Android TOP KEK

C

Chatterb0x

Guest
@mysticjim inquired about my latest endeavor and I responded with a tangled web of an explanation. For confused GameMaker Podcast listeners, let me introduce TOP KEK.

Story:
Normies are invading Kekistani air space! You must pilot Kekistan's aeronautical marvel, the Meme Machine, and repulse a Normistan invasion.



TOP KEK is aesthetically inspired by Pepe the Frog and Top Gun. Mechanically, it is similar to 'Missiles!' Characters are uniquely designed to avoid copyright infringement. The Meme Machine deploys small and large missiles. Small missiles are frequent yet deal minimal damage. Large missiles 1-hit kill and target Normies at greater range, though spawn less frequently.

Controls are simple! You navigate around enemy planes, drones, and bullets using 1 thumb.

TOP KEK is being developed for Android, then iOS.

What's a Pepe?
Pepe the Frog was spawned by author Matt Furie and appropriated by internet meme culture. Though somewhat associated with Alt-Right advocates, Pepe is used generally in humorous posts. To me, Pepe represents rebellion. The subculture around Pepe identify as hailing from fictional Kekistan. Normies, their socially aware mainstream rivals, live in Normistan.

Kek is a synonym for lol and Topkek is a Turkish pastry manufacturer. The phrase TOP KEK expresses approval of humorous jokes.

Development journal:
Simple shapes represent hero and enemies. Enemies fire upon player when in their line of sight.
Thumb control fully coded.

Missiles were coded simultaneously. Look at them go!

The Meme Machine takes flight. Enemies are given a FOV to avoid colliding with each other.

Yellow bullets are turned in to homing missiles. Enemies are given sprites!
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
Hi dude. Looking good! Very ironically, I've been toying around with an idea for game that doesn't look a million miles away - but it's inspiration was a game released way back in the day on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum called Tornado Low Level. The game was an incredible example of cramming a lot of tricks into what was by today's standards a very weak machine, here is what the game looked like;


Been thinking about impliment very basic 3D for it as I'm just learning about 3D in GameMaker at the moment.

But I like the look of your game. Be interested to see how it plays on an Android device.
 
C

Chatterb0x

Guest
. The game was an incredible example of cramming a lot of tricks into what was by today's standards a very weak machine, here is what the game looked like;

But I like the look of your game. Be interested to see how it plays on an Android device.
3D would be a great way to revitalize an old favourite! What platform would you target?

The only downfall is the screen size. I must develop mechanics around mobile's limitations and strengths. Here are 3 mechanics I've considered:
1) Score
2) Timer
3) Countdown timer
 
C

Chatterb0x

Guest
Woah boy, it's been a while.
TOP KEK is nearing release.


Additions:
  • Pilot portrait/mugshot.
  • 10 second timer.
  • Repair mechanic.
  • "NORMIES GET OUT".
  • Pause menu.
  • BGM.
  • Enemy missile.
  • Title screen with options menu.

Currently working on the bonus stage.
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
Hey dude

Kekistan now has an airforce that it can rightly be proud of!!!!

Game is looking sweet! Liking all the little additions. Just a few things that struck me while watching the preview, please feel free to completely disagree or discard if these are really not practical to consider adding at this stage of the game;

1) Firstly, I know it would probably triple the amount of graphics you'd need to produce, but the planes - they're completely top down, even when they're banking left or right. I can't help thinking that a frame or two of animation of the planes banking into turns would be really engaging. I'm also aware that means you'd have to have additional sprite images of the plane banked at about 45 degrees left and right to create that. Just in case I've explained that really badly, here is a slightly crude example I found;



2) Not sure if this idea would work or cause more trouble than it's worth, but the background - I see an opportunity for a bit of parallax scrolling here. So the plane is in the foreground, you have those clouds, and beneath them you have a fairly neutral green colour, presumably representing the very distant ground that your plane is flying over. What if it wasn't a completely static green background, but a very high altitude representation of actual terrain? At the height your plane would realistically be at you wouldn't see too much detail - so hopefully it wouldn't cause clashing with the action up top, but if you had some detail, and it scrolled at a proportionally slower rate to the clouds, you might add an extra touch of visual depth? Or possibly you could cripple your game and/or give people motion sickness, it's just a purely cosmetic idea - I've really got no idea how that would actually look in practice. I can concede that it might draw attention away from the foreground action which wouldn't be so useful!

