Elemental Havoc

6/13/12  7:08 PM EST

Hello, I am a video game programmer and thank you for taking an interest in my upcoming independent game "Elemental Havoc". Elemental Havoc is a 2D platformer similar to Mega Man, with a few major differences being that the stages are in a certain order, there are no weaknesses, and each boss is a test of skill. It also has achievements and a fairly decent story mode, where Andy, the main character, must stop the element rulers because the main villain, the electrician, has gained control of them. It is still in the beta stages so I'm using altered sprites until I can make my own. I hope you will continue to show intrest the project.

6/15/12 5:56 PM EST

This is terrible! My laptop was stolen and it had Elemental Havoc on it. I was at the library, which is where I always go to clear my mind, and it must have gotten stolen when I left to use the bathroom. I've called the cops, all I can do now is hope they catch the guy.

6/20/12 2:30 PM EST

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that they have found my laptop, but the bad news is that they have to keep it for a few days to use it as evidence in the guy’s trial. I'll get it back afterwards.

6/24/12 10:40 PM EST

The strangest thing happened when I went to get my laptop back from the police. When I got there I learned that the thief was Frank, a former friend who had been helping me with Elemental Havoc, but I kicked him off the project when he tried to take complete control of it. He told me to "Have fun.”  I'm certian he did something to my laptop, but I'll check it in the morning.

6/25/12 3:06 AM EST

I couldn’t sleep. My mind kept wondering what he meant by "Have fun" so I decided to check it out. I logged in and looked around my laptop, but everything looked to be normal. All my pictures and various programs appeared to be in tact. Then a thought came to me "what if he changed the game?" which at first I thought was ridiculous, but my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to check it out. When I clicked on it a box came up that said "Once started, this game can NOT be closed until you have beaten it. Do you wish to continue? Yes/No" I clicked yes, preparing for the worst and quietly cursing under my breath. The title screen popped up and it looked normal. The main character, Andy, ran in,  jumped in the air  and then ran off screen. I figure that Frank must have just put a lock on the game so I can't close it until I have won. To see how far he went with the lock I shut the laptop down. I'm going to go to bed before I boot it back up, I'm exhausted.

6/26/12 5:12 PM EST

Just as I thought. I went to start up my laptop so I could work on Elemental Havoc some more, but after it started up a message came up saying "A God shouldn’t abandon his children." with the only option being OK. After I clicked it the game started back up and went right back to the title screen. I was a bit creeped out but decided to finally play the game to see what Frank had changed. I hit the enter key and started the game. The first stage appeared as it normally would. It is a rather mountainous level as this levels boss is the ruler of a mountain kingdom. The only difference I noticed was that my health bar and special bar were now 1 bar, rather than 2 separate bars. Despite that I cleared the level without taking any damage and beat the boss with no problem.

But when the boss spoke, all that came up was "Why?" (he is supposed to say "Thanks for freeing me. The next ruler is in a fortified electrical plant. Good luck my friend") and the ruler of the mountains just collapsed to the ground.



An achievement popped up that said: Filicide, First account. The victory theme played and Andy left the level.

I have no idea what that achievement meant, but since the end term is "cide" I can only assume it is a subcategory of homicide. I'll post more as I play through the rest of the game.

6/26/12 6:03 PM EST Since my last post I have cleared roughly half the game and... It’s not going well. I appeared in the next level, the previously mentioned electrical plant. Again I cleared the level with no problem but I did take a few hits from the boss. I beat her of course, and again the text was different. Instead of saying "That was a weird dream. The next ruler should be in the arctic. Have fun!" she said "Don't you love us any more?” Another achievement popped up that said: Filicide, second account. When I appeared in the next level I was surprised to see that the damage I took from the last level hadn’t been healed. "I have to do this on one life?" I thought (you only have one life to start with, but can pick up extra lives if you explore the levels enough). I managed to get halfway through the level before I noticed that all the hazards I had placed in this level that involved earth or electricity were gone. I pushed through and again fought the boss. And when I beat her she said "You should... be protecting us..." and then another achievement popped up: Filicide, third account. I'm starting to get a head ache, so I'll finish the game tomorrow.

6/27/12 7:01 AM EST

I finished the game today; I really wish I hadn’t though. Everything went about what you would expect it to.

Get to a level, all hazards related to any previously fought boss are no where to be seen, beat the boss, disheartening message, Filicide achievement. Speaking of which, I looked up what "Filicide" meant. "The act of killing ones child" is more or less what it means. "Killing? Wait they don’t mean..." I minimized the game and checked the games data on the previously beaten bosses. Gone. All of it from their sprites to their dialogue, gone. When I went back to the game I got another achievement. "What has been lost cannot be regained”. I was furious, but decided that since I was at the last level I should finish it, hoping that once I beat it everything would be fixed. I was very low on health how ever and at this point Andy appeared to be limping. Despite this I pushed on and made it to the point where you had to use your 3rd special ability to cross an otherwise impassable gap. I went pale when I relized that this would be suicide in Andy’s current state. However since I can't exit out of the game until it is over I did it. I watched his health drop, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 1%, and right when he made it the ledge it hit 0%. Then Andy collapsed, which isn’t his normal death animation, he normally spins and falls backwards. The game over screen popped up and the last achievement was unlocked. "You're not our god". After that the game closed and I checked the games data. All that was left was the final stage and the Electricians sprites. I checked to see if any other changes had been implemented on my laptop and found a picture of a grim version of the electrician laughing with the words "Our God is Dead" under it.

6/28/12 5:00 PM EST

I'm sorry to say this but Elemental Havoc has been cancelled. I may work on this again some day, but for now it’s cancelled indefinitely.