Pretty much. But even if i could export as .swf, there'd be copyright issues (music mostly) preventing me from earning any dosh on this. And then there's Chartle, who'd definitely deserve a slice of the cake too.

@torismaser: Thanks! Also yes, we definitely need bombs of some sort. Whether that be mines or screen-clearing nukes i don't know, but we'll see how it pans out.

@Wyvernon: I don't really have room for MK3 upgrades. :U
Also nah, too many difficulties just clutter up the area. I MIGHT make a difficulty slider later on, but for now, the current 5 difficulties serve the purpose.
Powerups? Nay, i want to keep this game powerup-free. They're too random, i don't want the players performance to depend on chance.

Also, tutorial? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... The integrated ones. Mostly the Scrolling Shooter one for this, but i didn't even bother completing that one. I started this game completely from scratch though, only referencing the tutorial for the bare essentials. Otherwise it's mostly been me dicking around with the functions to find out what they do, and subsequently wrestling them into submission.

also wargh



JET SMOKE MAN

Thanks! Also working on that central part now.



New descriptions and silliness too. Not quite sure what to put in that display on the left, but probably either symbols indicating the upgrades state, or a relevant graphic.

Anyhoo, when i finish this GUI update, imma grab hold of Chartle so we can distribute the major tasks ahead.

Ayup. Also conclusive proof that i'm working in Game Maker, if you hadn't noticed the start-up loader anyways.

@torismaser: Aye, i agree. Nukes, if any, should come at quite a price, since they'd potentially earn the player a LOT of cash (and make the game much easier). MAYBE a souped up form of super shot (cone of kill everything?) that fries your reactor for the rest of the level and applies a repair fee for said reactor, or maybe have such a shot temporarily short out the weapon you fired it with. That is, if we make it happen at all. It's likely that super shots will take on the properties of the relevant weapon soon (somehow, anyways), so it might not even be necessary. (read: SPREAD SUPER SPLINTER)

also new main menu is done



Now to finish up the last few shop things, and i give green light to Chartle. I probably won't be doing a whole lot of developing after that until the 24th, since i'll be in Iceland from 9th-24th.

Thanks mate, glad to hear that! c:

Also, NEWSSSSSS:

1: Shop UI is 90% done, just need to program and sprite up the skill tree.

2: New global enemy dakka variable implemented, so enemies shoot more on higher difficulties, and slightly less on Easy. Current table is like so:

Easy: 60% damage, 90% RoF
Normal: 100% damage, 100% RoF
Hard: 150% damage, 105% RoF
Nightmare: 200% damage, 120% RoF
EPIC MAN MODE >:C: 2000% damage, 150% RoF

So on top of enemies doing completely ridiculous damage on EPIC MAN MODE >:C, they also shoot 50% faster now. Yes, this makes it WAY harder. This is intentional, EPIC MAN MODE >:C is supposed to be the kind of difficulty that makes pro players wonder what the hell i was thinking. Might make an intermediate difficulty between Nightmare and EPIC MAN MODE >:C (Rude Awakening?) to compensate for this.

3: Heavy Wedge added to the enemy arsenal. Standard wedges just die too easily by that point, so here's a new zerg rush foe with four times the health. On top of this, i also made a Yellow Spreader, which fires a five shot spread, and a Yellow Fan, which has four guns and shoots more. Wonder what that looks like on the new EPIC MAN MODE >:C? Well, here you go.



All of those shots will instantly kill an unprotected player.

4: SOMTHIN WRONG HERE (it's supposed to reflect the shots)

I was originally hoping to have this update out before the 14th, but this is starting to look very unlikely. Why? Well, i'm gone on a field trip from the 14th to the 24th, so no developing will happen there.

c:

Definitely going to have more standard difficulties (as in prefixes), though in the future i'm planning to let the player fine tune both enemy damage and rate of fire to their liking, while still keeping the prefixes for lazy players. Current list in mind:

Baby Mode :c - 30% damage, 75% dakka
Easy - 60% damage, 90% dakka
Normal - 100% damage, 100% dakka
Hard - 150% damage, 110% dakka
Nightmare - 200% damage, 120% dakka
Rude Awakening - 500% damage, 130% dakka
Dammit Developers - 1000% damage, 140% dakka
EPIC MAN MODE >:C - 2000% damage, 150% dakka

Just to have some variety, and to be able to say that there are 4 difficulties above Hard. :U

Also, MORE NEWS:

A: The game now runs with a variable frame rate. That means you're no longer constrained to the choppy 30 FPS of the past, now you could theoretically run 3 million FPS if you so pleased. I'm going to set the default at 60 though, because above that it tends to slow down during intense moments (even though 120 FPS is god tier smoothness). 60 FPS is quite smooth too, so don't worry about it. And on top of that, smooth slowmo/fast forward is now possible as well, just because it's fun to fuck with time.

B: REFLECTIONNNNNNNNN



Blam's suggestion of a reflection delay made it possible to have boolits reflected by multiple ships and still cause damage to other ones, so that's nice. And yeah, those ships do get damaged if you hit them in the hull, though i still have to tweak the detection slightly.

And with those things out of my mind, i can finally begin thinking of the skill system.

NYEHEHEHEHE

Not quite yet good sir, but your enthusiasm is much appreciated!

