Name : Nebulus
Type : ShootemUp
Engine : RPGMaker2000
Content : 15 stages + Boss stages
File Size : 10 MB
Needed Files : Standard RM2K RTP
Note : uses Inelukis Keypatch (doesn't need to be installed)

The Game:


Nebulus is a sidescrolling underwater Shooter.
After the game intro (which can be skipped if you like – it's 10 minutes) you control the character Pogo. There are no enemies in the overworld. From here you can enter the different stages of the game.
The 15 stages of nebulus are divided into 5 areas, which have different colors : yellow – green – red – blue and purple.
Starting right in front of Lukis laboratory you should head left up through the yellow gate. The yellow area is the only open one at the beginning of the game.



You are now in the warproom of the yellow area. Each warproom has 4 warpgates. 3 gates lead to a stage, the 4th gate with big crystal blocks in front of it is the boss gate, which has to be unlocked first. An important rule for all gates in Nebulus: Icons on a gate show what is needed to open this door. Icons on the left or right of a gate are a status display for this level.
You can play the stages of an area in any order you want. To enter a stage, simply go through its gate and you will be teleported with your submarine into the stage.

The Stages:


The controls are easy: use the keys up, down, left, right or W A S D to move the submarine. Thanks to Inelukis keypatch you can also move diagonally. Using Space or Return you can fire a torpedo, which has a 1 second cooldown. If the torpedo detonates, you can shoot a new one instantly.
In the upper left corner of the screen is your life display. If you hit a wall or an enemy, you lose a life and you will respawn at the last checkpoint as long as you have lifes left.



If you collect an extra life (A) you can get up to 9 lifes. If your life counter reaches 0, you will be teleported out of the stage. There is no game over screen, you just have to try the stage again. Your lifes will then be restocked to the minimum of 3. Additional collected lifes can be carried over to the next stage.
In the upper left corner of the screen you see the level score. You get 5 points for each shot enemy.
If you pick up an item, it will be displayed in the upper middle of the screen for a short time.
In most sidescrolling shooters you just have to make your way through the enemies and reach the stage end. In Nebulus you have to collect different items to gain access to the higher areas and bosses.
In each stage there are 16 crystals (B) – 10 yellow, 5 red and 1 green crystal – and 5 cages with trapped nebula. When you reach the exit of a stage, depending on the collected items and if you have reached a minimum score, a rating for the stage is calculated ranging from 0% to 100%. The rating decides how many coins you get for the completed stage:
0-29% = no coin
30-59% = 1 coin
60-99% = 2 coins
100% = 3 coins
These coins are used to open the boss gate of the area.



In the yellow, red and green areas you can find a key (D) in each stage. You need 3 keys of the same color to open a new gate on the overworld and access a new area.
The purple keys are special. There is no purple warproom. The entries to the purple stages can be opened using a single purple key. You have to find out yourself how to get them. There is more to explore in the overworld, just take a look around.

Bosses:


Each area boss has 3 phases, equal to 3 difficulties. To open a bossgate you need an amount of coins of the area color. To access phase 1 you need 3 coins, for phase 2 you need 6 coins and for phase 3 you have to get all 9 coins first. For each completed phase you get a boss gem. These gems are needed to open the switch doors and to access the final boss.

The switch doors:
When you play a stage, you will notice some ways are blocked by colored cubes with Pogo faces on them. To remove this cubes you need to find the switch rooms. You need a bossgem of the fitting color to enter these rooms. Inside you can deactivate the cubes of one color. Doing that will open new ways in already completed stages.

Rare Enemies:
Each stage has a chance to reveal a rare enemy. Its appearance is different to the other enemies in that stage and it will allways drop an extra life. If you collect it, the stage will be marked with a four leaf clover.

Achievments:
At the end of a stage you can get one or more trophy plates. To get a plate you have to reach special goals like for example kill a certain amount of enemies.
The more nebula cages you collect, the more NPCs will appear in the overworld. These NPCs will give you hints about how to get the different trophy plates. In the back of Lukis laboratory you can find the trophy room, in which you can check your achievments.

Mainmenu:


To access it, press Escape while in the overworld.
In the mainmenu you have a detailed progress display. You can also save your game here, look at the credits, listen to the used music tracks and adjust some settings in the options submenu. You can disable effects from here for example or change the HUD. The displays for lifes, score and pickups can be disabled and even moved using the „place“ button.

Performance Hints:
RPGMaker 2000 is obviously not made for shooters. Although I tried to optimize the game, tests have shown, that it doesn't run smoothly on all computers with all details activated.
If you encounter problems like laggy scrolling or slowdowns, go to the options menu - page 5 level of detail settings and change them to low. This will split the stages into two parts and disable decorating events, lowering the total amount of active events. You can do this for all stages or only for those, you have performance problems.

Final Note:
Although this game is complete, all comments and suggestions are welcome, as I am currently working on the sequel "Aqua Nebulon".