FAST GAME development!

As of right now (6-12-15), I'm starting from square one. Fortunately this gives me an opportunity to pursue a new direction entirely. The new version of FAST(working title) will be a 2d beat-em-up/action game!

I started work on the basic engine yesterday in GM8. Due to the more complex nature of this genre, and my own inexperience, you guys will have to wait a little longer for the playable demo, but I will keep you guys up-to-date with ideas, progress, and concept art.


As always, criticism, ideas, or whatever personal contribution you all wish to make are welcome!


Regarding the old version of the game: (download link will be included once I get my hands on the game)

Spoiler:

Ayy, Just beat the demo.

I think this game has a lot of potential, it reminds me a lot of those old Snake in a way with the flames that the player character leaves behind that can damage enemies, but imo the first level doesn't lend itself much to the style of game play that's being presented. It's a bit enclosed for a game play style that lends itself to super-mobility (Unless this was intentional, then it adds challenge to the game, though I would still think it needs to be a little bit more open.) Maybe this is the controls which are a bit on the stiff side, but it gets noticeable when trying to get that first key.
It wasn't an unenjoyable experience or anything though, I REALLY like the central idea. If possible, I would add some enemies that actively chase you and have others that are stationary so you'd have ones you' be out trying to kill and other ones that would be obstacles getting those enemies killed

The sprites are good, but I feel like they lend themselves to more of a typical side-scroller than a dungeon crawler. IDK if game maker lets you do perspective (Been meaning to try it out myself) But if it's at all possible it might be a good idea. One last nitpick is the levels themselves could use a little more flair, like making things a bit more thematic, like for example there's a lot of clown guys, so maybe have a campy sorta evil carnival kinda thing going on if that's the direction you want to keep. The gameplay design for the Boss was pretty awesome, and even if the game's in an incomplete state it had a really unique design to it, and if this is ever gonna be a full fledged game I bet you could make some really awesome boss battles.

Just my two cents, over all what I see has alot that's unique to it and I would love to see it fleshed out a bit more.

post fail, my bad xD

Walter wrote:

Ayy, Just beat the demo.

I think this game has a lot of potential, it reminds me a lot of those old Snake in a way with the flames that the player character leaves behind that can damage enemies, but imo the first level doesn't lend itself much to the style of game play that's being presented. It's a bit enclosed for a game play style that lends itself to super-mobility (Unless this was intentional, then it adds challenge to the game, though I would still think it needs to be a little bit more open.) Maybe this is the controls which are a bit on the stiff side, but it gets noticeable when trying to get that first key.
It wasn't an unenjoyable experience or anything though, I REALLY like the central idea. If possible, I would add some enemies that actively chase you and have others that are stationary so you'd have ones you' be out trying to kill and other ones that would be obstacles getting those enemies killed

The sprites are good, but I feel like they lend themselves to more of a typical side-scroller than a dungeon crawler. IDK if game maker lets you do perspective (Been meaning to try it out myself) But if it's at all possible it might be a good idea. One last nitpick is the levels themselves could use a little more flair, like making things a bit more thematic, like for example there's a lot of clown guys, so maybe have a campy sorta evil carnival kinda thing going on if that's the direction you want to keep. The gameplay design for the Boss was pretty awesome, and even if the game's in an incomplete state it had a really unique design to it, and if this is ever gonna be a full fledged game I bet you could make some really awesome boss battles.

Just my two cents, over all what I see has alot that's unique to it and I would love to see it fleshed out a bit more.

Thanks for playing, and for your thoughts!

