THE NEW COMMUNITY FANGAME PROJECT!, July 18: HiPriority!|DEADLINE: Sun 7-27!

DEADLINE: SUNDAY 27 of July 2008
By this date we want to have:
- 15 levels
- 10 reasonably different powerups (making a bat big and small would be different enough to count as two)
- 1 boss in the last level (optional though!)

If that goal is NOT reached, then there will NOT be another CFP.
I hope this is clear: You have a bit more than one week of time to "finish" this breakout game with the above requirements.
If this goal is not reached by the 27th at midnight, the breakout game will be quit and we will not start another CFP. At least not until next year.

Good luck everyone!
We really want to see you make it.

Here we go!
WHOEVER WANTS TO TAKE PART: PLEASE STICK TO THE RULES POSTED IN THIS POST
Everything said in this post is the rules you have to stick to. If you can't obey these simple rules, you will not be able to do a community fangame project.
[dohtml]<a href="#Rules">Go to the RULES</a>[/dohtml]


But, first things first.
Black Squirrel, our favourite Admin, was sceptical about the CFP from the beginning. In his opinion, You [the members of MFGG] are not good enough to make anything together.
This is also the reason why BS did NOT give us a seperate board for the new CFP. YET!

So this is your chance:
In this little warm-up, we will start with something very simple so You [the members] get used to TEAMWORK and OBEYING RULES of the organisation.



The organisation so far consists of the following members:
- Guinea (main organizer)
- Tri (assistant organizer)
- Dex (assistant organizer, specifically for the spriting business)
Please do NOT ask if you can be part of the organisation. If we think you are worthy, you will get on board, if we don't, don't bother us.
If you proove yourself to be a mature member in this Warm-Up, you have a higher chance of being promoted to organisation member for the real thing!
Not promising anything, though.



So what is this warm-up you should do to convince your admin that YOU are worth getting your own board to make a Community Fangame Project?
Simply put, it is this:





Yes, you've seen it right. Breakout.
Breakout is one of the simpliest game that exist. And I chose it because it is very extendable. You can create dozens of different bricks with different conditions, hitpoints, you can put power-ups in them and also power-downs. You can do awesome graphical effects and whatnot.
Shortly put: We will take this breakout engine that I programmed solely for the purpose of this CFP Warm-Up and make the best breakout game out of it that MFGG has ever seen.
Or at least we make it good enough so BS will have to admit that You [the members] are not a bunch of jerks who are here just for the CCC, but that you are a bunch of jerks who can actually work together as a team.


I might again point out something:
Do not complain that we will do this first. If you guys fail to do this, you will also fail to make something more complicated. This Warm-Up will probably last not longer than 2 weeks, so don't worry, we'll get started on the real CFP soon enough.

The basic idea behind this is to see what you can do with a premade engine that requires not much more than coding very simple stuff to create a vast variety of different objects and gameplay elements.
Of course, if you don't use Game Maker 6.1 or 7, you can still help by providing sprites for all kinds of things.
- Bricks, also in cracked form (for the case that they have several hitpoints).
- Balls (so you could see what power-up/down the ball currently has just by its sprite)
- Bats (Maybe for style purposes, maybe for purposes of power-ups/downs.)
- Special Effects
- Power-Up objects that fall down from bricks so you can collect them with your bat.
- and of course the HUD (you see the black border around the playfield? That's actually one background. One can take this background and give it a little better design that also allows for the drawing of score, lives and other information on the left side)
So you see, spriters have a lot to do in this

Also for the sound persons. You can look for awesome sound effects and music to put behind the levels to create a thrilling athmosphere.
Yes, sound specialists do stuff too!

And last but not least, you can contribute by just designing different levels for the game!
More details on how the engine makers and level designers will work will follow as soon as I upload the engine to this first post

Resource Makers, you can start making ressources now!
In the screen you see above, you see all the graphics that exist to this point, so nothing holds you to sprite in a similar style. OR You could also sprite a totally different set of sprites, who knows if we need that?
As for the sound people, you know how breakout has to sound like, so bring on sounds.
Also discuss ideas for elements you want to see in the game and I will see to optimize the engine for that purpose, so YOU can actually create the new elements with very little effort (other than obeying to the RULES I will post together with the engine).


