Space Moth DX Thread (Now on Steam!)

[Blackbird]

Even after whitelisting this game in my firewall, I can't get the controls to work at all. Tried both the keyboard and the controller. Any ideas?

Come to think of it, there isn't any music on the main menu, either. Perhaps something weird is going on.

[BPzeBanshee]

There's no music in the main menu but upon moving controls you should hear sfx being played. Clearly something is stopping inputs from being registered. If you have any joysticks plugged in plug them out before running the game and attempting to use keyboard.

Other than that, I got no clue what JDE and co is doing under the hood. I can program something basic in GM:Studio to see whether it's an issue of the tool if you wanna give it a go, but considering basic fullscreen is a "restart-only" option on this I suspect otherwise.

[JDE]

I can't get the controls to work at all.

Sorry you're having control issues Blackbird, as BPzeBanshee said you could try unplugging any game controllers before starting the demo and see if the keyboard works by itself. One of the machines I tested it on also needed a Direct X update for Xbox 360 controllers to work, so you might want to try that as well. Also, which firewall are you using?

Why do I even have to restart the game to enforce fullscreen when GM normally has no issue switching on-the-fly anyway?

Good question, it's an odd feature but it's necessary. GM: Studio v1.3 introduced a new drawing system, which unfortunately causes graphical artefacts in games that use surfaces on some PCs. Space Moth uses surfaces, so to increase compatibility on affected machines (such as my old laptop), this new drawing system is disabled with the “application_surface_enable(false)” command.

The only drawback is that this also disables GM's automatic aspect ratio control, which must then be done manually. The easiest way of doing so would be with the “view_xport” and “view_yport” commands, which control where the game is drawn on the monitor. These have been broken for a long time though, and show no signs of being fixed. To quote GameMaker's manual, “Setting the x or y value of the port can have some interesting effects.”

Because of this, Space Moth uses the “view_xview” and “view_yview” commands for aspect ratio control instead. However, these must be set when the game first starts up or the image becomes distorted. Incidentally, the v1.2 demo had a bug causing this code to be activated too late, which is why the image issues you reported appeared.

So that's why the game has to be restarted to enter or exit fullscreen mode. It would be more convenient if this wasn't necessary, but at least this way older machines such as my laptop can still display the game properly, and I think compatibility is the most important thing.

[BPzeBanshee]

Because of this, Space Moth uses the “view_xview” and “view_yview” commands for aspect ratio control instead. However, these must be set when the game first starts up or the image becomes distorted. Incidentally, the v1.2 demo had a bug causing this code to be activated too late, which is why the image issues you reported appeared.

What you describe sounds like a very similar issue to what I've been grappling with, albeit not strictly with window_set_fullscreen() itself, for some time. You made a good call to avoid using gml-made surfaces though, there's at least one member on this forum who can't run surface-rendered stuff.

I had a similar issue a while back regarding getting screen rotation to work without using surfaces, initially just getting it to work without distortion was a pain, but once I got that going the next challenge was to make it seem instantaneous without having to force a restart. I got around this recently by making it so that rather than rebooting the game and only having the room_set_view commands in the initial room, I performed the commands immediately, made all non-persistent objects in the current room persistent, then rebooted *only the room* and set the objects I had made persistent back to normal.

I know Studio did a few things apart from the surface rendering differently, so without seeing exactly what you're doing I'm not 100% sure my methods will work, but you're welcome to have a look in the internal code of GMOSSE (included with the download, thus the point of it) to see how I pulled it off. If you're using room_set_view to fix the ratios for fullscreen this should help considerably.

[Blackbird]

Whaaaat. Attempting to run Space Moth with my controller plugged in completely disables the controls. If I unplug it and run the game with just the keyboard, I can control the game. I am confounded. This is weasels.

Well, at least I can play it now. I just need to figure out how to get the controller working.

[BPzeBanshee]

What kind of controller have you got? I plugged my 360 controller into Space Moth and keyboard and joystick both worked splendidly.

EDIT: Did GMOSSE work for you using your controller? And if it is the 360 controller you've got, are you using official drivers or XBCD?

[Blackbird]

I've got a USB Saturn pad of suspect origins. Probably not a 360-based pad. GMOSSE worked fine with this controller.

