[Released] Explode Mode (Slight Return)

[********]

I guess you put this stuff up here?  Anyways, released!

 

https://kickstandcarp.itch.io/explode-mode

 

I think it should run with only the included files but it's also possible you'll need the Visual Studio C++ 2013 redistributable package, so if anybody gets an error about a missing DLL or something please let me know!

 

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I'm working on an abstract first person shooter where you shoot squares and they explode into more squares.  I'm not exactly sure what the like game parts are going to be outside of seeing the pretty colors.  Here's a title screen:

 

 

Anyways so far I've spent most of the time working on implementing the defocus effect and making it run at speed (the gif reduced the frame rate which is why it looks bad and slow there) but it seems like it's going pretty good now so time to move on to game play.

 

[Vasari]

Looks awesome! It reminds me of ZeroFiftyOne's Explode Mode from the previous jam, which also started life as a pretty title screen. Something about the name "Explode Mode" makes people want to create cool graphical effects.

[zerofiftyone]

Yesssss 

[Nappi]

Oooh.. that defocus combined with the abstract shapes is beautiful!

[********]

Hey thanks fellow readers.

 

Alright, so I spent a lot time trying to figure out how to make a game out of this.

 

 

I also probably should learn how to make videos because these gifs are real rough, so sorry about that.

 

Anyways right now that plan is that there is a cylinder that the player can move around the bottom of.  A regular shot causes a few squares to explode, and the shot can be charged up by holding down the button causing it to explode many more squares, though charging up slows your movement significantly.  If a square collides with the cylinder it disappears and the game is over when there are none left.  Squares explode out in the direction of the shot so if you don't move you'll eventually just shoot everything out the opposite side, or they'll just fall to the ground, and they'll all disappear.  GAME DESIGN.

 

I think all non-square content is just going to be straight up un-smoothed points and lines, just the rawest pixels around, pixels that may hurt your eyes, pixels that don't care about you or those important to you.  I also learned that rotations in three-dimensions are more complicated than I would have ever thought.

[zerofiftyone]

3 hours ago, kickstandcarp said:

I also learned that rotations in three-dimensions are more complicated than I would have ever thought.

 

I also learned this very recently! Really underestimated how complicated it would be and it took me hours to figure out. 

 

Also, this game is looking very good. Excited to see what this turns into. 

[theschap]

I imagine this is what it would be like to do battle inside of a kaleidoscope.

[********]

Colors!

 

 

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Released! https://kickstandcarp.itch.io/explode-mode

[Ben X]

Looks gorgeous! I couldn't figure out what I was doing really, though, or get it to go fullscreen...

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Yeah it doesn't go full screen, the defocus effect is pretty brutal on the GPU and I wanted it to run on not top-of-line hardware.

 

As for what you're doing, just keep it going I guess?  Shoot some squares so that there are more squares that can be shot?  Listen I'm not a game designer.

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Ok I added a score counter that counts how may squares you've created as you play and added some text to the instructions section that is hopefully more descriptive.

[ratamero]

Hopefully it's only me, but I'm getting a crash when starting the game. Digging a bit it seems to be something with an error message "SDL_mixer initialization failed". I reinstalled the C++ Redist stuff just in case, but it still won't work. :/

[********]

Oops looks like when I switched the audio files to Ogg Vorbis I didn't include the necessary .dlls to actually play them.  I just uploaded a new version with those included.

 

Thanks for letting me know, ratamero.

 

[ratamero]

No worries! I finally got to play it and I really enjoyed it, it's gorgeous!

[********]

Aw, thanks

[Nappi]

I love the defocus effect and the colors! It took me some time to figure out the movement. I wish there was an endless mode where I could keep on shooting squares forever, because this game looks damn beautiful.

[********]

Thanks, I've been gradually working on like a "finished" version of this with all the stuff I wanted to put in, and I will definitely keep an infinite mode in mind for that.

 

Also I watched @phill's stream and moving the reticle is not supposed to be super difficult!  I just haven't done this sort of thing before and the couple of computers I tried it on seemed fine.  I just uploaded a new version with mouse sensitivity controls and hopefully a better first guess at a reasonable sensitivity.  So if anybody had the reticle movement being painfully slow you can at least do something about that now if you're still curious.