[Shoot-em-upper]

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I don't like huge screen-filling bosses.  They don't leave much room to dodge.

[alillm]

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The screens look great as usual (I am a bit biased though, because I'm a big fan of abstract graphics in shmups). I can't wait to play this one.

Ali

[X-0ut]

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Seconded, this is looking great. The glow style really rocks.

[Captain Vimes]

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Fantastic work! I can't wait to see the demo, and I think Varius is definitely a contender.

[Kairos]

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Thanks everyone. Now you get a video as a reward.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNkGwvYalYI

Look for the Treasure-like explosion. That was fun to do.

What is missing in that video is the 4th option icon, which was a nuclear missile, the score, sound, and a background. Actually there is a background, you just can't see it because of the crappy quality.
Enjoy, this will be the last of eye candy updates for a while. You may still get provided with some progress screens, and the demo, well, not for a long time.

Things you'd like to know:
Laser has been balanced, at least, for now. Has a huge cooldown but goes through more than 1 object and does nifty damage. Bad against swarms, good against big targets.
First level is done.
Nuclear missile: slow, but big damage. Useless against swarms but very effective on things like bosses.
Option color has to be changed, it's easy to get them confused with bullets and vice versa.

[alillm]

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I think I might just quit now...

That explosion was stunning, and the whole game looks fantastic already.

 

Ali

[EDIT]
What program did you create that explosion in by the way?

[Kairos]

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Don't quit Ali 
Your game was looking quite interesting too.

And as for what program, I am programming the entire game in Game Maker, and the explosion was generated too. Along with some sprites and blending.

[alillm]

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Yea, I'm not really giving up, but I'm certainly going to have step up my game now  .

I think I'm at a bit of a disadvantage making my first C++ game, and competing against all these game maker pros, hehe.

Ali

[cactus]

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Did I see some graphic distortion in that explosion? Didn't know GM was capable of that without slowing down

Anyway, this is looking real good. I have one complaint; the other explosions were too small. I think there's an unwritten rulet that explosions should be larger than the things that explode.

Also I really wanna see a cool background effect thrown in there

[Kairos]

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Ali: I'm not a pro, believe me. More like the opposite. I suck at coding, I just use simple things to show an illusion 

cactus: Thanks! For the distortion, surfaces and primitives are everything. I don't understand math too well, so I incorporated an example of a distortion into a useful situation, and I think I did pretty well too. It slows down in my situation because I have a bunch of instances flying around everywhere, you couldn't see it in the video. But not too much of a speed drop, in fact the drop makes it look more dramatic. 

I'll improve the explosions and attempt to make a background visible later.

[pixelizr]

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Look for the Treasure-like explosion.

Not enough slowdown.

[Shoot-em-upper]

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That was amazing.  I like the way the boss has options of a sort as well after a while.

[Adigun A. Polack]

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[WOW]

You know what that video tells me, Kairos?  It just says to me “WOW, that was absolutely phenomenal!!!” out loud, especially in the way the boss actually explodes by destroying the core as well!!!  Excellent, excellent, EXCELLENT!!!

Everybody had REALLY better step up now!!!  =b !!

[Kairos]

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Thanks everyone! The comments are great motivators 

Although, I wouldn't mind if anyone would like to provide tips for a funky background (black just doesn't cut it.) Some sort of abstract thing going on in the back. I already have a "chaotic cyberspace" type designed:



You can see random shapes, patterns, and binary floating around. (Or, you will. Hard to tell from the screenshot.)

I have to start working soon, which means less time on Varia, but as of now I'm working on the second level, so we can expect a finished and polished product by the end date. At least, I hope.

[pieslice]

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Cool. Although I thought that violet blob was a second form of a boss, like the Gluon.
Looks very cool indeed.

[ReleX]

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just...

 

Wow... *stunned*

I...

Its fucking awsome! I love it!...

I guess me and my teammate had better get to work... and fast!
The explosion is realy teh zexiest!! goddamn... you did that in GM? I think Nobody is gonna have to pull out every trick he has up his sleve/hat. And I'm gonna have to make the most stunning visuals and blend graphics I possibly can... If we still want a shot at winning. Goddamn you kairos!!

-ReleX

[pieslice]

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Although, I wouldn't mind if anyone would like to provide tips for a funky background (black just doesn't cut it.) Some sort of abstract thing going on in the back. I already have a "chaotic cyberspace" type designed:

You can always create a city scape out of boxes. Just combine boxes to achieve different-shaped buildings. With outlined boxes, the city would look rather cybernetic.

