Our 4E4 entry is a different kind of 2D-shooter in that you battle a computer-controlled opponent indirectly. 2 players are playing 2D-shooters: you on the left and the computer opponent on the right. You can't interact directly with your opponent, but you use cards to spawn enemies, hazards, and other effects on its side. The object of the game is to be better than your opponent by making it lose all health! At first, the computer AI is not smart at all, but it gets harder as you progress. The overall pacing of the game increases also, so at the beginning it's pretty slow-paced. You perform combos by killing many enemies in succession. At the end of a combo, enemies will spawn on your opponent's side. The number and type of enemy depends on the size of the combo you just performed. Features:

• 8 playable vehicles to select from, many of which are non-traditional
• Each vehicle has unique shot patterns and starting stats
• Choose from over 10 pre-built decks that have different playstyles
• Earn upgrade points and distribute them as you choose
• Mouse control is supported, and keyboard configurations are customizable
• Lots of replayability: Try out strange vehicle/deck combinations!
• Over 30 rounds in all, comprised of 7 different opponents
• Automatic saving: Just select a save slot when you start and never worry about forgetting to save. There are 10 save slots in all, so multiple users can all play.

There are in-game instructions, but I'll go over the basics. Move around using the arrow keys or WASD. Press/hold spacebar to fire, and press shift to boost. Use cards by pressing the 1, 2, or 3 keys for cards in those positions, respectively. You need enough coins in order to use a card first (get coins from killing enemies). You can change the key setups in the options screen. It was created using the HGE engine and Dev-C++. This is our first game created that didn't use Visual Basic. It is actually a sequel to an older VB game that we made (some OLD screenshots of the previous Zirconia game here: 1 2) Download (16MB) [Edited by - xaver on November 7, 2005 3:12:15 AM]

Have I yet mentioned how much I love this game?

I'll try to figure out something more useful to say later, I just wanted you to know that :)

Argh, I could of sworn it was only 7pm!

Hehe, maybe I haven't give the other games a good enough try but so far yours is my favourite. I started playing it about 7pm and I've only just managed to pull myself away from it - an hour and twenty minutes later.

Uppers: Graphics were good, sound and music was good, interface was nice.
Downers: Not really much to say. One annoying thing while playing was that I couldn't move diagonally while shooting (using the keyboard that is, not sure if anything can be done about this though). The only other thing would be that the menus were a bit too responsive for my liking (responding and screens changing almost immediately after I clicked the mouse).

Multiplayer would be a fantastic feature to implement if you have the time!

Overall a great game, well done and good luck in the competition.

I have a few issues with the sound - it may be a result of something I'm not noticing.

After a couple of rounds, I start getting weird sounds coming in. The first one is sortof a click, every second or so, and later another one gets added that is a louder, deeper click a little less often.

Also, it takes forever to place walls :) Do I really need to stay still for two seconds to ensure that my wall goes where I want it?

Lastly... the rounds system. I don't mind three rounds, but why four/five? And why does it take four losses for the computer to lose, and one loss for me to lose. Maybe a majority of round wins equals a total win?

I *love* the deck/ship combinations - it's a lot of fun and adds nice change to the game. And it's just intrinsically (man, I hope that's the right spelling) fun.

Thanks for your comments, glad you liked our game :)

Quote:Original post by InsaneBoarder234
One annoying thing while playing was that I couldn't move diagonally while shooting (using the keyboard that is, not sure if anything can be done about this though). The only other thing would be that the menus were a bit too responsive for my liking (responding and screens changing almost immediately after I clicked the mouse).

Diagonal movement and firing works alright with my keyboard (using WASD movement keys); I think the problem is that certain keyboards have issues with too many keys pressed simultaneously. The setup I use mainly is WASD for movement and the mouse for all the other non-movement functions. Also, we didn't have enough time to implement "transition" screens from menu to menu (although one could say it isn't needed since 5 selection screens you have to go through may be tiring).

Quote:Original post by Avatar God
I have a few issues with the sound - it may be a result of something I'm not noticing.
After a couple of rounds, I start getting weird sounds coming in. The first one is sortof a click, every second or so, and later another one gets added that is a louder, deeper click a little less often.

I'm not sure what the sound problem is; the only think I can think of is certain status effects making such sounds. If either player is poisoned, there is a sound that plays when you are damaged by poison. A clicking sound is also played if you have the silenced (unable to shoot) condition. Certain enemies, when you shoot them, make a similar sound.

Quote:Also, it takes forever to place walls :) Do I really need to stay still for two seconds to ensure that my wall goes where I want it?

This was done for game balance. Certain walls have identical coin costs, but different usage times. You can also try the following for some of the longer usage time walls: start using the wall in your original position, then zoom up to the desired placement spot(it should be placed soon), then zip back to where you were before.

Quote:Lastly... the rounds system. I don't mind three rounds, but why four/five? And why does it take four losses for the computer to lose, and one loss for me to lose. Maybe a majority of round wins equals a total win?

Each round represents a 'level', opponents will change form slightly (or not sometimes) from round to round. If you haven't noticed, each round has a specific starting layout for your opponent. This was done so that you couldn't "zerg" your opponent right off the bat. Also for flavor reasons: ninjas tend to have more trees in their layout and robots have more mines. Each opponent has a specific deck they use, but each time you win a round, cards are added to that opponent's deck (until end of match).

I made it require that many rounds (sometimes even 7 or 8 rounds!) because some rounds are very easy wins. The ninjas do not have as much defense as the robots do, and the AI isn't that smart. You'll probably have a guaranteed victory when all its walls are eliminated. Originally, when you lost, you got sent back to the selection screen, which was very frustrating when you lost on the last round! It's been changed in the final version and you can now continue from the round you died on as much as you like, although your score and power drop to zero when you continue.

Cool! That pretty much answers my questions [smile].

Good to hear about the usage times. Very glad to hear about the change in the rounds system [grin].

I had the same issue with pressing too many keys (this is a real problem in FPSs... I try to press shift, E, D and W at the same time to slow-walk diagonally, crouch, and lean), but I prefer using the mouse here anyways, so it wasn't a problem.

hi!
actually, i made the music for the intro screen and for the screens after you win the battles!
and this is my first "official" release! :-)

I just wrote a pretty long entry and accidently deleted it :( You all have done this and know that the 2nd try isn't nearly as good, so sorry if it's not as informative as it should be.

I liked this game very much, but I have a few things I would like to see improved:

First of all, I don't like HAVING to choose (5) cards after upgrading just to have to have to delete them anyway afterwards... You should be able to hit OK without choosing cards.

Secondly, and I'm suprised nobody has posted it here, was that I just tried to play the game while listening to iTunes. So of course I had to turn the music off and sounds low. I did this once the game started from the main menu, but once the game started, it sort of ignored that request ;) So I did it again from the ESC menu and once the final round ended, it again played the music at full volume. This doesnt seem like too hard of a bug to fix, but really isn't a big deal and doesn't really disrupt gameplay.

Other than those, I think it was a really solid game. I was hesitant to play it, because from the looks of it, it really wasn't "my type of game..."

Total Time Played - 09:46:30


Nice Job.