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Topics - Manu Segura

#1
Hello all,

Time to bring SEUCK some new fresh air, now that the project looks luckily revitalized...

While starting to work with SEUCK, I've come with this "little" (LOL) list of features that IMO I think they can make SEUCK an even better program.

I know some of them are easy to implement, and other are much more difficult or a lot of work. Please keep in mind that my only intention is to help a little bit so be kind if I look too demanding :)

I've also found some bugs, if I find more I will tell you.

So here they are:


Bugs found
--------------

-Sound editor window is too small, you can't see 'Ok' and 'Cancel' buttons at first sight -- Leads to errors and compulsively 'Esc' pressing x-D. It could be redimensionable as other windows are.

-Warning message on pressing 'Esc'. You can throw away all your work easily with this abrupt and accidental exit.

-When moving the map on the Levels Editing Mode with the arrows buttons, you can make a mess if moving a tile outside the map itself, that never comes back. A simple warning would do ("You're going to loss tiles, are you sure??).

-Some information popups shows twice at different heights (Sound -> Import / Record buttons, for example). Just ugly, nothing serious.

-Animation: '8-Way Hold' doesn't work (behaves same as 8-Way)

-Animation: Add frames on directions dissapeared (saw it on older screenshots). So you can not do a several images walk cycle, for example, just two.

-Better slope handling on "Jump'n'run" game style (Mario example is too brusque)

-Palette button is not working? What should it do? (I think you are already aware of this). I can provide a nice palette for 256 colors, in the case you want it

-Player start/spawn position editable or error checking (in Mario example, a player can join the game just inside a brick)


New Features
------------------

-Color picker in Sprite Drawing Tool

-Player shot power up or upgrade, with definable behaviour (usually after picking up a PowerUp) - Number of shots, angle, different sprites... defineable levels for player.

-Homing missiles as a power up (an "Is Enemy" flag would be useful to track them). Also for enemies shooting players? A slow enemy missile that can be destroyed, for example. I love homing missiles!

-Smoke (or whatever) trail.

-Music adding (Sure you're aware also)

-Custom or handleable transitions between levels or handle the speed of the map scroll in a certain moment or gametime (boss appearance stops map scrolling, for example? A small intro level where the ship goes really fast and then slows down, and the game itself starts?) With acceleration/deceleration, if it's not too much to ask LOL

-Sprite rotation towards an object (An enemy facing you, or rotate/facing along its own path

-Enemy shoot to the actual position of the player (Additional to directional shooting)

-Enemy acceleration and bullet acceleration (nice effect for bosses bullets, or missiles)

-Impact animation (an enemy that gets a bullet but doesn't die shows a little explosion or impact on collision place, a red (or whatever) flash on the enemy would be a nice effect also)

-Custom splash screen (against "hello message"?)

-Main Menu (redefinable keys, difficulty setting, sound volume, vibration (iPod/iPhone)...)

-Undo function on editor. Please...

-Transparency, content and position of status bar. Custom graphic would be nice also

-Alpha blending on sprites

-Custom font and status bar icons

-Animated background (or foreground) sprites

-Small horizontal (or vertical) scroll if map is bigger in X (or Y for horizontal scroll) than screen size, altough the scroll keeps moving up (or right)

-If background could be drawn in the last order position we can build big bridges where every moving thing is going underneath them (players, shots) -- Selectable drawing order?

-Shadows for objects/enemies/players. Would be nice to have, in the sprite background part, a "height" parameter where you can define how far the shadow will be drawn, or if there is shadow or not at all (height=0). Could be the inverse of the transparent area, in a 80% transparent grey, for example

-Image slideshow for intro/between maps/outtro. Definable image for Loading Screen (iPhone/iPad/slower computers)

-Smaller hitbox on player sprite ship than the whole sprite (usual in every modern shooter), against the complete sprite collision detection

-Difficulty setting (frequency of enemy shots, enemy 'lives', speed of enemy shots, player lives, loss of powerups after dying or not?)

-Enemy child follows another enemy child, that follows an enemy father, and so on: with this, you can make an snake-type enemy, composed of several articulated sprites (even nicer if they rotate facing each parent). But they should all die if their "head" dies. Or split up in two if you break the middle... too complicated maybe? I did this with another program (Game Maker), creating a matrix where the coordinates of the second compound (for example) were the former coordinates of the "head" in the last gametime, or 5 gametimes (distance?) ago :). Maybe looks complicated, but looks spectacular. Or to create the "Options" powerup seen on Nemesis, for the Player ship. I think I can provide a video of the result of what I did with the "snake enemy"...

-iPhone control mode selection (accelerometer - virtual joystick (I don't like this, but maybe someother one does) - relative screen touch). Would be nice to access it via a Pause Menu

-Autofire for mobile devices (iPad/iPhone)

-Accelerometer calibration on pause or main menu (iPhone/iPad, you know)

-Pause button :)






I hope these hints can help you make a better program. It can look like a lot of work, but I think they are all quite usual on modern shmups.

If I find more bugs, or think about other features, I'll let you know if you think they are useful.

I am happy if I can help :)

And thanks for reading that much text... :-S

Cheers!
#2
Hello all,

After having a look to the program, it look like a great job and shows great potential.

IMHO, it would be a killer and great successful program if it is capable to compile to the iPhone platform, and some little cosmetic changes, to make it a little more easy looking.

Think about it, with enough upgrades you could sell it and do some good money... I would buy it and I am sure I would not be the only one for sure. Would be really successful and you have almost all the job done.

Any chances that my dreams will come true? :)

Kind regards!