Galactic Warp - Vertical Scrolling Game

WIP games, tools & toy projects
#1

Hi guys! I have a new project that I am working on, along side my first game that was developed in Slick2D.

My new game is using LibGDX and I want to first thank all the members of the forum who have helped me understand LibGDX more, have helped me understand programming a lot more and finally sort out some features of the game which is making this possible, so thank you :smiley:

Galactic Warp! What is it? You ask

The game is fashioned on old style games where the screen scrolls up, causing the player to fly along and destroy enemies collecting coins and pick ups along the way and fighting some cool bosses! At the moment I have got a few features working but the game is still a long way off from what I want to achieve. My main aim of this project is to increase my understanding of programming logic, become better in game programming and learn new features in a fun way.

At the moment, there isn’t much to see but I feel happy that a few months ago I couldn’t even code and now I feel that I am understanding how to logically work around problems and solve them. I even programmed the bullet system myself which I am happy about, as this seemed unthinkable a while ago.

Finally, a lot of the artwork at the start will be placeholders or not finished to a high standard, just a heads up :smiley:

  • Thanks for reading :smiley:

Currently working on:

* Moving all textures/sprites into a separate class so that I don’t keep loading in files every time I create an object
* Random monster generation
* Enemies shooting at the player

  • Adding new enemies
  • Adding pickups such as speed
  • Designing the map


https://i.imgflip.com/9ucvm.gif


https://i.imgflip.com/9uczu.gif

rd1cJTJ56j0

#2

Updated the post with a new video about the random spawning and collisions coming together. I only had one little hiccup when making it. I forgot to put the entity iterator inside the bullet loop xD

#3

Just some things to work on, if you want to.

  • Try making sure it only spawns monsters off the screen
  • Add a movement path for the monsters
  • Advanced on the previous is to get a group to behave like a snake or something together
  • Add different weapon types
  • Add a boost system to move faster
  • Shield system to the ship (From pickups another thing to add)

I wish the best of luck with this project.

#4

Thank you for your ideas. The game is in very early development right now and i’m currently working on the monster spawns.

I have big plans for this game including the following list:

  • Pickups such as invincibility, shields, extra drops
  • A shop
  • More weapons that can be picked up as drops from enemies
  • Bosses
  • Lots more enemies that have different weapons and movements
  • Different levels

These are a few of the ideas that I have been looking at over the past few days. I’m having a lot of fun making this project and feel more confident in my code :slight_smile:

#5

It’s been a while since I posted anything so I though i’d update about my progress.

The game is going fairly well and i’m pleased with how everything is turning out. The game has taught me so much about developing and I’ve learnt a lot of new things about LibGDX which I never knew existed. I’ve not done much to the overall design of the game as I’ve been busy with other things but I am currently working on my main menu which I am proud of so far.

The main menu has an infinite scrolling background and I’ve started learning scene2D to help with cool UI designs. You can see a gif of this below :slight_smile:


https://i.imgflip.com/9ucvm.gif

I will hopefully have more updates in the future and will start developing the game more. I plan to finish of the menu tomorrow and to work on the key GUI for the game.

#6

Just a little update:

I’ve added in particle effects to add something to the game and I’m in the process of making a XP/money system. I’ve also added new sound effects and will be working on new enemy types, weapons and pickups next :slight_smile:

I’ve also finished most of the main menu.

#7

Lol awesome firing sound. I suggest you place the players ship nearer to the bottom on the screen. As it is, it is effectively wasting half of your screen space because you can’t do anything with any of the objects which go past the players ship. If the players ship was lower down, you could also increase the enemies speed, as you would have more distance to react before they get you. Also add a little variability to the players movement, it looks like its too on/off, even if the ship skidded for 10 pixels after you let go the movement button, it would feel more alive.

#8

Thanks! :slight_smile: (pew pew). Yeah, I actually was meant to do that yesterday, I got sidetracked playing with the particle editor ::slight_smile:

I really like the idea of the movement skidding, that could change things up. I was also thinking of making the player use the mouse rather than the keyboard but i’m not sure on this yet

#9

the idea with the skidding, is not like its skidding out of control right… the idea is to make it so that instead of feeling like you are pushing a key on the keyboard which moves a sprite on your screen, you feel like you are working the controls of an extremely responsive, yet rather large ship flying through space. things need to feel more like they are things, rather than just that they are a picture at a position.

the mouse might be good… that can be way more responsive than the keyboard for a start, and you could get a little forward and backward thrust for dodging things.

#10

I understand that Liquid :slight_smile: I really like this idea and it seems really fun to actually play around with so I will look into it!

#11

Just some new gifs of my progress! :slight_smile:

Working on new enemies at the moment and different shooting mechanics. Also want to implement more realistic movement to the player and movement to the UFO’s

EDIT: Changed the video on the first post to the current game-play state :slight_smile:


http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/7-11-2014/DhXUAg.gif


http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/7-11-2014/uZ8Tio.gif

#12

I’ve been working on power-ups lately and have made a little video showing them off.

The drops are very frequent at the moment but i’ll be adjusting that to make the game play more fun and harder. Please let me know your thoughts or any ideas for power ups :smiley:

rd1cJTJ56j0

#13

Yeah, it is actually :smiley: I need to add the credits for both the menu music and game music.

I made sure to check that I could use the music as long as credit was stated but i’ll double check the source to see if someone has stolen the music and just changed it around a bit. I’m also looking into making my own chiptune for my game as I have made everything else myself, why not the music? :smiley:

EDIT: Turns out the music was indeed copied and then remixed by someone else, that is why the version sounds different

#14

Hey guys just a little update about the game and what state it is in.

I’ve recently been working on pickups and the instructions part of the game, below is the current list of changes:

  • Bomb pickup’s added and have their own particle effects and sound. They destroy every enemy on the screen but the player receives no drops from them. Also a delay on how often they can be used.
  • Instructions - Work in progress.
  • Removed the main game music - This has been replaced with the main menu music throughout the game. It seems to fit more of the style of the game I want.
  • Fading between screens is now in place
  • Bomb HUD is now in place, just showing how many the player has

This is mostly it I think and I really need to start work on making more of a map and some art. I’m not sure if I just want an infinite map of a level system yet but hopefully i’ll decide soon and can start working on finishing this up.