[Stream Greenlight] Earth Atlantis, my indie retro shmup !!

[aaribarg]

Hi guys,

I am a hardcore retro side-scrolling shooters fan. I just made my first shooting game called "Earth Atlantis".
It is an homage to many classic retro shooting game (such as Gradius, G-Darius) I have played when I was a kid. I do not try to hide it.

Now, it is on [Stream Greenlight] and I would like to show you guys. If you like it please vote and share.
Any comment and suggestion are welcome.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =657127081



Description

Earth Atlantis is an original "Open World" side-scrolling shooter with an unique "Monster-Hunting" gameplay.
The game also has an outstanding visual style.

Your mission is to search and hunt down more than 20 large-scale enemies and collect 30+ lost artifacts.
You can also upgrade and unlock new ships with special weapons and abilities.

Game Features

- An original " Open World " side-scrolling shooter
- " Monster-Hunting " gameplay
- 20+ bosses to hunt
- 30+ lost artifacts to collect
- Multiple ships with special weapons
- Ships & Weapons upgrade system
- Unique Pencil-Sketching visual style
- Manual & Auto-Fire options




Video gameplay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDVECGX ... Wpty2eQC2k

I need a lot of help and vote from you guys to make it happen !! Thank you very much.

PS. In case that the game don't have enough votes to be on Stream, I have an extra plan to release it on mobile (iOS, Android).

Follow us on https://www.facebook.com/EarthAtlantis/

[amdiggywhut]

Congratulations on being green-lit. The Darius influence appears to be especially pronounced. The lack of color in the graphics is a problem for me, since pink bullets are one of the reasons I tend to gravitate towards these games. Good luck though, sir.

[Harpuia]

Interesting, looks sort of Metroidvania-ish too.

[donluca]

Love the art style and the concept. Voted!

[aaribarg]

Thanks so much guys, still long way to go.

I totally understood the concern about the lack of color. Actually, the original idea was to make it feel like an old classic film "20000 leagues under the sea". The main sub even named "Nautilus".

[donluca]

Leave it as it is now. It doesn't need color.

[aaribarg]

Wow, I'm blown away by the art style, good stuff.

...but is that inertia/analog movement that I'm seeing?

Could you please be more specific which movement? Ship movement? Boss movement? If is a problem, we can fix it or at least improve it.
Thanks

[Nate]

kane wrote:
Wow, I'm blown away by the art style, good stuff.

...but is that inertia/analog movement that I'm seeing?



Could you please be more specific which movement? Ship movement? Boss movement? If is a problem, we can fix it or at least improve it.
Thanks

It looks like the submarines have "inertia"; they don't statically stop on a dime; they "slip"; bullet/scenery/enemy sprite-dodging can be very frustrating to the player even with the immense "life-bar" attached. I know, I know...it's a submarine and that's what supposed to do - it truly is a "slippery slope" when rationalizing realism versus game-play, but in a world where nothing is "real" to begin with, you should consider the player's desire to comfortably manage their sprite first and let everything else do whatever.

With that out of the way I should say that I love the Darius influence as well as obviously "In The Hunt" - also I like the old-world, "treasure map" art style, the Cave-esque goodie-grabbing and the free-range running around mapping a la "Bangaioh"...

The ambient music is repetitive, but seems to fit; is that the only audio track in the game?

[aaribarg]

Wow, I'm blown away by the art style, good stuff.

...but is that inertia/analog movement that I'm seeing?

Could you please be more specific which movement? Ship movement? Boss movement? If is a problem, we can fix it or at least improve it.
Thanks

To clarify, yes, I meant just what Nate explained above. In case you haven't lurked around here for very long, you'll see that the core shmup community is very adamant that player inertia is a no-no (and with good reason). Tight, responsive and predictable movement is essential to the enjoyment of this genre; it can make or break the game.

Hell, in my opinion it is essential to *any* genre. How I wish there was a non-slippery version of Isaac.

kane wrote:
Wow, I'm blown away by the art style, good stuff.

...but is that inertia/analog movement that I'm seeing?


Could you please be more specific which movement? Ship movement? Boss movement? If is a problem, we can fix it or at least improve it.
Thanks

It looks like the submarines have "inertia"; they don't statically stop on a dime; they "slip"; bullet/scenery/enemy sprite-dodging can be very frustrating to the player even with the immense "life-bar" attached. I know, I know...it's a submarine and that's what supposed to do - it truly is a "slippery slope" when rationalizing realism versus game-play, but in a world where nothing is "real" to begin with, you should consider the player's desire to comfortably manage their sprite first and let everything else do whatever.

