[DEMO] Dark Old Sun - Shmup with lots of upgrades!

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thiago.kadooka
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[DEMO] Dark Old Sun - Shmup with lots of upgrades!

Post by thiago.kadooka »

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TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYUwzQt9Fi0
DOWNLOAD DEMO: http://www.somosnerds.com.br/darkoldsun/


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Hello! Im a solo developer, trying to make my first game!

Dark Old Sun, is a top down shoot'em up, with enphasis in weapon progression and huge and long boss battles!

With lots of weapons to choose from right from the beginning, you can select your favorite one and upgrade it to see how it become more powerfull as you play!
There is 3 difficulty modes and from normal to hard the game changes, as the enemies get new abilities! I dont like the "take more dmg, deal less dmg", so enemies change behavior or weapons in hard dificulty to make a bigger and more meaningful challenge.

This game have a Free Aim feature too! But dont you worry! it can be played without it! i designed the game to be able to play in both ways!
And there is controller support too!!!

You can play in English or Portuguese.

As Dark Old Sun is in active development right now, it will take some time until it is done, but to know what people think about my game idea, and give feedback, i have a demo! Play it and tell me what you guys think about it! (Link up There!)
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thiago.kadooka
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Re: [DEMO] Dark Old Sun - Shmup with lots of upgrades!

Post by thiago.kadooka »

So... no feedback at all? :cry:
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BulletMagnet
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Re: [DEMO] Dark Old Sun - Shmup with lots of upgrades!

Post by BulletMagnet »

I was actually a bit apprehensive about this one, but gave the demo a go and it was better than I expected; I'd have to go back to offer specific points (to both you and a bunch of other developers whose games I've tried :oops:), but while there are definitely elements I'd change the fundamentals aren't in too bad a place...just a matter of whether I can actually sit down and put a critique together.
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thiago.kadooka
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Re: [DEMO] Dark Old Sun - Shmup with lots of upgrades!

Post by thiago.kadooka »

BulletMagnet wrote:I was actually a bit apprehensive about this one, but gave the demo a go and it was better than I expected; I'd have to go back to offer specific points (to both you and a bunch of other developers whose games I've tried :oops:), but while there are definitely elements I'd change the fundamentals aren't in too bad a place...just a matter of whether I can actually sit down and put a critique together.
Haha, that made me a little anxious, have to say.

Well i will wait paciently, so :D
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thiago.kadooka
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Re: [DEMO] Dark Old Sun - Shmup with lots of upgrades!

Post by thiago.kadooka »

Some new footage of the new enemies in the game, this is for the fourth level, and they have different abilities.

the idea is that this is the "normal" enemy of this level, and you will find it all the way throught it.

VIDEO LINK: https://www.facebook.com/snproductions/ ... 949107308/

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Some abilities are really dangerous if you dont destroy it before hand.

if you destroy it sooner, the energy balls, will explode without spreading any bullets.
AgileMaster
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Re: [DEMO] Dark Old Sun - Shmup with lots of upgrades!

Post by AgileMaster »

Hey man! Finally tried your game, and here is some quick feedback right away! Most of this is just notes that I made simply by drawing on my own limited experience of making a shootemup, so you really don't need to take anything to heart, but maybe some of it will be useful; it's always good to get a different perspective.

First off, I like that there is immediately a variety of enemies, and that some react in surprising ways right off the bat (eg, the balls that explode when you shoot them, laser that slowly comes towards you and just demolishes you like a dark souls moment:). I also like the varied enemy pathing. I played on normal and the challenge level seems well balanced with the playability - enough bullets to keep you occupied, and even taking hits every now and then, but not that it seems like the odds are stacked against you. I obviously love the amount of customisation that you can apply to your ship (I haven't tried many different options yet, but it's clear that there is a wide variety of skills spanning the several dimensions of gameplay, and I like the fact that they are not all offensive. I look forward to see how the different skills can be combined in clever ways; this will be one of the main things that make the game stand out).

A quick note about all these skills though - and this is something that doesn't bother me personally, but I found many people complained about it when giving me feedback with the alpha version of my game Cosmonator: people are scared of seeing all those options and available skills right at the beginning. I know to some of us (myself included and you as well I'm sure) this seems really awesome - you can see immediately that the game has a lot of depth, which is hard to showcase otherwise, right? - but there are many players out there who will be almost paralysed by all that different information in your quick tutorial explanation screen where you show the different skills and things. It will have to be up to you if you want to keep it as it is for the more hardcore gamers, or make it more user friendly for average and noob gamers (the majority, unfortunately). With Cosmonator I found myself reluctantly doing the latter, slowly opening up the different abilities screens and spells per level as you progress and slowly telling the player about each new feature one level at a time through a slow tutorial that lasts for the first 10 levels. But yea you'll have to decide - either way is a sacrifice!

