Thank you M.Knight! Your feedback is very great!
I'll try to make minor tweak for final version. Also I hope I can release free public beta after passing greenlight here too.
For your current feedback I can reply some:
What I liked :
(S = Statement, F = Feedback)
S: The charge shot is satisfying to use against columns of enemies.
F: Thanks, I love it too!!
S: The deathbomb mechanic.
F: I hate instant death, so I yes I create fringe break (deathbomb) mechanic to give player second chances
What I didn't like :
(C = Complaint, A = Answer)
C: The player speed is too low. Aggravated by some bullet patterns on Hard that can be very fast.
A: Player speed already tested with "No Mercy" mode, at 1cc. I'm not sure how can i tweak this, but it is the speed I liked atm (not too fast, not too slow). Since I'm aware with old-school fast movement not because it like programmed that, but the old shooter only have small internal exact resolution (around 320x240) so moving 2-3 pixel just need ~2.5 sec from side to side, if it 1 pixel got too slow. So not much option for it for classic shooter. Xenoslaive have floating internal resolution, and I choose to use ~3 sec from side to side after long consideration.
C: The player shot's default power is too low and it takes a few hits before you kill the first popcorn enemies in the game. Not a good first impression.
A: Exactly, it needs about 2 shots to kill first popcorn... kill the popcorn leader to grab powerup, then it will need only single shot to kill em. Erm.. It's just like hard to kills zombie with handgun, to give thrilling experience. I'm already bored with weak popcorn enemies. So I design it so the player start to feels weak and useless at very beginning. So don't die, survive, kill very first enemies to gain power or you get more trouble ahead. For survivor at last, there's a unlockable perk to enable player start with full power after finished the game (in final release).
C: The enemy movement speed is too low.
A: Yes, the very first stage have slow enemies. It will get faster at next stage.
C: Some vertically moving enemies can fire even at the very bottom of the screen.
A: Any enemy who not yet leave the screen able to shoot. So don't hide at bottom, it's not safe there.
Some Suggestion:
S: When you get hit and can trigger the deathbomb, the visual and aural feedback should reflect more upon the urgency of the situation. Here, it looks like you triggered a hyper or something.
A: Ah, thank you!! Good point, I'll try to add more specific fringing visual there.
S: Increase the mid-boss's size. As it is, it looks more like a regular enemy.
A: The image i have in mind that midboss is just slightly more than regular enemy with hardened shell and aggresive attack, but didn't have overdrive. That's why it just looks slightly larger than regular. Also I already try make it more larger, it just don't fit the image. Or it just me
S: IMO, the mid boss doesn't last long enough to warrant having its own musical theme. Keep the same track for the entire stage and only change it for the boss. I would also ditch the warning signal for the mid-boss as to avoid slowing down the stage's pacing. Boss warning are awesome of course, but I don't think one is necessary for such a short mid-boss.
A: Next stage comes with more longer and harder fight midboss so musical theme can be noticed. I put warning [and delay] there to make player able to rest, but yes maybe it's too long for first stage. I'll tweak if i can.
S: The level 1 charge shot doesn't seem to do that much damage to a mid-boss/boss compared to the regular shot, maybe its power should be increased?
A: Lv 1 charge only ~20% weaker than Lv 2 charge. What happenend with Lv 2 actually, you got 50% extra reaction fringe time for deathbomb and 100% fringe break power up conversion. To get stronger effect actually, you need to release it closer to mid/boss' core.
* First stage boss have outer shield to prevent this effect if you blast it from distance. (Not to mention the first lifecycle prevent you to effectively use focus shot and distract it to outer passive core too).
Survive! The charge aim to safe player in difficult situation and key to gain highscore, not designed for spam killing.
S: The boss 1 Lasers spawn too low on the screen, leading to unexpected deaths. Make them spawn further near the upper edge of the screen. You can also begin the pattern by spawning the side lasers first, given that they are above the middle lasers (those that are the most likely to kill the player), thus warning the player that other lasers can come out in front of the boss.
A: The maze element trap seems works there
S: The boss pattern with the three rotating lasers is significantly easier than the one before as you can just stand right in front of the boss and do some slight dodges from time to time.
A: Let the player rest after hard dodging. Until they got panic from a trap mentioned above.
S: The last pattern lasts significantly shorter than the others, which is anticlimatic. Either balance the pattern durations as to have them all be the same duration, or make the last pattern slightly longer than the others.
A: It is last release from boss before die. Save your charge there and release it, you'll get more bullet's wipe score (part of scoring system). I already make it longer, feel bored and frustating since it seems [first] player often only have zero life there, so i tweak it short so player can choose to dodge or release the charge. Let player die there is also not good too
S: What is your scoring system? Is there one, aside from the bonus given at the end of a boss? Why not have multipliers on enemies destroyed with the charge shot? If so, I would also suggest having destroyed enemies increase the charge shot jauge as to have them more frequently and potentially increase the game's scoring rhythm and pace.
A: Kill bosses fastest as possible and get more score from bullets wipe.
S: Don't put all the difficulties in the same ranking. Have a separate leaderboard for each difficulty, and list the perk used for each entry. If the differences bewteen each perk significantly change the playstyle, you could even have seperate leaderboards for every combination of difficulty+perk.
A: Reason why I design this odd [or funny] [irritating] leaderboard. As this indicate:
- Playing at easy difficulty doesn't let player have higher score than normal or hard or No Mercy. Should play it higher to get more score. *evil laugh*
- Playing at higher difficulty doesn't give player higher score than lower difficulty, if they can't play it better or have the same tactics over and over again.
- Playing at higher difficulty exactly have the same score achievement for killing bosses and enemies (as i hate penalty or bonus differentiation). The only difference is the number of enemy bullets. Higher difficulty have more bullets, so use charge where the bullet spamming a lot, then you got your score. The scoreboard theme is "Bravest player who play better, get more score".
- Perk just indicate what player used to get highscore. It is shame if someone get higher score while just use blank perk. It's showed on scoreboard too, so player also can't disguise it.
S: Speaking of perks, make sure the game is balanced enough as to not cripple a player for not using them, given that they are supposed to be unlockable bonuses and not already-available alternate shot types. No matter how much delusional euroshmup devs feature that kind of grind-based progression in their games, playing with an underpowered ship for ages before unlocking stuff that makes the game actually enjoyable is not good design.
A: Perk mostly unlocked after finished the game or special act (that doesn't need ages). It is wiped from 8 planned perk to only 4 because of this reason too (make gameplay not competitive).
For all good suggestion. But if for some reason of feedback I can't change this time (by theme, technical thing, or design), I'll try to cover it in next game sequel preparation. Thank you M.Knight!
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Bullet Party - Shoot the party crashers [1-4 players][Download]