Wake of Posedion

[Sluggy]

Hello everyone! I've only discovered this site recently and I'm very glad to see this style of game still has a dedicated and active community!

I'm a lone-wolf indie game dev working on my first commercial project - Wake of Poseidon. A bullet-hell, beat 'em up, platformer. I'm not quite sure if this game fits the bill of a shmup, but then, considering the mouthful of words used to describe it, I really can't think of a better place to go.

I'll cut right to the chase and show some screenies.




I'll be posting regular updates on my youtube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNDIzA ... -_StdzNLHQ

You can try out an early alpha at itch! https://sluggy.itch.io/wake-of-poseidon

I'd love to get some feedback from some actual players as up to this point I've mostly only heard from other devs - which doesn't always quite provide the kind of information that can help lead one to new and better directions.

Hope to hear from some interested players soon,
~Sluggy

[Sluggy]

An early alpha is available on itch.io!
Check it out at https://sluggy.itch.io/wake-of-poseidon

[Sluggy]

Pushed some more updates and improvements to the systems. I've also nearly finished mapping out the second level. Aiming to have this demo complete with boss fights included by the end of the week.

You can check it out here: https://sluggy.itch.io/wake-of-poseidon
I've now also included a MacOS build.

[Sluggy]

Added some animated gifs showing off the newly lit and detailed areas a little better. As before, anyone that is willing to give it a try your feedback is welcome!
As before, the demo can be found at https://sluggy.itch.io/wake-of-poseidon

[Risto]

I tried the demo. The art style works well and the shooting effects feels satisfying. Here are some notes I took while playing the game:

* Would it work with a dash instead of jump, so that you move fast in the direction of aiming, like in hyper light drifter. But would move the same high like the jump.

* When you get in to a gauntlet, have something visual that blocks the path, ex a forcefield or a closed door. It’s clear when the gauntlet starts just by how the camera stops scrolling, but it could be more effectful with sound and visuals.

* Is there a way to switch weapons when you pick up a new one? It works that weapon pickups overheat, but it feels strange when you can’t switch to a different weapon or pick up your old one. Might also work like in metal slug where you run out of ammo for pickup weapons.

* Would be nice some kind of subweapons, ex grenade or close combat alternative.

* Also might work with health potions instead of continues. Like in hyper light drifter or dark souls, where you have to find a calm spot and drink it without getting hitted.

* I think one level design rule of thumb would be to have at least two different types of enemies in waves at the same time. Some encounters are like that, while others are, spawn 5 small enemies, then spawn 3 big enemies. Ex first 4 small + 1 big, then 2 small and 2 big would be more interesting.

* Some more encounters with covers or terrain objects, like platforms, stairs or ex force fields It also works well with the invisible turret. You could make a smaller version that fires slower shots and put then closer to the player, and ex have a terminal you have to destroy to turn them off, which is behind some other enemies.

* I especially liked this encounter where you would have to move around to not get hit by the turret.

[Sluggy]

I tried the demo. The art style works well and the shooting effects feels satisfying. Here are some notes I took while playing the game:

* Would it work with a dash instead of jump, so that you move fast in the direction of aiming, like in hyper light drifter. But would move the same high like the jump.

* When you get in to a gauntlet, have something visual that blocks the path, ex a forcefield or a closed door. It’s clear when the gauntlet starts just by how the camera stops scrolling, but it could be more effectful with sound and visuals.

* Is there a way to switch weapons when you pick up a new one? It works that weapon pickups overheat, but it feels strange when you can’t switch to a different weapon or pick up your old one. Might also work like in metal slug where you run out of ammo for pickup weapons.

* Would be nice some kind of subweapons, ex grenade or close combat alternative.

* Also might work with health potions instead of continues. Like in hyper light drifter or dark souls, where you have to find a calm spot and drink it without getting hitted.

* I think one level design rule of thumb would be to have at least two different types of enemies in waves at the same time. Some encounters are like that, while others are, spawn 5 small enemies, then spawn 3 big enemies. Ex first 4 small + 1 big, then 2 small and 2 big would be more interesting.

* Some more encounters with covers or terrain objects, like platforms, stairs or ex force fields It also works well with the invisible turret. You could make a smaller version that fires slower shots and put then closer to the player, and ex have a terminal you have to destroy to turn them off, which is behind some other enemies.

* I especially liked this encounter where you would have to move around to not get hit by the turret.

Hi Risto! Thanks for the feedback!

There are a lot of changes coming soon, not the least of which is a new control scheme that allows for omni-directional shooting. As well, there are many encounter ideas and enemy types that either haven't been completed yet or aren't featured in the demo so don't fret if it felt like things were a little bare bones.

To respond to a couple of your notes:
1) Jumping is very integral to the core gameplay and will become far more prevalent as the game goes on so a dash really won't work as well. Also, I think it's a unique selling point as not many games like this allow for vertical options in avoiding bullets.

2) You're very right about the lack of cues for the start of gauntlets and a lot of people have mentioned it along with you. I'll be sure to add something to make it more obvious.

3) I've been considering a melee-style attack that occurs automatically when you get close to enemies. Just haven't had the time to prototype it yet. From the sounds of what you said, I think it'll be a good addition.

4) I've been pulling my hair out trying to come up with a unique and interesting weapons system. Originally I wanted a more 'Contra' like style of gameplay but it seems too limited and frankly boring. There actually is code in there to swap weapons and at one point I allowed the player to carry two at a time but it was also kinda 'meh'. I'll continue to ponder while I work on other stuff.

Again thanks for the info and expect an update within a day or so of this post!

[Sluggy]

Pushed another update recently. Twin-stick controls are now fully enabled. Along with it comes a couple new weapon powerups and a very very barebones super-attack system. The game feels very different from how it did and while I was reluctant to the change at first, I'm super excited about it now and can't wait to take advantage of what options it will provide for enemy encounters.

I recently had Wake of Poseidon featured on a livestream aimed at providing feedback for developers. You can check it out here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7io6TC ... .be&t=8171. I've set the timestamp to the portion where it starts.

[Sluggy]

Another update has been pushed!

This update included several bug fixes, some quality-of-life improvements, sprucing up of several graphical effects, and - super attacks!
The super attack system is still quite experimental but both characters now have three unique supers that grow in strength based on the number of weapons they've grabbed.







There is also a new video posted here on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIoOpEg-y18

As usual, you can download the alpha demo here at itch
https://sluggy.itch.io/wake-of-poseidon