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Current Version: Alpha 4
Download: Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 4 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/q7rst9c0gefhlbz/Yuyuko%20of%20the%20Netherworld%20-%20Alpha%204.exe)
Changes:
-Stage 5 (Airship Assault) and Stage 6 (Hakurei Shrine) added!
-Cirno has been added as a miniboss and now replaces the second Black FOE encounter.
-Shizuha Aki has been added as a boss for stage 1.
-The Stage 3 miniboss has been made weaker and it's projectile attack is less rage-inducing.
Known Bugs:
-Minor glitch that occurs if falling faster than a certain speed. Does not adversely affect gameplay.
Controls: (all but "Start" are listed in-game in the tutorial room)
Start - Enter
Movement - Arrow Keys
Jump - Z
Fly - Z repeatedly in midair
Inhale - X
Shoot - C
Quit - Esc
To-Do List:
-Add Stage EX.
-Add more variety of minibosses.
-Add the rest of the bosses.
-Add more background elements to Stage 1.
-Implement a "collection" sidequest (akin to the rainbow shards from Kirby's Dreamland 2 or the Crystal Shards from Kirby 64)
-Correct or replace the pre-boss music track.
-possibly extend the vertical scrolling border (Again...)
-possibly add point tokens, such as coins or stars.
Old versions:
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 1 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ft9pn60rrjtsyp/Yuyuko%20of%20the%20Netherworld%20-%20Alpha%201.exe)
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 2 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/c4dfcxnqb1ka42d/Yuyuko%20of%20the%20Netherworld%20-%20Alpha%202.exe)
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 3 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/trzs3xjolghdopb/Yuyuko%20of%20the%20Netherworld%20-%20Alpha%203.exe)
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 3.1 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/qh2zcg9ignbuuqz/Yuyuko%20of%20the%20Netherworld%20-%20Alpha%203-1.exe)
This is a platformer game I'm working on called Yuyuko of the Netherworld (or 冥府の幽々子 if Google translated it right...). This is essentially a Kirby game with Touhou characters (Like Yami no Rumia (I think that's the title), but I did not know *that* game existed until after I started this project.). The gameplay is closer to the original Kirby's Dreamland (with added elements) with one stage per level and no copy abilities. One of the reasons I joined this forum was because maybe some Touhou fans could help develop this idea.
Here's my ideas for the game so far:
Possible Story: One day a mysterious darkness spreads itself over Gensokyo. The darkness is centered above the Hakurei Shrine, and the usual incident solvers: Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame have mysteriously not done anything. Somehow it all comes down to Yuyuko Saigyouji to save the day. The darkness was caused by vengeful spirit, Mima, discovering a powerful item that allowed her to bring an entity known as Dark Matter into Gensokyo. She decided to use both Dark Matter and the item to wreak havoc, unaware of the great risk to herself.
Stages:
-Stage 1: Welcome to Gensokyo (Green-Greens style level)
-Stage 2: Scarlet Devil Mansion (should be pretty self explanatory)
-Stage 3: Kappa Industries (an Eternal Engine (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EternalEngine)) style level, last part is in midair.)
-Stage 4: Gensokyo Skies (Bubbly Clouds)
-Stage 5: Airship Assault (sort of like Revenge of Meta-Knight from Kirby Super Star.)
-Stage 6: Hakurei Shrine (Mt. DeDeDe)
-Stage EX: Hyper Zone (The final battle)
*Contributions for Midboss and Boss ideas would also be appreciated!
Midbosses:
-Stage 1: Cirno
-Stage 2: Koakuma
-Stage 3: Giant Mechanical F.O.E.
-Stage 4: Yukkuri Marisa
-Stage 5: Undecided
-Stage 6: re-fighting all previous minibosses.
Bosses:
-Stage 1: Shizuha Aki (Whispy Woods)
-Stage 2: Remilia and Flandre Scarlet (Lololo and Lalala)
-Stage 3: Nitori Kawashiro (Kabula)
-Stage 4: Marisa Kirisame (Kracko)
-Stage 5: Youmu Konpaku (Meta-Knight)
-Stage 6: Reimu Hakurei (King DeDeDe)
-Stage EX: Mima (Nightmare), Dark Matter, and Zero 2
Also, here's some play-test videos, showing how the game looks so far:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJtGca0MDpM - Montage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43vJT4U3sIs - Stage 1 boss fight
NEW! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-q7zlMEa50 - Alpha 4 - Stage 4 (Now with actual in-game sounds and music)
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Interesting video, it seems pretty fun to play, looking for it.
About the first boss, maybe you should choose one of the Aki sisters to be it
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About the first boss, maybe you should choose one of the Aki sisters to be it
Funny you said that, someone on another forum I'm a member of suggested the same thing. The problem is The game is not set in autumn, so it won't make any sense for either of them to appear. Another suggestion I got was the Saigyou Ayakashi, but that won't work either for obvious reasons. (primarily being it can't attack because it is sealed and why would Yuyuko attack it?)
