And would, of course, like your opinion. Just a word of warning. The game is very demanding as opposed to original Invader Attack which worked on any system and any card, so you need to have a decent 3d video card supporting Shader 2.0 and, for smooth playing, you need at least 2Ghz CPU(s).
And another thing, this is not a standard type of shmup where enemies go in predefined predictable waves. I programmed a larger set of different AIs, so invaders do think.
Last edited by CoderGamesIsBack on Sun Jul 13, 2014 6:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Here's the profile of the game on IndieDB: http://www.indiedb.com/games/invader-attack-2 in case someone wants to refer to it. It's fairly popular, you can see the statistics on the right side near page end.
If this game gets good support I'm planning on releasing intense side scroller with similar realistic graphic style.
Ok, few pointers:
-Music feels very unfitting in my opinion
-Enemy bullets are so fast that they cannot be dodged
-Collision kills. They feel more random than skill based, and this as a scoring system ensures that you have to play the game in the most boring way as possible. (= slowly)
-The game is controlled with keyboard or a controller, but all the menus work with mouse. Dude?
Use TAB and ENTER and to move through the menu, like you do with the browser when you navigate through the forms. Basically all you have to do is click TAB then click ENTER to start the game. Sorry for not documenting it.
Collision does kill and it is skill based, since if the enemy went left when you destroyed him, the gravity will take the rest, therefore it will continue to fall to the left side, unless it collides with the side or something else gets in it's way. You need to get familiar with the gravity, but I'm surprised you're not, most of us are, we do know how it works, it's our every day reality.
You only get collision bonus if you make two enemies collide by destroying one enemy making sure it will collide with another while falling down. It's not mandatory for passing levels, but it is mandatory to make 5 collision on a single level to complete the achievement called 'Evil Mastermind'.
My goal was to be original and make a game that does require a player to think fast in unpredictable situations among other things, making sure there's a high replayability value. I also wanted to give shmup genre a new graphic style, also bringing physics and IAs into gameplay. And of course to make sure game won't be cracked so only true supporters will enjoy the game. Had to do it because of the bad experience with my past game releases.
Just to clarify: I understand how collision kills work.
CoderGamesIsBack wrote:
My goal was to be original and make a game that does require a player to think fast in unpredictable situations among other things, making sure there's a high replayability value
Alright. Just remove 80% of the enemies then, if you still want it to be slow. Because right now it's so slow that the player's highest challenge is to not fall asleep.
Well my idea was to allow everyone to complete the first level, even kids. The toughness of levels is raised gradually. First introducing new types as player keeps completing levels giving player a chance to get familiar with the unknown and get better gradually as the game gradually becomes more difficult. I wish it could be possible to pack entire game into one demo level, but that would kinda ruin all the unknown and all the surprises along the way. I want people to experience fun and excitement of discovering unknown, trying out different tactics, trying to outsmart enemies, etc. I'm a gamer too and this game is a result of something I'd like to play. It's not classic, it's not standard, it's original and unique.
Can I get a video of you clearing the first stage and the bonus quick trigger stage after it, collecting as much score as possible? (Picking up items, doing every collision kill possible etc.)
Also, it's probably worth noting that you can fire faster by mashing the shoot button. Is this intentional?
There's already such video, but I played it just for show and need to stress out this was done on 0.7 version, many bugs present, many unfinished features, many missing features, etc.
EDIT: my bad, it was older version than 0.7, but I'm not sure really the exact version. The game is performing much better now in terms of smoothness. It's still very demanding in terms of the GPU / CPU.
Last edited by CoderGamesIsBack on Wed Jul 09, 2014 3:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
In that video, there's not a single collision kill during that stage.
Am I getting it right that you seriously don't know how to get good score in your OWN GAME?
Last edited by Cagar on Wed Jul 09, 2014 3:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Yeah, that's why I told you many features missing. Not just collision kill, but missile collision, massive destruction, etc. It was an old version, old video.
EDIT: the game is hard, the actions of invaders are unpredictable, this is not one of classic shmups where predictability is dominant. Apart from each level having same set of predefined types of invaders, it's a unique experience each time as each invader does have an independent AI. This was one of my goals to raise the level or replayability.
I'm sorry, I'm too busy, ask someone else. It's possible to achieve 4 of possible 8 achievements on the very first level, I think, but don't take my word for it, try it yourself.
