Released The Struggle of Combat - New update released!

Yrbiax

Member
Here is some footage from custom levels.


Custom level options are mostly done, but i still have to clean up menu.

Options added:
- Level Style (Background,walls and music)
- Darkness
- Time mod
 

Yrbiax

Member
I decided to make melee attacks into separate objects as old melee animation was buggy while running or jumping.
output_SA2FuQ.gif output_eWcMB2.gifoutput_y4Ixhe.gif
Apologies for lack of progress. I have been busy lately.
 
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Yrbiax

Member
owlWings.png

Updated demo avaible:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w4o8vinf51fsr4i/The Struggle of Combat Demo 14072019.zip?dl=0

- Melee animations updated
- Some of description boxes fixed
- Explosive shoes: Now pressing down makes you fall faster
- Eagle wings changed to Owl wings. Now creates deadly feathers when double jumping.
- Triple bullet damage increased from 0.5 x 3 to 0.6 x 3
- You no longer take collision damage if enemy dies to Cactus skin
- Baseball bat cost increased to 2
 

Yrbiax

Member

I decided to change how shortcuts are unlocked. Now you have to reach treasure chest in each zone while carrying cursed key. Cursed keys will add additional challenge to the game.

cursedKeys.png

Cactus curse: All enemies drop cactusballs upon death.
Bomb curse: Every 5 seconds bomb will spawn at player.
Trap curse: Every 5 seconds trap will be thrown from player.
Hook curse: Hook comes from sky to steal you items.
Fly curse: Enemies spawn 3 small flies upon death.
Helicopter curse: Strong wind pushes you backwards.
Ufo curse: You start seeing hallucinations.
 
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Yrbiax

Member
Cursed keys will drop upon death.


Other changes:
- Miner's bomb damage and cooldown increased. (Bomb felt really underwelming considering how hard it was to land compared to other abilities)
- Super ability no longer increase bomb damage.
- Helicopter curse: Wind now changes direction every 15 seconds
- Curses are no longer active during shop levels
 

Yrbiax

Member
Metro allows you to skip levels if you have acquired metro pass.



Other changes:
- curse mode added (1 random curse is activated in each level).
- exp requirements and exp gained from enemies changed in loop.
- time mod now has more time in later levels and when boss mode is active.
- most of projectiles are now visible in darkness.
 

Yrbiax

Member
Finally got back into drawing process.
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Here is some new sprites.

Special ammo cost is now calculated by weapon level and damage. Ammo consumption is now much lower with most weapons.
- Gun drops now give 50% of maximum ammo instead of 100%
- Reduced ammo gained from special bullet upgrades.

Having too many level restarts made beating the game lose sense of accomplishment. So i decided to try new approach.
- Maximum lives reduced from 10 to 1.
- Gain 1 life everytime you visit shop. (1 level restart for each zone)
 

Yrbiax

Member
ratgif.gifflygif.gif

Updated demo avaible:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z2yydidns9u4khd/The Struggle of Combat Demo 31082019.zip?dl=0

- Cursed keys added (Cactus key can be unlocked by beating cactusboss 3 times)
- Metro station added (You must have atleast 1 metro pass to enter)
- Life system changed
- Police passive ability changed: Now has chance to drop coffee with increased healing
- Elite and Health difficulty mods are unlocked by default for demo
 
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Yrbiax

Member
New helicopter sprites.
helicoptergif.gif
By the way can anyone recommend some gif makers. Ones that im using dont seem to support partly transparent pixels, so they end up looking weird. :D

flamethrower.png

-Burning effect added to flamethrower
-New item added: Torch (Melee attack ignite enemies and vision is increased in dark levels)
-Laser now deals more damage longer you attack same target. (max +50% bonus damage)
-Soldiers super ability rockets are now homing
-Owl wings: double jumps height increased
 

Yrbiax

Member
Short gameplay footage from each zone with updated character sprites.

mechagif.gif ufogif.gif
Now most of the basic characters have been updated. Still have to do final boss and minibosses.
Propably going to update backgrounds next.
 

Yrbiax

Member
I have been trying to make weapons feel different from each other. As well as trying to fix scaling with different stats.

Weapon changes:
- All weapons have been rebalanced
- Most of weapons now have longer reload time
- Maximum reloadspeed is capped at +50% (heavy weapons felt too spammable)
- Damage falloff added to shotgun and minigun

Arena changes:
- You now have to hold "E" for 1 second to enter arena (if there was item drop at arena entrance you couldnt pick it without entering arena)
- Number of enemies reduced in arena
- Arena boss replaced with another mini boss (still 2 different enemies)
- Sewer arena layout changed and added some light at exit.

sewer arena.png

Other changes:
- Cactus ball duration reduced (elite version of cactus boss would sometimes fill whole floor with cactus balls)
- Cactus bullet now spawns cactus ball when destroyed with melee attack
- Fly boss has new attack: Homing fly bomb
(Sometimes fly boss would summon too many small flies, so i added new attack to give some breathing room)
- Vulture rider now throws dynamite
 

Yrbiax

Member
Item icons updated.



- 3 new items added.
- Shops are now quaranteed to have atleast 1 expensive item if you can afford it.
- Your own explosions now hurt you (Explosive weapons were too good compared to other weapons, so i had to create drawback).
- Explosive shoes: Cost increased to 2. Now makes you immune to your own explosions.
- Miner now has new passive: Take 50% less damage from your own explosions.
 

Yrbiax

Member


- Added small impact effect on bullets
- Ability icons updated
- Shopkeepers updated
- Health difficulty mod now gives enemies less health during second and third loop. Since loop enemies already have more health by default, this will give loops smoother difficulty curve.
 

Yrbiax

Member
sewerBg.png cityBg.png
Updated backgrounds for sewer and city.

controls.png
Controls are now displayed in prison on your first playthrough.

Difficulty switch regarding lives added to prison:
- easy (infinite lives, looping is disabled),
- normal(1 life for each zone)
- hard (0 lives)
I was having hard time deciding on life system so i gave player option to choose.
While i think game is best with limited lives, i still wanted to give less skilled players opportunity to experience full game.
 

Yrbiax

Member
Made some changes to backgrounds, so they wouldnt be so distracting.
ForestBackground2.png SewerBackground2.png FactoryBackground2.png

Other changes:
- Replaced while loops with repeat loops to prevent possible freezes
- Added new layer to wall outlines (Sometimes they would appear in wrong order)
- Bouncy explosive weapons no longer deal self damage after first bounce. (Using these weapons was suicidal)
 

Yrbiax

Member
Getting some feedback on game in Tim Ruswick's Feedback Friday.


Started redrawing weapons and added new gunshot effect to some weapons.

sRevolver.png sMachinegun.png sGrenadeLaucher.png sRocketLauncher.png
 

Yrbiax

Member
More updated weapon sprites.

output_oDr1k8.gif output_rISEUM.gif bfa9e9a8-84a1-48ae-a6ca-a8ca94c7f333.png 09e2209f-d97e-4f86-8137-3d1b4701ef48.pngdca593b7-5a9f-43ca-83f7-f2b455f40625.png

-Hunters passive bonus no longer reset when moving. (Standing still wasnt very effective playstyle, so i allowed some movement to make it more useful)
Moving and shooting at same time or taking damage resets bonus.
-Focus bar added to hunter
-Ninja rope now drops down after some time, making it easier to use.
-Timer bar added to cyborgs shield
-Reduced experience gained from bosses, so that gold at shops would follow pattern 1>2>1>2>1>2
 

Yrbiax

Member
outline.png arenaEntrance.png
-Black outline added to walls
-Level entrances updated
-Arena entrances updated
-Most of projectiles updated
 
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Yrbiax

Member
Added logbook that contains detailed information about characters, weapons, items and enemies.
Information is revealed once you have unlocked them in game.

mosquitolog.png cactuslog.png ratlog.png

Im propably going to cut custom levels off the game, since i feel like there is so much left to polish.
Perhaps i release it as free update later if there is any demand for it.
 
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Yrbiax

Member
Some updated gameplay footage.

-Explosions, gunshots and other effects updated
-Added priority system for weapon drops (If there is multiple weapons on top of each other, pick weapon with highest priority. Priority increases everytime weapon is not picked)
-Added new layer for item drops (sometimes enemy projectiles were hidden behind fruits)
-Special bullets are no longer visible in UI when you dont have any bullets
-Some other bug fixes
 

Japster

Member
@Yrbiax - Had a play with this!

I can see you've put a lot of effort into it, I had a lot of fun with it, and I ended up completing the demo!

I like the fact that you have random levels, although I wonder if it's worth making sloped or wider 'blocks' to randomise, with slopes (if it's doable!) - it might make the levels flow a bit? - ie. you've currently got single 'slices' which I'm assuming go up or down by say, max 2, per step along the level? - I wondered if you maybe had slices that include a slope too? - ie:-

Hills.png

Of course, it's entirely dependent on if you prefer things as-is, and how you're checking for touching the level ground surface, and/or if you're using physics, but just an idea... :) ...also, if you're currently stretching the images (although I'm assuming that you're probably just using DEEP ones that will always reach the bottom of the screen?), you can always not stretch the surface one, and just stretch a padding image below ie. each of the five shown in the above example?....

Oh, one thing - I honestly lost track of the amount of times I ended up losing the game's focus because my mouse overshot the game's window, and I ended up dead, or worse, also clicking or dragging folders in Explorer windows / icons behind the game!! Argh!!!! - I'd probably pop a full-screen option in there, or maybe even constrain the mouse's position inside your game as per YellowAfterLife's extension (Hopefully external links allowed, as I couldn't find it on Marketplace!):-

https://yal.cc/gamemaker-assets/

But yeah, a lot of fun, some crazy weapons and power ups, and I think it will be great!
 

Yrbiax

Member
Thanks for playing!

Slopes are cool idea, but i think that im not going to touch game mechanics too much anymore. Im trying to finish this game at somepoint :D

Yes, im stretching wall images and just added small outline on top of it.

There is fullscreen option in video options when you press 'Esc'. Losing games focus seemed to be issue for some other players as well. I definetly should add something to prevent that .
 
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Japster

Member
@Yrbiax - No worries, we should all help each other out where we can! - I appreciated your help in trying my game out too! :D

I didn't spot that fullscreen option, whoops! ;)

I was thinking some more on the slopes, if you ever did decide to add them!:-

You could actually add them with either no more overhead to your current level drawing, or even LESS, if you simply did the other method I mentioned, ie. long vertical strips for your level building blocks... :)

i.e. if you imagine my example above, BUT each strip simply extending DOWN, all at the same height (say 600-800 pixels, for example), but each one ending in a different slope at the top, or completely flat top (or combinations even), then you could simply set these at different vertical heights to build your level as you currently do, and get slopes without extra work, and potentially with your 'topping' graphic added already (as you're not stretching your strips), hence possibly even halving your number of terrain objects!

Anyway, I've gone on far too long about slopes ;) - just trying to explain the method / reasoning behind it! :D

(To the gurus here, I can imagine this isn't a new method, just one I figured would work well to smoothly (and efficiently?) build a random level with slopes) :)
 

Yrbiax

Member
Adding slopes in itself isnt problem, but it would require me changing AI of almost every character in game.
I might do little experiementing with slopes tought. Perhaps in The Struggle of Combat 2 :D
 

Yrbiax

Member
8/14 miniboss sprites done.
b441707f-b74e-4f01-874f-12ce8be5b19e.png
Batman renamed to Vampyrusman to avoid copyright issues.
Im probably going to rename other bosses as well. Now they are kinda bland.

Homing bouncy laser in action:


-Piercing bullets no longer reduce damage after 4th hit (minimum 0.4096 damage)
-Turning speed of homing bullets now depends on bullet speed
-Damage falloff no longer applies to homing bullets (shotgun & minigun)
-Damage falloff now stops upon hitting enemy with piercing and bouncy bullets
 
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Yrbiax

Member
Miniboss sprites done. Still some refining to be done thought.
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Cursor is now forced to stay in window to prevent accidental missclicks.
(Cursor can be moved normally when game is paused)
 

Yrbiax

Member
Started working on UI now.

- Changed font style and added black shading so it would be easier to read regardless of background color.
- Bullet icons updated.
- Dark text box added to weapon details.

newUI3.png

Weapon details can now be turned off by pressing text box and turned on by pressing arrow icon.

newUI2.png
 

Yrbiax

Member
Updated intro story:

Other changes:
-Crosshair added
-Gunshot effects added to enemies as well
-Shocking armor now makes you invincible for 1 second
-Some weapon balance changes
 

Yrbiax

Member
Updated demo avaible:

This will probably be last demo i will upload until final release. Getting pretty close to finish line :)
Still some work to be done with options and logbook.