The first level is pretty closed up, I did intend to have more open levels due to the quick speeds and large sprites present in the game. This first level was more to test out all of my objects in a time efficient manner. When I think out my gameplay mechanics more thoroughly I'll have more open spots. I like the idea of having chasing enemies, and would certainly like to have more stationary threats. So far you're able to trick enemies into drowning themselves, but I never actually considered using the environment as a main way to dispose of them. As for the graphics themselves, they're SUPER basic, I scribbled them all up in GM. The tiles were made just to have them. Everything present graphic-wise is placeholder. I want to have different worlds with different themes. I'll have tilesets ready when I actually get stuff working.  I'm also really glad you liked the boss, I've put a lot of time into him, and I've redone him at least twice. Bossio has been a part of my game since day 1. (even before the main character)



My whole philosophy concerning gameplay is "Keep the player moving." I want there to be lots of action! I plan on adding melee attacks, so you don't only have to rely on your flames. I DON't want to add ranged attacks. I want the player to be up close and personal in combat. I've considered removing the speed meter too, but it's only there to keep the player from "spamming." To compensate for this, any positive action (deflecting or killing) refills the gauge.

By perspective, what do you mean by the way? I've chosen the pseudo top-down perspective because it's easier to do action in while displaying my characters. Isometric would be more for an RPG.


Again, thank you so much for giving my game your time, and I really appreciate the feedback. I'll keep the forums updated on future progress!


ALSO!

What would make the controls feel a little less stiff to you? I've gotten very accustomed to how my game plays since I've tested it a billion times. It feels natural to me, but I want it to feel good to the people actually playing.

Swoonis wrote:

Walter wrote:

Ayy, Just beat the demo.

I think this game has a lot of potential, it reminds me a lot of those old Snake in a way with the flames that the player character leaves behind that can damage enemies, but imo the first level doesn't lend itself much to the style of game play that's being presented. It's a bit enclosed for a game play style that lends itself to super-mobility (Unless this was intentional, then it adds challenge to the game, though I would still think it needs to be a little bit more open.) Maybe this is the controls which are a bit on the stiff side, but it gets noticeable when trying to get that first key.
It wasn't an unenjoyable experience or anything though, I REALLY like the central idea. If possible, I would add some enemies that actively chase you and have others that are stationary so you'd have ones you' be out trying to kill and other ones that would be obstacles getting those enemies killed

The sprites are good, but I feel like they lend themselves to more of a typical side-scroller than a dungeon crawler. IDK if game maker lets you do perspective (Been meaning to try it out myself) But if it's at all possible it might be a good idea. One last nitpick is the levels themselves could use a little more flair, like making things a bit more thematic, like for example there's a lot of clown guys, so maybe have a campy sorta evil carnival kinda thing going on if that's the direction you want to keep. The gameplay design for the Boss was pretty awesome, and even if the game's in an incomplete state it had a really unique design to it, and if this is ever gonna be a full fledged game I bet you could make some really awesome boss battles.

Just my two cents, over all what I see has alot that's unique to it and I would love to see it fleshed out a bit more.

Thanks for playing, and for your thoughts!

The first level is pretty closed up, I did intend to have more open levels due to the quick speeds and large sprites present in the game. This first level was more to test out all of my objects in a time efficient manner. When I think out my gameplay mechanics more thoroughly I'll have more open spots. I like the idea of having chasing enemies, and would certainly like to have more stationary threats. So far you're able to trick enemies into drowning themselves, but I never actually considered using the environment as a main way to dispose of them. As for the graphics themselves, they're SUPER basic, I scribbled them all up in GM. The tiles were made just to have them. Everything present graphic-wise is placeholder. I want to have different worlds with different themes. I'll have tilesets ready when I actually get stuff working.  I'm also really glad you liked the boss, I've put a lot of time into him, and I've redone him at least twice. Bossio has been a part of my game since day 1. (even before the main character)



My whole philosophy concerning gameplay is "Keep the player moving." I want there to be lots of action! I plan on adding melee attacks, so you don't only have to rely on your flames. I DON't want to add ranged attacks. I want the player to be up close and personal in combat. I've considered removing the speed meter too, but it's only there to keep the player from "spamming." To compensate for this, any positive action (deflecting or killing) refills the gauge.

By perspective, what do you mean by the way? I've chosen the pseudo top-down perspective because it's easier to do action in while displaying my characters. Isometric would be more for an RPG.


