Update: 19th Nov 2003
Okay, my site's back up again! Yaaay!
It should be downloadable directly from here now:
SkyShooterII.zip
Update: 15th Nov 2003
Oh, SkyShooterII has been redirected because for some strange bizarre unknown reason
I am not able to upload it onto the FTP here.
Sorry 'bout that.
I've put it here instead:
http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~pa54/SkyShooterII.zip
About the game:
SkyShooterII is a simple old-school top-down shoot'em-up, with the added twist of having a
mouse-controlled turret and unique weapons. Now the player could dish out punishment in any
direction, and enemy ships could fly in from anywhere instead.
The project started off during Thanksgiving break last year, when I broke my foot and
couldn't go anywhere. It has since grown into a reasonably respectable project, featuring
a homegrown 2d sprite engine using OpenGL and other nifty features.
Having missed the deadline for the IGF Student Showcase last year due to mixing up overnight
mail with regular mail, I went on working on it, on and off, when I really should have been
studying instead.
At some point last semester I enrolled in a CS class where the focus was on game development.
That's where I got to work with a Fine Arts student who made most of the incredible ship
models that are used in the game. More recently, a music student added her contribution,
adding a lot more ambience to the game.
And yes, we're in the IGF Student Showcase! :-)
Requirements:
- Hardware-accelerated OpenGL
- DirectX sound and input support
- Reasonably beefy computer
- Sk1llz
Gameplay features:
- 5 unique weapons
- 5 unique enemies
- Mouse-controlled turret allows player to shoot anywhere
- Upgradeable ship
Technical features:
- 2D sprite engine with OpenGL
- More-or-less 3D sound effects with DirectX 8
- Fairly-accurate collision detection
- Realistic physics
- Data-driven particle system with rudimentary scripting system
Screenshots:
Errr... these might take a while to load, especially for those not
anointed with broadband.
Please be patient.
Title screen
Uh oh!
Feel the burn!
Ouch!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q:
SkyShooterII? Was there ever a SkyShooter I?
A:
Actually SkyShooter I was something I made in middle school. It ran
in DOS and featured 1 ship with 2 weapons!
Q:
Will there ever be a SkyShooterIII?
A:
Most likely... look for it in IGF 2005!
Q:
There was a much earlier version of SkyShooterII that I'd seen before,
without the mouse-controlled turret or weapon upgrades. Where did it go?
A:
Ah! A faithful fan of SkyShooter! That was actually the original incarnation,
and was intended to be last year's submission (see story above). I'd basically
rebuilt the whole thing from scratch, and the only parts brought over from the
older version are the media assets. It's still called "SkyShooterII" because...
it seemed a good idea at the time.
If you want to take a look at it, send me an email and I'll post it up.
Q:
Why is _insert weapon name here_ so over/under-powered?
A:
While I did try to balance the weapons as much as I could, I simply
ran out of time before the deadline. I am constantly tweaking the
parameters though as I continue, errr, play-testing instead of doing
work, so do check for updates!
Q:
What's with the story?
A:
So the story was basically written up to give some kind of premise for the
player. However we never had a chance to create any artwork for it, much
less integrate it with the rest of the game. So it is as it stands now;
a single lonely text description.
Q:
I really need a better flame-thrower! Can I change the parameters anywhere?
A:
The good news is, yes. The bad news is, not without risking breaking the
system. See, most of them are in conveniently named .tkn files in the
tokens folder. Feel free to modify them for personal non-commercial use.
A note, though. The text parser is fairly intolerant of error, and more often
than not, it doesn't even detect them, resulting in mysterious crashes.
So do be careful.
Q:
Wow, I love your game! Can I send you a check for unheard-of amounts of money?
A:
Sure!