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pauljake
March 31st, 2005, 23:00
* Hello everyone! Today I'm glad to announce that i have finished and tested v1.0 of my game and everything works ok. Space Dodger is a game made with Fenix completely from scratch and I made it trying to use some goodies of the Dreamcast hardware. The game uses some designs from Macross/Robotech, and it's mainly a shoot'em up game where you will need to have some dodging skills too!! :D. There is some info taken directly from the readme:
________________
* GAME FEATURES:
________________

* In-Game artwork completely made from scratch
* Coded thinking in Dreamcast hardware (using every trick I knew to gain speed)
* High resolution graphics (640x480 resolution, 16 bit depth)
* Full of sounds and music (well, songs make everything to sound choppy, but I didn't have
another choice)
* 40 FPS constant framerate, with very little slowdown on some levels (level 3 for example)
* Four levels of increasing difficulty (I know... it's short)
* Four kind of powerups (two weapon powerups)
* Three kind of enemies
* Analog - digital controller support (analog has some glitches, but well... it's there)
* Only for one player
...
______________
* HOW TO PLAY:
______________

Here is the list of basic controls of the game:

Digital pad - Analog pad (left and right only): Move the ship
A button: Shoot(hold when powerup is gained)
B button: Jump to next stage (when available)
Start button: Start game/pause game
A+B+X+Y+Start: Exit to the menu/reboot DC
...

* Some screenshots:

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/527/spcdodgin5ms.jpg
- Intro screen

http://img40.exs.cx/img40/7122/spcdodgl23re.jpg
- Kill those Pods on level 2!

http://img40.exs.cx/img40/8900/spcdodgl48uz.jpg
- An asteroid shower in level 4

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/6098/spcdodgcr9to.jpg
- A WIP level that never make to the final version

http://img165.exs.cx/img165/1194/spcdodgfs2uv.jpg
- A fullscreen screenshot from level 3

* If you want to download, please read the file "readme.txt" before burning or playing.
* Don't forget that all feedback and constructive criticism is welcome!

* Download is at my homepage: http://pineapplesoft.xoopiter.com/ or if you want to save my bandwith: http://www.dcemu.co.uk/spacedodger.shtml (thanks a lot Wraggster!!)

* Enjoy!!

quzar
March 31st, 2005, 23:18
spiffy

pauljake
April 1st, 2005, 01:04
Thanks! ;)

wraggster
April 1st, 2005, 01:24
hey looks a great game, ill give it a proper run through tommorrow :)

very nice to see new Fenix games appearing for Dreamcast first ;)

news being posted and a proper mirror for your work ( to save killing your webspace)

Whats the Kart Racer game ? also :)

pauljake
April 1st, 2005, 03:18
Thanks a lot :) , hope you like it. Wraggster, if you want to put this game on a compilation, I can give you the "source" files. Oh! and the kart racer game... he, he.. it's a game I made a time ago... and I never finished. It's made in Dark Basic, so no DC port.. :D, maybe if I learn other programming language... but not anytime soon.

Atari
April 1st, 2005, 06:55
VERY nice work! The game offers a decent challenge (although I beat it the first time through); the last level is tough as hell with the superfast asteroids flying down at you. The "press B to warp" feature is a nice touch too! I'm happy to see someone is actually using Fenix to write original games. Now if only I had more time to work on/finish my own shooter (I've been swamped with work since early January, which explains my absence lately)... :((((

Again, great work! Maybe this will light a fire under the asses of others to write their own games.

Brian

Sweater Fish Deluxe
April 1st, 2005, 07:42
This is pretty cool. Very nice to finally see an orignal game for the Dreamcast using Fenix and it's one of the few quality Fenix games I've yet seen, too. Yea!

Why is there a limited number of levels though? The enemies seem to appear randomly, so why not infinite levels?

My only other suggestion would be that the standard shot be as fast as the double shot and the double shot be even faster, because even with the double shot--let alone standard--I find it impossible to hit every baddie that comes on screen, which my shrink tells me is okay, but it always ;eaves me feeling just a bit unfulfilled.

It's too bad you don't plan to updating Space Dodger any time soon, but it's probably good enough as is. Do you think any of your other projects might involve the Dreamcast?


...word is bondage...

pauljake
April 2nd, 2005, 00:31
Well, first, lot of thanks to everybody. Atari, firstly I want to thank you for your great tutorial on how to make Fenix games selfbootables, it really helped me a lot. So, maybe I can give you something back by helping you to finish your game.

Well second, to Swater Fish Deluxe, really I want to continue this game, but I don't want to promise something that maybe I wouldn't do for some reason... and the other thing is that was really a lot of CD waste to make this game, I had a lot of non booting versions... and starting out making a new version requires to have more money, that I have to make first ;). That of infinite levels is a good idea that I had from one of my betatesters too... but I was thinking... maybe don't do the warp automatically in harder levels is another choice, what do you think? And about shoots... standard shoot can be as fast as your finger is, but don't forget that it decreases 5 points if you waste one of them, so what I'm gonna make is the 3-shots faster, that's truth... is slow!!

