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[UltimateWalrus]

Dude... you did a GREAT job with this.  I think I enjoy it more than The Dishwasher (which is a great game, too).  The animations are really good.  I don't know if you were planning on putting this out on XBox live community games, but if you can, you should see if Microsoft would publish it as a legit XBLA game instead.  I'd buy it  :]

I have some suggestions for you:

1.) Most of the sound effects are good --- but Ace's voice effects can get really annoying.  But I don't necessarily think you should get rid of them.  Here's some things you could try:
  a.) Add more different voice effects (for more variety).  This may or may not give a desired effect
  b.) They need to be quieter.  I can't even hear the music loud enough to tell if I like it or not.
  c.) You might try applying somekind of muffling effect on the sounds (like a lowpass filter) to make it sound more far away.  Right now it sounds like Ace is yelling right in my ear... but it's supposed to sound like he's like 20 feet away, and outdoors.  This would also make the sounds less "harsh" and probably less annoying.
  d.) You could fool around with reducing the quality of the sounds, which can give the game a cool retro-ish feel (like Silhouette Mirage or something).  You might not want this... just a suggestion

2.) The graphics look great as it is.  But if you are shooting for something like XBLA they probably need a bit more polish.  You could just go apeshit with the graphics --- add fancy particle effects and lighting and stuff, as long as it's not too distracting.  You might also try other little tricks like having a 3D ocean, if you can get it to look good.

3.) Ace would look better with an idle animation, I think.

4.) Playtest the game and look for loopholes.  For example, I managed to defeat the green scarf ninjas by doing Y+Diagonal up+R trigger repeatedly against the arena boundary.  You might just be able to fix this by making their AI more intelligent (e.g., they attack you from the side or bottom when you're in midair).

5.) There's a bug where the green ninja gets stuck under the bridge.  I wish I could tell you how to reproduce the bug, but I don't know how.  At the very least, you should make it so they automatically die if they fall off the bottom.

6.) If you made an entire game out of this, it could get a bit tiring after a while.  It would probably need some variety.  Some suggestions...
  a.) Try making ways for the player to take advantage of the environment --- that way, each level is a different experience.
  b.) You could try adding more moves. (don't add combos though... that would definitely ruin the dynamic gameplay).  You could try giving him super moves (like the "B" button in smash brothers).  You might try doing some "wall moves" like in Power Stone 2 (i.e., you run up against a wall and then push attack).  Maybe you could have poles/trees (bamboo?) to swing on/attack from.  This kind of ties into taking advantage of the environment
  c.) You could try finding an excuse to change his move set.  Maybe he picks up a weapon?  Gets special armor?  Turns evil?  I dunno.

Oh yeah and I have one final suggestion:

7.) Don't take anybody's suggestions too seriously.  It's your game --- you decide how to make it... just because your players think you should put something in the game doesn't mean they know anything about your vision or even about game design in general.

Whew!  That was almost a rant.  Anyway, good luck, I'm sure your game will turn out awesome!   

Also... I cannot get past the bridge segment for the life of me.  Seriously, who can defeat like a billion ninjas in a row 

[Kicks]

@Ultimate Walrus...
THANK YOU! I knew all along about what you describe as ace screaming in your ear. I tried some reverb and other stuff, but didn't know how to give it distance. Lowpass filter huh? Thanks!
Thanks for the other input as well, It's really helpful!

I do plan on entering the Dream Build Play competition as well.

The part with the bridge after the 3 green ninjas just generates 3 random ninjas infinitely.

[Strange]

Whoo. A fighting game I finally got the hang of. though, my middle finger got tired from pounding x a bunch.

Well I guess I'll pull a list like othah peepl:

a) Tinge the screen red or something to that effect when the player gets hurt, so there's a difference between when the player is the owner or the ownee.

b) the "dodge" command is kindof a null command, at least from my experience with the game.. to make it more effective.... make it take effect quicker or maybe last longer? dunno. Like I said, after playing the game for an hour or two, it didn't really matter anyways because the 'long range - x' and 'dash - v' became a form of defense in their own.

c) Thus far the mechanics work really well, so I would say don't change them. At first, the final stage of the first screen was frustrating but after spending a bit of time getting used to the controls and whatnot, they're fine.

c.5) (that long bridge IS the last area of the demo, right?)

z) BOUNDARY ERROR: enemies sometimes end up in the rocks at that one point in the gorge and also underneath the long bridge, but are still quite determined to attack. regular ninjas must have to face this issue of "location location location" at some point in their training of transportation, but that's probably another tale - so for your purposes, I would fix the boundary issue and try to keep everyone on the same side of everything.

