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[deadZed]

Glowey shootey fan-art! Game looks great 



clickey for biggey!

[Chris Pavia]

I would suggest having the first wave of enemies not changes hues at all (although they should each be a different hue). This will make it much easier for new players to learn how to shift hues and kill enemies, and introduces a more perceptable difficulty progression (player feels a sense of accomplishment seeing things get progressively more complex in undrstandable ways). The next wave can then have a couple enemies that switch between 2 colors only, then progress from there.

The player hue shifting spectrum makes sense once you explained it, but I bet a lot of people won't make that connection. I would suggest putting some sort of indicator in the HUD or something of what the spectrum is and where they currently are within it. Currently all that information resides in the players head, which usually isn't good (it decays quickly, requires recall time, is subjective, and could just be wrong). The info should reside in the game world as well. when the info exists in the game world, it is objective, consistent and (hopefully) more easily understandable. Read The Design of Everyday Things for an in depth explanation of this.

Hope I don't sound like I'm complaining about everything too much, I can definitely see the potential!

[Theophilus]

Day 8

Today, I:
-Added healthbars.
-Added visual aid for the spectrum including hue you are at.
-Made stat loading in plan to test the skill points plan.
-Took out the intersecting-lines cursor as it made Triplefox feel sick. Hopefully it's easier on you.
-Made the enemies hue remain static (for now. the plan is to make the enemy shift hues fast as the wave number increases in the main combat).

Tomorrow, I plan to:
-Make graphical loading more efficient.
-Implement the stat system including the drops for the enemies
-Work on organizing the design some more. I want to write a design document.


I didn't get a chance to work on the enemy.

I feel like I'm in vertigo playing this. The scrolling of the background against the sprites looks like a special effect or animation; the cursor's size only adds to this, making it look like an element in the game world, not UI.

I've addressed this, maybe the demo below will be easier on you? I do hope you are able to play, so I will try and fix this.

@Theo: looks like it's gonna be ur most successful game  gratz!

We'll see, thanks for the vote of confidence.

I tried it a bit for a bit and it does have its good and bad.

the good:
-looks great. I like the old vertex/vectrex/whatevermajiggy vectrodrome look that it's got going on.
-colors are looking good, very vibrant and distinct (even for someone who is partially color-blind, like me!).
-controls are mostly smooth and intuitive(more on that in the bad).

the bad:
-the crosshair. I think this is what's contributing to the feeling of vertigo or "lost in space". It's hard to find a reference point as well since the screen isn't centered on anything particular but rather scrolls as the player nears an edge. It just feels disorienting (I don't know if my rationale is accurate, though. only a thought)
-the shifting. Not the speed, but rather the random seizing mode that accompanies the hue shift. I think this was an attempt at balancing, but it actually makes hue-shifting an extremely undesirable tactic because, as Chris Pavia said, the enemies don't remain static. So when you shift, you have to fight 2 semi-unpredictable (or dynamic and difficult) factors as opposed to just one.

I think if the goal is to make it more tactical and less "shoot everything in sight for high score!", then the current direction might be ok, because it makes the whole shifting thing a really difficult skill to master (but it's also difficult to learn). But if it's supposed to be like a crazy bullet hell arena shooter type thing, I would suggest removing the seizing part of hue-shift and focusing on adding more enemy types.

Still, more good than bad!  

Thanks for the detailed feedback.

I've taken out the crosshair for now. Hopefully it settles those who are affected by sick feelings. I've also addressed the shifting; enemies no longer shift, for now. I've also added a visual aid so hopefully that will help as well.

Glowey shootey fan-art! Game looks great  


http://i.imgur.com/FVkzk.png

Awesome, thanks!

I would suggest having the first wave of enemies not changes hues at all (although they should each be a different hue). This will make it much easier for new players to learn how to shift hues and kill enemies, and introduces a more perceptable difficulty progression (player feels a sense of accomplishment seeing things get progressively more complex in undrstandable ways). The next wave can then have a couple enemies that switch between 2 colors only, then progress from there.

The player hue shifting spectrum makes sense once you explained it, but I bet a lot of people won't make that connection. I would suggest putting some sort of indicator in the HUD or something of what the spectrum is and where they currently are within it. Currently all that information resides in the players head, which usually isn't good (it decays quickly, requires recall time, is subjective, and could just be wrong). The info should reside in the game world as well. when the info exists in the game world, it is objective, consistent and (hopefully) more easily understandable. Read The Design of Everyday Things for an in depth explanation of this.

Hope I don't sound like I'm complaining about everything too much, I can definitely see the potential!

