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[Gamieon]

Good morning all! I'm having trouble finding beta testers for my game, and hoping to get some good feedback here. The game is "Hyperspace Pinball," and it's a shootem'up where you use pinball flippers instead of your typical boiler plate spaceship.


My original plan was to take requests and then give the download link to individual folks, but that isn't working out at all, so I'll just post links here:

PC: http://www.gamieon.com/tempinst/hyperspacepinballsetup.exe

Mac: http://www.gamieon.com/tempinst/MacOSXBuild.zip

I'd really appreciate feedback on:

• Game play: Does it need more skill shots or more enemies?
• Fun factor: I may enjoy it, but that doesn't mean anything if you don't...
• Level advancement: Should everything be in one campaign flow? Should there be several campaigns?

I plan to release it on Desura in a month or two, hopefully. Please give me feedback in this thread or e-mail me at  support AT gamieon DOT com!


 

Here are some screenshots:

   

   

[Scott]

I don't know why, but I love video game pinball games!!

This was a lot of fun, and ran well even on my garbage intel mobile gpu (I seldom get to say that). It was also fairly polished in many places... I think the only thing that hindered it, for me, was the lack of variety in pinball levels. The enemies were cool, and the bosses were neat, but ultimately it was only a ball(s) bouncing around a very open pinball arena. A lack of levels and moreso variety in the things to make the ball do and places to make it go took away a lot of the excitement and suspense of a normal pinball game. With it was replaced something neat, but very repetitive, though fun perhaps if it was in spurts.

For me, there were also times where I couldn't see a thing that was going on because it was too bright? Everything was flashing and additively blending and I just couldn't see what was going on... but I had that little shield in between my paddles so it didn't matter 

Anyway it was still enjoyable, and I can see myself firing it up every once in a while for 5 or 10 minutes as it is now.

[Gamieon]

Thank you for your articulate feedback, and I think you hit the nail on the head as far as my main concern.

The two top requests were "more engaging enemies" and "more diverse level layouts." I was originally going for something along the lines of pinball meets Echoes/Geometry Wars where an open arena was the best fit...but there's something missing that could really make the game truly amazing.

I could just switch around the placements of the bumpers, but that's boring. I could solve both problems if I have the arena itself somehow engage the ball more and more...but I have no idea where to begin with that. Someone suggested having orbs that determine the ball color, and ultimately what enemies the ball could hit.



Also I forgot to include this emoticon in my prior posts.

[Pandara_RA!]

Played about 4 hours

Art/Visuals/music:
1. The menu and everything leading up to that is super cool =] the whole swooping in takes a bit longer than it should, forcing me to press the skip button, not really an issue, just something I noticed form seeing it often =P

2. The pinball is basically completely impossible to see. It's a white looking particle effect that I'm not sure if it's image is going under the other crazy effects or something but bright white on exploding bright white is too hard to follow.

3. The new shapes of enemies keep things interesting for me.

4. The ball guard laser thing is cool and different, keep it.

5. The spring loaded launcher should be rounded off at the top and made to look more smooth instead of block-y for consistency across the rest of the board.

Things thought of during Gameplay:
1. Switching through the bonus lights is a classic pinball mechanic that is fun, it's a shame that if you switch right before a ball is falling through it'll change letter but then not be triggered. I'm not sure if this is intentional (to prevent spamming) or a bug, either way there are better ways of fixing it that don't make me feel cheated.

2. The glowing electric rope between my bumpers is inconsistent. If you have both bumpers out your ball will pass through sometimes even though the barrier is still there, it makes me all sad.

3. My Score in game didn't draw me in like other pinball machines because I didn't have goals with it, many pinball machines have rewards as you hit scores, and making that information available to the player would be a good addition. If there are currently rewards for score I didn't notice when they happened.

4. Achievements are awesome and the "cheat" like section of unlocks is hands down the coolest or second coolest thing about the game next to boss mode, please expand on this 100x if possible please, it is what gave me DRIVE to play again, and I'm the kind of person who doesn't care at all for getting a high score, this made me go, oh I'm going to try to get more unlocks and replay! So if you expanded the unlock list my playtime with the game will directly increase and same with my enjoyment!

5. With enemies basically randomly floating around there is no reason to "aim" with the bumpers or tilt because you can't really aim for anything in the game, but rather just cross fingers. I urge you to keep the "combat" tables, but then also add in a few (3 or so) "Classic" pin ball boards and maybe even a few "bonus" tables to go in between the fighting and bosses. Heck you might even be able to make a few breakout tables given you already have a boss that is basically in the form of a breakout game. Anyways so in my head a normal game run will then look like

Classic (score objective) ---> battle ---> Battle ---> Classic (table objective to "release" the boss) ---> boss ---> Bonus table reward ---> repeat

this would keep the gameplay you have in place (because it's fun), but then give the other side of the coin saying this game table is empty! No reason to complain.

6. The barrier laser thing should activate instantly after you kill the boss because there are so many lights and effects its hard to see your ball and given there is no score to be gained it's just frustrating to beat a boss with 1 life left and then after finally beating a hard boss you drop the ball because the screen blinded you.

