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[Zorg]

I think the alternative control scheme is reasonable (less clicks), but i'd probably use the default scheme (1 click = 1 bullet). I would test it, because i don't think either control needs lots of optimization.

[crowbarska]

You could simply make two enemies out of these behaviours:
1) Flying by and off screen without any explosion.
2) Sit on the player's path and explode.

I love the game idea. It's ingenious.

Thanks! (by the way, your username is totally possible in the random name generator, and totally fitting for the game)

That is a possibility, but I'm not sure I want to make the enemies much easier. Maybe if there were 'swarm' type enemies...? Greater numbers but they don't hang around at the bottom.

I don't think this needs an alternative control scheme, because this is kinda an important point of the game ..   

Haha true, although it would still technically be using just one button!

I'm constantly looking at the top of the screen where the enemies spawn, and sometimes I lose track where the ship is horizontally. Some kind of subtle visual at the top of middle of the screen to aid where the ship is might be nice.

Forgot to mention, but I tried this out last night. I added a little marker at the top of the screen to show the ship's position and it turned out to be really distracting. I will continue to mull it over but at the moment I'm leaning towards a cleaner visual design.

[mtarini]

Oh boy it seems I just can't shut up about this game.
It happens, when someone has a great idea that you would have loved to have yourself :D :D

Feel totally free to just disregard, even silently, any of my suggestions; I would hate to be harassing you.
Ok, after that premise...

The new enemy ship behavior it is an interesting one, and it does have the positive points you mention
(even if i must say that the old vertical-column-of-fire particle system was very satisfactory to look at).

Still, here's an alternative, which has a similar effect and maybe "tells" a better story: what if the surviving alien go past and fire upward instead of stopping.

Depending on the type of returned fire, the effect can be similar, or identical, to what you have in the new system.
For example, if they fire a continuous laser for a short while, then the effect would be the same (the laser can have a small range, because it is only relevant that it passes the horizontal line where your ship is). But, I think you get an even more interesting gameplay effect if they fire a normal projectile upward, so you can hope to manouver past it (unlike the laser and the ship stopping on the line, where there's no way to go past it).

Regardless: this would be just as clear to the player, as you obviously want to avoid enemy fire, AND it would have the extra bonus that the aliens would actually be seen fighting back actively. Also, they would survive if you don't kill them, instead of ultimately dying anyway like they do now, and did before.

If you go this way, you get the following scenario: you are pursuing the aliens ships, attacking them from behind (the good strategy in any dog fight!); since they fire from the front (as common), they can target you only after you get past them. Just make the background star-field move downward faster than the aliens, to suggest that both you and them are moving upward (but, you, with a faster speed).

About the pac-man mechanism: i.e. disappearing from the left and reappearing on the right or viceversa. Here's yet another option I imagined:  what if doing so didn't kill you, even with the laser, but... if you go through, you lose the ability to fire, until you go back. This would be signaled by an arrow urging you to go back in the appropriate direction. So, passing the side of the screen becomes a temporary evasive maneuver, and, while the game is not punishing when you do, you still want to go back pretty soon.

(I have though of this when I was disappointed of dyeing for just "caressing" the border with the laser on, after that the rest of the game had taught me that this was safe to do so, even if I never really cross)

[crowbarska]

I released another build on Saturday, but I was suuuper busy and spent all of yesterday at EGX so I never got a chance to post about it.

What's new in 0.11.0:

• Aliens now pause when they get in line with your ship, then explode (they no longer pass off the bottom of the screen to explode). This is to make the penalty for missing them more clear and give a more tangible hazard to avoid.
• New strafing enemies appear in Sector 2, and faster strafing ones in Sector 3. This needs some tuning, but there they are!
• Aliens now animate.
• Aliens are slightly slower to descend.
• Added audiovisual feedback when you go up/down a powerup tier. A little plus or minus floats out of your ship, and a sound now plays when you miss a powerup.
• Your powerup tier only reduces by 1 when you miss a powerup (previously 2).
• Increased the score multiplier slightly.
• Added a 'helper' bar across the bottom of the screen. This is WIP and experimental, so let me know what you think! I personally find it very helpful on Android because it's much more clear when your input is being registered. By default, this helper bar is enabled on Android but disabled on Windows/Mac/Linux. You can toggle it by pressing and holding any button (or touch) on the title screen. I'll make this more user-friendly soon.
• Enemy spawn rate now jumps up a notch when you collect a powerup. It still increases after killing enemies, but the threshold has increased from 10 to 15 and it resets when you collect a powerup. It never decreases.
• Toned down screen shake a little on Hyperdrive (it tended to be so fast and drastic that it just looked like 3 ships all flashing on and off.

