ok, new version to test! this one is massively more difficult.. too much maybe

changes:

faster small enemy, more damage done
big enemy now fires bullets, more damage
enemies now invisible unless in line of sight of players (encourage good positioning of overwatch guys)
players move slower when firing weapons
big enemies do not instantly know where you are- must see you to pursue. will also wander about aimlessly
small enemies are as before, instinctively can 'smell' players fear..

thanks for playing!

Thanks Fyren!

with the accuracy, the idea was to create a similar feel to FPS games where firing constantly on full auto leads to large spray, and I wanted to encourage burst firing. However you're right it should return to full accuracy over time- quickly just not instantly. I think displaying this in the cursor is also going to be a good idea

I'm actually pleased you found it too easy, I think it can be harder to make a game less difficult than it is to make it harder. There's plenty of factors to tweak to balance the difficulty.

One thing I'm keen on getting feedback/ideas on is how to make player decisions more interesting / varied.

right now I think in the players head, the choices are something like:

- which way should I move (doesnt have huge consequences)
- what targets should I aim for
- should I split the group? (which tends to be 'no')
- what lead member should I choose (which tends to be 'doesnt matter')

here's what I'd like it to be-

- which way should I move? (some way to scout areas ahead would be good)- pre-placed enemies which will only attack on sight, so some you want to avoid
- how should I approach the objective (I need to make the level goal something more interesting/varied than 'smash all the crates'. In fact I want there to be varied level goals
- what targets should I aim for?
- should I try collect this loot (loot eventually being something the player can use to upgrade, and there being a 'greed' factor involved vs the risk
- should I split the team up? (I want to make 'overwatch' function more useful. Already, it gives a damage bonus and armour boost, but if you never feel the need then it's pointless)
- which lead member should I choose? (I want each member to be able to carry an 'artifact'- a bit like stalker except they do more active things instead of just passive abilities. You can only use the artifact of the leader, and it affects all in his squad/group. These would probably have a long 'cool down' period after use, or be limited to once/few times per map

also considering adding something to the 'hoovering' mechanic to make it a little like the reload in gears of war/alien swarm. Timing minigame with risk/reward built in

Hi all! thanks for the comments!

there's now an exe in the first post please check it out, I would really love some feedback on the following:

1- how many levels did you play?

2- what was the most fun you had?

3- what was the least fun you had / most annoying bit?

4- anything else spring to mind? suggestions or crits?

here's a bit more info:

firstly btw, I want to streamline the squad management- I want a way to manage without having to move the mouse all the way down the screen. maybe a radial menu?

the idea is also to have an upgrade screen, where you can use the loot you gather to buy upgrades for your team/weapons. Also if a guy dies, and you 'hoover' his corpse, you'll be able to pay to have him revived.

the graphics will definately change, all placeholder stuff. I don't want to spend any time on gfx before I've got the game fun. Different monster behaviours are planned, such as ones which shoot back- will have to see what I have time to implement!

to give a flavour for graphics, here's a (very old) couple of mockups:
note: don't think I'll be matching this camera view, will see.
edit- damn, this super thin forum trips me up every time. sorry bout the scrolling.



as for the actual look, I'm very fond of vector style flat shaded graphics. expect something vaguely along these lines:

great fun :D the dialogue is hilarious too..
well done!

hey, i loved the playable alpha, looks like you've been layering on the polish!

I think your 'tube vid link is busted- I had a look round, is this the trailer?




think your site links also borked :S

looking forward to playing the full thing

by the sound of the video, he's not really sure where its going himself.. wants to rely on user input.

I think itd be interesting if he threw into the mix all the most outlandish suggestions which would never see light of day in minecraft, and see what happens.. sort of a postal vs normal fps, or saints row vs gta type of thing. fill it full of crazy, totally unbalanced fun stuff

I'm certainly not implying that it is a ripoff, or any of them for that matter- but you play a little dude who places blocks and you can make a house for yourself or build a castle. There is a certain similarity, albeit not in the mining/crafting

edit: basically though, I don't believe the formula is sacred.. if someone makes a sweet block-editing game then it stands or falls on its own quality. fortresscraft does look lame right now.. mind you if its the only thing out there on xbox, it might carve out a following..

Well, I guess if you can count 2 clones (FortressCraft and Mine Like Crazy) as a genre, then yes.

to be fair:

infiniminer
blockland
cubelands
minecraft
fortresscraft
moonforge

did I miss any? I couldn't find mine like crazy

hey, great idea! I didn't have anyone to play against so I don't have the full game experience- I just had a few thoughts on streamlining the mushroom controls. You might have already thought about these though:

- Think it might be good for mushroom spores to fire on mouse release, so firing the spores takes one less click. just click-drag to fire

- also wonder if it might be nice to require slightly less mouse precision and have a 'closest mushroom within radius of mouse' selection.

I think these would make playing mushrooms easier so there are some balancing concerns.. I'm generally in favour of making stuff as easy to control as possible and balancing elsewhere.

another thought:
- one balancing idea could be that the longer you stay controling a mushroom the faster the shot goes when you fire it (current speed being close to max). This would make spamming less appealing since the shots would go slowly and be easy to dodge. This might be a terrible idea, like I say I've not experienced the full game

keep it up!
edit: just noticed you're racing for deadline, so feel free to ignore!