?) other than all of those small-ish things, just expand on it. expand on the progression of the areas? Probably in your best interest to make a wider variety of enemies. Maybe put in a boss at some point? Whatever. Maybe put in a storyline? "once upon a time, they killed my mother... now I must kill them blah blah blah." yeah. add some humor? make the attacking ninjas swear when they get hit? make them... cry? ...laugh? .......mock you? just putting out a bunch of random stuff in hopes of striking up some inspirations for the thing.

good luckx.

[rekcah]

@Ultimate Walrus...
THANK YOU! I knew all along about what you describe as ace screaming in your ear. I tried some reverb and other stuff, but didn't know how to give it distance. Lowpass filter huh? Thanks!
Thanks for the other input as well, It's really helpful!

I do plan on entering the Dream Build Play competition as well.

The part with the bridge after the 3 green ninjas just generates 3 random ninjas infinitely.

I see that you entered the 2bee games competition as well! This is definitely a gonna create some competition for the rest of the entries!

[Kicks]

Thanks for that list, swmm369. Lots of good advice and things to consider!
Dodging with the Right Stick makes you invincible as soon as you do it, but then you're vulnerable again after 7 or 13 frames or so and can't move until the dodge animation finishes. If you successful go through an attack with it, you can act again. Either attack, jump or dodge another incoming attack.

[Dim_Yimma_H]

Wow, UltimateWalrus is truly ultimate, that was one of the best feedback posts I've seen around.

I managed to download the previous demo without the voices, so I couldn't mind them then

6.) If you made an entire game out of this, it could get a bit tiring after a while.  It would probably need some variety.  Some suggestions...
  a.) Try making ways for the player to take advantage of the environment --- that way, each level is a different experience.

I agree about that point.

Here's another idea: Put simple obstacles on the level, like crates/boxes that you can kick away. Or some pipe that starts rolling towards the opponents if you punch on it.

Notice that neither of those ideas require any physics to speak of, the speed of the crates and the pipe can be constant. And as long as the obstacles are "easy stuff" the focus on fighting can remain good.

[Ego_Shiner]

I actually meant the kick. Because of the angle it goes at and the way that camera works, you just have to randomly aim and hope you hit a ninja because the chances of a visible ninja being at the right angle is pretty low. Also, for the charged moves you might want to put a limit (I got the entire screen completely white by charging for about two minutes) and possibly add a time slowing mechanic for ending combos with charged moves. That would look wicked cool and make the charging more useful.

[Kicks]

Hey all! Thanks for the feedback. I've been out of town and getting a new part time job, so I've been a bit busy.
HOWEVER!
I am a finalist in the 2bee games competition.
You all should go here. And vote for your favorite game. I would be so generous if you so choose to vote for me!
Thanks again for all the support!
Back to work!
-T

[Kicks]

Double Post for Justice!
I'm in the top 8 of the 2beegames competition, but my votes are waning! Any support would mean so much. Just a few minutes to sign up and vote for your favorite game--hopefully mine, Aces Wild--would mean 100 fold to me.
Thanks again for the support guys!
-T

[Kicks]

TRIPLE POST!(i've hit an all-time low ;p)

It's IMPORTANT though! It's come to my attention that many people have been visiting the site and simply rating stars for their favorite. To actually vote, one must navigate to the right of the 2BeeGames Website and click on "Vote for Your Favorite!"

Go back and cast your vote if you merely rated or haven't voted!
Thanks!
New update in a week or so!
Should have 4 playable characters, better meters, better AI. Maybe a new location. Depending on how smoothly things go.
ACES WILD BABY!

[Kicks]

QUAD DAMAGE POST! 

Anyways! I was gonna have a new build at the end of the month... which is right now. But 2bee games just announced that they are having another competition. Submission is due on Sept 15th, so expect something around that time! And one in-between so you guys can help me make it great!
I was gonna have one done this week, but Microsoft totally gypped(is that derogatory?) me. I SWEAR TO GOD the contest they have going on now said registration lasted the whole time... Aug 6th. But apparently registration ended a month ago and submissions are taken up until Aug 6th. Whatever!