As always:
Download for free
Vote on Greenlight
Let me know what you think (here or here)

Oh boy it seems I just can't shut up about this game.
It happens, when someone has a great idea that you would have loved to have yourself :D :D

Feel totally free to just disregard, even silently, any of my suggestions; I would hate to be harassing you.
Ok, after that premise...

The new enemy ship behavior it is an interesting one, and it does have the positive points you mention
(even if i must say that the old vertical-column-of-fire particle system was very satisfactory to look at).

Still, here's an alternative, which has a similar effect and maybe "tells" a better story: what if the surviving alien go past and fire upward instead of stopping.

Depending on the type of returned fire, the effect can be similar, or identical, to what you have in the new system.
For example, if they fire a continuous laser for a short while, then the effect would be the same (the laser can have a small range, because it is only relevant that it passes the horizontal line where your ship is). But, I think you get an even more interesting gameplay effect if they fire a normal projectile upward, so you can hope to manouver past it (unlike the laser and the ship stopping on the line, where there's no way to go past it).

Regardless: this would be just as clear to the player, as you obviously want to avoid enemy fire, AND it would have the extra bonus that the aliens would actually be seen fighting back actively. Also, they would survive if you don't kill them, instead of ultimately dying anyway like they do now, and did before.

If you go this way, you get the following scenario: you are pursuing the aliens ships, attacking them from behind (the good strategy in any dog fight!); since they fire from the front (as common), they can target you only after you get past them. Just make the background star-field move downward faster than the aliens, to suggest that both you and them are moving upward (but, you, with a faster speed).

About the pac-man mechanism: i.e. disappearing from the left and reappearing on the right or viceversa. Here's yet another option I imagined:  what if doing so didn't kill you, even with the laser, but... if you go through, you lose the ability to fire, until you go back. This would be signaled by an arrow urging you to go back in the appropriate direction. So, passing the side of the screen becomes a temporary evasive maneuver, and, while the game is not punishing when you do, you still want to go back pretty soon.

(I have though of this when I was disappointed of dyeing for just "caressing" the border with the laser on, after that the rest of the game had taught me that this was safe to do so, even if I never really cross)

Again, thank you! I really appreciate the feedback. I have to make this brief as I'm pressed for time.

I like the idea of dogfighting but I do feel like at this point I've got the aesthetic quite close to where I want it and I'm reluctant to change it too much. I'm keen on the idea of a lone pilot ploughing into a gigantic fleet of kamikaze aliens, and I think the game would lose this feeling if it were more about attacking them from behind. It's a sound idea mechanically, but it's more an aesthetic choice I'd rather not change at this point.

Re: screen edges... I think I want to keep the screen wrapping because it allows for more variation in evasive manoeuvres and trick shots. I think if you went off the edge you basically only have 1 choice from there: come back. Screen wrapping lets you get out of danger but you have to weigh up the risk first.

I definitely want to improve the way lasers appear though. I'd like to give a little warning beforehand; perhaps when you reach the last powerup tier before the laser some effects will appear at the top of the screen to show that the edges are about to change...? Maybe some aliens peek their heads in and the lasers come from their butts? It's definitely too abrupt right now. I think adding warning visuals would help resolve the problem you have there.

[blekdar]

Got around to trying this out yesterday, then somehow spent way more time than I was expecting to.

I agree the lasers on the side need a bit more of a warning before they can kill you, it took me a bit to figure out that the edges were only deadly after I got a few power ups.

Also hey, how has testing for mobile going? If you need any help give me a shout, I have an iPad + a oneplus one (android) if you need help.

[crowbarska]

Haha, that seems to be quite a common thing (playing longer than you intended). I even find myself doing it, which I take as a really good sign!

