io/
https://svperstring.itch.io/
https://powplowdevs.itch.io/
https://itch.io/profile/mariosello1
https://nuskadamo.itch.io/
https://thesneak.itch.io/

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!




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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

28 NOV 2020:

The latest demo of Scrapship is now available for download!

- Better battleship boss (larger and looks more 3D)

- Cruisers can be destroyed piece-by-piece.

- Better weapon graphics

What's next?

With this year coming to a close (thank God!) I've been giving a lot of thought to the future of Scrapship:

- Numbering the demos is getting a little silly at this point. All future demos will just be titled "Scrapship Demo" with distinctions for Alpha, Beta and Final versions.

- Have an idea for Scrapship? The game is still in its Alpha stages so feel free to mention anything you'd like to see!

- Demos will still be released towards the end of each month.

- Watch for the final game sometime in 2021!

https://40wattstudio.itch.io/scrapship-demo

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