Idea Info Name: Gradius V Index: Primary Category: Other Submitted: 9/2/2003 12:52:13 PM Written By: error404

Gradius is and excellent game in all its forms. It is a game line spreading from the 80’s to the new millennium. If Konami wants it to go farther, they should make a few more copies. But, in the meantime, a great game to make would be a Gradius Game Maker. It would be pretty easy to do. The basic screen would look somewhat like MSWord, except instead of a document, you have a game map. First, you add terrain (if there is any), by using the land button. You can either use preset land, or design your own. To design the land, choose the land button, then click on the design button. A screen will pop up, with a large pixel black map. Just make a repeating pattern, and press ok. It will be added to the land bmp file. Once its there, you can open it via the open button, and choose it. To make odd shaped land, you use the map square. Click on the map square button once you have a terrain design designated, and choose a direction (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal), and then click on the map. After that, you have to add enemies. Click on the enemy button to add an enemy to the map. Click on it while its on the map to change its settings. You can have it firing or not firing, and you can add its behavior with a simple code. The first digit is 0 or 1 (firing or not firing), the second digit is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 (standstill, forward, zig-zag along the screen, go toward player, move away from player, or random), and the third digit is 0, 1, 2, or 3 (slow, medium, fast, faster). All crafts have a letter code, so if you wanted a craft that fired, zig-zagged, and was slow, and the code was ACB, in total the code would be ACB020. Each ship has a preset of the three digits, which you can change. To make an enemy, do the same thing as what you did with terrain. Click on the enemy button, then the design button. A large black pixel map will appear. In it, you can create a new one or modify an older one. The side will have 8 arrows, one with each direction on it (up, down, left, right, upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right). Click on it and make a picture of a ship going in that direction. Once that’s done, click ok and your project is saved to the enemy bmp file. If you want to modify an old one, just open an old one and change it. After making different levels in each fashion, just go to the starting screen and click the ‘make game’ button. All you have to do is add script to the beginning and the end, and make the levels in between. Then name your game and save it. Easy as that! The best part is that you can share games with your friends, and make an entirely new Gradius saga.