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How about Yukari? Her attacks could be throwing things out of gaps and send Chen and Ran out to hurt you.
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Funny you said that, someone on another forum I'm a member of suggested the same thing. The problem is The game is not set in autumn, so it won't make any sense for either of them to appear. Another suggestion I got was the Saigyou Ayakashi, but that won't work either for obvious reasons. (primarily being it can't attack because it is sealed and why would Yuyuko attack it?)
You can change the palette of the stage in the boss fight to let it looks like autumn, when you beat Shizuha you have an excuse to let all green again, like Sonic & Knuckles first boss xD
Or you can change the "wood with a face" to a "Kanako's onbashira with a face" :P
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How about Yukari? Her attacks could be throwing things out of gaps and send Chen and Ran out to hurt you.
I was actually thinking of having her as an optional boss I'm thinking of adding an arena mode akin to Kirby Super Star and Kirby's Return To Dreamland, and have her appear at the end of it as a Grand Doomer/Magolor Soul style boss
You can change the palette of the stage in the boss fight to let it looks like autumn, when you beat Shizuha you have an excuse to let all green again, like Sonic & Knuckles first boss xD
I guess that could work. Now all I need is sprites...
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I was actually thinking of having her as an optional boss I'm thinking of adding an arena mode akin to Kirby Super Star and Kirby's Return To Dreamland, and have her appear at the end of it as a Grand Doomer/Magolor Soul style boss
Phantasm Stage plx
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Phantasm Stage plx
I was thinking perhaps that too, remember: This game is still in it's infant stages.
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At this point progress on the game will be very slow until I get a spriter.
If anyone wants to volunteer, that would be great!
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still waiting for a spriter... :V
In other news, Alpha 1 is out!
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 1 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ft9pn60rrjtsyp/Yuyuko%20of%20the%20Netherworld%20-%20Alpha%201.exe)
Current features:
-Nearly all of stage 1 (minus the boss fight)
-The first room is the "tutorial room" which has panels showing you the controls for the game.
-A variety of enemies.
-Miniboss encounters.
Controls: (all but "Start" are listed in-game in the tutorial room)
Start - Enter
Movement - Arrow Keys
Jump - Z
Fly - Z repeatedly in midair
Inhale - X
Shoot - C
Quit - Esc
Known Bugs:
-None as far as I can tell.
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I played a bit, it is fun but I think that it needs more background elements. I didn't find any bug so far. Maybe you should avoid to let those boxes that you can Inhale close from the ceiling because it is hard to inhale them there.
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I played a bit, it is fun but I think that it needs more background elements. I didn't find any bug so far. Maybe you should avoid to let those boxes that you can Inhale close from the ceiling because it is hard to inhale them there.
Thanks for the feedback! :)
I will eventually go back and add some background elements to that stage. Stage 2, which I'm working on right now, will have a lot more background elements (I'm making the tileset as I go).
As for the inhaleable blocks, The ones toward the ceiling can be inhaled if you jump and inhale in midair, but usually if I have them that close to the ceiling they serve more as an obstruction. (You don't necessarily have to inhale every single one of them anyway...)
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Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 2 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/c4dfcxnqb1ka42d/Yuyuko%20of%20the%20Netherworld%20-%20Alpha%202.exe)
New features:
-Added nearly all of stages 2 and 3 (minus the boss fights)
-More enemies, some unique to specific stages.
-Added a unique miniboss to stage 3
-The Black F.O.E. serves as a placeholder miniboss for now.
Known Bugs:
-none, as far as I can tell.
To-Do List:
-Add the rest of the stages.
-Add more minibosses. (after I get a spriter)
-Add Bosses. (ditto)
-Add more background elements to Stage 1.
Now With Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaRuwld1ryM
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I am unable to continue progress on this game at the moment for two reasons:
1. I need a cloudly tileset to start work on stage 4, and I can't draw clouds on a computer to save my life. I'm still waiting for someone to respond to a request I made on another forum (GMC).
2. There is still the problem of not having a spriter, so I still cannot implement more minibosses and bosses.
I will take this off of hiatus when at least one of those issues is resolved.
I'm also starting to think that nobody cares about this game anymore...
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I'm also starting to think that nobody cares about this game anymore...
Spriters are rare.
People not caring is an invalid judgement. I could write a whole essay about this but let me just say that perhaps you should focus on completing the game rather than releasing bit-by-bit versions. Have you ever seen "real" games being released in 100 versions? I haven't.
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Spriters are rare.
