Homebrew Arsenal (DS Entry)

[smealum]

Big update !

Here's Arsenal version 0.9 ! It's not quite done, but pretty close, so I'll be updating it throughout the coming week, please let me know what you think and if you'd like anything changed.
Download link

There's a ton of stuff that I've added since the last version (which was released exactly 6 months ago), so here's a feature list :
- full dual screen 3D bullet hell vertical shoot em up
- robust engines capable of managing hundreds of bullets (over 1000 in certain conditions)
- 6 levels, ranging from easy to insanely hard

- different weapons, powerups
- varied backgrounds : space stations, planets, oil rigs...
- replay system
- highscore system with online leaderboards
- complete modding tools available : make your own levels and share them on the game's website
- download people's mods directly from the game's menu via wifi

Just to prove that I'm not kidding around when I say there are insanely hard levels :

Don't worry though, this is the fifth boss, and I made the first 3 levels to be easier, so the learning curve should be nice. Level4 gets a little more challenging of course, and then levels 5 and 6 are a whole other world.

As previously mentioned, the game is not quite done yet, so I'll be tweaking a lot of stuff over the next few days. I'll also be adding new content, I'd like to have at least 7 levels in the final version, in addition to the "DLC" I'll be releasing later.

I'll also be writing up a full manual for the game editor, which may seem really confusing at first.
Let me know what you think !

Please refer to the first post for controls !
Oh and I haven't had the time to put all the finishing touches yet (like a loading screen or nice fading effects), but they'll definitely be there in the final release.

 

[Another World]

i think that screen shot is not fun. lol

its been great to see what you turned this project into. keep it up!

-another world

 

[iluvfupaburgers]

OMG!

that looks like a piñata, so many bullets!

 

[smealum]

Thanks Another World.

I updated the first post with new info, including the official website, which contains leaderboards and mod downloads. (although there are no mods currently available)
Also, thanks and congratulations to sir_voe who's the first person ever to post a highscore to Arsenal's online leaderboards !

Oh, and I'll try to have replays for all levels in the final release. I can't guarantee I'll actually manage to make them, but I'll try. I'll also be making a video if I have the time.

 

[relminator]

Looks cool!!! Downloading. Good Luck to the compo buddy!

 

[Sir_Voe]

Heh, thanks

. I love shmups, and am enjoying this one very much so far. The prospect of creating some sort of content has me very intrigued also. Most definitely will be looking into that. In the meantime, good luck in the compo!

 

[Rayder]

Hitting Select puts a little blue dot in the center of the ship, but does that mean the hit box is bigger or smaller?

Seems to be working fine on a CycloDS using FW v2.3. I do notice the occasional flicker here and there, especially when loading levels, but that's negligible, IMO.

One thing that is very frustrating when playing it through a flashcart is that there is no accounting for the space between the screens. Enemy ships pop from the top screen to the bottom screen as if the space between the screens wasn't there. That works great when playing through an emulator where there is no space between them, but through a flashcart and actual hardware, it's kind of disconcerting. I know that can be a tough one to really come up with a good solution to since your ship can traverse both screens, but maybe some kind of an option when playing on an actual DS to account for the space between the screens and confining your ship to the bottom screen could be a solution? Just throwing the idea out there.

One other very minor annoyance is having to use the touchscreen for menu selections. Is there no way to add a highlight in the menus so I could just use the dpad and A button to select menu items? Like I said though, it's a very minor annoyance and I can deal with it, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

The only thing I might consider a bug at this point is that it doesn't remember that I set the autofire function to ON. I have to turn it back on every time I boot the game, even though I said to save my settings. Not complaining, just letting you know.

This game seems a class-act. I like the idea of being able to download more levels, which actually worked for me when I tried it. I'm not much into the bullet-hell type shmups, mainly because I suck at them, but it will stay on my flashcart regardless. I look forward to the finished version.

 

[smealum]

Looks cool!!! Downloading. Good Luck to the compo buddy!

Thanks, you too !

Hitting Select puts a little blue dot in the center of the ship, but does that mean the hit box is bigger or smaller?
It's actuall the exact same size. That's the hitbox for bullets though; when colliding with enemies, the hitbox is much closer to the ship's actual size, so I didn't think rendering it would be useful.

Seems to be working fine on a CycloDS using FW v2.3. I do notice the occasional flicker here and there, especially when loading levels, but that's negligible, IMO.
Yeah, the game still lacks a lot of polish, hopefully I'll have time to fix that in the coming week.

