Sumash

Sumash is a very incomplete and buggy start towards the 1982 smash hit game SHAMUS, by Cathryn Mataga. I'm doing this fan-inspired version with the hope of getting something reasonable working.

All drones/droids now move. Spiral drones shoot, and have great aim, so be careful.

Keys can now all be picked up and when you find the matching lock, they'll unlock the electrified fence of the same colour. Keys and locks now show in the bottom HUD. If you have picked up a key, but not unlocked the same coloured lock, it will show the key. If you have both a blue key and you've unlocked the blue lock, only the blue lock will show (to indicate the lock has been triggered). If you grab a blue key and try to unlock the green lock, nothing will happen, you keep the blue key, but the green lock doesn't get unlocked.

 The mystery treasure (purple ?) has 3 results: points, more points, or an extra life. In the future it has a chance to also trigger the "invincible" shadow, an enemy you'll only be able to stun.

In the original game there are 3 levels. Currently, Sumash only has 1 level. Once you reach the end the victory condition triggers. For now, I have a bad looking "winner" screen. This will change soon. Other mechanics are a bit more important at the moment. 

10/19/2027 - Added screen flash when player dies, and death sound now applies for all player deaths (previously just walking into the walls).

Here's what is on the horizon:

* 8 directional shooting for the player. Currently the player can only shoot up, down, left and right. This gives the spiral drones an unfair advantage, they can shoot in any direction. (done)

* Snap Droids are getting a slight movement change to make them more dangerous. Snap Droids are the slowest moving droids, but also worth the most points. They should be a bit more dangerous. They still won't be able to fire, but their movement will be a bit more random/erratic. (done)

* Sound effects & Music - currently the only sound effect in the game happens when you first approach one of the electric fences (the lightning-looking fences). The game is rather boring without sound effects or music. One of the great things about Shamus was the choice of music and the old 8-bit sounds. (partially done)

* The black level needs more enemies and bonuses. Right now I've left large amounts of the black level empty for play-testing purposes. Now that most of the general mechanics are done it's just about time to populate those areas.

* Quit/Restart the game

* High Score saving

* Simple menu system

Further in the future

After these things are implemented the next steps will be: adding the shadow, adding the other levels.

Configuration menu that lets you adjust game resolution.