People not caring is an invalid judgement. I could write a whole essay about this but let me just say that perhaps you should focus on completing the game rather than releasing bit-by-bit versions. Have you ever seen "real" games being released in 100 versions? I haven't.
As Hele said, non-professional(or rather commercial, you know, get paid for their work) spriters are scarce. I'd love to sprite your game, however... I'm lacking in my skills currently... Have you considered using the Mystical Chain sprites instead? er... scratch that... I realized it may not provide the needed sprites...
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Where else are you asking for sprites? There are forms dedicated to indie game development. There are also mutiple art reddits. However I expect most people in both those places are interested in getting paid.
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Where else are you asking for sprites? There are forms dedicated to indie game development. There are also mutiple art reddits. However I expect most people in both those places are interested in getting paid.
The Game Maker Community (GMC), though nobody has replied to my requests there yet...
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I started playing through the game, and I got to the library of Stage 2 before stopping.
Some things I want to say:
The midbosses were pretty hard. Everytime I jump over them, I can't get down before the stars disappear. I usually just farm before the midboss and just keep shooting.
Yuyuko was always ahead in the screen. I cannot see anything in front or above me.
Besides these things, I really enjoyed this game. I can't wait to see more.
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Some things I want to say:
The midbosses were pretty hard. Everytime I jump over them, I can't get down before the stars disappear. I usually just farm before the midboss and just keep shooting.
Yuyuko was always ahead in the screen. I cannot see anything in front or above me.
Were you jumping or flying? if you just plainly jumped you can get the stars. If you are flying, tap the inhale button once and you will fall like normal (I probably should've mentioned that mechanic earlier :V) allowing you to get the stars before they disappeared.
As for the "ahead in the screen," I never really found it troublesome myself, I could try to extend the "margins" (Distance from an edge that Yuyuko has to be before the screen scrolls.) of the screen slightly in the next version.
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The Game Maker Community (GMC), though nobody has replied to my requests there yet...
As I said, spriters are rare. And if there are spriters out there, they are not always eager to spent tremendous time on spriting for you or other people. Spriting is quite effort afaik, compared to other forms of graphical art.
Also noted previously here by others, you could pay an artist to get you sprites but that is up to you.
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Spriters are rare.
People not caring is an invalid judgement. I could write a whole essay about this but let me just say that perhaps you should focus on completing the game rather than releasing bit-by-bit versions. Have you ever seen "real" games being released in 100 versions? I haven't.
As far as I noticed while creating my own game, people really don't like to follow a lot of versions releases, it is normal to they start to lose their interest until see the final product. I think that releasing a lot of versions is valid only if you game created a super mega hype (you can see some examples on indieDB ), you want to get more feedbacks about something really new in your game or you want some motivation for a really long project. So don't expect constant feedbacks if you are planning to follow this strategy.
And when I have some time I'll try to play this new version to give more feedback ;)
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As far as I noticed while creating my own game, people really don't like to follow a lot of versions releases, it is normal to they start to lose their interest until see the final product.
Exactly. A major pitfall which a lot of Danmakufu and non-dnh scripters seem to do here on our forum section. I don't personally particular mind, but if I have to point out: I rarely see true unique activity in those threads. Only version spam and occasional same people replying.
I think that releasing a lot of versions is valid only if you game created a super mega hype (you can see some examples on indieDB ), you want to get more feedbacks about something really new in your game or you want some motivation for a really long project. So don't expect constant feedbacks if you are planning to follow this strategy.
In my opinion, no that is a very bad idea. A hyped game means it has a lot of attention but there is no reason to micro-release updates. Might as well satisfy people for hyping your game by giving them what they want: The full game.
People are just abusing the alpha/beta word and version numbers because they think it is appropriate doing so. My highly disagree but that is just me.
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Exactly. A major pitfall which a lot of Danmakufu and non-dnh scripters seem to do here on our forum section. I don't personally particular mind, but if I have to point out: I rarely see true unique activity in those threads. Only version spam and occasional same people replying.
In my opinion, no that is a very bad idea. A hyped game means it has a lot of attention but there is no reason to micro-release updates. Might as well satisfy people for hyping your game by giving them what they want: The full game.
People are just abusing the alpha/beta word and version numbers because they think it is appropriate doing so. My highly disagree but that is just me.
Well, I'm a big perpetrator in that case, but, if I don't keep releasing versions I lose motivation and never finish the project anyway.
Sure, it sounds like a great way to tire people out, but it's also helpful to the creator to have goalpoints where you can show bits of your new work to the world, and prove to them and yourself that you are actually doing something.
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Well, I'm a big perpetrator in that case, but, if I don't keep releasing versions I lose motivation and never finish the project anyway.
Sure, it sounds like a great way to tire people out, but it's also helpful to the creator to have goalpoints where you can show bits of your new work to the world, and prove to them and yourself that you are actually doing something.
