wizard jam [RELEASE] The Hypersonic Effect

[zerofiftyone]

UPDATE: This game is done and you can play it here: https://zerofiftyone.itch.io/hypersonic

 

 

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Here we go again.

 

For Wizard Jam 4, I'm going to be making The Hypersonic Effect.

 

 

For day one, I picked out a title and, while figuring out what type of game it would be, made a menu for it. I still have no idea what the game will be, but It'll probably end up looking like this. I'm going to spend the next day or so figuring what the game will be and hopefully come up with something that I like that is also not overscoped. I have less time for this jam than I had last time, so I'm going to have to be conscious of that.

[zerofiftyone]

 

Here's a video of that menu screen.

[Nappi]

Quality menu once again!

[zerofiftyone]

Some more menu stuff. A cool unintended thing is that when you're making a game with this sort of aesthetic it's very easy to design a pause menu.

 

[zerofiftyone]

2 hours ago, Nappi said:

Quality menu once again!

 

Thanks! If the game doesn't pan out to anything at least there will be a nice looking title screen

[dibs]

So pretty! When you start the game does one of the shooting lasers shoot right at camera to wash out to the game?!

[zerofiftyone]

Not yet...

 

Nah I don't know what I'm going to do for the transitions yet. Might be something a little more modest than that, I'll be short on time this jam. 

[brendonsmall]

This looks great. The whole game could just be sweet menus

[Jake]

7 hours ago, zerofiftyone said:

Some more menu stuff. A cool unintended thing is that when you're making a game with this sort of aesthetic it's very easy to design a pause menu.

 

GOTWJ confirmed if it was just this pause screen and nothing else.

[zerofiftyone]

I promise that I'll talk about some actual gameplay here soon, but today I have some more UI to show.

 

This score summary sequence is what will play at the end of each level. I'm aiming for levels to be around 10-30 seconds long, each separated by a transition. This sequence will play while the level transition is happening. I wanted something quick and unobtrusive that also gives the player some context of how well they did in the level. I took some cues from SUPERHYPERCUBE as some of you may be able to tell; I think that's a game that presents that well. I promise/hope that this will all make sense soon.

 

 

[gerbilsinspace]

This game has STYLE.

 

I love looking at your work, zero, it is really high quality, but in a way that makes me feel like I could do that, it is achievable. I guess maybe because you do a lot with type, lighting and using code to create style, rather than 2d art, which I suck at. 

 

[voxn]

rad! If I'm remembering right the hypersonic effect is just sounds you can't hear, so a game you can't play with loads of amazing ui would be a pretty amazing joke

[phill]

Those are some very sweet, subtle effects there zero. Can't wait for the gameplay!

[CEJ]

Niiice, snazzy.

[zerofiftyone]

Thanks all for the kind comments!

 

I havent been able to make much progress over the past few days, but tonight I managed to get a good amount of stuff done on this. As a result, I finally have a video of some gameplay.

 

The clip below is a quick demo of the movement mechanic the game is going to be based around. The player controls a small spaceship that has momentum similar to Asteroids, only in this game you don't have regular thrusters. The only way to adjust your course is to use (hypersonic) boosts to thrust you in another direction. 

 

 

The levels will be short stages which will have you collecting items while avoiding obstacles. Finishing levels using as few boosts as possible and/or without taking damage will earn you bonus points and a higher score. 

[Zzot]

Everything in this thread is stellar. Amazing work, zerofiftyone!

[keibo]

Absolutely Stunning Zero!

[BigJKO]

Oh my, that is already so good looking. So much good game feel! Fantastic work, zero!

[zerofiftyone]

 

Very quick update: i did some mindless polish instead of getting actual useful stuff done, so now the loading/pause screens have a little VHS timestamp on them.

 

 

 

The time and date is accurate to the system clock, apart from the year, which is always 1988. 

[Xeneth]

So so glad to check in and see that the tradition of making the raddest menus and UI with little to no regard for gameplay continues!

 

If you ever start a jam like I would, (with a boring core design doc) I will alert the authorities that the real 051 has been kidnapped or is being forced to jam against his will somehow.

[theschap]

You are really capturing a time in my life, say mid-late 90s, where I watched VHS and played one of the few games we had on our computer - Asteroids!

Great style and design as always!

[zerofiftyone]

Update time! (for real this time)

 

I haven't had much chance to work on the game this week; it's been a case of grabbing a spare hour or so each night and doing what I can. I do have a free weekend now though so hopefully I can power through most of the stuff I had originally planned. 

 

It's been slow progress but I'm finally at the point where I have enough systems and game logic built to start putting together some actual levels.

 

 

 

I guess I haven't explained how the game works yet! In summary, you're essentially trying to escape the galaxy in a tiny unarmed spaceship. The objective is to collect all of the energy tanks in a level to charge up your hypersonic drive™ and blast off to the next level. You get points for clearing each level, and bonus points for collecting orbs; getting through levels without taking damage; and using as few boosts as possible to complete levels. When you hit an obstacle you lose health, but you regain all your health at the start of each level. 

 

 

 

I also decided it'd be fun to have bonus stages in the game. The objective here is to collect all of the orbs before the timer runs out.

[zerofiftyone]

22 hours ago, Xeneth said:

So so glad to check in and see that the tradition of making the raddest menus and UI with little to no regard for gameplay continues!

 

If you ever start a jam like I would, (with a boring core design doc) I will alert the authorities that the real 051 has been kidnapped or is being forced to jam against his will somehow.

 

Haha, of course. I have an oddly specific reputation to maintain.  

 

22 hours ago, theschap said:

You are really capturing a time in my life, say mid-late 90s, where I watched VHS and played one of the few games we had on our computer - Asteroids!

Great style and design as always!

 

Thanks! It's been a weird experience making this game and tapping into an aesthetic that I only experienced for a relatively short while. I was born in 1991, so I'm old enough to have experienced the VHS era for the early part of my childhood, but not old enough to have been steeped in it for years and years.

[zerofiftyone]

 

Oh yeah, another thing that's been slowly coming together is the music. I actually got the bulk of this done pretty early on in the jam, but I'm only now getting around to splitting the track into segments so that I can take them into the engine and transition between them in-game. Should also be able to add some nice tape degradation effects (if time allows).

 

 

[fierydrake]

Everything about this is legit. And great music.