Blaster Shooter GunGuy! Comedic 2D Action Platformer.

If you'd take a minute to vote yes to my game on Steam Greenlight it would really mean the world to me
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=478461871


His mother was a Ninja, his father was a Gun. But now, GunDad has been kidnapped. And it's up to you, GunGuy , to go out into the world and SAVE GUNDAD!

Blaster Shooter GunGuy is a challenging 2D action platformer. Designed to be difficult but fair you take on the role of GunGuy and jump n shoot your way through 56 different levels comprising 7 worlds with each world culminating in a boss battle. Every stage holds three gems, collect them to unlock more playable characters. Each world also hold a unique challenge level that will test your prowess and if completed will also reward you with an additional playable character. All playable character have their own stat changes; some hit harder, some jump higher, but each is unique in their own way. Blaster Shooter GunGuy will have a low asking price upon release, and will feature *Trading Cards as well as *Steam Achievements.

But that's not all!

My promise to you is that I will continue to update the game indefinetly so long as there is an interest.

Planned features currently include

• Linux + Mac Support.
• Speed Run Mode
• New Game +
• Blaster Shooter GunGuy Mode (No gun means extreme platforming to dodge enemies as well as normal stage hazards)
• Additional Stages + Worlds.
• Additional Playable Characters.

TL;DR

• Challenging 2D Action Platformer
• 56 Stages 7 Worlds
• 7 Boss Battles
• Collectables
• Challenge Stages
• Unlockable Playable Characters
• Low Entry Price
• *Achievements
• *Trading Cards
• Future Updates forever until theres noone left playing.

* = Pending Steam Approval


I made a twitter :O

https://twitter.com/ProductionsDe

I'm looking for advice and general thoughts.
THE MOST RECENT VIDEO:

THE LATEST PICTURES:

 

Any comments or ideas would be very welcome.

Even insults can be helpful.

 

Heres a picture of the world map. Level name is a little out of place, and theres a bit too much black in the background still. But it's functional.

 

Post some gameplay

 

Roger dat, i'll get it up tomorrow.

 

Hey Raz

Looks like you haven't gotten any constructive feedback on your steam page.
Hopefully this thread will be more helpful.

Be sure to check out some pixel art tutorials and apply the 'rules' they have written in stone - to your characters. The pixel art community is super passionate about there rules regarding line width, shading and a bunch of other strict guidelines, but if you can look beyond the - almost dictatorial vibe the guidelines establish - they really do make the pixel art look better.

If you haven't already considered it, please animate all the little individual tiles on the world map, and have random events similar to Super Mario World overworld map. Those were some of the most interesting little animations and I enjoyed seeing them. It adds a little character and fun to what is essentially a level select screen.

Looking forward to a gameplay video.

 

Thanks for the advice. My pixel art is pretty bad right now for sure. If you know of any good guides off the top of your head i'd love to hear about it, but i'll do a little more research on my own too.

The trees on the map currently do a little dance back and forth, the trunk kinda wiggles from side to side. And the character runs in place. I'll try to add an enemy to the map in the future since you suggested it. Kind of like the hammer bros that walk around marios overworld. I think it's a good idea.

 

Yeah - you got it. Exactly what I was thinking.

I won't judge your pixel art ever, because I can never stick to the rules established by the community. I've recently started editing my outlines with a darker/lighter color value of the base color which has improved the look of my little doodles a little bit.
I don't have pixel art references on hand, but they are all over the net, and pretty much all follow the same rules.

 

Haha looks like you had a similar idea i had. I've been watching AGDQ videos for megaman, mario, and I wanna be the guy. To get references for levels and ideas.

I'll create a gameplay video later in the day. Hopefully you can critique it when it goes up. I haven't gotten many helpful comments on steam

 

"Looks like you haven't gotten any constructive feedback on your steam page..."

That's what happens when your concept is... your concept. With the live action cut scenes (me being a video production graduate), have you considered a scene involving the "creation" and the "birth" of GunGuy? I know that would be absolutely hilarious to film with the right actress.

 

Actually those are all my friends who made the dumb comments But I did sort of imagine a still shot of a pixel art ninja-mom holding a baby GunGuy, and the father, GunDad floating next to her also looking at GunGuy. Didn't consider doing that part with real people tho haha, but i could see that being hilariously odd.