Thing is, however, that i don't even know what the upgrades will be, which is why i've done other things. What i can reveal, however, is that the final weapon upgrade (for cash) will bring a piercing effect to your guns, and that i'm planning to have the last three tiers of upgrades unlocked after level 5, 10 and 15 respectively. That means you won't be getting spread shot before level 11. It'll be a pretty short run with the piercing shots, but with the way the difficulty is ramping up, they'll be very necessary by level 19. The level 9 text isn't lying, you know. :U

In other news, i believe Chartle has found a way to have multiple savegames stored, which is pretty rad. Once he gets that implemented, there's only the skill tree, a few levels and possibly level selection to go before next update. After that, the game is past the 50% completion mark, which i'm immensely thrilled by. c:

What will happen when it hits 1.0, you might ask? Well, i don't know, really. Either i'll keep tacking on random things, or i'll start a new project that i've had in mind for a while now. And by project, i mean game. Hell if i'm going to stop at one!

It is released, check the first post for a download link. :U
That said, however, the version me and Chartle have right now is significantly ahead of the latest public version, but it's not without its fair share of quirks and missing things (for one, the second boss is a bit iffy at higher frame rates). Besides, i'm sticking with the plan of having done the previously mentioned major features before releasing, but i'm pretty sure it'll be worth the wait. Or so i hope, anyways. Might hold the skill tree for the subsequent update if it takes too long, but i'm hoping that won't be the case, since there aren't actually a lot of gameplay changes since the last update.

Also, pretty cool concept you got there. The controls oughta be a smidge more responsive though. :U

Yer welcome. :U

Also, while you all wait, here's some commentary i did on the version i have at the moment.



32 minutes of me playing the game and repeating myself, so good luck surviving that.

Thanks mate, i'm glad you decided to look around a bit. ;)

@Tapion: Tried that, didn't work. It jumped right back to 30 FPS when i started recording, much to my dismay. :c

In other news, here's a preliminary list of the skill upgrades:

Offense (both guns?):
1. Damage: +2 damage (both guns)
2. Faster firing: -33 ms for both guns
3. Splinter supers: Super shots now splinter enemies if the upgrade is owned
4. Piercing shots: 50% chance for shots to pierce one (additional) enemy, +1 damage
5. Damage II: +0.2x damage multiplier
6. Fragment power: +2 fragment damage (5 --> 7)
7: Piercing shots II: All shots pierce one (additional) enemy, +1 damage
8: Spread super: Super shots now fire in a spread if the upgrade is owned

Defense
1. Dash: Quick dodge, possibly invulnerable for a short time (+2% armor)
2. Crash armor: -25% crash damage (+3% armor)
3. Shield integrity: +20% shield hp, +10% shield armor, +15% shield gate (+3% armor)
4. Dash II: Fully invulnerable, shorter cooldown (+4% armor)
5. Crash armor II: -25% crash damage (stacks) (+4% armor)
6. Shield integrity II: +20% shield hp, +10% shield armor, +15% shield gate (stacks) (+4% armor)
7. Frontal dampers: Take 20% less damage when moving forward (+5% armor)
8. Frontal dampers II: Brief 80% damage reduction after pressing forward (+5% armor)

Everything still subject to change, but they stack up nicely at the moment. Going full offense, you'll end up with 17 base damage, which will then be subjected to either a x0.7 or x1.2 multiplier (depending on spread shot) for a total of 11.9 or 20.4 damage per shot. On top of this, you shoot faster, all your shots pierce at least one foe, your fragments are more powerful AND your super shots can potentially be spread splinters. Long story short, glass cannon build.

Going the defensive path, you'll end up with a total of 50% armor, an invincible dodge move, 50% protection against crash damage, a VERY strong shield (heavy shield will have 35 hp, 20% armor and 80% shield gate) and the ability to essentially tech (most) enemy attacks for much less damage. The last ability requires some skill from the player, but is more controllable than the dodge (which will NOT save you from collisions), and has a much shorter cooldown. So basically, you're a stonewall.

Now obviously, you can mix the two, but too much mixing will prevent you from getting the final upgrades in the tree(s). Any input on this? (as in the whole skill tree and such)

Also, you might be wondering why i've opted fro Dash rather than Barrel Roll. The answer is animation. I MIGHT take up the challenge later, but not right now.

As it should be. ;)

also hey guise

PROGRESS



New skill system almost entirely implemented, i just need to do dash and frontal dampers. And a few more details on this menu, of course.

Also, more news: Me and Chartle have decided to scrap the saving system entirely. It's not like it's a very long game, and the saving system is just ridiculously clunky to work with. Also, without a saving system, it feels more arcade-y. :U (and also brings the option of permadeath for the hardcore players)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that estimated release date is somewhere during November, provided that the current rate of progress keeps up. I still reserve the right to delay without reason, though.

Oh, and i've also fiddled with the effects, so there's a LOT less particles being spawned when enemies die. This did reduce performance impacts at 60 FPS, so that's nice.

Final news bit: At some point in the near future, i'll try contacting Danny Baranowsky about whether he has any interest in making music for this whatsoever, and if so, what kind of cost i'd be looking at. The man makes unbelievably good music, so i reckon it's worth a shot. :U