Asteroids of Beyaan

[Zeraan]

I'm making a clone of Asteroids. However, I'm also incorporating elements from "Asterax", an Macintosh clone of Asteroids. It will feature upgrades you can purchase with minerals collected from blowing up asteroids. It will also feature random alien ships that stop by and take potshots at you.

This is actually my THIRD remake of this game. The first used DirectX 7 DirectDraw, and it was poorly programmed (everything in one source file), the physics were horrible. Second used Directx 8 Direct3D, while the gameplay mechanics is improved (asteroids colliding with each other, and better physics overall) the game suffer from graphic bugs. It would work on some computers, and not quite right on other.

So my aim is to remake the game that is consistent across different computers, and feature improved gameplay from 2nd iteration.

Asteroids is now floating around. When I add physics for them colliding with each other, I will post a screenshot. Well, you can't see the physics in action in a screenshot, but I want to get that part done first

[Zeraan]

Here's an update. The asteroids are randomly generated, with random speeds. Collisions are still being worked on, but I think you'd like to see some updates



Right now I'm working on different components. Starfield component is done. Asteroids are almost done. Ships are next. Then weapons and shields. Then I'll package them all up into one game with menus.

[Zeraan]

The asteroids collision detection and response took longer than I expected, but finally I got it working. Asteroids will bounce off each other, not just your ship. Next item on agenda, adding player-controlled ships. For this, I'll have to research a bit in input. This game will be purely keyboard, no mouse.

I'm wondering, is anyone interested in following this game along in its development?

[ShadowDust702]

I'd like to play it

[Zeraan]

ShadowDust702, as soon as it's playable (have a controllable ship, can blow up asteroids) I'll email you the beta version

Update:
When starting work on ships, I realized that I need to develop input first, so I decided to put ships on hold, and start working on menus. Took me a bit to figure out how fonts work, but now I have a Main Menu. However, I'm still trying to figure out how to do input.

Here's an updated screenshot (link, because if I post the image here, it only accepts scaled-down images)

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/ ... hot3-1.jpg

[Zeraan]

After some hair pulling and banging the keyboard against the monitor, I finally figured out how to poll the input without using event triggers. In the wiki, the author said I could use something similar to the mouse's configuration. However, I found this is not the case. If I want to poll a key, I'd have to do this instead:

if (input.Keyboard.KeyStates[KeyboardKeys.Up] == KeyState.Down)

I was confused by the wiki and tried this:

if((input.Keyboard.Keystates & KeyboardKeys.Up) == KeyboardKeys.Up)

That didn't work, and caused me grief.

But now that I figured it out, that leaves the rest of the game to be implemented. I've learned all the important things to do with the Gorgon engine, so the only things left are the gameplay mechanics. Main Menu is now fully operational. Now I need to add ship selection, upgrade menu, two players ship selection, and options.

Here's the goals I have for this game:
Multiple game modes:
- Classic mode (no upgrades, all asteroids are gray, one shot blows up each asteroid, survive as best as you can)
- Asteroids of Beyaan mode (upgrades, different types of asteroids, occasional different missions)
- Survival (select one asteroid type, then survive as long as you can)
- Protect the broken down ship(s) (one or more ships are broken down, and you must destroy all asteroids before they hit the ships, more money gained from more ships surviving)
- All of the above will be available in one or two players (hotseat) mode

Different types of asteroids:
- Gray (Normal)
- Brown (high mass, harder to destroy, pushes other asteroids out of its way)
- Blue (Magnetic, it will accelerate toward your ship due to magnetic pull)
- Red (Explosive, when shot, it explodes and incur damage on your ship if it's nearby, and pushes other asteroids away)
- Green (Money asteroid, break it down to smallest rock size, then fly over them to pick money up. Don't shoot the smallest one or they'll be destroyed!)
- Black (Similar to Gray, but very hard to see, especially when they're small. The only way to see where they are is by noticing which stars disappear behind it)
- Purple (Clumps together on impact. For example, two small would clump into a medium, and two medium clumps into one large. So if you shoot large one, but don't destroy the medium ones, they will clump back together)

Grr! This text box is having problems on Internet Explorer 8, I can't stay scrolled down, so I can't see what I'm typing..

Anyway, if you have ideas for other types of asteroids or game modes, let me know, and I'll see if I can incorporate them into the game.

[ShadowDust702]

hmm, try google chrome i love it ...

for the blue astroid maybe make it so it pulls other astroids towards itself as well?

[Zeraan]

Problem with blue asteroids drawing other asteroids to it would cause them to clump together and move slow. I want the player to be afraid of blue asteroids.

One more asteroid - Yellow (fast asteroid, low mass so it bounces off all over, unpredictable)

I've finished main menu, and implemented ship selection. You can choose from three ships:
Behemoth - strong shields, but slow
Cruiser - average in all fields
Corvette - Fast but weak shields.

I also implemented ship vs asteroid collisions, and you can control your ship (rotate and accelerate). Right now the "game play" consists of three large asteroids and your ship. No shields yet, so no death. Next on agenda, firing bullets, bullet vs asteroid, and asteroid breaking into smaller asteroids.

