Thanks a lot for playing and your great feedback.
I'll try to give you answers and tips
Verticen wrote:I got a chance to try the v0.2 demo for a bit ... This game ran smoothly on fairly low-end hardware with some noticeable frame drops.
I didn't test it on other computer than my main computer. I'll do this in the future.
Verticen wrote:The game has a nice style and is a good challenge. I used an arcade stick, and I was pleased with how tight and responsive the movement was. I was able to execute most dodges I expected to succeed quite well. For instance, I could position in the gap between the dual downward shots of the medium large flying enemies as I would expect to kill them. I kinda wished I had a slow movement button, especially during the last phase of the boss fight, but the game can do without if it is part of the desired challenge.
It's nice that you played it with an arcade stick. I tried with a x360 controller and keyboard but the sensations are really not the same. I took a lot of time to set the player movements (speed, global feeling) so i'm happy it fits you. There is a slow movement when fire button is pressed down. You can use this to move across patterns and then use the beeam shot when the button is released. Try a close kill on a specific enemy to have a bullet cancel. Like the last ennemy before the warning screen
Verticen wrote:The countdown that kills you at the beginning is something I could live without, but I imagine may be a placeholder for something else like a ship select.
You're under attack and do nothing is killing you. By the way, each second you lost is related to 1 life. It's a mechanic that i'm proud of because the less you have lives, the bigger green gems will be. This is where i want advanced players were engaged to play with death to make a highscore.
Verticen wrote:The difficulty is pretty good for me, but kept me on my toes. I found myself having to rapidly execute dodges with sparse safe time deep into the stage. The challenge is excellent for a stg regular, but if you plan to release you’re definitely going to need to add an easier section for casual players at some point in dev if this is how hard your stage 1 is.
My goal is to make this game interesting for shmup lovers which means it has to be challenging. Despite this fact, i know that it could be hard at first but after some attemps, this is really doable when not focussing on collecting stars and medals.
Verticen wrote:There were also times when I wouldn’t respawn with an special shot like I normally would, and would sometimes chain death due to this later in the stage. The section with the blocks after the scrolling line of tanks is where I would most frequently chain death. I would lose at least two lives here even on runs that I cleared. Consider removing the splitting asteroids from this section except for the large one with cannons. I think that the section would be hard enough without the asteroids which blend into the background. I would often move to evade the dangerous neon pink bullet sprays into a dark asteroid that I didn’t see in my peripheral vision.
Not respawning with the lastest weapon type is wanted to avoid playing always with the same. It add more variety between your attemps. Some are good and other aren't
Trust me, when you get comfortable in this section, you'll chase asteroids for extra gems ! Try this : kill the 5 tanks, collect the five stars from right to left while killing upper turrets, go up and collect the stars before they escape from the top of the screen. Then, go down to the bottom left corner, charge your beeam before the first platform arrives. You can kill at least one pink turret and the main ennemy in the center. It will be a good start to manage this section.
Verticen wrote:The charge shot works fine, but could probably use a buff, especially after the player receives any shot power up. Any powerup besides the green weapon plus autofire is usually easier to route than using the charge shot. My highscore run I did not use the charge shot at all. I generally found the basic wide shot teal weapon to be the preferred, followed by blue weapon. I had a suspicion that charging the shot made the ship move a bit slower, but I couldn’t tell, and I would suggest not having such speed reduction regardless. 1941 Counter Attack has a very similar burst shot/hold to charge system that works quite well if you’re looking for a good example to borrow from.
Beam is not mandatory but try to use it in an efficent way. e.g. when nothing is on screen, prepare it to quickly destroy next ennemies. I'm not a huge fan of autofires. That's why i put a beeam. I know that it can be frustating for thumbs but i really like to hammering button and charge beeam at some spots. Another alternative that works is too much CAVE to me (Wideshot/Laser).
Verticen wrote:The game could use some sort of indication that what you’re hitting is destructible. For instance, I did not realize that the moving blocks themselves (in addition to the pink bullets cannons) could be shot and destroyed until I noticed that they were killable after several playthoughs. A single frame white or red flash is a fairly common way to do do this.
An impact when player bullets hit something is planned. Flashing enemies not yet but i keep this idea in mind.
Verticen wrote:I really like how you can chain the stars item pickup score; that’s actually a really solid scoring mechanic. It’s like Strikers gold but less annoying. You may want to give the player a visual or gauge for how long their star chain will last. The green score tokens that flying enemies drop can look about the same size as the smaller bullets, and are about the same color value, which startled me several times. Consider starting their size at the medium size and making them less of a round shape. If the ‘M’ item is more than a point item, then it’s not obvious what it does.
I tried to have severals mechanics for making points without being so punishing like a chain could be. For casual players, collect (or not) stars and medals without care of their values. Mid players, quickly collect medals (gold), think of a path to collect stars to increase their value. Advanced, same as medium but with collecting all medals and stars, with the less lives as possible to collect big green gems and collect the hidden red gem is you know his location. This one is well hidden
Verticen wrote:The art style of the game is fairly solid. I’d make collideable asteroids a bit brighter and easier to see. Also, you should see if you can overlay “Game Over” on the playfeild instead of being a different scene for major aesthetic points. Many enemies already look great, though I understand that some is still placeholder. I would also make the GUI and score text just a bit larger.
I'm not a pixel artist so i tried to keep time for the whole project instead of tinkering with the art too much. Mainmenu, ignition, gameover and stageclear scenes must be better but i focus on the gameplay, the fun. We all agree that it's the heart of a game.
Verticen wrote:+bug.feature players can survive inside of asteroids if they are inside them when their respawn shields run out. They will still die from bullets. The effect resets when the player leaves the asteroid, which will not kill them.
You are an awesome beta tester ! You are right, it's on my v0.3 to do list. It's a small change i guess. I think it's an enter2D/exit2D vs stay2D stuff.
Verticen wrote:My High Score: 80950
Keep up the good work.
Being not too easy and having things to discover is wanted to have a nice learning curve.
The worst thing i want is having players that clear the game in one attemp and put the game in bin.
I'm sure you can reach 200.000 points easily.
Try again and have fun !!!