I have a game to build, guys, so stay tuned and get ready to give me some good feedback!

[Adamski]

Just downloaded the last release of this, felt nice to play! I'm never capable of playing fighting games "strategically" like most (I'm usually too lazy to look at combo attack instructions  ), but some of the moves felt pretty powerful and satisfying when I mashed the buttons so I guess it works pretty well 

The animations and designs are also real nice

[tim_the_tam]

finished playing it but i could never reach the.. =[
i think a great game can be made out of this but its certainly no way near the finished product.

first off.. really nice and smooth animations and particle effects. gg

the combat was a bit of a hit and miss. offensively its nice. it button mashy but if you know what you are doing you can get some nice combos out of it. though in hindsight the only useful combo was the c,c,c,c, up x, up x then some kind of super smash brothers like meteor smash. but some moves feels a bit overpowered and you can spam easily like left/right x.

but defensively it sucks. first off you cant block. whats with that? second it really hard to time dodging so please fix this. the perfect timing counter is also hard to time so a large amount of luck is required.

but i think ai has a lot involved with this. it interesting how they can be incredibly cheap and stupid at the same time. theyll come out of nowhere performing some unblock able super ninja move then just stand there for a like there trying to catch their breaths. it doesnt feel natural and while there attacks are dodge able if there more than one ninja especially the cheap ass knife throwing blue ninja its almost impossible especially since the character defense abilities are so bad.

another thing i hate was the levels. its so repetitive and the change in environments dont do much. oh nit pick. there are some parts like the first stage where environment blocks your view. what i would really like is to have shorter fight sequences and the change of environments have a purpose in the fights and maybe even mix it up a bit.

oh and the keyboard controls need better placements or even the ability to customise

but yeah those are my thought..

[Kicks]

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

That's a really old build and lots has changed. Many people find the blue knife throwing ninjas difficult and hate them like you, but I find them to be one of the easiest, it's strange...
Dodging is actually really easy too. Unfortunately I didn't explain it anywhere exactly how it works. And double unfortunately, it's a lot harder on the keyboard. It's designed with a gamepad in mind, but keyboard controls are a top priority this go around.
So, yeah, dodging. You're invincible on the startup of it and vulnerable at the end of it. The trick is to dodge into the attack, because if you successfully dodge, then the vulnerability at the end of the dodge is taken away... Well... You can still be hit, but you can attack or dodge again. Among other problems, you can dodge into an attack, then use a smash attack and you'll get the counter-attack every time--too easy.
In regards to the difficulty of the counter by themselves... I just have to disagree. The timings on all the enemy attacks are easy to predict. They either jump or teleport, then come down at ya or throw something at ya. Just wait until they're really deep, then go for a smash.
Whether I succeeded or not, the idea was to have a high risk high reward situation as a successful counter attack gives you invincibility throughout the entire move.
Despite my wall of text, your concerns are valid and shared among nearly every player.
Terrible AI, boring levels, too much repetitive combat.
While combat is the main focus still, adventuring has consistently received low marks and a lot of planning has gone into improving that as well
I say this a lot, but my goal is too have a fun non-mashing type combat game where you feel like you're getting better, but can be creative as well. Skills/attacks have contextual priority.
The world of Aces Wild is large and full of excitement. Each new locale brings a host of new things to discover and challengers to defeat.
I have about 5 playable characters lined up at the moment and you have the option of 1p tag team, 2p coop, or 2p double tag team.
I don't wanna give too much away before things have been fully tested, but stay tuned, as things are really heating up for Aces Wild!

[teh_ham]

Oh hey, I didn't realise you made Aces Wild! I appreciate the feedback you gave me on my game even more now

So yeah, my thoughts & suggestions:


Thoughts

- High levels of bad-assery in this game! Love it.

- Coop sounds awesome. What about a versus mode?

- Graphics look great. Did you create the sprites by hand?

- Like everyone else has said, Aces voice is annoying after a while. However, The sound of punches and kicks being thrown sounds awesome.

Suggestions

- Why don't the ninja's have voices? Just a few 'oohs' and 'ahhs' after being hit would suffice.

- Hopefully you've planned this for the full version: a tutorial or training mode where you can just practice your moves and maybe some combos.

- Super moves. Y'know the ones where the world freezes for a few seconds while you do something awesomely cool. I was thinking something along the lines of a doppelganger or Yang from 3S' Raishin-Mahhaken (but without the first hit).

