Alien DS 26/10/2008

Alien DS 26/10/2008

October 26th, 2008, 12:41 Posted By: wraggster

Pac has released an update to his FPS for the Nintendo DS:

Hey, it's going well, I've been getting sidetracked trying different things.

First of all, I've uploaded a new version, grab it via Comments.

This version should be considered a test, it only has one level and it's not even very good(it's the one I've used to try new things) but should give you an idea of the changes I've been introducing. I'll try to explain a bit what I've been doing.

First of all I've changed the map size from 32x32 to 64x64 tiles. Because it's a tilemap, and because of the way it's rendered, there's no real limit to map size other than the DS memory, but there's is a limit on the amount of interactive elements a map could have (doors, aliens...) before it starts to slowdown so I feel that 64x64 is a good size. Also a bigger map, given the game design, would be a drag.
The change in map size forced me to change the way the map screen works, I think the result is better than what I had before though.
I've changed the aliens a bit too. Before I placed them by hand, now th DS gives them random starting positions so every time they are in different places. I've also implemented triggers, that can create aliens when you activate them. It means that now aliens can appear behind you when you enter a room or grab a key and things like that. All this, together with the map size has increased the number of aliens a lot, I think It should be less boring. It's also very customizable so in the final game I'll introduce difficulty levels.
There are also a lot of new scenery elements and I've corrected a few bugs. I've also learned a few new things about the machine ( remember that I'm really new to the DS) and now the whole thing is more efficient and uses less memory.
Right now I'm working on the level generator, with the level size increase and the lack of an editor (yeah I'm lazy) level creation has become a bit of a chore and if I can get it working like I want to you'll have infinite levels, so I think it's worth a try. After that I'll make the new weapons (shotgun and flame-thrower). Both are halfway implemented but I still want to improve some things, especially the aliens reactions.
So i'll stop the rant now. Please give it a try and tell me what you think.

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