The Gamer's Quarter

dessgeega

DESSGEEGA ANDONUTS AND PERSONA COMBINE TO FORM - INVADER.

distribute like crazy. tell everyone you know. sneak it into conversations.

enjoy.
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SuperWes · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 8:11 am Post subject:

On a shabby scale I'd give it a not too shabby!

I got lost though....

-Wes
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Mr. Apol · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 8:48 am Post subject:

Urg. I'd really like to play this, but seeing as I don't have my own PC it'll be a problem.
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LJ -- Profile

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Just completed it. Loved every second of it. It was challenging, estranging and beautiful in its simplicity.

I really appreciated the level design too. It all makes so much sense once you SPOILERS unlock the vertical lasers.

Good job.

It's kind of peculiar, actually. I've always found old-school 8-bit tunes and pixellated colours far more alienating than any game up to today.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dhex · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:01 am Post subject:

very cool. we need more john woo dual weilding cute aliens.

the music is good. appropriately bleepy and invocative.
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kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Haven't had time to play through it...actually can't decide if I should graph paper it old-school or be "clever" w/ screenshots to make me a map.

By random chance I stumbled over this image on my desktop right after playing it:
http://probertson.mushoo.net/takoking.gif

must be synchronicity. http://probertson.livejournal.com/ is pretty amazing.

Anyway, I like the detail in the main player sprite.

Surprised that there's noiceable screen draw-in time, but that does give it a bit of old-school flavor.

I also appreciate that it's pretty forgiving. I think that's one thing small projects need to keep in mind; chances are few people are going to want to become grand-kung-foo experts at your game, so try to make as much as it as accesible as possible and the frustration factor low.

Oh, I also appreciate your "fun w/ DNS", in terms of tgiving its own third level domain. If I was smarter I should have been in contact w/ my own hosting provider to do the same thing a long time ago. (I wonder how hard it would be to get a rewrite rule such that *.mydomain.com automaps to mydomain.com/*/ )

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

So I'm stuck at, well, you know, THE AGGRESSOR. I've probably died about 50 times just trying to get close. Am I missing something?

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:02 pm Post subject:

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

i double-click the exe, and nothing pops up.. i check that ctrl-alt-del screen and it shows that game using 100% of my cpu with a nasty, rising memory usage. gonna try a reset and see if that helps!

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

didn't help :/

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

I had that down; I was apparently just unskilled before.

So it's a really fun little game; I really like the bullet-dodging + metroid concept. The art and music are both fantastic too- great job on this, guys.

So tell me though, is there some self insertion going on here? Cause for some reason Sammie reminds me of you, which is perhaps due to your typical avatars but also perhaps due to your general spirit. I'm not sure, but it's a good thing; it means you've managed to instill personality in a simple sprite figure.

It's funny, cause I just saw that Ken Ishii video for the first time a few days ago and I've been thinking about it; was that partial inspiration or is this a long-standing concept of yours?

One thing about the length: I've been thinking about short games like this recently, partially due to some ideas of my own, but also due to speed run videos I think. Invader here really plays a lot like a speed run video; it encourages you to avoid combat and makes a lot of rooms almost puzzle based due to enemy timing. Combined with the room/continue mechanic, it's almost like your eventual playthrough, minus the restarts, is something you could see on superplay or something. I guess I mean to say the game places an emphasis on constent movement and progression, which is something that can actually become grating in a longer game.

So I really liked it! Thanks!

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

I don't mind SPOILERS but methinks the above could use some spoiler warnings.

Maybe we need two threads?

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:00 pm Post subject:

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

No, just saying Sammie seems to somehow encapsulate the spirit of Dess in the form of a simple animated sprite, which is pretty fantastic.

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:24 pm Post subject:

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Mister Toups · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 4:42 pm Post subject:

Blame the long loading time on me and my inability to finagle the production of an org plugin for gamemaker.

Also I'm glad everyone likes it!
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where were you when nana komatsu got a wii?

dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

Sawtooth, you try to get this up and running yet? My VPC disc lies sleeping.

sawtooth · . Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 419

dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

Dammit.

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Finally got the chance to play through this...really nice.