[monoRAIL]

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Great work Kairos - the bullet patterns coming off the boss look cool, and that explosion is just awesome. I didn't know Game Maker could do shader like effects like that. This really looks like something I'm going to enjoy playing!

[Kairos]

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just...

 

Wow... *stunned*

I...

Its fucking awsome! I love it!...

I guess me and my teammate had better get to work... and fast!
The explosion is realy teh zexiest!! goddamn... you did that in GM? I think Nobody is gonna have to pull out every trick he has up his sleve/hat. And I'm gonna have to make the most stunning visuals and blend graphics I possibly can... If we still want a shot at winning. Goddamn you kairos!!

-ReleX

Everything in Varia done in GM, and it's too early to determine anything yet.
So put your effort in it. I didn't think that I would be that competitive, but... I guess that means I improved since coding my last game.

Although, I wouldn't mind if anyone would like to provide tips for a funky background (black just doesn't cut it.) Some sort of abstract thing going on in the back. I already have a "chaotic cyberspace" type designed:

You can always create a city scape out of boxes. Just combine boxes to achieve different-shaped buildings. With outlined boxes, the city would look rather cybernetic.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll keep it in mind, but I also don't know anything about 3D (shame on me  ).

Great work Kairos - the bullet patterns coming off the boss look cool, and that explosion is just awesome. I didn't know Game Maker could do shader like effects like that. This really looks like something I'm going to enjoy playing!

Game Maker has quite the amount of illusionary tricks, despite it's decade old technology (possibly even older.)
It's possible to make some awesome special effects that can be made with the more advanced game engines, but most people haven't thought it out, or found them yet

Thanks for the comments.

[the2bears]

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Thanks for the suggestion. I'll keep it in mind, but I also don't know anything about 3D (shame on me  ).

Something like what I do in Shade works well, it's a poorman's 3D done on a mobile phone (and an applet on that page).  Let me know if you want some "coaching" on it

Bill

[Kairos]

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Something like what I do in Shade works well, it's a poorman's 3D done on a mobile phone (and an applet on that page).  Let me know if you want some "coaching" on it

Bill

Ah, that's a cool effect that could go along with my game!
Although, I think I know how to recreate it. If I run into any problems, I'll let you know.

Nice game, btw. I'd put that on a mobile phone if I had one 

[omicron1]

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Lookin' good. Mainly because of the fan-cee surface stretching effects, but still... lookin' good.

[alillm]

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Ah, that's a cool effect that could go along with my game!
Although, I think I know how to recreate it. If I run into any problems, I'll let you know.

I don't know if this would be easy in game maker or not, but In flash (and anything that can do drawing/filling at runtime) you can create a more solid looking 3D effect by just drawing a large square and a small square and then joining the corners and filling the visible sides in different shades of a colour, or just leave it as a wireframe. This effect is used to give buildings perspective in many flash games (you can also texture the sides, but that’s more work).

You just have to make the top square move with slightly greater speed than the bottom square and you have a nice perspective effect.

the2bears' effect is cool though

Ali

[the2bears]

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Ah, that's a cool effect that could go along with my game!
Although, I think I know how to recreate it. If I run into any problems, I'll let you know.

I don't know if this would be easy in game maker or not, but In flash (and anything that can do drawing/filling at runtime) you can create a more solid looking 3D effect by just drawing a large square and a small square and then joining the corners and filling the visible sides in different shades of a colour, or just leave it as a wireframe. This effect is used to give buildings perspective in many flash games (you can also texture the sides, but that’s more work).

You just have to make the top square move with slightly greater speed than the bottom square and you have a nice perspective effect.

the2bears' effect is cool though

Ali

I'm sure this could easily be done in Game Maker.  It's pretty simple math, I actually calculate the perspective and adjust each point (four corners of a "floor") on the buildings and draw accordingly.  It would certainly be just as easy to draw from the bottom to the top on 4 sides to get the look you show. 

Bill

[stwelin]

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Oh god. The final explosion effect is beyond brilliance.

I need to change my pants...

[alillm]

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I'm sure this could easily be done in Game Maker.  It's pretty simple math, I actually calculate the perspective and adjust each point (four corners of a "floor") on the buildings and draw accordingly.  It would certainly be just as easy to draw from the bottom to the top on 4 sides to get the look you show. 