[cave hermit]

I downloaded the demo, but I can't figure out how to use the laser; none of the keys seem to activate it, holding down fire doesn't do anything, and when I go to configure my keys, I'm prompted to select a new laser key but the game stops responding to any input.

EDIT: Ok, apparently laser is shift. control config is still really glitchy for me, but that might be because I'm using joy2key to get my mayflash wii classic controller adaptor to work.

[cave hermit]

I think I managed to get a perfect score on stage 1: I killed every popcorn enemy, got every item bonus, soul drained every large enemy, and got the 2 second boss bonus, adding up to 15550 points.

I like it, I think in a sort of surreal 80's way. However, I feel that while the OST adds to that surreal charm, it's too soft and gentle, for lack of better descriptions, especially the boss theme which barely felt like it was there at all. On top of that, the sound effect for score bonuses sound oddly fairy like (which might be the point, but it sounds a little generic). Also it feels like the scoring system doesn't have a very high skill ceiling: popcorn enemies seemed pretty easy to kill since they all fly close to each other (and there were relatively few popcorn enemies for that matter), and there are only 3 other aspects to scoring: soul draining large enemies (which seems to give a static bonus, but correct me if I'm wrong), collecting bonus icons, and killing the boss in the last 2 seconds of the fight (which also gives a static bonus). There isn't even a no miss bonus or any penalty for using bombs. Given how simple the scoring is, it seems pretty feasible to get a perfect score for a stage, which would limit the replay value in terms of score competition.

Of course I'm basing this criticism off of the first stage, so there's a good chance none of this will be a concern after the first stage when the intensity gets ramped up.

Besides my concerns with the scoring and the OST, I think this is a pretty good game: controls tightly, graphics have that 80's ARCADE FEEL, bullet patterns are menacing, etc.

[JDE]

I'm glad you enjoyed the "arcade feel" cave hermit, and well done for getting 15,550 points on the demo - that's the maximum! As for your concerns about the skill ceiling being low, I think that's only true for the first stage, which is a rather gentle introduction to scoring: it quickly gets more difficult after that. For example, stage 2 introduces background objects which can be soul drained, but their HP is balanced so that they drain just a fraction of a second before exploding - you'll need extremely good timing to get bonus points from them all!

Also, bonus items actually work in a similar way to medals in Yagawa games: their value starts at 100, and will increase up to a maximum of 1,000 for each one collected. This value is held between stages, and will drop by 100 points for every death and item missed. So by the end of stage 2 on an optimum run, each medal will be giving 1,000 points for a total of 6,000 each stage after that. As with the DoDonPachi series, to begin with the challenge is finding them all, and after that it's making sure not to miss any!

[Blackbird]

Tinkering with the game a bit. How many stages are in this demo? Is it just the one? I'm forming a few opinions about the gameplay, but I'd like to get a better feel for the "meat" of the game first before I post any conclusions. Stage 1 isn't really enough to base opinions on because it's the introductory stage and the difficulty level is a lot more tame than the rest of the game, I imagine.

[Doctor Butler]

Nice. Very Cave-inspired.

Not a fan of the 19XX style of bombs, though.

I prefer instantaneous bombs, the delay sort of defeats the purpose of the bomb, methinks.

[Blinge]

Did you even play the game? you get invincibility as soon as you bomb, and all shots on screen are wiped out the instant you press the button. The only thing that's delayed is the explosion animation itself.

Also if you tap bomb in 19xx it also comes out instantly. Or if you hold the button and release it charges through several levels of bomb strength; they are nothing alike.

[JDE]

How many stages are in this demo? Is it just the one? I'm forming a few opinions about the gameplay, but I'd like to get a better feel for the "meat" of the game first before I post any conclusions.

The demo features a single stage, which is the first one in the full game. The full version will have four more stages, all of which are much longer than the one in the demo, for a total of five. You're right that it's difficult to form an opinion on some aspects of the overall gameplay from one stage, but the demo does feature all the core systems that the full game uses, which should be enough to let people know if they'll enjoy it. So I'd still really like to hear your first impressions, even if a few things like the overall weapon balance and difficulty need the full game before coming to a conclusion.

[Blackbird]

Could I twist your arm into letting me demo Stages 2 and 3 if I promise to playtest those stages as well as purchase the full game when it comes out? I really think I'll be able to provide more useful feedback if I see more of the game.

