next »

[chrishughes2d]

The game works well, but I couldn't help but imagine what if the shield wasn't constrained to 4 directions. This game would be awesome with dual stick controls and a less rigid control scheme, but I understand that's probably too big a change for this project.

I found a couple of things annoying:

* Deflected a bullet back to an enemy then turned my attention elsewhere, only to be hit by another bullet the enemy got off before they died. If deflected bullets destroyed any other bullets they collided with, this would reduce the number of cheap deaths.

* I would make the shield a little wider than your ship. Having your shield facing the right direction but moving perpendicular to a bullet can result in hitting the bullet. Personally, I think the highlight of this game is the deflections, and the player shouldn't be penalized for positioning their shield correctly but slightly mistiming their movement.

I agree with others that waves of enemies would be good to break up the monotony and give the player a rest between periods of frantic action. But overall you are heading in a good direction. Well done.

[spolvid]

I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but I really cannot thank you guys enough for your feedback.

New Build!

Enemies only fire one bullet at a time, and they have a halo around them when they spawn to make it more obvious.

At this point I really just want to get the game finished without adding anything new because:

1: My initial goal for this project was for it to be a simple game with a small scope that I could finish easily.

2: To that end, I have coded in an incredibly sloppy style that in these relatively late stages makes it a chore to work with.

Therefore, really the only thing I want to do now is to add some sort of a ramp up and pacing to how enemies spawn. Stuff like more enemy types and powerups, discrete waves, and making the shield bigger are all things that would be cool, but in my mind are not really necessary for the game to be finished. And considering my rate of procrastination, that's all I want at this point.

It doesn't have to be the best game ever for me to be happy, it just has to be a game.

[Medevenx]

the aura is currently visually unappealing (it's too big right now)

i'd appreciate having a white circle but it's too fat atm

and this has so much potential 

[spolvid]

I made them a little smaller, that good?

Also, I might revisit this concept later. I just really want to Have A Game Finished.

[Mofko]

Quite nicely polished, not much else better can be done with it I guess, it does what it is supposed to do, and it does it well!

[spolvid]

Updated build of buildyness

The spawning indicators are now empty circles that shrink into the enemy. Hopefully that'll look better.

Also, enemies are set to spawn at a crazy fast rate in this version. Way too overwhelming to start off at for the final version, but until I get more of a ramp implemented, this is way more fun to test. I was getting pretty bored at the old spawning rate.

[Seiseki]

I like the concept, but I find myself getting paralyzed and simply afraid to do anything as soon as the screen starts filling up, I know I should rush around and deflect the bullets to kill of the enemy dudes but since you die from a single shot it's kinda intimidating to just throw yourself out there..
So instead I just stick to one spot or axis..
Perhaps it's just because of my lack of awareness, or the feeling that I don't have much awareness.
And it's also hard to prioritize targets..

That's why I also find it hard to get a good flow going and I think that's extremely important for games like this.

[Udderdude]

I like the concept, but I find myself getting paralyzed and simply afraid to do anything as soon as the screen starts filling up, I know I should rush around and deflect the bullets to kill of the enemy dudes but since you die from a single shot it's kinda intimidating to just throw yourself out there..
So instead I just stick to one spot or axis..
Perhaps it's just because of my lack of awareness, or the feeling that I don't have much awareness.
And it's also hard to prioritize targets..

That's why I also find it hard to get a good flow going and I think that's extremely important for games like this.

I agree, it still needs work.  Some things I'd do ..

Remove intertia when the player moves.
Make enemy bullets move slower and make them larger/easier to see.
Make a max number of enemies that can be on the screen at once.
Start out with enemies only appearing once every 2 seconds or so and then slowly increase that amount.  Tetris doesn't automatically start out on Level 8 ..

As for scoring, you could add a combo bonus for killing two or more enemies in rapid succession.  This would encourage advanced players to let the screen fill with enemies and then reflect several of them at once.

[Seiseki]

An interesting idea would be using laser beams instead of bullets.
That would change the dynamics a lot, especially if one beam could kill several in a row..
But it might make things even harder to predict the direction, but easier to tell where you shouldn't go.

A lot would depend on the animation showing what direction the beams come from. And possibly showing a faint, transparent beam 0,2 sec before the actual beam.

You could also restrict the space where the enemies appear to outside of the red borders.
And also restrict from what direction they shoot, perhaps start with enemies shooting down, then ramp it up by add left and right, and enemies shooting from below as the final difficulty level.

Another tiny detail that could help smoothen things is allowing the shield to linger for 0,3-0,5 sec after it successfully deflects a projectile.

[spolvid]

Like I said, the enemy spawn rate for this build is extremely subject to change. Not intended to be final at all. And there is a max number of enemies, it's high enough that I guess you're not able to notice from playing it.

Everyone keeps telling me to get rid of the inertia on the player movement. I don't wanna.

[spolvid]

I bit the bullet and released the game on Kongregate. I changed the front post to reflect this. You can play it here!