More stuff:

The game's official page (according to Pixel): http://www.cavestorywii.com/

Can't wait for it to be Monday.

I've never laughed so much in my life. Specially when the message "HOW DO YOU STEER" appeared in the chat.

what I did find annoying is that the powerups last too little time.

That is one thing, actually - are the powerups all on the same timer?

I wouldn't say that they necessarily last too little time - a couple of times I had a combination of big and bouncy and backwards (some 'b' thing you have going on there? ;-)) and nothing could get on the screen 'til they expired... but I did notice that they all seemed to disappear at the same time, no matter how recently I'd picked the last one up. So I guess if I'd picked up backwards and had it for 90% of the allowed time then picked up something really useful like bouncy, and then bouncy ran out in 10% of the time it would normally, that could be quite frustrating...


To be honest, though, the thing that annoyed me most about the powerups was that I nearly always ended up with them right at the edge of the screen, 'cause that's where I'd shot the enemy that dropped it, meaning that half the time when I went to pick it up I got rammed by something that jumped onto the screen and right into me before I could react. But I just put that down to a risk/reward decision I had to make...

You're right about the powerups at the edges, half the time I didn't pick them up trying not to risk the colonists.

But I have not problem with them operating on the same timer, I mean that takes away situations like the one you described, where you have several powerups and are unstoppable. But when you have a single one it dies out too fast (IMO, not applicable for everyone).

a couple of times I had a combination of big and bouncy and backwards (some 'b' thing you have going on there? ;-))

Haha, possibly, the last one you didn't mention is bulletproof. All powerups start with b

[Pick any from:]

Right now I'm trying to decide if there needs to be a way for the player to defend themselves better than just dodging bullets... any ideers?

Pick any from:
Shield
Mirror shield
Absorbing your colour bullets
Your bullets cancel enemy bullets

Also, when an enemy dies, it breaks into pieces, and the bigger enemies break into bigger pieces, I thought that maybe you can make it so that if you shoot this pieces it breaks into further pieces, because otherwise they travel very little distance (IMO)

Found the difficulty all right, I managed to get to stage 3, what I did find annoying is that the powerups last too little time.

The game did not freeze for me.

I tried the demo, and I liked it it was hard to get used to at first, bu tin the end I was able to loop (is that what it's called?). It was great fun.

Maybe you should add some sort of test (can be randomly generated maybe?) that players must do in order to prove they can use the randomly generated plane. But that's your decision.

The demo is awesome  a bit laggy, but awesome nonetheless (maybe it's laggy cos my computer is ooooooooooooooooooold  :D)

I'm loving the engrish too

I entered different names at the start, even some random leters, and I've seen my colour and the background change, but have not seen any change in the enemy patterns

It's a really fun game! I want to see more! Only one little nit-pick: Isn't the wall jump a little too horizontal? I had to jump a lot of times to get up that wall.

But if you leave it like that it's fine too. Love the way the enemies fly around

Reciple:
1-Put an awful lot of bombs at the left side of the crate
2-blast an enemy away with the rocket launcher, most probably it will hit the bombs
3-enjoy

Best games ever? So many of them:

Shadow of the Collossus
Golden Sun series
Gunstar Heroes (the MegaDrive/Genesis version)
Ico
We Love Katamary (sucks being in the PAL region)
Bubble Bobble
Zone of the Enders The 2nd Runner
Bangai-oh

I specially recommend the ones that have not been mentioned so much by you guys.

Don't just try to learn how to make a game from raw code it may prevent you from getting the results you wanted.

Generally, I assume people move onto some of the 'harder' languages so they can do more and/or bypass the limits set by the program they were using before. By doing things the hard way, it means you may just have that extra bit of freedom to fully complete what you set out to.

Of course, you could always just spend your time finding workarounds on the program you choose to use, and make some of the examples that can be shown to people to change their minds about a program.

You do have a point. Althoug I think that when you first move on to a harder language there is a time when you are learning how to use it better. And since they are in exam period they can have quite a hard time.

That you cannot code doesn't mean you cannot make an awesome game. I've played both crap and gold in both GameMaker and RPGMaker, as well as there are bad and good games made from raw code.

If you have a great game design idea, go for it. Don't just try to learn how to make a game from raw code it may prevent you from getting the results you wanted.

And I mean, if your game is great and there is someone that says it's crap because you didn't go the "hard" way. That wouldn't speak much for him.

i gave this short presentation a few weeks back at this big serious industry thing.
i was "the indie guy". there was also a researcher from concordia U, a senior designer from Ubi, and the producer from army of two. they were all very serious and dry.
i was a little bit drunk and swore a lot.

http://www.interfacesmontreal.org/en/videos/aim-low-what-the-industry-can-learn-from-the-indies

"Damn you art!"

Awesome, you need to do presentations more often. Einstein is never quoted enough.

cool, but just when you start talking about trixels the audio cuts out for me 

where can I learn more about trixels?  I read the instructionlimit blog post already.  Is there more out there?

http://trixel.deviantart.com (don't actually click that link.  really!)

It happened to me too, I pressed reset and had to wait for it to load again, but it worked.

Hiya all! My name is Fernando Escribano, I'm a Spaniard currently studying his final year in his A-levels, which means that since the exams start in a month's time, I'm pretty much loaded with work. But I still try to find time for other stuff.

I started quite young trying to make my own RPGs with RPG maker (long ago), but due to my lack of any sort of drawing/making sprites skill I tended to get frustrated. I never got myself to finish a game, but those unfinished designs have stayed with me, waiting till I finish my exams and have some free time to develop them. Sorry for repeating myself but it really is frustrating. I also made loads of errors while making the games, I once uploaded a game to a RPGMaker community (a beta release) and forgot that I had been testing the animation in a powerfull weapon the night before and uploaded the beta with the main caracter having the most powerfull weapon in the game from the start. That was embarrasing.

I plan on starting a project on Game Maker soon. A week ago I started a blog about Independent Gaming, I usually post profiles of game developers that interest me, or about coming project that really catch my eye. Due to my lack of time I do not post as much as I want to but.... here is the URL: www.lithiumleaf.com

Also, if anyone has done an story-heavy (or heavier than usual) game in English and wants it appearing in Spanish, feel free to contact me, and if I can get hold of the time I can translate it (free of charge, duh).