Startup/Window issues:
Ok, so I can't get out the window for any reason? But the maximize/minimize buttons are enabled! Also if you can help it, make the original mouse cursor available to close/resize the window and navigate your menus. There's little need to restrict the player exclusively to your GUI. What if I wanted to do other things while playing your game? I can't, and that's a real con for your game. I'm more likely to NOT play your game if it means I can't do anything else.
Also it requires an internet connection. You're making people want to close the game before they even get to play. If someone downloaded this game, happened to have a blackout and had an external power source(laptop), they can't play your game. If someone had your game on a machine that doens't have internet enabled for whatever reason, they can't play your game.
One thing I've learned about game-dev is that you should assume the WORST of a player. You should assume that players have at maximum, a PC with a reformatted HDD and a fresh install of Windows. I highly recommend you DO NOT try to access the internet in your program, ever. You raise various alarms that way, that most people would regard AS A VIRUS ALERT. Or something equally as bad. Opening a webpage isn't as bad, but I'd only suggest doing that as a result of player choice.
Gameplay issues:
Enemy collisions are unnecessary. Lasers are too fast/unnecessary. There's no specialized/obvious HUD to tell me anything. Like how lasers don't kill me right away. Achievements interrupt the gameplay(keeps me from playing because of stuff I don't care about). Powerup system is too limited/not potent enough. Items are hard to catch.
You don't tell me basic things about the gameplay, like why powerups run away from me. Are powerups sentient in your game? Base gameplay is simple, but not fun enough for me to keep going.
Also the game suspends itself, takes me back to the desktop, and sends me to a website during gameplay. The problem is that you're basically telling me to stop playing this game now that I've lost. Fine with me!
Performance issues:
Why is the game so simple, yet so demanding on the machine? I have above-average specs for this game and yet sometimes it stutters or slows down. One time it even froze and I couldn't go back to the desktop. You can definitely get away with pre-rendered sprites/effects and not have the game require such high specs. For example, Capcom's SFIV demands low specs for the type of game that it is. It's a high quality game with a lot going on. But your game demands a similar caliber of machine, but it's WAY simpler/less stuff going on. HUH?
If any of these problems are due to your core game-dev tools, then you need to switch.
Also, I highly suggest letting other people test your gameplay exclusively. Don't EVER spend time developing AND playtesting. Just test the game for performance issues and leave gameplay to the players. You'll become too accustomed to your game and won't see flaws that stop other people from playing your game if you do a lot of playtesting yourself. If people on the internet won't play it, get friends and family who are gamers to do so. You as the developer though, SHOULD be able to accomplish all feats you ask of the player within reason.
I know your game is unfinished. As a gamer, I understand that. However, the base game - movement, shooting, life loss, powering up and all viable threats SHOULD be in a shmup created for public consumption at every phase. Everything else should be extra and not required to enjoy the game. "Replayability" should not be in an unfinished game, because one would assume that it IS finished, thus due for judging as a finished game.
Last edited by Shmuppet on Wed Jul 09, 2014 4:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
LOL, I didn't had the time to read it all, but few first paragraphs were amusing
EDIT: ok read some more. The game is demanding because of the shader I wrote. It's a pixel-based shader which means it uses a lot of GPU to prepare each render. Since nothing is pre-rendered but rendered in real time, it's very demanding. But the result is better, you get real time lighting and shading. The downside is that I had to draw 4-5 images for each texture. There's normal maps, specular, lights, etc. It was very time consuming for me to make it all as opposed to the original Invader Attack which was pre-rendered. It's always simpler to just model and render everything in 3d modeling tool than to do it manually. But I wanted to do it, deliberately, something I always wanted to make. My goal was not to make a game for everyone to like or want to play, but only for gamers who really like constant brutal action, cool looking graphics and effects, challenges and, of course, have a beast for a computer. The game, however, works on old specs as well, it was tested by 2 other people, free beta testers from IndieDB. There were many eager to play it during development, but I only needed 2.
You should get more feedback etc. from players before release. I made that same mistake, but I had a lot more game-dev experience in shmups.
If you wanna make a cool game for yourself, that's awesome. But if you want others to play and appreciate it, someone's gonna have to lose out on their "dream gameplay experience" for the other person to have fun playing the game. It sucks but that's how it is.
Seems like you chose your playbase to lose out though. Whatever pays the bills... or not, I guess.
I did get feedback from many people (dozens). Some developers were very impressed as well (which I find very unusual, because usually they're more like you guys). People from IGM are doing the review, hopefully it will be released soon. And I'm willing to change things that's why I changed many of them since the initial "early access" version. If a greater number of people starts supporting the game then I'd be forced to make all the changes that make sense, improving the game further, but in terms of difficulty, levels and gameplay, no, that's something that needs to be a surprise, I really want players to be surprised, amazed and have fun playing the game.