Arguably that would be a delusion for both the author and players. Why would you lose motivation if you did not release bits of the game? What guarantee does it gives a creator anyway, that micro-releases would lead to secure completion of the game? You could always lose motivation, energy, inspiration. And then what? Will those releases become obligatory? Sounds like they will. Arguably it is also matter of style. First of all: "Showing something" and "releasing something" might have the same purpose, but aren't exactly the same.
The question is: Does your next release really provide anything new compared to the previous? I often see releases where a person adds mere back ground or sound effects. Sure, be my guest but at the core of the game, nothing changes. Why didn't the author bother before with the music or sounds? Which boils down to my personal curiosity: Are people releasing something because it is obligatory or is it a matter of free will and decision? For this reason I believe people abuse the words alpha/beta/demo. But since this is the internet, it is easy to spread out work and the actual meaning of a alpha, beta or demo is forgotten.
I just find it all false hope, but that is just my opinion.
I apologise for the off topic discussion, but since the original author was wondering things in a certain dramatic sense, I thought it was a good point to raise.
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It's actually quite common for game creators to get distracted from a project after all the "fun" or "exciting" parts are done with. They could leave the project for a long time then suddenly decide to work a bit more. To them, adding/changing backgrounds or audio could be a great accomplishment, and could lead to them getting back on the project again.
Now, obviously, that's not always the case, but I don't think it's such a good idea to say that most projects that have little updates and use alpha/beta versions are just "version spamming".
And is there a separate topic for something like this? It feels kind of rude to take up space on someone's game topic...
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I had some new ideas for the game:
-The Hakurei Yin-Yang Orbs will have some plot importance, there will be one on each of the first six stages. Failure to collect all six will net you a bad ending.
-Each of those orbs in turn will be protected by a "Gauntlet" similar to the encounters with Meta-Knight's Army (http://youtu.be/yhZDKK6fvrs?t=1m15s) from Kirby's Adventure/Super Star
-Clearing the game once will tell you how to unlock extra mode, which will be set after the events of normal mode. Stage EX from normal mode will be replaced by the Phantasm Stage.
Any thoughts? Should I implement these?
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All three of those sound like good ideas.
Maybe the extra mode could unlock a bonus mode which allows you to play both normal and extra mode, in one big mode, one right after the other, at half health, with a bonus boss at the end?
It's a long way off, but food for though.
Great, now I'm getting images of a Super Yuyuko in my head... Hm.
Oooh, bonus boss if you get all orbs, in any mode?
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Oooh, bonus boss if you get all orbs, in any mode?
Yes, but only in normal mode. The orbs will be absent in extra mode (for continuity reasons). Obtaining all the orbs will grant access to the last two bosses. (which will be Dark Matter and Zero 2 from the Kirby series.)
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Yes, but only in normal mode. The orbs will be absent in extra mode (for continuity reasons). Obtaining all the orbs will grant access to the last two bosses. (which will be Dark Matter and Zero 2 from the Kirby series.)
Ah I see, so it's like the collectables in Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64, but not nearly as many. Makes sense.
Anyway, what do you think about unlocking a hard mode for both modes(or just normal, and then for extra mode after beating normal mode on hard) after beating extra mode?
It would basically be the same as the original modes, but with half health.
Maybe EX bosses like Kirby's Return to Dream Land had... faster, though, etc.
It's a shame I don't have any graphical or sound related skills to offer. This is an interesting game.
Then again, I've always related Kirby to Yuyuko...
Pink (hair), known for having quite an appetite...
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Anyway, what do you think about unlocking a hard mode for both modes(or just normal, and then for extra mode after beating normal mode on hard) after beating extra mode?
It would basically be the same as the original modes, but with half health.
Maybe EX bosses like Kirby's Return to Dream Land had... faster, though, etc.
I was thinking if extra mode being the hard mode, with EX versions of all the bosses and midbosses except the Stage EX bosses (Since Stage EX will be replaced by Phantasm Stage: Gap. Which will feature Yukari as an endboss (I'll probably base her attacks off of Magolor Soul and Grand Doomer from Kirby's Return to Dreamland.) and maybe a couple of other new bosses.
)
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Oh yeah that would work nicely.
Question: Will the amount of health in Extra Mode change at all, like how Nightmare in Dream Land/Return both had half the normal amount of health for their respective hard modes?
It would be fitting, as Return to Dream Land had both that and the EX bosses in hard mode.
Then again, it could be seen as fake difficulty, like how some shmups/etc are more "difficult" due to limited resources...
Maybe a toggle after beating EX mode for half health, with no other effects, for those that want more of a challenge?
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Question: Will the amount of health in Extra Mode change at all, like how Nightmare in Dream Land/Return both had half the normal amount of health for their respective hard modes?
Maybe.