Good luck with this, and may you be able to convince the Squirrel that you're capable of something as simple as breakout.
THEN we will get to start on the real CFP#2.

tl;dr: Either you go back and read, or get out of here, seriously.

Anyway, good luck with this, seriously. I want to see this finished and also want to see a finished REAL CFP#2 afterwards! I count on you.

This post has been edited by Guinea on Jul 18 2008, 04:21 AM

Attached File ( Number of downloads: 26 )
 cfp_warmup_v0_2_10.gm6

This is cool, but I use MMF2.

I'll help, if nobody minds.

I like this Breakout idea.

Unfortunately there is no Clickteam support for this Warm-Up.
However, feel free to create ressources or you could even design level suggestions in a graphics program once you know what bricks exist.
You can also submit creative ideas as long as they are not over-complicated.

Chronii, everyone is wanted to help with whatever he or she can do.
So there you go.

I'd like to be a level designer.

I think we should have some levels that represent several MFGG members, and bosses that represent dupes or fads.

Bosses?
Do you mean levels that look like dupes/fads or are you talking about something that you actually have to fight?

(thinking about this, this might even be possible:
A boss could move on the screen and sometimes shoot at the bat. You have to avoid the shots with your bat and need to use the ball to kill the boss)

Good input.

I mean something that you actually have to fight. Like they shoot beams or something at you while you have to hit it with your ball. They might even affect the ball causing it to move faster or something.

I'll try spriting some simple bricks.

They're simple enough to change the size easily, if you want them a little different.
Edit: Changed some things, so they go together nicer.
Edit Again: Changed things, added example.

This post has been edited by Glukom on Jun 26 2008, 05:56 PM

I'm working on some background music.
Partly done, here are some previews:
"Easy" (updated)
"Marioland" (updated)
"Perc"
I want some feedback before I continue working on 'em. Are they what you had in mind, should they be more melodious, less melodious, faster, slower, whatever.

I also want to have a try at some special effects (e.g. ball-hits-object particles). Still not clear on exactly what sprite effects this engine will support, so I'm going to assume nothing until I hear otherwise.
...the sprites i posted here were a bit rubbish; instead I'm going to wait until the engine writers agree on which power-ups to implement and then draw effects specifically for those items.

This post has been edited by xn--e5x on Jun 30 2008, 01:40 PM

I will program.
I may sometimes sprite, but not often.

I am working on Powerups for Glukom's Sprites it is just an idea so far so I will sprite the sample and return it in around half hour.

I would like to help out with spriting.

Edit: Here is my attempt at the ball:


Which one is the best?

This post has been edited by shymouse on Jun 26 2008, 06:28 PM

I'll work on the ball and paddle. I need to know what powerups we have, though.

Make it a little bigger, and more circle shaped. The outlines you have on this one are a little jagged.
And you probably don't need the AA on the outside.

But it's a good start.

I could do some programming, I have GM7 Pro.

~Legend~
/////////////////////////////////////
/ + 5 pts.-Exactly what it means Plus 5 points
/ + 1 Spd Raises the Ball speed by 1
/ Bomb Destroys the sorrounding blocks of the one hit
/ X 2 Adds Two more blocks at the bottom of the corresponding color
/ - 5 pts. Exactly what it means Minus5 Points.
/ - 1 Spd Slows the speed of the Ball By 1
/ @ Bomb Stops Powerups for a limited amount of time-corresponding color
/ 2/1 Deletes two of the corresponding color blocks
/////////////////////////////////////
P.S. White Cannot Be Transperency
P.S.S Damn you Glukom.

Sound Good? Look Good?

This post has been edited by Mr.Cintrak on Jun 26 2008, 07:01 PM

Eh, people are not going to take the time to look at icons.

Too hard to read, I had to skwint to read it.

We could make just one powerup block, and then make a random powerup fall from it as an item you have to catch with your paddle.