With that out of the way I should say that I love the Darius influence as well as obviously "In The Hunt" - also I like the old-world, "treasure map" art style, the Cave-esque goodie-grabbing and the free-range running around mapping a la "Bangaioh"...

The ambient music is repetitive, but seems to fit; is that the only audio track in the game?

Thank you very much for your feedbacks and suggestions. We will definitely work on these issues.

As for music, since the game has only one large open-stage, it seems like we can use only one long music.
But we have been thinking about adding a boss music theme or having 2-3 background musics.

We still have time to improve our game before the release date. Please feel free to give us any comment and suggestion.

Thanks.

[aaribarg]

[Update] The game has been Greenlit !! Just within 10 days on Greenlight page. Fantastic !!

Thank you so much for every votes.



http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =657127081

Again, we still have time to polish our game before the release date.
Please, feel free to give us any comment and suggestion.

Cheers !!

[donluca]

About music: use a dynamic soundtrack.

Depending on the zone you're in, if there are any enemy on the screen (and their number) or if there's a boss, fade into different tracks.

Just throwing out some ideas:

No enemies -> chillout, ambient music
some enemies -> same chillout music but with some added beats to add some hype
lots of enemies -> high bpm music due to intense action
boss fight -> some epic music

You could work as follow: start from the no enemies track for several zones and build up the other tracks based on that one.

[aaribarg]

About music: use a dynamic soundtrack.

Depending on the zone you're in, if there are any enemy on the screen (and their number) or if there's a boss, fade into different tracks.

Just throwing out some ideas:

No enemies -> chillout, ambient music
some enemies -> same chillout music but with some added beats to add some hype
lots of enemies -> high bpm music due to intense action
boss fight -> some epic music

You could work as follow: start from the no enemies track for several zones and build up the other tracks based on that one.

@donluca
Thanks so much guy. Lots of great ideas!! We will definitely use some of them.
Still a lot of work to do with music and sound FX.

As for the game stage, you will start with a smaller map then you have to unlock more and more locations (and secret areas as well) by collecting "a map" (for now) or beating some bosses.

After you unlocked more areas you can be respawned in different locations.

Cheers!!

For new update please follow us on https://www.facebook.com/EarthAtlantis/

[donluca]

As for the game stage, you will start with a smaller map then you have to unlock more and more locations (and secret areas as well) by collecting "a map" (for now) or beating some bosses.

After you unlocked more areas you can be respawned in different locations./

This is a nice design, I think it can be improved by using perks seen on other games.

Use map pieces to unlock optional, special areas which are exceptionally difficult: if you get through, you get a permanent power up.

To go to other areas, make bosses drop some kind of item which will let you get through an obstacle, granting you access to a new area. It doesn't have to be a boss drop, it could be an item found at the end of a certain area as well.

As for respawn points: just make portals (altars would work better in this particular setting) like in Soul Reaver. You start at the same place, but can warp to any area's altar you've found.

I hope I'm not sounding cocky or arrogant or anything, I've been designing (and helped designing) some games throughout my life and I'm aiming at becoming a game designer myself

[aaribarg]

As for the game stage, you will start with a smaller map then you have to unlock more and more locations (and secret areas as well) by collecting "a map" (for now) or beating some bosses.

After you unlocked more areas you can be respawned in different locations./

This is a nice design, I think it can be improved by using perks seen on other games.

Use map pieces to unlock optional, special areas which are exceptionally difficult: if you get through, you get a permanent power up.

To go to other areas, make bosses drop some kind of item which will let you get through an obstacle, granting you access to a new area. It doesn't have to be a boss drop, it could be an item found at the end of a certain area as well.

As for respawn points: just make portals (altars would work better in this particular setting) like in Soul Reaver. You start at the same place, but can warp to any area's altar you've found.

I hope I'm not sounding cocky or arrogant or anything, I've been designing (and helped designing) some games throughout my life and I'm aiming at becoming a game designer myself

@donluca
Thanks a lot !!

Do not worry, we really appreciated your inputs and ideas. We are looking for new ideas to improve our game.
Any thought and feedback is truly welcome !!

[ATTRACTS]

Looks killer man, love the unique visuals (as well as the background depth in some of the levels). Will def. check it out when it's ready!

[aaribarg]

Looks killer man, love the unique visuals (as well as the background depth in some of the levels). Will def. check it out when it's ready!

Thanks guy. We are trying to get at least the mobile version done within 4 months (Hopefully).