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[Quicksand-S]

I'm glad you implemented infinite normal ammo. A melee attack would have been another possible alternative, but maybe not much fun to animate.

It's crazy, but I only noticed now that your gun disappears when you run. Is that just an limitation of your sprite setup? Are you still considering using the 3D models in-game at some point?

Room debug info is, I think, going to be very helpful. I had an issue with LavaPools3...but died and went looking for it again, only to forget what the issue was. lol. LavabridgeV is great. I love the split vertical rooms like that.

It's nice to see that health pickups are in the game, but they seem incredibly rare.

Bug report: When I entered LavabridgeV from the top right, I got damaged even though there was nothing there. My guess is that an enemy was there and hit me BEFORE its position was reset.

...WIN! I SOMEHOW BEAT THE GAME JUST BY ENTERING A ROOM! NICE! lol. I like that.


Glad you're enjoying We Want YOU.

[Reggie]

If you hold up while running against a wall and shoot, he won't point the gun upwards.

[QuadrupleA]

@Reggie: Oops, bullets out of his head . Thanks. Fixed that. (see current build link, 4c)

@Quicksand-S: Thanks -

RE: Animations: the way I had it, while running, jumping, etc. the gun only showed while the fire key is held down - just updated the code to add that delay you suggested for the standing shot to all poses - let me know if that looks better. Re: 3D player model, would love to do that at some point, especially so different items, etc. can change your avatar ala Binding of Isaac. But I'll probably wait a while on that, until the gameplay's on better footing - it'd be a lot of art & tech work.

RE: maps, there are some hard-to-make jumps on LavaPools3 that require jumping while halfway off the block, was that it? Too hard maybe? Been worrying the game's too easy, but my perspective there is a bit distorted obviously.

RE: energy powerups, just doubled the drop rate from 10% to 20%, hopefully a little more forgiving for non-guy-who-wrote-it players.

RE: damage in doors, I came across that too - fixed now hopefully - player should be immune to damage during doorway transitions.

[Quicksand-S]

The game's not particularly hard overall. Most enemies can be easily avoided, and most of the jumps aren't too bad. My only issue, difficulty-wise, is that some levels are set up in such a way that if you do somehow miss a jump you'll die because there's no way to get out of the lava in time. That's just no fun and feels unfair whenever it happens. Ideally, if I act quickly enough in any situation like that, I should be able to escape with my life (assuming I had a decent amount of health).

I expect that adding more enemy types, and maybe some more environmental dangers, will help the difficulty level.

As for LavaPools3, I think that was it. It's not a bad idea to require near-perfect jumping in a platform game. I just didn't like that lava killed me so quickly and that I start the game with such low health.

On a slightly related note, it'd be good for testing if there was some way to play the same game multiple times (ie. give the testers control over the random seed used, or something like that). Would that be possible?

Also, some rooms seem to be really dark. I don't know if that's a product of random tinting or something intentional, but I find that it kinda ruins the atmosphere in a lot of cases.

[QuadrupleA]

Cool - just uploaded a build with a "Debugging" option in the main menu, that allows setting the random seed - that should be useful for future testing.

Also boosted starting health to 40, so should allow 4 hops into lava before dying, hopefully enough to escape most lava situations.

RE: the dark lighting, that's set manually per-corridor at the moment; I plan to have some pitch-black areas later that require lighting items (flares that stick to walls, suit lamps, night vision buffs etc.) to navigate effectively. But until then I should probably lighten things up in places.

Thanks as always for the feedback, it's been really helpful.

[QuadrupleA]

Alright - gave my poor brain a much-needed break from programming and have been working on some music tracks for the last week or so - the latest download (04e) has some music accompanyment - If anyone gets the chance to give it a playthrough let me know what you think of it. I've heard the track too many times while creating it at this point, so I'm not sure if I like it or not anymore . Might still need a bit more detail & refinement, but the main structure is there.

