Quasarian

Description

As I put to myself in my project notes, Quasarian is an "Epic Star Control II style RPG bullet-hell shmup game YEAHHHH!!!"

Starting off of the base code structure from GrazerFighter, I'm developing a sort of space RPG/shmup hybrid game. Basically, you "walk" your ship around the space overworld, engage in conversations with alien races, buy weapons and items, and then when it comes time to engage in battle, you get bullet-hell shmup-style gameplay.

Progress

2/13/2013 - This project has been put on indefinite hold. =(

Development Screenshots

The (placeholder?) title screen.

Difficulty selection. I made 5 different difficulties, since I wanted to cater to both bullet hell fanatics and beginners as well.

The overworld screen. The white shape you see is a placeholder graphic for a starbase shop.

A conversation with an enemy ship. Yes, this is a placeholder graphic.

A battle scene. This is where all of the action happens!

Buying weapons from a starbase.

The inventory screen.

The after-battle popup shows all of the stats you would ever want to know!

A different bullet pattern - this time in Insane mode. Also note the fading blue circle around the ship--that's the invincibility shield that appears to guard you temporarily after you lose a life.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When will Quasarian be completed?

A: No idea. =D Progress has been good, but I'm not even close to any sort of completion, so don't hold your breath anytime soon.

Q: What language is Quasarian being developed in?

A: Quasarian is being programmed in C#, using Microsoft's XNA Game Studio, developed using Visual Studio 2010.

Q: Will Quasarian be cross-platform?

A: Unfortunately, no. Since I'm using XNA, I'm locked into Microsoft's frameworks and thus you won't see a release for Linux or OSX. I might see if it'll run under Wine, though.

Q: What are the main inspirations for Quasarian?

A: The bullet-hell shmup portion of the game is largely inspired by the Touhou series, and the concept of going around and talking to different alien races is largely inspired by Star Control 2.

Q: Why "Quasarian"?

A: It's actually just a placeholder name because "Quasar" is a spacey-sounding term that sounds cool. I'll have to think of a plot before I actually finalize the title.

Q: How are you making the graphics, music, and sounds?

A: The artwork is pixel art done in GIMP, and the audio is done using FL Studio.

Q: Is the source code available?

A: At this time I don't have any plans to make Quasarian an open-source project.