That's a good point you bring up about the hue-shifting, and I was planning on introducing more progression between the rate of enemies shift. However, I was going to go about it in a different way - the enemies will shift between all colors, however, they will do it more slowly (From a scale of 0 to 1). I fear shifting between two colors would only make it harder. Also, I don't know if I can shift only the hue between two colors without differences in saturation and/or value.

I've added a visual aid on the left of the HUD for the player. I also went ahead and added a health bar on top.


Screenshot:


Demo:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9942053/neon_strikers.zip

Note that I've included an .ini file so that you can adjust the stats to your liking. This won't be permanent, and is for debug/testing situations. Here's a guide to what they mean (NOTE: The framerate is 60 FPS):

[MOVING]
movespeed: The speed in pixels per frame that you move at the zenith of your speed. It is your top speed.
acceleration: The speed in pixels per frame you accelerate
friction: The rate at which you decelerate in pixels per frame.

[COMBAT]
speedshiftval: The rate at which you shift hues while speed-shifting (RMB). Default 2. Note that this includes the value you increase every frame.
rateoffire: The number of frames between shots.

[SPAWN]
numtospawn: The number of test enemies to spawn. It is random whether they are squares or dashers.


You can press space at any time to reset the game.


Thanks for keeping an eye on this, readers.

[sonicblastoise]

no no, thank YOU for being amazingly quick on the uptake and consistent with the updates. I hope nothing we say derails your motivation for continuing to do so.

Testing the new build now!

[Xardov]

Is this GML or AS3?

[Chris Pavia]

Can we try a version where you ONLY shift hues when you are holding the RMB?

[Theophilus]

Is this GML or AS3?

GML, Game Maker 8.1

Can we try a version where you ONLY shift hues when you are holding the RMB?

Here we are: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9942053/neon_strikers1.zip You may want to increase the shift value in the .ini file.

[Chris Pavia]

Thanks for trying it out! How do you feel about this method of control? At least for me I feel like I have more control over the situation and can make more intelligent use of the hue-based gameplay. But then again, I don't know how it fits in with any other gameplay you have planned but not implemented yet.

[Theophilus]

Thanks for trying it out! How do you feel about this method of control? At least for me I feel like I have more control over the situation and can make more intelligent use of the hue-based gameplay. But then again, I don't know how it fits in with any other gameplay you have planned but not implemented yet.

I feel like it certainly gives more control. It also gives a lot more opportunities for enemies affecting you - for instance, they could shift your hue to it's inverse and that could really piss you off.

[Destral]

Need to try out this new control scheme, possibly later tonight.

Man, TIGs surely got a huge influx of cool games in the last few days.

[Theophilus]

Day 9

Today, I:
-Started the design doc
-Wrote all of it in brief
-HTML add CSS-ified it.

Tomorrow, I want to:
-Make graphical loading more efficient.
-Implement the stat system including the drops for the enemies
-Maybe a new enemy type?


I got super super super tired today. I had 4 tests in school, and I was exhausted. I didn't want to touch coding, so I just wrote down my current ideas, some of the stuff in this thread, and made a design document. I really wanted to make some sort of website thing. I promise I will do some work on this tomorrow!


I got my domain name for my personal website today. I will be publishing the design doc in a directory on my website. You will all be able to read it and critique my design, and maybe, I could impart something (The few things I am doing right) onto you, so that games may be better.

[Theophilus]

Day 10

Today, I:
-Made a font
-Added score
-Fixed a few bugs
-Made graphic loading more efficient with a basic loading screen.
-Worked on the design doc

Tomorrow, I want to:
-DO THIS THING COME ON MAN


I feel really unmotivated to work on the stat things. Someone pump me up.

[BlueSweatshirt]

Don't push yourself to work on the game, you'll just get burnt out. Take your time and work on it when you feel like it.

That's my advice to you. 

[Twitch]

Break it down, yo!

Big onerous tasks are repellent, but a collection of small and easily accomplished tasks are both attractive and gratifying.

Treat every big task as a collection of bite-sized steps just waiting to be split apart - by, say, writing a list of small tasks which make up the larger one - and you might find motivation comes more naturally

[Theophilus]

Don't push yourself to work on the game, you'll just get burnt out. Take your time and work on it when you feel like it.

That's my advice to you. 

Break it down, yo!

Big onerous tasks are repellent, but a collection of small and easily accomplished tasks are both attractive and gratifying.

Treat every big task as a collection of bite-sized steps just waiting to be split apart - by, say, writing a list of small tasks which make up the larger one - and you might find motivation comes more naturally

Thanks for the morale booster, doods. Breaking it down helped a lot.


