Blast: Game Development (15th Update!)

I have been creating a small game in my spare time for the past while that is focused mostly on graphics and making it graphically appealing. I have a bit of a headstart, with 15 public releases and a blog, but this is my first real release to a well-known forum such as the GMC.

Comments:
"Wow totally amazing effects and so so amazing" - Amidos
"The graphics are superb" - RCCarThief
"I love that game! The graphic style is amazing and the gameplay is creative. Also has a great story." - Revel
"Just wanted to say that this is a great game" - A saurus1
"Very cool game! I love the effects and movement." - heyufool
"THe game was stunning" - King Chubbles
"this is awesome! i need to read that helpfile more to make a game like this one, i hope this gets featured!" - -BanditGames-
"Very nice game. Beats all the staff picks." - Pendulum_Online_Games
"Very nice! I think the graphics are great as well" - Fredrick

Storyline:
I have a storyline mostly written out, I just have a gigantic whole in the middle which I need help with. The beginning is fine, and the end has a surprise twist and all, but the middle is... non-existent. Here's the current storyline:
You are a dual-personality being that lives in an underground city led by a benevolent leader Purity. Purity is a great politician, and generally a good leader, but there seems to be something about what she does that is... off. You're name is Control, but you also have the ability to change into your other self, Rage. Control can control peoples minds and take over their bodies, but he is fairly weak. Rage is a powerful being that blasts things to pieces with his powerful darkness flames. The problem with Rage is that, well... he isn't terribly subtle, like Control. Anyways, when you were at a young age, Control became angry at another person in his class, and he took over their mind. He made them commit suicide by beating their head against a while until they died. You were discovered nearby the dead body, exhausted, and Purity's secret police took you away and began running tests on you. After turning into Rage and blowing half of the testing facility to pieces, it was decided that you would be forever imprisoned inside a giant metal sphere, one that gave no holes for you to see people that you could control, and with a metal that was resistant to your flames. This was put in the bottom-most layer of a prison, and you were forgotten. Purity continued to reign for several generations, never seeming to age. You stayed in stasis inside your metal prison, losing yourself in your meditation, also not aging.

For a long time, you sat there, your hatred for Purity festering, until one day, a young guard found your cell, and was confused. He touched the outer layer, never having seen the metal alloy that contained you, and the bottom portion of the sphere opened, having been triggered by the touch. After it opened, the guard peered inside into the darkness, to see a small creature floating inside with no arms and no legs. Control. You open your eyes, and blast him to pieces, free at last!

You fight your way through the prison, defeating its defenses using your unique powers and blowing the guards away. You eventually escape into the underground city, the giant stalactites and stalagmites reminding you of the home you haven't seen for centuries. From there, you begin your search for Purity. Along the way, you meet Death, who helps you along your way to Purity, as he is also trying to kill her, but has been unable, her power to strong for him to get a hold. You eventually find Purity, who unleashes her guards. You kill them all, and go after her and attempt to take over her mind. Her mind will not give in, for as Death had said, her power was too strong. You attack, but stop abruptly as you see her begin to change. Her gold headband and dress decay and a black robe appears. Her flesh melts away until all that is left is a skull on a black robe. It was Death himself!

From there, you engage in a large battle, eventually defeating Death. You find out that along the way, the people's love for Purity had been misled, as the city had been slowly degenerating into rubble with Death's leadership. All the same, the people are furious, and you are captured and imprisoned once again.

I have a starting scene for how you were imprisoned and freed, and I have sprites drawn up for the end. If you can help with anything for the in-between section, that would be wonderful!

June 6, 2009 Updates:
-New ice level
-Snow on ice levels
-New Boss: Norr, Guardian of Chambers
-Spinning attack
-Homing Missile attack
-Lots of facial expressions!

