It’s been a little while since we’ve gone over parts in Fingeance, but since I’ve been working out a few designs I wanted to share some of the more finalized ones with you. Keep in mind that they may not be exactly like this in the final product.

Frenzy Engine

This gadget will increase your ship’s rate of fire dramatically while it is active. It’s a great gadget for players with strong cannons, looking to deal loads of extra damage on the team’s foes. This also has excellent synergy with cannons that can use the increased rate of fire particularly well, such as a weapon that deals increased damage on every other shot. Some of our parts can be kind of complex, but this part is really simple for newer players to grasp, which is nice as well.

Skirmisher

Neutral pattern

Forward pattern

Backward pattern

The Skirmisher is a cannon that changes firing patterns based on the player’s movement. The shooting patterns are still in flux, but currently shooting while not moving fires in a very wide cone, hitting multiple targets. Moving forward concentrates your fire to right in front of you, loading all of your damage to a small area. Going backwards fires several shots behind you, and in two wide angles in front. Mastery of this cannon will involve a strong understanding of the capabilities of each pattern. Each pattern is situational, but generally players will be encouraged to move forward to concentrate their damage on a specific group of enemies. The other patterns give players other options in case moving forward is not viable at any time.

Bomb Launcher

Example of explosion

It works just like the name implies: this gadget shoots out a bomb that on impact with an enemy will explode in a large radius. Helpful for those pesky guppies in large groups, and powerful enough to deal great burst damage to the tougher foes. Another simple gadget, but because of its high damage burst, it can’t be used very frequently. Best to save this gadget for when you really need it.

That’s it for this week! I’ve been working on Fingeance’s movement options recently, so I’ll go over what I mean by that next week.

This past week has been rough… I have had a major set back. My computer charger died on me and I haven’t been able to work on Fingeance since last Saturday. I was able to finish up that menu system that I mentioned I was working on last week, but other than that I haven’t had the chance to really work on much in terms of art and sound.

So instead I turned my attention to the logistics of Escape Industries. I thought about how we are running the site and some possible endeavors that we could look into. I even thought about some design work in the game as I couldn’t do much else.

What about you? What are some of your opinions on how we are doing in terms of blog posts and social media updates? Do you like our current schedule of posting 3 times a week? Where else do you want to see us post on?

With all that said I sadly don’t have a lot to show you so it is going to be a short post today. Hopefully I can be up and running soon. But check out Friday and Monday for Lane and Stephen’s posts!

So guppies, you love ’em, you hate ’em. They aren’t much of a threat though. Even in large groups, you can just plow through them with enough damage (or a cooperative team!). But what happens when you strap a couple of cannons on their sides?

Enter the guppy gunners. These guys move slightly faster and are a bit tougher than regular guppies. Oh, and they have big cannons installed. That’s their big hook: these guys are kinda hard to avoid if you just leave them alone because those cannons can be pretty difficult to get past. If you have someone who can block bullets, stun/slow enemies or just outright kill a guppy gunner, they’re not much of a problem. In general, it would benefit the team to deal with a guppy gunner quickly before they get close enough to be an immediate threat.

Where do these guys fit into a level of Fingeance though? They have the benefit of not being a drastic and immediate threat when they show up on screen. They also wall off progress in a minor way if not dealt with. Therefore, they’re strong when placed in an area with more imminent threats in the level. For example, if you put these guys in a level with a bunch of heat seeking missiles it would be harder to prevent them from getting close to your team, as the team would have to deal with the missiles first. Guppy gunners provide more of a challenge the longer they are in the level, as you have less space to deal with them.

Next time, I’ll discuss some more part designs I’ve been working on this week. I hope to see you there!

These little guys, called guppies, are like the goombas of the sea (yes, I’m aware that cheep cheeps are the goombas of the sea, shush): they appear in a variety of situations all over the game, but are very easy to dispose of. Don’t let their cute appearance fool you, contact with these guys will still hurt. As I stated last week, because they are so easy to defeat and avoid, they don’t provide much scrap.

Guppies like the ones pictured are supposed to be quick fodder for players new at the game to get more acquainted with the concepts of the game. Sometimes they are used as a big group for fast scrap (and healing!), and sometimes they lead players into safer areas on the screen. Or sometimes things like this happen:

How you get through a giant cluster (group? gathering? flock? school! It’s school) of guppies are one example of the kinds of challenges we want to present to a group of players in game. Do you blast your way through? Try to find a way past? It’s up to your team to figure it out.

Guppies don’t just come in one form though; next week we’ll go over some variations of guppies, and talk a bit about our design goals for these sea creatures.

Last week, I left you with an image (as I tend to do):

These are called scrap. When some enemies are destroyed, they may leave these tiny trinkets behind. Being the creative fishes that you are, you’ve developed a way to use these scrap to your advantage. Players can collect scrap and use them outside of levels to build new parts to fight finned foes with.

