Shattered Stars Demo 01.01.10

[shmupgame]

[Update:]
Shattered Stars Demo 01.01.10
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6lvn4gec4bsvn ... 0.exe?dl=0



We are making a vertical shooter with local 2 player co-op and some controller support. The completed game will have 5-7 levels to play through (each with it's own boss) as well as improvements and additions to gameplay.

We now have teamates contributing to:

Sound Effects
Vocals
Art
Story line
Playtesters

We are currently still looking for:

Artist - Any combination of player and enemy sprites, effects, menus, UI and backgrounds.
Audio - Any combination of stage and boss music, title and menu music, sound effects and vocals.
Playtesters - Still looking for people to spend a little time playing and communicating their observations.

Free Abyss Odyssey to 1 random person out of the first 25 people to fill out this google doc.
https://goo.gl/forms/RUo4qz1Fvj4M6AN22
#shmups #indiegame #gamedev #indiedev #indiedev

[BulletMagnet]

Played for a bit, and the first thing I'll suggest is shrinking the hitbox; weaving between bullets feels very cumbersome as it stands.

[shmupgame]

Played for a bit, and the first thing I'll suggest is shrinking the hitbox; weaving between bullets feels very cumbersome as it stands.

Thanks for trying it out! I would love to adjust the hitbox. However, as of now the player ship is a placeholder with a precise hitbox on the the entire ship. I am planning to add other ships of different shapes and fine-tune each hitbox at a later time.

[seraph]

Some essential things need to be fixed before this is playable. The keyboard layout is unconventional and inconvenient; there should be a rebinding feature. The input delay is way too much. The player hitbox is too big; it should not extend outside of the sprite. If the hitbox is not small, the player should not be expected to weave it through tight patterns.

[shmupgame]

Some essential things need to be fixed before this is playable. The keyboard layout is unconventional and inconvenient; there should be a rebinding feature. The input delay is way too much. The player hitbox is too big; it should not extend outside of the sprite. If the hitbox is not small, the player should not be expected to weave it through tight patterns.

- I have to disagree with you on this not being playable. I have had many people play through the entire demo with ease. I am sorry that you didn't seem to have much fun with it.

- The keyboard layout is different for sure! I am working out what I feel will be good for 2 people to play off of one keyboard for those that may not have or choose not to use controllers.

- This is the first I have heard about any input delay. There is a bug in the code for the keyboard input that I believe prioritizes certain keys over others if more than 1 key is pressed and I will be looking into this in the future.

- As I stated in my earlier reply, the hitbox of the ship is precise to the shape of the ship and just a placeholder until I have new art. Since it was mentioned twice already in this thread, I took a look at the other half of the collisions and adjusted some hitboxes on enemies and their projectiles. This should make those tight spots a little more accurate and enjoyable!

- I will post the updated demo with the collision changes I mentioned after I add a few more things and make some changes.

[shmupgame]

Link to new version up top.

Still looking to collaborate with someone. You can be seasoned at what you do or someone who is looking for more experience or who wants their talents showcased in a video game.

Looking for:

• Artist for sprites
  Artist for backgrounds
  Music composer for background music
  Effects composer for sound effects and possibly voice
  Or any combination of these

Change log 01.01.09:

• Controller deadzone code moved (in case controller is off at game launch)
  Added scoring to bullet collisions
  Created an object generator
  Fixed the bullet sprite for player 2
  Space candy now moves at variable speeds
  Added power-up and continue sounds
  Fixed bug in power-up collision and removed some redundant code
  Adjusted some enemy and projectile collision masks
  Enlarged player bullet sprites
  Any keyboard key now skips the controls info screen
  Adjusted various pieces of code

[BulletMagnet]

The new version feels a bit better than the previous one, but I still found the hitbox large enough to feel cumbersome when put up against the amount/density of bullets you expect the player to dodge; power-ups also seems scarce, at least at this stage of development, so if you get hit once it'll be a long time before you see another pickup again, unless I'm missing something.

[shmupgame]

Version 01.01.10 is here and with it a game giveaway!

Change Log 01.01.10:

Player collision masks have been adjusted
Cleaned up start menu code
Created a rough character select screen
Created additional ships for each player
Added speed and power levels to each ship
Rewrote player movement code
Made minor changes/corrections to multiple sections of code
Score rewards from enemies now chase player when within range
Placed additional power-ups in level 1
Changed the sprite for player invincibility

[BulletMagnet]

Just stopping in to say that the latest build feels considerably better than the last one, though I'll add a couple of thoughts:

- Knowing which enemies will drop power-ups would be helpful, since missing one or two can make things considerably harder.

- Might also want to consider making the boss's bullets disappear from the screen when he dies, so the player is free to collect the gold; first time I killed him I rushed right into a bullet that blended in with the mass of gold when I went to collect it. Bullet visibility on the whole isn't terrible, but could be improved some.

- I had the easiest time with the "balanced" ship; the other two seem a bit too gimped by their weaknesses IMO.

[shmupgame]

Thank you for your continued interest in this game BulletMagnet, as for your thoughts: (Borrowing your formatting, no offense.)

- Knowing which enemies will drop power-ups was not something I had considered. The game is meant to be a little challenging and I will definitely adjust it's difficulty as well as the power-up frequency and possibly a tell for enemies that drop them.

- I have already changed the code to make the boss's bullets disappear in the next build. I also have planned to change the color of the points gems in hopes that it will make the bullets easier to see. I am also looking for an artist that can create custom art instead of using my poor excuse for art or free art from various random artists.

- I appreciate your feedback on the new ships. This is the biggest part of the new update. However, it is also in need of the most work as of ver.01.01.10. I just wanted to show that there will be more than one ship in the final game.

Thanks again, I hope you enjoy the next build.