-UI updated
-Ending animation added
-Teleporters updated
-Treasure chests updated
-Options and Logbook added to main menu
 
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Yrbiax

Member
Hook is now attached to fishing rod properly.


- Weapons now tilt down when reloading.
- Hunters focus now recharges slowly when moving. Recharge now has 3 second cooldown after losing focus.
- Lots of mini boss related bugs fixed.
- Adjusted damage of explosive trap and shocking lasso.
- Shooting is now prevented when pressing hide/show details.
 

Yrbiax

Member
itemDescription.png

- Item descriptions improved and box sizes fixed.
- All items and abilities rebalanced (Most of them have now similiar damage scaling)
- Bonus damage from Ninja's super slash is no longer dependent on melee damage. (makes ability more useful even without melee upgrades)
- Police's Super Ability now also doubles flashbang damage.
- More bug fixes
 
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Yrbiax

Member
Made some changes to character selection screen.
characterSelection.png

-Arena enemies now properly spawn from left and right at same rate.
-Arena bosses now spawn at same time when other enemies are killed.
-Fixed rest of description boxes. (difficulty switches, cursed keys and metro passes)
-Small changes to level entrances, exits and spawn location so level transition would look smoother.
-Some changes to final boss room.
 
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Yrbiax

Member
prisonShop.png
Additional shop added to prison during loops. Items in this shop can be rerolled. (number of rerolls depends on loop)

loops.png
Using metro to skip levels and entering loops without any items was almost impossible. (especially 3rd and 4th loop)

-Added darkness to metrostation
-Fixed weapons on UI (sometimes they would appear on top of ammo count)
-Finished ending animation
-Updated prisoners dialog (dialog now changes if you have unlocked metropass to their level)

I will start working on new trailer, since current one is very outdated. :D
 
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Yrbiax

Member
New trailer:

-Added thick black outline to health/ammo bars
-Added more space between UI elements
-Fixed some bodies falling in wrong direction
-Fixed bodies knockback on explosions
 

Yrbiax

Member
Added wind up time for charging enemies.


Unlocking every character on first playthrough didnt feel right so i made unlocking characters bit harder.
Some of the characters now require difficulty mods to be active in order to unlock.

-Added some new stuff to graphics options
-All Options are now saved
-Fixed menus (In some instances pressing enter would also affect next menu screen)
-Improved logbook descriptions
-Music added to main menu
-Factory music changed
 

Yrbiax

Member
New cursor for menus.
fingerCursor.png
It seems that some of the songs arent royalty free for games, so i probably have to buy some licenses before i put it on itch.

-Curse mod no longer selects random curse. Instead curse is selected based on level (cactus curse in desert, bomb curse in cave etc...)
-Added fade out/fade in transition to rooms
-Fixed weapon positions in shops
-Updated prison shopkeeper sprite
-Added some new sound effects
-More bug fixes
 
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Yrbiax

Member
ratBefore.png ratAfter.png
-Fixed sprites in character select and logbook (transparent pixels didnt work for some reason, so images ended up looking rough around edges)
-Enemies that die inside wall now fall to bottom of wall
-Cyborgs passive now also reduces bullets spread with shotgun and triple weapons
-More bug fixes

Looking for beta testers!

Game is now almost completed, so im looking for beta testers.
Let me know If you are interested. I will send you link to full version in private message. (cheats included for testing)
 
Hi Yrbiax,

I am trying the last version you did upload. (from 10 March above).

Weird behavior: for all button in the menu, you need to click twice before having desired result. Once for making the button white and one time to activate it.
When dead, you cannot click on click struggling with the mouse. You need to do it from the keyboard. That was unexpected for me.
Grenade launcher: Would be great to see what is the cooldown time.
Shop to purchase: How much money do I have ? no clear how can i select an object.
Some of the object description are too long and not clear -> I don't understand what the object does.
In the first forest level, I get killed by an arrow (while some stuff was jumping on me), and the game crashed.

Nice game, gave a good feeling. I especially liked the short range fight (right click) that help to kill a lot of enemy. Would totally love to play with a sword or whatever short range.
Design and animation are nice enough for me. I feel that it was easier to run against most of the enemie. There is no perk to kill most of them.

For weapon it was not clear what was better, should i drop the rocket launcher or keep the laser. I don't know :)

I hope those feedback will be useful to you.
 
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