Release: "HAR'em final".... not quite :(

Please find the release of the our game "HAR'em final" in the attachment.

It is (again) only a release candidate, because we have to sort out troubles with the title pic.
However, as the game itself will stay like it is now, I thought I release it. Which is a bit sad, as it has been lying around in that form since the 9th of December 2012. And if I knew that I will release it without the title pic I could have done so in in December 2012 and it would have had took part in the KAZ-compo (provided there is one).
The pic will come, it is painted and rasterconverter-converted already...


This game was initially coded as a quickhack for the ABBUC-SW-contest 2012, because we realized the game we planed would be possible in time (meanwhile it was put on ice ). However, we (or more specifically I ) thought that it would be a good idea to do something for the contest to show we are still active. It wasn't meant to be a preview and it was never planned to release it in the form it is today (well, in December last year)
Sadly, we didn't get the music and sfx ready in time, so it was a preview after all.


What has changed/improved?

- music and sound efx
- a 2nd level
- a "fast" mode (explained below)
- you get bonus ships every 10,000 points
- pause with SPACE
- music is mute-able ('m')
- bug fixes
- oh and now you can actually get all three upgrades for each weapon



what is the "Fast mode"?
As said, it was a quickhack, so the system which spits out the enemies is rather simple and takes a ton of RAM, so I couldn't make more levels (and I would have wanted anyways as it is a awful work to do ). So I implemented the "fast mode". After you complete level 2, you must do level 1 and level 2 again, only this time it is twice as fast
Was easy to implemented (skip the '25Hz check' and call the enemy state machine two times). Downside, some parts are (e.g. moving walls) are unplayable. So you have to collect enough bonus ships beforehand
And as the enemy state machine is run twice it needs (of course) more CPU cycles and you can see that when lots of enemies and shots are on screen. That is a reason why I urge you to not use "auto fire".



Which bugs are known?
- sometimes when you die, it takes 5 seconds till the ship re-spawns (hard to debug)
- graphic glitches here and there (mostly in "fast mode")
- seldom you die when you pick up a power-up



How to play:
No real manual needed I guess.
Shoot everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. You can shoot the power-ups for lots of points. Shoot the meteors. Takes some moments but they get you a good amount of points as well.



I conclude by thanking my beta-tester "The RealBountyBob" for his valuable input (e.g. pause mode, music (and muting it) are only some of his ideas) and OSon and Flash for taking part in this insane idea to do a shooter in 6 weeks (and making the improved version after the contest).


I hope you have as much fun with this little game as we had stress making it


Creature XL



PS:
Thorn of.tSCc. visited me in December and made a video of me playing it. As far as I can see it isn't online yet, so be sure to check his channel for it. Then you might be able to see the only person who finishes this game