The Ark

[Nyphoon]

The Ark

A new century is dawning, but this one brings only tidings of misfortune. Man has used almost all of Earth's natural resources, and it won't be long until humankind is wiped off Earth's surface. Mankind's last hope lies in The Ark. Only it can provide a second chance to man - a second chance in outer space.

This is a new Work in Progress freeware space-shooter game I've been working on. This game will incorporate different game modes - such as the normal space shooter, reverse 'alien-invaders' type [you invade] and dodging obstacles. As the game is still in its early stages, I'm focusing on making the controls as good as possible and making sure everything within the core engines work well together to avoid future problems.

For the latest version, you can visit my site - http://nyphoon.tk/ . You can visit the site for updates and also follow me on twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/NyphoonGames .

Critique is greatly appreciated, even if the game is still early in development.


^First screenshot.

[Berick]

There's an age old saying: "No screenshots, no replies"

Most people like to see what they will be downloading.

[Nyphoon]

Sorry, my bad. Thought I had attached a screenshot - but I attached it to another post on another forum :/ I edited the first post.

[Nyphoon]

I've just uploaded a new version of 'The Arc'. This can be downloaded from the downloads page at http://nyphoon.tk/ . The following is an in-game screenshot from the game:
Any critique is greatly appreciated.

[Draknek]

Initial feedback: that screenshot is incredibly uninspiring. I can't tell from this thread what your game is doing that's interesting or different. Why I should try it, essentially (though I can't anyway because I don't run Windows).

[Nyphoon]

There's more information on my website. As I've already said, this game is still in its early stages. This will be a space-shooter game, but I haven't written a lot about future features as I want to focus more on the controls and core gameplay and engines in such an early stage.

Regarding the platform issue, I don't have the means to test the game on platforms such as Mac. However, I might make this game available to Linux. The problem is that I don't want to risk publishing this game to Linux without knowing whether or not it runs well enough or not.

I will update the game information because as you said, it's pretty much vague.

(Updated first post).

[Nyphoon]

I would like to confirm that this game will be available to Linux users. Starting from the next version, I will start providing a Linux version of the game.

[Nyphoon]

Just finished the base mesh for the model: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5oU58W29hc

This video shows the model on a turntable without any textures. You might notice its resemblance to a ship. Why? The game is entitled 'The Ark', and that spaceship <i>is</i> The Ark. Like Noah's Ark, this ship will give another chance to humanity - thus the name of the game and the spaceship. Any critique is appreciated.

The game will now be <b>resolution-independent</b>. This means that users will be able to play the game using any resolution they want - with no disadvantages or advantages from other resolutions whatsoever.

In the Downloads page at my site (nyphoon.tk), I changed the description of the game. It no longer reads that the year is 2200. This will let me wander away a little from the Sci-Fi genre and enter the Fantasy genre, blending the two. More details soon.

Tomorrow, I will post another turntable. This time, it will be fully textured. Note that this isn't the final model, and it may change - especially the colors.

You can follow the game more closely with daily updates at http://nyphoon.tk.

[Nyphoon]

I've just uploaded a new version to http://nyphoon.tk/ . This version lets you choose the resolution you want. This version also has the first model and the a new mouse movement engine.

Despite what I posted yesterday on my website, this version doesn't have a new playable level. Why? I will be introducing Procedural Generation. Never heard of this? Basically, the computer designs the levels before each stage. The storyline will still be present, and new objects and enemies will be discovered as you progress. However, levels will be procedurally generated to increase re-playability. With this engine, if you play the same stage a hundred times, it will be different each time. Tomorrow, I will post the first results and explain better how this works.

What do you think about this? Would Procedural Generation work in a space shooter?

Screenshot:

[Nyphoon]

I've just created a video that explains how the Procedural Generation in The Ark works. You can find the video at http://nyphoon.tk/

If you can suggest ways how to improve it, I'd appreciate your input!

[Nyphoon]

I've just produced a Gameplay video which shows what I've been working on for the past days:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_LEdQ0pYdM

I've also created a Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/NyphoonGames where I post regular updates.

Feedback is appreciated.

[Nyphoon]

I've uploaded a new version with the following new features:

-Test Procedural Generated levels - note that the levels generated are very small. They will be much bigger in the next versions.
-New spacecraft model, new opening cinematic & solved cross hair transparency bug.
-Simple shadows.
-Rotation engine for the space craft and a limit to the Y-Axis movement.

Screenshot 1 -

Screenshot 2 -

Would appreciate your feedback!
I'd also like to remind you about my new Facebook page: http://facebook.com/NyphoonGames

As usual, you can find the download links in the Downloads page at http://nyphoon.tk/ .

[Nyphoon]

And this wonderful experience is over. Today was a hard day. Yesterday, I was up until 1AM testing and today I spent another 4 hours testing. However, The Ark is now out.
A big thanks must go to:
Tim "Skullzy" Madden (http://www.facebook.com/djskullz) and
Glenn398 for testing. Without them, this game wouldn't have been the same. Let's hope they will be with us in the future to make even better games!
You can find the download links in the Downloads section (at http://nyphoon.tk/). Thanks!

[dlan]

I tried it out, the camera position could use some tweaking, since the ship can mask the position of the enemies. In overall, it work great, didn't have any trouble make it run on my computer.

[Nyphoon]

I agree with you regarding the camera. In fact, it needed a lot of tweaking. I intended to make a much bigger game, however progress was slowed down, and soon I will start a month of exams. I figured out that after these exams, 99% I would have lost all, or most of the interest, and end up not publishing it anyways. I've gone through this (I hadn't published a game in 3 years) and know how hard it is mentally and to my motivation, and thus I closed the project, trying to do the best I could.