Previous Blog Next Blog
Prev/Next Blog
by date

And so it begins!

And so it begins!
Name:Wes - ToadTrip
Date Posted:Jul 06, 2008
Rating:5.0 out of 5
Public:YES
Comments:YES
RSS Feed:GarageGames Blog feedor Subscribe with .
Profile Page:View profile page for Wes - ToadTrip

Blog post
Well it's currently 4:30am in the morning and I have been up all night working with a colleague on our game. That game is titled "Zompocalypse" and yes, it does indeed contain a myriad of zombie assailants for you to dispatch in a variety of ways, with a variety of "tools". It is a shooter, plain and simple, harking back to the 16-bit "Golden Era" (what that is will most like depend entirely on your age and preferences) of gaming. So far we have five weapons implemented, including a pistol, shotgun, machine gun, flame-thrower and rocket launcher... and a variety of gib and blood effects to go with it. We also have a variety of zombie templates that differ based on speed, aggressiveness, strength etc, and also graphical style. We've really hammered the TGB particle and physics system in some areas of the game, and I think we've come up with some excellent results.

Some other stuff we have implemented:

Rescuing damsels in distress. When you rescue a damsel, you score points and perhaps a better weapon to help you take care of the zombie hoard.

"Bonus" driving stages where you get points based on the number of zombies bowled over either in your pimping cop car or a rocking tank (based on the character you choose to play, McPain (the white redneck) or Sargent Smackdown.

Paul has done a wonderful job with the art work, bringing a real Metal Slug style to the game.

We've been through a variety of problems, but I really think we are getting into our groove. For now however, I think a picture speaks a thousand words, so here's 2000 for you.




We still have a loooong way to go. But we're getting there.

That's it from me, thanks for reading!

EDIT: Another shot from a development build. I had cars added ages ago, and at one point you could in fact hop in cars and drive them around and run over zombies. It was kind of cool, but has currently been relegated to the idea scrap heap until we can find a more workable solution. But that doesn't mean we weren't able to use that code to still have random cars driving past smashing into zombies and creating carnage! Hooray!

There's also some of our random pickups in there, such as hamburgers, hotdogs, TVs... you know, all the kind of things you'd obviously find on a zombie. *ahem*




Once again, thanks for reading.

Recent Blog Posts
List:10/26/08 - Zompocalypse Released!
09/25/08 - Zompocalypse Beta!
07/06/08 - And so it begins!

Submit ResourceSubmit your own resources!

Thak   (Jul 06, 2008 at 19:20 GMT)
Oh man this looks so sweet! Good job and keep it goin :)

Brian Wilson   (Jul 06, 2008 at 20:58 GMT)
Fantastic artwork! I can't wait to see more.

James Ford   (Jul 06, 2008 at 21:09 GMT)
Omfg, that looks awesome.

Zach Gipson   (Jul 06, 2008 at 23:21 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5
Very cool looking. Great job so far.

Benjamin L. Grauer   (Jul 06, 2008 at 23:44 GMT)
It looks great, maybe you could deactivate the filtering on the sprites to have a better "old school" feeling.

Matthew Durante   (Jul 06, 2008 at 23:56 GMT)
Thumbs up! Your civilians remind me of MS3 zombies.
Edited on Jul 06, 2008 23:56 GMT

Ian Roach   (Jul 07, 2008 at 02:21 GMT)
Wow best looking 2d game ive seen done with TGB. Congrats

Wes - ToadTrip   (Jul 07, 2008 at 05:38 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5
Hi guys, thanks for the positive feedback.

@Benjamin: Yeah, we've actually tried it without filtering, and the general consensus was that it looked better with filtering on than with it off. It certainly has a more retro feel without filtering, but overall we thought it just "felt" better with it on. Sprites would pixelate a little *too* much as we have a false depth of field effect at work.

@All: The Metal Slug influence wasn't actually intentional from the start, and the game was actually based on a smaller "demo" that Paul had whipped up in MMF. As time rolled on however, it just organically grew to show our love of the MS games. Both the art and the code have been through quite a few revisions as we both learnt what the system was capable of.
Edited on Jul 07, 2008 05:39 GMT

Paul Greasley   (Jul 07, 2008 at 05:46 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5
hey guys, I just uploaded a vid from Wes n I's playtest.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=w58dARGPsQQ

flaws in the system, i vote 5 stars haha, seriously tho, I hope we can get some more time to polish up the art and add more content beyond the demo, ill post more vids as we do them.

peace
Edited on Jul 07, 2008 06:01 GMT

Devon Winter   (Jul 07, 2008 at 13:50 GMT)
That looks GREAT! Whoever's doing your art has a really good grasp on working with simple textures. Make sure you include a coin slot for me to jam quarters in, cause this seriously takes me back.

Wes - ToadTrip   (Jul 07, 2008 at 14:03 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5
@Devon: That would be Mr Paul Greasley who just posted the video. :)

Anthony Abrams   (Jul 08, 2008 at 16:27 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5
Soooo ... when do we get our stubby little hands on a demo? :)

It looks awesome and I can't wait to see more.

I think that I've watched the game play video 13 times already.

Paul Greasley   (Jul 08, 2008 at 17:28 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5


the pope dont lie
Edited on Jul 08, 2008 17:29 GMT

Anthony Abrams   (Jul 08, 2008 at 18:04 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5
LMAO.

I knew you were going to say that.

How Dare You :)

That is fine. Worth the wait.

Paul Greasley   (Jul 09, 2008 at 02:45 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5
sall good man I joke :) We upto this point have been doing it a few hours outside our normal jobs, as much as we would like to do this for a living society says no. So Its realy hard to tell when the demo will be done since we cant invest as much time as we would like into game making, so hopefully soon.

Paul Greasley   (Jul 28, 2008 at 02:29 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5
www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8CBWYCtbIA

another alpha vid

Wes - ToadTrip   (Jul 28, 2008 at 03:50 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5
Thank Paul. Some of the biggest changes here from the previous version:

1.) Stages - We first expanded the game from a single screen shooter (originally) into a scrolling single "stage" or street, and now we have 4 streets (stages) per level that the players must progress through.

2.) Zombie Bosses - All bosses are now in. There's a few issues left with them, but the Pope of Harlem works pretty well and shoots his "Papal Hadoken" (as we amusingly refer to it) towards his current target. He's as badass as they come and will form the first stage final boss. There's two other mid-level bosses that you'll get to see at a later date, but they are in as of this point in time.

3.) Pickups - Lots of crazy pickups, including ammo and government cheese. No, we're not American, but we know all about the cheese. :D

4.) More background buildings: Paul has once again padded out the backgrounds with yet more buildings. As we added more streets we felt that they were a bit samey and needed more variety.

5.) Zombie HIT AND RUN: I couldn't help myself. Paul and I agreed on freezing features but I felt the universe tugging at me on this one. Cars now drive through the levels and wipe our zombies and players as they do. It's gold. GOLD.

You only get a brief view of it here (because it needs more work on my side) but there's also the driving level, which the title screen is based off. It's a sort of bonus/connector between each level of the game and you get to mow down zombies either in your pimping cop car or tank.

We're pretty buzzed at how it's coming together now, we really have our footing and direction. Hopefully, we can avoid full-time work for a bit longer and get this thing home. Otherwise, it's onto the government cheese for me! :P
Edited on Jul 28, 2008 03:54 GMT

You must be a member and be logged in to either append comments or rate this resource.