Awesome, thank you so much for the feedback and picking up the game!
BulletMagnet wrote:Threw down the eight bucks, here's what I could think to note after a bit of play time:
- I found the default music volume too loud, had to turn it down in the menu; not sure if that's just me though.
Thankfully easily adjusted, but noted in case it is reported more often.
BulletMagnet wrote:- Also had to adjust the deadzone for the controller I'm using, which I recall doing with the previous demo version of the game as well; again, though, not sure if that's just my hardware.
Yeah, that's the hardware doing something different for each configuration. Although it is annoying when it does happen, and confusing to new players, so I may just lower the default value a little bit.
BulletMagnet wrote:- Speaking of the options menu, I found that after finishing a stage and quitting back to the main menu the "audio" options would stay where I put them, but the "gameplay" and "control" settings would revert to defaults and require adjusting again.
Thanks, I will fix that!
BulletMagnet wrote:- In "Classic" mode items seem to mostly fall downwards, which discourages you from using the entire screen, since you want to stay southbound to catch most of the stuff; offhand I prefer how items behave in "Macro" mode, where they just sort of float for a bit before disappearing.
I'm going to experiment a little bit to see how it feels like with the Macro behavior of items in Classic!
BulletMagnet wrote:- It also appears that picking up shot power-ups after you're at full strength doesn't do anything for you (correct me if I'm wrong); seeing as the "Classic" game seems to take a Giga Wing-esque "more powerups than you'll ever need" approach, I'd suggest giving them at least a small point value to make them worth picking up under any circumstances.
Yes, when you are maxed power-ups don't do anything. It's a good idea to give them some value though. I'll add a bit of points value to them. I initially did not do so to prevent from having random factors an impact on scores. But power-ups don't drop fully randomly anymore for a long time now, so I might as well see how it works out
BulletMagnet wrote:- Glad to see Macro in action, it's a rather neat change of pace from the usual stuff; there are a truckload of stats to keep track of, perhaps a bit too many, though at a glance it appears that players should do okay just picking up the stuff that spawns and filling in the gaps at shops without micromanaging too much. Having bullets spawn from parts unknown is a bit weird, but not impossible to get over; enemies spawning directly on top of you, however, is less forgivable. Off to the side, I'm curious what the design mentality behind the "move meter" here is; it didn't have a negative effect on the game as I played it, but I'm interested in what made you enact it for Macro specifically.
The enemies spawning on top of you is a thing I'm aware of, and I will fix that for sure. It shouldn't happen with the way the spawning system is built, but it still does, it's a bit odd. The move meter is implemented to prevent people from gettings cramps from holding down the button all the time as the movement increase is a lot lower at the start compared to Classic, which makes it almost usable all the time as the danger of overshooting movement is not as present. Also, it adds a bit of strategic use when you slow down to increase the effectiveness of the orbs you shoot with level 4 bullets. It means you can't spam those bullets, also at the same time it offers another route to upgrade your ship with.
BulletMagnet wrote:- Some aspects of the RNG might need a bit of tweaking; sometimes I'd go quite some time without seeing any targets, while other times I'd wind up suddenly swamped. The spawning walls in the second area would also sometimes trap me in a small box for a bit, or force me into a corridor where I couldn't dodge an oncoming bullet. I'd also frequently receive power-ups for weapons I either wasn't using or hadn't unlocked yet. I'm almost tempted to suggest a mini-map, but it'd be a real pain to implement without clogging the screen to heck and back...
The RNG is definitely still being tweaker. I have a good change lined up right now for the next patch which should stabilize activity more, and also offer more enemy variety. The thing with the walls can happen, but there are ways around it. It will become apparent, I at least hope so haha, that for different levels and different situations in Macro certain special weapons are more effective than others. If you haven't unlocked those yet, well, better get to unlocking and planning on what weapon might suit some situation better
Here follow spoilers concerning mechanics and gameplay tips, so I'm covering it up just in case you would want to find out for yourself.
For instance, with Time Jump you can jump through walls. Or if an "unavoidable" bullet due to the environment being an arse comes in at you, you can use the Charge Shot to destroy it.
In Macro the environment can be as much of an enemy to you than any other bullet. I have considered adding a radar of some sorts, but everything is happening in pretty near vicinity to the player and there is a risk of just adding too much stuff (like with the amount of player upgrades), so I decided against it.
BulletMagnet wrote:- Offhand it seems that shields have a bigger hitbox than your ship does; is this to encourage you to use them as "bombs" instead of hoarding them, or am I off base?
Yes, shields have a hitbox the size of the shields themselves, which is substantially larger than the player hitbox. It is indeed to encourage to use them as bombs and make it more difficult to hoard them. I don't want to spoil too many mechanics, so I will cover this one up as well. It will explain a few details about the shield which you may want to find out for yourself.
In Classic shields stack damage-wise, not in terms of amount of bullets it can stop. For instance you could hoard a bunch of shields if you're able to as 1 bullet hit negates them all, and do massive amounts of damage against an enemy, or even boss, by exploding all of the stacked shields in their face. Furthermore, it can also be used to maintain your combo by exploding it when there is no enemy to kill quickly nearby and grabbing the points the destroyed bullets drop and maintaining your combo as such. In Macro shields stack in the same way, but with the added bonus of when you have a certain number of shields stacked on top of each other, it will activate an overshield which isn't explodable but offers another line of defense.
BulletMagnet wrote:- At the moment it appears that the leaderboards accept multiple submissions from the same person instead of just each person's personal best; plans to change this?
No plans as of yet, but I will add it to the list. I want to add a player statistic overview at some point, which would include an easy overview of personal bests and such and this would include that. I simply have not yet had the time. But I can see how one person clogging up the leaderboards could become an issue, so maybe I need to make its priority a bit higher! I also want to replace the current leaderboards with Steamworks leaderboards, which is related to the issue as well. It'll take a bit of research, but hope to get that in there
BulletMagnet wrote:- You have created some of the most doggedly persistent homing bullets known to shmpdom. You monster.
Haha cheers, they can be a downright pain the ass at times. Just wait for when Level 3 is added to Macro
I'll post more as I think of them; let me know if anything I said needs clarification.
