Second Legacy

Disclaimer: this is a prototype and not a finished game by any means.

Second Legacy is a homemade vertical scrolling manic shooter, that I've been striving to infuse with my genuine love for those games. It is currently playable on Windows and OSX platforms, but ports to other operating systems may eventually happen.

Second Legacy's game design takes a lot of inspiration from masterpieces by developers such as Compile, CAVE or Treasure, but also from game franchises in completely different genres, by developers such as Platinum Games or From Software.

It currently features a score-attack-oriented gameplay and a single demo stage, with limited and over-reused graphics (a lot of sprite-based animations have yet to be created, and background elements are minimal ). Gameplay-wise, essentials are there, but there is pretty much no level design, no variety in enemy behaviors, and bullet patterns are basic at best. Music and sound are in pretty good state already, but do not qualify as final either.

Controls

The game can be played on keyboard but most gamepads should be supported and it is the recommended way to play the game, as one can benefit from analog controls for more precise manoeuvers.

If a gamepad is detected when starting the program, a configuration wizard is started and prompts you to map all the required controls on it. Otherwise you can use an XBox360 or DualShock preset, or remap the controls one by one from the options menu. Below are the keyboard controls:

• Arrow keys: fly the ark forward, backward, left or right / select options in menus
• Space: auto-fire / validate menu options
• B: shield bomb
• Left Alt: focus energy to main gun (can be combined with auto-firing)
• V: EX mode trigger
• Enter: pause / validate menu options
• Escape: pause or resume game / cancel menu options

For more detailed information about how gameplay mechanics work, please read the included Readme.md file or its online version.

Known Issues

The following is a non-exhaustive list of bugs I'm aware of or open design questions. Feel free to contact me if you encounter something amiss that does not fit any of these descriptions.

• Sometimes chain lifetime and EX forecast state are not reset on retry
• When enabled, background art can be seen through the viewport quad (the viewport quad seems to be slightly transparent somehow)
• At some point in the stage some enemies seem to appear out of thin air
• After heavy bullet cancelling, sometimes some small gold star fragments glitch out and keep flickering until collected
• During fade-to-black transitions, inputs are still validated, so for example it's possible to make the menus glitch out by quickly validating and cancelling an option
• Combo hits counter value should be maintained when killing the boss or the bounty should be obtained right when the destruction sequence begins
• Enemies should not open fire when out of the player's view on screen

Trivia

• Second Legacy is the spiritual sequel to a game that does not exist, except in the mind of those who listen to its soundtrack, called Prime Legacy.
• Second Legacy includes a classic sound test option where the special final boss track The Light Of Justice v2.0 can be heard, even though there is no final boss in the game yet!