Monkey Gun
This game has been put in the dreaded eternal limbo of unfinished games... Not only that, but the latest sources have been lost, so I can't remake it again. Nevertheless, it can still be interesting. Here are some things you can try:
- Play the first level
- Try the different weapons using the all weapons cheat (see below)
- See the different power levels for each weapon (pick up powerups to increase, get hit to decrease)
- Finish all 3 first levels (maybe using the level skip cheat) and notice the extra levels appear on the map.
- Same for the final level if you finish the rest.
- Screw around with the sprites and the weapons, since they're open anyway.
This was the original blurb:
Monkey Gun is my newest game. It's a traditional shoot-em up full of
speed and fun, with that extra pinch of tactics.
At the moment the game is still under development. If you would like
to take a look at how I'm making progress, you can play the Monkey Gun
WIP-demo's I post here from time to time. They
aren't real play demo's but just the current state of the game's implementation.
You can also find some info here on what's going to be in the game.
Questions or comments can always be mailed
to me...
Controls
- Arrow keys
movement - Escape
pause - Space or Left Ctrl
shoot - C
next weapon - X
previous weapon - ~ (top left key on keyboard)
debug console - Shift-F5
cheat unlimited lives - Shift-F6
cheat level skip - Shift-F7
cheat full power - Shift-F8
cheat all weapons
News
November 2002
Ok, I'd say that now the engine part is 80% finished and the content 20% or something like that. From the top of my mind all that's left to be added to the system is:
- Bosses and all of their behaviour (how to specify that is quite an issue)
- Sound and music, especially where to get content I'm allowed to use :(
Then there are some less important stuff like special events (end sequence, intro, cut scenes?) and maybe bombs and AAP's (Assistance Attack Pod). The rest is a matter of producing content for all these systems.
Of course it's more tempting to add more functionality, but you have to produce some content for it so you have something to work with, and that takes a lot of time if you want quality. For example I think I've redone the intro-level about 20-30 times before I was satisfied with it... And don't forget all the foes, projectiles, weapons, bosses and levels that need to be drawn! It's a good thing I have some experience in drawing, but inspiration doesn't flow abound... (Does anybody has a good design for a power up?) It's even worse in the sound department because I have no experience whatsoever with it.
Well, I added some new screenshots, so you can at least see that there's progress, because that one ancient, ugly test level... well, were way past that. (As a matter of fact I'm using it again now to test my WorldMap because of it's short length. 8-fold that is, for each level :D ) But there's no way you can see how much work went into the game just by looking at those screenshots. The little things, like not flying off screen or getting hit, can take daaaaays of work. It does seem to me I have a lot less bugs than when making Wim Kaepon, so I can put my ideas into action much quicker. Learned something after all? :) Who knows, maybe I can get my original design fully implemented...
August 2002
Work is getting along nicely now. The basic engine takes care of the player, the foes, the projectiles and the map is almost finished. Some weapons still need to be added for the player, and I need to fill what's supposed to happen when collision happens between sprites.
At the moment I'm still deciding wether to use a purely sprite-based weapon system (which means the projectiles are hand-drawn bitmaps) or a dynamically generated particle system (which means the computer produces a more or less fysically accurate simulation of the projectiles).
For your eyes only I've added a screenshot option in MonkeyGun (that
pauses the game 2 minutes?? Hm...), behold the result ^_^
Take note of the hideous graphics :) No, don't worry, except maybe
the aircraft everything is placeholder art to test things out.
A demo of what I've got so far (only for the hardcore fans) is available
in the Download section below.
For those who want to help developing foes and levels: look further.
Long ago
Monkey Gun (working title), is the name of
my new game project. It's gonna be a traditional vertically scrolling
shoot 'em up, whit lots of speed and fun.
At moment I'm busy toiling away at designing everything: weapons, worlds,
enemies, bosses, plot, ... When it's finished, I'll try to scan it in
and post it here.
Everyone with to much inspiration who wants to help is always welcome,
just mail me. But
as I myself am doing this just for fun, all I can offer is my gratitude
and a place in the credits.
Development
AniMonkey Monkey Gun animation viewer. Put in main Monkey Gun dir.
(All links below are in Dutch only)
Every help I can get with Monkey Gun, in programming as wel as content, is highly appreciated. And it so happens you're able to help out there, especially in the last department.
Some of the things I still need:
- Levels (with the appropriate tilesets)
- Foes (and some Bosses)
- Foe weapons
- Music and SFX (still completely open)
- {Optional} Plot ^_^ (with matching intro and end sequence)
Then there's some stuff that's still undecided like Singus weapon #3,
the last Easy and Hard level...
Drawing sprites for the Singus and existing Bosses and Weapons I prefer
to do myself.