One thing that is very frustrating when playing it through a flashcart is that there is no accounting for the space between the screens. Enemy ships pop from the top screen to the bottom screen as if the space between the screens wasn't there. That works great when playing through an emulator where there is no space between them, but through a flashcart and actual hardware, it's kind of disconcerting. I know that can be a tough one to really come up with a good solution to since your ship can traverse both screens, but maybe some kind of an option when playing on an actual DS to account for the space between the screens and confining your ship to the bottom screen could be a solution? Just throwing the idea out there.
I guess that's just a design choice I made very early on. I never really liked the idea of having a gap between screens in game for a shoot em up, because that would put a HUGE blindspot right in the middle of the game, and I think the game would be much harder and more frustrating this way. Not having a gap actually allows you to always keep what's going on in sight, and I feel that's a requirement for this sort of game; I'd hate to be killed by a bullet because I couldn't see it.
Now it's true that it might take a little getting used to for some people, but I think it's the best solution, and so far you're the only one who it seems to really bother.

Also, it might help to play the game with the DS fully-opened, this way the screens are actually parallel and it looks much more like one big screen.

One other very minor annoyance is having to use the touchscreen for menu selections. Is there no way to add a highlight in the menus so I could just use the dpad and A button to select menu items? Like I said though, it's a very minor annoyance and I can deal with it, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

I couldn't agree more, I was actually going to do that a little while back, but I guess I just forgot. I'll be getting this done ASAP.

QUOTE(Rayder @ Jun 1 2011, 04:13 AM)

The only thing I might consider a bug at this point is that it doesn't remember that I set the autofire function to ON. I have to turn it back on every time I boot the game, even though I said to save my settings. Not complaining, just letting you know.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll be looking into it this week.

QUOTE(Rayder @ Jun 1 2011, 04:13 AM)

This game seems a class-act. I like the idea of being able to download more levels, which actually worked for me when I tried it. I'm not much into the bullet-hell type shmups, mainly because I suck at them, but it will stay on my flashcart regardless. I look forward to the finished version.

Thanks

 

[Aguilera_87]

awesome, i love this kind of games, great work

 

[BigLord]

This game is friggin awesome, too bad it's just way too hard because your ship is huge!!

It's possible to adjust the size of the hitbox, yeah I know, but it's still hard!

... I'm not saying that as a bad thing, though

Now I have two bullet hell games to finish lol. You homebrew guys rule, this is the reason I bought my flashcart.

(not rly but let's pretend it is, ok?)

 

[Another World]

• acekard 2.1 and acekard 2i.
• 2 gb japanese kingston, 4 gb class-4 kingston, 8 gb class-6 kingston (panasonic formatter for all)
• akaio 1.8.7
• homebrew softreset on and off

i tested with akaio and get guru meditation errors.

Spoiler

[titlehoto (large)]

-another world

 

[Sir_Voe]

I wonder if the WiFi leaderboard would be improved by only allowing one entry per profile. For example, if I already had a high score, but bested it and went to upload the new one it would replace the existing one rather than having to flood the leaderboard every time I do better. Also, I think it would be nice if players didn't have to upload their high score right after they earn it. That way they could play while away from a hotspot, then when they get to one they could upload their top score.

 

[smealum]

Thanks to everyone for their support.

• acekard 2.1 and acekard 2i.
• 2 gb japanese kingston, 4 gb class-4 kingston, 8 gb class-6 kingston (panasonic formatter for all)
• akaio 1.8.7
• homebrew softreset on and off

i tested with akaio and get guru meditation errors.

Spoiler

[titlehoto (large)]

-another world
This doesn't look good; it doesn't seem to be a problem with the game's code... I'll try to look into it, but I really have no idea how to fix this; have you tried using another loader ? Maybe hbmenu or something (the game doesn't use nitroFS, it uses EFS, but who knows...)
Thanks for reporting the problem though.

QUOTE(Sir_Voe @ Jun 2 2011, 10:29 PM) I wonder if the WiFi leaderboard would be improved by only allowing one entry per profile. For example, if I already had a high score, but bested it and went to upload the new one it would replace the existing one rather than having to flood the leaderboard every time I do better. Also, I think it would be nice if players didn't have to upload their high score right after they earn it. That way they could play while away from a hotspot, then when they get to one they could upload their top score.

Yeah, that would probably be a good idea in order not to clutter the leaderboards up (although it doesn't look like the leaderboards are going to be overflowing with new scores anytime soon

), I'll probably implement it this week end.

As for being able to upload scores later, I didn't put that in because it would make cheating way too easy. What I was thinking I could do however is allow for people to upload replay files on the website, because they contain the score and are easy to authenticate.

 

[Another World]

the game doesn't use nitroFS, it uses EFS, but who knows...)
Thanks for reporting the problem though.

I’ve never been able to load EFS Homebrew with the 3in1 inserted. Something to do with how EFS was originally designed for Slot-2 and looks to see if a Slot-2 is there. I'm sure I have that confused somewhat, but I do recall reading something along those lines. With some builds of the new3in1 (v2) hardware this problem occurs.

