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[spolvid]

I've gotten my first game to a state that might be mistaken by some as the strange concept known as "completion"!

Play it on Kongregate here!

[pandit]

Nice concept but the inertia makes it quit hard. If we could move around without sliding, or sliding less, I think it would be better. It could be cool if you would gain things like mines and sort of reflecting shields that you could place around but I guess you already thought of that.

edit: I managed to get 188 points while only "strafing" along the limits of the screen. This way it's very easy.

[spolvid]

Crap, that strafing thing is pretty much a game breaker. What should I do about that?

[spolvid]

I updated the link with a new version that has less slippery player movement and enemies have a higher change of spawning on the same axis as the player to discourage turtling. What do you think?

[pandit]

It's a bit better but I think a solution/alternative could be to have to player always centered in the screen and the map moving around him, like in a top-down shooter. The map could be big or even "infinite".

[spolvid]

I want the player to be able to see the whole area at once, a la Asteroids or something similar. Also I don't see how that would solve the problem?

[spolvid]

Uploaded a new build with substantially less slippery player movement and a tutorial image when you first start.

[Cheezmeister]

Nice tutorial. Short and to the point. I wish it were more slippery, though. Can't please everyone

Two ways I see to solve your strafing issue:
 - Punish the player for doing that--allow enemy shots to wrap through the screen (a la asteroids)
 - Reward the player--strew random pickups about the screen. With an arcade game like this, you have many options for powerup effects.

[spolvid]

The problem with shots wrapping is that the screen would quickly fill up with a crapton of unreflected bullets. There actually already is a very rarely spawned powerup the nukes the whole screen when you pick it up. I don't want to make it more common because it's really powerful.

[harkme]

Nice game. I think if you place an electrical fence of sorts around the border of the screen, that could discourage the player from going near the edge. The fence could kill or it could stun.

[Udderdude]

Not a bad concept but needs something more to make it more interesting.  More enemy types, set waves of enemies, etc.

Sometimes enemies will spawn on top of you and it's hard to react to this or tell it's happening until it's too late.  Maybe enemies should always spawn further away from you, but make areas appear under the player which will explode after a certian amount of time.  And make them much more visible/obvious with a sound effect cue that you have to move your ass.

Autofire does wierd things to the shield, like it appears that two shields are active at once if you hold down two autofire shield buttons at the same time.

[Noah!]

Hmm, so I gave this one a spin, and I gotta say, this game's pretty freakin' fun. The core concepts are interesting, and the gameplay is tight and intuitive. Plus, once you start playing the game the way it was meant to be played, you can do some pretty cool stuff! I mean, I was reflecting bullets left and right and then some dude came up and B☆A☆M • D☆E☆N☆I☆E☆D! Sent the bullet ricocheting off the side of the shield!!

But here's where things go wrong: You are punished for playing the game the way the game was meant to be played. The strafing the wall thing, while boring, seems to net me higher scores than if I were to play the game properly. And if scoring is the main draw of the game, why reward playing the game incorrectly?

I guess what I'm getting at is, right now, if the scoring thing's all you have going for you, maybe you ought to get the scoring system in line with what you want the game to be about. Alternatively, add some other method of progression. But other than that, this game seems to be shaping up pretty nicely!

[spolvid]

Man, getting helpful feedback SUCKS. It means I have to listen to it and work on my game more!

Sometimes enemies will spawn on top of you and it's hard to react to this or tell it's happening until it's too late.  Maybe enemies should always spawn further away from you, but make areas appear under the player which will explode after a certian amount of time.  And make them much more visible/obvious with a sound effect cue that you have to move your ass.

Autofire does wierd things to the shield, like it appears that two shields are active at once if you hold down two autofire shield buttons at the same time.

Noted on both counts. I think I know why the shield gets messed up.

Not a bad concept but needs something more to make it more interesting.  More enemy types, set waves of enemies, etc.

Also noted, but not sure exactly how to proceed on addressing it. Hm...

Nice game. I think if you place an electrical fence of sorts around the border of the screen, that could discourage the player from going near the edge. The fence could kill or it could stun.

I think the player could pretty easily do the same thing as before, just on the corners of the fence and not the screen.

Hmm, so I gave this one a spin, and I gotta say, this game's pretty freakin' fun. The core concepts are interesting, and the gameplay is tight and intuitive. Plus, once you start playing the game the way it was meant to be played, you can do some pretty cool stuff! I mean, I was reflecting bullets left and right and then some dude came up and B☆A☆M • D☆E☆N☆I☆E☆D! Sent the bullet ricocheting off the side of the shield!!

But here's where things go wrong: You are punished for playing the game the way the game was meant to be played. The strafing the wall thing, while boring, seems to net me higher scores than if I were to play the game properly. And if scoring is the main draw of the game, why reward playing the game incorrectly?

I guess what I'm getting at is, right now, if the scoring thing's all you have going for you, maybe you ought to get the scoring system in line with what you want the game to be about. Alternatively, add some other method of progression. But other than that, this game seems to be shaping up pretty nicely!

Still really not sure how to resolve this issue. In any case, hearing an enthusiastic account of something that happened in a game I made is an awesome feeling.

[JMStark]

This game is charmingly simple. I like the control scheme and the presentation (basic as it may be). I especially am intrigued by the idea that one's enemies will always have to make the first move. There is almost an eloquent wisdom to reflecting bullets rather than rashly bolting them out in a mood of impatience. Great work!

It is, however, frustrating how the enemy spawn system works. Why are enemies who spawn right along the edges of the screen facing towards those edges? It doesn't make sense for that to be the case considering the mechanics. Try to make it so that an enemies spawning direction is partially determined by their spawning position. For example, if they spawn within 64 pixels of the left edge of the screen, they are not going to spawn facing to the left.

Also, I would also try to add some form of pacing and progression to the way the enemies spawn. Right from the beginning they start to flood in, and it can get quite overwhelming. I'm not going to say that it is too hard, but pacing out the encounters would help to enrich the experience. A simple wave pattern, as suggested before, where a group of enemies spawns, then there is temporal peace, then an other more powerful group spawns, then there is another break, would bring more drama and tension to the experience, and thus make it more interesting without having to get rid of the mechanical simplicity which I think is this game's biggest asset.

Without using the exploitative methods mentioned above, my high score was 54.

[Udderdude]

Still really not sure how to resolve this issue. In any case, hearing an enthusiastic account of something that happened in a game I made is an awesome feeling.

One idea is to put a barrier around the edge of the screen where the player can't cross into.  My other idea of putting exploding spots under the player so they are forced to move is another.

Maybe doing both is better.

Try to make it so that an enemies spawning direction is partially determined by their spawning position. For example, if they spawn within 64 pixels of the left edge of the screen, they are not going to spawn facing to the left.

This is another good point, enemies should not spawn like this.