7. The bosses are awesome, I have a complaint against the Red Wurm boss though, there are times where I get so frustrated with it, at first encounter I instantly killed it with only 1 hit to the neck and was like "=| what" then I fought it again and it split into two and I was confused if hitting it in the face actually hurt it or not so from a design standpoint you may want to add a "dink!" reflective sound when it hits a part of it that doesn't hurt it, and a "ARRG!" aound when you hit a weak point, and you could then add that to all the bosses so there is no confusion! Next this red guy sometimes would spit the ball RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE of the two bumpers so I would just randomly lose lives based on where that little guy wanted to swim. =P

8. Boss mode:
1. After playing boss rush alpha about 3 times (and winning 3 times) I felt I had too many lives or something, 10 is a ton, and I much rather have a way of earning the lives during the boss mode than just being given a ton more than I need at the start.

9. Once my ball passed right through the middle of my paddle o.o

10. The boss that requires a power ups to pass through it to hurt it is too close to the bumpers, making it abnormally hard compared to the other bosses.

11. When charging the spring and releasing it if the ball doesn't leave the "spring launch ramp" you should be able to charge up a spring while it's going up in the chamber.

lol, it's hard to describe, but like right when you shoot a ball if the ball doesn't quite go into the board zone and is goign to fall back down on the spring from being undershot,  please let me charge my next spring shot while it's still in the chamber.

Overall: I don't know, I had a lot of fun with this and was kept coming back for the unlocks and achievements , but then when they ran out I felt without a purpose as if I finished the game in full =P. You got a really graphically polished game on your hands, and with a bit of touch up and expansion I could seeing this become a really good pinball experience good luck to you.

Send me your next version as well as all future versions, I'll play them out just as long. =] <3<3<3

[Udderdude]

I have to agree with Pandara_RA on the ball being basically invisible.

You may want to look at this arcade game, Gunbarich, for some inspiration.

[Gamieon]

This stuff is gold, and it explains why it only got 3 stars on Google Play. I entered all of it in my bug tracker. Here's what I'll do:

- I'm going to organize the feedback and make a thread for each one on ModDB (the officlal launch point) at: http://www.moddb.com/games/hyperspace-pinball/forum

- If you all want an install with real-time updates, click on the "Install Hyperspace Pinball" banner.


Also some thoughts of my own:

- I didn't plan on making drastic changes before the full release; but it would be an utter shame to not do many of these suggestions. I only get one shot at a first release, and the time spent fixing things could actually draw more chatter.

- I originally wanted this to be a pure shooter...and I can still do it in Endurance Mode. I should also have Endurance Mode gradually get more difficult.

- Udderdude: Love the video...I think block/terrain deformation is on the table. They keep it fresh while keeping the background intact.

- I've had suggestions to expand the playfield to be bigger, have the camera scroll with the ball, and have flippers in the middle. It would be a huge change, though.

- I'll have to mull over Pandara_RA!'s recommendations on level flow...The original release didn't have boss levels, and that's why I just "threw them there" in a mobile update. I backed myself into a corner, but I can change it.

[Gamieon]

I made a short video of some changes to level 1 to give it more of a "classic" feel.


Link:




After poking and proding since Friday, here's what I'm thinking:

- Groups of levels in this order: Classic, modern, modern, boss, bonus.

- A classic level will advance you by score and have no enemies. Layouts will vary.

- Four flippers are better than two.

- Bonus letters now give you less points, but also increase your global multiplier. It's especially harder to get to them now on classic mode. The multipler resets when you lose your ball.

- Classic and modern levels will have the "six sensors" at the top center. You get 50 points for hitting one, and when all six are unlocked, you get a special bonus. If you can do it more than once without losing your ball, you get an even more special bonus the next time. The hierarchy is:

1. Multiball
2. Jackpot
3. Mega Jackpot (2x)
4+. Double score


NOT SHOWN
---------
- The points remaining will be displayed at the center of the classic level. The portal will open when you get that many.

- Icons in the six sensor area showing you what specialties you got, and what is coming next.

[Gamieon]

I just put up a big update at

http://www.desura.com/games/hyperspace-pinball


Instead of every level being a different alien battle, now it's a flow of classic pinball, two alien battle levels, a boss and bonus level. There's also a cameo boss appearance if you loop enough times, and there are nine special power-ups you can get by knocking out six "hazard switches" at a time. Extra balls are awarded every 20,000 points.

I pulled the non-main-campaign game modes to keep things focused on the changes. It's rough around the edges, and I'd like to hear more ideas on how to improve the flow (and yes, that pesky physics bug with the ball falling through the flippers still happens). Introducing a breakout-type way to advance through levels is one option I haven't entirely ruled out. I also feel like things could be much more exciting...

[Gamieon]

After a long hiatus and a lot of work, I have yet another new update! Here are YouTube links to my developer-preview videos:

Game Play -


Endurance Mode -



And a link to the beta itself (free to download!)

http://www.desura.com/games/hyperspace-pinball


The hard part was balancing the requests for skill-shot-driven pinball with my desire to make it a wild flipper-mashing party. I didn't see how the two could co-exist until, thanks to the help of beta testers (largely from here), I decided the best compromise was to have both in the same playfield. In this version, you will get rewarded with skill shots hitting the "hazard switches," and looping the ball enough times will get you power-ups and major bonuses. Meanwhile, players who love explosions can ignore them and just focus on the aliens in the center (there is now 4 instead of 6 on average, so that requires more skill than before as well).

All that's left to add, pending new bug reports, is the Boss Run (basically a string of boss characters). Then after a little more testing, it should be good to go!

Finally, I'll leave you with my first beta screenshot!