You Will Die - XBLA Indie game

[TodayIsForgotten]

Its a good thing I pulled the full screen lasers from an early build, or i'd -really- be taking a beating in here. About the ship getting big, the camera will eventually pull back to give you some more room to move.

But I think I understand the reactions now. Many people play games to complete them and get to the end and win. Thats never going to happen in You Will Die. For a second I was confused with the question 'why make a game where no one will ever see the last level' because the games I grew up playing were exactly like that. And thats partially what You Will Die is influenced by. You'd never get to the 'end' of Defender. You cant 'beat' Robotron 2084. Asteroids, Missle Command, Galaga, etc, just kept getting harder until you died. When playing a game like that you cant base your skill in a game by if you get to the end, but by the score you have when the Game Over screen pops up.

Its a different philosophy (probably outdated) but thats how I see games.

No, its fine if thats how you want to make your games, but what i mean is why even have a fixed number of levels? I'm a big advocate of what you are saying as far as today's standards are. Take achievements. Someone may have a "complete" gamescore in a particular game. The real question is, if there is score involved would they be able to get a high score? Or, how many lives did they lose to beat the game. Everyone congratulates players for how good the gamercard is, but it doesnt really tell the whole story. the only exceptions are shoot em ups and a few other titles.

[brokenhalo]

You'd never get to the 'end' of Defender. You cant 'beat' Robotron 2084. Asteroids, Missle Command, Galaga, etc, just kept getting harder until you died. When playing a game like that you cant base your skill in a game by if you get to the end, but by the score you have when the Game Over screen pops up.

but you can practice any of those games and if you're skillful enough you can get to a point where you can play for hours on a single credit. you're game doesn't allow for that type of growth at all. it's a shame you won't listen to criticism, cause you could shape this into a really great game.

[derrickh]

No, I'm listening. In fact I've already made some changes for the next patch (limiting the amount of time you can use the repair, crash bug, hit box from 40px to 35px)But also, at some point I have to say 'this is the game I want to make'. If I were doing it to make a ton of money or even just to make the maximum number of people like it, I would be implementing a lot of these suggestions in the game. But then it wouldn't be the game I set out to make.

Here's the thing, all of the changes are valid and good. But most of them are actually changes to the base idea behind the game. Smaller hitbox so its easier to dodge. Less Random weapon patterns so you can predict them better. No penalty for shield usage. etc. All reasonable changes. But in my mind, it would change the basis of the game. Kinda like if a guy built a 32 Ford hot rod and took it to a car show. And the people tell him 'It'd stop better if you put ABS on it.' ,'You'd get more power of you used an engine from a corvette', It'd be a lot more comfortable and handle better with 4 wheel independent suspension'. All true. But thats not what the guy set out to build.

I say the game has 32 levels only because thats how big the enemy can grow (65 sections). But the game doesnt end at 33, it will continue, only the enemy will stop growing.

[TodayIsForgotten]

I don't think you should remove the time it takes to rebuild. It's risk/reward. You use it if you are ok with losing score. Whatevs though. (:

[postman]

derrickh, another problem:

I'm getting hit after defeating the boss, during the zoom-in and the taunting voice....

[derrickh]

Yeah, the hit during zoom is fixed in the latest build. It gets sent to MS on the 20th and hopefully it'll be available soon after that.

D

[system11]

Is the sound fixed too?

[Radiant Cinnabun]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkxNmsGqW_g found a vid
Horrible design sense, I wouldn't play this for free. "Warning Forever clone" got me excited too, but there doesn't seem to be any real charm to picking those bosses apart, at all.

Yeah, more like "You Will Sigh" because that's what I did and also it rhymes.

I'm just kidding, it looks fine. I just like rhyming unkindly.

[ShmupSamurai]

Not worth my money either...

[Thunder Force]

you're game doesn't allow for that type of growth at all. it's a shame you won't listen to criticism, cause you could shape this into a really great game.

Or maybe design-by-committee would shape his game into being like everything else.

i intentionally went against the standard in shooters

Good to hear. Shmups will be a stale genre without experimentation, and throwing away genre conventions (even good ones) might be the road to something even better in the future.

[derrickh]

The sound stuttering is corrected also.

Thanks for the supportive words Thunder Force.

And since a couple of people said they would'nt play it for free... here's a couple of D/L codes so you can play it for free.
V9WKX-7JX6G-3Y72V-QKK9Q-VCJQ8
T6C6J-TCQKT-Q4VV6-GKB3X-9QF4B

[originalz]

The sound stuttering is corrected also.

Thanks for the supportive words Thunder Force.

And since a couple of people said they would'nt play it for free... here's a couple of D/L codes so you can play it for free.
V9WKX-7JX6G-3Y72V-QKK9Q-VCJQ8

Good lookin out, I used this one.

[Jeneki]

T6C6J-TCQKT-Q4VV6-GKB3X-9QF4B

Claimed. Thanks!

(edit)

I died.

[nash87]

your hit box is bigger than any hit box of any part of the boss.

I'll stick with WF

[TMR]

And since a couple of people said they would'nt play it for free... here's a couple of D/L codes so you can play it for free.

i wouldn't play it for free.. but then again, no Xbox 360 so can't play it at all! [Sob!]

(i'd give it a go if there were a Windows port...? =-)

[ShmupSamurai]

Sticking with WF as well.

[TodayIsForgotten]

You simply cannot compare the two. Warning Forever and You Will Die. Right now, no one has pushed the limits of XNA. There won't be any games that compare to the quality games on PC Indie for awhile, maybe never. Its easy to say won't buy so and so game, but it was made for the 360 indie service. That right there is painting the picture. PC Indie will always > 360 indie.