Each player’s ship also gains a small amount of health when grabbing these collectibles, making them valuable even in the heat of battle. Don’t be afraid to be greedy either! Each piece of scrap is added to each player’s total scrap at the end of a level, and will heal every player alive when collected as well. I suppose you could add up each scrap you’ve collected yourself for bragging points though.

Enemies drop more scrap the more difficult to destroy they are, generally. But sometimes, these puppies (or should I say guppies! Hehe…hehe…heh…) show up:

They give you a ton of scrap. They can be in awkward positions though, so they’re not always easy to get.

Next week, we’ll talk about some of these:

Okay, they’re obviously fish, so there’s no surprise there. But what do they do in the game? Find out next Monday!

It’s that time again folks! I’m sure you all woke up this morning, excited about this nice spring Monday, looking forward to the robust and detailed game design articles from Escape Industries’s resident game designer/programmer/crazy person. I’ll be here every week to make your Monday mornings that much brighter. Wednesdays are for your weekly dosage of art design from artist and musician Charles McGregor, and your Friday game binge will be provided by Lane Davis, game designer and programmer.

Last week, I left you with a serious puzzle on your hands. What in the world is this thing?

This, dear sir and/or madam, is a shield. A Shock Shield to be precise. It destroys any enemy bullets it contacts. Such a gadget would be useful for players looking to protect allies from those pesky dolphin-developed foes. Many of the parts in this game are designed to have these kinds of abilities that help your teammates out. Some weapons deal out some serious damage in a short time to quickly clear high priority targets, some displace powerful opponents, some impede movement and rate of fire of the more mobile enemies. There’s a wide variety of choices available, creating vastly different gameplay experiences for each player on the team.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a team game unless you needed to rely on your team. The weapons come with some shortcomings. The Shock Shield, for instance, doesn’t deal very much damage on contact. It slows enemies a bit, but players with these equipped will have to rely on  their cannons to do most of the heavy damage. Of course, if one had a team (*wink wink*), one could synergize with a damage-focused teammate by creating openings in enemy attack patterns for him or her to take advantage of.

Next week, we’ll take a look at these lovely things:

I wonder what these could be…

Hello everyone!

I am Charles McGregor, the artist and musician for Fingeance. You may have seen some of my work over at Tribe Games like Glitch in the System. I am here to help Fingeance look and sound great! So you can find the majority of my posts be about the art and audio of the game (with some User Interface talk spliced in sometimes).

Fingeance art style is inspired by western comic books, with very bold and directional inking. A lot of the inspiration also comes from the Sly Cooper series.

I really liked the use of thick and thin lines of the art it helped give it that comic book feel in the cutscenes. Besides the fact that I really like the Sly Cooper series, I think this art style fits the comical story of Fingeance.

I still got a ways to go in terms of fine tuning the art style before I am completely happy with it, but so far I think I am on the right track.

So that is a quick overview of the overarching art style of Fingeance. Let me know what you guys think of it and what you want to see me delve into in my posts. Right now I plan on bringing you updates on the new art in the game, the reasons why things look and sound the way they do, and show how I do some of the things that I do among other things.

On a side note, Escape Industries and Fingeance are going to be at Glitch Con 2015! If you are a going there or want to meet up with us make sure to come this weekend, we will be roaming the conference on Saturday and Exhibiting on Sunday. Be sure to check us out and check all of the other awesome game developers!

Hello folks! My name is Stephen McGregor, programmer/designer for this lovely game we call Fingeance. I like long walks on the beach, staring into someone else’s eyes, and creating obscene weapons capable of destroying massive mechanical machinations of mammalian megalomaniacs.

Each week on Monday, I’ll give you some details into the mechanisms of Fingeance. My brother, Charles McGregor, will share some art and music going into the game every Wednesday. On Fridays, my dear friend Lane Davis will give you more general info about the game.

So, what is the game of Fingeance? Undoubtedly I’m spoiling some of Lane’s post, but as players you control up to four fish in underwater ships in a shoot ’em up fashion as you seek your just vengeance against the dolphin overlords. Obviously these dolphins aren’t going to just let you walk into their houses and break all their pots, so they’ve developed some really nasty enemies to keep you from them. Thankfully, your ships are also equipped with some powerful weapons.

Each ship comes with a cannon and a gadget. Your cannon is your main source of damage, while your gadget will supply you with an additional ability. What sets this game apart from other shmups is the different ways these parts will help you achieve your goal of ultimate power! beating each level. After each level, each player returns to headquarters to customize their personal ship with whatever parts are available. These parts can range from a simple straight shooting cannon, to a freezing projectile producing trident, to a heat pumped whip. The game can change each time you finish a level with such unique parts, making each playthrough special.

Unfortunately I’m not as artistically gifted as my two partners, so here’s a sneak peek at one gadget we’re working on:

What is this thing? What’s it do? Why am I asking you questions I already know the answer to? All shall be revealed next week on Monday!