Ive never found such a rewarding bug:

Not only was I collecting 1000s of gold a second it made me realise how damn fun it is to collect 1000 gold a second, oh and I was LITTERALLY killing 100s of enemies a second which is less fun than you would think lol. The fps was pretty solid (15-28) considering I was getting a 1000 combo every few seconds and there must be 100s of wingman projectiles and countless collision detections going on.  I might have to tweak my scroing, 1 billion points within a few minutes.. I dont think the variable types in flash have the capacity to store much more than 3 billion.

I wish all bugs were this fun.

 Well for the bosses Ive had a few ideas. My main plan was to go with a system with a central boss that is surrounded by satalites, each of the satalites would move in formation with its surrounding satalites and do different things each level. After a load of thought Ive decided to go with a more  ‘Warning Forever’ style boss system. The problem with the Warning Forever system is it works in the opposite way to a typical scroller, in that as you dismantle the boss, it gets weaker. I dont really have any ‘elegant’ solution to this so my system will basically use modifiers to alter the behavour of each turret as the other turrets die. The idea is to spread power over the boss almost evenly, there are 10 turrets doing 10 scary things, and you destroy 3 of them, I want the other 7 turrets to do dispraportionatly more damage than they did alongside the ones you destroyed. This way the boss will slowley get harder.

Its a little more complicated than that though, the central ‘hub’ of the boss will have a seperate health bar, getting the hub health to around 50% will automatically start blowing up parts of the boss. Once the boss hits another % possibly 30, all the parts will blow up automatically giving you a ton of powerups to collect before the central boss enters its beserk mode. This is a pure straight forward bullet hell sequence, It should be quite alot harder than the rest of the bosses life span, but will only last a short time. Now, to make this system worth while from a scoring point of view, if you dismantle the boss early, its health will stay the same, so if you never hit the center, but completly remove all the bosses outer parts, the boss enters beserk mode - very early. The up side to this is the turrets never have to self destruct, and you get a ton of points. Also by destroying the outer -> inner nodes of the boss you get even more points, which means holding fire untill the moment were the boss just gives you a quick peek of its outer most turrets, on the harder bosses at least :P.

Anyway thats my system, oh I forgot to mention I have roughly 16 unique turrets down on paper, obviously 16 is a lot and some turrets might be scrapped or altered, but theres more than enough variety if I combine the turrets in different ways for interesting challenges. My aim with the bosses is basically to have a system that is quite flexable and easy to understand from an editing perspective, and also to make sure the bosses are fun alone, the game doesnt need any actual levels, just bosses to stand on its own feet.

Ugh long post, heres a CONCEPT of the bosses I would like, It may look nothing like this in game, I just wanted to make sure its going to look damn cool. I think its better to go with  vector graphics as apposed to bitmaps due to them rotating without going a bit blurry, although a bit of detail is lost, I think the added functionality of this system is worth paying the price of a bit of fine detail.

Boss Concept

Oh and my system should hopfully allow for bosses that span many screens, I will have to test it from a performance perspective, so its not deffinate, but if it works these bosses truly will be Massive Entities I shall update again once Ive made more progress.

Most of the last post can be ignored. The problem was the same problem I thought it was, just in a very small part of my code. I wont have to rewrite the whole damn ga-a-ame, just a few little bits :).

For anyone interested I simply forgot to remove an event listener before ‘deleting’ an object, so it wasnt being picked up by the garbage collector. It would have gone unnoticed if the listener wasnt crammed with cpu heavy drawing operations.. erk. I always assumed listeners would dissapear with the object they are linked too. This article cleared it up for me.

Ill have more screenshots up when Ive got a nice level together, and a boss or two, I have to remember to use the SLOW MOTION feature I built into the game to take proper screenshots next time lol.. duh!

