Space Gate: a retro vertical scrolling shooter in flash

[Rozyrg]

Undodgeable bullets and "how did that kill me?" moments aside, I thought it was a pretty nice little flash shooter. Whatever 'unbreakable rules' have been broken here, it's definitely smooth and has a nice feel thus far. Good job.

[BadgerManufactureInc]

1) Taken on board - I am still learning so next time I hope to approach the formations design with more lucidity.
2) You are right I'd have preferred to post a freeware title, trouble is I used to design buildings for the engineering trade and have not done for this last year.
3) I almost put bases in that aim and fire but due to time restrictions didnt. Next game will have.
4) I was advised to make the mouse control like that.
5) My point was that is does not use 'sprites' so all the collision is custom within a blitting context. The screen is small and I got the hitbox wrong - I apologise.
6) Ok I will look into that faux pas with bonuses I really did not notice.
7) It is a bit unfair difficulty wise and next time I also hope to improve on that aspect.
It was to encourage people to play survival - I wish I'd had more time to make that better as well.

Should def be less powerups it was a learning process for me and the game is far from perfect but it's the best I could do at that stage. I will try and not disappoint with the next post I make.

Heres another game Sinister Corridors by me and an artist from Canada called Bones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28sjRJ14JaY

[doctorx0079]

I can tell you arent a flash gamer.

This is one of the main problems right here. Flash games made by people who only play other flash games. Especially amateur flash games.

Also, your first few games should really only be shared with a couple of close friends or game developers that you know personally, etc. If you promote it to anyone else they will probably complain about how amateur it is or just get annoyed. Speaking from experience here.

[BadgerManufactureInc]

Thank Rozyrg.

@DoctorX

You are probably right, still i'm glad some enjoyed it. I do regret not being more active in this forum, before posting it though, but obviously appreciative of the interest here.

[edit] Hong Kong are now leading the high score table despite your efforts to be top, hard luck!

[edit 2] I am rolling in some bug fixes today including fixed hitbox, and correction to the bonus at the end of level. I'm also making survival mode get harder on easy and normal modes. I've also made more variation to spawns.

[amerrykan]

Lost quickly on first attempt with keyboard.
1CC on second attempt with mouse.
Misaligned hitbox is very frustrating.

That survival mode is annoying. It's a completely different game, why is it even included?

[BadgerManufactureInc]

Thanks for trying it out.
The survival mode is there so if you want some quick action you have it! It's meant to be like Robotron, Gamma Bros or Blaster Mines.
The hitbox has been updated, and the bonuses fixed, the kongregate version has these updates:
Space Gate at Kongregate

[Sasupoika]

I actually did not notice much difference between stages 1-4. And only thing I noticed about stage 5 was that it did not have that obnoxious midboss.
I cleared it on first attempt on mouse-control.

[TMR]

I cleared it on first attempt on mouse-control.

Oh... forgot to mention when i said i'd 1CC'd it, i was on keyboard control.

[BadgerManufactureInc]

Forgive me but 1'cc'd? What is it?

[TMR]

Forgive me but 1'cc'd? What is it?

1 Credit Clear, finishing the entire game just using the allotted lives and no continues. Does your game have continues, i never actually lost all of my lives to find out? =-)

[BadgerManufactureInc]

Ah, nope. I did think about it but decided that most casual gamers prefer easy games.
I've even had some people claiming the game is 'difficult' as it is... I know! For me as well it is very easy, although hard mode has defeated me several times. Another point is that I guess a large part of my intended audience is a lot younger than the average member of this forum.
Pretty soon once I've built my skill set up and more confidence I will make a true arcade shooter - I'm still ironing my bespoke AS3 framework.

[relminator]

Trust me, some of the guys here could probably 1CC Ketsui Death Label on extra so an average difficulty SHMUP is not going to give them a hard time 1CC'ing.

[TLB]

Ah, nope. I did think about it but decided that most casual gamers prefer easy games.
I've even had some people claiming the game is 'difficult' as it is... I know! For me as well it is very easy, although hard mode has defeated me several times. Another point is that I guess a large part of my intended audience is a lot younger than the average member of this forum.
Pretty soon once I've built my skill set up and more confidence I will make a true arcade shooter - I'm still ironing my bespoke AS3 framework.

This is good news. Before you had said something like this, I'd have chewed you out. Good to have you aboard, I look forward to your future projects :)

[TMR]

Trust me, some of the guys here could probably 1CC Ketsui Death Label on extra so an average difficulty SHMUP is not going to give them a hard time 1CC'ing.

Nah, that's not true in my case and i'm only what i'd call an at best average player relative to some of the folks here. =-)

[monkeyman]

Gave it a try and it was ok. Obviously aimed at a more casual crowd (which makes sense for a flash game). You should try having a 'speed cap' on mouse control, it has worked on other flash shooters i've tried and means that mouse control doesn't = instant win.

[ZarroTsu]

Trust me, some of the guys here could probably 1CC Ketsui Death Label on extra so an average difficulty SHMUP is not going to give them a hard time 1CC'ing.

Nah, that's not true in my case and i'm only what i'd call an at best average player relative to some of the folks here. =-)

Alternatively is multiple difficulties to the entire game, and a bonus final boss form from completing/1ccing the game on each increasingly hard difficulty. (Flew Fighter. Oh god, Flew Fighter. As if the final boss didn't already end you on easy, it gets a bonus form on Normal, and another bonus form after the bonus form on Hard! The only design "flaw" is unlimited continues.)

The development problem to multiple difficulties is pretty much making X games instead of 1, and 3 times the play testing for each additional difficulty.

[Dave_K.]

Rather than multiple difficulties, how about approaching the development like Cave does, where depth in playing style nets you higher points at extreme difficulty (i.e. chaining or rank). This way, 1 game, 1 difficulty can run the full gambit of casual to serious players. It will also motivate casual players to step up their game when they complete it and don't even come close to making it on the leaderboards.

Seriously, I'm tired of reading this "oh its flash, so it must be a casual game".

[BadgerManufactureInc]

True. The way I see it is a retro shooter mixed with bullet hell mixed with casual ideaology doesn't really cut it for me either, as someone who is passionate about shmups. I suppose one of the things about the actual retro shooters that inpsired me like Terra Cresta on the ZX Spectrum or Blood Money on the Amiga, is that they COULDNT have any kind of bullet hell and I wanted to cater for retro fans as well as casual gamers.
Flash gamers dont mind a challenge, I know because I am one, but there is a different philosophy on that scene now where they don't want to be punished to the extent of as ZarroTsu says. The multiple animations of the boss' regenration up to twice on hard make for an awesome feature irrespective of how much harder they make the game. Unfortunately I pixel straight from the heart but I have to code as well and simply couldnt get my anims together before I decided I actually NEEDED to release it for financial reasons.

I think there are casual games which provide more of challenge than this one does to be honest. But unlike everyone i've seen post here, and me, flash gamers dont have the patience for Xenon II style difficulty, let alone Flew Fighter lol.

Thanks guys, I'm a good listener. I appreciate the flailing and hailing you've so far shown me.

~Badger