Elimination: A New FPS

[Hot_Dog]

will there be some kind of cross hair or any kind of indication of where you're aiming?

There will be.  I keep forgetting to put it in

[DJ Omnimaga]

It would be nice indeed to have one.

Also nice screenshot Hot Dog

[Freyaday]

Perhaps something fancy?

[Hot_Dog]

Perhaps something fancy?

What do you mean?

[ZippyDee]

He means a fancy looking crosshair...

[Art_of_camelot]

I think simpler would be better in this case.

[Hot_Dog]

I'm also leaning toward simpler.

Sorry that there's no screenshot yet.  I've had it with enemies disappearing without permission, so I'm fixing this bug ahead of schedule.  On the plus side, a screenshot for level 18 won't be far behind the screenshot for level 17, since  these bugs were planned for testing in level 18.

[Freyaday]

I hate it when enemies disappear. Did they say "Screw it" and teleport outta there, or did they stop showing up? Or did they say "Screw it" and up and died?

[Hot_Dog]

I hate it when enemies disappear. Did they say "Screw it" and teleport outta there, or did they stop showing up? Or did they say "Screw it" and up and died?

Lol, they said "screw it" and went through the wall into the next room

[calc84maniac]

I hate it when enemies disappear. Did they say "Screw it" and teleport outta there, or did they stop showing up? Or did they say "Screw it" and up and died?

Lol, they said "screw it" and went through the wall into the next room

I do that all the time

[Hot_Dog]

I'm now playing level 17 to test for difficulty   Here's some updates I made to the weapons that I'm hoping will improve gameplay.  These updates should not affect how easy or how hard the first 5 levels are:

* Bullets now do 4 damage
* The chaingun will waste 2 bullets (The first 2 bullets do no damage), and then until the trigger is released bullets will do full damage.
* If you hold the 2nd button for the handgun, bullets will continue firing.  The handgun is about half the speed of the chaingun (even if you fire bullets by pressing 2nd repeatedly), but of course you don't waste any bullets.
* The rocket launcher requires more safety distance, but will do less damage if you're too close to an object.

At this point, I would say that the handgun is better for enemies with a health bar initally halfway full, and the chaingun is better for the rest.  At least, that's my goal.

[Freyaday]

how's the catgirl launcher coming?

[Hot_Dog]

how's the catgirl launcher coming?

Lol, that's low on the list even though I plan to include it

[Hot_Dog]

I've uploaded a youtube video of Level 17.  It was my first attempt at making a level more challenging on "Hard" difficulty, but there's some work I need to do.  I'm pretty sure the next level I'll get it right the first time   By the way, I didn't do the whole level on the video, because there's a puzzle that I didn't want to give away

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McpnbrV7Uro" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McpnbrV7Uro</a>


New additions since last time:

Spoiler for Hidden:

* You can select "Hard" difficulty to make levels harder
* New pathfinding for enemies.  Most of the time, enemies will stay on screen and not move too close to you unless you make it happen.
* Batteries: Collect 5 batteries and you can use an electronic medkit to restore your health.  (My health jumps randomly at 8:45, that's when I used the electronic medkit)
* Map powerup.  When you collect it, you can see the entire map after 10 seconds.  Until that point, it reveals itself little by little so that the game doesn't pause itself.
* Strafing has been made easier, in my opinion
* The Sky is back!

A 100-level Elimination is still a possibility, but I'm going to continue from this point as if I'll have time only for a shorter game--say, 20-40 levels.  For that reason, I'm going to add replay value by adding link-style multiplayer.  I'm going to take it little by little, so don't expect to see it too soon.  I'll keep you posted on the multiplayer aspect just as much as I do the single-player aspect.

I'm also planning on a new storyline in case I need to cut the game down (my initial storyline is designed for a 100-level game)

[coelurus]

Here's a copy of my post in the Introduction sub-forum:

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Stumbled upon Elimination today, thought nobody was going to use the Gemini source code. Glad so see somebody decided life wasn't gonna get any better I haven't touched z80 since Gemini, the first TI83 infinite plane demo (I see there's a Zero-Wing thing going on, goodie) and some hopeless excursions in 6 DOF 3D culling. Still, would be glad to help if there are any questions about the Gemini code. Tried to post in that sub-topic, but wasn't allowed to so I'll just copy-paste my post here.

Few things about me for those who haven't met me (I do not recognize many of the nicks around here): I'm cynical, glad to offer constructive criticism but I hardly ever pat people on the back unless they're about to pass. So let me get this over with: Looks nice. From now on I'll run in cold mode.

Skimmed through some topics, I do agree that far away sprites look a bit blocky compared even to the ancient Gemini. Remember to design levels taking into account the crappy resolution of the TI84, long distance encounters need some space. I hardly ever did, in fact I never even played through map 3 in Gemini IIRC, but I figured after I had released the game. Turned out alright.
It seems you have a way to store loads more data on the calc than Gemini ever did, so I would suggest mipmapping for all sprites. Use pixel-wide details, select a mipmap by the projected screen size and only ever scale up, never down except maybe beyond the smallest mipmap. If you go for 32x32, 16x16, 8x8, the scaling-code should be fairly trivial to update.
The perspective projection looks very harsh now that you have the caster fullscreen, I would suggest generating new perspective LUTs to get larger walls for a longer distance. I don't remember if I used "f * x / z" of "f * x / (z + z0)" with z0 being a hand-adjusted parameter. Try the latter option and play around with z0 to get a "beefier" perspective projection.
The gun perspective looks odd in fullscreen. Don't settle for a Doom approach, they did that back in '93, just do it right.
I remember there was a bug with the hit detection in Gemini, which was the bug that was mentioned in the dev docs in the Gemini zip. Did anybody find this and fix it?
Personally I think the background esp. on level 17 looks terrible Devil Your decision entirely and if people want it, by all means go for it. I seriously thought you had introduced a bug in the graphics code when I saw that vid on yt...

I may not be super-responsive, but ask questions or whatever and I'll try to answer them in due time. Try PMs if I go silent.