Sidenote : Gameplay vid in 1-2 hours.

 

Videos out. It's kind of crappy, but I'll try to do a better job recording in the future.

 

Looking good! I see where you're going with it. I can surely see MegaMan influence in it too. I always sucked at that game!
On the overworld map consider/test giving the moving parts (not the character) 3 anim frames and make the middle slightly longer so it looks a little bouncy, say .1, .2, .1 timing.

Totally discusting death anim. Meat melt! Love it! That's an interesting section there where you died, may be one of those "Damn I always die there" spots in other games like the rotating gear clock tower area in one of the Castlevania games. Consider keeping it how it is, maybe use it as a difficulty peak pacing point for the level.

The character switching seemed a little odd. May consider having a popup in the mansion area that asks switch character. yes/no. If yes - list of characters available. Once alt character is selected the camera instantly orients onto that character and the player instantly takes control of the new character.

Good work!

 

Looks like you've got a lot done. Definitely looks like you've got the game play in. Just doesn't have a polished presentation is all.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'll definetly improve on the animations as much as I can. And thanks for the positive comments about that one level. I feel like that ones fairly decent, level design is not my strongsuit.

As for the whole mansion area my friend gave me several good ideas that I'm gonna impliment, hopefully it will be a step up from where it is now. Think of it like the castle from Rogue Legacy, but you can actually walk around and the collectables you find actually show up there. And all the different guys youve unlocked are hanging out there doing their own thing. The way I have the characters switching out doesn't really allow me to change right in that level, but i think if i convay the fact that you've switched characters better (perhaps a dialogue box or something) it should be okay, also need to have a different sprite on the overworld map for the different characters.

 

Here is my work for the day guys!

-Added a system that lets you build additions to your house in exchange for gems that you collect in levels. You need to own certain buildings in order to unlock certain characters (ex. Buy the kitchen to recruit the chef character.)
-Playable Chef Character(He's half the height of normal characters so he can fit into small secret areas)
-New dialogue system! (Still WIP, but I like it so far.)

 

haha I like the BIG pixel head portrait! Is the mouth going to morph on the big portrait image?

 

Do you mean like, open and close. Yes it already does that

I also took your advice on making the pixel art better, I think the shop keeper character looks a lot better than the previous people. (Still not amazing though).

I'm gonna move away from having the solid outline on characters.

Theres always room to improve. But I hope this is a step in the right direction!

 

Small update notes:

-spawn different food depending on character
-change life based on character
-cook food in kitchen (Just because )
-on death prompt user to restart or leave level
-on level complete prompt user to return to overworld or continue to next level
-new food textures
-new artist shop WIP(allows you to change your buildings colors ect.)
-5 new ground textures
-several new pieces of furniture (stove, chair, stool, tv,painting)
-victory pose when completing level

 

Solid work ! I miss to see games like that being created, a lot of people seems to forget about the beauty of 2D, I like the soundtrack on the part around 3:45, I think background musics have huge impact, so I could say that you should work on the audio, also like the ability to push the character in the way he is facing. You can add more abilities to the character like that, which would make the game a combination of well-designed gameplay mechanics of some recently released 2D games and the concept of the old games.

 

I added a letter grading system for the overworld based on the number of gems you've collected in the levels.

 

got around to finishing that letter system. Heres a better look at it. What do you all think? Good/Bad, what needs improvement?

 

Pirate ship battle(Very WIP), the last level for the desert that takes you to the next world.

 

So, I'd say my pixel arts getting better?

 

Looks better. I especially like the tree. Do you use reference materials? I generally use screenshots of 2D coin-op or console games (NES, Genesis and so forth). Well not really as true reference materials but I do play those games a lot and look at screenshots in general just to see the different styles and techniques they used.

 

Thanks! I thought my graphics were really terrible before, now I think they've reached a level of quality that's more acceptable. Still not amazing, but since i'm alone I think it's the best i'll do. I updated the character too of course! And added smaller details, like the flowers dancing, rocks, and blue birds flying by.