Again, thank you so much for giving my game your time, and I really appreciate the feedback. I'll keep the forums updated on future progress!

Glad I coulda helped. I figured the graphics were just placeholder, but I'm excited to see the art direction you do decide to take with this thing. I really like your design philosophy and I agree that having ranged attacks would feel really out of place in a game like this, but I think ranged enemies could add a good bit of challenge, especially if they were strategically placed. I must say I like the idea that killing enemies or deflecting attacks gives refils your charge, it would really make the game much more fast paced and as a potential result really adrenaline pumping.

As far as persective I mean the way things are displayed. Now that you've stated your intentions I can see where you're coming from, but I would try to tailor your levels to add some depth to them. For example, take a look at this game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK0nunl3Kko. This game has a nice detail on it's level design. I'm just throwing it out on a limb, I think there's some other games like it as well.

Again, I'm happy to provide input. I really do believe this has alot of potential and please do keep us updated on the game!

Walter wrote:

Swoonis wrote:

Walter wrote:

Ayy, Just beat the demo.

I think this game has a lot of potential, it reminds me a lot of those old Snake in a way with the flames that the player character leaves behind that can damage enemies, but imo the first level doesn't lend itself much to the style of game play that's being presented. It's a bit enclosed for a game play style that lends itself to super-mobility (Unless this was intentional, then it adds challenge to the game, though I would still think it needs to be a little bit more open.) Maybe this is the controls which are a bit on the stiff side, but it gets noticeable when trying to get that first key.
It wasn't an unenjoyable experience or anything though, I REALLY like the central idea. If possible, I would add some enemies that actively chase you and have others that are stationary so you'd have ones you' be out trying to kill and other ones that would be obstacles getting those enemies killed

The sprites are good, but I feel like they lend themselves to more of a typical side-scroller than a dungeon crawler. IDK if game maker lets you do perspective (Been meaning to try it out myself) But if it's at all possible it might be a good idea. One last nitpick is the levels themselves could use a little more flair, like making things a bit more thematic, like for example there's a lot of clown guys, so maybe have a campy sorta evil carnival kinda thing going on if that's the direction you want to keep. The gameplay design for the Boss was pretty awesome, and even if the game's in an incomplete state it had a really unique design to it, and if this is ever gonna be a full fledged game I bet you could make some really awesome boss battles.

Just my two cents, over all what I see has alot that's unique to it and I would love to see it fleshed out a bit more.

Thanks for playing, and for your thoughts!

The first level is pretty closed up, I did intend to have more open levels due to the quick speeds and large sprites present in the game. This first level was more to test out all of my objects in a time efficient manner. When I think out my gameplay mechanics more thoroughly I'll have more open spots. I like the idea of having chasing enemies, and would certainly like to have more stationary threats. So far you're able to trick enemies into drowning themselves, but I never actually considered using the environment as a main way to dispose of them. As for the graphics themselves, they're SUPER basic, I scribbled them all up in GM. The tiles were made just to have them. Everything present graphic-wise is placeholder. I want to have different worlds with different themes. I'll have tilesets ready when I actually get stuff working.  I'm also really glad you liked the boss, I've put a lot of time into him, and I've redone him at least twice. Bossio has been a part of my game since day 1. (even before the main character)



My whole philosophy concerning gameplay is "Keep the player moving." I want there to be lots of action! I plan on adding melee attacks, so you don't only have to rely on your flames. I DON't want to add ranged attacks. I want the player to be up close and personal in combat. I've considered removing the speed meter too, but it's only there to keep the player from "spamming." To compensate for this, any positive action (deflecting or killing) refills the gauge.

By perspective, what do you mean by the way? I've chosen the pseudo top-down perspective because it's easier to do action in while displaying my characters. Isometric would be more for an RPG.


Again, thank you so much for giving my game your time, and I really appreciate the feedback. I'll keep the forums updated on future progress!