[download:]

excuse the ahem, working title

Inspiration comes from Space Hulk, Cannon Fodder, and a dash of Syndicate Wars, and a few other spices. You control a team of mercenaries, hired to retrieve data/tech from derelict spaceships. Various nasty things live in the ships (as represented by terrifying black orbs in the video)

its single player, but you control a team and can split them up to provide cover while you loot the ship, or just use them as bait  

vid:




pic:


download:
http://www.redprodukt.com/smc/squad_v0.8.zip   (3.7meg)

old download:
http://www.redprodukt.com/smc/squad_v0.7.zip
http://www.redprodukt.com/smc/squad_v0.6.zip
http://www.redprodukt.com/smc/squad_v0.5.zip
http://www.redprodukt.com/smc/squad_v0.4.exe
http://www.redprodukt.com/smc/squad_v0.3.exe
http://www.redprodukt.com/smc/squad_v0.2.exe
http://www.redprodukt.com/smc/squad_v0.1.exe

MAIN GOAL:
destroy all the blue container boxes in a level, and hoover any valuables (orbs) inside

Controls:

wasd - leader movement
mouse/lmb- aim guns

mouse/lmb- loot rays - when mouseover loot item (yellow outlined orbs), click once to begin beaming them to mothership. shooting will distrupt transport beam

rmb - use 'ability' (icon on the left).
*bonus* press N to name your guys.. ENTER completes each naming

wait, there's more!:

to go into pause 'squad control' mode, hold spacebar
in this mode:

- right click on players to toggle their 'guard' status. This tells them to stay put and shoot at whatever they see

- left click-drag from 'guard mode' players, to draw a path for them
- hit F at any time to have them follow that path. Paths are reset if players exit guard mode.

thanks for taking a look!

hah, I think it could be quite nice to have some kind of balance puzzle where you need to get the right number of bodies either side of some scales to open a path.. or maybe collect 'juice' from minced guys for some reason.. these things might be complicating a nice simple idea tho maybe for the sequel

look forward to trying any updates!

hey, great concept!
I got totally stuck on the zoomed out one with 5 conveyers, and the cogs going around the middle 3 conveyers

this level is a massive jump in difficulty for me.. imo you should allow enough of a gap on the middle conveyer for the body to be flung against the wall and not be hit by the cog

I got passed the last cog/conveyer once, but it was so close to my guy I had no time to slow the conveyer to avoid throwing him into the bottom left cog

PS- I also think you should include an air-sucking-in effect on the exit tube, because its not clear when he enters the 'safe' zone at the opening of the tube that he'll get sucked in and be fine, regardless of the speed you put on him. (I think that's a good thing to have, just needs graphical representation)

PPS- I think its harsh to fail a level for putting a guy into a tube which you already threw one into.. imo it should just be ignored if you do that and spawn a new dude

PPPS- (yeah I got past that other level, just) I think if the body comes to a rest in an impossible situation- on a piece of scenery and cannot be manipulated by the player, the game should detect and reset automatically


further notes: I think with the second gravity level, you go from introducing the idea to expecting mastery of the skill.. need some more 'get good at using it' levels inbetween imo

-if you're making a game where the player restarts frequently, the restart itself needs to be quick and snappy- I think the whole spawn human sequence should be shorter/punchier

Thanks Squiggly P! appreciate it
that's something I'll look at soon when I'm balancing out the enemy attributes, nice one

Theres a new exe in 1st post!
some big changes/additions:

1. the bar along the bottom fills as you get points, the level ends when you fill it completely
2. different activities earn points: killing enemies, destroying the large blue 'bases', and collecting ground-scattered pickups
3. at any one time, one of these goals is selected for a 5x points multiplier.. This changes periodically. Displayed top left (and targets appear ingame over bonus goals)
4. to kill the blue ball 'bases'- destroy one or more of the surrounding purple ball 'generators', which feed its shields. When a base has 4 generators it is invincible, but with no generators it dies very quickly. You can actually kill the base when it has 3, but it will take a while.

pix: (colour scheme is semi-random- eventually so will level layout, so simulate different planets)

Thanks Droquen! I'm thinking of dropping that theme from the name entirely mind, and just going on something referring to future flight combat or maybe the art style like 'painted skies' (except something cooler sounding?)

the colour scheme will change from planet to planet tho- it'll be semi-randomly generated along with terrain

hey, I need a new name for my game The Good Ol' Days:
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=17305.0

basically its a futuristic arcade flight game, with a fairly wild inky/painty graphical style (sort of okami/streetfighter teaser influenced)

problem I have is that the current name turns up a ton of google hits already, and everyone has their own opinion of what the good old days actually means..

so.. yeah any ideas?
thanks

hey all! there's a new version of the game on the first post! Please give it a whirl

big visual changes, the area is much larger, improved ship dynamics and combat..
still got work to do on the game structure, but I hope this feels nicer to dogfight at least

NOTE: the boost has changed: once at max speed, keep holding W and after a second the boost will kick in. you don't need to hold it once it's activated.
slowing or flying into a wall will cancel boost

I'd really like some performance feedback if possible, especially if you get to 20+ ships
(note: pressing H will add 5 ships, if you'd like to test quickly)

thanks folks!

(player ship design)

its a fun prototype! one thing i notied: I hit one of the grow powerups with the wrong colour wheel and it dissapeared, while also nullifying the grow powerup I just got for the wheel which touched it..

so I had no powerups left and both regular size wheels.. should that be allowed to happen?
imo, I really prefer not being able to screw up a level/ make it un-finishable over providing a reset button- it just seems neater and less fiddly that way

hey thanks Spydog, you've given me some ideas on improvements!
since the last build I've made hitting enemies easier, but I could also give much better feedback when you do hit..

any other suggestions I'd love to hear!

yo! new pix

this version's not playable yet, but here's a vid and a screen:
(slowdown is from vid capture)

pix or it didn't happen!