You can see the corvette and 3 asteroids in this screenshot
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/ ... nshot4.jpg

[Zeraan]

Another update! I hope I'm not spamming

Firing bullets is now implemented, and I've also incorporated two player hotseat.

In this screenshot, you can see the cruiser in lower left area, and behemoth at top, both firing bullets. It was hard handling both ships at once for a good screenshot, so that was the best I could manage
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/ ... nshot5.jpg

Having asteroids split into smaller fragments and bullets hitting asteroids is next! At this rate, the game should be playable tomorrow

[Zeraan]

Bullets hitting asteroids is now implemented. Once the asteroid's health falls below 0, it is broken down into smaller fragments (3 new fragments every time, maybe I can chang ethat to be a random value or something). If the smallest asteroid is shot, it is destroyed.

Here's a screenshot of this in action! You can see the three different sizes: Large, Medium, and Small.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/ ... nshot6.jpg

No deaths yet, but if you want to give this a try, PM me your email address and I'll email you the game.

[Zeraan]

I really wanted to get this game to an actual playable state, so I worked on the shield and death. They are now implemented. How does shield work in this game? Instead of a pre-determined damage amount when you hit an asteroid, it actually calculates the "force" of impact you had on the asteroid, and reduce that from the shield. So the harder you hit, the more damage you take. Mass is also taken in account. Hitting an small asteroid have less damage than hitting a large asteroid with the same force.

When your shield is gone, you die. When you die, you have the option of restarting the level (same upgrades, everything, nothing is lost) or exiting to main menu.

Here's a new screenshot. I apologize for programmer art for the shield bar Notice the shield effect. I just hit the asteroid on top, and rebounded with nearly all of my shield gone.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/ ... nshot7.jpg

Later I will add upgrades and "money" asteroid that you can harvest to buy upgrades.

To do list:
Add level completion (Currently, only one level, and when all the rocks are destroyed, you're stuck in the space, with nothing to do)
Add money asteroids
add upgrades
add rest of asteroids

[Zeraan]

It now advance to next level when all rocks are destroyed.

I will change all the rocks to money asteroid to test the upgrades I will implement. About the upgrades, this is my tentative list of possible upgrades (writing this down for my future reference):

Shield Upgrades:
Improved Shield Recharge Rate (5 levels)
Improved Shield Battery (5 levels)
Inertia Stabilizer (2 levels, reduces the damage taken by asteroids)
Emergency Batteries (3 levels, similar to Metroid's backup energy)

Weapon Upgrades:
Additional Cannon (3 levels, can have up to 4 cannons)
Shorter cooldown (5 levels, faster rate of fire)
Increased velocity (5 levels, faster bullets)
Safe shot (2 levels, first is for not destroying the small green rocks, second is for not hitting the teammate or broken down ships)
Repulsor (3 levels, pushes back asteroids while shooting it)
Bouncing (3 levels, bounces off asteroids to hit other asteroids)

Engine upgrades:
Improved thrust (5 levels, better acceleration)
Improved turning (5 levels, faster turning rate)
Afterburners (3 levels, emergency use of shield energy to accelerate faster)

Special upgrades:
Nova (1 level, think of death blossom from the last starfighter)
Harvester (1 level, sends a drone to collect small green asteroids)
Teleporter (1 level, allows you to teleport to a random spot in an emergency)
Missile (1 level, uses energy to fire an explosive bullet, same damage as a large red asteroid)
Emergency Shield (1 level, invulnerable shield for a short bit)

I think that's all. If you have any additional ideas, feel free to add them.

[Zeraan]

Sorry about the lapse in updates. It was a busy week! Tons of homework, some tests, and busy life. Anyway, I've started adding different types of asteroids. So far I have the normal gray ones, green (money), yellow (fast), and brown (massive).

You can see a screenshot of it here:
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/ ... nshot8.jpg

Brown and Yellow asteroids combined are CRAZY! Yellow have very low mass and bounce off like crazy, and brown serve as "pinball" effect

I'm excited to play this when this is finished!

A new asteroid idea: Orange - Accelerates other asteroids that bounce off it, so if all asteroids in a level are orange, they will move faster and faster each time they bounce (conservation of momentum is thrown out of window)

Change of ship types:
Behemoth - Superior shields
Cruiser - Superior weapons
Corvette - Superior engines

New upgrade ideas:
Annihilator shield (2 upgrades, 3 for behemoth. Each upgrade will enable the shield to destroy the asteroid that hits it, instead of just bouncing them away. First upgrade destroys small asteroids, second destroys medium. Behemoth is the only ship type that can get the third upgrade that destroys large asteroids)
Boost (Same as above, but Corvette can upgrade to an extra level)
Multiple cannons (same as above, but Cruiser can upgrade to an extra cannon, max of 5)

No PMs? Nobody want to play my game?

