Derek,
Would definitely love to know what you think of it, in particular your thoughts in regards to the following:
After reviewing other feedback for this game, I've come to the conclusion that the game is simply too hard. I haven't even heard of anyone getting past stage 4!!!
The game needs to have a) an overall reduction in difficulty and "busy-ness", and even better b) a selectable level of difficulty, where perhaps a "hard" setting would be roughly as it is now, "normal" being a bit easier, and "easy" easier still.
I've been looking into this just last night, and I've been tinkering with the code to make some fundamental changes. It never occurred to me before that the UFOs and turrets were far too accurate! (in that they will always shoot at exactly where you are, if you're a moving target they can still miss). Also if anyone has ever gotten to stage 7 or 8 (which would be amazing) they'd see that the quantity, speed and accuracy of enemy blaster bolts was really too much. I figured that having an infinite shield evened it out, but I think it made it unbalanced.
So the changes I have made so far:
* Enemies are less accurate, noticably so.
* Enemy blaster bolts are slower.
* UFOs themselves move more slowly. The little ones in particular were nigh-impossible to hit.
* UFOs have less hit points.
* The player is tougher with regards to collisions with chunks. Though far from being invulnerable, you can now withstand a somewhat more forceful collision without dying. Collisions with fast chunks or large chunks are still pretty much fatal of course.
* Default player firepower is the twin gun. A single gun is just not enough.
* Powerups appear far more frequently. It is now far easier to obtain more torpedoes and firepower.
* The "vigour" of a chunk explosion has been reduced, in particular so that the mini chunks do not fly out of a bigger one with terrifying speed.
Some additional proposed changes:
* The player's ship will have more than one hit point, that is, it can take some damage before exploding.
* The player's shields will have a limit of some kind, most likely a timer/energy bar that depletes as it remains on, and eventually runs out (so you can't just leave it on for as long as you like). The shield will charge back up when not in use. The reduction in overall difficulty should mean that you don't _need_ an infinite shield anymore. Another alternative is to forget the timer, but instead allow the shield to absorb a certain amount of hits, which recharge over time.
* Other powerups, such as a classic satellite point defense system, whereby little globes orbit the ship and shoot at things getting too close. Torpedo upgrades of some kind. Side shooting guns.
* Automatic manoeuvring thrusters that engage when the main thrusters are off, to bring the ship gradually to a stop, i.e. the equivalent of "friction" in that your ship will not float endlessly from the last thrust or bump.
* A difficulty setting, which can modify the various points mentioned above, i.e. enemy shot speed and accuracy can be increased with more difficulty. Perhaps scoring is higher with higher difficulty as a reward.
* Bonus rounds. Not sure how they would work, but an opportunity to pickup some extra points or powerups.
* Menu/Pause system, with configurable options for keyboard controls, sound volume, game difficulty.
So yeah, alot of tweaks and changes, hopefully making the game a far more balanced and satisfying experience!
NOTE - I have _not_ released an updated version of the game yet! I intend to go through a period of modification and testing before making the next release.
As always, your thoughts and comments welcome and appreciated
Developer