3) Finally - I like the frog pilot image - but I'd love to see him reacting to various situations - like looking terrified if you have a near miss with an enemy plane or missile, or celebrating and looking pleased with himself if you wipe out a load of enemies and clear a level or something. I can concede that as the action is pretty fast paced, that might not be practical as he'd probably end up looking like he was having some kind of seizure most of the time, so that could be massively distracting, but it could be potentially amusing!
 
C

Chatterb0x

Guest
Looks amazing until now!! How you're doing the homing missiles ?
Thank you. Because you're so kind, here is the homing missile code.

Create Event
Code:
///Initialize.
//Attributes.
max_speed = 30;
speed = 1;
life = 100;
image_angle = direction;
image_xscale = 1.5;
image_yscale = image_xscale;
//Target
targeting = 0;
target = instance_nearest(x,y,obj_enemy);
alarm[0] = room_speed * 0.25;
Alarm Event
Code:
///Begin targetting.
targeting = 1;
//Change size.
image_xscale = 1;
image_yscale = image_xscale;
Step Event
Code:
///Behavior.
//Target.
if(target != noone && targeting){
   if(instance_exists(target)){
   var target_direction = point_direction(x,y,target.x,target.y);
   var target_distance = point_distance(x,y,target.x,target.y);
   var difference = sign(angle_difference(direction,target_direction));
       //Adjust direction.
       if((target_direction != direction) && (target_distance < 1000)){
          //Angle to turn at.
          switch(difference){
          //Turn left.
          case -1:
          direction += 5;
          break;
          //Turn right.
          case 1:
          direction -= 5;
          break;
          }
       }
   }
}

//Shrink image after drop.
if(!targeting){
image_xscale -= 0.000025;
image_yscale = image_xscale;
}

//Image Angle.
image_angle = direction;

//Create trail.
instance_create(x,y,obj_mtrail);

//Gradually increase speed.
if(speed < max_speed){
speed += 2;
}

//Destroy if life drops to 0.
life--;
if(life <= 0){
image_xscale -= 0.05;
image_yscale = image_xscale;
}
if(image_xscale <= 0){
instance_destroy();
}
 
C

Chatterb0x

Guest
Hey dude
1) Firstly, I know it would probably triple the amount of graphics you'd need to produce, but the planes - they're completely top down, even when they're banking left or right. I can't help thinking that a frame or two of animation of the planes banking into turns would be really engaging. I'm also aware that means you'd have to have additional sprite images of the plane banked at about 45 degrees left and right to create that. Just in case I've explained that really badly, here is a slightly crude example I found;

2) Not sure if this idea would work or cause more trouble than it's worth, but the background - I see an opportunity for a bit of parallax scrolling here. So the plane is in the foreground, you have those clouds, and beneath them you have a fairly neutral green colour, presumably representing the very distant ground that your plane is flying over. What if it wasn't a completely static green background, but a very high altitude representation of actual terrain? At the height your plane would realistically be at you wouldn't see too much detail - so hopefully it wouldn't cause clashing with the action up top, but if you had some detail, and it scrolled at a proportionally slower rate to the clouds, you might add an extra touch of visual depth? Or possibly you could cripple your game and/or give people motion sickness, it's just a purely cosmetic idea - I've really got no idea how that would actually look in practice. I can concede that it might draw attention away from the foreground action which wouldn't be so useful!

3) Finally - I like the frog pilot image - but I'd love to see him reacting to various situations - like looking terrified if you have a near miss with an enemy plane or missile, or celebrating and looking pleased with himself if you wipe out a load of enemies and clear a level or something. I can concede that as the action is pretty fast paced, that might not be practical as he'd probably end up looking like he was having some kind of seizure most of the time, so that could be massively distracting, but it could be potentially amusing!
1) Totally get what you're saying. I'm looking in to adjusting the image scale to achieve this effect.
2) Not bad to entertain the idea. Would have to run it by the artist. Unfortunately, my budget for TOP KEK is running out. ;-(.
3) Oh man! That GIF is old to be honest. In TOP KEK's latest iteration, the pilot has multiple expressions. Will upload soon.
 
