Arkagis Revolution - mode 7 like shooter

[Zygrunt]

It looks very smooth in the video. I think that's better than having a larger playfield.

[ichbinian]

This looks really cool. Are there any plans for a physical release?

[retronostalgia]

Oh man, this is very impressive stuff, Sik! I can tell you've put a lot of work into it and I can't wait to play it. I do agree with some of the other commenters that the audio needs polish - it sounds much too GEMS-y for my tastes - but the core engine and gameplay look very solid.

[Folco]

Very nice.

I'm more surprised that the closest SNES seems to have gotten are the mode 7 stages in Contra 3. Seriously? Is there really no top-down mode 7 shooter on SNES? (・～・) (I hope I'm overlooking some game)

Can't think of any beside Contra 3 stages.
The gist is that when developers used Mode 7 to display a background they tended to use it to create the illusion of a 3D floor instead of just display it with a top down perspective.
Shooting games made no exception.
Here as example "Soukou Kihei Votoms: The Battling Road":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uABcEowW6oY

The only other games on SNES that I can think of that used Mode 7 for background with a top down perspective during gameplay are some racing games like F1 Grand Prix or Super Drift Out (there is also Cameltry and Mohawk & Headphone Jack but they are shown from the side instead from the top).

[maxi]

Looks difficult to keep the stage rotating so many times without the L and R on the controller.

[Sik]

I uploaded a site (・o・)
https://www.arkagis.com/

I need to put up an explanation of the controls on the site but I dealt with that already:

• Up: forwards
• Down: backwards
• Left: strafe left
• Right: strafe right
• A: turn left
• B: shoot
• C: turn right

In other words: left/right to strafe, A/C to turn. Of course this can be changed from the controls screen:



To switch weapons, either you use X/Y/Z (if you have a 6-button controller) or you pause the game and use the D-pad (if you're stuck with a 3-button controller). Similar deal with automap (which uses the Mode button or can be accessed while paused).

And yeah, you can flip the controller upside down for a left-handed control scheme.

[Stifu]

That's a sexy controls screen.

[Yohko16]

Wow, this looks really cool! Very well done rotating game engine and good thing you aimed for 60 FPS. Some genres still work at lower frame rate as do racing games or flight simulations but for genres such as classic 2D shooters or fighting games 60 FPS is much needed.

Another good thing is that it runs in 320x224 pixels!

As for the size of the play area, I think it's big enough as long as the gameplay is properly designed around it.

There's just one thing that bothers me which is the lack of score display. does it appear at some point or is there no scoring at all? (because a shooter without scoring seem... strange, as if something was lacking)

[Wesker]

I'm more surprised that the closest SNES seems to have gotten are the mode 7 stages in Contra 3. Seriously? Is there really no top-down mode 7 shooter on SNES? (・～・) (I hope I'm overlooking some game)

Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D has similar top-down mode 7 stages, clearly influenced by those of Contra III The Alien Wars.

[Sik]

That's still not a game entirely built around it (also holy shit that one there looks like a disaster o_0 both the controls and the collision detection)

It's… really weird since it almost feels as if the hardware was purpose-built for it, you'd think it'd have been one of the obvious ideas. Yet the only 2D games I've seen like this are arcade games (Assault and Metal Hawk, which incidentally also have vertical viewports).


By the way, back on topic, the site has more screenshots if anybody wants to check:
https://www.arkagis.com/gallery

[DenisGrachev]

Looks great, keep a good work!

[roce]

Clearly the answer is for Sik to jump to SNES and create a Mode 7 top-down shooter

[Sik]

Relevant: https://github.com/andwn/cave-story-...ment-371025476

[Sik]

Uploaded a trailer on the site!
https://www.arkagis.com/

I need to hurry up and tidy up a few things so I can release a demo for download.

[EPSYLON EAGLE]

Relevant: https://github.com/andwn/cave-story-...ment-371025476

It means the Cave Story for Mega Drive was aborted?