I'd rather finish making the normal mode first before I start work on the extra mode (I should probably stop procrastinating on that :V) I'm just doing a bit of planning ahead for now.
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Maybe.
I'd rather finish making the normal mode first before I start work on the extra mode (I should probably stop procrastinating on that :V) I'm just doing a bit of planning ahead for now.
Speaking of finally doing things, I need to finally start trying to learn Danmakufu ph3. I've only been procrastinating for about three months.
Anyway, yeah, finishing normal mode first would be good.
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But...but...I was making references like this and trying to incorporate them into Touhou...and I've had my ideas since last October... :ohdear:
Oh well, mine isn't a platformer. So, the only regret I have is not entirely starting it yet, while you're in alpha stage.
But still...now it sorta feels like I'm taking someone else's concept... :(
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But...but...I was making references like this and trying to incorporate them into Touhou...and I've had my ideas since last October... :ohdear:
Oh well, mine isn't a platformer. So, the only regret I have is not entirely starting it yet, while you're in alpha stage.
But still...now it sorta feels like I'm taking someone else's concept... :(
You know, you can just tell people that you thought up the idea before you knew about this game.
Or you can say this game is inspiring you to make a similar game.
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You know, you can just tell people that you thought up the idea before you knew about this game.
Or you can say this game is inspiring you to make a similar game.
I know, and I will claim that I had the idea (long) before I knew about this...but I'll still have that sort of doubt/sadness that I was beaten to the punch because I was lazy and didn't start it. It's entirely my fault for that. Oh well, hopefully my story will be different enough that people won't think it's a rip-off.
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I know, and I will claim that I had the idea (long) before I knew about this...but I'll still have that sort of doubt/sadness that I was beaten to the punch because I was lazy and didn't start it. It's entirely my fault for that. Oh well, hopefully my story will be different enough that people won't think it's a rip-off.
You could also try to make an engine similar to the Fairy Wars one, but instead of freezing bullets, Yuyuko devours any bullets an an area around her and any connecting bullets, with the area around Yuyuko increasing based on charge, or something, and a longer time for devouring.
Anyway, back on topic.
Uh... how are things going?
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I see you took the suggestion of who
King Dedede
should be.
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I see you took the suggestion of who King Dedede
should be.
I actually thought of that long before you posted your answer in "What If?"
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I actually thought of that long before you posted your answer in "What If?"
That makes sense. I can't wait for the full version though.
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That is going to be a long ways off for now, since I still haven't found a non-commercial spriter.
I'm limited to doing minor updates to the first three stages for now (which I should probably start work on... :P)
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Interesting. I'll try this out and get back on you.
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General announcement to make: (If this counts as necroposting, please don't judge me.)
I've decided to take this project off hiatus. So expect an update in the near future. ;)
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General announcement to make: (If this counts as necroposting, please don't judge me.)
JUDGEMENT TIME!
On a serious note, Authors are exceptionally allowed to bump their threads for updates. :V
I've decided to take this project off hiatus. So expect an update in the near future. ;)
Good to hear people still working on non-dnh games as well.
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Alpha 3 has arrived!
Download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/trzs3xjolghdopb/Yuyuko%20of%20the%20Netherworld%20-%20Alpha%203.exe
Changes:
-Added Stage 4: Gensokyo Sky, currently the longest stage in the game.
-In addition to this, stage 4 is currently the only stage with a boss fight at the end. Any fans of the Kirby series will probably recognize what most of her attacks are based off of.
-Added a new environmental hazard to stage 3
I'm looking forward to feedback on the new version!
(Please don't bug me about the stage 4 boss' difficulty, this is meant to be the fourth boss in the game)
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Why am I not surprised about the utter lack of feedback for the new version?
I guess the hiatus made everyone lose interest in this....
...meh, I guess I better start on the next version...
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Why am I not surprised about the utter lack of feedback for the new version?
I guess the hiatus made everyone lose interest in this....
I've been coming by less frequently lately and didn't notice this project until just now. It's disappointing to see something promising receive little to no attention or criticism (...on a dev board, for that matter...) so I decided I'd give it a download and contribute my opinion.
I'm not sure what stage 3's "new hazard" is (not having played the earlier version) but overall the use of hazards made it a fun stage. I was worried during stage 2 that the entire game would follow the same "pattern" all throughout (ie, go left -> right, enemies loosely block your path) but the addition of many vertical areas and the heavier use of hazards really gave stage 3 its own identity.