I've added the following:
-'Chunky Pixels' which give you experience when collected.
-Experience and a level.

You can test the build here. I'm not done working for the day yet, though, so this isn't a proper devlog post. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9942053/neon_strikers.zip

Test it out dudes!

[Theophilus]

Day 11

Today, I:
-Fixed a few bugs
-Added chunky pixels which give you experience
-Added levels
-Designed an experience formula. That was fun.
-Worked on the design doc. I made a javascript experience calculator.

Tomorrow, I want to:
-Add skill points
-Make an interface for the leveling up, I'd like to make it look a little better.


I'm pleased with the amount of work today.

If you're reading this from my tweet, here's the daily build. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9942053/neon_strikers.zip

[Theophilus]

Day 12

Today, I:
-Worked a BUNCH on the design doc.

Tomorrow, I want to:
-Design a formula for skill points. This might be a bit tough...
-Implement it
-Make an interface to spend them.

[Theophilus]

Day 13

Today, I:
-Designed a (basic) formula for skillpoints.
-Made an interface to spend them
-Made their effects apply

Tomorrow, I want to:
-Play the game and balance it.


So here's the deal...

My game is a grinding game.

I didn't mean for it to turn out this way! I wanted it to be fun, but all you do is shoot stuff over and over and over. I need more spice. The next few days I want to work on balancing and designing.

I think I could combat it in these ways...

-The XP rate stat, allows you to adjust how much grinding you do by giving you more XP earned or less XP earned.

-More random events. For instance, a boss enemy that only spawns on an X percent chance, with nice fighting techniques. This thing will be so B.A. that it kills the other enemies, even though they're his allies, just because he doesn't need them.

-Make the gameplay a bit more fast-paced than combat-based, that way it's more about the action than the experience.


I might be slowing down on the updates so I can focus more on getting things right.

[Chris Pavia]

Here are my thoughts based on the last build you posted:

-The game needs a better sense of progression. Right now it is chaos, there doesn't seem to be any ryme or reason to why/what/when stuff is thrown at the player. Play some other successful arena shooter type games and analyze how they throw challenges at the player. Have a reason for using the types of enemies you use together. Start off simple (simpler than you think you need), and slowly add complexity.

-Break the gameplay and player interactions into short/medium/and long term goals. A gameplay session should have all of these. Think of Pac Man: Short term goals happen constantly (eating dots), medium goals happen every minute or two (power pellets, fruit, eating ghosts), and there's usually at least one long term goal (completing a level, getting hi-score, coffee-breaks). This keeps things fresh for the player so they don't get bored doing one thing over and over.

[Theophilus]

Based on the last build you posted, I would say your issues are thus:

-The game needs a better sense of progression. Right now it is chaos, there doesn't seem to be any ryme or reason to why/what/when stuff is thrown at the player. Play some other successful arena shooter type games and analyze how they throw challenges at the player. Have a reason for using the types of enemies you use together. Start off simple (simpler than you think you need), and slowly add complexity.

-Break the gameplay and player interactions into short/medium/and long term goals. A gameplay session should have all of these. Think of Pac Man: Short term goals happen constantly (eating dots), medium goals happen every minute or two (power pellets, fruit, eating ghosts), and there's usually at least one long term goal (completing a level, getting hi-score, coffee-breaks). This keeps things fresh for the player so they don't get bored doing one thing over and over.

Hey, thanks for the reply.

-There is absolutely no gameplay right now; right now there are ten enemies, spawned at random, when you start the game. This is to test the interactions I'm working on with the enemies and the player, its stats, and experience.

-I think with my current, un-released build, there is a better sense of goals. Here they are:

Short-term: Destroy enemies
Medium: Collect experience and level up
Long term: Survive, get a lot of points, and reach the highest level you can.


I don't think I've mentioned how the gameplay will be, so to clarify some things, I ought to explain:

Enemies will come in waves. You kill em. You collect their experience. You get points. There is a limit on the amount of enemies on screen to reduce the chaos. Enemies spawn at random, outside the room, making their way in. The enemies all have different behaviors, so you must learn what they do. Some will even spawn differently. They show up in an infinite fashion. Your long-term goal is to survive, level up, and get a high score.

I added the level progression in an effort to give the game more longevity. My hope is that they will play, die, play again leveling up stats, die, play again, die, etc., trying to get better and better each time. In addition to building skill, I want the player to upgrade.

I added the hue shifting and double-damage and combination elements to aid in gaining points and add a central mechanic to the game, though I admit it has faded a bit from my original visions, but I am still pleased with the outcome so far.

I fear the game will get too muddy. I may have included too much. I might need to cut some stuff.