Guru
Joined: 13/08/2020
Location: CanadaPosts: 323
| Posted: 01:27am 17 Oct 2020 |
I would like to introduce my new game, heli-blaster. It started out as a sort of Flying-Shark shoot'em up, which then got changed into helicopters… and well then it all got a bit crazy. Now you have a 10,000x10,000 pixel map to fly around, wreaking destruction on an enemy base.
The graphics are definitely the weakest point. I always loved the look of Uridium on the C64, so I tried to emulate that shaded sort of style to give it a 3D look. But I'm sure a graphics artists could really take it up a notch.
I wanted to make something more than just a 2 minute coin op (which are designed to quickly swallow your 10p/25c and get your next coin). So heli-blaster has you juggling ammunition and fuel. These can be replenished by hovering over a fuel or ammo dump for a few seconds (it has to be hands off the keyboard for about 3 seconds for the reload to start… which can be nerve wracking… did I mention there were heat seeking missiles homing in on your 'copter?)
If you hit a fuel or ammo dump they are both highly explosive and will destroy buildings besides them - you will get points for that destruction, but you will also quickly start to run out of dumps to resupply from as one hit will usually take a whole bunch of closely grouped ammo or fuel tanks.
On top of that you can upgrade various aspects of your helicopter. You start with $2,000 but get more cash for every yellow building you destroy (with more money for the harder to destroy buildings such as pyramids). Pressing F1 at any time allows you to upgrade your helicopter (if you have the cash).
In the video below, I have foolishly opted for the quad gun option. Everyone thinks they want quad guns, but to be honest you just chew through ammunition at a much faster rate. I should probably have gone for the increased damage and increased base speed options. You also have a slowly recharging turbo boost (the S key) which will give you a short boost of speed to get around the map. Finally, you have your armour. There is no way to repair this so when it hits zero (or you run out of fuel) it's game over.
Video of gameplay here:
https://youtu.be/0M1UCDxrIN4
The satellite scan of the world at the top right of the screen slowly updates (to prevent killing the FPS) but will show you where the remaining buildings are in the world (as red dots). I like to clear out a rectangular section of the map at a time when I'm playing. I deliberately tried to go for a "scan-line" monitor look with that.
Thanks to Mauro for pointing me in the right direction with the sound, I managed to find a public domain MOD file and use it to provide a backing track and sound effects. Everything else was created by me (which explains the shoddy graphics).
As with all of my code, consider this completely public domain. Do with it what you will, use it to make your own game if you want, or simply improve it. It's there for everyone.
Unfortunately, the code is like a dogs dinner…. But I regret nothing :-D
heliblast.zip
Edited 2020-10-17 14:00 by PeteCotton