Now that I know its EFS I took out the 3in1 and tried again. Now I get 2 white screens, and about 20 seconds later a Guru error. Before it was instantaneous.

With HBMenu I get two white screens followed by a Guru error.

Spoiler: HBMenu Guru error

Testing with a 4th microSD card properly formatted on the Cyclods iEvo in DS-Mode on the DSL, another Guru error with the 3in1 inserted.

Spoiler

[titleS-Mode error]

The same iEvo setup without the 3in1 inserted I get two white screens for about 8-12 seconds and then the Homebrew loads.

I think the big problem is with EFS. I've never liked it, always had a problem with it, but I'll leave that up to you.

Pressing "A" on the title screen causes the title screen to show up on the top screen and then the ROM appears to reset or reload.
Holding "X" for awhile caused the game to start and then crash back to the title screen

You should consider adding a delay between the top and bottom screen. With the plastic between the screens it becomes a bit confusing when things fly to the bottom screen as if it was 1 solid screen. This works must better on emulation than actual hardware.

I am getting a lot of screen flashing, scanlines, and other graphical anomalies.

When you die and it says "continue" and counts down, it would be nice if "A" continued or if it says "Press Start to Continue". Reaching for start on the DSL is actually a bit awkward when you have been holding or pressing "A" for the last few minutes. This is a personal complaint as I never understood the need to reach for START when you are already holding a button and the game play is paused and waiting for input.

It would be nice if all the pause menus had d-pad/button combination navigation as well.

Holding down "A" after killing the first boss I can hear the audio of the gun while on the "congratulations" screen. Playing level 2 now and the shooting sound is still in the background. I clicked start over, paused/unpaused, and got killed, the sound remains. I quit the game back to the title screen and the sound still plays.

It would be nice if this screen also incorporated some d-pad/button combination navigation as well. Why force the user to touch their screen or get out the stylus if there is no need for it. These are just menus and this isn't part of the gameplay. Its cool to incorporate the touch screen, because its there, but that isn't always a good thing. I feel that in this case it isn't being used for any purpose. When you consider that the DSL is old and the stylus slot wears out, and then consider the odd placement of the 3DS stylus, finally consider that not everyone uses a screen protector and will not want to touch their screen with the acid in their finger tips.

Overall the graphics look good, music is nice, bullet math is well done, gameplay is smooth and there is a nice level of progression. I think at this point the minor bugs need to be squashed. I do wish to apologize if I am coming off a bit picky or annoying. I see a great potential in this project. I would like to see it working on all Flash Kits with the bugs addressed. You should consider using FAT or NitroFS, not for this competition but for the future of this project. EFS has failed me on so many good projects (Detective DS, Warhawk DS, AemioDA, CommanDSKeen, etc). Its not the coding that seems to be the issue but the use of EFS itself. Something to consider if that EFS will not work in DSi-Mode. I forget the specifics, I will leave that up to you, I only know from testing and reading that it will not work (Probably due to the lack of the Slot-2?).

-Another World

 

[AceKard-2i]

I just got a new Acekard using the newest AKAIO and booted this up...

 

[Sir_Voe]

A couple of problems I've encountered:

When I beat level 3 in arcade mode, and click on "next level", rather than proceeding to level 4 it repeats 3.
If I try to select level 4 outside of arcade mode, it starts but then gets a "data abort!" Guru Error once the player would normally take control of the ship. Here's an image:

Spoiler

Thanks for looking into my leaderboard suggestion, btw. If it makes the process easier, don't worry about preserving the scores I submitteed.

 

[CannonFoddr]

@ Another world: When this first came out I had same problem with GURU error on a DSTwo
(You also get it if you try running this inside 'iDeas' emulator)

For some weird reason a reformat of the MSD & installing JUST the DSTwo firmware first (then everything else) seems to cure this.
(see here and here, you can also see what GURU number I was getting here)

My personal theory is that Arsenal doesn't like the firmware/EOS to be 'fragmented' - which may happen if you update over an existing installation (of course - that's all speculation).

Also a Google for 'GURU ERROR' came up with this info, but not being a progammer etc it's got me totally confused - but if 'smealum' could put in a 'exception handler' into his code it MIGHT help find out the problem

 

[_Chaz_]

Looks better than most licensed games, great job.

 

[smealum]

Again, thanks to everyone for your support !

I think the big problem is with EFS. I've never liked it, always had a problem with it, but I'll leave that up to you.

Pressing "A" on the title screen causes the title screen to show up on the top screen and then the ROM appears to reset or reload.
Holding "X" for awhile caused the game to start and then crash back to the title screen
Yeah, those are debugging functions which I forgot to remove when I released the game... It'll be fixed in the final version.

