just had a quick go, loving the vehicle dynamics! are you a fan of return fire, it reminds me of it, great game

sweet, looks intense!

thanks man! the landscape still has some big changes to go, I think it's a bit darwinia at the mo (which isn't really a bad thing, i just want it more 'painty')

so there's a new exe up in first post^^
main changes:

- outlines on enemies (much easier to pick out)

- wave system- instead of coming +2 each time you kill one, now enemies arrive in 'orbital pods' exploding onto the battlefield! each wave contains more enemies

- radar system for enemies

- random chance that an enemy will spawn a health pickup

note- the game counts friendly green units in the enemy count, but you don't need to kill them to proceed


I want to start designing some more interesting enemy types next, like the 'special infected' in l4d. The first one I'm planning is  a floating turret with powerful weapons (maybe instahit laser with charge up time) which can only hit you from below. These would periodically spawn in the mid-low altitude range to encourage some low-level flying and weaving between mountains


If anyone else has some good enemy ideas I'd love to chat about them I'm also thinking about a mine-laying enemy type

How do, updated links
new screenshot, video and download in first post!

new:
1- updated landscape
2- sometimes friendly ships spawn to help you out (breaks up the combat much nicer)
3- some AI tweaks
4- improved missile targeting
5- further control tweaks
6- and a BOOST button (shift). boost is really crude right now but its fun to zoom over the landscape. eventually you'll need to hold down the throttle button once you're at max to fire up the boost

thanks guys! there's a new version up with updated enemy AI and faster bullets (enemies cluster around you less, and sometimes break off to gain a new position before attacking, meaning the 'big cloud of enemies pointing at you' scenario is a bit less obvious. I'm also planning a wave-based attack pattern instead of +1 every kill, so the combat should become less em, monotone hopefully

Amon: thanks for the offer! I'm not ready at the mo for models, and the model setup might get a bit complicated too- I'm shooting for a very ink/paint style but I'll keep you in mind. cheers!

Kicks: don't worry, it's all placeholder thanks!
mikewest: cheers, appreciate the comment- I've made the plane much more manouverable in the new version, would love to hear if it feels better/worse

also in the new version (available in first post)
- mountains more bigger
- can't fly through the ground (can still go thru the sky!)
- missiles! use right mouse. targeting is slightly buggy atm but something usually gets killed :D

thanks

Adding some concept art
edit: new vid in original post too

hey guys, I've added in hostile enemies- should be a bit more challenging now!
(still no ground collision yet, jsyk)

one enemy spawns, then if you kill him theres 2, then 3, etc up to 25
kill as many as you can before you die 

[press C to begin]

DOH!!

sorry, press C to begin.
only the most important command and I left it out. ahem.. carry on

PS, incase it's not obvious, the red circles are aim helpers: they don't take into account if the target is turning, that's up to the player to compensate for (at least for now)
also: there's no ground collision. just so you know

[The Good Ol' Days]

How do folks, it's new prototype time :]

The Good Ol' Days




video:



summary:
This is a very early version, the vid does much more justice than the screenshot. The Good Ol' Days remembers the times when there was a whole section in the game store for PC flight games filled with flight sims and arcade flight shooters. The goal is to head back to these times and take a different evolutionary route, and see where we end up! The influences for the game include: Terminal Velocity, Hardwar, Freelancer, Warblade, L4d

Right now I want to test out the control scheme and get feedback. The 'enemies' don't shoot back, but you can shoot them

DOWNLOAD:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8878789/TGOD_v30.exe
controls:
(NOTE: turning is much faster up/down than left right (like a plane) so you can turn faster by rolling into a turn and then aiming up, instead of staying level and aiming left/right)

PRESS C TO START

Throttle up/down: W,S
Roll ship: A,D
look/aim: mouse
fire gun: left mouse button
fire missile: rmb

thanks for having a go, as I say I'd love any control feedback (or otherwise)

maybe as a compromise the disable time could be reduced? I just feel moving round a corner and sitting still for a while isn't that enjoyable compared to blasting stuff around

nice idea and I enjoyed it

really didn't like that my gun gets disabled when hit though. The air blast is the primary point of the game, it's really frustrating to have it disabled especially when you get hit by a missile which you could have deflected because of the 'fizzle'. Ask yourself: is running away and hiding for 30 seconds really a good part of the game? or should players be allowed to get out of tight situations by their skill of using the airblast? I think just making them vulnerable to death after being hit is enough of a penalty.

thanks for the comments!

allen, one thing I haven't mentioned which may affect your opinion of the tactics: the little floating bubbles you collect gain you more points each one you collect without touching the ground.

so, to achieve a high score for a level you will need to put a bit of thought into how you use the bumpers, in order to stay in the air while collecting as many bubbles as possible

do you have any further thoughts on how to improve the tactical element of placing bumpers? (there will be other behaviours of bumper btw, like the swing ones from previous game versions) would love to hear ideas!

still puzzling out how to communicate this well :/

how do!
i'm trying a fairly significant gameplay tweak in this version, I'd love some game designer feedback. this ones a bit more puzzly, and I hope with a little more creativity involved in the gameplay

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8878789/togl21.exe

in this one, you can press 'down arrow' to switch characters. to switch back, fly over to the main character and press down again (you need to be touching him)

when playing as the yellow square, you can move a certain distance from the main char, and you can pick up and place bumpers with 'spacebar'

by collecting the dark green circles, you increase the distance you can move away from the main char, and also the number of bumpers you can carry at once.


ps- the bumpers have markers where there original positions were. you can reset the bumper positions as the yellow square by pressing 'space' while over them (this is to avoid getting stuck if you position bumpers out of reach and fall down)

thanks!

hey, update on this finally
think ive been playing around with different possibilities too long, I need to get this out the door... here's a 4 level demo. Only the first level has some more decorative graphics. I could really use some level design feedback tho, thanks!

link's in the first post. Don't forget the light blue boxes are ladders! (really need to get some graphics going..)

hmm, imo that's not the best solution.. you can never master a system when the base values are always changing and you don't know what they are. I think that's one reason the difficulty curve is weird- you think you've learned what will happen in x situation, only for it to turn out different

I thought it was a nice experience, but not really exploration- I never felt like I was choosing a path to take or choosing where to look at, as I associate with exploring. It was pretty much a linear game. As for the messages, I didn't really come away with anything more than 'hruuh??'. It felt a bit like being crpytic for the sake of it, rather than conveying some deep truth

visual effects were nice!

same, couldn't beat the last level- the big monsters raped my guys before I could kill em. do the bombs damage them anywhere, or just on their heads? it's not clear

fun game tho!

alo guys! new level, longer, better.. 20% more satisfaction guaranteed
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8878789/togl19.exe

I'd really love to know roughly how long it takes you to reach the end on this one if possible

any bits you get stuck on? seem less fun? would really like to hear fun-ness feedback, good and bad
hugz
-rich

ps, don't forget: r to reload. spacebar to activate the green/red coloured nodes (when you are the same colour). ALSO: the light blue things on some walls are ladders. you don't HAVE to 'clean up' the green floaties. you'll get points eventually tho.

campaign to raise funds to finish purchasing the game art and music

so, are you commisioning all the final artwork before you've made the game? do you have gameplay prototypes?