Buster Red (Free Iphone/Itouch) impressions

[bushin]

Hi all, I just released my shmup to the app store and stumbled across this forum to get some feedback from hardcode shmup fans (who are also iphone owners).

Here is the gist of it:
- vertical shooter with addictive and frantic 'pick-up and play' gameplay
- stylized pen/ink graphics
- rockin sound track
- large variety of enemies and bosses with their own unique bullet/attack patterns
- online leaderboards (openfeint)
New in v1.1
- 'Buster' super moves (beam buster / lightning storm)
- Openfeint achievements
- Easy/Normal/Nightmare difficulty levels
- Levels 11-15
Coming very soon in v1.2
- levels 16-25

The game is 100% FREE (nagware)
Itunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/buster-r ... 21775?mt=8
Gameplay video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBI1B_3oVOs
Webpage (more videos and images): http://www.facebook.com/pages/Buster-Red/258768582695

Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[captpain]

I just watched the video and I wonder why the enemies hardly ever fire, and fire such slow, simple patterns... I guess it gets harder in the later stages, but it seems like they should be shooting more in the early stages.

[bushin]

The bullet rate and speeds are really to introduce the game to newer players without putting them off. The bullets do come flying once you get past levels 7+ (I actually got a few complaints that it was way too hard in version 1.0 so I toned everything down a notch).

I'm thinking of maybe tweaking speed a little for harder difficulty levels.

[rancid3000]

I was actually going to post about this. I downloaded a whole bunch of iPhone / iTouch shmups. Aside from Space Invaders Infinity Gene yours is the best one I have played so far! Congrats!

My only complaint is the size of the hitbox. It could be a little smaller in my opinion. Right now it is about the size of the entire ship. For how the game plays and the amount of bullets that come on the screen I feel the size of the hitbox doesn't match up.

Captain: The game definitely gets really difficult.

Great job though. I will buy the full version for support!

[bushin]

@rancid3000 - Thanks for the compliment/purchase - really is motivating to hear positive comments like that!!

As for the hitbox, right now in version 1.1 its 5px smaller than the ship on each side. But others have commented that even with that, it gets a little impossible to dodge given the # of bullets and bullet sizes in certain situations.

Gonna definately experiment with that for the next version. Most likely it drop it down a couple more pixels and see how it "feels".

[Udderdude]

@rancid3000 - Thanks for the compliment/purchase - really is motivating to hear positive comments like that!!

As for the hitbox, right now in version 1.1 its 5px smaller than the ship on each side. But others have commented that even with that, it gets a little impossible to dodge given the # of bullets and bullet sizes in certain situations.

Gonna definately experiment with that for the next version. Most likely it drop it down a couple more pixels and see how it "feels".

2x2 or bust :O

[bushin]

I had no idea so many shmups had such small hitboxes. Will try it out. I love this forum.