Eigengrau

Colorful shoot 'em up with varied and diverse gameplay beyond the familiar shooting and dodging · By Martin Mauersics

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Frequently Asked Questions Sticky

A topic by Martin Mauersics created Aug 04, 2023 Views: 394 Replies: 3

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Martin MauersicsDeveloper1 year ago (39 edits)

Some questions are marked as SPOILER. It is recommended to reach Area 8 before looking at the answers.

GENERAL

What does Eigengrau mean?

German for “Intrinsic Gray” or “Own Gray”. It’s the color you see in the absence of any external visual stimulus. I think the name works well with the theme, the conflict between color and darkness, and the search for yourself.

How does the scoring work?

Regular Stage
Here the score multiplier increases every time you destroy regular enemies or you interact with certain gimmicks (combo). The combo resets when the time runs out or you take damage. You also receive a small combo bonus based on the multiplier you have when finishing the stage.

Boss Stage
Here the score multiplier depends on the current health of the boss enemy. You accumulate score by doing damage (chain), and if the time runs out or you take damage the chain is multiplied and added to your total score. The final chain will always be added with the highest score multiplier.

Time Bonus
You get additional time for obtaining badges (stars), and penalty time for taking damage. This affects the amount of time bonus and the medal you receive at the end of each stage.

Medal Bonus
This completion bonus is awarded after each area and depends on all the medals you received.

Evasion Bonus
This completion bonus is awarded after each area and depends on the amount of damage you took. (regardless of your shield)

How does the shield work?

The optional shield is on-top of your normal health and will not affect your score or time (in any way). It is like a per-player assist-mode and can help you if you struggle with some of the gameplay.

A value of 20 is a good default if you don’t have much experience with shoot ’em ups but still want a moderate challenge.

The shield regenerates a bit after each stage and in certain situations.

What do the area names mean? (SPOILER)

All the area names are from Latin, except for the underwater area Nevo which is a made-up word based on Captain Nemo.

The volcano area Gelu and snow area Calor have their names swapped. Originally they were alternate routes, and when I made them sequential I accidentally mixed up their names. I decided to keep it that way, as I found it more interesting.

0. Intro:    to enter
1. Virido:   green
2. Nevo:     -
3. Harena:   sand
4. Rutilus:  red
5. Gelu:     cold
6. Calor:    heat
7. Muscus:   moss
8. Ater:     darkness

What do the boss names mean? (SPOILER)

Shinai
A Japanese bamboo sword used in kendo.

Torus
A geometric shape. The oldest boss in the game.

Leviathan
The mythological sea monster. (the dragon)

Tiger MK-III
From the German idiom “den Tiger im Tank haben” (having the tiger in the tank = to drive fast). This is the third version of the game and boss. (the tiger)

Messier 87
One of the largest and most massive galaxies in the local universe, named after Charles Messier.

Chol
The Hebrew word for sand or phoenix. (the bird)

Zeroth
Preceding the first. Originally this boss should not reveal his real name and always show random text instead, but that would have caused too many issues. (the tortoise)

Dharuk
The Australian Aboriginal language.

Nagual
A Mesoamerican shapeshifter. This boss is still named Geminga in code (a star in the Gemini constellation), and Amemasu in data (from Ainu mythology). It changed a lot during development.

Is there a typo in WARNUNG?

No, this is German for WARNING!

What are those little drones I see all the time?

Some of them help you, some obstruct you, some are relevant for trophies or badges. Each one of them represents a specific color: yellow, orange, red, magenta, purple, blue, cyan, green.

They were inspired by the small drone from the MegaDrive/Genesis version of Toaplan’s Hellfire. I always called them “helpers” and so I kept that name in the game.

TECHNICAL

Where can I find my savegame, config file and replays?

Windows:  %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Roaming/Eigengrau/
Linux:    ~/.local/share/Eigengrau/
macOS:    ~/Library/Application Support/Eigengrau/

What game engine was this game made with?

A custom open-source C++ engine based on the SDL library. You can find the engine on Github and Gitlab if you are interested, but it is missing a couple of private changes required for Eigengrau.

Can I look at the source code of the game?

Yes, most of the code and design-documents are public and open-source and can be found on GitHub and GitLab. This does not include proprietary assets, confidential APIs, private keys or anything similar.

Can I mod this game?

Yes, this game is moddable to some extend.

All non-proprietary assets like textures, sounds, and shaders are directly accessible and can be replaced or modified. They are either creative commons or public domain. You can find more information in the accompanying credits.txt file.

Proprietary assets are in the pack-files and can be overridden by placing files with the exact same path into the data-folder. The paths can be extracted from the pack-files.

Gameplay code and parameters cannot be modified (easily) at the moment without rebuilding the executable, but I’m happy to answer any technical questions.

OTHER

Why is there a password feature? (SPOILER)

The password feature was originally a test for the text-input screen, but I kept it in the finished game for nostalgic reasons.

Here you can find some valid passwords, you can use them if you are not a fan of unlockables:

SELADON:    Play as a mysterious ship
ZINNOBER:   Obtain all stages **
INDIGO:     Obtain all fragments and get access to the true last boss **
GAMBOGE:    Unlock Power Shield
SAFRAN:     Unlock Mirror Mode
FUCHSIN:    Unlock Super Speed
ISABELLINE: Unlock Jukebox
MAUVE:      Unlock Pulse Cannon
JADE:       Unlock Wave Mortar
OBSIDIAN:   Reset all unlocks and re-unlock them based on real conditions
SEPIA:      Reset all story events and replay the intro
            (does NOT delete your progress)

** This will change your save-game permanently!

How can I defeat enemies without pressing a single button? (SPOILER)

A lot of the (optional) trophies/achievements are puzzles and require you to think outside the box.

Sometimes you may need to change one of the many options the game offers. You may also need to play in co-op mode, on easy or hard difficulty, or equip a very strong shield.