About the lasers: did you assume the edges were always deadly to begin with?

Android testing would be super useful! Thank you! I have an Xperia Z3+, Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 that I can test on myself, but the more devices the better. In particular, I'd like to know what performance and response time is like, and how the game looks at different resolutions. My Nexus 7 is not 9:16 aspect ratio so there are white borders.

As for iOS... I don't own a Mac and only have an old iPad 1 to test on if I did. I can't afford to buy new hardware anytime soon (turns out moving house is really expensive), so iOS is on hold for the time being. If the game sells well I will put that money straight back into more game development, in which case iOS will be the first thing to tackle.

[mtarini]

Last update (0.11.0) is great! this game keeps improving!

After a... hem, little bit of playtesting, I have to report that the strategy of bouncing-back-and-forth-between-the-top-two-shoot-types dominates too much again, score-wise. This must be because the later stages now present the additional difficulty of strafing enemies, plus the penalty for missing a power-up was diminished (which it is better, but also makes the strategy easier).

This, the problem. As for the possible solutions... one could be just re-tuning, like: increasing the score multiplier (e.g. to +0.2 per level, which would also look simpler**), and/or tuning down the starting difficulty of each level (in terms of enemy spawn rate), so that you want to go to the next level to reset it.

** by the way, it's probably more familiar for most non-math people to see the score multiplier expressed as a percantage: "+25%" instead of the current "x1.25".

In alternative, maybe, you could add a new mechanism to increase more the difficulties as time passes in a level, like this: what if enemy ships started firing back at you (downward) after a while. That would be a big incentive for player to go on the next level to get rid of that.

Their shots could be very rare at first, and they would only start shooting after a while, so that, if one collects all the power-ups in a row, he don't even see that; but, if you stay on lvl 1 too long, you start getting shot at, and increasingly more so the more you stay. Later levels could, very gradually, make shots appear a bit earlier.

Also, it would be interesting if maybe enemy shots were stopped by your bullet (the two cancel each other), but not by the laser (which just gets past), so at the same time you solve the laser problem: no more need to treat the laser differently, with side boundaries or what not.


As always, do what you want of these pieces of advice, no pressure naturally!

[and]

Your game has made me invent new swearwords.

Also, I love the music.

[crowbarska]

Last update (0.11.0) is great! this game keeps improving!

After a... hem, little bit of playtesting, I have to report that the strategy of bouncing-back-and-forth-between-the-top-two-shoot-types dominates too much again, score-wise. This must be because the later stages now present the additional difficulty of strafing enemies, plus the penalty for missing a power-up was diminished (which it is better, but also makes the strategy easier).

This, the problem. As for the possible solutions... one could be just re-tuning, like: increasing the score multiplier (e.g. to +0.2 per level, which would also look simpler**), and/or tuning down the starting difficulty of each level (in terms of enemy spawn rate), so that you want to go to the next level to reset it.

** by the way, it's probably more familiar for most non-math people to see the score multiplier expressed as a percantage: "+25%" instead of the current "x1.25".

In alternative, maybe, you could add a new mechanism to increase more the difficulties as time passes in a level, like this: what if enemy ships started firing back at you (downward) after a while. That would be a big incentive for player to go on the next level to get rid of that.

Their shots could be very rare at first, and they would only start shooting after a while, so that, if one collects all the power-ups in a row, he don't even see that; but, if you stay on lvl 1 too long, you start getting shot at, and increasingly more so the more you stay. Later levels could, very gradually, make shots appear a bit earlier.

Also, it would be interesting if maybe enemy shots were stopped by your bullet (the two cancel each other), but not by the laser (which just gets past), so at the same time you solve the laser problem: no more need to treat the laser differently, with side boundaries or what not.


As always, do what you want of these pieces of advice, no pressure naturally!

Hmmm, you're right that it's still a dominant strategy. I do still have the old system in place whereby killing # enemies increases the spawn rate. I wonder if this value needs to be lower.

I had this idea: the red walls that appear when you get the laser could stay there even if you drop back down a tier. Over time (or possibly each time you get a powerup?) they could move closer to the middle of the screen, giving you less and less space to work with. What do you think?