Got a bunch of other random song bits and pieces on my hard drive that I haven't developed into full tracks yet - we'll see if they still seem interesting down the line - my eventual plan is to have different music as you progress to different "biomes" or large areas in the game, so you're not stuck listening to the same track for too long.

[Quicksand-S]

I actually missed an update? Weird. Anyway, I downloaded the latest one and I can't play it. I get a "CLR20r3" error related to the XNA framework. I think I got that with one of the early versions too, so you may already know how to fix it.

Anyway, Music1.wma sounds decent. I really liked when the strings came in, but I felt like the other instrument faded out too early, so there was a section in between where the overall volume seemed too low. Also, that whole intro section doesn't compare to the rest. The intro was just kinda boring and seemed to be trying too hard to be Metroid-like. I really, really like everything after that initial part.

[QuadrupleA]

Oops - I deleted that factory background sound at the last minute to reduce the file size, and looks like I broke the build in the process. The latest 4f build should be functional again. Glad you were able to reverse engineer it and listen anyway . Agreed on the intro, I'm not liking that synthy pad sound at the beginning especially - I'll give the whole track another pass soon, maybe add some more little subtle background sounds for texture.

Just added a chiptune item-pickup riff and pause for the larger item rooms, for a little added drama - also a less-annoying sound for the smaller pickups (health drops, etc.).

[Quicksand-S]

I didn't have time to play long at all, but I think the music fit ok for now. It really seemed to emphasize the lack of "life" in the environments, though, I think. There was this noticeable contrast between the interesting music and the bland, not-particularly-detailed environments. I imagine that will be improved with time, though.

Gyaaahh! You included one of the only things I hate about Metroid: the fact that it pauses when you get a powerup and you have to wait to move on. That's always frustrated me in Metroid games. I long for a "skip this and get on with the fun stuff" button.

[QuadrupleA]

Interesting re: music liveliness - we'll see how it comes together as I add more to the game & environments. I do feel like certain parts of the music (e.g. the trumpet swell) are a little over-dramatic given the game thus far, might cut those out. Even the violins are pushing it .

I kinda like the little pause and music riff thing - it makes finding items seem more significant - I know what you're saying too though with the annoying delays, I'm generally against that type of thing (e.g. unskippable cutscenes).  I'll see how I feel down the line, I'm gonna be playing it a million times so I'll probably be the first to get sick of it.

[QuadrupleA]

OK, was a little short on time the last couple weeks but got some new changes in:

* New enemy type, more challenge
* Made player art grittier
* Bunch of engine workflow improvements, so I can make future changes faster
* An eminently funky 80's soundtrack (a joke, though part of me likes it)
* Much reduced item pickup delay (agree w/ Quicksand-S, it's annoying, might get rid of it entirely)
* Other little tweaks and fixes...

[Quicksand-S]

I have to say, I'm kinda relieved that music is a joke. At first I thought it was serious. It might fit in a more retro game, with maybe a zany "secret base" setup, but not in the game as it is.

Anyway, I sorta like the new enemies. I think they could be tweaked a bit, though, and aiming at them is annoying sometimes (primarily because I can't aim at an angle). I have three suggestions:

-Don't have them hurt the player on contact. This could open up interesting level-design possibilities (because you can run by them if you time it right), although it may also cause unforeseen issues. I don't know.

-Do something interesting with the projectiles. Having them go straight toward the player is kinda boring to me, when they're already "boring" enemies (ex. stationary, barely animated). Maybe the projectiles could move in an arc or something.

-Maybe decrease their "hiding" time. Having them stay in their shells when you've attacked them isn't too bad, but the amount of time it takes for them to come out again is just irritating. That said, this could be drastically improved if you decide to implement my first suggestion.

I also think that maybe they show up too often, but I'm thinking that maybe when you have other enemies you won't need so many of these. I noticed they see me through walls. Is that intentional? I guess it kinda adds to the retro feel of the game.

I didn't really notice new player art until I put the images side-by-side. Making the backpack darker was a good move, I think.