On a sidenote. Whats up with the weird dimensions in You Will Die? Why is there 2 inches of room on the left? and 1 inch from bottom and top? Was this the design of the game? If so, I understand its You Will Die,but its a bit lame that the boss can go passed though borders but you cannot or at the very least use all of the real estate shown. Also, the score in the corner blocks your ship/bullets. I've taken some what the fuck damage in that corner.

[Rob]

But I think I understand the reactions now. Many people play games to complete them and get to the end and win. Thats never going to happen in You Will Die. For a second I was confused with the question 'why make a game where no one will ever see the last level' because the games I grew up playing were exactly like that. And thats partially what You Will Die is influenced by. You'd never get to the 'end' of Defender. You cant 'beat' Robotron 2084. Asteroids, Missle Command, Galaga, etc, just kept getting harder until you died.

These games don't keep getting harder and harder until they become impossible - fatigue is the killer. If you want to design a literally impossible game, obviously your choice, but it takes no skill to make something impossible. To cite these classics when defending poor game design is a misunderstanding on your part.

[derrickh]

The space at the top and the bottom is a result of 2 things. The first is the titlesafe area. XBLG peer review requires that the player not be able to move out of the titlesafe area and that no game information is displayed outside of the titlesafe area. Thats so the game is playable on both 16:9 and 4:3 displays.

Also, the ships movement is limited to the visible screen because of a problem that popped up early in development. In the early versions of the game, the player boundaries were bigger than the visible screen, and the playfield would scroll when it neared the edges. The same way many horizontal and vertical shooters do. The problem was that YWD could scroll both horizontally and vertically, which worked just fine, except that when the fast moving starfield was added, the effect made me feel quesy. The ship moving, plus the enemy, plus the stars, plus the scrolling was too much for my stomach to handle.

D

[TodayIsForgotten]

3 things:

Game crashes when you get into double digit levels with the purple bullets (spinners).
there are a few patterns that you could technically go on for ever. I just had a bit over 18 million on level 22 and the game crashed.
When the level zooms out your ship disappears when you go all the way to the bottom (goes off screen). I didn't start noticing this until i hit 20s. The whole time i thought i should end this game or the game will crash...

[ShmupSamurai]

3 things:

Game crashes when you get into double digit levels with the purple bullets (spinners).
there are a few patterns that you could technically go on for ever. I just had a bit over 18 million on level 22 and the game crashed.
When the level zooms out your ship disappears when you go all the way to the bottom (goes off screen). I didn't start noticing this until i hit 20s. The whole time i thought i should end this game or the game will crash...

Like I said before, not a game really worth your money...

[originalz]

Eh, it's only $1, not like you'll have to live off of beans if you buy it. You guys are talking about it like it's a disc release or something. If it entertains you for a few runs, I'd say you got your money's worth.

I've been playing around with the game and it's pretty fun, I still don't like the huge hitbox and there are some questionable design choices, but when you start getting far into the game it does become pretty intense and you really don't want to die, heh.

My problem is that the rankings more or less mean nothing, though. Someone with a really high score just means they got lucky with the patterns. There should be a "fixed" mode for the rankings, where you always encounter the same evolution.

[TodayIsForgotten]

I'm with originalz on this one. I thought the same thing. Anyone who has any skill can get a non-retarded sequence of boss evolution and do well. So, yea, the rankings will be distorted and maybe it should be more streamlined to where it is the same thing every time or in different order for the random part.

I also think for one dollar it is a well worthy game. It's fun and it does get intense in the fact that you are constantly on the lookout/move. I'll definitely go back to it every so often.

[postman]

Request for next update: an ingame level counter so you know if you should start panicing since you are past your current farthest level.........

[Jeneki]

No, I'm listening. In fact I've already made some changes for the next patch (limiting the amount of time you can use the repair, crash bug, hit box from 40px to 35px)

I find it interesting that several of these $1 indie games are getting better support/updates than most full Live Arcade releases.

[Udderdude]

No, I'm listening. In fact I've already made some changes for the next patch (limiting the amount of time you can use the repair, crash bug, hit box from 40px to 35px)

I find it interesting that several of these $1 indie games are getting better support/updates than most full Live Arcade releases.

It likely costs a lot more to update an XBLA game. Microsoft doesn't make things cheap.

[postman]

Two ??'s:

1. When you patch an Indie game, do you need to redownload it, or will it auto update like a disc based game?

2. If you destroy a lynchpin piece of the bitch (that's what I call the main thing), and it in turn wipes out other pieces connected to it, do you get points for them? Or do you need to take them out directly?

[derrickh]

The update for You Will Die is available on XBL now. If you already have the game, it'll prompt you to download when you start it up.

Changes/Fixes include:
Slightly smaller hitbox for the player
Enemy Movement updated
Health recharge only possible when you have enough score to use it
Player cant go off the screen on higher levels
Sound routines changed to kill the stuttering effect
Crashbug fixed after the game is over

D

[derrickh]

http://bit.ly/6qAyrk The latest You Will Die update is out.
Major change is the Score Reporting System for the best/hardcore players. After your game (if you get a good enough score and reach at least level 5) the game will give you a code that you can put in at http://www.DeadPixelArcade.com. This will officially track all the high scores.

There is still the built in peer to peer system that updates the high scores through Xbox Live, so if you want to ignore the score code, you can. This is just another way to see who the best players are.

If you already have the game, it'll prompt you to update when you start.

[derrickh]

http://deadpixellive.com/tournament-info has a multi-game tournament and You Will Die is one of the featured games. Per-Game prizes include a selection of console titles and the overall prize adds in a pair of Gunnar Optiks glasses.