Looking for technical help on a vertical scrolling shoot-em-up
Chiaroscurosity
Member Posts: 3
Hello All,
I'm creating a shoot-em-up game that will be distributed for iPhone, iPad and Android devices as well as the OUYA game console. Not sure if GameSalad can be exported for OUYA, but I'm hoping so since OUYA uses Android. Tell me if I'm wrong here.
I need help with:
-UI and the technical behaviors in the game such as parallax scrolling backgrounds.
-Keeping in mind the UI for all the intended release platforms and come up with design solutions (touch versus controller).
-Program the behaviors of the art assets of the game, including characters, environments and UI.
I am an artist and I will be providing the assets for the game. My project is at the beginning stages and I have created a small part of the game using GameSalad but am finding me moving towards my goal at a slower pace than I'd like. I am looking for someone more familiar with GameSalad so I can progress faster with how I want the game play to function and publish it to the platforms I mentioned above. I am willing to pay for the help but am not sure what is a fair price (feel free to pm me regarding this). I also work a day job as a graphic designer, so any work I do on the game is after-hours and I'm on the West Coast.
Looking forward to any guidance or takers. Thanks!
Comments
I believe you're right in that the Ouya runs Android, so TECHNICALLY it should work. I'm not sure if there's something special that needs to be done to let the APK know it can run on Ouya.
The latest versions of GS have support for joysticks/gamepads, so that should be easy to implement. But you will definitely want a universal build. The closest will be the iPad build but that may work on a regular TV... which I think is a 2/3 or 3/4 aspect ratio.
UI should be fairly straight forward... movement buttons and fire/etc. buttons. You'll want an option to hide the UI so that those using gamepads aren't distracted.
What type of functionality are you trying to create? There are some decent tutorials on creating a sidescroller/vertical scroller, as well as some fully templates for sale on the various marketplaces. They could save you alot of time.
@ookami007 Thanks so much for you insights. I do have a lot to learn about the capabilities of GameSalad, such as the support for gamepads. That's very good news. My decision for the game being a vertical scrolling shooter does bring up the question: if the iPhone is held in portrait mode and the same for an iPad, a TV aspect ratio is landscape, so do I need to version out the GameSalad files to accommodate? I'm not sure or if there's just a way to switch it in one GameSalad project and export the code.
The functionality I'm trying to create is that the main actor that the player will be able to maneuver in all directions in a top down scene, similar to Macross Plus and 1942. The parallax effect of the environments in these games is what I want as well. I've figured out how to code the movement of the actor and to make it shoot and I've consulted with Jamie Cross to get the background to scroll. Now I just need to work out the parallax effects and everything else. So, I will probably use a template(s) to help me understand all of the elements that I want in a game like this.
Thanks for your help!
Just wanna say that I'm appreciating the GameSalad community on here. Thanks for the