I agree about the way the multiplier is presented. I'll fix that somewhere down the line!

Your game has made me invent new swearwords.

Also, I love the music.

Haha! Just doing my job.

I can't take credit for the music; it's by MoppySound, whose work is all on the Unity Asset Store (there's a free pack and also a larger paid one. I currently just use the free pack but I'm thinking of buying the bigger one and adding some more tracks from it).


In other news: been quite busy this week, and the new version has some big-ish features so I'm not releasing it just yet. I've added a rare shield powerup which works quite nicely but needs tuning. I'm also working on a load of front end stuff, adding an options menu which requires a whole bunch of under-the-hood work before it can be made usable.

However, I have a week off work starting Tuesday. I plan to hit this hard and hopefully get to Alpha (feature complete) by the end of it. There's a fair amount left to do but I think it's possible!

[crowbarska]

Hey pals! New build is up!

I've got a week off work so I'm spending a lot more time working on Switch 'N' Shoot at the moment. My goal is to hit Alpha (feature complete) before I go back to work on Tuesday, but dog duties and a fondness for sleep are making that a little tricky.

What's new in 0.12.0:

• POWER SHIELDS are now a thing that exists in this game. Every now and then (from Sector 2 onwards) you may spot a little blue alien going across the top of the screen. Kill it and it drops a shield powerup. Catch that and you will have a shield that takes a hit for you.
• Menu buttons and full front end are now implemented. Press once to change to the next option, or press & hold to confirm your selection. Most of the art is still placeholder and it's lacking audio at the moment.
• I added a change to discourage the optimal strategy or skirting around the high-tier weapons. Now, the laser walls don't disappear until you hit Hyperdrive. They also get narrower each time you acquire the laser, making it harder to survive. I'm not sure I like this yet, so let me know what you think.

ALSO!!! Two (2!!) new videos up on YouTube:

• 
  
  
• 
  
  (featuring our dog Luca)

Obligatory gif (obligifatory?) of ploughing through those nasties with a POWER SHIELD.

[mtarini]

I really really like how this is going.

I find the newest version (0.12.0) to be really enjoyable.

For example, once I managed to escape a level after the red barriers closed in a few times and it was really fun+exciting!

Minor: I think maybe the enemy span rate acceleration needs be tuned down a little.
That's because, in general, the game is not forgiving enough with the error of missing a power-up or two. Currently the enemy ships start pouring down really densely so soon, that the challenge to recover a bad situation becomes nearly impossible unless very early in a level (and that challenge is a fun part of the game, so it is a pity). I'm referring to the situation when your movement is impaired by a surviving enemy ships.

And consider that I probably am a very good player by now.

As for the shield: I liked that variation a lot. I got only it a few times so far (I think 5-6) so I'm not sure I got how it works exactly. I would have hoped that the shield starts dissolving after the first impact, but is only lost after a little while has passed since that 1st impact (i.e.: the shield started blinking after impact, but is still on while it is blinking, and blinking time is not reduced by further impacts).  I'm not sure that the way it's currently working. If it was, as I hoped, then it would be a legitimate tactic to go head-on against a group of stationing enemies, no matter their number, as long as the action is quick; instead, I think I got killed every time I've tried that.

The small cosmetic additions are super nice.
The one-key menu is an interesting style exercise. Well done!

Mini cosmetic suggestion: did you consider, instead of differentiating levels by changing the color of the background (or in addition to that), to change the shade of the aliens (all hot colors, e.g. oranges to yellows)? I say that because, every time I start a new game, the pure black bg of level 1 always strikes me as looking much better (more contrast, I guess). It would be even better to also change the shape of the alien, making a two-frame animation for each level. Incidentally, either way (color and/or shape) would also make them look like "different sub-races", providing a convincing "explanation" of why they behave differently (strafe).

[Xonatron]

I like this a lot. Basing my comments on YouTube gameplay, the enemy death is quite satisfying. It is something that matters so much to a shmup.

[monsterfinger]

I like the idea of it changing direction after each shot, very cool and i can imagine it being a great little rage game.

[crowbarska]

New build is up on itch.io!