Oh, and about other projects?? hehe... I want to learn C++ to continue coding on the DC (and PC too), but before that, that will be in a long time from here, I want to help anybody to make his Dreamcast game. Fenix is powerful, you have to know it s pros and cons and then... you can make lots of different 2D (and pseudo 3D) games. I want to make a good tutorial too, but I'll need a bit of help because my english is not good, and I don't have experience on writing them.

Christuserloeser
April 2nd, 2005, 19:17
At first your English isn't bad at all. Remember that it'll also get better as you read and write more and more. Also looking English TV and movies helps a lot.

Thanks for that game - I love Sh'mups :)

wraggster
April 2nd, 2005, 21:54
a great fenix game and with you coing it yourself it makes it more impressive to me. :)

i must get some tutorials up and learn myself ;)

pauljake
April 3rd, 2005, 20:19
Thanks Christuserloeser, hope you liked it. And about english... always I try to read english, I will be reading programming books in english too... and my girlfriend helps me a little bit with writing. And to Wraggster, is great to know that you want to make a game! don't forget that I'm here to help you and everybody who plans to make a game (hey!! but don't take all your time on it, we need you "webmastering" here! :D -just kidding-)

Darksaviour69
April 5th, 2005, 12:36
mm i thought i replied to this topic... anyway i was very impressed easily the best fenix game i have played, i like the way the space ship moves.

pauljake
April 5th, 2005, 20:29
Thanks a lot Darksaviour69! Anyways I think that analog movement needs some work, what do you think?
I want to say, also, that the PC version is now available at my homepage: http://www.angelfire.com/games5/xray/ for those who still didn't tried it. Anyways, I suggest to play this game with the best console ever ;) . And another news is that I'm adapting this game to run in 320x240 so Quiest (Metal Slug 32X and others) can make a try to porting it to the GP32 :)

Christuserloeser
June 4th, 2005, 02:02
I have to say that as I've played the game a lot these days, it's a very very good and well done game :)

Thanks again for this release :)

pauljake
June 4th, 2005, 16:14
Thanks! I really appreciate a lot what people told about my game, it's the first game I release in the net and it had a warm welcome!:D. I would like to make the updates I did for the GP32 version in DC and PC (and some new additions)... only I need to finish other proyects and also I need a little more time

Christuserloeser
June 4th, 2005, 21:17
That's good news about a Space Dodger DC update :) Can't wait :D

wraggster
June 6th, 2005, 22:54
yeah i noticed the entry in the gbax comp ;)

pauljake
June 7th, 2005, 03:08
Yeah, but also it was available a time ago the same version that I have released for DC and PC (v1.0) for the GamePark handheld (you can download at http://pineapplesoft.xoopiter.com/). But this new version that I'm presenting in the compo is better, improves a lot it's speed on the GP32, adds new powerups, asteroids, harder levels, etc. That's what I want to port to DC and PC (the problem here again will be the big differences - starting from a resolution of 320x240 - in hardware between PC/DC and the GP32 so don't expect the port to happen in short time, sorry :( )

Christuserloeser
June 7th, 2005, 03:12
No prob, sounds like a lot of work to do. Take your time. We'll still be here when you release it :)

pauljake
June 7th, 2005, 21:26
No prob, sounds like a lot of work to do. Take your time. We'll still be here when you release it :)
Ok! And I'll be here to announce development news and screens when I start with it! :)

paintball745
June 14th, 2005, 22:07
love the game first homebrew game i downloaded. but its a fun game me and my brother and friends have compete to see who can get the furthest that last level is hard to beat.nice game

pauljake
June 14th, 2005, 22:28
Thanks! Hey, it would be great if people tell me his/her final score :D

Christuserloeser
June 14th, 2005, 22:30
Now that it's included in the GBAX compilation do you still think of a 'real' DC version of the update !? I really hope so...

rmedtx
June 14th, 2005, 22:53
Congrats pauljake,
Your game looks awesome. I hope you will keep on developing games for DC. Keep up the good job.
;)

wraggster
June 14th, 2005, 22:57
i was wondering, is it possible/doable if say a star wars background and sprites etc were done could you have a star wars edition of your game ?

pauljake
June 15th, 2005, 04:48
Now that it's included in the GBAX compilation do you still think of a 'real' DC version of the update !? I really hope so...
Hmm... I don't know, I have to test it and see if all the work I have to do, the time and money that I have to spend have some sense...

Congrats pauljake,
Your game looks awesome. I hope you will keep on developing games for DC. Keep up the good job.
Thanks! About making games on DC, it was always my dream and now that's true I only want to keep making games for this dream machine.

i was wondering, is it possible/doable if say a star wars background and sprites etc were done could you have a star wars edition of your game ?
I don't think I will have time to make a "Star Wars Edition", that's too bad because I'm a big Star Wars fan, but if someone is (really) interested I'll give my permission to make an edition (and if it's needed I can send him the source code)