Shumps on PC computer?

[TMR]

But, I've looked at your site and retro gamers', those are really retro games.

Oldschool Gaming has indie and remake sections for games on current hardware with a "retro feel" for want of a better description. Retro Gamer (the magazine itself as opposed to the website) has three pages of homebrew reviews each month (and a fourth featuring an interview with a "Homebrew Hero"), one of which is a mixture of remakes and indie titles on current PC hardware and XBLIG - in the past it's covered Genetos, Eden's Aegis, Retrofit: Overload, Shoot 1Up, the remake of Armalyte, Irukandji and more.

I'm still not getting you ... you want to do a review and teach me a lesson and you expect me to give you game for free to do so.

Again, i never said i wanted to do a review, never said i was going to teach you a lesson (just that you should see negative feedback in that light if it's justified) and i've not asked for and don't expect the game for free. Most of what i've said has been rather general, if i've said anything specific about your game it's probably that you should have a non-installer preview available because you're potentially losing customers otherwise.

And BTW, I'm not competing with other games or developers, I made something my friends and I love to play and were missing in similar games.

You're selling it so you're competing with others doing so and i suspect there's more competition out there than you realise.

[codergames]

Mate, I'm telling you, I did not made a remake of any game, I did not make the game to compete with others, I made it because of the love for that sort of games, but at the same time making original features not present anywhere else. I just keep repeating myself. I don't understand why you're typing that much, you could have installed the game zillion times already. The game sales were fine before, I'm not advertising the game, so I'm pretty amazed there were any sales at all. You won't get a preview, whatever, version, I don't even know what that is.

All my customers are people who are not tech savvy, the game installed on their machines in less than a minute. So, while you claim to have 25 years of programming experience, it seems that the game's auto-installer is a problem for you. I give up.

[TMR]

Oh dear Rassilon... okay, all i was asking for was a version of the demo on your site without an installer, hardly rocket science and it would've probably taken less time than the insults required to write but never mind. i'll stick to buying from people who don't insult me.

[codergames]

When you download the game, you're actually downloading the demo (14 free levels), its there available 24/7, so I don't have a clue what you're talking about. Seems to me like you're talking about some other game or to someone else.

[emphatic]

I don't have a clue what you're talking about.

[Obiwanshinobi]

[codergames]

For a preview, 14 levels is more than enough and those are the most simple levels, anyone can complete the demo.

[TMR]

When you download the game, you're actually downloading the demo (14 free levels)

Yes i know, i downloaded it and, on running the file, it wanted to install. i don't want to run an installer just for the demo (i'll consider it for a game i've paid money for but not a demo) so literally all you'd have to do is offer a second copy of the game as a zip without the installer. Is this really so hard to understand?!!

[Jockel]

Shumps on PC computer sure make for heated debates.

[codergames]

... i don't want to run an installer just for the demo (i'll consider it for a game i've paid money for but not a demo)

Can someone explain to me why running an installer is such a big deal for this guy? All the demos on the net are installable. The installer is cross-platform and does everything automatically for you, you don't have to unzip it. When you decide to remove the game you can do it from the add/remove section of the control panel.

Shumps on PC computer sure make for heated debates.

*shumps* made me laugh, you still emphasize my common typo. That's funny mate! While this other guy, who claims to be both an experienced developer and a review writer is getting really boring.

[Jockel]

Shumps on PC computer sure make for heated debates.

*shumps* made me laugh, you still emphasize my common typo. That's funny mate! While this other guy, who claims to be both an experienced developer and a review writer is getting really boring.

So that explains shumps... but what about PC computer?

[codergames]

Yes, that was funny too.

[TMR]

... i don't want to run an installer just for the demo (i'll consider it for a game i've paid money for but not a demo)

Can someone explain to me why running an installer is such a big deal for this guy? All the demos on the net are installable.

No, they're not - at least not for shoot 'em ups, otherwise i wouldn't have so many previews and indeed purchased full games that don't need installing. Maybe if you'd read what i was saying rather than trying to be clever with the insults you'd have understood, but never mind...

[codergames]

No, they're not - at least not for shoot 'em ups, otherwise i wouldn't have so many previews and indeed purchased full games that don't need installing. Maybe if you'd read what i was saying rather than trying to be clever with the insults you'd have understood, but never mind...

Maybe you forgot to turn on the computer?

[Jockel]

Did you come up with the name "codergames" all by yourself?
Thats downright genius.
I mean because you're a coder, right?
And you make games, right?
Awesome.

[dannnnn]

After trying the demo, I find it really difficult to believe that you're not just trolling.

I genuinely hope for your sake that you are.

[codergames]

I'm not trolling.

[codergames]

Why would I troll?

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Instead of instulting someone who is going out of his way to give advice why dont you just take note in what hes saying. Many PC users are very picky in what they install onto their system, apart from keeping the PC from getting clogged up with bits of unistalled code theres also the security aspect aswell.

Maybe if you took his advice and released install free demos then you would get more ppl willing to try your demos

Heres another tip, (judging from the videos) while your game may look ok, to me and most here its the gameplay that counts, take alook at the freeware shmups Warning Forever, Nomltest, Rrootage and Parsec 47, all have very basic graphics but are still firm favorites of many gamers on this forum. These are the sort of shmups we like here, fast paced arcade shmups. I suspect that you dont like arcade shmups or just havnt bothered to play them, because if you had you would of understood what makes a "good" shmup and we wouldnt be having to tell you.

[codergames]

If you don't trust my site, maybe you should download from one of many sites that scanned it:
http://www.downloadroute.com/Invader-At ... s-com.html

Its 100% clean (my game).

There are several other download sites I came across that scanned my game, but one download link should be enough. Brothersoft is another, they also tested the demo, etc.

Invader Attack is not an usual shmup and its just fine the way it is. Galaxide, the next game I'm working on is the game that will have a constant fast-pace action and explosive effects. But, the level of realism won't be the same as in Invader Attack. In Invader Attack invaders can shoot and destroy each others, they can even do that deliberately to fall onto you and destroy your ship on impact. Like I said, the AI is the most addressed and missed feature that I implemented in Invader Attack, which makes it quite unique. I didn't follow anyone wishes except my own and the wishes of my friends during development of Invader Attack.

I respect what you're saying and you're saying exactly the same thing I've hear so many times, hence the development of Galaxide. While I'll try to be a bit original and unique even in Galaxide.

Cheers!

[Ed Oscuro]

Shumps on PC computer sure make for heated debates.

I can understand how installers would become somebody's white whale.

Did you know that InstallShield killed my family? It's true. (I personally also don't like to use an installer for small potatoes that should be just a ZIP but it seems everything is hiding data these days even when it can be run from a local directory, so the lack of an installer is no longer a sign that a program is consumer friendly - in fact I'm reminded of Irfanview which not only has an installer but also has the option to store configuration data in the program's directory as well as in Program Files for use by all users, or just one..)

[Obiwanshinobi]

Like I said, the AI is the most addressed and missed feature that I implemented in Invader Attack, which makes it quite unique. I didn't follow anyone wishes except my own and the wishes of my friends during development of Invader Attack.

If you want to go the AI way rather than make another corn popper/confetti sprayer, I believe you should study the efforts of your noble predecessors in this regard, such as Image Fight, Compile shmups in the vein of Zanac, as well as Xevious and Raiden series.

[t0yrobo]

It sounds like you seriously need to take a step back from what you're doing and take criticism seriously. Don't try to explain it away like there couldn't possibly be anything wrong with your game it's only detrimental to you.

[Ixmucane2]

If you don't trust my site, maybe you should download from one of many sites that scanned it:
http://www.downloadroute.com/Invader-At ... s-com.html
Its 100% clean (my game).
There are several other download sites I came across that scanned my game, but one download link should be enough. Brothersoft is another, they also tested the demo, etc.

You are missing the point about the installer complaint. Nobody is accusing you of hiding malware in the installer (instead of, say, within the game itself if you wanted); it's only that a game that comes in a plain archive that can be extracted anywhere by hand and later deleted easily because it's a self-contained directory is better than a potential pig that can put files anywhere and fail to uninstall completely.
The time to erase one misplaced file or shortcut is enough to offset any convenience a setup program might have.

For a simple application like a shmup an installer with no useful install-time feature (e.g. importing old saved games) or obvious technical need (e.g. downloading updated DirectX pieces from Microsoft) is a symptom of casual overengineering, usually associated with obnoxious initiatives (e.g. littering the desktop and quick launch bar with shortcuts without asking).

Games with installers are also commonly assumed to contain some kind of possibly malignant "copy protection": a deterrent against installers in any case, pure madness in the case of a demo.

[codergames]

The installer shows you the path where the game will be installed by default, you can change that easily if it doesn't suite you. You can type your own path, but for the sake of simplicity, the default path should be just fine.

[Jockel]

You are missing the point about the installer complaint.

[moozooh]

Why are you guys arguing, are you seeing potential in this thread?

[codergames]

The game (content of the installer, which only distributes files) was scanned by many different sites.

For a simple application like a shmup an installer with no useful install-time feature...

My shmup is not simple. Each invader is being assigned a different behavioral artificial intelligence. Invaders make decisions on their own. This is something that hasn't been achieved ever before. In usual shmups you go around and destroy stuff that shoot at you. In my game its the invaders that come up with different tactics of destroying you. They can get angry, they can synchronize the attack. There are dumber and smarter invaders and each time you play the same level different invaders will be smarter than the others, which gives you an unique experience, although its the same level. This is not that noticeable in first levels, as those levels are intended to gradually introduce player.

On top of everything there are very sophisticated physics calculations. Unlike other shmups where you just fly and shoot, objects in my game behave according to the physics laws which makes whole game-play more real and fun.

[emphatic]

objects in my game behave according to the physics laws which makes whole game-play more real and fun.

Real physics in shmups are generally frowned upon by most players, and that AI element makes this game pretty useless for score competition as it's a disadvantage to not have the exact same starting point for each game your start. Does any of this make sense to you? I think that you might be better off trying to sell this game to people at NASA or to those folks from the future who can relate to killer robots and what not behaving just like the killer robots from real life.

[BIL]

Them Vulgus critters seems pretty smart ta me. Can't get away from 'em! Owned by 1984 tc!