next »

[Eclipse]

unplayable, i mean, i'm sure it's a bug but i'm not able in any way to buy drugs.
i press UP near a drug dealer, and the menu pops out, then, there's NO key to buy stuff, nor exit the menu, X and Z doesn't work at all (well, Z keep the pimp doing his slap animation) and the other keys just brings strangely the game on the main menu screen, with the drugs menu opened above :\

[Ivan]

shit, im sorry, it's Enter!!! I'll add that in ASAP.

[Corpus]

It's still waaay too hard. I managed to break even.

Also, it would be much easier if there was a way to quickly exit the buy menu. I don't often have time to press up, up, enter, up, enter before a policeman ploughs into me.

[Eclipse]

tried! thanks

how about C or best of all the same Z to buy?

[Ivan]

It's still waaay too hard. I managed to break even.

Also, it would be much easier if there was a way to quickly exit the buy menu. I don't often have time to press up, up, enter, up, enter before a policeman ploughs into me.

Hmm.. the dealers should end the transaction if a cop is nearby. Unless that's buggy.

[C418]

Yeah well, there's so much cops, that it's nearly impossible to buy anything

[Alec]

Yeah well, there's so much cops, that it's nearly impossible to buy anything

This game is social commentary about the evolution of the police state otherwise known as "America".


tehe

[deadeye]

Nice retro style.  I really enjoy the look of this a lot.  A couple of crits:

The "Buy drugs" button should be X instead of Enter.

I agree that there are too many cops.  But that's only because they're like, omniscient or something.  The cops can see you buying or selling drugs even if they're facing away from you.  I guess that would be okay if they were close by, but they do it even if they're on the other side of the screen.  I still have yet to even make enough money to give some coke to a hooker because they're on my ass so hardcore.

There should also be a split-second grace period when they first appear onscreen, or perhaps some kind of signal that the cops are coming.  Something like a flashing exclamation point at the edge of the screen that happens a half-second before they show up or something. 

I think it would be nice too if the cops could get distracted by the meth heads doing drugs every once in a while.  Like, if a cop sees a meth head doing the drugs I just sold him (but he didn't see me sell him the drugs) then the cop could stop and beat the guy for a while with a billy-club or something.  Not only would it provide an opportunity for the player to scoot off elsewhere to sell meth, but it would be kinda funny besides.

Also, the end-screen "Press a key" didn't work for me.  Upon pressing a key it would flash the title screen, and then just go right back to the end screen.

[Corpus]

I think it would be nice too if the cops could get distracted by the meth heads doing drugs every once in a while.  Like, if a cop sees a meth head doing the drugs I just sold him (but he didn't see me sell him the drugs) then the cop could stop and beat the guy for a while with a billy-club or something.  Not only would it provide an opportunity for the player to scoot off elsewhere to sell meth, but it would be kinda funny besides.

Also, the end-screen "Press a key" didn't work for me.  Upon pressing a key it would flash the title screen, and then just go right back to the end screen.

I agree with the first paragraph, and can confirm the second.

[Hideous]

So... When are you releasing that Retro Game Engine thing?

[Ivan]

Ok, I updated the zips with some fixes.

- Now you can buy with Z,X or Enter in the dealer menu.
- Fixed the gameover screen bug.

I also compiled the windows build with mingw, so if it didn't work for you before, it should now. Also cut the size in half, not bad 

Thank you for all your feedback so far, I'll try to balance the gameplay a little bit if i have some time today (I'm at work).

So... When are you releasing that Retro Game Engine thing?

I found a whole bunch of annoying bugs in it while making this, so as soon as they're fixed

[shinygerbil]

Awesome. My best score is only 1460 though.

[___]

2500.  I'm big pimpin'

[superflat]

Ok, so I had really high hopes for this, and here's my critique...

First of all, style-wise, it couldn't be more amazing.  You have the retro-feel down to a tee, and that's actually harder than it looks I reckon.  I especially love the guys who open their coats with lots of little wraps inside.  I'm blown away!

So, onto the gameplay.  There is a strong idea in there, but here's why I think it's a little lost... 

I actually thought there would be platforms (as well as the background images like cig boxes, could be things like window ledges, huge cars etc).  Perhaps you had intended to put them in but run out of time.  Imagine climbing down a drainpipe-to get into a crack den to make a briefcase-full-o-coke deal! 

If it was a little more Metal Gear style, with you sneaking up slowly to find a dark alley to sell your wares, it would feel a bit more like you were in control.  As it stands, the flith are far too fast and it almost feels random whether you get spotted or not.  As someone said, it would be much better if the cops only saw you when they were close, and facing you.  Also they should move slowly and predictably so you could time your stealth-sell, that is until you're wanted and then they should move exactly as they do now.  You could also become a cop killer if you find a gun powerup (perhaps you have to buy and stash them somewhere, lead the pig there then 'blap!')  You could have some stationary cops, and you could make a deal when they look the other way... Or you could ride past in a pimping lowrider and make a shady deal like that (could be like a powerup to get to the crack hos who are normally being watched.)   Just throwing some silly ideas around!

Bug-wise, I don't seem to be able to re-start, I also don't seem to be able to slap dem hos (perhaps I'm missing something).  The menu system for buying is glitchy (you should be able to even if at risk).  Also sometimes I start way above the level and though I was falling I thought it had crashed (easy to fix I'm sure).

Anyway, don't take any of this too negatively because like I said there's a really strong game idea in there, it just needs a little nurturing.  The branding's so strong so it's definitely worth going the extra mile. 

[Ivan]

Thank you for your feedback, superflat.

I had originally envisioned it as a much more open ended game. I actually pixelled a multi-tier level with ledges and platforms before and multiple types of enemies. I wanted it to be more of an indepth drug-dealing experience than it is. However, I had what amounted to about two or three nights of work time available for this. I was forced to make it into a much more simplified version if i was to finish it under these circumstances.

Bug-wise, I don't seem to be able to re-start, I also don't seem to be able to slap dem hos (perhaps I'm missing something).  The menu system for buying is glitchy (you should be able to even if at risk).  Also sometimes I start way above the level and though I was falling I thought it had crashed (easy to fix I'm sure).

There was a bug with the gameover screen not closing which i had fixed, so try re-downloading it if that was the problem. As for the buying menu, i originally had it so it doesn't auto-close in the presence of cops and it was very very frustrating. And as far as the ho-slapping, you need to coke them up first so they make some money. I didn't have time to add in more visual feedback for this part and perhaps I should.

In any case, I'll be making some tweaks to it!

[deadeye]

I didn't have time to add in more visual feedback for this part and perhaps I should.

Some simple NESsy sound effects would add a whole new dimension to this as well.  SFXR is a great tool for generating NES-type sounds, from jumps to hits to power-ups.  You should check it out.

[Ivan]

My engine actually plays NSF (Nintendo Sound Format) natively. 

[deadeye]

Well shit, get to it then.

Actually, are you planning on developing this further?  I haven't noticed you say one way or the other in the thread.  Tweaks are one things, but are you considering fleshing it out to your original vision?

[ichi]

At first I didn't even notice it was P.I.M.P in the background, no wonder it put me in such a pimpin' mood 

[Derek]

Ivan, my friend, this is amazing!  Some sfx would make it even better!