In terms of references pretty much if I need to create something I just hop on Google images and type in, for example, Pixel Tree, I don't copy any of them pixel for pixel of course, I just try to get a general feel for how something might have been done, then I try to make my own unique version. Or if i'm wondering more generally what kinds of detail I need to add to a scene to make it feel more "Alive" i'll just type in something like Mario Desert Level, then i'll look at what kind of minor details they used. (This forest level definitely needs a parallax background still.)

Originally I was going to go for a more Mega-Man aesthetic. So I bought a copy of Mega-Man Anniversary Collection and Mega-Man X Collection to use as references (But that was just an excuse to add them to my game collection probably ). Now I'm going with more organic environments so I usually look at things like, Mario/Sonic/Rayman.


Yesterday was when I really sat down and improved my pixel skills. Considering the massive change in just one day I'm pretty happy with the results. The terrible pixel art that was being used before was the main cause of my fear in regards to whether people would actually play the game or not.

Animation wise i'd say I really improved too!
BEFORE:

AFTER:


TL;DR

 

Great job looks very good overall. The character has improved nicely as well. That is the same approach I use. Play some games and check out screenshots to get a feel of what they do. Colors and such are a big deal that I struggle with but am getting better. In my current project it is a real challenge because I am limiting resolution of the full screen to 256x192 pixels and a fixed palette of 27 colors (the old Amstrad computer). Well possibly 30 actually because I added 1 shade of gray so far and may add a couple more colors. But I am trying to keep it as true to the old time as I can while making it look as good as possible (for my skills anyway).

Anyway, you are doing great. It is very easy to look at your screenshots previously and the screenshots now and see the improvement in your art skills.

 

The new one looks a whole lot better!

 

So I figured going through doors was lame, so I tried to make like a teleporter that zapped you out of each level at the end. But that wasn't going anywhere.... so I was watching a lets play of Lesuire Suit Larry 6 when it hit me...


Reach her to finish each level

 

I think from a mechanics standpoint the game is done! Theres still lots of work to go! But I've set a goal for myself, I'd like to finish the game by the end of summer. I'm in the phase of adding polish and content now.

-The Forest and The Desert worlds are pretty much done. There are 20~ levels in the game. But I won't settle for less than 100. (Hopefully even more).
-Currently there is 3 completely playable characters but i'm aiming for a goal of 15.
-Cutscenes and Boss Fights are on the horizon

Heres some recent screenshots! Check em' out and stay tuned!

The Forest Overworld:

A WIP level from the Frozen World:

 

For me, the movement and jumping is a bit slow, it softens the engagement.

 

Maybe I didn't represent it properly but by pressing shift you can dash. It's intended to be used to maneuver around enemies, and to reach platforms too far away.

Did you already know about the dashing and still consider it too slow? If so I'd like to ask what you think could make it better. (I'll also try to make a better video soonish. That ones not very good at all).

First thing that comes to mind besides actually making the game faster is better sound fx with harder impact noises.

Although it might just be a matter of taste as the games more akin to mega-man which is admittedly a slow game.

 

So you've managed to survive the frozenlands...


But can you overcome the horrors the next world holds?



-Added Parallax backgrounds for each world.
-Finished Frozen World
-Created a new scary themed world (WIP)
-New enemy type, remains stationary, usually higher up, but shoots bullets that arc down.
-Fixed various glitches
-Slightly updated Main Menu(will overhaul in the future)
-Updated the level select screen

 

i love the pixel art, definitely looks like you have improved it over time I'm just abit confused about the picture with the candy cane, it's abit unclear for me to see what the background is, is it mountains or a sky with clouds or?
And the dudes with the purple wand or whatever looks cool, their eyes almost look like south park characters
But yea keep it up dude, will look forward to your next gameplay vid

 

Thanks! The background isn't anything in particular it just looks better than having nothing. Maybe I'll add some distinguishing features in the future.

 

Starting to have a hint of polish aroma.
Like the skull and bones dirt tile. Nice job.

 

The Haunted lands are all done!

I'm at 44 levels for the game so far! 66 more to go if i'm to hit my goal of 100.

I've completed

Desert
Forest
Iceland
Haunted

Does anyone have any suggestions for what I should do next? My current ideas are

The Factory, a metallic world with robot enemies
Dreamland, a level consisting of several different tile sets/enemies all incorporated into one world.
The Moon, Low gravity and aliens!

But if anyone has any other ideas id love to hear them! I currently intend Dreamland and The Moon to be the last two worlds so I need a couple more to fill the space between

 

Since he teleports at the end of each level/stage maybe the teleporter send him back in time accidentally. Aggressive Neanderthals and dinos?

Have any thoughts on a mountainous theme?

It looks like your basing your levels/stages on environment types. But maybe a far east theme? Or down under theme?

Would you consider a dismal swamp too closely related to the forest?

Making awesome progress!

 

I decided against the teleportation. Instead he reaches the girl at the end of each stage, similar to meatboy reaching bandage girl.

Asian theme or dinos sounds awesome though! Thanks for the inspiration!

 

New video finally!

I tried to improve my speaking in the video compared to the last one. Still kinda stumbled on some words here and there, but it's better than before haha.

It's been two weeks since last update, and man, have I added a LOT

-Revamped the Overworld
-Began making World 5 levels
-1 New enemy type
-Made the boss for World 4
-Added some unique deaths to the game
-1 New playable character
-1 New Obstacle (Landmines)
-Revamped World 1 Sewer Level
-Revamped World 1 Castle Level
-3 New enemies (Raptor, Triceratops, Volcano Turtle)

 

Almost done with levels!
Completed so far
Desert
Forest
Iceland
Hauntedland
Dinosaurland
The Moon
The Factory
_____________
Just Dreamland left now!
Made one bonus level as a test. Basically bonus levels act as a way to unlock certain characters.

As well as test cutscenes (Still not really sure how to do these, any tips would be appreciated.)

 

I just finished the last of the main bosses! Could it be? Is this game actually going to get finished???



Just made a twitter! Consider following me! https://twitter.com/ProductionsDe

 

Working on some unlockable characters. Anyone notice who this is based off of?

And heres some other random guys!

 

I'm probably wrong - but is that snake with a laser pistol?

 

Wow, this is looking really good Your pixel art is great, and when I watched the video I just sat there wishing I could play this!

I'm interested to know the reason behind switching from the teleporter to the girl? Seems the teleporter would help explain how he gets to all these exotic locations, but perhaps the girl is there to explain his purpose as well as his goal? In that case, shouldn't it be GunDad that he's trying to reach, rather than the girl?

 

It's supposed to be more like an Uzi but you nailed it

Jeez I don't think it's that amazing haha, but thank you. And I actually changed it from the girl to the main characters dad. Since he's exploring looking for his father I figured it made sense to reach him at the end of each level, only to have him pulled away by some mysterious force.

 

This is super cool!! I mean really it is , I have been thinking to make a game just like yours because I am a big
Metal Slug fan and I have always loved Arcade Shooting games. Keep it up!
Can you make a gameplay of Haunted world? Because that level seemed very interesting! Also in the Haunted Level , you may add a "Jet Pack" pick up so we can fly around and kill the boss

 

Thank you! I also loved the metal slug games, I remember playing Metal Slug 3 on an arcade cabinet when I was much younger and I had to go with my mom to her bowling league haha. I don't want to really do videos on the later levels because I need to leave some stuff to the imagination otherwise noone will actually play it for themselves As for the jetpack idea, that definitely sounds fun, but at this late stage I'd rather focus on getting what I have as polished as possible, and don't think it's a good idea to devote a bunch of time to a mechanic that will only be used in one level, and if I were to bring it the the later levels, i'd have to redesigned them all completely. But that definitely seems like something you should incorporate into your own game maybe? Perhaps a Metal Slug esc game set on an alien world where you use your jet pack to traverse the terrain?

 

Same here! I used to play Metal Slug on arcade with my brother , it was so fun , we used to spend a lot of tokens on it LOL! I have completed all MS games but MS 2 is my favorite. And yeah you're right , you should focus on the main game and polish it much. I'll be waiting for the update
And yes , in some Metal Slug games , I know where you fly using a jetpack and kill the boss , those gameplay moments has always been my favorite.And nice idea Currently I'm working on a 3D platformer but when I'll start working on a 2D game , it'll be just like Metal Slug with jetpack support

 

Good job! I like that boss in the second dev log and the transition between levels looked nice. This look very interesting, definitely gonna watch it