Well I failed to hit my goal of Alpha (feature complete) during my week off, but our dog has been thoroughly entertained and I did manage to complete Klonoa: Door to Phantomile so there is that.

The game is shaping up really well with some amazing new border illustration by Paul Duffield (read more about that here). The changes left to do are mostly Front End stuff (menus, unlockables, etc.) so I’m happy with the way it’s going.

What’s new in 0.13.0:

• Added awesome illustration! Take a look at the screenshot below to see what I mean This will scale to fit your screen’s aspect ratio (although it’s locked to 1080p on PC at the moment). If you’re on mobile it will fade away if you hold your device in portrait mode (see it in action).
• Added a boss :O Needs a lot of tuning and it’s using 100% placeholder art and sounds, but it works and it will probably annihilate you.
• Added proper buttons for Retry/Quit on game over.
• The laser walls are a little clearer now; they flash for a second or so before they actually become deadly, so you’ve got a little bit of a warning.
• The background colour now changes in a random order instead of cycling through a pre-set list.
• Removed strafing enemies (I decided they made the difficulty curve too erratic).
• Bug fix: Shield Droppers are now culled when they go off-screen (if you don’t manage to hit them).

So the game now looks like this if you run in full-screen, or landscape on mobile...

[Lots of good points]

All noted, and thank you! Sorry this is brief but I've had an exhausting few days. I will respond to this soon. Also, I am trying to focus on just getting functionality in this week, and going to spend a lot more time tuning and balancing once that's done. At that point all of this will become my top priority. Thank you for the continued feedback, it's really helpful!

I like this a lot. Basing my comments on YouTube gameplay, the enemy death is quite satisfying. It is something that matters so much to a shmup.

Haha thank you. Yeah I still find it satisfying myself and I've seen it thousands of times by this point. It is really important, you're right!

I like the idea of it changing direction after each shot, very cool and i can imagine it being a great little rage game.

Thanks!!

[lobstersteve]

Holy shit, that's the coolest promotional pic i've seen in a while  
Your game is coming along really well, all the small additions have done it good (The screenshake amount seems to be about just right, i think the particles have also become prettier?). UI is well done also (i liked the idea of holding a button to quit to the menu, still making the game playable with only one button overall ).
I actually didn't mind that an enemy exploded when it went under the screen in earlier builds, because you had to keep an eye on it and had to be more aware of the situation, but i guess it works both ways...
But the whole concept is still really good, because you keep improving every time you play and i played it for quite a while now. I guess that stuff is important for a highscore - hunting game
Voted for it on greenlight..

[monsterfinger]

Omg i love Klonoa a serious blast from the past.

[mtarini]

Wowowowowow!!!
Great improvements!
Found the boss! But didn't beat it. It looks like a nice concept.
Edit: beaten it now, 682 pts!

The interface keeps improving. It looks great, but, in the initial screen, where it says PRESS (>), it really looks like it wants you to press the key ">" (after all, there is such a key).

Also, did you consider to use, instead PRESS vs PRESS & HOLD, the shorter:
TAP vs HOLD (e.g. TAP TO RETRY / HOLD TO QUIT). Hmm.

The fullscreen backdrop looks just **great**.
Edit: also, playing fullscreen is super! You are really going for a nice "arcade machine" effect.
Nice touch, that it doesn't vibrate with the camera effects.
I guess that you are aware that the background of the screen is visible on the sides, and that on the bottom a strange gray bar is visible, blinking as you press the key. At least here, on my 1920x1080.

Meanwhile, I think I understood what was going on with the shield for me.
What got me confused is that the shield starts dissolving when it collides with an enemy, even your ship itself didn't.
Right? So I think what happens in my games is: the shield starts dissolving without me even noticing, because I think I maneuvered safe, and then, when I rely on it, boom. The net effect is that the shield doesn't sum up to much protection at all.
But maybe it's fine.

(Does it, at least, destroy anything that it touches? I don't think it does that either).


