Andromeda Wing

[adam301173]

Hi all,

I Just wanted to tell you about my new shoot 'em up that I've been developing over the last 2 years which I have decided to call Andromeda Wing. I have used C++ and DirectX 9 when coding the game engine and 3DS Max to create the graphics. I have drawn a lot of inspiration from Xenon 2 on the Amiga which is a game I used to love playing in my younger years.

I have included spiders and centipedes that emerge from tunnels and you can check it out here on Steam:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/69175 ... meda_Wing/

It is a solo project and will be my first commercial release when it becomes available to buy and download in late August / early September.

Here are some screen shots of Andromeda Wing:



















Here is the same video of my game uploaded on YouTube which basically shows my demo / arcade attract mode sequence since I have no video editing software!
https://youtu.be/E1Z8l5yfQds

Thanks for looking and hope you like it!

Adam

[AttilioHimeki]

Hey,

Congratulations for making it this far!

Just looking at the Steam gameplay video, I've got a couple of feedback:

- The shooting sound effect gets annoying pretty quickly, maybe tone it down a bit? Also some music would really help

- I'm not sure how the shields work - I noticed the red bar changing, but there's really no feedback during the game that you got hit. Maybe add a couple of VFXs or sound effects to make sure the player knows what's going on?

- Related to the previous point, I can't tell what's the ship hitbox. I would recommend making it more obvious, for example look at Death Smiles, or my game, where you have a glowing orb at the centre of your ship/mecha.

- I'm not sure what the Player green bar is supposed to do. It seems like you get damaged by enemies explosions? In general I would definitely look at giving the player more feedback.

Apart from that, it would be great to know more about the game. What's the scoring system like for example?

P.S. the screenshots and youtube link are not working in your post

[adam301173]

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback

The video doesn't really do the game justice and it needs to be played to get a feel for how it works, obviously I'm incredibly biased since it's my creation! But I can honestly say that it plays really well and I've been determined to make it action packed with attack waves and new aliens being added all of the time. I will continue to develop and improve Andromeda Wing beyond my early September release date and will bare feedback in mind as I do so!

However, just to specifically address some of your points and queries:

* You can turn the sound right down in the options -> audio menu

* Music is one the way!

* The shield takes up some damage when you have it in between you and an alien whilst also inflicting damage on any alien that is near (until it's energy is run down and then it's lost until recollected).

* Point taken about the ship hit box, but I'll leave it as it is because that's my style for this game

* The green player bar is the energy / health bar and runs down if you get hit by an alien (they explode if their energy runs <= 0) , a projectile or crash into foreground scenery.

Cheers!
Adam

[adam301173]

Hi all,

If anybody else can't see the screenshots or the YouTube link doesn't work can you let me know please, thanks!

[AttilioHimeki]

Hey,

Yep, sounds good. I'm not a huge fan of damage and shield systems, I'd rather just have a one-hit one-kill, but I guess that's just a personal preference.

Same for the hitbox, I prefer being able to see it clearly where it is. But as you said, that's your style, there are many games such as Ikaruga where it's not visible.

I would definitely recommend working on a cooler video if you think it doesn't do justice to the game, as that's pretty much the one and only thing that people will see when deciding whether to buy the game.

Ah by the way, I can see the screenshots now, they were just blocked by a plugin, but I think the youtube link is still pointing to the wrong page, as it's opening my videos list.

[adam301173]

Hi,

Yes I completely agree with you about the video - I do need to make a shorter one and move it to first in the viewing list.

[adam301173]

I just fixed the YouTube URL so it should work fine now.

Cheers
Adam

[adam301173]

Hi all,

I've replaced the YouTube clip in the post with a link to the new trailer - check it out!

[adam301173]

Hi everyone,

Just to inform you all that I have now added controller support and to let you know that development is coming along nicely with a Steam release imminent

[blackpawn]

Sweet, is looking very cool!

[adam301173]

Thanks blackpawn

Obviously I am extremely biased, but I can tell you it plays really well also and after countless hours of play-testing I still enjoy playing it through.

However, I will let you all be the judge of that when it is released in the next week or so

[Maran]

Looking good man, did you do everything yourself? Really impressed if that's the case, art looks really good for a solo project. You have my money when you release.

[adam301173]

Thanks for the support mate!

Yes a lot of time and effort has gone in to this, all by myself - coding in C++ with Visual Studio, graphics rendered in 3D Studio Max then print screened and made into sprite sheets, sound effects sourced on freesound.org, mod music done in Milkytracker... I was made redundant last year so been filling my time working on my game.

[wgogh]

Milkytracker... Brings some memories!

Any chance for a demo? It could help if you came for the right tweks gameplay-wise before releasing, as some of the members are very experienced in the genre. But if you're here just to promote your game, I say that its looking good! Nice animations.

[Maran]

I was made redundant last year so been filling my time working on my game.

Sorry but with those skills you should have a job in no time if you wanted too!

Have you done playtests before? Like wgogh said it's highly recommended you let others play it to get feedback before you actually release.

[adam301173]

Thanks guys

I know what you say about getting other people to play-test the game is right really. However, I need to release it this week and I've already upped my (almost) final build to Steam and I'm just awaiting their response, therefore I wont bother with all that this time.

I think it's pretty ready but I'm going to continually develop it and extend its features over the coming months, one example would be the addition of leader boards.

[adam301173]

Hi all,

Andromeda Wing is now available to buy on Steam here;

http://store.steampowered.com/app/69175 ... meda_Wing/



Please feel free to check it out!

[Maran]

Congratulations on your release! I've bought it and will check it out as soon as possible and get back to you

[adam301173]

Thanks Maran! your support is much appreciated!

[Maran]

Managed to play it for a few minutes between chores and here is a braindump of my initial thoughts.

• Default bindings were a bit off to me; z,x,c would have made more sense
• When rebinding I expected that once I pressed an alternative that would be it but you still have to press enter after
• Love the level intro, really nice c64-vibe
• Enemies spawning from behind the player without warning is a bit icky
• Pressing escape leaves the game, it does not pause it like I expected
• Highscore screen could just use keyboard input and allow a bit more characters, I recognise the retro appeal but things did improve over the last decade
• Once you entered your name the screen just stays on the highscore screen for a little too long (I think 15 seconds or so without even displaying the scores)
• The spider boss seems a bit unfair, I would need to play it a bit more but it seems you can't dodge his webs and they always damage you regardless of whether you actually touch the boss or not.
• I feel like the base speed of the player could be a bit higher.

Some questions:

Do you lose power when you die? I feel like once I died once the rest of the level just got harder. Are the side weapons meant to be so much more powerful then the front weapons? Usually shooting things from the side is more effective but not as fun.

[adam301173]

Thank you for your feedback Maran

I will consider all of what you have said but in answer to some of your points;

Yes the escape key needs to pause the game and present the player with the option of quitting the current game or returning to it - it is something I'm going to implement over the next few days as a matter of priority.

Once you have changed the default bindings and applied them they are saved and reloaded as the new default bindings next time the game is loaded.

With regards to enemies spawning behind you... make sure you get the rear shot pickup and generally don't linger near the top or bottom of the screen too much...

The spider boss is easy to defeat if you stay on a level with the spiders at the side, take out all of the legs of the boss first because feelers cannot be damaged till you blow the legs off... then shoot the eyes and then finally its body... it's even easier if you go in close (but not too close) with a couple of grenades

You should be able to avoid the webs if you keep to the sides but then you will be attacked by the small spiders when they appear! However, I may tweak the code a bit to make it slightly easier to defeat.

Weapons are powered down by 1 level after you lose a life... but pickups are numerous so you just need to find them and power your ship back up.

It's a challenging shmup I think from feedback I've had so far.... I can get to the third level every time and I reached the fourth level recently but then died

I will probably put in an option for different difficulty settings... maybe normal and easy initially - this is also something I plan to implement soon.

[adam301173]

Here are some new screen shots of Andromeda Wing;

[adam301173]

The latest build of Andromeda Wing now features three difficulty settings, EASY, NORMAL & HARD with separate high score tables for each mode.

When playing in EASY mode, the level 1 boss is slightly easier to defeat since its webs are now easier to avoid.

NORMAL mode is the difficulty level current players of the game have already experienced, so no change there.

HARD mode is only for the most hardcore of SHMUP players!!

[adam301173]

I am proud to announce that Andromeda Wing is coming to XBox One next year!!

You can check it out on Steam here (currently on sale):
http://store.steampowered.com/app/69175 ... meda_Wing/

[adam301173]

Hi all,

I just wanted to let you know that Andromeda Wing is on sale (-75%) until 23rd April 2018! If you haven't checked it out already, why not give it a try!

You can check it out here:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/69175 ... meda_Wing/

Thanks,
Adam