Ive come across a huge flaw in the design of the Frantic 2 code. Im working on fixing it but from my estimates, and running lots of tests, Im pretty sure Im going to have to re-code the whole ‘core’ of the game. The problem doesnt stop the game from working or cause any major crashes or anything, but its big enough to warrant scrapping everything Ive done so far.

Ive done a lot of research and its a problem that is pretty obscure to spot, and will only occur 5-20 minutes into gameplay at random. I know how to fix it, but the effort I would put into fixing it would be little less than starting from scratch, what Ive learnt from making Frantic 2 will no doubt improve any systems I write in the revised version. I also have a plan for making the game run alot more smoothly, allowing me to add more silly effects, enemies and bullets.

Its not all as bad as it seems, most of the work in Frantic 2 so far has been in the design and tweaking of the subtle mechanics, creating and putting the graphics into the game, creating the menus, and a bunch of other things I can simply drag and drop into the new version. Not to mention I have a set of working level editors built into the game.

Hopfully it wont be too big of a delay for the sequel, as Ive got most of the games logic fresh in my mind and should easily be able to re-code it. I dont want to release a ‘broken’ or less than perfect game.  Ill post an update when Ive made more progress.

Ok as promised here are a few screenshots, I tried to get good ones but its so hard with all the different things going on. I just wanted to show some of the interesting weapons and enemies. Keep in mind alot of this stuff isnt from the final game, its still being made, and there are just a few random enemies on screen. And the bullet patterns are just little tests.

The laser and rocket enemies, the lasers can rotate, the rockets will home in on you untill close then ‘deactivate’. Here im using the ‘ray’ wingman and ‘classic’ primary weapon:

Shot 1 

This was my poor attempt at showing the bullet scraping effects, the bullets were moving fast so its quite hard lol, also there are 2 other special enemies. One explodes on death destroying things within range of the blast, the other causes your bullets to gravitate towards it when its active:

Shot 2

This is just the Rocket bomb, it isnt really being shown in full because most of the enemies are already dead, but in the actual game the rockets will always hit every enemy on screen, making it fun to watch when the screen is full of enemies:

Shot 3

The last one is the meteor attack, this looks better when its actually moving lol:

Shot 4

Ive made all the special enemies now, they still need a bit of extra work but Ive narrowed it down to 7. The 3 I removed were a teleporting enemy, it just wasnt very fun and kinda felt too random. An enemy that aims at the player, all enemies now have the ability to aim at the player so that enemy was pointless. The last was a panic enemy, this just speeds up and fires lots of bullets at low health. I thought it was also pointless and kinda hard to notice among the chaos.

I can start making maps soon, once Ive got an editor and smoothed out a few un-polished bits of the core of the game. Also I think Ive decided on a system for the bosses, but Ill keep it a secret for now. It should be extremly cool.

Frantic 2 is now deep into development so I thought Ide give a quick update and detail some features. Ill stick some screenshots up in the near future to show how its coming along.

The new weapons in Frantic 2 will include:

Primary:

Shuriken - Focused quick firing large projectiles, that travel through enemies on hit, so you can line your enemies up for more efficient shots.

Classic - A  classic spread weapon, similar to Frantic 1, only a little more damaging and well balanced.

Wave - Bullets that move in a wave motion, the wave becomes more focused when the weapon is upgraded.

Curving - Bullets that curve off to the sides as you move, pretty much a novelty weapon but quite powerful.

Flame thrower - A close range heavily damaging weapon. Looks cool too

The 5 primary weapons each have 3 statistics that can level up 10 times, these are bullet movment speed, rate of fire and ’spread’ which alters the weapon depending on its type, for example spread gives the shuriken bullets more ‘health’ before they are destroyed. The maximum level will be limited by the level of card for that specific weapon. So a level 1 card will only allow 6 upgrades (2,2,2) and at level 4 (8,8,8) = 24.

The Wingmen:

Rocket, Laser, Ray, Electric and Targeted. I wont go into details about these, but they are fun I promise. Each wingman will have 5 levels, each level will alter the weapons behavour so it dishes out more damage.