Stage 4, much like stage 3, also managed to have its own "feel" with much more open areas and almost branching pathways. The wide-open area roughly halfway through it really took me by surprise ("owait, this area scrolls UP too?"). Sadly, I didn't get to play through all of it as I was game over and unable to continue (dunno if that was bug - the option was selectable but did nothing at all). TBH, I wasn't up for playing through the exact same stages I JUST did only so I could see the fourth stage boss so I can't comment on that one... ;(
This is a good game. Very much worth the time for at least one playthrough. It is, IMO, kinda low in replayability though. I think a simple scoring system or item-collection system (eg, find all 5 red gems in each stage) would be interesting and would give enough of a reason to replay parts of the game one has already seen; right now, there's no real point to a stage other than just... getting to the end of it.
One last observation... the mini-bosses are kinda pointless. If you enter the battle with enough ammo you can just mash the shot button and not even have to deal with any of them. Maybe a brief invulnerability period in-between hits would make them more interesting. :)
I've found RaNGE quickly opts for silence to convey its feedback and constructive criticism lately - and no, it is not encouraging or motivating to have one's work meet with silence. But don't let the slow/low feedback discourage you - this looks great so far and with a little polish, it could grow to be a fairly memorable little fan-game. I'll probably be giving it another playthrough tomorrow to try and see what the stage 4 boss is like; at any rate I'm looking forward to the rest of it. :)
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Hey, here's some guy from out of nowhere who has secretly been following this post, and not said anything 'cause shyness. Anyways, I'm gonna jot down some things I noticed while playing the most recent version.
The falling physics seem to be a bit wonky, at least to me. Yuyuko's very floaty in nature, which isn't weird because she's a ghost, but it kinda makes it difficult to try to fall under projectiles while I'm flying about. I did discover pushing X (Inhaling) set her falling speed back to normal, though, so I guess that fixes that.
While there's nothing wrong with a single jump height and flight on its own, sometimes the level design doesn't keep this in mind, specifically in Stage 4 with a drop leading to a small spike hall.
It is here I've also noticed a couple other minor things. Firstly, I think the scrolling may need some tinkering. The screen doesn't like to scroll up or down until Yuyuko tries to pass the borders of the screen, making the aforementioned spikes very difficult to avoid. Secondly, and this is minor, after some time while Yuyuko's falling, she seems to stop in mid-air and start falling again. I figure that's just a minor glitch influenced by her falling speed, but I thought it was worth pointing out.
The mechanic of storing bullets, as opposed to Kirby's method of eating and spitting immediately, is interesting. However, as others may have pointed out, you can just store bullets like a pink-haired squirrel and unload them immediately onto the midbosses. Methinks Yuyuko should possibly be able to store fewer bullets, or maybe the midbosses need a little buff. It doesn't do too much for the Stage 4 bosses, though, as their lifebars are big enough to withstand Yuyuko's machine gunning.
Oddly enough, between the Stage 4's bosses...I found the midboss was actually the more difficult of the two. Yukkurisa as a whole moves faster (but not too fast) than Marisa, making it more difficult to dodge. On top of that, I figured out in the Marisa fight I could stay in the opposite corner from her and be completely safe from most of her attacks. I only need to move a little when she fires star bullets in a circular pattern, or when she performs the attack that gives me ammo to spew at her, which, again, I am safe from in mid-air.
All in all, you have a good thing going here, and it looks like you're going to need more art assets for it...might I be able to contribute to your project here? It's been awhile since I made sprites, but I enjoy drawing a bit.
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The falling physics seem to be a bit wonky, at least to me. Yuyuko's very floaty in nature, which isn't weird because she's a ghost, but it kinda makes it difficult to try to fall under projectiles while I'm flying about. I did discover pushing X (Inhaling) set her falling speed back to normal, though, so I guess that fixes that.
Secondly, and this is minor, after some time while Yuyuko's falling, she seems to stop in mid-air and start falling again. I figure that's just a minor glitch influenced by her falling speed, but I thought it was worth pointing out.
Well, the push X mechanic is intended. It was added to emulate Kirby spitting out an air puff to return to normal falling, but since Yuyuko doesn't need to use air to fly I made her inhale instead.
The second one is a minor glitch. Yuyuko is coded so that her falling speed cannot exceed a value of 12 (otherwise she would be to fast to control her descent.), the "stopping" that is witnessed is most likely this code moving the speed to twelve, making it look like she stopped for a split second (since for that one frame she went over the speed of 12 by a few values). I'll try to see if I could correct this.
The mechanic of storing bullets, as opposed to Kirby's method of eating and spitting immediately, is interesting. However, as others may have pointed out, you can just store bullets like a pink-haired squirrel and unload them immediately onto the midbosses. Methinks Yuyuko should possibly be able to store fewer bullets, or maybe the midbosses need a little buff. It doesn't do too much for the Stage 4 bosses, though, as their lifebars are big enough to withstand Yuyuko's machine gunning.
