MehPong 5 (Another Game To Make).

Right, short and sweet.

I'm deeply considering making the fifth installment of MehPong, depsite the fact I claimed that the forth version, 'MehPong - Planetarion', was the final episode of the block breaking game of breakout mayhem.

The number one reason (and probably the ONLY reason) why I've put game making on the long finger, is because I'm frighteningly lacking in game resources (sounds, sprites, backgrounds etc) - MehPong 1 & 2 & 3 used up all of the resources supplied by The Games Factory, whilst MehPong - Planetarion borrrowed some of the same material and mixed them up with a million and one items I had to make myself (sounds, photoshop images, sprites etc) which is extremely time consuming and somewhat offputting when the end result (considering these were projects made for my own entertainment) is that I end up wasting my time making projects that are of no real use bar giving me something to play for ten minutes. When you make a game, you obviously know all it's secrets thus it's less entertaining for you to play then it would be for other people which, unfortunately, is something I've never bothered to change ie. get many other people to play it.

Those who know me (and my obsession with creativity) will know that I tend to leap towards making things as a means of minimising boredom, and lately I've been very bored, so I want to make another installment of MehPong (or something completely different if I can get my grubby mitts on some new ideas, but most importantly, some new material to use) so I decided to post up here.

My decision to make another game was largely made when I came across a few (yes, just a FEW) new sprites and animations which I can use to expand on the original MehPong and make more features out of it. Rather than simply edit the original (which is impossible now that I managed to lose the original source file) I decided to make one from scratch and make it far superior to the other one, as well as experiment with the idea of making this playable online with a two player feature which may be my ticket to getting others to try it out and expand it even further...

So, all of that said, I need materials. The more I get, the more willing I am to spend my time and effort on it.

Sounds, Sprites, Backgrounds, Music... ANYTHING!

Does anyone have any useful links to sites that contain (obviously copyright free) sprites such as fireballs, explosions, projectiles, magic etc etc

Also, to anyone might have bothered playing the 'Planetarion' version, I certainly wouldn't say no to some FeedBack / ideas for the next one...

Updated features will include:

*The initial SinglePlayer game being changed from the 'Planetarion' style (-- Rig up your Bat & Ball then select a level & difficulty and giving it a bash-) to a Campaign Style (To say RPG style would be funny, considering the Bat isn't nessecarily a character) which basically means that you must complete levels in order to progress through the large list of levels, gaining experience along the way and being given statistics which can be used to further upgrade your Bat & Ball (similar to the configuration supplied in 'Planetarion').

*Completely brand new statistics feature that includes 'award winning' ala BF2 (like badges, for example) which will be achieved through accomplishing certain features.

*Level Up 'paths' which you can follow (similar to 'classes' in regular RPG's) where you can select a specific 'type' of Bat & Ball to upgrade as you gain levels, allowing some features to be accessed as well as dissalowing others.

*VS mode allowing you to challenge the computer, or another player, in an additional block bashing mode.

*Online VS mode -- This is a bit iffy, as I haven't yet gained experience with putting games online... Think 'Tetrinet' and you'll get the idea... I'm thinking (if making it playable online is possible) of adding two features for it... 1) A basic mode where players can select pre-made Bat & Ball configurations (such as selecting a character in a game like StreetFighter) and going head to head and/or 2) Allowing you to use your Bat & Ball configs (the ones gained by playing the 'Campaign' mode) and taking them into battle against other online players... Problem with mode 2 is that you'd need an online gathering of players in order to make it work... Adding this feature when only a few people play it would be a very big time wasting effort.

*A system that offers tonnes of potential Level Up config types ie. giving the game some more longevity by adding a multitude of alternate features to be had by playing the campaign feature. Think of RPG characters that you just KNOW you could have improved if you had given them alternate statistics and you get what I mean... This ensures you always have a reason to play the game again, unlike Planetarion which (despite already having the ability to create a multitude of alternate configurations) is easily put down once you bash a couple of levels...

And much more...

A few websites reviewed Planetarion before and, despite being pretty good / high in that regard, they all said the one same thing -- I made a big job of 'overcomplicating' it... This won't change as I feel they meant it was overcomplicated for a breakout game, as opposed to 'overall'.

I'm very proud of the fact that I managed to make something that expands on the oldschool breakout format, without it actually being different from it, if you get what I mean.

I intend to repeat it, but some feedback from potential players would be greatly appreciated. Also, none of this will happen unless, like I said, I get some new material to use. If anyone can link me to sites that offer these things (for free - Believe me, I looked via google etc and a lot of the stuff on offer is either copyrighted or complete rubbish, or simply unusable).

Any and all help will be much appreciated.