My first Game! (in Off-topic)

Here it is... I present: Ghosty!

This quarter I am taking a intro to game development. this is my first attempt, a product of this friday's afternoon.

questions? comments?
highscores?

downloaded it and it doesnt work >.<

oh wait, there it goes

escape exits the from game info at the beginning and starts the game itself.

you use either the number pad or the arrow keys (number pad is better, it has more directions...)

slowing down is good idea :p

Hmm... interesting. I think there should be a speed limit so you dont go flying about at like 30 screen lengths per second (im sorry if this is difficult to do). Also, could you make it so that that you can move diagonally as well? Great job for your first game though. =D

you can slow down with either the space key or number 5 on the number pad. Friction also slows you down, but not as much as when you slow yourself.
did I mention the number pad? that lets you go diagonally.

I'll update the game info to be more descriptive.

should be at least slightly clearer now.
also changed the explosions of the small bombs to be... smaller. and more obvious that it does less damage.

WOW...

After getting 80 points I went so fast I didn't even have time to change my course...

Seriously too fast, flying through objects without getting the pickups, health nor bombs...

Pressing 5 or space hardly did anything at those speeds, only thing was that they increased the score somehow.

got to 146 score.

Part 2, got a bit more the hang of it.

170 score, got an extra life somehow but don't know how or why...

Pressing space to slow down does work, but i was previously going so fast it wasn't fun anymore.

When standing still the bombs seem to home in on you sometimes instead of just flying in 1 direction.

Holding 5 or space makes the bombs have very weird trajectories.

Shouldn't 5 or space also make the bombs slow down a bit?

First, what language is this coded in? (I'm guessing visual C++.)

Second, you may want to change the formula for slowing down. May I suggest that you derive it from two components. The first would be a fixed amount, the other a percentage of your speed. This way you can eventually slow down to a stop no matter how fast you are going. It should be something like this:

Speed = Speed - (100 + (0.20 * Speed));
If (Speed < 0) Speed = 0;

Third, good game for a first. I only got a score of 127 on my first run.

280 score on my first try :D

After getting to 2000 Score, with 7 lives, and still 55 health, I got bored, so I quit playing. Not much to it is there?

Not bad for a first game.

What Matrim is saying is that he wants you to add FoD to the game.

I created it using GameMaker (although this quarter I will finally be learning C++)

It's all about checks and balances, just like governments (except that those don't seem to work).
you will inevitably die unless you are very good, here is why:

your health starts out at 100

each spawn of a yummy also spawns a bomb

yummies recover 15 health

bombs take away 10 health

but after a while, bombs start turning into big-bombs, which take away 20 health.

also, bombs colliding with yummies destroy them...
so there is always a net loss of health whenever a bomb turns into a big-bomb. meaning anytime you remain still for a second and a half. meaning that unles you can crash into more than half of the bombs before they turn, you will die. there is also hunger damage, which hardly ever happens because yummies are eaten far too often for it to occur.

for the scoring:

every move you make adds 1

every yummy-and-bomb spawn takes away 4

every yummy you eat adds 5

every bomb takes away 2

big-bombs take away 4
so... whenever a bomb destroys a yummy, you lose quite a few points, so you have to keep moving to compensate. however, every move delays the next spawn slightly. so if you just sit there creating points out of nothing, you will die of hunger because no yummies will spawn.

what do you think needs tweaking? or should I just give it up and move on to the next game? (what should I make next?)

also, I think I know what the bug that makes the ghost sprite dissapear is, I'll check it out when I get back to school and can update it.

I think another game would be great. I have a great name for it. CB3!