Well, 90% of the minibosses (with the exceptions of the very first one at the end of the "tutorial", the stage 3 midboss, and Yukkurisa) are placeholders for the actual midbosses of the stages they appear on. So that will be remedied once I start adding those bosses. Though, I do admit that I could increase the stage 3 midboss' health a little bit (the only reason that I hadn't done it before is because IMO it's harder to hit and dodge than the placeholder midboss and the same amount of health seemed fair at the time, especially since dying meant having to start the room over.).
It looks like you're going to need more art assets for it...might I be able to contribute to your project here? It's been awhile since I made sprites, but I enjoy drawing a bit.
You can, but please keep the style of any new sprites the same as the style of the rest of the sprites in the game.
I would also like to see an example of this, if you don't mind. You can PM me or post it here. Please use an image host such as this one (http://img.acianetmedia.com/) or one that is least likely to be blocked by a proxy. (One of the merits of having a younger sibling is a parental proxy that just loves to go after image hosts (including, but not limited to: Imageshack, Photobucket, and Deviantart). The link I provided is one of the few that it doesn't block.)
I'm not sure what stage 3's "new hazard" is (not having played the earlier version) but overall the use of hazards made it a fun stage. I was worried during stage 2 that the entire game would follow the same "pattern" all throughout (ie, go left -> right, enemies loosely block your path) but the addition of many vertical areas and the heavier use of hazards really gave stage 3 its own identity.
Stage 4, much like stage 3, also managed to have its own "feel" with much more open areas and almost branching pathways. The wide-open area roughly halfway through it really took me by surprise ("owait, this area scrolls UP too?"). Sadly, I didn't get to play through all of it as I was game over and unable to continue (dunno if that was bug - the option was selectable but did nothing at all). TBH, I wasn't up for playing through the exact same stages I JUST did only so I could see the fourth stage boss so I can't comment on that one... ;(
This is a good game. Very much worth the time for at least one playthrough. It is, IMO, kinda low in replayability though. I think a simple scoring system or item-collection system (eg, find all 5 red gems in each stage) would be interesting and would give enough of a reason to replay parts of the game one has already seen; right now, there's no real point to a stage other than just... getting to the end of it.
The new hazard is the steam jets, since you were wondering.
I think I might have forgotten to code the continue for stage 4. If I did I'll upload a fix later today.
EDIT: Turns out I did. I just uploaded the new version which fixes that bug.
The replayability will come later, I'm mainly focusing on building the stages first and then add in minor things like score and stuff.
I'm also going to add some sort of collection sidequest (that will unlock the true last bosses)
, but I have not found a good way to implement it yet. I'm also considering adding a harder extra mode once the main game is complete.
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Fixed a coding error.
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 3.1 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/qh2zcg9ignbuuqz/Yuyuko%20of%20the%20Netherworld%20-%20Alpha%203-1.exe)
Changes:
-Fixed the Stage 4 continue "bug" (the aforementioned coding error)
-Extended the vertical scrolling border by 16 pixels.
-removed a couple of problem spikes from stage 4
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I'm not sure if you caught my PM, so I'll upload a couple example images of my ability to sprite here. I took the Star Sapphire sprite you'd already had made by Ran Yakumo as a base, and (loosely) edited it twice to draw her two BFFs. I managed to keep Sunny Milk and Luna Child under 16 colors to keep the whole SNES-y look to them.
(http://img.acianetmedia.com/i/U0wbM.png)
I can make other sprites, but I'd need to know what you need first.
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Yeah, my reasons for the late reply are in the PM I just sent...
These are pretty good, so welcome aboard!
The list of sprites I need is kinda wordy, so I'm going to send that in another PM. (or edit it into the existing one if you haven't replied to it yet.)
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Alpha 4 is finally here!
Download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q7rst9c0gefhlbz/Yuyuko%20of%20the%20Netherworld%20-%20Alpha%204.exe
Changes:
-Stage 5 (Airship Assault) and Stage 6 (Hakurei Shrine) added!
-Cirno has been added as a miniboss and now replaces the second Black FOE encounter.
-Shizuha Aki has been added as a boss for stage 1.
-The Stage 3 miniboss has been made weaker and it's projectile attack is less rage-inducing.
Please notify me of any new bugs and I'm looking forward to feedback on the latest version.
Also, this will be the last of the "Alpha" updates (since all the main stages are now added (minus the bosses of stages 2, 3, 5 , and 6 and the minibosses of 2 and 5)). The next update will be known as Beta 1.
Actually, after giving it some thought. There will be one more Alpha before the game moves to Beta.
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New gameplay montage for the new version!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJtGca0MDpM
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Soooo.... any thoughts?
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Ahh I played the Alpha version 4 and died on that Marisa boss on the stage 4. My feedback:
* Pre-Boss song have a strange loop;
* Add tokens like coins;
* Bosses make the explosion sound when you eat their corpses;
* Enemies in blind places on stage 3 = leap of faith :(
* Losing health when touching the spike's sides :(
* In stage 4 there is a secton with a beautiful cloudy background, but that isn't pixel art;
* Can you increase the resolution for 640x480 ?
