I made a game once, too. On Wario Ware D.I.Y. It was actually featured in one of Nintendo's contests. My game was 'Feed a kitty.' You had to tap the nutritious "Meow Power" food for the cat and not tap the "Fatty Cat" food. If he ate the good food, the cat would get big muscles. If he ate the other food, he'd get all fat. My brother said it was a stupid game, but hey, it got featured! Actually it was a stupid game.
I Once Created A Game
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 On 04/14/2013 at 09:52 PM by Raised_on_Nintendo See More From This User » |
A while back (2008), I wanted to test my moxy in game making. I eventually ended up at yoyogames.com, a website that promotes indy game design. yoyogames.com offers a free compiler called Gamemaker, a public database to store your creation, and a blog/forum for support.
Gamemaker does well to simplify many tasks. There's no code-level scripting going on, unless you know how and are willing. As I went about creating my game, I learned a lot in a short time. Functions like gravity, object colliision boxes, object behavior, etc. can all be dictated and modified point-and-click. It's up to the user to conceive an idea that's fun and intuitive within the framework that Gamemaker facilitates.
The game I went on to produce is a tight game without glitches, with distinct gameplay, and a beginning and an end. I wouldn't necessarily call it good or fun, but it works. During the process of trial and error, I discovered that my beginner-level experience with Gamemaker would prevent me from producing anything too complicated. There were certain collision detection issues I kept running into, objects moving through each other during specific conditions. Instead of spending days, weeks or months solving that problem, I changed direction and made something simpler that could be realized faster.
The end result is Raining Blood, a mix of Space Invaders without shooting (levels 1, 2) and Berserk without shooting (level 3). 99% of the audio and graphics are copied from the internet and the bands Slayer and Metallica. The only original art from me are the blood drops and their splashes. This is worth mentioning, as a project comprised of completely original work would have taken much longer. This was a test project I wanted to wrap in a week, not a year.
I would have posted this sooner if yoyogames.com didn't have hosting issues. The site you see if you happen to go there is different than when I first arrived. During their transitions, certain content was inaccessible. I'd lost my copy and hadn't played for a couple years. Thankfully, it's now fixed and the game can be downloaded. The yoyogames.com I started with is what is now the Sandbox area under the Games drop-down menu, (a searchable public hosting area for uploaded custom games).
I invite people to check my game out (link). It's a short game, only 3 levels. To help people progress, I included a guide that will help players reach the end. The game can be beaten in less than 5 minutes during a clean, fortunate run. It's mostly based on randomness. There is no attacking, or travelling through dungeons. Each level is its own 1-screen affair, dodging objects which behave in a random manner.
Title Screen
The presentation of the game is inspired by the song Raining Blood by Slayer, from the album Reign in Blood. When I booted this up for the first time in a couple years, I was curious why I chose K as the input for skipping the intro. Maybe I thought S would mislead someone into thinking their game was saveable, an action generally reserved for S.
Level 1 Intro
Again, looking back, I'm not sure why I chose the year 3048. Maybe I wanted it to be silly, to soften the dark tone of the game. I also like the poor grammer use of "it's" in the intro dialogue. Must be a poor japanese translation.
At any rate, you are a PacMan Ghost looking entity risen from its slumber, and your quest is to resolve the raining blood shower so your spirit may return to its peaceful slumber. To do so, you must make your way to the source, all while avoiding the deadly raining blood.
The stage name Back to the Front is a lyric from Metallica's song Disposable Heroes. It was chosen due to its relation with the background image for stage 1, a modified version of Master of Puppets' album artwork.
Level 1
The objective here is to dodge red drops long enough for a cross to pop out from the center of the graveyard. Once the cross pops out, snag it and go to level 2. I don't remember how long the wait is before the cross pops out, maybe 30 seconds.
Amongst the falling red blood drops are green acid drops. These drops grant invincibility, double your width, and speed you up for about 5 seconds, during which time an extra bonus is collected for touching red drops. These green drops generate randomly about every 5 seconds from 3 distinct spots: right, center, left. A good strategy is to collect a green drop, then fly back and forth collecting more green drops, extending your powerups until the cross pops out.
As shown on the intro screen, the controls are limited to left, right and down. Down is important, as it allows you to stop in place for a short time. While camping out for a few seconds usually works out, camping out for the entire level is impossible, you will get hit.
Level 2 Intro
At level 2 we find the main source of the rain: a mysterious acid cloud dumping massive amounts of acid rain. The gameplay is changed up this time. Our character can move faster left and right, but can't stop by pressing down. Red blood drops must still be dodged, but this time they generate randomly from only 5 spots in a more tightly confined area, somewhat hidden in the mass amounts of falling green drops, which, by the way, no longer grant invincibility. When a cross is collected this time, you are transformed into a new deity, raised up into the acid cloud for a head to head match with the final boss.
The level was named Acid Bath due to all the acid rain, and to keep with the metal theme of the audio. There's no other reference to that band found in the game. As for the artwork, I don't remember where I found it, somewhere on the web.
Level 2
This level seems easier than level 1. One strategic approach is to rest against one side of the play area, and only dodge the 1 drop that falls from that spot. If you happen to touch a red drop, you are sent back to level 1.
Level 3 Intro
Finally, we are face to face with our evildoer. Once again, we must survive for a period time, however we are now able to move in all 4 directions. Fire Lord is the only hazard in this level.
The background image for this level is the album cover for Merciful Fate's Don't Break the Oath album.
Level 3
In our new form, our hero is impervious to the blood rain. He can now move wherever he wants, but must avoid the Fire Lord who has sent is flame minion upon you. The flame produces a new flame every few seonds, and by the time the level is over there are 5 or 6 at once. Survive long enough, and you win, the game is over.
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