Hello !
I've got another little update for you all to show some of the (small) progress I'm making.
First, I'd like to advertise that I'm looking for one or more artist to help me produce the graphics for the game. Programming the AI's, and the programming work that's left to implement bigger sized levels in itself is going to take me a long time, so if i cannot find help for the graphics, the project will not be able to advance at a satisfying pace. I would be extremely grateful if someone would want to hop in the project and help me you could either PM me or reach me through email/msn at louislavallee9@hotmail.com
LINK :
http://totalcarnage.chimeramusic.net/download.php?file=TotalCarnageX.rar
So what's new in this version ?
-New music at the start of each level (except double spider carnage) made by Chimera Music Group (new collaborators who will handle a large chunk of the in game music)
-New enemy (Alien Triceratops). This enemy as the most advanced AI from all the enemies currently in the game.
-New Level (or not, it's just an unbalanced/boring level to showcase the triceratops, but the triceratops itself is pretty cool)
-Faster bullet travel speed/explosion. May seem like little but it helps the gameplay.
-Turret barrel is now perfectly directed toward hero, rather than the old 8 way direction.
-Turret now shoots bigger, different bullets.
-Nice replay packed in the .rar.
Some of you may have tried earlier iterations and thought that the game was really hard/too hard. I've packed a replay of 'Hard Classic Carnage' that shows how nice the game can become once your proficient at it. That replay shows me playing Hard Classic Carnage and dieing at 46%. I just can't beat that level though :-(, even though any other level is a piece of cake. If you want to watch this replay, you will have to start the game and watch it right away, as the replay will be erased as soon as you play a game. You can extract the files from the .rar again so that Replay.xml is overridden if you want to watch it after having played.
I've been having a lot of trouble, and spending a lot of time drawing the alien triceratops, but i think i managed to do an (almost) satisfying job. I hope to be able to touch up it's animation so that it looks a bit better, but it's not so bad.
FEEDBACK :
-Triceratops : I personally have mixed feelings about him. I think he got a nice 'cool factor', but the way he grabs and throws the player kind of disrupts the experience for me. Currently, my plan is to use him sparsely in levels as a way to keep the player moving and add a little 'fear factor'. I also have mixed feelings about his looks. I think the head looks really cool, but the body is so-so. I'd like to get any feedback, good and/or bad, about the triceratops.
-Bigger sized levels : I'm looking for a way to implement bigger sized levels with environments hazards, but i don't want complicated puzzles. I also want to keep the pace extremely high, and force the player to keep moving. I don't want to force scroll the screen. I don't know how to design levels that best achieve all those criteria, but I'd definitely like any suggestions you guys could give me.
I'm also open to any other feedback and/or suggestions you have about the game.
CURRENT TODO :
-Add death animation for the triceratops
-make the turret bullets come from the guns end rather than from the center
-Try to make a cool physic effect where the triceratops crashes into the walls rather than running over it.
-allow the triceratops to do damage (currently out only to allow me to test him better)
-add congratulation menu once you complete a level
-Work on new enemy (Giant Alien Fleshy Robotic Snake Boss)
-Do something to improve mouse aiming
-Support Alt Tabbing
-Create bigger/different levels