CoderGamesIsBack wrote:...but only for gamers who really like constant brutal action, cool looking graphics and effects, challenges and, of course, have a beast for a computer.
Yup, I fill all of those, yet I think that your game fails almost in all of those aspects. There's no constant brutal action, the player has to stand around doing nothing most of the time if you're going for score.
The graphics are dull and not detailed at all, special effects are almost non-existent. Shadows and lighting is fine, except that it makes the game unplayable on so many computers that it's not worth it.
Can't say anything about challenges, because the first stages made me tired enough to not waste any money for the full version.
I'm really sorry that I might sound mean, I really want to help, but I don't want to help a developer who makes excuses and starts to throw bullshit like "it's only for real gamers!!!" when criticized.
Your game is slow and simple. Take a look at this
I might give more detailed advice if/when I have time.
Well, since you only played demo, first level, you will never find out what a constant brutal action is, surprises, different types of enemies, bosses, etc. due to reasons I already listed when answering to you. The game is playable on all computers having shader 2.0 supported. Now, since recently mostly shader 3.0 games are coming out, I think my game covers 100% gamers + 70% non-gamer specs.
EDIT: The game you provided link to is not demanding in terms of graphics. Those are simple sprites, pre-drawn, nothing really going on during runtime in terms of math and processing. It's a simple classic shmup with predictable patterns and waves, no AIs nothing. Eg. I made original Invader Attack with sprites in few months. I worked on Invader Attack 2 almost 3 years. Of course, if I worked in continuation, I'd probably have made it in a year or so, but this never is a possibility when one is not a full time game developer.
Last edited by CoderGamesIsBack on Wed Jul 09, 2014 5:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
CoderGamesIsBack wrote:Well, since you only played demo, first level, you will never find out what a constant brutal action is, surprises, different types of enemies, bosses, etc. due to reasons I already listed when answering to you. The game is playable on all computers having shader 2.0 supported. Now, since recently mostly shader 3.0 games are coming out, I think my game covers 100% gamers + 70% non-gamer specs.
The game you provided link to is not demanding in terms of graphics. Those are simple sprites, pre-drawn, nothing really going on during runtime in terms of math and processing. It's a simple classic shmup with predictable patterns and waves, no AIs nothing. Eg. I made original Invader Attack with sprites in few months. I worked on Invader Attack 2 almost 3 years. Of course, if I worked in continuation, I'd probably have made it in a year or so, but this never is a possibility when one is not a full time game developer.
My game is a different type, not a classic shmup. I wanted to be original. I might make a classic shmup one day, but there's no challenge for me in that in terms of development, such games are easily made in 2-3 months.
Of course, lol, Invader Attack is in terms of graphics, math, there's also physics, my physics, I didn't use any engine, particle system, my particle system I didn't use any existing, AI, etc. more demanding and time consuming to develop. It's much simpler to make a game that has: sprites, no AI, no physics, no math, no shaders, no models, and is 2D ... duh!
EDIT: sorry I was in a bit of hurry, I'm free now, so I corrected typos.
Apart from that, I need to stress out here that I'm not forcing anyone to purchase the game. If you don't like the first level, trailer and some early development gameplay videos, you definitely shouldn't.
Last edited by CoderGamesIsBack on Wed Jul 09, 2014 6:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
CoderGamesIsBack wrote:Of course, lol, Invader Attack is in terms of graphics, math, there's also physics, my physics, I didn't use any engine, particle system, my particle system I didn't use any existing, AI, etc. more demanding and time consuming to develop. It's much simpler, much simpler, to make a game that has: sprites, no AI, no physics, no math, no shaders, no models, it's 2D ... duh!
Just to amaze you, the game that I linked took 5 years to develop. + 2 more years for the Nesica & steam version.
I'm not amazed, I'm shocked! Talking about slow development. Since I'm a developer I can roughly estimate how long it took. And I'm doing everything alone: graphics, animations, modeling, texturing, skinning, rigging, music composing, programming, design, etc. Wow, just wow, talking about how gullible people are. Let me take a wild guess here .. you purchased that game coz you thought it took 7 years to develop. Many many LOLs.
Oh, and the game was made by one guy too, the only thing he didn't do was music. I guess it's understandable, as it would've been too time-consuming to learn on top of everything else. but anyways:
It really takes that long to make quality. Hope you'll learn it one day too.
7 years is 100% understandable for a game like that.
