Old Game Concept

[Ensayia]

Back before Taehl helped me learn Lua and LOVE, I used to be a fairly decent at Game Maker. My very last GM project was a platformer where you play as a small mobile tank and use a set of grappling hooks to jump gaps and hop on ledges. It didn't get very far but I do have a working tech demo I would like to share with you all. I would like to know if any of you like what you see enough to see it in a full game.

Controls:
A and D to move left/right.
Q to switch guns. Left click to fire gun.

Right click uses the grappling hook. The first click sets the first hook, the second click sends the second, and the last click propels you. Depending on how you set the hooks you can change the angle at which you are propelled. The distance you grapple also affects how far you are launched, if you grapple something further away you will have much more power. The tank is propelled toward the midpoint of the two hooks, so strategically planting hooks can set up better launch angles. The white circles are grappling points as well as any solid surface. The cursor is red if your cursor is too far to grapple, yellow if you are close enough to grapple but the mouse is NOT over a grapple surface, and green if you can grapple the point at the mouse.

Sorry Linux/Mac users, Game Maker is windows only so all I can provide is an exe.

[slime]

Sorry Linux/Mac users, Game Maker is windows only so all I can provide is an exe.

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/mac

[Ensayia]

I stand corrected.

Unfortunately, I no longer have the source files so I cannot recompile it.

[T-Bone]

Also, some Game Maker games run okay in Wine.

[Ensayia]

Hmmm... ok. Maybe some of the resident linux users can try that?

[Jasoco]

I've tried it in Parallels and it was a bit slow. And the key bindings are very hard to use on a laptop. Why I can't also use my ARROW KEYS AS WELL is beyond me. I'll give you a pass since it's an older game. But make sure you remember that for the future. Not everyone wants to use the WSAD keys when every keyboard since the 80's has had arrows on it.

[Ensayia]

Generally when you play a game in combination with a mouse it is more comfortable to use WADS with the default position of the keyboard. I suppose it woud'nt be a bad idea to include the arrow keys as an option in future projects.

EDIT: Holy bananas 100th post!

[Jasoco]

See, for me it's easier on my MacBook Pro to have my right hand control movement. I had to change my keys in Minecraft to be arrows. Makes playing a breeze. I can't use my right hand to control my track pad. And I can't control my track pad with my left hand and still have my right hand on the WSAD keys.

Customizable keys are always important. Every game, no matter who makes it, should have customizable controls. Unless it's so simple that there's nothing to really change. Like Limbo where you basically walk and jump.

[Ensayia]

Your reasoning is definitely sound. If anything pans out I will definitely take the time to define control options.

[miko]

Hmmm... ok. Maybe some of the resident linux users can try that?

Works for me. ArchLinux, wine 1.3.23. (I can shoot, move and jump, but there are no enemies - I hope that is expected).
BTW, I like the game.