[Zeraan]

Update on my progress:

Most of the upgrades are now implemented. You can see a fully upgraded cruiser shooting 4 bullets at once, have 3 battery backups for shield.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/ ... nshot9.jpg

To do:
Implement the buying upgrade screen
Tweak upgrade balance
Tweak asteroids' stats
Implement explosions for red asteroids and ship dying
Implement the special upgrades

[ShadowDust702]

Looking good, I think I'll have a go once it's finished

[Zeraan]

Red asteroids exploding are now implemented, as well as your ship exploding when it die. Big red asteroid have more exploding force than the small ones. When your ship die, it have the same explosion force as the big red asteroid. Particularly nasty when playing two players and one person dies near you.

Explosions hurt you, and pushes the asteroids away from the explosion center, so two bad effects

Upgrade menu is half-way implemented. When that's done, I will add in the rest of the upgrades, do general cleaning-up, and add special effects (engine exhaust, explosion art, etc)

Then last of all I will implement the aliens, then the game will be done!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the sounds. I'm deaf, so I'm unable to do sounds, so I've asked another person to do it for me.

[Zeraan]

Since I found an artist that will redo all the art for the game, I've implemented the special effect for explosion before I finished the upgrade menu. You can see it in action here:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/ ... shot10.jpg

Feel free to mock my MS Paint skill, but you can see how it'll work in game.

[Zeraan]

Okay, the upgrade menu is done. Fixed some bugs. This game is now nearly complete. The only things missing are several upgrades (no shield grinding, after burners, auto braking, or bullet shrapnel, and no special upgrades), sound, and the final artwork. Also no aliens or mouse input. I plan on implementing mouse input later.

Please PM me your email address so I can email it to you. When you play it, please be on lookout for any bugs or irriating gameplay mechanics. Also feel free to give me suggestions for the game. Thanks!

Screenshot of the upgrade menu here:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/ ... shot11.jpg

[ShadowDust702]

epic explosion!

[Zeraan]

Email sent. Please let me know how I can improve this game! I want this to be a fun game!

[Zeraan]

Tweaked the asteroid spawning code so that it's more consistent in giving you a challenge. Implemented the shield grinding upgrade (damages asteroids when they hit you) and shrapnel (bullet explodes into shrapnel with this upgrade, dealing additional damage)

Visual changes - When you buy safe shots, your bullets will change color to reflect this.

Todo:
Add collision between ships
Add bullets hitting other ships unless safe shots are bought (2nd upgrade)
Add explosion effect when asteroids are destroyed
Add engine thrust particles
Add aliens stopping by and greet you with bullets
Add broken down ships that give you 10 minerals if you protect them successfully.
Add descriptions for upgrades
Add level warnings for when a new asteroid is introduced.
Add the remaining upgrades.

Rework the entire artwork.

Add sounds (require help of another programmer)

[ShadowDust702]

yeah, sound's the next thing I'm doing. I'll let you know if I find a good library.

[ShadowDust702]

Well, I played Asteroids of Beyaan, but I got an error on the fifth level (or it may have been sixth, i cant remember exactly). But there were some weird things before the error occured. I started with $2000 I was like SCORE!! lol. I figured you must have set it like that so I could test all the weapon capabilities and stuff. So I upgraded my weapon, but the funny thing was I upgraded it further then it could be upgraded o.0 .. It also made it super easy lol, I blasted all the asteroids in a matter of seconds lol
But yes, upon changing map an error occured I think it's a null reference exception, but it doesn't tell me much about it..

[Zeraan]

Oh yeah, the $2000 was for me testing the upgrades Lol I forgot to remove that.

Was the null exception before or after "Entering Level 6" message? Did it occur after you shoot? I just got to levle 6 and had no problems... Next time, could you click on "View the contents of the error report"? It could contain useful information.

Here's a big update!

The updates for Engine, Weapon, and Shield is now all implemented.
Rock grinding damages the rock that hit your ship
Autostop - new upgrade - automatically stops your ship if not thrusting
Afterburners - Accelerate using your shield's energy, very fast acceleration! (Press left shift while thrusting in either direction)
Sharpnel - bullets detonate into smaller sharpnel that can deal additional damage to asteroids

New upgrade for special:
Tractor - draws in green minerals. You have minimal tractor without upgrades at start to make it easier to pick up green, but as you upgrade this, your distance of drawing minerals grows.
Nuke is now implemented! This is a fun weapon! Here's a screenshot (you can only have 1 nuke on screen at a time)
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/Zeraan/nuke.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/ ... onated.jpg

[Zeraan]

Okay it gave me the same exception it gave you, yay so I'd be able to fix it if I can replicate it!

Added warning messages when levels introduce new types of asteroids.
Forgot to mention that I added shockwave effect for explosions, but you can see that in screenshots I posted above. What do you think of it?

Ship vs Ship collisions and friendly fire now implemented. Gotta be careful when playing with a friend!

Edit: I realized that I wasn't resetting the shrapnel count, so it's trying to draw non-existent shrapnel. Fixed!

Each upgrade don't have a limit yet, I'm playing around to see what should be max. If you feel that it becomes too powerful after a certain amount of upgrades, let me know!