I'm an indie game developer and this is my first shmup game. It's free and runs on Android, but I plan to make Windows/Linux/Mac port if the feedback on the game is good:
It is not a classic trailer, but it shows the gameplay. Note that powerups are given like crazy in this video, in regular game they come at random, every 3-7 waves.
It's implied as the entire bottom of the screen I guess, which imo works well for a phone game (simple controls, screen not cluttered). No enemy bullets except themselves, it's like a fairground duck shoot except you can't let them near you. As a phone game it's fine. I don't think it has much replay value though, or scope for turning it into a bigger game without adding some more mechanics or bosses to make things interesting.
You guessed pretty well. Replay value comes from the following elements, which are not visible in the video:
- upgrades (stronger lasers, bigger clip, longer duration of powerups)
- daily challenges (awarded in coins)
- weekly challenges (awarded in powerups)
- missions (various missions like: Kill 100 aliens without missing once, etc.)
- player rank
Player rank is a long-term goal, leveling up requires four elements:
- destroy X aliens
- reach X hiscore
- complete X mission sets
- reach wave X
Now, each of those just adds a little bit, but all of those together makes gameplay meaningful in the long term and you're always presented with a new challenge. As you upgrade your weapons, shield and duration of powerups you are able to complete more waves in a single play, and thus go further in the game and increasing the player rank. Also, currently there are fresh boss levels up to level 150, so you really have to get really good at it before you've even seen all of the game.
The only thing I could see improved would be adding a leaderboard, or connecting with social networks (Facebook, G+) to compare scores and achievements with your friends, but I'm not sure that players playing this type of game really like that social sharing stuff, so I did not include it. What do you think, do you guys use Facebook for example?
Beware, has in app purchases. Have to buy hearts to continue among other nefarious "options" . At 500k coins at $9.90/ 10k coins per heart. 20cents per continue.
cskcsk wrote:*update, 1st continue costs 1 heart,then its 2>3>4 hearts per continue,with a maximum of 10 hearts allowed at 1 time.
Exactly. I did not want it to be Pay2Win. You can get everything without paying a dime. Hearts are also collectible in the game, you don't have to buy them.
Last edited by mbabuskov on Mon Oct 28, 2013 12:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
touhou=better&harder wrote:It's cute that your game emulates the classic arcade games by being pay-to-play, but my personal opinion is that it's gay as fuck
There's no pay-to-play here, your analysis is shallow. Try playing the game more. You can get every item and upgrade just by playing the game for free. The payment option is just if you want to get everything (full upgrades, etc) at once without having to earn it.
mbabuskov wrote:...
The only thing I could see improved would be adding a leaderboard, or connecting with social networks (Facebook, G+) to compare scores and achievements with your friends, but I'm not sure that players playing this type of game really like that social sharing stuff, so I did not include it. What do you think, do you guys use Facebook for example?
The target market should be (if you want to make money, which you do as evidenced by android and micro transactions) casual gamers. Making it fun for gamers is also important as there's lots of them. You're not going to please everyone, probably the hardest to please and the least reward for doing so would be hardcore gamers. I don't think you're really targeting them. If you are the best you can do is maybe add an 'insane' difficulty level. Many will be put off straight away by micro-transactions, android (touch controls), etc, so an already small market segment is even smaller.
Leaderboards yes, adding social crap probably makes sense.
