Contra Hard Corps (a platformer with guns)

I made a level! Or more likely a homage to the genesis version of Contra hard corps:

Contra Hard Corps

In this level you will find:

-a completely different handling sackbot, with higher (double) jumps, dashes, bullet-blocks and GUNS.
-two bosses with random attacks and two minibosses and a LOT of enemies coming from all sides. (well, left and right...)
-powerups and weapon selection!
-DEATH
-DESTRUCTION
-UNLIMITED CONTINUES (yay!!!:D) which resets score (boooooh!:'()
-and a handy dandy tutorial to help you with NOT using any continues.

and here are some pictures:

http://i6.lbp.me/img/fl/3d68afbc120a...c74c863ed3.jpg
There goes the neighboorhood...

http://if.lbp.me/img/fl/32f031b4d186...ecc924a3c0.jpg
Some big robotic-bugs will stand in the way...

http://i8.lbp.me/img/fl/6d8667a9ddaf...e0e17b93e5.jpg
Have at you!

http://i2.lbp.me/img/fl/5823af5464c3...a9fca9876b.jpg
Who needs stairs when you have buildings!

http://i2.lbp.me/img/fl/d42807aee577...e86855a2cf.jpg
He's got a bigger gun!

http://i4.lbp.me/img/fl/eb4d7ce3fbbe...d5471344c0.jpg
Stop throwing CARS and fight like a man!!!

http://ia.lbp.me/img/fl/33ad33b8cfc7...92fbb07c0f.jpg
Go back to throwing cars! Go back to throwing cars!!!

http://lbp.me/v/ycn4y7

Really cool level! Nice work on the centipede (..?..first boss!) and the grasshopper.
Didn´t get much farther. The bosses are a bit unfair... at least I think that you cannot actually stand some of their attacks so it´s kind of a certain thing that you lose one or two lives fighting them. There seem to be slight inaccuracies to the aiming and shooting controls, like emitter not responding when enemy too close and directional inaccuracy.

I liked the simplistic level design. It pretty much resembles the level design of the classic contra (or probotector as it was called over here) series. It´s simplistic but beautifully done...

What needs to be done is a redesign of the enemy sackbots. They looked kind of cheap too me especially compared to the well designed boss enemys.I haven´t been working with sackbots myself too much yet, so I´m not sure whether the following suggestion would work, but here I go:
Maybe instead of having hazardous plasma enemys you should add collision sensors to the player sackbot which are marker activated. Put the corresponding marker on the enemy sackbot and make the collision sensor kill the player sackbot. I think that way you could make some cool looking enemy sackbots without a plasma aura.
If this works, it should work the other way round aswell, meaning that you could give the player non-hazardous (non-plasma) projectile weapons with a marker on them, the corresponding collision sensor on the sackbot would kill the sackbot. This would allow you to give the player a repertoir of bullet or laser weapons without the need to make the projectile itself a hazardous object.... you get the idea?

Anyway, you need to work on the HUD aswell; at first it was a bit confusing to me to switch through weapon upgrades that I hadn´t collected. You should only be able to see and toggle through weapons that you have actually collected. Otherwise the player asks himself what´s the difference, if he´s only equipped with the basic weapon.

Edit: Something that adds to the difficulty of the level aswell is that the sackbot jumps differently than the usual sackboy. It´s a bit difficult to get comfortable with the controls if you have something that looks like a sackboy but jumps differently. Not sure if it´s essential to the gameplay, but if not, I would go with the normal sackboy movement and jump behavior... at least I couldn´t profit too much from the different jump behavior... it always felt somehow strange, unused to, unpredictable and difficult to control to me.
Good level, with the potential to be excellent... hearted it anyway.

Thank you for a very nice review!

Bosstroubles:
For the first boss: I recommend running between its legs, or jump and use the block button. This one should be easy.
For the second boss: use the dash and your block! Dont forget you can block red bullets with 'o' and jump dash to avoid his walking jumps. You can also use the flamethrower to destroy any red bullets that comes your way. I always kill him without getting killed but it might take some getting used to the controlls for that.
For the third boss: aha not gonna tell yet ;) Just keep in mind you dont have to kill him to proceed. This one is not that hard.
The fourth boss: GOOD LUCK for this guy is HUGE! Shoot the eye when he is close, but dodgde everything he throws at you when he is in the back. Watch the arms to see which one is going to shoot at you.

Sackbots:
These were the first thing I made for LBP2 ever. I gave them the plasma glow to make them stand out, so you could see them easily. I could remove it and give them another suit. I'll look into it. Thanks for the advice about touching to kill! The second boss works that way, becoming a plasma danger the moment you touch him.

Good idea on the weapon select. I'll look into that!

As for the bullets, I figured since the creatinator has the same problem: not emitting when something is in front it, I would not adress the problem, but creating my own type of bullets could be interesting to do. I thought it was a thing I would do for the next level, but hell, why not try it in this one. That way I can remove the shield around the player which protects him from harm from its own bullets.

Again, thank you for the review and you made some great points!

Right, you mentioned something about blocking abilitys... I admit, I didn´t do the controls tutorial and played right away, thus not using any kind of special ability... As a result my review on the boss fights might not be appropriate. I´ll try it again later with proper preparation. So far, thanks for this great shooter!