There are 5 ships balanced for Speed, Armour and Initial weapon, each ship also has its own unique ‘bomb’ attack. Including the beam from the first game, I couldnt remove it lol. The others include a massive rocket attack, an allied ‘boss’ ship, a meteor shower and a black hole.

The addrenaline bar is also different, it now has 2 ‘tiers’ its basically like 2 addrenaline bars stacked on top of one another, with 3 attacks each, so if you save up to 4 bars you can do the bomb attack followed by a sheild powerup right afterwards. The ‘bombs’ are very brief and pretty much just clear the screen and give you a quick break from dodging if things get hard. The other addrenaline attacks are a temporary sheild like the origional game, it just absorbs health. And slow motion, which I origioanlly took out of Frantic 1, but that was before I made the boss bullets curtains. Its fun to go from slow to fast motion during one of those lol.

Ive also added a ‘tension bar’ this goes down naturally over time, but doing stunts fills it up, once its full your mutiplier goes up by 1. You can scrape bullets, get close ranged kills and combos to increase the bar. This completly changes the scoring mechanics of the game, I think its alot more ‘focused’ now, not just a matter of using the money shield in combination with not getting hit, and just generally killing everything - killing a specific enemy early might actually decrease the scoring potential. Also there is a bit of punishment for using the bombs. The addrenaline rises pretty quickly, but once its full all addrenaline is converted into points.

There is 15 ‘other’ cards that just give random little bonuses and power ups. Im not 100% on what they will be yet, I have 15 planned but Ill probably replace a few as I think they might ruin the delicate scoring mechanics.

The enemies are alot more complex now, they can fire bullet patterns that are actually as impressive as the boss patterns. Also there will be 10 ‘unique’ enemies, I might scrap a couple of them if they arnt fun to blow up.

Im still undecided on how the bosses will work, I have tons of ideas, so far I think the best thing is to have a boss that you can tear apart pixel by pixel. Within limits obviously lol.

Argh this is ‘quick update’ is getting a bit long, Ill leave it there. Ill get some screenshots up once the enemies are in and I can give a proper preview.

In my last post I only intended to mention scrolling shooters, but Ill mention top down shooters in this post also. Theres so many games around the internet Ill probably miss one that deserves mention. Ill try to add more in the future.

Bubble Tanks - By Hero Interactive - youve probably heard of it - if not go play it immediately. Its a top down arena style shooter. Much like the style of fl0w except with guns! You travel around in a tank.. made of bubbles.. shootings tanks.. made out of bubbles… with bubbles… in bubbles! There are 2 games, the sequel is ALOT better than the origional in my opinion.. but the origional stands on its own as a brilliant game. The sequel improves on everything in the origional.. adds tons of extra depth and a unique boss battle at the end. The controls are nice and smooth, as are the menus and visuals. The bubble field system is a great idea, splitting a massive world into managable portions, removes lag and allows for more focused little play areas, and a good sense of acheivment at clearing each one. Also the upgrades in BT2 are really well done, plenty of variation, you can be a big slow beefy tank, or a tiny little thing flying around at high speed. Theres also alsorts of unique little things like mines, homing bullets and even AI controlled allies depending on which upgrades youve chosen.

Zunder Fury - This game visually is very cool and comic book like, you are given a choice of two ships, a focused projectile fire or a spread flame thrower. There is an upgrade shop between levels which I think is nicley balanced with the ability to buy lives. Im my experience this didnt just give ‘inifinite lives’ but was more of a trade off between possibly avoiding death or more power - which is pretty fun. There are alot of enemies, each requiring some unique way of killing them effectivly, which keeps you on your toes.

Pararalyzer -This game was recomended to me by a couple of people. A very impressive verticle scrolling bullet hell shooter, classic pixel graphics and 3 ship choices at the start, each offering a different style of play. It is very hard, but with it being so arcade like I think its just sticking to its roots. The reason this game stands out is the bullet curtains. They are much more along the lines of what I want in Frantic 2. Tons of enemies to take on and the bosses are pretty epic and varied.

