Dragons!

Level 9 of my scrolling shooter consists of the inevitable dragon minions. Hopefully, when there are some better graphics in the game, they will be pretty cool looking, but for now they are lizards with semi circle wings. The two dragon minion these: the guardian class the dragonfire class. The guardian minions are orange, and they shoot normal bullets (nothing special about them) but, unlike every other minion type in the game, they take two hits to kill. The first hit will turn the guardian a deeper red color, similar to how the player turns red for a second when they get hit, only the guardian doesn't change back. Once they are red, if they get hit again they are killed. So, they are basically a normal minion with a little more beef. The second class, the dragonfire, is a green dragon. The unique thing about these guys is that they shoot 2 bullets straight down, but one of them is at a much slower speed than the other, so when there are a few of them on the screen at once, you get a hard-to-dodge wall of bullets. Neither of these minion types are quite as exciting as some of the ones from previous levels, but they are actually pretty hard to deal with.

Puzzle Game Story Mode

For the last year, the story activity in my puzzle game was just a little slideshow the player could flip through to get the little back story that I made up for the game's visual setting. It was pretty lame and kind of misleading since when people see "story modes" they generally think there is going to be some sort of level setup and not just a couple images explaining things. So, I went back and I significantly expanded the story mode. Now there are 10 levels the player can play, each with a specific game mode and a target score. If the player beats the target score, they pass the level and can move on to the next. I've made it so that initially, only "Classic Mode" is available in the game through the normal play menu. By beating a certain levels in story, you gain access to the other game types. Beating all of the 10 levels awards you with a Scoreloop achievement.

Using some of the path modifier stuff I've learned by working on my scrolling shooter, I've made a cool little navigation setup. It's kind of like moving around levels in Super Mario Bros. in that you have a little player sprite, and going in the direction of the next level moves the sprite to the next level area and the camera follows. To explain the story, I still have something similar to the "slideshow" I mention previously, but now that is brought up on the screen by tapping a little circle with an "i" in it, which is a common symbol for 'additional information'. You flip through the slideshow using the same previous/next buttons that you use to move your character through the level. It still isn't the greatest way to get story elements across to the player, but the 10 challenge levels is something that I'm really happy about adding to the game.

Genies and Tornadoes

Back to my scrolling shooter. After my brother suggested a level with Genie characters, I came up with what is currently Level 8. As always, there are two minion classes, both genies, and they shoot tornadoes in different ways. The Cyclone class shoots a tornado straight down, similar to many other minions in the game, but once it reaches a certain distance from its origin point, it breaks into 2 tornadoes that go off at different angles. Its kind of a mix of bullet behaviors from previous levels. The second class of minion on this level is the Seeker class. The tornado bullets they shoot actually have decent homing capabilities. They will travel down the screen at a set speed, but will change direction horizontally to go towards the player. This results in the player often needing to move up the screen to get the bullets behind them. It can be pretty challenging if you don't clear the seeker minions out fast enough. Below are some screenshots of my beautiful genie minions and yet another boring placeholder background (the tan triangles are supposed to be something akin to a tornado or dust devil).

Tutorials and Roulette

Recently I released a new app called the Lucky Roulette Picker. This was just a little app I thought of one night and pumped out the next day. It's basically a random number generator that picks what you should bet on in a game of casino style roulette. It generates a choice for the possible options in the 1-to-1, 2-to-1, and 35-to-1 payout areas of the board. It is a free only app with an ad at the bottom. It's super simple and it only took me a day to make, so selling it wouldn't work out too well. Still, its a funny little app and, as a fan of roulette, I'm pretty happy with it. The Lucky Roulette Picker is available Google Play:

Additionally, I've been working on my scrolling shooter some more. Of course it needs a "How to Play" section for people to learn how the game works. I think most people will pick it up quickly because its nothing revolutionary, but people that aren't super familiar with arcade style scrolling shooters might need a refresher. In my other games, the how to play sections have just been simple slideshow type deals where you scroll through the instructions until you get to the end. However, this tutorial I'm pretty proud of. Its an active tutorial and you have to participate in the basic elements of the game to advance. The first stage requires you to move to two markers on the screen, the second part has you shoot two stationary targets. Then you have to shoot two moving minion (that don't shoot back). Then the tutorial shows how taking damage works and you have to take a hit from another minion to advance. After that, it walks you through how the powerups work and you have to collect one of each. Finally, it describes how the boss battles are triggered and has you defeat a boss that doesn't move or shoot, but this illustrates how the boss bar works and such. After that, it will start you out on the first level. I'm really happy with how it works and I think it will help a lot of new players.