Here's a mockup of a game I'll hopefully create in Indie Game Maker and put on XBLA.  For now, let's just call it... Project Viridian.

I tried to find a code, but I had no luck and I can't be assed to look anymore.  So I just ended up sending Enterbrain an email that I ran through Google translate.  I hope they respond...

Whenever I try to run it, I get this lovely screen.


I have no idea what to do to make this error disappear, other than buy it.  And there's no way in hell I'm about to pay $90 if it's already giving me this much shit.

So... I'm having trouble with this.  Whenever I try to run IGM, this glitched screen pops up.

Mr Weird Guy: Looks pretty great! Reminds me of Super Nintendo in many ways. How does your game play? If it is anything like Gradius or R-Type, then I'm sold.

Well, it is inspired by Gradius-style games, so I can imagine you'd enjoy it.  Anyway, let me give you a basic rundown.
Your shield is constantly regenerating, at the rate of like 1% every second or so.  Your weapon energy recharges much faster, probably from 0% to 100% in five seconds.
Almost every enemy has a chance to drop their own weapon for you to use.  There's a wide range of unique weapons, from lasers to flamethrowers to falling moai statues.  Needless to say, the stronger the weapon, the more weapon energy it uses.  I'm still debating how weapon switching works.  Right now I have it so your current weapon is replaced with the one you pick up, but I think I wanna make it so you can gain a weapon permanently and switch between them at will if you have full WE.

Also, I guess I'll write up all the 15 different weapons I currently have in the game right now.
Normal (N): A simple shot forward, low damage.
Tiny (T): A small shot that does half the normal shot's damage at a fraction of the WE cost.
Wave (W): One normal shot and two tiny shots that move in a wave pattern.
Bomb (B): Fires a bomb straight ahead, that explodes after a second.
Pierce (P): A sharp shot that pierces through everything.
Flamethrower (F): A constant powerful stream of fire.
Burst (B): A large blue explosion radiates from the ship.
Gel (G): Throws a ball of green gel forward in an upward arc.  Horizontal speed depends on whether you're holding left, right, or nothing.
Laser (L): A weak, constant laser that covers the whole screen.
Diamond (D): Four rotating diamonds shield you from some attacks.  Similar to Jewel Man's weapon from Mega Man 9.
Missile (M): A powerful missile that starts slow and accelerates quickly.  Explodes on impact.
Energy Ball (E): Basically a larger, stronger, slower version of Pierce.
Thunder (T): Bolts of electricity cover the entire screen.
Ice Shards (I): Throws 20 ice shards forward in an upward arc.  Horizontal speed depends on whether you're holding left, right, or nothing.
Moai (M): Summons a moai statue that falls, dealing massive damage.

These are all in the game already, and are fully functional.  There's gonna be even more, though.  I don't know how many, maybe 32 total.

Aw, come on.  You know you wanna push yourself to get a score in the hundred trillions. >_>

Don't worry, I haven't trashed this project yet.

Just showing off a new weapon.  This one allows you to fire 20 ice shards simultaneously.  Just one is the weakest weapon in the game, but together, it's some pretty good damage.

And that blue spiky ball?  It's a burst mine.  If you or your weapons touch it, it will explode in a large burst of energy, so don't get too close.

Vanit - Holy shit awesome.  This looks like it's gonna be one of the greatest RM2k3 projects ever.  But so help me god, if you use midis for the final version, I will hunt you down and slap you in the back of the head.

RTP + Fancy lighting always looks strange to me for some reason.  Not necessarily bad, just strange.

The first boss of the game.

Right now, all he does is sit there and look pretty.

Well, I've pretty much decided to quit working on "Fight! Save the Universe!".  Instead I bring you S.P.A.C.E., or Super Powerful Armored Celestial Explorer.  It's kind of a cross between Kirby, Mega Man and a generic shmup.

That looks pretty similar to Kindred Saga's battle system.

Aw, no 8-bit music?

Everything else is great though, keep it up. Refreshing to see someone do good with an 8-bit palette. (I've failed at this numerous times)

Yeah, my laptop doesn't record sound. D:
But rest assured, I do have 8-bit sounds and music.

Aw shit, actual gameplay footage?

Ignore the slightly hard to read HUD, I'll fix that soon enough.
I finally got wall collision to work (96% 100% glitch free), so now the game can be more than just outer space.  Caves, forests, space stations, whatever.
Also, the Energy Shot weapon.  It does double damage.


You know, it really feels like I've been working on this for a lot longer than one month.  I'm making great time.  If all goes well, I could have a full game this summer.

Edit: whoa, new page.  That's a first, I think.

That looks amazing Weird Guy. What is that made in?

Pretty sure I've said it already, but it's made in Game Maker.  I have no idea why I avoided it for so long.  It's clearly superior to RPG Maker for making games that aren't turn based RPGs.  And hey, I can sell my game legally if I want.

I think it's about time I posted another pic.
Here you see the first boss.  He has a pretty simple pattern, but you'll probably die once or twice unless you're some kind of Touhou master.  He fires off a bunch of shots randomly, then three big blasts, and repeat.  He also shuts his eye, and if you hit him then, he'll recover HP.
Also, I made a triple shot weapon.  It fires three normal bullets forward. One up, one down, and one straight ahead.  And that's the third weapon out of the six I plan to have.


Also, the upgrade shop is almost completely functional.  Cursor movement and item descriptions work perfectly, I just have to add the stats to the right side, and make items buyable.

Fight! Save the Universe! development is coming along nicely.
Here we get a sneak peek at the ultimate weapon in the game, the laser.  It can destroy normal enemies in an instant, and bosses don't last much longer.
The crystals you see are a rare, unnamed mineral that your ship can be upgraded with.  Small crystals are worth 1, Large are worth 5.
As you can see, there's now a lives counter.  When you lose your last life, BAM. Game over.
Also, I have a functional pause screen.  It's nothing special, but now people don't have to X out when they have to piss!

Here's a slight update screenwise, but a large update gamewise.
Below the energy meter is a bar.  When you're not at full energy, this bar fills up (slowly, though you can upgrade it), and when it's full, it restores one block of energy.
Also added is a working score system that I'm pretty proud of, especially since it's sprite based and not the crappy default Game Maker scoring system.
And finally, there are now three enemy types so far.
1. Flies forward, moving up and down quickly to confuse the player. (top)
2. Charges up, and dashes forward at high speeds. (bottom)
3. Flies forward a short distance, drops a bomb (with about a 32 x 32 size explosion), and then flies off. (not pictured)

It won't be long before I'll have to think up my first boss.  And then an upgrade shop between levels.

Yeah, that's what I was going for.  Don't be too surprised if I add more Mega Man references to the game.