ZZZ VI

[zzz]

background
it's been my dream to make a shmup game, and I've been making it many times. You can see all my shmup game in my gamejolt profile. Yet I haven't satisfied with the result. So this time I decided to make it a serious project, with all the experience I got, I hope to make something that are really good.

anyone interested in play-testing?
I've completed the first stage, with boss and miniboss. all the features should be functional
but please understand that many of the sprite and backgrounds are still placeholder
I really need a feedback on game mechanic and a level design, other aspect are welcome too



=========================================================
I've updated the game mechanic

now Z is for focus fire

X will create a circle around your ship, any bullet or enemy that enter it will become slow
creating this circle cost your energy overtime
any enemy that enter this circle will give you some points every second
if you cancel this circle by pressing X again, it will destroy all the bullet inside it, and give some damage to the enemy
and your energy will reset to zero again
but, if you let it cancel by it self (by draining your energy till zero) you don't get the previous effect
destroying enemy while in slow will give you double points
your energy replenish by it self while not in use

C will clear bullets on the screen
if you get hit, it will automatically clear bullets on the screen and turn your energy to zero

and I've fixed the bug where you can't select level

your feedback is really appreciated
==================================
here's the link
WIN
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/100 ... z6-win.zip
LINUX (not tested)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/100 ... -linux.zip
MAC (not tested)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/100 ... z6-mac.zip

control
arrow keys / left analog joystick (360)
z = focus fire / A (360)
x = slow-mo / B (360)
c = erase bullet / X (360)
space = pause / start

to change player name
click on the box, and type something, to comfirm, just press enter or click outside the box

[BulletMagnet]

A few thoughts:

- The game appears to be built with a non-widescreen aspect ratio in mind, since it looks stretched when played in fullscreen on my laptop.

- I felt consistently underpowered; destroying mid- and large-sized enemies felt like a fool's errand unless I spent my special attack meter on a missile barrage, especially since they were usually accompanied by screen-clogging small fry who would blitz you if you didn't pick them off quickly enough.

- I'd personally trade in the "slow time" mechanic (especially upon being hit, which I found more disorienting than helpful) for a plain ol' "focus" button, which would help to address both the aforementioned firepower issue and the fact that movement felt a bit too imprecise for some of the dodging required; I don't mind having a couple of different "special" attacks to choose from, but they don't seem to complement the action in this case much more than a plain ol' smart bomb would.

- Not sure if any sort of scoring system is present yet...

Hopefully that's a start...let me know if I need to clarify anything.

[zzz]

thank you for your feedback

can you post a screenshot? I'm using laptop too,so I want to know in regards to fixing this "stretched" issue, and just want to confirm, you choose the resolution in accordance with your laptop resolution right?

about the underpowered issue, I intended for player to use a slow-motion rather often, because the special attack meter will fill faster when you kill enemy while in slow-motion

for the scoring system, for now it's just you scored double while in slow-motion

I'm aiming for the gameplay to focus on slow-motion mechanic, but after hearing your feedback it seems my execution still lacked and not going where I wanted to
can you give me any suggestion/idea about the game mechanic in regards to that?
sorry if I'm asking too much

[BulletMagnet]

can you post a screenshot? I'm using laptop too,so I want to know in regards to fixing this "stretched" issue, and just want to confirm, you choose the resolution in accordance with your laptop resolution right?

I attempted to reproduce the "stretched" screen that I got the first time I booted the demo, but for some reason it kept the correct aspect ratio across the board for me this time...maybe the issue was on my end.

about the underpowered issue, I intended for player to use a slow-motion rather often, because the special attack meter will fill faster when you kill enemy while in slow-motion

If this is the case then there's some tweaking needed; the special meter depletes quickly, and there's a (further slowed-down) delay between the moment you destroy an enemy and when its energy is actually collected, which makes it even easier to run empty. If you've never played them you might want to have a look at Espgaluda or its freeware tribute Leiria Stargazer - both feature a "time slow" mechanic, but encourage you to use it at opportune times rather than simply stay slowed down for a big chunk of the game. Espgaluda's sequel even includes a variation on the theme which you can use to make enemies more aggressive, in exchange for higher scoring opportunities.

[zzz]

thanks for your recommendation
I'll try to tune up the game mechanic after analyzing espgaluda

[Udderdude]

I seriously can't even start the game. At the level select, pressing Z does nothing, but X brings me back to the main menu ..

[zzz]

thanks for noticing me, I'll fix that ASAP

[zzz]

I've updated the game mechanic

now Z is for focus fire

X will create a circle around your ship, any bullet or enemy that enter it will become slow
creating this circle cost your energy overtime
any enemy that enter this circle will give you some points every second
if you cancel this circle by pressing X again, it will destroy all the bullet inside it, and give some damage to the enemy
and your energy will reset to zero again
but, if you let it cancel by it self (by draining your energy till zero) you don't get the previous effect
destroying enemy while in slow will give you double points
your energy replenish by it self while not in use

C will clear bullets on the screen
if you get hit, it will automatically clear bullets on the screen and turn your energy to zero

and I've fixed the bug where you can't select level

your feedback is really appreciated

[Udderdude]

I gave it a try. I found the most dangerous enemy in the game to be the swarms of popcorn enemies, because of your lack of an effective spread weapon and the fact that they appear midway down the screen and then fly right into you. They also take enough damage to fly into you from the side even when you're holding down focus fire ..

[zzz]

I gave it a try. I found the most dangerous enemy in the game to be the swarms of popcorn enemies, because of your lack of an effective spread weapon and the fact that they appear midway down the screen and then fly right into you. They also take enough damage to fly into you from the side even when you're holding down focus fire ..

can you suggest any type of spread weapon that you like?
and thanks for the feedback

[Udderdude]

It might be better to increase the spread of the non-focus weapon and reduce the popcorn's health.