You should consider adding a delay between the top and bottom screen. With the plastic between the screens it becomes a bit confusing when things fly to the bottom screen as if it was 1 solid screen. This works must better on emulation than actual hardware.
I already answered Rayder about this, and while I have considered it, I don't think it's such a good idea as it would create a huge blindspot... I think not having a gap does take a little getting used to but in the end it does work. Have you tried fully opening your DS in order to have both screens on the same plane ? I think it's better that way.

I am getting a lot of screen flashing, scanlines, and other graphical anomalies.
Mostly in the menus I take it ? If so, then yeah, I'm fixing that, the next version should be more polished. If it's during gameplay however, do let me know !

When you die and it says "continue" and counts down, it would be nice if "A" continued or if it says "Press Start to Continue". Reaching for start on the DSL is actually a bit awkward when you have been holding or pressing "A" for the last few minutes. This is a personal complaint as I never understood the need to reach for START when you are already holding a button and the game play is paused and waiting for input.
Well I guess I just thought it would be better not to use the same button as then you might not "continue" on purpose... But yeah, I guess adding a "press start to continue" wouldn't hurt !

Holding down "A" after killing the first boss I can hear the audio of the gun while on the "congratulations" screen. Playing level 2 now and the shooting sound is still in the background. I clicked start over, paused/unpaused, and got killed, the sound remains. I quit the game back to the title screen and the sound still plays.
Yeah, it actually also does that if you pause while you're using the laser. It's a bug I've been aware of ever since I added sound effects, and I will be fixing it, I just forgot about it... (I only need to add one line of code

)

QUOTE(Another World @ Jun 3 2011, 12:25 AM) It would be nice if this screen also incorporated some d-pad/button combination navigation as well. Why force the user to touch their screen or get out the stylus if there is no need for it. These are just menus and this isn't part of the gameplay. Its cool to incorporate the touch screen, because its there, but that isn't always a good thing. I feel that in this case it isn't being used for any purpose. When you consider that the DSL is old and the stylus slot wears out, and then consider the odd placement of the 3DS stylus, finally consider that not everyone uses a screen protector and will not want to touch their screen with the acid in their finger tips.

Again, Rayder raised the issue and I totally agree, I started working on it already and it's almost done !

QUOTE(Another World @ Jun 3 2011, 12:25 AM)

Overall the graphics look good, music is nice, bullet math is well done, gameplay is smooth and there is a nice level of progression. I think at this point the minor bugs need to be squashed. I do wish to apologize if I am coming off a bit picky or annoying. I see a great potential in this project. I would like to see it working on all Flash Kits with the bugs addressed. You should consider using FAT or NitroFS, not for this competition but for the future of this project. EFS has failed me on so many good projects (Detective DS, Warhawk DS, AemioDA, CommanDSKeen, etc). Its not the coding that seems to be the issue but the use of EFS itself. Something to consider if that EFS will not work in DSi-Mode. I forget the specifics, I will leave that up to you, I only know from testing and reading that it will not work (Probably due to the lack of the Slot-2?).

-Another World

Thanks.

And don't be sorry, you're not annoying, it's thanks to people like you that games can reach their full potential...
As for EFS, I've been thinking about making a nitroFS version, I just haven't taken the time yet. I'm sure it wouldn't require that many changes, but this close to the deadline I'm not sure I can do it in time; I think my time would be better spent adding content and killing off bugs.

But after that, yeah, I'll definitely look into it !

QUOTE(Sir_Voe @ Jun 3 2011, 05:23 AM)

A couple of problems I've encountered:

When I beat level 3 in arcade mode, and click on "next level", rather than proceeding to level 4 it repeats 3.
If I try to select level 4 outside of arcade mode, it starts but then gets a "data abort!" Guru Error once the player would normally take control of the ship. Here's an image:

Spoiler

Thanks for looking into my leaderboard suggestion, btw. If it makes the process easier, don't worry about preserving the scores I submitteed.

Concerning the level3 -> level4 transition, I know about it, but thanks for letting me know ! I just forgot to add some info in most of the levels' settings files, but I'll definitely do it for the final version.
As for the crash in level4, does it happen every time you play it, or was it just that one time ? It's working fine over here. I'll be looking into the guru data tonight though, and thanks for taking a picture !

 

[Sir_Voe]

As for the crash in level4, does it happen every time you play it, or was it just that one time ? It's working fine over here. I'll be looking into the guru data tonight though, and thanks for taking a picture !

Every time. I'll try to defrag my card later and see if that makes a difference.

UPDATE: Post defrag, I am able to control the ship for a second before the usual crash. I'll keep an eye on the FS developments here, and as a last resort I'll try formatting my card and freshly installing everything as previously suggested.