ID:98643
 
Keywords: megaman, movement, pixel
http://www.byond.com/games/Kajika/MegaMan

Be sure to set your key bindings before playing!


Boring Developer Stuff and Excuses


Summary: Game is buggy and unfinished. Releasing it now due to a self-imposed deadline.


Originally started as a test project to build a better side-scrolling pixel based platformer system than my previous Mega Man demo. Somewhere along the line I decided I needed to replace the old demo due to some core issues, so the new project was built into a Mega Man game. The only code I reused were some shape overlapping equations.

I am trying my best to focus on getting DMO working but this project has been bothering me. I set myself a deadline to get something released to get it off my mind, unfortunately that meant cutting out a bunch of semi-finished features and content.

It's unlikely I'll do much with the project, I had wanted to at least complete it as "full game" or a team war thing but my motivation is low due to inconsistency with CPU and multiplayer latency is dwindling. At the moment the game is very unpolished and incomplete, don't expect much.

Multiplayer should be supported but remains very unpolished. Relogging and entering mid-game probably won't work, I haven't done a lot of testing. Again, I am forcing myself to stick to the deadline.

As far as the engine goes, all of the foundational systems are done. Rooms, items, enemies, bosses, stages, players etc all function. Game just lacks any significant content.


About the Game

Based on Mega Man 1 with physics mostly from 2 and 3. Only 2 stages are available. Very few enemies and bosses, several were removed at the last minute because I didn't feel they were working well enough.

Game is supposed to run at 60 Frames Per Second (looks smoother) but it defaults to 30. I added this feature in to accomodate slower computers.

Several screen size and full screen options.

Only 1 mini-game available. Had planned to have several multiplayer mini-games available.


Instructions

If you're going to play with other people, wait on one of the menus, the title screen or the stage select screen before starting something. If people leave you may need to reboot to reopen their spot.


Other Stuff

The networking speed is very inconsistent for me, some days it works extremely well and fully playable and others nothing happens at all. I'm not sure if it's data overload or poor connection, some players just cannot see any movement except a burst every so often.

Let me know if it runs well or not on your computer. Some testers had some low frame rate issues even while the profiler showed less than 1% CPU usage.
Also how the multiplayer runs, whether it's playable or not. Results may vary greatly depending on the distance and connections.



I will update the hub page and add screenshots in the next week.

Aside from all that it was an interesting side project, thanks for trying it out.
Ever think of retooling the engine into something original?
Although it started as an experiment I did have a few ideas, although I can't say any of them were terribly original. (galaga/gradius style shooter, fighting game kind of like Smash Bros, spinning top battlers, team vs team shooter, zombie survival and a few other random ideas)

Once I get DMO out of the way and polish up Mega Man(which will improve the engine) I would like to look into something new if I can come up with some inspiration.
SuperAntx wrote:
Ever think of retooling the engine into something original?

Ever think of releasing that game you own but I forget name of it, it was a shooting game I liked it, it had 2D Character structures i want to play it put it up yayz
Nice job, it runs smoother than the own console. Also, there is a runtime error on spikes.
Most games that use pixel movement heavily advertise the fact that they use pixel movement, then end up having very little gameplay (aside from some buggy pixel movement).

Even though this isn't complete, it seems fairly robust and is a lot more playable than most games featuring pixel movement. Good job, I hope you continue working on it.

One gripe: at the right end of the first screen of the Cut Man level there's a ladder that you can jump to from underneath, but it's very hard to line up the jump. It seems like you're treating Mega Man as being the width of the full tile so you need to line it up perfectly. Other than that it feels very much like the NES games.
The internal systems should be done, from this point it's just gameplay and content(which as it turns out is harder than making the pixel engine).

Mega Man's collision box mirrors it from the games. 16x24 I think. After quickly testing the original game, it seems Mega Man can "snap" to the ladder even from below, I only had it snap from left/right.