I made a fangame - Unofficial Salamander 3

[Ace_1]

Most of you here know that I'm a HUGE fan of Konami's Gradius series, so much so that I decided to make a fangame.

 

It's called Unofficial Salamander 3, an unofficial sequel to the Japan-only Salamander 2(Salamander is the spin-off of Gradius), featuring 6 playable ships each with different weapon setups across 15 different stages(Boss Rush included).

 

If you want to try it out, here's the link to the download page: http://www.gamestone.co.uk/gradius/forumvb...read.php?t=1983

 

Tell me what you think. I'm preparing a big update(Full Version 1.1), and I'd like to get as much feedback as possible.

 

I also have a sequel in the works. Look around, and you'll find it(my username on GameStone is Ace).

[nonner242]

Its not too bad. Needs polish tho

 

I love shmups! I own 100's and played 100's more.

I will start this with the Bad I saw in the game...

Dont get mad...cuz the good will come after..

 

The Bad

1.The title pic...get rid of all the ships...kinda makes it look cheesy...or add a neat pix of the ship from box art.

2.Framerate...It cant be my PC...I dont think I have a Quad Core 4gig and a BFG8000 video card? The weapon fire needs to be smoother. Just looks to stutery.

3.Too Easy, I really felt like I could blow thru it. Enemies need to move more or have some follow/chase you abit.

4.No Background? The stars look good but how bout a planet, ships or asteroid field or even better a battle in the background...give it some depth.

5.WTF I cannot kill the 1st BOSS...My lasers just dont wanna do it. I blew thru all the sheilds on the top...killed the core. Went thru the sheilds on the bottom....Core wont DIE. So I tried again...made tru to top core with bombs got laser bottom same effect.

6.Also the ship selection is cool. but again looks too plain. How bout a background pic of a hanger,bigger pics of the ships or some tech specs

 

The Good

1.The weapons seem cool, I like the feel on them,they seem like the got power!

2.The smoke effect of the ship getting damaged....would be cooler if parts flew off too.

3.The spark effect of you weapons against the boss was neat to notice.

4.It sound like the good old game...makes me feel warm a fuzzy to hear.

 

I just think you need some stuff to make it stand out of the crowd. The little extras are what bring me to these games. I wanna see some creative NEW stuff...Makes it fresh feeling. Now let me try the 1st boss AGAIN and see WTF I doing wrong...Shoot the cores I know..

[Ace_1]

Hey, hang tight, I've got a sequel in the works called Gradius: The Dark Armada. This will be a much more elaborate game(no vertically scrolling stages) complete with a selection of 11 ships plus a hidden ship you can discover in-game, voice-overs during the stages, an Upgrade Shop(you will be able to buy upgrades for your ship), 2-Player Cooperative gameplay, and even Contra stages(this was an idea proposed to me by GameStone member Zelos).

 

I actually have a test video of the game up on YouTube demonstrating the modified Unofficial Salamander 3 game engine Gradius: The Dark Armada will be running:

 

A Test Video featuring one of the Contra stages will be uploaded once I get the standard Shoot-em-up part of the engine modified right.

 

Now, about the complaints:

 

1.The title pic...get rid of all the ships...kinda makes it look cheesy...or add a neat pix of the ship from box art.

 

Yuck! Most of the box art pictures suck. That was the planned title screen anyways.

 

2.Framerate...It cant be my PC...I dont think I have a Quad Core 4gig and a BFG8000 video card? The weapon fire needs to be smoother. Just looks to stutery.

 

The framerate is awkward because it's running at 30FPS. Game Maker 7 makes games running lower than 60FPS look jerky. The game is a bit of a memory hog at times due to sprites being too big. Wait for Full Version 1.1, this resolves the memory hog problem.

 

3.Too Easy, I really felt like I could blow thru it. Enemies need to move more or have some follow/chase you abit.

 

TOO EASY??? WTF?! I've had users complain about the game originally being too hard, harder than the arcade version of Gradius III! Hell, even I haven't been able to beat the game with ease.

 

4.No Background? The stars look good but how bout a planet, ships or asteroid field or even better a battle in the background...give it some depth..

 

This is due to programming inexperience with Game Maker 7. But don't worry, when Gradius: The Dark Armada is released, that game will be much better in terms of visual appeal in the backgrounds.

 

5.WTF I cannot kill the 1st BOSS...My lasers just dont wanna do it. I blew thru all the sheilds on the top...killed the core. Went thru the sheilds on the bottom....Core wont DIE. So I tried again...made tru to top core with bombs got laser bottom same effect.

 

It DOES die, but you need A LOT of gunfire.

 

6.Also the ship selection is cool. but again looks too plain. How bout a background pic of a hanger,bigger pics of the ships or some tech specs

 

The administrator at GameStone sent me a new design to be included in Full Version 1.1, so it will be updated showing the ships' weaponry. I'll repeat it again: the more elaborate stuff is for Gradius: The Dark Armada.

Edited March 11, 2009 by Ace_1

[nonner242]

So If everything in Dark Armada is better why post feedback on this?

[Ace_1]

For the Full Version 1.1 update. Mostly for bugfixes or updates to stage layouts, that type of stuff. Plus, there's also going to be a Weapon Edit mode for Full Version 1.1(I promised it, and I will add it in). And also for anything that might be worth it for the sequel.

 

By the way, how's the Armor system? And how's Gradius: The Dark Armada coming together?

Edited March 11, 2009 by Ace_1

[nonner242]

For the Full Version 1.1 update. Mostly for bugfixes or updates to stage layouts, that type of stuff. Plus, there's also going to be a Weapon Edit mode for Full Version 1.1(I promised it, and I will add it in).

 

By the way, how's the Armor system?

 

I like it! would it be to hard to make the smoke effect transparent and/or slighlt more of a trailing effect? sprites maybe closer together or overlaping?