Huh, well that's interesting. I guess some balancing is in order, because i'm inclined to agree with you. Problem is, i don't know if i should make 6 easier or 7 harder. Probably the former, because level 6 contains a disproportionatly large number of dick moves compared to 7. (AKA red wedges EVERYWHERE, paired with an ungodly amount of yellow lasers)

However, i can reveal that the levels 8 and 9 are most definitely harder than 6 and 7, but still not impossible (since i did them both on Nightmare on the first try). You see that screenshot with a gagillion yellow sentries? That's the end of level 9. It's likely to be naught but a warmup for the coming boss. :U

Also, i'm glad that defense seems to be relevant to gameplay, because i've been worried that just pumping everything into offense would make defense redundant. Granted, when i play myself, i heavily favour offense, but on Nightmare i find it rather necessary to also get armor and shield. I guess that part of the game works fine then!!

@SlyBash: Hey that's really nice! Might be a tiny bit too... I dunno, soft? For a boss fight, anyways. I'll definitely try it out though, because for all i know it might be a perfect fit.

@JellyNinja: Great! I'll be looking forward to it. c:

Oh. Well, sounds neat anyways. :U

Also, guess what time it is.

come on

guess

ok fine

IT'S PARKING TIME

I MEAN RELEASE TIME

changelog:
- Added levels 8 and 9
- Renamed the beamy enemies to "Bzapk" and gave them a new sprite
- Two new enemies: Yellow Bzapks and green Fans
- Green beams (instant ones) now reflect off your shield rather than smash through, yellow beams completely ignore shields
- New shield graphics
- Tweaked shield functionality, now takes more/less damage in relation to difficulty
- Tweaked turning animation of player ship
- Changed some shop upgrades to be less detrimental
- Added "requires X" text to upgrades that needed it
- Added spread shot and reactor upgrades to shop
- Changed "front" upgrade graphics to match new ship appearance
- Turret super can now fire at 55% charge rather than 70% (bug, it only uses 55%), front super now takes 90% charge rather than the whole bar
- Added EPIC MAN MODE >:C, which is quite literally Nightmare times 10 (for the masochists out there :U)

Notes:
- EPIC MAN MODE >:C must be written in bold purple letters, and is selected by pressing 5 in the main menu
- Level skipping is NO LONGER POSSIBLE, but i plan to implement a proper level selection feature in the future

Actually, i believe their terms mentioned that i could technically charge for it if i so pleased (i think, it was a bit unclear). However, there are other licensing issues preventing that (music, sounds, contributions from people here...), and quite frankly, i don't consider this worth paying for anyways. What i'm hoping to end up with is a solid half hour of gameplay from start to end (which is probably not an unreasonable estimate), which anyone can partake in if they so wish. Granted, it's not exactly a casual game, but even the "harder" gamers might want something that doesn't take 120 hours to get the super mega good ending of. (though i am considering the notion of different endings based on difficulty, just for the few people who like it enough to play more than once)

Also, as for the file size, it all comes down to the music. Without the super neat soundtracks, the filesize would easily fall below 10 MB. I really don't want to compress the songs, because they are so damn neat.

Also also, i should probably mention what i'm using in the first post, but i just KNOW there will be people who go like "aw shoot it's Game Maker so it sucks per definition", which is a horrible notion. Game Maker has its issues, yes, but it's actually really versatile if you think things through. Also, i lack the patience required to code things from scratch with a programming language i don't know. This project is not so much to test my coding skills (well, maybe a bit, but the worst part is all the math) as it is to test my ability to make an enjoyable game. Maybe i'll get going with some actual programming once i finish this, who knows?

Also also also, looking forward to the review. (even though i know there's bound to be lots of problems, but please bear in mind that it's not even halfway done)

43meg isn't that big for a game. Also picking on something over what it's made in is null. Personally I hate Gamemaker, but there's also some cool stuff made with it.

End product is all that matters etc.

Flawless? Haha, hardly, but i appreciate the compliment. :U

Also, since i am currently in a foul mood (for a number of reasons including but not limited to KoiKage's indecipherable sentiments, i can't tell if you're being sarcastic for the life of me), i shall keep it short.



HMM

All i can say is

yes

Chartle's programming the beast, i have the "mere" task of spriting it. Given that fact, he's in a much better position to tease you than i am. :U (and let's just say he's no less sadistic than i am when it comes to boolits, which is great)

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

It is progressing. Also, here's a neat comparison as to why red blockfaces suck.



Greens have 50% chance of shooting every half a second, yellows shoot consistently every half a second, while reds alternate between DAKDAKDAK and nothing every half second. Oh, and red lasers cause 8 damage rather than 5, and the red blockfaces are twice as tough as yellow ones. So good luck with them.

It ain't Flash or Unity, they don't support it.

:c

Their developer FAQ even says that they don't have any plans of supporting EXE files, so i guess that leaves me in the dark for now. Might still consider setting up a way to accept donations (because i'd be a criminal if i charged for the actual game), provided that the licensing doesn't get in the way. Not that i'd expect a huge fortune to suddenly roll in, since i don't even have a proper website yet, but y'know.

It is indeed. There are obviously a few quirks about it, but i like how simple it is.

Also, here's a mockup of how i expect the second boss to end up looking and firing.



Except the actual boss will be shooting out a lot more of the round yellow shots. And it will be aiming that massive laser at you (likely to be instant death if you get hit, but seriously, look at the size of that beem), though with a significant charge time before firing. Also yeah, those are mostly-homing missiles. Chartle says they hurt a lot if you lack shields. :U
Now i just need to get hold of Chartle, because he's been absent from Steam for 4 days.

Thanks! Also, as for the programs, i only know of good ol' Graphics Gale. It does support layers however, so you can animate legs below a static head.

Also, today i got my first taste of the actual second boss.



You better believe it's fucking hardcore badassery, because this guy killed the original developer (read: me) of the game 8 times on Normal before i got the better of it. Should probably be toned down a tiny bit, but we'll see. :U