Space Moth DX Thread (Now on Steam!)

[Blinge]

There's a new DX Mode with suicide bullets on all enemies

In my opinion you should be ashamed of this instead of praising it as a good feature.

No need to be a dick, man. It's an optional mode?

[dan76]

Yes, it's an optional mode.

Thanks again to everyone who supported us and helped out with the testing

[donluca]

Please consider porting this to Mac OS/Linux.

No one wants to waste time rebooting into boot camp.

EDIT: the game works good in Wine, but there's an issue with my arcade stick: it recognizes it (I see it in the logs) but it doesn't work, when I press any buttons it doesn't do anything, so I have to start the game with my stick unplugged, then plug it and configure it with something like Enjoy2 which maps my stick's button to keyboard strokes.
Also, if start the game with my stick plugged and then unplug it, the games crashes due to something related to xInput. It's probably an issue related only to Wine, but there it is.
One thing it could probably solve this issue is to let people still use the keyboard even if they have a controller plugged in, so they can navigate to the button configuration with the keyboard and then input the stick's buttons.

I really, really appreciate the scanlines and all the settings available though and the game (at least the first two levels) is great so far, really looking forward the release on Steam.

EDIT 2: can confirm, it's only a Wine issue, it works fine in windows.

EDIT 3: oh and let us rebind the ESC key!

EDIT 4 (last one, I swear!): and add a brightness control to boost the brightness! When using scanlines the image gets darkened quite a bit (I use it at 50% because that's closest to what my Sony BVM produces) and it would be nice too boost the brightness.

[JDE]

Thanks for the feedback donluca, I'm glad you enjoyed the new demo! At the moment only Windows is supported, but I will be tweaking the way input is handled in the next patch to improve controller compatibility, so hopefully that will fix the problems you're having running the game under Wine. For the moment, you could try the latest Development Release of Wine instead of the Stable Release to see if that helps.

[donluca]

Thanks, I'll definitely try that out.

I was looking for Space Moth 1.5 to buy it but couldn't find it anywhere... do I have to wait for DX to come out?

EDIT: tried latest dev version of Wine, no dice

[JDE]

I was looking for Space Moth 1.5 to buy it but couldn't find it anywhere.

Unfortunately the game isn't available to buy at the moment, as we've been having trouble with the Humble Widget which was being used to sell it. The Steam release should be quite soon though, and then it will be available to buy again - I'll update this thread as soon as that happens!

[BPzeBanshee]

Yo JDE,

One thing I noticed with Zenohell's development is that the old joystick_* functions and the newer gamepad_* functions implemented in Studio seem to detect various different types of controllers, I'm guessing due to the old system using DirectInput and the new system using XInput. I don't know which one you're using now but if you make changes so that one falls back on the other if a controller fails to be detected chances are I'm sure you'll have better luck in terms of controller compatibility.

[donluca]

EDIT 4 (last one, I swear!): and add a brightness control to boost the brightness! When using scanlines the image gets darkened quite a bit (I use it at 50% because that's closest to what my Sony BVM produces) and it would be nice too boost the brightness.

Just to make sure... the brightness control should not brighten the scanlines too, only the picture behind

[JDE]

The old joystick_* functions and the newer gamepad_* functions implemented in Studio seem to detect various different types of controllers, I'm guessing due to the old system using DirectInput and the new system using XInput

Interesting, I'll definitely look into that. My main goal is to get Xbox One controllers working properly, if only to "future-proof" the game to an extent: now that Microsoft are beginning to phase out the Xbox 360, in a few years I expect Xbox One controllers will be the new standard for pad input on PC.

Add a brightness control... the brightness control should not brighten the scanlines

I think what you're after is gamma control - this allows you to adjust specific colour ranges. As far as I'm aware GameMaker: Studio doesn't actually have a function for this, so it probably won't be added to the game. However, gamma control should be in your graphics card control panel, and if not there are plenty of free programs that will let you adjust it as well.

[JDE]

All the behind the scenes work necessary to get Space Moth DX on Steam is now complete, and the full game will be launching very soon!
A new demo with all the tweaks found in this version will also be arriving shortly, including full Xbox One controller support and improved compatibility with older controllers.
Massive thanks once again to everyone that helped the game get through Greenlight, and all the testers as well. The wait is almost over!

[donluca]

Yay!

Can't wait to try the new demo with all the improvements!

And of course the final game on steam

[JDE]

Space Moth DX is now available on Steam for £5.59, with a launch week discount bringing the price down to only £4.19 until January the 29th!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/425340

Everyone that bought the old edition from the 1CC Games website will be getting a free Steam key for Space Moth DX soon.
Until then you can check out the demo, which has been updated with all the improvements found in the Steam version:
http://1cc-games.itch.io/space-moth

Many thanks to everyone that voted to help us get through Greenlight – we hope you enjoy the full game! Can you make it to the Moon?

