Hello! V Prototype is a shmup of sorts that a couple of my friends and I made using game maker 8. It has (what we believe to be) a unique attack system in which you generate an area of effect shield around your ship to tag enemies instead of shooting them. These tagged enemies will remain on screen for a few seconds and can still damage you, so you will have to dodge them until they time out and explode. The trick for scoring is to tag several enemies at once, as this gives a combo bonus.
We call our game V Prototype because, even though it is a 'complete' game from start to finish, it is merely a stepping stone to a greater game we want to make. We wanted to put this out there to get feedback from players to see if it's too easy/too hard, doesn't make sense, uses poor controls, etc.
The game is completely free and can be found at http://www.yoyogames.com/games/158069-v-prototype. If you do not want to install the plugin, there is a download link at the bottom right which will give you a windows exe. We would really really appreciate any feedback, positive or negative, as we are trying to improve the next version of our game!
V Prototype
Re: V Prototype
This is not what I would consider a shmup at all, it's more of a real-time puzzle game. Although it's not a bad one by any means. I just played up to level 6, the stages are pretty well designed and have some scoring tricks hidden here and there.
I would suggest removing space bar as a key to use the tagging attack, since you absolutely need the mouse to use the teleporters in the later levels.
When you get into the constricted part of lvl 8, those flying things get really annoying and it's almost impossible to avoid taking damage.
Level 9 is by far the hardest, although still moves pretty slowly and gives you enough time to do shit. You should consider adding a harder mode where things move even faster.
I would suggest removing space bar as a key to use the tagging attack, since you absolutely need the mouse to use the teleporters in the later levels.
When you get into the constricted part of lvl 8, those flying things get really annoying and it's almost impossible to avoid taking damage.
Level 9 is by far the hardest, although still moves pretty slowly and gives you enough time to do shit. You should consider adding a harder mode where things move even faster.
Re: V Prototype
Thank you so much for the feedback! I suppose since the attack is not really shooting, it's not much of a shmup, but that seemed like the closest genre to describe it.
We are almost certainly going to remove the teleporters altogether and make it a traditional keyboard-driven game. The teleporters are the only reason you need the mouse, and when I saw my friend playing on a laptop touch pad (and tried doing so myself), it seemed like they don't add enough to the game to justify setting the controls around. If we end up keeping teleporters, then we will do more to make the player aware that they need to be ready to use the mouse at all times, though we are worried that this is too nonconventional. We've also considered only having one teleporter on screen at a time and assigning a key to teleport to it so you don't have to "aim".
I will pass the word on to my colleagues about the level 8 enemies. If you do a full game run and complete all nine levels, there is actually a little surprise that makes the game harder, though you might not like it if you don't like these enemies
. Hopefully it is just a matter of toning down their number or their speed to make it a more fair challenge instead of removing them altogether; I like the variety that they add.
For the harder mode, are you picturing the levels being the same except everything is sped up (scrolling speed, enemy movement, shots, etc)? I will pass that idea along as well.
We are almost certainly going to remove the teleporters altogether and make it a traditional keyboard-driven game. The teleporters are the only reason you need the mouse, and when I saw my friend playing on a laptop touch pad (and tried doing so myself), it seemed like they don't add enough to the game to justify setting the controls around. If we end up keeping teleporters, then we will do more to make the player aware that they need to be ready to use the mouse at all times, though we are worried that this is too nonconventional. We've also considered only having one teleporter on screen at a time and assigning a key to teleport to it so you don't have to "aim".
I will pass the word on to my colleagues about the level 8 enemies. If you do a full game run and complete all nine levels, there is actually a little surprise that makes the game harder, though you might not like it if you don't like these enemies
. Hopefully it is just a matter of toning down their number or their speed to make it a more fair challenge instead of removing them altogether; I like the variety that they add.For the harder mode, are you picturing the levels being the same except everything is sped up (scrolling speed, enemy movement, shots, etc)? I will pass that idea along as well.
Re: V Prototype
It feels like the teleporters are too much a part of the levels to remove at this point. You would have to redesign the levels w/ teleporters heavily to remove them. And I kind of liked them. Maybe you could just add more things for the mouse to do, rather than remove the mouse/telporters altogether? How about some other things you can only destroy by clicking, etc.
The harder mode would just be the same game but faster, yeah. Since you've already played the levels at that point, it would be fair since you've already memorized most or all of them.
I did find a good strategy for taking care of the pumpkin guys out in the open, but it doesn't work when you're constricted. Plus, they don't match the other game's art at all. They need to be abstract shapes like everything else, IMO.
More random ideas for new gameplay elements :
Enemies that appear mid-screen instead of scrolling in (they would have a warning teleport animation so you know they're coming)
Enemies that take multiple clicks to destroy
Powerup that increases the radius of your tagging circle
"Slowdown" key that makes your ship move slower, to get through tighter spots with more precision
The harder mode would just be the same game but faster, yeah. Since you've already played the levels at that point, it would be fair since you've already memorized most or all of them.
I did find a good strategy for taking care of the pumpkin guys out in the open, but it doesn't work when you're constricted. Plus, they don't match the other game's art at all. They need to be abstract shapes like everything else, IMO.
More random ideas for new gameplay elements :
Enemies that appear mid-screen instead of scrolling in (they would have a warning teleport animation so you know they're coming)
Enemies that take multiple clicks to destroy
Powerup that increases the radius of your tagging circle
"Slowdown" key that makes your ship move slower, to get through tighter spots with more precision
Re: V Prototype
Having the mouse do more stuff is interesting. I'll have to mull it over. We are investing a large amount of time into improving every area of our game, including new levels, so we aren't really stuck with teleporters right now since we will almost certainly end up making new levels anyway. But if the teleporters are fun, it would be worth trying to keep them.
Re: V Prototype
We've updated our game with some new graphics, music, a new level, and lots of polish!
Udderdude, thanks for the feedback. We made sure the pumpkin enemies were replaced with a visual that more closely matched our aesthetic.
The game can be played here: http://www.yoyogames.com/games/158069-v-prototype
Once again, this is (still) a completely free game. We are still interested in improving it, so more feedback is very appreciated.
Udderdude, thanks for the feedback. We made sure the pumpkin enemies were replaced with a visual that more closely matched our aesthetic.
The game can be played here: http://www.yoyogames.com/games/158069-v-prototype
Once again, this is (still) a completely free game. We are still interested in improving it, so more feedback is very appreciated.