AnonymousTipster
July 15th, 2006, 19:36
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a4/anonymoustipster/exigentjpg.jpg
Exigent is an abstract shooter which generates it's levels based on any mp3 file; kind of like a playable visualisation. This version is a very early concept beta, so it still needs a lot of work (especially framerate).
-- how do I play? --
The ship in the middle of the screen is you, accelerate by pushing the analog nub up, and turn by pushing the nub left and right. This can also be achieved using the d-pad, but the analog stick is much more precise. You shoot at enemies using the R-Trigger button, and can use square and circle to strafe left and right. Use Select to toggle camera modes (near,far, top near, top far). Start pauses/unpauses. You need to shoot the green enemies, and dodge the red shots. You can pickup power ups that are dropped by enemies.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a4/anonymoustipster/exigent001.jpg
-- mp3 files? WTF? --
At the music select menu, it shows all mp3 files in PSP/MUSIC (sorry, no sub-folder support right now). The mp3 affects the way the game plays in these ways:
Size: the player and enemies 'beat' with the music, when the music is loud, the enemies are large, when soft, they are small. 'I predict a riot' shows this well.
Speed: Loud music will play faster than soft music. Infoscape.mp3 is good to show the differences that loud/soft make
Spawn: Enemy spawn patterns are also dictated in part by the mp3 file, although this isn't obvious as there are only 2 types of enemy (shooting and non-shooting). This means some mp3 files will be more difficult than others.
-- What are the powerups? --
Health (pink): Adds 20% to your health bar
Fast Shot (blue): Gives you double the amount of shots per second for a period of time
Lightning (yellow): You turn into an invincible bolt of lightning, that destroys anything near it for a period of time.
-- What do the difficulty levels change? --
The harder the difficulty, the faster the play speed and the more numerous and difficult the enemies.
-- What are all the options of the pause menu for? --
Reset: resets to the song specified by mp3file:
Level Mode: Shape of the playing field: either flat, sin*sin or cos*sin
Mp3file: song to play upon reset
Dynamic: When yes, the playing field will move dynamically
Dynamic Speed: How fast the playing field moves when Dynamic = yes (try setting this to 8 with sin*sin and try NOT to feel ill :p )
Exit to Main Menu: Exits to Main Menu
-- notes about the beta --
*Framerate isn't too good right now, especially when there's lots happening.
*Game is framerate dependant, so goes slower when under load - not in final (hopefully).
*Under load, the music may scratch slightly, I'm looking into fixing this soon.
*If you've changed settings in the pause menu, be sure to 'reset' rather than just unpausing.
*There will be plenty more power-ups and game modes in the final version.
*In the final version, I hope to have the song dictate the shape of the level, but for the moment, you decide.
*Infoscape is probably the hardest of all the songs I've included, but is pretty fun once you're good at it.
Please have a play through this, I'm not overly concerned with bugs right now, but more on impressions of how the game plays, and what can be done to improve it. If you think it's rubbish, please say so!
Download: www.anonymoustipster.com/exigentbeta001.zip
Password: mp3wtf
Exigent is an abstract shooter which generates it's levels based on any mp3 file; kind of like a playable visualisation. This version is a very early concept beta, so it still needs a lot of work (especially framerate).
-- how do I play? --
The ship in the middle of the screen is you, accelerate by pushing the analog nub up, and turn by pushing the nub left and right. This can also be achieved using the d-pad, but the analog stick is much more precise. You shoot at enemies using the R-Trigger button, and can use square and circle to strafe left and right. Use Select to toggle camera modes (near,far, top near, top far). Start pauses/unpauses. You need to shoot the green enemies, and dodge the red shots. You can pickup power ups that are dropped by enemies.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a4/anonymoustipster/exigent001.jpg
-- mp3 files? WTF? --
At the music select menu, it shows all mp3 files in PSP/MUSIC (sorry, no sub-folder support right now). The mp3 affects the way the game plays in these ways:
Size: the player and enemies 'beat' with the music, when the music is loud, the enemies are large, when soft, they are small. 'I predict a riot' shows this well.
Speed: Loud music will play faster than soft music. Infoscape.mp3 is good to show the differences that loud/soft make
Spawn: Enemy spawn patterns are also dictated in part by the mp3 file, although this isn't obvious as there are only 2 types of enemy (shooting and non-shooting). This means some mp3 files will be more difficult than others.
-- What are the powerups? --
Health (pink): Adds 20% to your health bar
Fast Shot (blue): Gives you double the amount of shots per second for a period of time
Lightning (yellow): You turn into an invincible bolt of lightning, that destroys anything near it for a period of time.
-- What do the difficulty levels change? --
The harder the difficulty, the faster the play speed and the more numerous and difficult the enemies.
-- What are all the options of the pause menu for? --
Reset: resets to the song specified by mp3file:
Level Mode: Shape of the playing field: either flat, sin*sin or cos*sin
Mp3file: song to play upon reset
Dynamic: When yes, the playing field will move dynamically
Dynamic Speed: How fast the playing field moves when Dynamic = yes (try setting this to 8 with sin*sin and try NOT to feel ill :p )
Exit to Main Menu: Exits to Main Menu
-- notes about the beta --
*Framerate isn't too good right now, especially when there's lots happening.
*Game is framerate dependant, so goes slower when under load - not in final (hopefully).
*Under load, the music may scratch slightly, I'm looking into fixing this soon.
*If you've changed settings in the pause menu, be sure to 'reset' rather than just unpausing.
*There will be plenty more power-ups and game modes in the final version.
*In the final version, I hope to have the song dictate the shape of the level, but for the moment, you decide.
*Infoscape is probably the hardest of all the songs I've included, but is pretty fun once you're good at it.
Please have a play through this, I'm not overly concerned with bugs right now, but more on impressions of how the game plays, and what can be done to improve it. If you think it's rubbish, please say so!
Download: www.anonymoustipster.com/exigentbeta001.zip
Password: mp3wtf