The old Charas Breakout DX+

[GaryCXJk]

So, a few months ago I decided to pick up an old project. Unfortunately due to some circumstances I lost the source of the game (the hard drive for some reason refused to work anymore, and the latest backup I have was from before I even started expanding on it), so I won't be working on this version anymore. I might as well just recode everything and all.

But anyway, here I want to show you guys what I have been working on, and what's new about it.

Charas Breakout DX+

As you can see it has some nice new features which I actually forgot what they were. Anyway, all cheats from the original still work in this version.

If I'll be remaking Charas Breakout DX+, I'll be making it from scratch, seeing as this version was horribly unoptimized.

Features that were planned:

• More boss enemies;
• More characters;
• Game modes, although no story mode;
• Mutators / modifiers which affect both gameplay and score;
• Custom characters;
• Replays;
• Online hi-scores would be removed, instead hi-scores would be saved locally and transferable through codes;
• Revamped trophy screen;
• Saving (so you could quit halfway);
• Alternate costumes.

So, let's hope I can bring it up again to work on a new version.

[SaiKar]

Neat. Music and better backgrounds and some flashing pirates on left side for no apparent reason.

Still don't understand why 3/4 of the "power ups" actually hurt you, or why I'm male, but s'cool.

I'm willing to bet that very few people around here, if anyone, remembers why bitmaps are efil.


Edit: eehh, after playing it a little bit you've made it far less playable now. The larger "paddle" size with the chests makes it nearly impossible to dodge those f'ing awful high and low gravity powerups, especially at the beginning, so I have to keep dropping the helmet intentionally to clear that crap off. Not so cool. Also, I forgot how aggravatingly impossible it was to play my character since I can't even hit the top row.

[GaryCXJk]

Yeah, I wanted to rebalance everything, but the hard drive crashed. The larger paddle size was the result of wanting to implement hardcore mode, which removes the chests.

Also, there IS a female version in this one still. Since I'm still not sure what gender you are.

Just so you know, the cheat to (temporarily) unlock all characters is typing allmychar during character selection. This has to be done slowly so that all keys are being recognized.

[Archem]

The Y dropped its tail and he ended up with a V. True story.

[Prpl_Mage]

Ah love this game, great way to waste some time.
Some thoughts;
there are scrolling pirates at the left side of the screen
The background during sprite levels is shifting through all backgrounds at the same time. Not sure if this was the plan.
Is it possible to reduce the effect of that low gravity helmet? I'm playing my char and the helmet goes missing for an hour or so above the screen? Love the demon speed and high gravity though.
You got some cool features in this one.
Also, I end up getting dead at the pirate level, those darn cannonballs are near impossible to dodge and leaves me paralysed. Works fine when the ball is just bouncing above me but then comes the linedancing pirates and bulldoze over the helm.

Still a great game and still enjoyable!

[GaryCXJk]

If I manage to retrieve the data from the hard drive, I might get around to fix all that. But, like I said, I might as well just start from scratch.

Some other features I might implement:

Per-level switching of powerups
Switching off powerups will give you the option to either modify the time or score. Switching off good powerups will either add time or increase the score multiplier, while switching off bad powerups will do the opposite.

Fusing powerups
I'm not entirely sure if this one will be added, but fusing powerups will allow you to create new powerups. The way it works is simple. The game records how many times a powerup has been collected, and if you collect enough powerups, you are able to use it as a fusion ingredient. Some fusions will combine effects, while other will create entirely new effects, some effects which would otherwise only be character specific.

Special powers
A feature I really want to add. Each character has a special attack which will effect the stage. Some special powers also have added effects to certain types of blocks, which brings me to...

Bricks
Instead of using the bitmap thing again, I might just switch to regular bricks. I'm not sure if I should use time limits again, but that was what made Charas Breakout what it was, so that won't go. Bitmaps will be gone though, or at least they will be gone in the way they're implemented at the moment. Also...

Sidescrolling type gameplay
Right now the screen is fixed on a fixed point. However, it would be fun if the camera would scroll with the ball, at least vertical. Horizontal movement however isn't out of the question.

I might have other ideas I missed, though.

[Moosetroop11]

Ahhh, nostalgic.

And I'm pretty sure I remember why bitmaps are efil, Sai.

[Archem]

V. It's a tail-less Y. It's the top half of an X. It's the perfect half-way point to make this confusing mess work.

V.

[Archem]

See what I mean?

[SaiKar]

Six years later, my gender can still hijack any given topic.

[Brieg]

Oh I remember this. Super fun.

[GaryCXJk]

Hehe, awesome, Brieg. You'll be in the next iteration of a Charas project I make, just because of that.

EDIT: By the way, powerups would have been renamed "buffs" in the update. Would make more sense that way.

[Brieg]

Instead of chests to increase the paddles, you should have other Charas members come and stand next to you. Like as power ups. And they should be able to be knocked off.

[Prpl_Mage]

Or you could add shields or weapons or something beside the character instead of chests. You'll increase the paddle size a little but not too much.

[GaryCXJk]

I picked chests because they're neutral, and I could place them as close to the character as possible. Also, the chests only appeared in easy mode.