I'm proud to announce that the third game I've ever made is ready. It took lots of time, hard work and help from the splendid community here but I hope it was worth it. Top-down scrolling shooter, featuring the legendary B-17 heavy bomber, often known as the "Queen of the Skies". Enough talk, see it for yourself: http://piotr.monsmontis.net/files/queen.zip Any comments and/or feedback will be greatly appreciated. I included the full source of the game. I think some can find it useful as I can frequently see questions the source can provide answers to. Have fun

It's pretty fun! Only a few complaints :P

It's also pretty slow. I wait around for 10 seconds for 2 planes to come at me, which I kill before they get to fire. Or they do get to fire, and I spend 5 seconds dodging the extremely slow bullet. I assume the later levels get harder, but the first two were just too slow.

The graphics need work. Is this using 8-bit or something? I'd definately like to see some smoother graphics and real alpha blending for the shadows. Some not-so-reptative backgrounds too.

How about an extra part in the gameplay? Instead of taking control away from you when you're bombing (they always seem to hit my engines at this point!), how about making the player bomb themselves. Open the bomb bay doors, and give them a bombing sight in front of the plane. Delay the bombing by a small random time so they can't just zoom past the target and let go at the exact right time. You should have to line yourself up and release at the right time. Also, some graphics for the bombs going down would be good.

Are there any anti-air guns in the later levels? That would be cool, targets protected by anti-air guns you can't take out, you just have to dodge. And how about flak? Flak explodes where you were a few seconds ago. Keeps you always having to dodge.

jonahrowley,

True - the game is very easy at the beginning and it gets harder as you go on. The final levels are very, very tough on 'hard' difficulty level.

The graphics is poor - I agree. I was unable to find any artist who'd help me with graphics so I had to rely on my feeble skills or art I could rip off.

Regarding your suggestions: yes - all these ideas came to me when I was having first thoughts about the game, however, as soon as I got to the design document, most of them had to be skipped. I simply realized I wouldn't be able to complete the game on my own.

Got a screen-shot? I don't like downloading games/demos before looking at a pic. [smile]

There is a screen-shot (not the best quality though):

http://piotr.monsmontis.net/queeneng.html

Congratulations Ursus! You have come a long way in this, keep up the good work. I'll play though it soon and let you know how it goes.

Hey -- How does everyone like the music (while we're on the topic)?

Paul

I think it's good that you pulled off a solid game and not try to stuff everything into it and maybe never finishing it, which sadly happens very often. I haven't got much else to say in addition to others' comments, though i really liked the sound fx you got into this game. Especially i liked the way the explosions sound, at least in my hw. Still i'd like to emphasize the way you decided to implement the bombing scheme: the bottom line is that it's not at all challenging. Changing it into something more channlenging, like suggested, would make a huge difference imho.