June 3, 2009 Updates:
-Faster and more efficient particle systems
-Took out the particle attractors (weren't working and will be replaced later on)
-Added an optional effects feature (toggled with <E>)
-New Ice level
-New Ice graphics
-New Ice enemy
-New distortion effect for controlled enemies

June 2, 2009 Updates:
-When mines explode, the screen flashes with black borders
-There is a blur effect on fire levels
-There are fire levels
-There are 3 new enemies (one boss, one normal enemy, and one spawn enemy from the boss)
-Rock formations (volcanoes)
-Many new effects
-Particle Attractor on the player (FUN!)

Screenshots:

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3

Alright, here's the link to the development blog and the current demo below. Please make any comments on ideas, bugs, or anything else below!
Blog: http://gm-blast.blogspot.com/
Download #1: WillHostForFood
Download #2: MediaFire
*Note: Download links updated 6/6/2009

Controls:
General:
Arrow Keys: Movement.
Space: Switch characters.
C: Toggle God-Mode.
X: Attack as a controlled enemy.
H: Open the help information.
E: Toggle effects
Control:
Z: Take control/Lose control of an enemy.
X: Push enemies away from you.
Rage:
Z: Shoot a fire blast in the direction (left/right) that you are facing.
X: Blast the area around you.

Thanks for reading!

Update: May 9, 2009
Update: June 2, 2009
Update: June 3, 2009
Update: June 6, 2009

Whoa REALLY in depth description ill playsoon

NICE! love the banner/top image!

@-js1210-: I hope you like it, and if you think this is in-depth, check out all 14 posts on the blog!

@3d: I'm glad you like the banner ^_^ I might have to replace it with a new one soon, because of updated graphics, but I'm hoping to keep the same type of effects on it.

You are the same Time. Accept my friend thingy

CarnivorousA wrote:You are the same Time. Accept my friend thingy

Hm, I can't seem to see a friend request thing. Is it a message? Mine says I have no messages...

Well I sent one. I'll try again.

Alright, I think we're friends now ^_^

Has anyone played? If you did, what do you think?

Wow thats amazing! You could make it so that you go outside of the prison. You would slowly discover Rages dark past. How he used to be extremely evil and use his powers for bad. His story would be intertwined with Puritys. You would see how Purity came to power and how Rage and Purity are linked toghether. Maybe they were friends of related

cool

I'm glad you guys liked it I added a new boss and a new ice level with new particle effects for snow. Tell me what you think! (press <enter> to skip levels you've already played)

@-js1210-: Those are some good ideas, I might have to tie them into the storyline

ha.... nice. ill test it out. didnt i tell u ud get more plays here?

True, true

O just to let you know the effect when u control an enemy is AWESOME! I wanna know how u did that! Probably only Pro though

Yeah, it's only pro. It consists of three different effects applied using textured primitives (the texture being a surface of the view). Here's the code:

Initialization (call once in the game)

Code:

globalvar buffer_surf, tex;
buffer_surf = surface_create(view_wview[0], view_hview[0]);
surface_set_target(buffer_surf);
draw_clear_alpha(c_black,0);
surface_reset_target();
tex = surface_get_texture(buffer_surf);

Step event (End step if you want no blur)

Code:

surface_set_target(buffer_surf);
draw_clear_alpha(c_black,0);
screen_redraw();
surface_reset_target();

Draw event (Object with a very low depth)

Code:

var xtex, ytex, col_outer, alph_outer, length, rotation;
xtex = surface_get_width(buffer_surf); //buffer_surf is the surface used (global)
ytex = surface_get_height(buffer_surf);
length = argument1;
rotation = argument0;