- Block.

- The props which appear in front of the player can be annoying sometimes as you can't see through them. Why not check if there is, so you can set it to be semi-transparent?

- I think using ninjas as the primary foe could get a bit tiresome after a while. Why not introduce different types of enemies? Granted there are different types of ninjas in the demo, but you could mix it up slightly by having something like street thugs which have more health but are slower than the ninjas. Ultimately, fighting the same enemy over and over will eventually become boring.

- Someone else mentioned this: weapons which can be picked up and dropped after extensive use.

- Make the final hit from the ninja cause the player to be hurled into the air and then grounded, it makes it easier to identify whether you've been hit or not.

- Sometimes it's difficult to judge how far away you have to be for some of the attacks to hit (in particular the ones which launch you forward, then attack) Maybe you should introduce collisions with the player and the enemies. This can cause a lot of problems though, as I'm currently experiencing with my game.

Those are my thoughts, best of luck to you in the competition! You got my vote.

[Kicks]

Whoo! It's been a while. I have a bad habit of informing people of what I'm going to do next. Well... I'm gonna change that and just report on what I've been doing. I've also been terribly busy with a move and trying to get a new job because of that and the holidays, etc... 

So no demo, there's one over at 2beegames, but I hate it so don't play it.

I've been spreading myself too thin trying to develop a lot of things at once. For now, I'm going to focus on the first level and Ace. He's the most important and I REALLY need to prototype more. I'm also cutting back on a lot of things and have a good mix of bosses and environments in mind that won't be too difficult to accomplish. I have a beta date in my head, but my own deadlines have never been correct, so I won't reveal it. I've also put my ego in check in other ways and may have a TERRIFIC musician who, through some incredible twist of fate (or he's just talented enough), knows exactly what I want of the music.

OK so that's sorta me doing that bad habit again, but it's also half-way what I HAVE BEEN working on.

The combat is also where I want it finally. It still needs polishing and balancing, but it finally resembles the dream in my heart and mind and has all the wacky/fun/balancing systems all brought together in elegant harmony... I HOPE! Either way, it's fun. REALLY fun, and a new take on what beat 'em ups can be about.

Today and the next few days will be a continuation of yesterday which is making interesting enemies to fight and interactive/destructible/smash-able environments.

I'm actually better at updating threads than my own website, but check out tylerdoak.com for more stuff. There will be an official aces wild page and a bunch of other stuff about me and my projects.

Thanks again for the support guys. I'm sorta surprised at the enthusiasm people show for such a niche game.

Let's all work hard and make great games!

[Kicks]

Got a lot done on the editor and hopefully I can get some prototyping/mass playtesting done. Just gotta fix up enemy AI first.
Anways... You can check out http://tylerdoak.com for updates as well. I apologize for the header on that site. It's supposed to scroll a bit allowing for more viewing area, but it's not working at the moment.

Stay Tuned for more Manic Development Action!

[FiaStarta]

Pretty nice, all smooth (I'm glad I kept a CRT for such games) and plays well. Perfect anim & control.

I was also expecting the usual double-tap left/right to do something, like long range attacks maybe?

Like others, not too fond of the vocals, they're kinda annoying. I would have suggested to rip effects from old hong-kong kungfu movies, just like International Karate did I believe, and we all remember it for its audio. However it wouldn't fit the style you chose.

[Kicks]

Just finished up breakable environments! You can punch enemies into walls and walls into enemies AND NO ONE IS SAFE! But not just walls, any objects like cars, lampposts, dumpsters, priceless statuary, GO WILD! Any part of the map you want can be destructible with different qualities and it's a snap to implement. This is important because I hope to make the editor available to consumers.

[Kicks]

QUADRUPLE NECRO POST!
I've been basically overhauling everything, which is why there hasn't been a playable update. Redid all the spritesheets into single image files so that I could have palette swaps and a new animation system. So I've been redoing all the animations as well as finishing up all the character assets. Still a bit more to go there. This week I've been working on an event editor. Not only is it making my life easier, but I hope to include all the editors so people can make their own adventures for Ace or even their own games.
Bunch of new enemy types, as that's a complaint that I think was most valid out of the other complaints. Combat is getting tighter and tighter and I'm working on stronger platformer elements.
There're a few competitions coming up too and hopefully I'll have at least a level for the first one (though that's looking doubtful).
Check out tylerdoak.com for more frequent updates.