Finally, I'll say it again, not because I mean to insist, but in case I was misunderstood the first time:
I suspect that
79 +25% sector bonus
would read better than the current
79 + sector bonus x1.25
  

[TheWing]

Finally, I'll say it again, not because I mean to insist, but in case I was misunderstood the first time:
I suspect that
79 +25% sector bonus
would read better than the current
79 + sector bonus x1.25

I wouldn't say so.. to my mind, the x1.25 makes more sense, being a score multiplier.. and calculating percents is somewhat slower, since when calculating them you end up with 79*1.25, which is already visible in the other way. But, I guess this just proves it's a matter of personal preference :D

[crowbarska]

Minor: I think maybe the enemy span rate acceleration needs be tuned down a little.
That's because, in general, the game is not forgiving enough with the error of missing a power-up or two. Currently the enemy ships start pouring down really densely so soon, that the challenge to recover a bad situation becomes nearly impossible unless very early in a level (and that challenge is a fun part of the game, so it is a pity). I'm referring to the situation when your movement is impaired by a surviving enemy ships.

I think I agree here. Particularly when you reach Sector 5 and onwards, it just gets crazy hard from the get-go and is almost impossible.

As for the shield: I liked that variation a lot. I got only it a few times so far (I think 5-6) so I'm not sure I got how it works exactly. I would have hoped that the shield starts dissolving after the first impact, but is only lost after a little while has passed since that 1st impact (i.e.: the shield started blinking after impact, but is still on while it is blinking, and blinking time is not reduced by further impacts).  I'm not sure that the way it's currently working. If it was, as I hoped, then it would be a legitimate tactic to go head-on against a group of stationing enemies, no matter their number, as long as the action is quick; instead, I think I got killed every time I've tried that.

Meanwhile, I think I understood what was going on with the shield for me.
What got me confused is that the shield starts dissolving when it collides with an enemy, even your ship itself didn't.
Right? So I think what happens in my games is: the shield starts dissolving without me even noticing, because I think I maneuvered safe, and then, when I rely on it, boom. The net effect is that the shield doesn't sum up to much protection at all.
But maybe it's fine.

(Does it, at least, destroy anything that it touches? I don't think it does that either).

Here's how the shield works. As soon as it touches a hazard it 'takes a hit' and begins flashing. While it's flashing it's still active, but it's now counting down to expiry. It lasts maybe a couple of seconds (I forget off the top of my head) but it's a fixed duration. Once it expires, you will take damage again as normal. While the shield is active or flashing it will kill anything it touches.

The shield's collision is larger than your own, so yeah you're right that it will be taking hits more easily than you would be yourself. That's not really something I took into consideration, to be honest. The reason I made it larger was so you could easily kill enemies with it.

What do you think? Reduce it to the player's ship collision for shield bashing? I do want to add some audio and visual feedback to make the shield collisions more obvious.

Mini cosmetic suggestion: did you consider, instead of differentiating levels by changing the color of the background (or in addition to that), to change the shade of the aliens (all hot colors, e.g. oranges to yellows)? I say that because, every time I start a new game, the pure black bg of level 1 always strikes me as looking much better (more contrast, I guess). It would be even better to also change the shape of the alien, making a two-frame animation for each level. Incidentally, either way (color and/or shape) would also make them look like "different sub-races", providing a convincing "explanation" of why they behave differently (strafe).

The strafing enemies are actually removed again now, haha. I found they made the difficulty curve too erratic. Cutting my losses and moving on!

The background colours probably need a bit of work. I chucked in a quick algorithm to increment the colour value without much care for aesthetic quality. I would like to have a nice gradient really so maybe when I do that I'll revise the values for higher contrast.

Changing the enemy sprites would be a bit of a faff which I'd rather avoid at this stage. Bit lazy of me, but I want to get this feature complete ASAP for reasons I'll go into soon. :D

Holy shit, that's the coolest promotional pic i've seen in a while 
Your game is coming along really well, all the small additions have done it good (The screenshake amount seems to be about just right, i think the particles have also become prettier?). UI is well done also (i liked the idea of holding a button to quit to the menu, still making the game playable with only one button overall ).
I actually didn't mind that an enemy exploded when it went under the screen in earlier builds, because you had to keep an eye on it and had to be more aware of the situation, but i guess it works both ways...
But the whole concept is still really good, because you keep improving every time you play and i played it for quite a while now. I guess that stuff is important for a highscore - hunting game
Voted for it on greenlight..

