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[SplinterOfChaos]

If I had to describe my game, I'd say, the title reminds you of Geometry Wars. Well, it's very similar to Geometry Wars in the sense that one of the words in the name in the same. However, Geometry Wars features a lot of geometric graphics, and Orbital Wars has a lot of orbital physics.

obligatory LINK TO THE GAME!!!


obligatory PICTURE OF THE GAME!!!



Reading the readme is preferred.

This is version 1.0 of the game. My theory is that 1.5 would be 1.0 improved with significant improvements--which I hope you guys will help with suggesting. 2.0 would be 1.5 plus added features.

I do plan on making a 2.0, and maybe a 3.0, but at least 2.5. Unfortunately, school is starting up again, and I won't have as much time to work, but I really want some good feedback to get me excited about making the game bigger and better. It's my very first game (graphical or non) and I plan to be working on it a while.

I also included the source code so you can see how I did things (not that it's a paragon on programming), and also you can give feedback on that aspect if you feel.

I'm really excited about sharing this, so please enjoy.

EDIT
I've compiled this feedback file. You can refer to it when giving suggestions, and make sure you're not beating a dead horse by checking here first. The first sentence is the suggestion, the second my response, if any. I will keep this updated.

feedback.txt

Slowly increment difficulty.
Orbital (the white stuff), then bullet (the green), then stopper (the grey).

Start slower.

Use different formats for compression and music.

Notify player where enemy is spawning.

Make bullets more controlable: friction when hits wall?

Include zlib1.dll.

Add gloss. Ambiguous, a little?

Add HUD. Maybe. I like the display as it is.

Make art better. Maybe.

Fullscreen. More possible, but I'd need widescreen and normal ratio support to be able to play on my own computer.

Cooler splash screen.

Keep "press r to retry" on the screen. This goes along with why I don't want an HUD. I like things cimematic. I don't want anything to interupt the general watching of explosions, and keeping text on the screen would I think.

Spawn enemy THEN make it deadly. Probably a good idea, but right now the game is entirely event-based. Wait until I develope a time-based system for events.

[Farbs]

The good:
* I like the general concept.
* At times I felt like I was in control of the game. Guiding the hapless spheres into each other is quite fun.
* With some gameplay variation added this could easily have more longevity.

The bad:
* At times I felt like I had no control of the game. Specifically, it seemed that often I'd get into an inescapable situation well before I could realistically be expected to detect it. More specifically, the green balls are too fast. They might be okay if they lost some or all of their momentum on bouncing, but at the moment they just get faster and faster.

The ugly:
* Waiting 45 seconds for the privelidge to download. Megaupload is teh suck.
* 14mb is way too big a download for this game. Did you really need a 13.9mb wav file?
* Distributing as a rar is generally a bad idea, since many people don't have a suitable extractor installed. At worst use zip, at best make an installer.
* zlib1.dll not found. I had to go hunting for one of these to play the game.

[jeb]

Comments that will be ignored are:

• "The green things (bullets) move too fast." They move how I feel they should. Try controlling them better. Keep them in tighter orbit.

The bad:
* At times I felt like I had no control of the game. Specifically, it seemed that often I'd get into an inescapable situation well before I could realistically be expected to detect it. More specifically, the green balls are too fast. They might be okay if they lost some or all of their momentum on bouncing, but at the moment they just get faster and faster.

 :D

Actually, I think you (SplinterOfChaos) should reconsider your stance. If you had to write that in your post, it means other people have commented on it, and then the first response you get is that the green bullets move too fast. Using the argument, "you're not good enough", wont work in the long run if you want people to actually enjoy your game.

[deadeye]

Okay, right off the bat:

Error: This application has failed to start because zlib1.dll was not found.

So, I can't even play it.  Regardless, I already have some criticism. 

Compress your music, or go with a different format.  13MB for a one-minute-long song is rather ridiculous, especially when it consists mainly of blippy, chippy, midi sounding stuff anyway.

And if you really want people to play your game you might do them the courtesy of putting the controls in the readme, especially since you make such a big deal about reading the readme.

As far as your post, you seem a little defensive about the control of the game, even before anyone has even had a chance to play it.  That sends a little red flag up for me that says you're not going to be taking criticism too well.  Saying stuff like "I don't want to hear any complaints about the player speed, etc." is no way to get honest feedback from players.  You might have no problem controlling your own game, but if you want others to play it, you need to listen to them and take what they say seriously.