Fracture 2 -Another very stylish shooter, this one I really enjoyed, the tenstion built up as things progress is cool - alot like Geometry Wars. The visuals are very ‘in your face’ with tons of colour. The game has plenty of power ups and funky enemy patterns to deal with. Fun!

Grey Matter - As the auther says this is an ‘Anti-Shooter’ a shooter without bullets. The idea is to run into the enemies using yourself as the ‘bullet’. Its pretty unique and fun with stylish visuals, effects and plenty of variety in the enemies. The game is pretty hard from the start, the controls take a bit of getting used to. But all-in-all its a very unique experience, and gets pretty intense. Go Play!

If your interested in downloadable games Ide recomend (as a start):

 http://www.doujinstyle.com/

This is the home of Touhou, this game is insane. Theres also quite a few other games on there if you look around.

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/

ABA games - Plenty of interesting unique games here. Some are classic shooters, others vary.. Ide recomend Torus Trooper if you like speed! rRootage is fun, its a pure boss - bullet hell shooter. It also has an Ikaruga mode, if your a fan.

Anyway, must get back to work on Frantic 2.

While looking around the internet for good Flash shmups I found a few and thought Ide put links here incase you havent played them.

The Last Canopy - This game is seriously good, but I found it very very hard. Even in easy mode with 99 lives I finished the game with like 20. The variety and tension is really fun. The upgrade system is cool - but frustrating. But I REALLY recommend playing this, just to experience it.

Alpha Bounty -  Ide have to say this is one of the best horizontal shooters Ive played. The fluid feel of the movment, the animation and art, the enemy variety and subtle stratergy when buying weapons and choosing what to shoot is perfect. Again I find it pretty difficult, and dying and having to go back to the start is frustrating. But its worth the pain - I found it very addictive.

Blue Shift  - I found this game weird, the gameplay is kinda odd and requires super fast reactions. The levels are very long, not to my taste. But the artwork is absolutly excelent. And I think with a bit of patience this game can be very rewarding.

Starfire - I thought Ide mention this game because the upgrade system is very in-depth, I really wanted to try it out, but the game, yet again was way too difficult. It has an ongoing storyline, and intricate background, animations and events. The boss killing system is also pretty cool.

Maybe im just really rubbish at shooting games but it seems all the shooting games that are very good, are also very hardcore. I mean not everyone has 7 hours to invest into a Flash game. I just wish I could get hold of the source code for all these games and add tiny little features that allow for a much easier game. Extra lives, not loosing everything when you die, not dying from one tiny mistake.. etc. Im not saying Flash games shouldnt be hardcore, just give the option for a quick layed back game, without having to restart a few times over.

Theres tons more shooting fun around the internet, some are just hard to find, and you find yourself filtering through rubbish. Some other good ones: Raiden X, Drakojan Skies, Project Inthri, Uchuwars. If I find more Ill mention them.

Im currently in the process of creating Frantic 2. I also have a few vague plans for different types of games.Frantic 2 should be quite different to the origional, with Frantic 1 I was quite lazy, cut corners and rushed things a bit near the end. So hopfully I can make Frantic 2 what I origionally intended for and better. Ive had sooooo much possitive feedback from all over, in fact barley any of the feedback is negative, which is suprising for the internet. So ill take all the feedback and critizism and make a giant list of stuff to make!

Erm… one feature I might possibly add to Frantic 2 is an episode system, each week a new episode of levels and possibly storyline, dialogue and content will be added to a server, which will update inside the game. So in the long run ill be able to make TONS of new stuff. Ive had no experience with PHP or MYSQL so that should be interesting. Also Im working on tools to make editing levels etc for the game much faster and more controlled. So I dont have to sit for hours altering numbers - not fun.

I decided to get a blog.. wooo.