[JDE]

I should point out that the Steam version of Space Moth DX is DRM-free: you only need Steam to download the game, not to play it.
If you wanted you could delete Steam after getting the game, and it would still run just fine.

[DoomsDave]

How can the people who bought it from Humble get a Steam key? It's not showing up in purchases, only an option to download the DRM free version.

edit: Just read that they will be coming soon, my bad.

[donluca]

(Mac OS X, Wine related) EDIT: the game works good in Wine, but there's an issue with my arcade stick: it recognizes it (I see it in the logs) but it doesn't work, when I press any buttons it doesn't do anything, so I have to start the game with my stick unplugged, then plug it and configure it with something like Enjoy2 which maps my stick's button to keyboard strokes.
Also, if start the game with my stick plugged and then unplug it, the games crashes due to something related to xInput. It's probably an issue related only to Wine, but there it is.
One thing it could probably solve this issue is to let people still use the keyboard even if they have a controller plugged in, so they can navigate to the button configuration with the keyboard and then input the stick's buttons

This problem persists in the new Demo

[JDE]

Donluca, I'm sorry that your arcade stick still isn't working in the new demo, but I think the issue is caused by Wine because I haven't been able to reproduce the problem you described on Windows with any controller or arcade stick that I have access to.

Dan76 has been playing the game on his Mac using Boot Camp and has had no problems with his arcade stick though, so using Boot Camp is a possible solution if you have access to it. I understand that this is much less convenient than using Wine, but the game was made to run on Windows so Wine compatibility isn't guaranteed.

[donluca]

The thing that irks me is that I have like 20 games which work without issues under Wine with my arcade stick, but I can't figure out what's wrong with Space Moth.

Actually, I have two workarounds:

1 - Start the game, plug the stick, then use Enjoy2 to map the stick inputs to keyboard inputs.
2 - Use a virtual machine.

Both solutions are annoying, but absolutely viable. Guess I'll have to live with that!

[dan76]

Quick update. Everyone who previously bought Space Moth from Humble Bundle should now have received their Steam Key. Thanks everyone, hope you enjoy the new version.
We've put up a basic guide to scoring guide here.

[BulletMagnet]

Seems the game's been bundled.

[JDE]

Seems the game's been bundled.

It has indeed, sorry for the slow update! Space Moth DX is now part of the IndieGala Indie Galactic Bundle, along with 16 other games, several of which are shmups.

Check out the bundle here - http://www.indiegala.com/indiegalactic
Grab the free Space Moth DX demo here - https://1cc-games.itch.io/space-moth

[Despatche]

Game seems fun, but diagonal movement is really strange.

[JDE]

Game seems fun, but diagonal movement is really strange.

I'm glad you're enjoying the game! What seems strange about the diagonal movement though?

[Despatche]

You move as fast diagonally as you do cardinally. Trying to dodge bullets while moving diagonally feels rough and overly difficult.

[Shepardus]

Do you mean you move as fast in each direction making your total diagonal speed faster? Battle Garegga gets away with it but I agree that non-normalized diagonals are weird.

[JDE]

Do you mean you move as fast in each direction making your total diagonal speed faster?

Yes, Despatche is right: that's how movement is handled. Personally I find it easier to dodge in shmups that do this, but several reviews including the Bullet Heaven HD episode on Space Moth DX have commented that the controls feel unusual, so if dan76 and I make another game it will probably have a different movement style. The Bullet Heaven HD episode is here for anyone that hasn't seen it yet, and I think it's pretty fair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU3Mqk6TfQ0

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

I never actually noticed this and I've 1cc'd the game, take from that what you will.

[Squire Grooktook]

Normalized diagonals are always better, IMO. It must be remembered that if you don't normalize, then you're actually traveling farther/faster when you move diagonal, which is not good imo.

It's far from a deal breaker, though. I have lots of games I really love that do this and control well.

[ciox]

It seems we tend to get along pretty well with un-normalized diagonals in games where you need to quickly catch important items from falling (Garegga/Raizing) or where your ship is a bit slow to begin with (Ikaruga), anyone who's played Raizing enough will eventually learn the hilarious zig-zag motion that is sometimes the only thing that can help you catch up with an item behind you.

[Blinge]

The Bullet Heaven HD episode is here for anyone that hasn't seen it yet, and I think it's pretty fair:

Plot twist: I disagree with what they said about movement and difficulty.
Without getting into diagonals debate, the movement speed is fine. Nor is it "spitefully difficult." I think it fits with its contemporaries, really.

[JDE]

I don't think it's "spitefully difficult" either: there are far more challenging shmups around. As for the movement, plenty of shmups have non-normalized diagonals as well, so it's ultimately a matter of personal preference (although it does seem most people like them to be normalized). Other than that I think the Bullet Heaven HD episode is very objective though, and covers the actual game mechanics in far more detail than any of the other reviews I've seen.