Edit:

Okay, I downloaded zlib1.dll and gave the game a shot.  Here's the good news:

The enemy movement feels natural.  You got the orbiting physics down pretty well.  And now for the bad:

It's really hard.  Yes, enemy stuff moves too fast.  Try ramping up the speed as the game progresses rather than having everything go full-bore from the beginning.  Perhaps you could set up the game in stages or waves with a definite goal.  Kill x number of enemies, survive x amount of time, get x number of points, etc.  Hey, you could even mix it up each stage.  That way the player actually feels like they're accomplishing something, or honing their skills rather than getting bludgeoned to death repeatedly.

Setting up stages or waves also gives you the opportunity to introduce new enemy types as the game progresses.  Also, some sort of warning indicator (however brief) of where an enemy is going to spawn might be a good idea.  Something like particles sucking together to form the enemy would do nicely, and would fit in with the theme of the game as well.

Might I also recommend having helpful items for the player.  Perhaps some shields, or a repulsor, or whatever could occasionally pop up to help the player.  Again, something to mix up the gameplay a little and keep the player's interest.

Overall, I had more fun watching the screen after I died than I did playing the game.  I hope that doesn't sound too harsh.  You have a good idea, it just needs to be tweaked a little, and fleshed out.  Right now it's more of a prototype than a game.  There's a game there waiting to come out of it, though.  Just keep at it.

[SplinterOfChaos]

Thanks for all the feedback. I honestly didn't expect it this early in the morning.

I'm glad there were no in-game errors. It sounded like the game went smoothly and it was enjoyable.

I also like watching it more than playing it. In fact, originally, stoppers would not move in the opposite direction as they're hit, but it was so fun to watch, I thought I'd add some difficulty for the spectical.

Telling people I didn't want to hear about the bullets being fast was really just me trying to encourage people to practice and try to work at it. If people who are supposed to test the game won't, I guess I can't expect most to. No one ever told me they had troubles, 'cause no one else has really played this, I just remembered having to learn how to control them before I didn't see chaos anymore.

The reason I wanted people to read the readme actually became moot because the forums being down gave me time for finishing touches. I didn't used to have a button for normal mode, or a message telling you how to get back.

"Waiting 45 seconds for the privelidge to download. Megaupload is teh suck."
I actually tried mytempdir.com several times before settling on megaupload. It just kept not working. Any BETTER suggestions? In fact, I never expect one to complain if they don't have some idea of how I could do better.

Also, the suggestion on the song worries me. I can make the song an MP3, but it wouldn't be that much smaller, and the sound quality would plumit because SDL (my API) doesn't seem to like MP3s as much. I've heard oog is a popular format for games, but I don't know how to do this.

Well, I'm off to do what I know how to and pretend no one said anything about those other things.

Just so I don't need to upload another copy of the game yet, you can get zlib1.dll here: http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?zlib1.
Put this right in the file with the exe.

EDIT:
No one has noted whether they had a problem with the stoppers (the big grey things). My friend just tested and he couldn't figure how to destroy them, but he was more doing technical testing. I'm curious if I can assume people are intuitive enough to find how to destroy stoppers.

[Farbs]

Any BETTER suggestions? In fact, I never expect one to complain if they don't have some idea of how I could do better.

That's advice, not feedback. 
Seriously though, why not register www.splinterofchaos.com and buy some cheap hosting? It's not that difficult or expensive, and then you can use [email protected] as your email address.

[deadeye]

"Waiting 45 seconds for the privelidge to download. Megaupload is teh suck."
I actually tried mytempdir.com several times before settling on megaupload. It just kept not working. Any BETTER suggestions?

If you're looking for free hosting, http://www.mediafire.com/ is the best I've found.

EDIT:
No one has noted whether they had a problem with the stoppers (the big grey things). My friend just tested and he couldn't figure how to destroy them, but he was more doing technical testing. I'm curious if I can assume people are intuitive enough to find how to destroy stoppers.

No, I didn't know they could be destroyed.

[SplinterOfChaos]

Any BETTER suggestions? In fact, I never expect one to complain if they don't have some idea of how I could do better.

That's advice, not feedback. 
Seriously though, why not register www.splinterofchaos.com and buy some cheap hosting? It's not that difficult or expensive, and then you can use [email protected] as your email address.