[Strikers1945guy]

This looks really cool, good job.

[JDE]

Demo v1.10 is now live, with the following changes:

• Improved controller support.
  Menu and HUD font tweaks for visibility.
  Screen mode changes now applied instantly.
  New optional Ex. Timer during boss fights.
  New mini boss bar at bottom of screen during boss fights.

Massive thanks to Blackbird and BPzeBanshee for helping to fix the controller and screen issues that some people were having, these should be fixed now!
The Ex. Timer is an optional secondary boss timer that floats above the player, which should make keeping track of the time remaining easier.
Lastly, a number of small tweaks have been made to the menu and HUD fonts for improved legibility.

The demo is going to remain as a single stage, but we'll have more news about the full version soon: it won't be long before the real game is available to buy with all five stages and a free OST!

[JDE]

Space Moth is now available to buy from the 1CC Games website for $6.99 (£4.44 in the UK)!
The game's full soundtrack is included and everything is DRM free:

http://www.1ccgames.com/p/downloads.html

A new bullet grazing bonus has also been added to raise the score and skill ceiling - enjoy!

[CloudyMusic]

This looks really cool! Looking forward to trying it out.

[Special World]

Awesome! I'll be picking this up soon

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

Grabbed it earlier. I was hoping to get a release-day 1cc but unfortunately I really need to go to bed. The game's great, I sincerely urge everyone to try it! Nice work Dan & JDE.

Now, where's the high score thread?

[Skykid]

Space Moth is now available to buy from the 1CC Games website for $6.99 (£4.44 in the UK)!
The game's full soundtrack is included and everything is DRM free:

http://www.1ccgames.com/p/downloads.html

A new bullet grazing bonus has also been added to raise the score and skill ceiling - enjoy!

Hooray! \(^_^)/

I'll look forward to getting this asap. No Mac support? Bah, that would have been convenient for me, but where there's a Windows there's a way.

Looks great and I know it plays great too. Nice to see that bullet grazing bonus in there - I think this was something we mentioned at last year's meet and preview wasn't it?

Anyway, nice work guys, always happy to see a finished product! :bigthumbsup:

[Blinge]

I was hoping to get a release-day 1cc

Paper(s) pls.

oh my god that spider boss..

[JDE]

Many thanks to everyone who's bought Space Moth so far! If anyone would prefer a Steam version instead, you can now vote on Greenlight to help make that happen:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =309518507

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

I was hoping to get a release-day 1cc

Paper(s) pls.

oh my god that spider boss..

I've got the knack of the spider boss but I still have to bomb the crap out of that damn beetle. Got close to the clear but the moon keeps wrecking me.

[DoomsDave]

Congrats on the launch. I bought it but only had enough time for one run so far. Stage 2 boss kicked my ass! Looking forward to spending some more time with it.

[Cagar]

New bullet grazing bonus to raise score and skill ceiling.

Skipping this. Doesn't sound like very well thought game >__>

[JDE]

New bullet grazing bonus to raise score and skill ceiling.

Skipping this. Doesn't sound like very well thought game >__>

The bullet grazing bonus was only added after a lot of deliberation, and I think it complements the existing scoring system nicely:

Using rapid shot on enemies will make them turn neon and use a stronger attack (shot density doubles), or "soul drain" them, after which you can get bonus points for finishing them off with laser. Before grazing was added, the optimum way of playing for score was to soul drain enemies then kill them with laser as fast as possible, so they didn't get much chance to do their strong attack. Now it's more beneficial to soul drain them quickly, then wait as long as possible before finishing them off, because their strong attack offers tons of bonus points from grazing.

In short, the bullet grazing bonus means that anyone playing for score will get to see a greater variety of enemy attacks than they would before this feature was added, and get a greater reward for surviving them as well. But if you're still not sure, why not give the free demo a try and see what you think?

[DoomsDave]

Is there anyway to map shot, laser and bomb to the arrow keys on a keyboard? I'm one of those dirty WASD people.

[JDE]

Is there anyway to map shot, laser and bomb to the arrow keys on a keyboard? I'm one of those dirty WASD people.

The Arrow Keys, Enter and Escape are reserved: anything else is fine though. One of my friends is a WASD Warrior as well and uses 1, 2 and 3 on the Numpad for the weapons in most shmups, so that layout might work for you too.