[QuadrupleA]

Don't have them hurt the player on contact. This could open up interesting level-design possibilities (because you can run by them if you time it right)

That could be interesting - could bury them in one-tile gaps to accomplish the same effect maybe. I'll experiment with both.

Maybe the projectiles could move in an arc or something.

I like the arc idea - I might keep these barnacle guys as-is, but add some other enemies with arcing shots (I remember NES metroid had some metal rounded plates on the ground in Norfair that fired in arcs).

I think I need a LOT of enemy types to pay off on the "different experience each time you play" goal, so hope to start cranking a ton of them out.

Maybe decrease their "hiding" time. Having them stay in their shells when you've attacked them isn't too bad, but the amount of time it takes for them to come out again is just irritating.

Thanks - I'll play around with that.

I also think that maybe they show up too often, but I'm thinking that maybe when you have other enemies you won't need so many of these.

Yeah, agreed. More enemies is the solution I think.

I noticed they see me through walls. Is that intentional?

Yeah, I think I need to implement raycasting in my physics engine. Would be a bit of a technical hassle but very useful down the line for future AI stuff. Been avoiding implementing a broadphase (quadtree, etc.) since brute force pair checking has been fast enough, but raycasting might necessitate it.

[QuadrupleA]

Thinking of "Infinitroid" as a title - any thoughts?

[Quicksand-S]

It's got kind of a nice ring to it, although it may be a tiny bit cheesy.

Mainly, though, it brings up the question: Is it infinitely generated (ie. endless) or are there just infinite possibilities?

[QuadrupleA]

Hmm... hoping it would imply the "infinite replayability" angle. The eventual goal will be to escape the planet - think that would help counter the endless/"game that never ends" interpretation?

"Retroid" was another idea, though there's a little-known DJ in Norway or somewhere by that name.

[Quicksand-S]

Retroid makes me think of an Atari-style game. Yours is too modern looking to have "retro" in the title.

Infinitroid isn't too bad if you make it clear that there's a goal, although the name is a bit long. I'm not sure it would look good on a titlescreen, but maybe you can think of something.

Personally, I'd stay away from "-troid" and make it feel more like its own thing...or maybe just call it Troid.

[QuadrupleA]

Yeah, I kinda feel the same way about the "troid". It's obvious from a screenshot that the game has inspirations / homages to Metroid, so the title doesn't need to mention it. And "troid" has a bit of 50's scifi campiness to it too.

I'll brainstorm some more ideas... would be helpful to have a title at some point soon, to maybe post on IndieDB, Greenlight, etc. and get some wider feedback. I tend to suck at naming things but we'll see.

[QuadrupleA]

OK, new 5b release:

* New enemy - spike fish
* Improved air maneuverability (bit quicker accel/decel)
* Ability to take midair shots in opposite direction of movement
* Overhauled offscreen enemy deactivation system to fix problem where crawlers bunched/stacked at offscreen room boundaries
* Fixed scaling problem for smaller resolutions
* Added goal message at start, and changed win room to "to be continued..." room
* Desaturated random colors a bit (going to redo soon to "sectional" random coloration in this current 1st "overworld" area)
* Increased barnacle firing rate

[Quicksand-S]

Oh no! That music is growing on me!

Anyway, I like that there's a goal given now, although this method of showing the play makes it seem like an arcade-style game (which, I guess, it might be? Just a long-ish, not-so-repetitive one).

The spike fish works fine, and I like how it's not really in places where it's likely to hit you. It's in places where you have to be careful not to jump into it, like up near the ceiling when you have to jump over something nearby.

I have to ask, though, do you plan on making any really original enemies? The spike fish is basically a Ripper (http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Ripper) from Metroid, at least in terms of its movement and indestructibility. I'd love to see you separate this game from Metroid a bit more.

One thing I forgot to request in the past is the ability to "loop" in menus, so I can press Up at the top of a menu to get to the bottom item and vice versa.