Thanks, man! I may have done some little tweaks to the particles, not sure when you last played it.

I think the enemies disappearing off the bottom provided a challenge in the way you mention, but really I think that in a game like this everything needs to be presented as clearly as possible. I can still keep it just as hard, but in a way that doesn't necessarily require players to exercise memory skills as well as reflex ones.

Thanks for the vote.

Omg i love Klonoa a serious blast from the past.

It's so good! I played the demo like 100 times back in the day, finally picked it up for £2 on PSN. Really nice vibe and way more challenging than I was expecting.

Wowowowowow!!!
Great improvements!
Found the boss! But didn't beat it. It looks like a nice concept.
Edit: beaten it now, 682 pts!

Woah, nice! I'm not updating the high scores right now because the game keeps changing so much, but we'll do a final roundup before release and I'll put your score into the game.

The interface keeps improving. It looks great, but, in the initial screen, where it says PRESS (>), it really looks like it wants you to press the key ">" (after all, there is such a key).

That's placeholder art. It's going to be an arrow graphic. I'm thinking of reworking the whole Front End a bit anyway so it's more obvious how it works. My friend struggled to get it on mobile because touching buttons is so instinctive.

Also, did you consider to use, instead PRESS vs PRESS & HOLD, the shorter:
TAP vs HOLD (e.g. TAP TO RETRY / HOLD TO QUIT). Hmm.

I'll try it out! That's much more concise.

The fullscreen backdrop looks just **great**.
Edit: also, playing fullscreen is super! You are really going for a nice "arcade machine" effect.
Nice touch, that it doesn't vibrate with the camera effects.
I guess that you are aware that the background of the screen is visible on the sides, and that on the bottom a strange gray bar is visible, blinking as you press the key. At least here, on my 1920x1080.

Glad you like it! Paul is a really talented artist. :D The visible background was intentional (a perk of faking arcade cabinet art vs actually having an arcade cabinet). So the flashes and colour changes spill out into your peripheral vision and make it feel 'bigger'.

The grey bar is probably the Helper (you can disable it in the Options menu). It's designed for touch controls for more haptic feedback. Not sure why it's appearing on PC... I'll investigate that.

Finally, I'll say it again, not because I mean to insist, but in case I was misunderstood the first time:
I suspect that
79 +25% sector bonus
would read better than the current
79 + sector bonus x1.25

I wouldn't say so.. to my mind, the x1.25 makes more sense, being a score multiplier.. and calculating percents is somewhat slower, since when calculating them you end up with 79*1.25, which is already visible in the other way. But, I guess this just proves it's a matter of personal preference :D

Naw I understood the first time. I wonder if the problem comes from it usually being a number under x2. It's easy to understand x2, x3, x4, etc. but as soon as it's x1.5 or whatever it's a little more... mathematical (?) and therefore possibly unappealing to laypeople.

I'd like to switch it over to a percentage addition. I've got it on my roadmap but it's quite low down at the moment.

[mtarini]

It's going to be an arrow graphic.

Naturally, keep in mind that there's a [right-arrow] key too, so make sure to phrase it in a way that prevents any misunderstanding.

I'm thinking of reworking the whole Front End a bit anyway so it's more obvious how it works. My friend struggled to get it on mobile because touching buttons is so instinctive.

Oh but you made such a great Front End!
I found it incredible that your interface is so usable and clear, using a single key! Quite an achievement.
On PC, it is really surprisingly smooth; but I understand [the problem your friend encountered] (edit). I guess the solution is to make them look less like buttons.
I hope the concept of the PC versions stays the same.


It just occurred to me something that is probably obvious: that a (Non-networked) multiplayer version of this game (split or shared screen, collaborative or competitive) would actually be possible EVEN on a mobile, for two (or even three) players, thanks to how extremely succinct the controls are (just tap on your side of the screen)! On a PC, you can easily have as many people playing as you can fit around a keyboard!



@TheWing: I totally agree with you: I too find the multiplier more logical! I just meant that the casual player will probably consider the % notation more natural... for the same reasons why, in a supermarket, goods are advertised as having a "20% discount" (not a "0.8 price multiplier").