 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Cyclyc Cyclyc is a game designed by Joe Osborn, Samantha Vick, Teddy Diefenbach, and myself for the Hackathon weeklong game contest. Sam made all the art, Joe was lead programmer, Teddy was producer and rhythm programmer, and I handled the sound effects and music. Cyclyc is a two-player action game made using the XNA Framework. One player plays on the top half of the screen, as Ship Girl, Captain of the Ship, in the sort of game colloquially referred to as a "Bullet Hell." The player must pass close to enemies in order to power up the spaceship's weapon. The other player plays on the bottom half of the screen as Jet Pack Girl (Rocket Pack Girl in Europe), who must run and jet through the desolate yet beautiful Pixel City while fending off nefariously obstinate robots with her wrenchblade. So why are these two different challenges in the same game? If a player avoids an enemy, it will merely pass offscreen. But if the player defeats an enemy, it will instead be transferred to the other player's half of the screen. It's like juggling. Try to find the right mixture of confronting and avoiding challenges to achieve the optimal challenge level for you and your partner. Of course, if you want, you can try to play competitively and drown your partner in enemies. But keep in mind that the better each player does, the cooler the game's art and music get, so cooperating will lead to the best aesthetic experience. Jet Pack Girl's graphics are done in pixel art, and the sound effects for her gameplay were made using a Famicon tracker. The half of the screen corresponding to Ship Girl, Captain of the Ship are done in a more illustrated style, with the sound effects making musical tones and percussion. Enemies are synced to the music, which is a mixture of chiptunes with rock instrumentation. As Jet Pack Girl gets a higher combo, the chiptune half becomes more elaborate, and as Ship Girl, Captain of the Ship gets a higher combo, the rock half becomes more layered and energetic. Joe's website is hosting the version of Cyclyc we made for the weeklong game contest. We're looking to continue working on it, and maybe eventually release it over XBox Live Arcade, so let us know if you have any feedback. |
   |