You must've done a lot of tweaking to make so many of the puzzles work as close as they do....a lot really depend on some sublte behaviors of the baddies.

Actually, I ended up making a full screenshot map of it. Do you mind if I post a shrunken version on my site, with appropriate links and praise? (I could put it here as well)

VERY LITE SPOILER:

not sure if I figured out the...well I think it's a cameo appearance. but a fleeting one....I know how to make it run away that's it

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

This is some very nice work. I always like games I can get lost in, and although the action doesn't change a lot, the colorful and varied tilesets and the music keep things interesting.

The game is frustrating in places (especially going through a series of difficult rooms only to end up somewhere I've been and discover that whole sequence was unnecessary and I have to go back through some other difficult rooms), but I don't think it's an especially bad kind of frustrating. And a combination of the music and suspecting that there's more to see that's worth seeing makes it compelling regardless. The music reminds me vaguely of Faxanadu rather than just of the NES in general, for some reason.

Mister Toups · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:39 pm Post subject:

Well, both this game and seiklus take over a minute to launch for me.

But then, my computer is an ancient beast.

I guess the music sounds like Faxanadu because I was playing a lot of Faxanadu when I started working on the soundtrack? Aderack said it sounded like Clash at Demonhead.
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where were you when nana komatsu got a wii?

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

ah, yeah, i got it working... just had to let it sit for a minute.
i'm stuck at the agressor, now, too..

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 8:50 pm Post subject:

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

http://www.kisrael.com/viewblog.cgi?date=2006.04.19
(and
http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=86668 )

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:22 pm Post subject:

B coma · . Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 279

I was planning on sleeping (it's 4 am) but I played to the third area anyway. It's cool!

hoping this effort helps you get somewhere you want to be.

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Quick Shot II Turbo · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 23 Location: harry potter

I'm the acest dual-wielding invader everrrr.

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Oh, interestingly, my non-gamer girlfriend pegged that the game had been made by a woman.

Though in talking with her further, it may have been partially the Japanese "cute" influence vs., say, the harder American look...I think the old original "Prince of Persia" was her reference point.

But she liked the "Octopus" a lot.

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

dessgeega · Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 12:13 pm Post subject:

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Spoiler about what i think is the secret:
can you do anything w/ the secret besides shooting any wall and make it fly away? I was hoping that backwards mode would do something, maybe w/ the UFO making a stopover, but no....

dessgeega · Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 12:41 pm Post subject:

the secret is that you can't do anything with the paranoid android, or "paradroid", other than scare it away. sorry! it gets a cameo appearance because it was the first character i drew for the game, before the game was about a downed space invader. it also appears in the demo, which was only shown to other staff members. i may make it available soon though!
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kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Aha!
Cool! It's way cute.
Sorry for bothering you on email about it, I'm gathering that public forums are your preferred method of discourse...

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

i cannot for the life of me get past that dude at the end :[
i really like the whole game though! i want a stuffed invader.

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

oh, psych, i just did it, guns blazing. awesome!

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

It's important to note that, unlike all other moving enemies, you can actually touch him without dying. That through my strategy off for a long time.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

PrayingMantis · . Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 5

Neat little game. Is there a reason why you chose 640x480 res over 320x200/320x240? I think 320x200 will definitely accentuate the retroness of the game.
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Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

Well, fullscreen in GM 6 goes all blurry. You could do 320x240 in a window, but it'd be really tiny.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

RaBeeWilliams · Beatnik Joined: 07 Dec 2004 Posts: 274 Location: Thibodaux

Congrats of this phenomenal collaboration, folks. Your game is 'tits', Dess(which is another word I use for 'cool'. Forgive me.) I've only completed one area so far. of all the games I've played lately (Half Life 2, Counter Strike: Source, Black and White 2) this one is hands down the simplest of the set. Of course, I bring that tidbit up because this is one of the few ones I look forward to coming back to and discovering more from it – unlimited continues being a big plus, here.
By a stretch, I'd say that with at least one of your fans, your game is contender in playtime with a Game of the Year title.

Great job, Dessgeega.

dessgeega · Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 11:44 am Post subject: