Star Hammer, a game I'm working on

[gutripper]

Hi
I wanted to point out a game I'm working on at the moment. It's called Star Hammer, and it's a space shooter that I'm making for Xbox 360 Indie Games. There is a site with a few screenshots and videos at http://www.starhammer.com. It's probably about 70% complete at the moment.
It's a top down game, and you can fly around 360 degrees. There are missions to perform that largely revolve around blasting aliens of various sizes and configurations, and the missions are tied together by a story.
What do you think?

[worstplayer]

This doesn't really look like a shmup, more like Starscape clone.

[gutripper]

Is that bad?

[worstplayer]

Not at all. I actually quite like games like that. But some purists might complain.

[gutripper]

Ah. Well, I apologize in advance to the purists

[mister. jones]

Gutripper, sweet looking game.

Is it just you working on this game? The ship design is great.

I don't even have a 360, but I've bookmarked your site to keep an eye on it anyway.

To give some constructive criticism: I think the "laser" sound you are using is grating. Don't get me wrong, I know it's a traditional laser sound, and it reminds me of a lot of old school movies (Wizards included, an awesome film if you haven't seen it), but it's really only satisfying for a few shots. I think the sounds the main character makes are just as important as the visual appeal of the main character (clean-looking, smooth animation, etc.). It could just be me, however, so definitely take this with a grain of salt. There have definitely been shmups, though, where I've had to turn the sound off because the repetitive firing was absolutely obnoxious. Again, I like the sound you've chosen (at least the one that was in that most recent video that I watched) -- it's classic -- but over time it becomes a bit grating.

A 360 is on my "to buy" list, and this game seems to be right up my alley, so I'm going to be keeping myself updated.

As for the purists... if they're going to complain, they have every right; this is a pretty hardcore forum. I, myself, with the sparseness of shmups these days, am excited about any good lookin' game with a ship that shoots stuff (a horribly crude, but true depiction of my tastes).

With that said... looks pretty awesome. I'll be keeping tabs on it. Good luck with your ongoing development.

--mister. jones

[gutripper]

Hi mister.jones.

Thanks for the words of encouragement! Much appreciated.

The ships were outsourced to somebody with better 3D skills than mine, and I have a friend writing story and missions. Everything else is me.

I'll take your comments about sound on board for sure. I'm yet to do much testing of the game with an actual audience, so that's something I'll know to look out for when I do.

Oh, and there will probably be a PC version after the 360 version is done.

[mister. jones]

Very cool. Good for you.

I am excited about the possibility of a PC version.

Again, looking forward to this.

--mister. jones