next »

[Alec S.]

It'll probably be a while before I'm ready to show off a preview build, but I'll be sure to send you a copy once I do.

[Alec S.]

Started to mock up another environment type:

[Paul Jeffries]

I desire this.

[pluckyporcupine]

Started to mock up another environment type:


[IMG]

This reminds me quite a bit of Solar. In a good, nostalgia-filled way, of course.

[Alec S.]

Screenshot Saturday:

[deathtotheweird]

looks pretty awesome

[Alec S.]

Alright, now that I've got the basic gameplay and a couple enemies prototyped, I'm going to focus on the stuff I'd be likely to put off, like interface design, level switching and restarting, ect...  That way once I'm done with that, I can focus on designing levels and such and just pop them into an existing infrastructure.

[melos]

yeah, this does look nice, alec. good luck on finishing.

[Alec S.]

Hey, I've got an early test build together.  It's pretty rudimentary.  There are two short sample levels that let you get a handle on moving and shooting.  Note that the collision on the Mine enemies is currently not working.

Basically, I'm looking for feedback on the feel of the game in action.

Controls are all on the mouse.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33986982/Unity%20Builds/Unity%20Builds.html

[pluckyporcupine]

Feedback:

- I didn't seem to have the targeting reticule in the forest area.

- The level design is a bit too straightforward most of the time. At the beginning of the forest level, there's this nice segment where you have to dodge a few trees and then pretty much the rest of the level is an open tunnel. The Mars-type levels are better but it doesn't seem to aim to make the player have to move around much.

- I didn't seem to be able to destroy the kind of squid-looking enemies that drop trails of orbs.

- There seemed to be 3 levels, even though the level select only had 2 and I got stuck in an endless loop on the third one (probably intentional).

- Aiming seemed a bit slow.

And that's about it at this point.

[Alec S.]

Thanks for the feedback!

Feedback:

- I didn't seem to have the targeting reticule in the forest area.

Yeah, I was experimenting on whether or not to show that, to see if the player could intuitively move and aim without it based on the ship's direction.

Feedback:

- The level design is a bit too straightforward most of the time. At the beginning of the forest level, there's this nice segment where you have to dodge a few trees and then pretty much the rest of the level is an open tunnel. The Mars-type levels are better but it doesn't seem to aim to make the player have to move around much.

Yeah, currently enemies don't know how to avoid objects, so I had to alternate between segments where you weave between solid objects and segments where you fight enemies.  It's less obvious in the rock level, as there are objects outside the playspace that make it seem less like empty space.  I'm going to try to work on an addition to the enemy behavior where they'll try to aim out of the way of obstacles so that I don't have to do that.

Feedback:
- I didn't seem to be able to destroy the kind of squid-looking enemies that drop trails of orbs.

Yeah, I realized after I put together the build that the collision's not working on these.


I'm also going to make it so that the space you can move in a level can be defined on a level-by level basis. 

[deathtotheweird]

feels good. the aiming did feel a bit slow, but it wasn't unplayable or anything. maybe you can add an option to the change sensitivity?

has promise, you got the controls down now you just need to make interesting levels and fun enemies.

[Alec S.]

Thanks!

I'm working on tweaking the controls based on your guy's feedback.

Also, I've decided that I'm going to go with the level progression system that I used in Ninja the Explorer.  In other words, there will be a square of stages, and you start at the bottom-left corner and progress up and right to the opposite corner.  After each level you'll have two options as to your next level (unless it's on the edge of the square).  I'll probably try for around 16 stages, meaning each play-through will contain 7 stages.

So buckle up, we're in for the long haul.

[poe]

Like everyone said the aiming felt slow. Really like what you have otherwise.

[IzzyReggie]

I died and everything just stopped, except my killers gyrated in front of me.

Nothing I did restarted it.

[Alec S.]

Ah, right, I forgot to put in a level restart.  It'll be in the next build.

[ｍａｓｏｎ]

Cool, if/when you do more work on graphics/aesthetics, will you keep that low-poly, vertexy style? I like it. I bet you could do some fun stuff with shaders and vertex-jiggle scripts.

[Alec S.]

I'm definitely sticking with the low-poly.  I'm planning on adding in some sprite-art textures and such to the mix.  I'll be experimenting further with the artstyle.

[Alec S.]

[Alec S.]

Screenshot Saturday: