QixPanic- customizable arcade friendly game (Added a dragon!)

[Felsir]

For a long time, Qix (and on my trusty C64: Stix) was one of my favorite games. I'm happy to play Panic Street, but the constant telephone noises become annoying quickly. Then there is the Gals Panic series- but the ..uhm... 'mature' theme is not exactly what I'm looking for.
So I started programming my own version so I can have control of the content and other aspects of the game.

Design goals:
- Cabinet friendly, actually to emulate an arcade game much like Fix It Felix Jr. does.
- Customizable controls and other arcade related settings (vertical monitor, cocktail, controls, screensize etc).
- Game graphics switchable (so you can decide the type of game content)
- At least two player support.

I currently have the basic framework laid out. The game can be scaled and rotated. Some stuff is hardcoded. The enemies are uninteresting blobs floating around, but are mostly for testing purposes. I have the player objects nearly done.
There are a few obstacles where the floodfill algorithm fails and the player can get stuck - so it's not in a testable state right now.
Anyway, a few screenshots of the progress so far. QixPanic01 shows the game without HLSL shaders, the other two have CRT effects enabled.

If in time, if anyone could help out with music or soundeffects, that would be awesome :-)

[Generic Eric]

Neat!
Are the boarders hidden in full screen?

[Felsir]

Yes, in fullscreen mode there is no window border visible. The black border on the outside is only visible if you use the pincushion setting in the HLSL shader (thanks Sjaak for providing the HLSL shader used in his Fix It Felix Jr.)

[Felsir]

This is what it currently looks like:


I'm working on making the enemies more interesting, but the core gameplay works.

[thatpurplestuff]

Love it looks great!  I played Cacoma Knight for more hours than I care to admit on the SNES.

[Felsir]

Wow, I wasn't aware of Cacoma Knight! Nice variant of Volfied/Qix there!

I've added some variety to the badguy:

[Sjaak]

Very nice. Love the particles effects!

[nordemoniac]

Cool!

I've never heard about this game, thanks!

[Louis Tully]

.

[Generic Eric]

  +    =  Amazing custom arcade games.

You guys should team up.

What a great idea!  Too bad there is no way to +1 or send some upvotes.  What does that report to moderator button do? 

[thatpurplestuff]

  +    =  Amazing custom arcade games.

You guys should team up.

What a great idea!  Too bad there is no way to +1 or send some upvotes.  What does that report to moderator button do?

Don't do it bro.  I hit that button once on accident and I woke up almost 4 days later in the middle of a Costco food court feeling very vulnerable.

[nordemoniac]

  +    =  Amazing custom arcade games.

You guys should team up.

What a great idea!  Too bad there is no way to +1 or send some upvotes.  What does that report to moderator button do?

Don't do it bro.  I hit that button once on accident and I woke up almost 4 days later in the middle of a Costco food court feeling very vulnerable.

 

[ppv]

For the music, if you have time, you can go to http://www.jamendo.com/. Lots of Creative Common original music there, from all sorts of genre, that you could use for free if you do not plan to sell the game.

[nordemoniac]

For the music, if you have time, you can go to http://www.jamendo.com/. Lots of Creative Common original music there, from all sorts of genre, that you could use for free if you do not plan to sell the game.

Or:

http://indiegamemusic.com

[Felsir]

Thanks for those links, I will definitly check them out :-)

[Felsir]

Another update. The 'Big Bad' can take on several shapes. This video shows the dragon shape. I used temporary images from the game Darius so I could get a feel for the movement, I will change the sprites later once I have everything up and running. Basically all sprites will probably change.
Between 3%-50% the dragon shoots "runners" (critters that run along the perimeter of the area). From 50% up the dragon shoots homing missiles that destroy part of the captured area. Completion threshold, at 75% the level is completed.

Very nice. Love the particles effects!

Thanks, I maybe went a bit overboard with the end-of-level explosion :-)

[Felsir]

I've put this project (temporary) on hold.
Reason: my brother who loves doing pixel artwork asked if I could do a 80s racing game... he was already creating scenary so I couldn't refuse 

Sneak peek:


I'll probably create a new topic when it's in a more playable state if there is any interest.

[Le Chuck]

my brother who loves doing pixel artwork

my brother who loves doing pixel artwork

my brother who loves doing pixel artwork

MY BROTHER WHO LOVES DOING PIXEL ARTWORK

Why the hell have I been banging my nuts against Candy Nightmare?!?!?!?!?!

[yotsuya]

U mad, bro?

[Le Chuck]

U mad, bro?

Nah, I'm good now

[yotsuya]

U mad, bro?

Nah, I'm good now

 

[eds1275]

Or:
http://indiegamemusic.com

or http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=profile;u=22116 

[Felsir]

Why the hell have I been banging my nuts against Candy Nightmare?!?!?!?!?!

Believe me, I begged him to do art for that one. At the time he was swamped in work and wasn't sold on the game idea :-( Imagine my surprise when he mailed me this race game artwork...

[Felsir]

Or:
http://indiegamemusic.com

or http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=profile;u=22116 

I'll keep that in mind! :-)