Good luck! I noticed you talked about the speed and jumps alteration:

I always hated the floatiness and little jump of Sackboy. This way its closer to the actual controlls of a Contra game. You can jump over enemies and have a higer chance of dodging bullets thx to the second jump.
Its also vital for surviving the big blasts of the third boss.
You will need the speedboost for the bosses and tight spots.
Probably takes some getting used to.

I fixed a bug with the tutorial. When you die in the tunnle bit you could not respawn because the wall is in the way. Removed the wall and added the hint about how you gain lives when your score is above a certain amount. Finetuned the last boss so he has a little less health. I'm still working on a checkpoint and a redesign of the sackbots, together with a different bullet system. Everything works just fine as it is now, but I like giving it a new style. Means I have to iron out a few bugs in the new gunsystem before I can reupload the level again.
Hope yáll keep on trying to complete it: noticed I'm still the only one on the scoreboard!

bug: the car killed me o.O for nothing... squeeze death... dunno why...
second bug: i was not able to leave the tutorial... dunno why o.o nothing worked

other than that it looks like a lot action! cool!
but needs a little bit more work on controlls.
as well the text is very small but thats my own fault if i don't use a HD tv :) so thats not your problem!
well. keep it up!

short f4f? thanks :) here plz: http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/sho...lish-german%29 thank you!

Thx for the report!

What car are you talking about? The first one? Front or the back? Could you tell me what happened?
The last boss throws cars which should kill you.
Could you be a little more precise whats wrong with the controlls? Maybe I can fix it. Weird the box did not transport you. All three have the same script in them. Though I did notice sometimes you have to wait for the level to load.

EDIT: added you level to my que!

well all cars, even the "friendly" ones o.o (all red ones)

Gonna hump me some cars tonight to see if I can recreate your death. ;)

They can kill you if enemies push them. But most of the time they rather jump over them.

it happened 3 times in a row but nvm x3 maybe it was just bad luck (normal lbp bugs for getting squeezed)

Nope it happened to me too every time i tried to push against the front of the cars. I removed a sharp edge just above the headlight which was causing the death.
Thx for the catch. Usually, by the time I'm close to a car I already shot it to bits, so good find! Fixed it!

Fun level. Loved the weapons upgrades. Very Conta like.

I really don't have any real recommendations for improvements. Helpful tutorial, and fun gameplay. What more could you want?

Go give this a try people. It's fun. :)

Thank you the kind words!

I've updated again. Giving the player one more life and made a decent Game Over screen to boot. Hope someone manages to finish it now :)

F4F YES
4/5 Very fun and challenging. I hearted it and can't wait to come back and beat it on my next playthrough.

Thx for the 4/5, any tips for approving it to a 5/5?

How far did ya get?

Got any levels I can test for you?

Added some pictures to the OP:

PICTURES:

http://ia.lbp.me/img/fl/b4a53dd4c0e9...e22340a30c.jpg

http://i9.lbp.me/img/fl/139c9a66a888...d32e8b2922.jpg

http://i7.lbp.me/img/fl/75702afb92b2...b1d7650b16.jpg

http://i8.lbp.me/img/fl/b38289acb46e...224c2fee19.jpg

http://i4.lbp.me/img/fl/7048876af06a...3838dc969c.jpg

http://ia.lbp.me/img/fl/ffa75c89b87b...1364687765.jpg

http://i2.lbp.me/img/fl/d42807aee577...e86855a2cf.jpg

http://i8.lbp.me/img/fl/e88de990311e...892a4abd01.jpg

http://if.lbp.me/img/fl/32f031b4d186...ecc924a3c0.jpg

http://i6.lbp.me/img/fl/986c164686ea...30adc5244d.jpg

Great,another sackbot user brother!

Finished it,1st on ranking! Basically to reach the finish we are just me and you as now :p

Extremely nice retro feeling,great sub boss logic and even better boss logic
Frenetic action but more important GREAT learning curve (is correct on english?),every time i get a lil bit more far, every play i understand something new to go forward losing less lifes or wich weapon is more usefull!

Only two things that i may say you

Button config: i will find it more natural in that way: square-dash left / triangle-absorb / circle-dash right

walking speed: is absolutely NOT your fault,but LBP physic is weird,with a sackbot so fast(set on 150%?) sometimes is really hard be precise.... maybe slow down a lil bit OR add a lil bit of gravity (i did the second in my level) may help to make it more solid/controllable

Really appreciated this one(i've played i think 10 times in a row), i will play it again to improve my highscore!




For F4F try this
http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/sho...-Vagrant-sword
Is an old style adventure where 1 error is game over,and play after play you get better and go more far :p
You control a sackbot that can do sword attack and roll/dash, on the thread you read controls and all!

Great Scott, someone FINALLY made it. I saw it took you 16 tries BUT you beat my highscore. Very nice! Kudo's to you, good sir! Thx for a great review. I'm currently deciding if I take a break from contra and create an R-type level or do the next level; for this and insert a new bulletssystem.
Gonna take your advice about sackboys walkingspeed and try to make it a tad less sensitive Its done with a mover so its easy to adjust. Controllwise I dont know yet. Gonna try it on my moon to see what I like it more. I think it depends on ones mindset.

Got your level queued but I probably have to wait till to tomorrow night before I can play it.

I've played again,this level never bored me!

New record: 1290! :p

One suggestion: maybe set a precise limit to enemies emitter basically you can do infinite points in some points just staying and killing the blue neon sackbots

Again good job!