var xoffset, yoffset, xoffset1, yoffset1, col_top, col_bottom, alph, allX, allY, allX2, allY2;
xoffset = 0 //These four lines are for a screen-shaking effects
yoffset = 0
xoffset1 = 0
yoffset1 = 0
col_top = c_purple; //Color of the top of the screen
//col_mid = c_white; //Color of the middle of the screen (used for the halfway section)
col_bottom = c_purple; //Color of the bottom of the screen
col_inner = c_purple; //Used for the third effect
col_outer = c_white; //Second effect
alph = 1; //First effect
alph_inner = 0; //Third effect
alph_outer = 0; //Second effect
allX = 0; //This moves the effects around
allY = 0;
allX2 = lengthdir_x(rotation * 8, rotation_center); //The center point of the effects
allY2 = lengthdir_y(rotation * 8, rotation_center); //The y part of the center point of the effects
rotation_center += 1; //Making everything rotate (must declare rotation_center outside the scripts!)
if rotation_center >= 360
{
    rotation_center = 0;
}
    draw_primitive_begin_texture(pr_trianglefan, tex);
    draw_vertex_texture_color(x + allX, y + allY, (x - view_xview[0])/xtex, (y - view_yview[0])/ytex, c_white, 1);
    //Bottom
    draw_vertex_texture_color(view_xview[0] + xoffset, view_yview[0] + view_hview[0] + yoffset,  xoffset1/xtex,(view_hview[0] + yoffset1)/ytex, col_bottom, alph);
    draw_vertex_texture_color(view_xview[0] + view_wview[0] + xoffset, view_yview[0] + view_hview[0] + yoffset, (view_wview[0] + xoffset1)/xtex, (view_hview[0] + yoffset1)/ytex, col_bottom, alph);
    //Nearly Halfway (optional, but slower)
    //draw_vertex_texture_color(view_xview[0] + xoffset,view_yview[0] + view_hview[0] * distortion + yoffset, xoffset1/xtex, ((view_hview[0] + yoffset1)/2)/ytex, col_mid, alph);
    //draw_vertex_texture_color(view_xview[0] + view_wview[0] + xoffset,view_yview[0] + view_hview[0] * distortion + yoffset, (view_wview[0] + xoffset1)/xtex, ((view_hview[0] + yoffset1)/2)/ytex, col_mid, alph);
    //Top   
    draw_vertex_texture_color(view_xview[0] + view_wview[0] + xoffset,view_yview[0] + yoffset, (view_wview[0] + xoffset1)/xtex,yoffset1/ytex, col_top, alph);
    draw_vertex_texture_color(view_xview[0] + xoffset,view_yview[0] + yoffset, xoffset1/xtex, yoffset1/ytex,col_top,alph);
    draw_vertex_texture_color(view_xview[0] + xoffset, view_yview[0] + view_hview[0] + yoffset,  xoffset1/xtex,(view_hview[0] + yoffset1)/ytex, col_bottom, alph);
    draw_primitive_end();

draw_primitive_begin_texture(pr_trianglefan, tex);
draw_vertex_texture_color(x + allX2, y + allY2, (x + allX2 - view_xview[0])/xtex, (y + allY2 - view_yview[0])/ytex, c_white, 1);
for(i = 0; i <= 360; i += 20)
{
    draw_vertex_texture_color(
        x + allX + lengthdir_x(length, i + rotation),
        y + allY + lengthdir_y(length, i + rotation),
        (x + allX + lengthdir_x(length, i) - view_xview[0])/xtex,
        (y + allY + lengthdir_y(length, i) - view_yview[0])/ytex,
        col_outer, alph_outer);
}
draw_primitive_end();

draw_primitive_begin_texture(pr_trianglefan, tex);
draw_vertex_texture_color(x + allX2, y + allY2, (x + allX2 - view_xview[0])/xtex, (y + allY2 - view_yview[0])/ytex, c_white, .5);
for(i = 0; i <= 360; i += 20)
{
    draw_vertex_texture_color(
        x + allX + lengthdir_x(length, i + rotation),
        y + allY + lengthdir_y(length, i + rotation),
        (x + allX + lengthdir_x(length/1.2, i) - view_xview[0])/xtex,
        (y + allY + lengthdir_y(length/1.2, i) - view_yview[0])/ytex,
        col_inner, alph_inner);
}
draw_primitive_end();

If you get the chance, feel free to use it!