I have absolutely ZERO funds. Even if they only charge five bucks a month, I'd need to be sure that much would be donated a month, which would require a fan base, which would require a steady stream of games for them to play and want to support. Cheap just doesn't cut it.

The site looks cool. I'll upload the next version there. Until then: making improvements. Going to do research on how other games that use SDL do music cheaper.

[Farbs]

Have you seen this? It's not identical, but the concepts are similar. Might be worth a go for research purposes.

[SplinterOfChaos]

I actually don't see much similarity AT ALL. They both have physics engines, but mine is orbital physics, and that's gravitational physics.

You might say they both (will) have puzzle elements (if I ever get that far), but even then, different style entirely.

UPDATE:
I had addressed most of the comments before going to bed the day I started this thread, but the music format thing is being a real pain in the ass. The only problem right now is that when exiting, Windows pops out an error message. Funny enough, according to the testing I've done, the error occurs AFTER the program's aborted.

If keeping the music file small is a big priority, I'll delay posting the next version for feedback (I really want to know if you like my solutions!), but if it's not worth the three days (thus far) that I've worked on it, I'll go back to .wav and collect some feedback.

[Farbs]

I actually don't see much similarity AT ALL. They both have physics engines, but mine is orbital physics, and that's gravitational physics.

Wrong link. My bad. Try this one.

[Pacian]

I like the idea behind this, but I don't have time to try it right now...

Re. Music format: I make .ogg files using audacity, although you may need to download a .dll or something first, I'm not sure. (Google will know.)

Re. file hosting: While not as good as your own domain, Will Host for Food and Googlepages (which looks at first glance like a geocities knock off, but also allows you to host files) are at least better than MegaUpload.

[SplinterOfChaos]

Thanks. I actually did find an ogg converter and it was supremely easy to use, and it even turned out that the errors that popped up could have been solved just by re-compiling the whole project.

And I'd be using one of those upload sites right now except that whenever you add a new feature, you add ten bugs, or in my case ten-thousand. But when I finally get that taken care of, I'll have frame-independent movement which means I can run the game at 120 frames per second and only 30 when there's a lot of action on screen without affecting that action!

But thanks for the feedback, I hope you do have time to play the game at some point, but maybe the newer version when I get it done.

[Guert]

Hello there!

I gave the prorotype a spin. I liked it, very interesting concept. As menitonned earlier, I'd give a bit more control to the player. I'd also try to find a few more goals to the game just to raise it's replayability.

I can't say much about it because alot of good comments have already covered the subject. The game is simple and easy to learn as well as being challenging. I'd simply add more depth to it.

Good job and keep it up!

[SplinterOfChaos]

Well, I've go a Googlepage, but haven't  really done much with it. I think I'll put the source code there if I can get it to do the syntax highlighting.

The new version of the game is here:


The most noticeable changes (I'm hoping) is that it starts off easier, enemies flash before killing you, and the game runs much, much faster. In fact, before, it ran at 60 fps, but I took off the limiter and it may now run as fast as 1000 fps. The average fps on my computer turned out to be very close to that.

Also:
Making a game has been the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm thinking future versions will contain spontaneous cheap deaths and random freezes in revenge of the people who demanded the game not suck as much as it did when I started. I hate you all.

Thank you.

EDIT:
Since Windows only updates the screen at 60 fps, as I just found out, it was a little inaccurate for me to say the game should run smoother now. But the screen flickers, it'll be more predictable where you are.

[deadeye]

Ah, much improvement.  I actually feel like I can control the enemy circles now, rather than just dodging willy-nilly to save my hide.  It's still challenging, but not ass-raping.

Couple things, though... yeah, it does seem to flicker a bit.  Also for some reason the music won't play for me.  Good job on getting the file size down, though

[SplinterOfChaos]

I'm not sure why the music wouldn't play, but it may because ogg.dll is not in your system32 folder. Try going here and seeing if putting that file in the folder makes the music play.

As for the flickering, I was told that was probably not my fault, but it seems to happen only when an enemy is spawned (for me, at least) as well as towards the beginning. So, as long as that sounds right to you, I might just need to write more efficient spawning code.

But it sounds like the core of the game is good and I can worry more about making more features than fixing existing ones. Gives me one big fucking sigh of relief.