[WIP] Alien Ark

[+Muddyfunster]

Alien Ark [WIP]

 

This is a WIP for my new project "Alien Ark". I've been working on this a bit in the background while finishing off Dare Devil.

 

This is an early WIP, no playable binary yet, but i've posted some screen grabs and a video at the bottom.

 

Once I have more substance to the game, binaries will be posted as always, as I'm very keen to get feedback from the community on the gameplay and ideas/themes in the game.

 

Inspiration.

 

There are a lot of shooters where you are saving the world or some other place from imminent invasion or some such. One of my favourites is Super Space invaders and there is a level where the invaders come down and try to steal the cattle, a play on the cattle mutilation stories that did the rounds. I always thought it would make a fun game to be the aliens trying to steal the cattle and avoid getting shot down, so that's kind the inspiration behind Alien Ark. 

 

However the twist in the story is maybe you aren't stealing the animals to do experiments, but maybe you are some sort of intergalactic preservation group saving species from all over the galaxy. Not sure yet, maybe flesh that out more later.

 

Working title was Bovine Botherer, Cow Catcher, settled on "Alien Ark".

 

Playing

 

in AA, you only get 1 life, but you do get a rechargeable battery that runs all of your systems.

 

The idea is to use your tractor beam to capture/rescue animals from a number of different environments. 

 

Using your beam slowly drains your battery. Getting hit by enemy forces bombs and bullets will drain your battery. 

 

Battery hits zero, you crash and burn, game over.

 

Options

 

TBD

 

Controls

 

Left, right, up, down = control the ship

Fire = deploy the beam.

 

Scoring

 

TBD.

 

Opposition

 

An air defence tank patrols the bottom of the screen and will try to lock on to you and shoot you down. Higher levels, the tanks get faster, shoots more accurately and more quickly, launches homing missiles. - maybe a way to stun the tank.

 

Sometimes animals are fake and are really soldiers who will try to shoot you when you knock off their disguise.

 

Super defence beam on later levels will track you and try to incinerate you (left to right on the playfield)

 

Maybe some other traps and challenges tbd.

 

Maybe a back to the mothership bonus level avoiding space junk and stuff

 

Tips

 

TBD

 

ToDo

 

• Quite a lot! i'm sure this list will grow
• determine number of levels and environments / animals - 
  • so far 5 distinct "biomes" Grassy, Savannah, Desert, Arctic, Water
  • so far initial sprites for cow, pig, moose, camel, snake, elephant, rhino, kangaroo, snake, sea horse
  • planning sprites for polar bear, penguin, fish, dolphin, monkey, chicken, horse/zebra, large cat/ tiger
• more background variety instead of just hills.
• sfx
• title music
• tank logic
• beam capture logic
• inertia on the UFO, a little slip and slide.

 

 

 

 

 

[+Random Terrain]

I have a couple ideas so far.

 

Sound

You might want to work on that beam sound effect some more. Right now it's kind of a cross between a dentist drill and broken glass in a food processor. Hurts my ears.

 

Ship

Some UFOs sway a bit left/right and up/down like a balloon on a string or a kite on a string. If the player stops moving the ship left/right up/down, you might want to have the ship take a fraction of a second to come to a stop. Then when the ship is floating there in the sky, you might want to add a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of random sway in the up/down and left/right directions.

[+D Train]

You are doing a lot of good work; I am def going to pick up tyre trax when it's available to the non-PRGE attending public.

 

This looks hilarious.  If the animals were animated and could wander around that would be amazing.  @Random Terrain has good comments about the ship physics; it would be nice if it felt/looked like it was flying.

 

also lends itself to a 2 player version where one person is in the space ship and the other is running the tank.

 

looking forward to seeing how this develops!

[+Karl G]

Looks like a very promising start. Like an advanced Cosmic Ark.

[overgrouth]

This looks amazingly fun

[+Muddyfunster]

@Random Terrain I need to make a list of your descriptions of my sound effects  !

 

Ship suggestions are spot on, i had planned to do something with inertia but the "bobble on a string" kind of B move feel would be even better, I really like that.

 

SFX was something quick to test trigger and cut off but yes, it's horrible

 

@D Train Thanks for the feedback. Animals definitely will be animated and moving around, some will be actively trying to evade the beam.

 

The suggestion on 2 player is great. I love that and will be looking into that.

 

 

Edited October 9, 2019 by Muddyfunster

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

Wow, the graphics are on point as per usual @Muddyfunster, can't wait to play a WIP on the show when it's ready! Looks like other people and your description have already covered all the suggestions that I would have made about what we can see in the game so far.

 

Looking forward to updates!

[nooly]

Looks promising;] I loved Cosmic Ark. And yeah, it's true SFX hurt a little

[NostAlgae37]

Holy cow, a cattle abduction game!  I never saw that one coming, you are the man!