Making a Video Game...
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- lodef0
I really like where its going, its a very strong concept. I made progress, upgraded my gun, populated some planets and some dragon boss thing appeared. I would suggest offering more variety of possibilities right from the start. Is it actually possible to make the planets look like that graphic ^ ? Because that would be cool. I just wish you could advance faster. Also I wish the planet progress was saved between games, right now its just the guns and extra stuff but you have to start over with the planets.
- mantrakid0
@lodef, yeah that's the new graphics in the latest version: http://www.3030.ca/Sprout_069
The planet progress is actually misleading.. i want people to 'feel' like it's a high score game right off the bat.. like ... not that they can complete it, but its more like a game of tetris - just get in the zone for a bit and kill some dudes (new / more variety of enemies coming in the next version). The whole 'get all planets' thing will become apparent only once players actually get the map and see that there is, in fact, a finite world to play in.
Also, though upgrades are purchased 'between' games, I have started to put some bonuses in the game that will help like 'find-able' bases, and there will be some sort of treasure 'chest' with larger quantities of coins scattered throughout the playfield.
Basically i want it to be like a game of Donkey Kong or Tetris, where you play until you die, but the goal is to see how far you can get before you actually die. Progress will be ranked at the end. The whole 'keep your coins' and 'upgrade your shit' is sort of meant to be a bonus for those people who actually get into it and continue playing the game in multiple sessions.
thanks for playing it man, your input shaped the recent changes. :)
- nice! glad my input is of use. I will try these new things out. its fun.lodef
- mantrakid0
Fuck.
- mantrakid0
(DEV MODE) CHEATS: If you guys want to continue exploring, there are some keys that will help. #1-9 on the main keyboard (while on the title screen) will give you money / bases / upgrades without having to earn them first. numberpad #1-9 should take them away if you want to go back to a challenge. Give yourself some cash with the 1 key on the title screen then buy the map (compass) upgrade to get a better picture of whats going on in the 'galaxy' floating in..
While playing, you can add bases with SHIFT+2. Change guns with numberpad 0,1,2,3,4. Refill your health with H, refill your fuel with J.
See if you can get to the first boss.. Props if you can do it without using these cheats.. It's very possible & just takes an understanding of the mechanics and noticing the visual clues that are being presented as you carry on.
- cruddlebub0
i like it. its a bit puzzling at first but that makes it interesting. its hard when you have 6 UFO's shooting at you...
- coldarchon0
my figure landed on a planet and did not stop humping it, get a delay for gravity or something ..
- hmmm, like was he just glitching up and down or was he actually crouching / animation changing...?mantrakid
- Poochie0
Looks great and works well. I don't think it needs more instructions. I think discovering how to play it on your own is part of the fun.
Only thing I'd add is a mute button. Music is cool, but user should have control over it.
- u are my target market haha. :) you are like me. I agree about the mute button - its coming.mantrakid
- lodef0
great start. nice combination of elements, like a survival strategy combined with a shooter.
There should be some sort of depot/store planet, or spaceship, that you can go to to buy stuff. Unless I am missing something you have to die before you are able to buy the base pyramids and the explosion weapon thing. You should be able to buy them while playing once you have enough. The bases helped out a lot. Also the prices should be better, I think its 30 for a base and like 250 or a 1000 for other stuff, it would be hard to get that much. Can you upgrade the gun? Add descriptions to the different items on mouse over in the store too because the icons aren't really enough.
Its good to have some exploration/ discovery but its not clear at all what the ultimate goal is. You need a way of gauging progress, and more should start happening with the plants. Some sort of a map or radar would be cool, maybe one that marks a planet once it has been populated. I never knew when to move on to another planet and couldn't find it again if I left. Is the goal to populate all the planets with plants or to just stay alive as long as possible?
I love the music but the sound FX are a bit sparse right now. The aliens could use there own sounds so you know when they are coming. It might have been a glitch or something but the aliens started to appear out of nowhere in the middle of the screen rather than flying in. The graphic style and playability are the best things about it right now but make the plants look better.
I played a bunch last night so it got me thinking, which is a good thing.
- im gonna comment on this below, since itll likely be longer than this tiny boxmantrakid
- mantrakid0
ETM - sorry for not explaining - it's meant to be a bit of an exploratory situation at first... I dont want to give away too much because half the fun is discovering the 'next thing' you can do.. That being said, it's good feedback to know you feel lost right off the bat. I do want you to feel lost, but not enough that you dont want to try getting un-lost. ;) I'll figure out nice graphical way to tell you what to do without giving too much away. so for now... fly around until you find a planet. If you land on a planet, imagine a little icon appears above your head telling you to crouch down with the S key on your keyboard. ;)
- Problem was I didn't get that mouse button 2 was the jetpack. I see the icons now. At first I thought they were some sort of score keeping.ETM
- sort of score or inventory keeping element as the scroll wheel looked like a '0'.ETM
- But I was also rushed on a Friday afternoon. All seems more clear today.ETM
- mantrakid0
Was thinking iPad eventually but touch controls are a pain in the testicles, so i donno... it sucks having bigass buttons and virtual joysticks all over the screen. if the iOS gamepad shit gets their shit together, I can definitely port it with Touch as an option, but it truly is a subpar experience to touch the screen and play, it's just truly not as fun so I probably wont go that route any time soon.
- mantrakid0
Hey ZOOP, thanks for checking man! I have been thinking about mobile from day one. Unfortunately i donno how realistic its gonna be - im relying heavily on CocoonJS and my recent build has it running at like 10 FPS on average... Im not really sure why exactly since there isnt a lot of crazy stuff going on and Im getting 60 FPS on desktop easily. I go through days where literally all i do all day is try to get it running smooth on my ipad haha. :) I'll keep you posted.
Thanks for checking this out guys. If anyone is on steam I have a greenlight page for it up at: http://steamcommunity.com/shared…
- mantrakid0
wicked, thanks - making changes now
- mantrakid0
$500 away from the goal - 25 days to go... My mind esploded
- cruddlebub0
Amazing!!! What were you expecting when you were designing the game? It's cool to have followed this from the beginning and strange watching those guys playing it on a YouTube vid, going mad for it! You must be feeling exceedingly proud?
Well done dude and congratulations
You porting it to iPhone/android?
- monNom0
as I understand it, performance limitations are the ultimate challenge with any game... the Sonic the hedghog wasn't just a great game, it broke ground in performance as well.
Before you switch platforms, you should start removing things from your Construct 2 version to see if you can make it acceptably fast on your target machine. If you can remove the dazzle, but keep the gameplay, then it still might be a great game. If you have a little performance budget left over, see what you can add back in that gives you the biggest bang for your performance buck.
Best of luck.
- mantrakid0
Latest update explains the various versions, but here are some bullet points:
- Wii U version will be selectable at any tier.
- Additional copies for Wii U or Steam/Humble Bundle/DRM-Free can be added for $5.
- $25 Dev tier includes choice of version (Wii U / Steam / etc) but also Early Access to Mac/PC/Linux while it's in development.
- $100 Collectors Edition includes Early Access + USB Key with Mac/PC/Linux version loaded on it. Collectors Ed. Also includes choice of 2 additional keys (Wii U / Steam / Etc).Let me know if you have any questions.
Full update info here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/proj…Love