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Ahh I played the Alpha version 4 and died on that Marisa boss on the stage 4. My feedback:
* Pre-Boss song have a strange loop;
* Add tokens like coins;
* Bosses make the explosion sound when you eat their corpses;
* Enemies in blind places on stage 3 = leap of faith :(
* Losing health when touching the spike's sides :(
* In stage 4 there is a secton with a beautiful cloudy background, but that isn't pixel art;
* Can you increase the resolution for 640x480 ?
*The Pre-Boss song does lag for a split second when it loops, I thought noone would notice. I'll replace that music track if I can't solve the problem (I already tried to correct that twice.)
*I am going to implement a collection sidequest at some point. I may include coins or something as well.
*Working as intended. In the Kirby series, midbosses make the explosion sound twice: once when defeated, and once when eaten/destroyed.
*I could extend the vertical scrolling by about 16 pixels, but this might take a while unless I can code for it to adjust automatically every room (otherwise I'd have to go to every single room and extend it manually). Also, exactly where in stage 3 does that happen? Since as the creator I sort of know where every enemy is and thus never have this problem on stage 3.
*Working as intended. It would be a bit of cheating if you could walk through a line of spikes meant to be jumped or flown over. This also happens in other games with spikes as obstacles, not just this one.
*What's the difference in using pixel art or not using pixel art for backgrounds as long as it's aesthetically pleasing? I used the cloudy background in that area because it seemed more aesthetically appealing than the crappy cloudy background in the previous rooms. It also represents going deeper (higher?) into the sky level. (in addition to this, I often have to stretch or shrink that background since it doesn't loop, so it ends up looking more pixelated.)
*I'd have to change the resolution manually for every single room (unless I find a code function that automatically does it.), however, there is a fullscreen mode. (press F4 while the game is running.)
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So any comments on the new stages anyone?
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Finally got around to trying out your game and it's neat so far. Unfortunately, there seems to be a glitch on the level 3 mini-boss: After defeating him, the door appeared and disappeared again shortly after. Couldn't get through and was stuck. I don't think I did anything particularly unusual, except swallowing the mini-bosses "corpse" (which I did on every other mini-boss and nothing bad came out of it). Because of that glitch, that was as far as I got.
Perhaps this is an already known problem, but it might have come with the newest version. Just wanted to let you know.
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Finally got around to trying out your game and it's neat so far. Unfortunately, there seems to be a glitch on the level 3 mini-boss: After defeating him, the door appeared and disappeared again shortly after. Couldn't get through and was stuck. I don't think I did anything particularly unusual, except swallowing the mini-bosses "corpse" (which I did on every other mini-boss and nothing bad came out of it). Because of that glitch, that was as far as I got.
Perhaps this is an already known problem, but it might have come with the newest version. Just wanted to let you know.
Wait. WHAT!?
(I'm assuming you mean stage 3 (Kappa Industries) when you say level 3 instead of the third room on stage one.)
That shouldn't happen at all. Especially since there's no door coded to appear in the stage 3 miniboss's room (the door is already there, it's in the area above the arena which is only accessible when you kill the miniboss and scrolling is restored.) I never had a problem like that come up during playtesting. If more people report it, or if you can give me definitive evidence that the glitch does exist and that this is not just a one-time occurance (I need to know if it can happen again) I'll look into fixing it. (also have you tried killing yourself using one of the hazards before the miniboss to see if it fixed the problem?)
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Wait. WHAT!?
(I'm assuming you mean stage 3 (Kappa Industries) when you say level 3 instead of the third room on stage one.)
That shouldn't happen at all. Especially since there's no door coded to appear in the stage 3 miniboss's room (the door is already there, it's in the area above the arena which is only accessible when you kill the miniboss and scrolling is restored.) I never had a problem like that come up during playtesting. If more people report it, or if you can give me definitive evidence that the glitch does exist and that this is not just a one-time occurance (I need to know if it can happen again) I'll look into fixing it. (also have you tried killing yourself using one of the hazards before the miniboss to see if it fixed the problem?)
I went back to it again and no door appeared this time. I swear I saw one pop up and vanish again. Whether or not the ceiling openned up back then, I don't know. Probably. I think I had too much of a "game glitched, I'm stuck"-mentality in my head to even notice anymore.
I played the rest of what came after that and I've got to say, good job. Something that could be changed: Decrease the health of the level 4 Bubbly Clouds endboss. Should you die on it, it becomes a massive drag to fight without at least a few projectiles at the start. Something other than decreasing health would be having the stars appear way outside the effect of the Master Spark. The way it is now, you have no chance to even get half of them.