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Progress Thread - LightShields

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 1:52 pm
by Zutano
Hi all! I finally started my first NES project. The gameplay is pretty simple (yet fun), and I've been slowly improving the sound and graphics as I learn more about the NES. I hope to have it polished enough to submit to this year's competition.

The game is called "SPONG" (a portmanteau of "Space" and "Pong"):
- Currently only 2 player
- Each player controls a starship and a light-shield
- The goal is to destroy your opponent (and run their extra lives to zero) by shooting them
- The light-shields follow players' ships and deflect bullets, bouncing them back at the player who fired
- You must hit your opponent with your bullet, while dodging their shield. Your own bullet can destroy your ship if it bounces off a shield back at you
- 'A' button shoots, 'B' button holds your shield stationary, giving you an opportunity to shoot (but also leaving you exposed...)

Friends who helped me test the gameplay found it addicting and very competitive. Between now and the compo deadline, I still need to add improved graphics/animations and a fancier title screen.

UPDATE: Here's the compo ROM
LightShields.nes
(24.02 KiB) Downloaded 723 times
cap1.PNG
cap1.PNG (6.01 KiB) Viewed 21015 times
cap2.PNG
cap2.PNG (6.06 KiB) Viewed 21015 times

Re: Progress Thread - Spong

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 4:38 pm
by dougeff
I read it as "sponge".

Whereas "space pong" has a 1970s feel to it.

Re: Progress Thread - Spong

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:17 am
by Zutano
Haven't heard "Sponge" before. But people often call it "Sprong", and when I tell people the title for the first time I always qualify it by saying space pong, so I may as well just start calling it that.

Re: Progress Thread - Spong

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:48 am
by tepples
"Pong" is a registered trademark. You may want to avoid that name.

Re: Progress Thread - Spong

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 7:12 pm
by Myask
So's "Ping-Pong" [w/hyphen].

Re: Progress Thread - Spong

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 6:29 pm
by Zutano
I finished some animation on the shields. Here's what some gameplay looks like (just me controlling Player 1...)

The shields follow their respective player (but slower than the player moves). Each player can temporarily stop their shield so they can peak around it and hit the opponent.

Also, I think I've decided to change the name of the game to "LightShields", since Spong seems to confuse people and Pong is a trademark.
spong-animations.gif
spong-animations.gif (289.59 KiB) Viewed 20609 times

Re: Progress Thread - LightShields

Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 7:24 pm
by Zutano
Here's a mostly-complete ROM of the game. Grab a buddy and try it out!
LightShieldsProto.nes
Prototype version of LightShields
(24.02 KiB) Downloaded 678 times
Title screen
Title screen
titlescreen.png (2.32 KiB) Viewed 20268 times
"A" fires a bullet, "B" holds your shield in place (in shield mode), "Start" begins the game and respawns the dead player between rounds, "Select" changes modes on the menu.

I still need to add some music for the battle sequence, and I'd also like to add a prettier transition from menu to battle.

Re: Progress Thread - LightShields

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:02 pm
by M_Tee
I like the new name. Has a pretty proper late 70s scifi sound to it while also being so directly descriptive.

Re: Progress Thread - LightShields

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 6:19 pm
by toggle switch
Just opened it to check out, couldn't play properly since I was alone, but -

If the other player never moves, you can't kill them! Maybe you could fix this by adding a short refractory period to the shields, so they would be down for a second after being hit.

Just a thought!

Re: Progress Thread - LightShields

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:53 pm
by Zutano
toggle switch wrote:Maybe you could fix this by adding a short refractory period to the shields, so they would be down for a second after being hit.
That's a good idea.
I've toyed with randomly appearing extra-life powerups to encourage players to move around, but that tended to stretch the game on pretty long.
My next thought was to make the shield shrink if the player has been sitting still for a while, but I like the idea of making the shield ineffective for a couple seconds after being hit.

Re: Progress Thread - LightShields

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2018 3:19 pm
by Zutano
Here's the latest version.
The shields now become ineffective for 1 second after being shot. I chose the short recovery period to encourage players to move in closer to the shields. It's more dangerous, since they'd have less time to react to a bounce-back, but they'd also have a better chance of getting a second shot through the shield.

Re: Progress Thread - LightShields

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:26 pm
by Zutano
Here's the latest version.
This will probably be the final version submitted, assuming there aren't any game-breaking bugs.

Re: Progress Thread - LightShields

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 10:06 am
by M_Tee
Absolutely loved this. As-is, it's a ridiculously fun minigame. With a few more game modes / objectives, it could be a really rich multiplayer game. The possibilities for single player (or even co-op campaign) are pretty wild as well. Would love to see the idea to continue to grow.

Graphics as-is are functional, but since there are so few elements on the screen, it'd be nice to seen them kicked up a notch to a Blade Buster / Crisis Force type level.