Hi, I'm Ray. Unemployed for the longest time x- flash artist. I've decided to put some of my free time to use by making a flash game.

I'm looking to do a Western type game with a mix of elements from Castle Crashers, Sunset Riders, and Metal Slug. It will of course be a side scroller. I Just want a fun goofy game with over the top bosses, and pretty artful stages. I'm thinking things along the lines an old timey steam train mech for a boss, a giant tobacco spitting spittoon, manly salon chicks, ect.

On the NES forum I frequent there has been the thought of the stages being like jobs that Flint (the main character) signs up for, goes mad and has to eliminate all his co-workers, finally finishing off the "Boss" in the end. Going from job to job getting ticked off and killing the panty wastes. Coal miner, saloon worker, railroad worker, sherrif and so on. I'm kinda liking the idea, but I'm still open to changes.

I read in the guidelines of the forum to point a specific area I want to work on so, let's talk about a HUD. Can you all throw out some ideas for me? I'm semi satisfied with how it is now..but it does look to be lacking as well.

Thanks for any and all input!

http://megaswf.com/serve/49522/
http://megaswf.com/serve/49793/

First, looks very very cool. Can't wait to see the finished product.


As far as story, perhaps someone breaks into Flint's and steals something important to him (a lucky tobacco pipe, lucky horseshoe, or maybe something actually valuable like gold or a woman?). So, Flint, not having any real leads, charges down to the bank, rips all the Wanted posters off the wall, and goes man hunting. The idea is that one of the many bad guys on the most wanted list will have his stuff.

As for the Hud, can't say I'm a big fan of the cheese. Not even really sure what its for. Everything else looks pretty good though. I'd probably need to see more in action (ie, swapping guns, etc) before I could make any other recommendations.

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The idea is that one of the many bad guys on the most wanted list will have his stuff.

I think that is just gold in of itself lol. So insane yet also semi logical ^^

The character pictured in the post looks great but I'm also totally confused about the cheese, I'm guessing its his health (hit points) maybe its explained in the game. Ammo count will of course need to be displayed.

Do you plan on making it have depth like Castle Crashers? or strictly on a 2D plane?

Nice style. My thoughts on the HUD are that it looks good; but consider moving the important information (weapon and cheese?) closer to the middle so players don't have to exercise their eyes too much.

I agree that cheese isn't a great health indicator. Not sure I have any useful suggestions. Maybe cowboy hats? The idea being that bad guys shoot holes in your hat, and when you run out of hats they get a head shot and it's game over. But maybe that's a little ridiculous.

Thanks for the compliments!

Yeah, I really like the idea of going down to the bank and ripping off the wanted posters in a mad rage to find the "something" he's missing. That seems like a much better plot to build on. Thanks you! That starts me thinking on how you would progress from villain to villain.. but we can get to that later.

On the HUD...

The Cheese is basically just a filler for a health status. It was a suggestion over at another forum that I frequent that Flint gets "cheesed off". Some other suggestions I've considered is spaghetti, chili, hats (now) and the like. I still don't have anything that just screams out to me. Maybe a bar, or circular gauge would be better?

A bullet counter will also be added next to the weapon indicator. I'm intending to have the weapons change as you purchase or upgrade your guns. Should I keep all the info in the belt area or try to add some to the top of the screen? Perhaps add in a Score counter?

You don't want to spread important information all over the screen and make the player crosseyed. Keep it together in a convenient location (bottom centre for example). Things that you don't need to keep track of during a stand off (like score, if you were to include that) can be shifted elsewhere.

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Yeah, I really like the idea of going down to the bank and ripping off the wanted posters in a mad rage to find the "something" he's missing. That seems like a much better plot to build on. Thanks you! That starts me thinking on how you would progress from villain to villain.

What if Flint could pick up parts of posters throughout a level. When He finishes a level he can assemble them (in a kind of jigsaw puzzle). For any of the posters he has completed, he can choose to go after that boss. Each boss could also have a reward for them and this indicates how much of a reward the player will get for defeating them, but also indicate how difficult they are to defeat (and going after a high reward boss too early might mean that Flint can't defeat them). This would allow the players to choose who to go after and when.

For progressing from level to level, my idea was that, after Flint grabbed all the posters (or after he defeats a villain and finds his stuff is still missing), there would be an animation where he grabs a poster from the stack, holds it up, the camera would then zoom in on the poster, and as text gets stamped out on the screen stating the villans name, what he's wanted for, and the reward amount (with sound effects that go along with these stamps that are like bam bam bam bam bam), Flint says some sort of cheesy line like 'I will find you, and I will get my $h1t back'. He then starts with the next level.

Also, why not just have a regular HP bar like castle crashers? Don't know why it needs to be represented in cheese, chili or hats. You could then use the left side of the hud for your inventory (other guns, powerups (new boots that make you walk faster, gloves that increase your firing rate, vest that lowers damage, etc), keys, things like that).

Oh, and an idea for what gets stolen... Perhaps the villains take several items from Flint, the most precious of which is a gold locket. In all reality, Flint really doesn't care about the locket, but he does want back the picture inside that is of his departed love interest. You wouldn't have to reveal there is a picture inside until the end. The quest could appear to be about a diamond and ruby studded gold locket. Upon defeating the game, you could have a big reveal that he was once in love.

Oh, and perhaps other items get stolen. Like his lucky horseshoe, his lucky pipe, his flask, etc. When you defeat a boss, you get an item back that also serves as a power-up.

Get ready for my idea spew lol...

The idea for a sheriff badge to act as his health indicator came to me, the idea of him being the sheriff seemed lame. I thought maybe his best companion could be the sheriff who then is either killed/kidnapped or what have you, this starts the games main objective. Levels could include deputy sheriff's from other towns being held captive/killed and collecting their badges could act as a health replenisher. The badge would not have to display as a repeated image but could sustain damage (bullet holes) on the HUD, not sure how well it would translate to everyone.

If you plan to use an overhead map please attempt to mix it up with a non-linear path, the idea for collecting pieces of wanted sheets within levels could open up secret map locations for special boss fights/treasure/weapons.

I really like that so far! :) Looks like a game you would see on Miniclip.com (you just never know :P)