Browser-based preview build here.
Pokitto preview build Here (1.6 MB)
Source code here
Armadillo is an ode to my favorite space exploration game, Armada, from the Sega Dreamcast. It strives to be as faithful as possible to the original’s gameplay while having its own story.
Currently, all the rendering and basic systems are ready. All that is left to do is content: there’s a lot of space to explore and it wouldn’t be any fun if it was all empty. Once the missions are done you’ll be able to defend humanity from hoards of enemies throughout the galaxy!
How To Play
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Movement: Regular, slow, movement is done with the arrow keys. To activate the booster and go faster, double-press in any direction. Without the booster you will probably end up dead rather quickly, but be careful: the booster consumes the same energy you need to shoot!
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Energy: To the right of the radar is your ship’s energy level. It recharges automatically and is used to power both your guns and your booster.
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Health: Your health is visible both over your ship and to the left of the radar. Letting it drop to zero is a bad idea.
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Lives: You can die 3 times. Once all lives are spent, you will respawn back in your home planet. There is no other penalty for dying.
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Pods: These are the ammunition you consume when you press C to damage all enemies within range, or B to activate your shield. Strategic use of both is important for not dying in less than 3 seconds.
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Radar: The radar on the top-left gives you a broader view of your surroundings.
– Greens are allies, reds are enemies.
– Big squares are bosses. Watch out, they are much harder to kill and their shots pack a punch!
–+sign: Medics, can recharge your health.
–osign: These ships will give you pods for free.
–!sign: Mission objective.
–ssign: Shop / Inventory.
The Story
In the previous episode (Not Dead Yet), aliens invaded the Earth and quickly destroyed civilization as we know it. Our military was no match against the superior extraterrestrial technology and all would’ve been lost if it wasn’t for a girl who managed to sneak into one of their fighter ships. On equal footing when it came to weaponry, the aliens got a taste of the girl’s superior combat training (previously known as “playing too many videogames”).
Now the invaders have been pushed back, but the struggle is far from over.
Platforms and Credits
Other than browsers, Armadillo will be released on PC, Pokitto, and Nintendo 3DS (possibly more systems later, so long as they support C++17).
- Code and Character art: Me
- Logo, art assistance: @Vampirics
- Ships: Kenney • Space Kit
- Music: bensound.com
- Planet names: https://www.scifiideas.com/planet-name-generator
- Planets: Pixel Planet Generator by Deep-Fold
Since I’ve already been slowly working on this for months, it is not an entry in the Demakes Jam.
DevLog
While I didn't keep an actual text log, I kept some videos showing progress
Day 1
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Implemented simple 3D rendering onto a 8-bit 32x32 bitmap in RAM in a 16-bit TAS mode:
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Switched to Kenney’s ships, started working on AI and experimenting with large bitmap backgrounds.
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Started using a custom linefiller for a tiled background by Vampirics. Circle-circle collision detection. Blend each background tile with the same tile scaled up 64x, so there’s some variation as you travel around.
Day 2
- Particles. Here I draw all the particles onto a full-screen 1-bpp bitmap, which then gets drawn as a normal TAS sprite.
Day 3 onwards
At this point the game got its UI and started looking a lot like it does now, so there’s not much point in any further videos. Most of the work has been in balancing the gameplay, which has proven to be tricky: the original game didn’t have a very forgiving learning curve. While I didn’t want to make a game that was too hard, being hard was part of the original’s experience.
Wallpaper
If you want to have a sneak preview of the mission content being produced, check out the Girls of Armadillo 3D wallpaper, below. If the depth effect looks inverted for you, look at the next column instead.