Glad I coulda helped. I figured the graphics were just placeholder, but I'm excited to see the art direction you do decide to take with this thing. I really like your design philosophy and I agree that having ranged attacks would feel really out of place in a game like this, but I think ranged enemies could add a good bit of challenge, especially if they were strategically placed. I must say I like the idea that killing enemies or deflecting attacks gives refils your charge, it would really make the game much more fast paced and as a potential result really adrenaline pumping.

As far as persective I mean the way things are displayed. Now that you've stated your intentions I can see where you're coming from, but I would try to tailor your levels to add some depth to them. For example, take a look at this game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK0nunl3Kko. This game has a nice detail on it's level design. I'm just throwing it out on a limb, I think there's some other games like it as well.

Again, I'm happy to provide input. I really do believe this has alot of potential and please do keep us updated on the game!

Ah yes, I just looked at the video you sent, and I DO intend on eventually adding more depth to the levels. They currently are very flat looking.

Choosing my final art style will be hard. The current cartoony look is cool In my own opinion, maybe if I refine it more I can roll with it. I really wanted to give my sprites/tiles more atmosphere, idk. I've always liked the graphics in pseudo 3d isometric games, but IDK if I can pull that style off with 3/4 view.

I know I already asked, but as far as movements/controls go, if there's anything I can fix specifically about it, let me know. I've grown too accustomed to it. x.x

Swoonis wrote:

Walter wrote:

Swoonis wrote:

Walter wrote:

Ayy, Just beat the demo.

I think this game has a lot of potential, it reminds me a lot of those old Snake in a way with the flames that the player character leaves behind that can damage enemies, but imo the first level doesn't lend itself much to the style of game play that's being presented. It's a bit enclosed for a game play style that lends itself to super-mobility (Unless this was intentional, then it adds challenge to the game, though I would still think it needs to be a little bit more open.) Maybe this is the controls which are a bit on the stiff side, but it gets noticeable when trying to get that first key.
It wasn't an unenjoyable experience or anything though, I REALLY like the central idea. If possible, I would add some enemies that actively chase you and have others that are stationary so you'd have ones you' be out trying to kill and other ones that would be obstacles getting those enemies killed

The sprites are good, but I feel like they lend themselves to more of a typical side-scroller than a dungeon crawler. IDK if game maker lets you do perspective (Been meaning to try it out myself) But if it's at all possible it might be a good idea. One last nitpick is the levels themselves could use a little more flair, like making things a bit more thematic, like for example there's a lot of clown guys, so maybe have a campy sorta evil carnival kinda thing going on if that's the direction you want to keep. The gameplay design for the Boss was pretty awesome, and even if the game's in an incomplete state it had a really unique design to it, and if this is ever gonna be a full fledged game I bet you could make some really awesome boss battles.

Just my two cents, over all what I see has alot that's unique to it and I would love to see it fleshed out a bit more.

Thanks for playing, and for your thoughts!

The first level is pretty closed up, I did intend to have more open levels due to the quick speeds and large sprites present in the game. This first level was more to test out all of my objects in a time efficient manner. When I think out my gameplay mechanics more thoroughly I'll have more open spots. I like the idea of having chasing enemies, and would certainly like to have more stationary threats. So far you're able to trick enemies into drowning themselves, but I never actually considered using the environment as a main way to dispose of them. As for the graphics themselves, they're SUPER basic, I scribbled them all up in GM. The tiles were made just to have them. Everything present graphic-wise is placeholder. I want to have different worlds with different themes. I'll have tilesets ready when I actually get stuff working.  I'm also really glad you liked the boss, I've put a lot of time into him, and I've redone him at least twice. Bossio has been a part of my game since day 1. (even before the main character)



My whole philosophy concerning gameplay is "Keep the player moving." I want there to be lots of action! I plan on adding melee attacks, so you don't only have to rely on your flames. I DON't want to add ranged attacks. I want the player to be up close and personal in combat. I've considered removing the speed meter too, but it's only there to keep the player from "spamming." To compensate for this, any positive action (deflecting or killing) refills the gauge.

By perspective, what do you mean by the way? I've chosen the pseudo top-down perspective because it's easier to do action in while displaying my characters. Isometric would be more for an RPG.


Again, thank you so much for giving my game your time, and I really appreciate the feedback. I'll keep the forums updated on future progress!

Glad I coulda helped. I figured the graphics were just placeholder, but I'm excited to see the art direction you do decide to take with this thing. I really like your design philosophy and I agree that having ranged attacks would feel really out of place in a game like this, but I think ranged enemies could add a good bit of challenge, especially if they were strategically placed. I must say I like the idea that killing enemies or deflecting attacks gives refils your charge, it would really make the game much more fast paced and as a potential result really adrenaline pumping.

As far as persective I mean the way things are displayed. Now that you've stated your intentions I can see where you're coming from, but I would try to tailor your levels to add some depth to them. For example, take a look at this game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK0nunl3Kko. This game has a nice detail on it's level design. I'm just throwing it out on a limb, I think there's some other games like it as well.

Again, I'm happy to provide input. I really do believe this has alot of potential and please do keep us updated on the game!

Ah yes, I just looked at the video you sent, and I DO intend on eventually adding more depth to the levels. They currently are very flat looking.

Choosing my final art style will be hard. The current cartoony look is cool In my own opinion, maybe if I refine it more I can roll with it. I really wanted to give my sprites/tiles more atmosphere, idk. I've always liked the graphics in pseudo 3d isometric games, but IDK if I can pull that style off with 3/4 view.

I know I already asked, but as far as movements/controls go, if there's anything I can fix specifically about it, let me know. I've grown too accustomed to it. x.x

I like your current artstyle, I don't think it needs much changing lol. As far as controls go, I don't think I could help much with it since I haven't messed with the engine, other than make things more... fluid. It's hard to describe what I felt playing it, but moving without speed felt slow and sluggish, so try to make it just overall more responsive.

Bad news. My hard drive fried, and I have lost every asset I've had relating to this game. I've also lost my entire GD folder.

Good news is that I was was to restart this project as a 2D beat-em-up action game anyway.

Swoonis wrote:

Bad news. My hard drive fried, and I have lost every asset I've had relating to this game. I've also lost my entire GD folder.

Good news is that I was was to restart this project as a 2D beat-em-up action game anyway.

That's a shame.

Good luck?

Swoonis wrote:

Bad news. My hard drive fried, and I have lost every asset I've had relating to this game. I've also lost my entire GD folder.

Good news is that I was was to restart this project as a 2D beat-em-up action game anyway.

Shit man, that blows the big one
Well do keep us informed about your restarted project, I like beat em up games quite a bit.

Doge wrote:

Swoonis wrote:

Bad news. My hard drive fried, and I have lost every asset I've had relating to this game. I've also lost my entire GD folder.

Good news is that I was was to restart this project as a 2D beat-em-up action game anyway.

That's a shame.

Good luck?

Thanks Doge  

Walter wrote:

Swoonis wrote:

Bad news. My hard drive fried, and I have lost every asset I've had relating to this game. I've also lost my entire GD folder.

Good news is that I was was to restart this project as a 2D beat-em-up action game anyway.

Shit man, that blows the big one
Well do keep us informed about your restarted project, I like beat em up games quite a bit.

Will do! I'm starting on it as we speak!

BTW Does anyone have the demo of my game? I'd like to rip some assets manually, but it seems like the sendspace link is down.

Swoonis wrote:

Doge wrote:

Swoonis wrote:

Bad news. My hard drive fried, and I have lost every asset I've had relating to this game. I've also lost my entire GD folder.

Good news is that I was was to restart this project as a 2D beat-em-up action game anyway.

That's a shame.

Good luck?

Thanks Doge  

Walter wrote:

Swoonis wrote:

Bad news. My hard drive fried, and I have lost every asset I've had relating to this game. I've also lost my entire GD folder.

Good news is that I was was to restart this project as a 2D beat-em-up action game anyway.

Shit man, that blows the big one
Well do keep us informed about your restarted project, I like beat em up games quite a bit.

Will do! I'm starting on it as we speak!

BTW Does anyone have the demo of my game? I'd like to rip some assets manually, but it seems like the sendspace link is down.

I believe I got the demo, yeah.

Walter wrote:

Swoonis wrote:

Doge wrote:

Swoonis wrote:

Bad news. My hard drive fried, and I have lost every asset I've had relating to this game. I've also lost my entire GD folder.

Good news is that I was was to restart this project as a 2D beat-em-up action game anyway.

That's a shame.

Good luck?

Thanks Doge  

Walter wrote:

Swoonis wrote:

Bad news. My hard drive fried, and I have lost every asset I've had relating to this game. I've also lost my entire GD folder.

Good news is that I was was to restart this project as a 2D beat-em-up action game anyway.

Shit man, that blows the big one
Well do keep us informed about your restarted project, I like beat em up games quite a bit.

Will do! I'm starting on it as we speak!

BTW Does anyone have the demo of my game? I'd like to rip some assets manually, but it seems like the sendspace link is down.

I believe I got the demo, yeah.

I was gonna ask you to re-upload but I already started rebuilding my sprites. I would still like to have that demo for archival purposes.

New version of Green Ranger/Green Racer (name is undecided)

I haven't played the game yet but I just want to say that the artwork for the flash face is just fantastic. I kinda wish you used it more in game. Are you going to give her a real person name and then a protagonist name? Just curious. Is she going to get her zapping powers like in LS?

Also I noticed you replaced the chest with actual breasts compared to flash armor in Lost Saga when it is equipped on females. Lol!

Belgrim wrote:

I haven't played the game yet but I just want to say that the artwork for the flash face is just fantastic. I kinda wish you used it more in game. Are you going to give her a real person name and then a protagonist name? Just curious. Is she going to get her zapping powers like in LS?

Also I noticed you replaced the chest with actual breasts compared to flash armor in Lost Saga when it is equipped on females. Lol!

It turns out that my original download link is down, so playing the game from the screenshots is impossible unless I can get it from my gf's computer, or walter uploads it.


It's no secret that Green Flash/Racer/Ranger/Person is inspired from my LS flash (which in turn, is only really a minor edit from the original). I wanted to make the design more my own, and I felt that the armor made her appearance too tanky and masculine; young testers were unable to determine her gender. (Nothing wrong with a sexy design direction either IMO) As far as including her face more in-game, It will be something I consider; Having a person behind the mask is important to me. I definitely want a "real" name and a "hero" name, I just haven't thought of anything yet.



Green Racers fighting style will be primarily FAST melee strikes. I probably won't include the lightning motif from LS or The Flash, but it's something I will consider. My goal is for Green Racer to be as fast as the player can control her, and I wish to include as many mobility/control options as possible for said players to utilize.

I had started work on the "action platformer" version of FAST, but I didn't have enough experience in the program OR game design to put it together right. I also realized that I REALLY liked the old version of FAST much better too.

This platform version of FAST just wasn't coming together as well as my topdown version because super speed doesn't meld well with platforming.


For those who want to see what I had when I abandoned ship:

Spoiler:

This isn't to say I'm "giving up." I'm FAR from it actually. FAST2 was a GREAT learning experience for me, and has helped me immensely in my following project. This is NOT the last of my FAST game either. It will be returning to its top-down roots.

Stay tuned for updates on my next project. It's much more polished and further along than anything I've put forth so far!

Spoiler:

Lol I love the ayy lmao's in FAST2. Good to see you updating your projects.

Also did you make the sprites in the last one? Those are great sprites.

Walter wrote:

Lol I love the ayy lmao's in FAST2. Good to see you updating your projects.

Also did you make the sprites in the last one? Those are great sprites.

Only the character sprites. I used a public domain background and tiles. The new game is infinitely more playable than FAST ever was. I will release it here when I finish the level.