There are some other minor things which I might point out, though I'm sure it's just stuff that's in development anyway - the first thing that struck me for instance was the way the coins move vertically and then sideways instead of straight towards you. Seemed really buggy, but I'm sure this is stuff that's just work in progress.

About the graphics: needs more animation! (I say this because it is also true of my game.) Too many static enemies that float around but the sprites are completely static. I'm thinking you should start working on this asap, to make the play demo more appealing to new users? Although I guess it's possible to make the structure of the game first and then fill in the graphics polishing later. Depends on your priorities.
Another thing: people are gonna shoot you down because of the black space background. The rotating 3d planet concept works for variety, but the game market right now really reacts badly to fundamentally dark backgrounds, even if there are a little bits of interesting stuff for layering. I got a lot of flack for this. I like the dark, personally, because for me this kind of game is all about playability, and black makes the bullets stand out better. But the market wants bright shiny colours fleshed out everywhere. Again, you will have to decide which sacrifice you want to make!

On a final note, I'm sure people will tell you 'oh the firepower is not strong enough at the beginning, it's a shoot-em-up, you need to progress faster with super strong bullets'. And yea, you'll lose a lot of customers like that, they will say the game is too boring. But screw those people. In my opinion, this kind of game is an RPG (at least in the slow character building sense of the genre) dressed up like a shoot-em-up, not the other way around. It's more fun to take your time and build up a perfectly customised build.

But again, that's just my opinion :) it's really hard to find a balance, and the sad fact is that at the end of the day we do have to play to a certain kind of market! I hope you can keep your integrity of making a solid game that you are happy with and not just sell out to keep everyone else happy. Good luck man!
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thiago.kadooka
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Re: [DEMO] Dark Old Sun - Shmup with lots of upgrades!

Post by thiago.kadooka »

AgileMaster wrote:Hey man! Finally tried your game, and here is some quick feedback right away! Most of this is just notes that I made simply by drawing on my own limited experience of making a shootemup, so you really don't need to take anything to heart, but maybe some of it will be useful;........
Hello again! and well, thx for this review, it actually made me open an eye for some stuff. Its interesting that some stuff you actually think about, but you never know for sure if it is really a problem, until someone flashes out to you.

but well, the thing that im trying the most, is to create a variety in the game, im really happy that it is noticeable! one of my main goals is a nice amount of different enemies with different ideas, throughout all the game, it made me really happy that you liked it!

and yah, i know the feeling, i did of course got some people that dont understand the shop system, and upgrades. "paralysed" describe it really well! hahahaha. I tryed really hard to make the menu simple and plain as much as possible with so many weapons and stuff... even so what i learned is that some people will not get it at all, and they will think this is getting in the way of having fun, so i have two ideas for the final product:
One is to create a story mode, with a prequel level in which you are presented with the mechanics, and unlock all of if as you go through that level.
Second, is to create 2 distinct Arcade modes, "ADVANCED" and "CLASSIC", with classic, you select different ships with a preset choice of weapons and abilities, and you get automatic upgrades as you play through the game, this way the player will not get confused and dont need to "stop" playing to choose upgrades or weapons in the middle of the game.

the coins thing, it was intentional, i wanted to see the drop before i get it, i dont know, to me seems interesting that i see it fliping out in the screem before you can get it. i dont know, maybe i change this, i never heard anyone talking about this being an issue, but gonna pay more atention to this.

About the graphics... thats a problem i will have to battle throughout all of development... because, well, im making this game all by myself, and im a really crap artist, so im doing all i can to make it looks "not-crap"... since this is also my first game, im learning some "tricks" to make the sprites dont look so dull, like, wings moving as some ships fly, or cannons that aim or recoil from shots, things like this, that dont require too much of "redraw" stuff. the fourth level in my game (not included in the demo), looks way better on this, but i dont know if get to the "level" it should get...

and yah, i heard more than once about: "shots are too weak", because my first goal right at the beginning of development, is to create a sense of progression, and shmup usually are not about that, as you pointed out, its more about RPG than Shmup on this case. Yeah, i will stand my ground on this as much as i can, what i think, is that you dont need to give more firepower, you actually have to find a way to convince people playing the game that this progression is cool, dont know how to yet though...

So yeah, you can never please everybody, but the way i will try to get closer to that, is by create more game modes, that different kinds of people will like at least one, (Arcade Classic/Advanced, Story, RogueLike), it will be more work to do of course, but i think it will pay off... I HOPE!

thx again man, some things will really help me out, i will try to work better on my sprites and backgrounds, and think about all that stuff!
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thiago.kadooka
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Re: [DEMO] Dark Old Sun - Shmup with lots of upgrades!

Post by thiago.kadooka »

so, its been a long run!

i released my last trailer for the final version of the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQPDTliHtW8&t=1s

the game will be released on 7 march on steam!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/739290/Dark_Old_Sun/
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