F

Felipe Rybakovas

Guest
Thank you. Because you're so kind, here is the homing missile code.

Create Event
Code:
///Initialize.
//Attributes.
max_speed = 30;
speed = 1;
life = 100;
image_angle = direction;
image_xscale = 1.5;
image_yscale = image_xscale;
//Target
targeting = 0;
target = instance_nearest(x,y,obj_enemy);
alarm[0] = room_speed * 0.25;
Alarm Event
Code:
///Begin targetting.
targeting = 1;
//Change size.
image_xscale = 1;
image_yscale = image_xscale;
Step Event
Code:
///Behavior.
//Target.
if(target != noone && targeting){
   if(instance_exists(target)){
   var target_direction = point_direction(x,y,target.x,target.y);
   var target_distance = point_distance(x,y,target.x,target.y);
   var difference = sign(angle_difference(direction,target_direction));
       //Adjust direction.
       if((target_direction != direction) && (target_distance < 1000)){
          //Angle to turn at.
          switch(difference){
          //Turn left.
          case -1:
          direction += 5;
          break;
          //Turn right.
          case 1:
          direction -= 5;
          break;
          }
       }
   }
}

//Shrink image after drop.
if(!targeting){
image_xscale -= 0.000025;
image_yscale = image_xscale;
}

//Image Angle.
image_angle = direction;

//Create trail.
instance_create(x,y,obj_mtrail);

//Gradually increase speed.
if(speed < max_speed){
speed += 2;
}

//Destroy if life drops to 0.
life--;
if(life <= 0){
image_xscale -= 0.05;
image_yscale = image_xscale;
}
if(image_xscale <= 0){
instance_destroy();
}
Thankss!!!! Awesome!
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
1) Totally get what you're saying. I'm looking in to adjusting the image scale to achieve this effect.
2) Not bad to entertain the idea. Would have to run it by the artist. Unfortunately, my budget for TOP KEK is running out. ;-(.
3) Oh man! That GIF is old to be honest. In TOP KEK's latest iteration, the pilot has multiple expressions. Will upload soon.
Nice one dude, can't wait to see the latest version :)
 
Technically speaking, the game looks really good! Fast moving, lots of action on the screen and seems simple to pick up. The art is on the simple side, but I like it because it is fairly consistent across all elements.

I am not sure I really dig the theme/story, but to each their own. I do think your theme/story it has the possibility of making it either a big hit (like go viral) or just tank it (because it feels like you are trying to hard to be controversial and ride on meme culture coat tails). But, either way, rock on with your vision. Hopefully you can take that as constructive criticism. I mean no offense, just my passing opinion from what you posted here.
 
C

Chatterb0x

Guest
Technically speaking, the game looks really good! Fast moving, lots of action on the screen and seems simple to pick up. The art is on the simple side, but I like it because it is fairly consistent across all elements.

I am not sure I really dig the theme/story, but to each their own. I do think your theme/story it has the possibility of making it either a big hit (like go viral) or just tank it (because it feels like you are trying to hard to be controversial and ride on meme culture coat tails). But, either way, rock on with your vision. Hopefully you can take that as constructive criticism. I mean no offense, just my passing opinion from what you posted here.
I've been thinking about monetization and conclude TOP KEK has finite potential. You're right - what happens when the trend declines? It's not my magnum opus nor where all my passion lies. TOP KEK will have residual searches from people googling the phrase.

My next project will be premium or free w/ in-app purchases. Ketchapp Games' model of pumping out simple, fad games only works if you have manpower. TOP KEK targets a niche group though it may exceed expectations. Those poo-pooing premium should analyse Five Nights at Freddy's.

TOP KEK is ad supported. The upshot is that I can add to TOP KEK should it prove successful.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've been thinking about monetization and conclude TOP KEK has finite potential. You're right - what happens when the trend declines? It's not my magnum opus nor where all my passion lies. TOP KEK will have residual searches from people googling the phrase.

My next project will be premium or free w/ in-app purchases. Ketchapp Games' model of pumping out simple, fad games only works if you have manpower. TOP KEK targets a niche group though it may exceed expectations. Those poo-pooing premium should analyse Five Nights at Freddy's.

TOP KEK is ad supported. The upshot is that I can add to TOP KEK should it prove successful.
Sounds like you have a handle on it, then. Good luck!
 
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