Bill

Yea, I thought it probably could, I just wasn’t sure what game maker had in terms of runtime drawing tools. The way I’ve done it before, is give each 'building' a length and width, then draw the bottom based on that, I also give them a height and draw the top of the building as a scaled up version of the bottom, based on the height (so the higher the building, the more the top will be scaled up). You then calculate the position of the top of the building by working out the distance of the bottom from the centre of the screen (and do some simple calculations using that together with the height of the building), then it’s pretty simple to just connect the corners and use some basic logic to work out which sides to fill.

Ali

[pieslice]

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Or just calculate perspective and draw four quads...

[-One-]

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I can see some ideas were taken from Raiden...enemies that pop in, shoot and zip up and away...enemy with a triple gun and carries a weapon upgrade...

I am definitely watching this. Hope to see the end result. 

[Yavin]

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Why does some one keep reporting this thread?

if there is material here that should not be please point it out, and it will be delt with.

[Kairos]

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Progress Report, if anyone's interested, and a screenshot.

Like 20% done.
11 different enemies including the mini-boss and boss as of now.
Level 1 is finished, now working on 2.
Scoring system in place, think bonuses and chains.
Some enemies need to be redrawn, but most are satisfactory atm.
3 different type of arrays planned for now (option following player mechanics),
10 different type of absorbable weapon abilities,
explosions and effects are primitive but will be redone near the end of development.
3 Background concepts, would gladly take a few more.

Level 2:



I got a bit of inspiration from previous posters and decided to make the background so. After a while I plan to have the player dive into a never-ending tunnel for this level. More details will be added later.
(Seems like the credit list is going to be a big one, including beta testers. But there's nothing wrong with that.)
Abstract backgrounds are a bit difficult to think of, though, since I don't want to end up making something look similar to other games too much. Keep in mind that the game is located in cyberspace.

[alillm]

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Background looks great , very abstract. Progress looks good, keep it up, you are much further on than I am!

Ali

[the2bears]

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Nice, that background looks a little like Gridrunner++.

Bill

[Kairos]

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Nice, that background looks a little like Gridrunner++.

Bill

That game is rather trippy! Although the background doesn't act like that. 
Anyway, thanks for the tip from before.

[Adigun A. Polack]

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[=b]

Absolute top-class brilliance, that new background!!  Sorta like The Matrix, but a WHOLE lot better in my opinion!!!  =b

I think that you are an EXCELLENT inspiration to this compo, Kairos, and I just want you to know that, ok? 

[Javet]

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Kairuga was a top-notch shmup. Exellent. This looks even better.

[Kairos]

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[=b]

Absolute top-class brilliance, that new background!!  Sorta like The Matrix, but a WHOLE lot better in my opinion!!!  =b

I think that you are an EXCELLENT inspiration to this compo, Kairos, and I just want you to know that, ok? 

Haha, thanks. I guessed I should've spoke sooner rather than lurking around in shmup-dev for a while.

Kairuga was a top-notch shmup. Exellent. This looks even better.

It should be better, considering that Kairuga is something I definitely knew I could've improved by a whole lot, but was just too lazy.

[ReleX]

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I liked kairuga, though I found it to hard too early in the game. I can clearly see you are going for the same style in this . Though I think this game will be allot better! I like the new BG and can imagine how it looks in motion. You could also make like a cyberspace highway... Like there are lanes with traffic (maybe some non shooting tankers or something that drop powerups when destroyed). Keep up your exxelent work!

-ReleX

[Kairos]

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Player Blast type. (Area damage.) Looks a bit like one of the Gradius V bomb explosions.



There's also a new curvy attack type in, although a bit tricky to use.

Also, should I rename this game to Varius, something else, or just stick with it? The name doesn't have much of a connection to anything atm.

[Adigun A. Polack]

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About the title change from Varia to Varius for this project, WOW, that is such a really tough call for me... I thought Varia was actually *quite* so interesting and rather original, and the new title Varius would sound a bit too familiar to me (even since we shmuppers have known the Darius games a whole damn lot over the years!  ).

My advice here: stick with the current name of Varia, because it is such a SPLENDID name of your game indeed that I am sure people will know a lot more of when they play the new entries at the end of the contest!!!  !!

[Kairos]

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I see, many people are already associating the current game with the name Varia (even though I said it might be a temporary name), so I'll stick with it. At least it's unique.