Making a Video Game...
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- mantrakid0
Sweet feedback man, you give some really good points that definitely put eyeballs towards the overall philosophy which i want to make sure i stay true to. Giving the 'option' to heal from a planet, and the consequence of killing all your work if you choose to refill is actually a very compelling concept.... there are a few things id need to re-think (boss triggers, new enemy spawn rates, etc) that revolve around planets being completed, but I can rework those to another, more natural progression...
Whole spread vs protect is something that I wrestled with a lot at first.. I went with 'spread' simply because it gave even a slight sense of 'conquest' but youre kind of right, once you plant a planet, and it can heal you, and it fully heals you and drains empty... it kinda loses value at that point and becomes almost a husk of a planet again... You can continue to fill up the planet's "Tank" by planting more plants on it, so there is a way to keep the planet building up reserves, but still, once its gone and full, its gone.... The aliens are truly there simply to distract your planting process, but perhaps there could be a better way to utilize their existence.
The next phase of the games development is still geared towards building the 'discovery' aspect - there are currently colored blocks littered through the galaxy that you can pick up. You can bring these to the old guy and he'll basically tell you whats going on a little at a time. Bring them all to him and you're basically ready for the final scene...
Jump is a HUGE defensive strategy. I dont see you progressing anywhere quickly without effective use of the jumping technique actually.. it is pretty much the best way to avoid a laser while on a planet.
Less Asteroids + asteroids colliding with planets to reduce health is in the plans for sure.
Great ideas in the last paragraph - there is a lot technically riding on the careful placement of planets and their closeness and balance to one another -- adding some new elements in space will be a challenge, but i think it could definitely add to the experience..
Thank you so, so much dude.
- cannonball19780
Played a little bit today. One thing I noticed that struck me as feeling a little off. In the game you are creating these planetary terrariums, but the primary objective seems to be to spread, instead of protect. While playing I instinctually feel like I need to protect the plants, but I don't see the aliens trying to destroy them, so it leaves me wondering why the aliens are landing at all. I have no sense of what the aliens are trying to do apart from killing me and being general bad guys. Maybe I haven't played enough. I feel if the alien goal was clearer or more developed I would have a better sense of how to subvert them. It would instill the game with more strategy and probably feel more enjoyable.
A lot of passive time is spent looking at the little guy planting seeds. That feels boring compared to the rest of the gameplay.
I love how you realize you need to conserve jet fuel when you find yourself flying aimlessly away from your planets.
When I first played, I saw the planet being sapped of heart life to heal my. My instinct was to fly away to let the planet recuperate. It wasn't later that I realized that planets are basically just large health packs, which seems contrary to the premise of the game as I took it, which was to cultivate life in the cosmos. I'd much more prefer that this was more of a balancing act, where you CAN sap the planet, but only by using a button, and the planet recuperates slowly. If the planet is sapped beyond the point of being repairable, the plants die on it.
Also, the jump button seem to have no important purpose aside form being able to get fruit when on the surface. I liked it better when W was the jetpack. I don't mind that I have to spend a little thrust to get the high hanging fruit, since it replenishes easily when on the planet.
I want the asteroids to collide with the planets. I want orbits— planets orbiting other planets. I want to build things off-planet, like a place to put objects or some sort of home station... something very defensible.
There might be a bunch of that stuff already and I haven't found it yet.
- mantrakid0
Hey i_monk, thanks for checking it out man!
Actually if you hit the tutorial button in the bottom left of the title screen it should teach you 'the ropes' as it were.. and, in fact, the jetpack is disabled (no fuel) until you complete the initial instructions..
- i_monk0
I just played (the web build) for the first time. Two things immediately frustrated me: I can't seem to aim myself when using the jet pack, so I end up spiralling through space, totally adrift, until hitting a random planet. I couldn't get back to the start planet, so I feel like I completely missed whatever I was supposed to do there.
I read what you said upthread about a sense of discovery, but maybe the jet pack should be something you earn after achieving some basic sense of how the game works on that first planet. After that, discovery and adventure awaits.
Looks and sounds pretty sweet though :)
- mantrakid0
This is how i roll:
- cruddlebub0
this game frickin' ROCKS!
- hahah thanks for saying so man, any weird bugs you notice?mantrakid
- mantrakid0
Well pals, here is build 82... probably the biggest notable upgrade in a while.. it fixed a LOT of bugs... hopefully it didnt introduce too many more. There are a bunch of new features, i don't even know where to begin, i honestly just stopped keeping track. :P
The biggest gameplay difference you will notice is that there are more than one weapon. Im still tweaking the other weapons (shotgun & laser (sniper) rifle) so they are currently disabled. So right now, you can only access the first gun upgrade. Once you get the first gun upgrade, you will be able to collect "Powerups" in the game by killing 'shiny' ufos.. basically flashing ufos that drop red balls (proper graphic to come). Collecting the Power-Ups will upgrade your gun in-game, so technically you can get level 1-4 of the main gun while playing a single session.
There's also a red 'test' tower that can be built with 10 seeds... you must have 11 seeds for it to be available (since you'd need 1 seed to continue planting). Right now it just does the same thing as the pyramid, but im toying with ideas for what this special tower can do... something that really leverages having lots of seeds in the later stages of the game.
There are "artifacts" but i still dont have the art done for them. They also dont currently do anything yet... that's coming soon.
Let me know what you think - if you come across any bugs, etc etc. Any help you can give is hugely appreciated!
Overall, I hope you have fun! Please let me know if you dont, and try to think of why, especially by comparing to past versions... Im really hoping things are improving, not regressing. :)
Without further ado:
Build 082
Windows: http://www.cosmochoria.com/press…
Mac: http://www.cosmochoria.com/press…
Linux: http://www.cosmochoria.com/press…Web Version: http://www.cosmochoria.com/build…
im so nervous... hope it all functions properly for you...
- mantrakid0
Finally worked out a proper UI.
Wow, damn. So many updates on the go after receiving some really good professional advice. Fixed quite a few bugs that have come up from the awesome testers who have been checking the game out.
The core work has been to solve an overwhelmingly loud feedback regarding the confusion brought on in the first exposure to the game. Initially i really wanted the experience to have a deep sense of discovery, and though i feel its still there to a degree, i had to make some compromises and design issues that overcame some of the points of confusion to first-time players... Simply put, people aren't gonna play a game that doesnt at least seem to make sense right off the bat. Im actually surprised at how long this remains an issue as development continues. I always think i 'solved it' but feedback from new players shows that it can still be improved..
One of the biggest things ive been working on is that I've finally designed a proper HUD UI, which really adds to the experience and feel of the game. I was using the shitty little top corner graphics for too long, so to now have a proper HUD its looking really nice. I decided to place it along the bottom since most of the fighting in cosmochoria takes place above you. Because the camera pans to keep you 'always up' there's never really a situation where you are actually looking for things on the bottom of the screen, so it seemed like the perfect place to put everything in a neat and tidy little bar. This also opens up the space above you for better alien spotting, etc.
- coldarchon0
at www.futurelearn.com they have a free online course to make computer games that starts in 10 days, anyone in?
- fadein110
randomly came across this which was quite bizarre:
http://corpsmoderne.itch.io/flap…
- mantrakid0
This awesome dude made a "Let's Play" of the last released build. Lots of updates since this version he's playing, but it was the most 'stable' version at the time of him getting in touch, so here it is.. good way to see what the early game is like:
- mantrakid0
Wont be able to afford GDC or PAX this year. In my mind, really next year im hoping the real 'career building' shit will take place.. once the game is done this year, and goes on sale, i hope i can at least make enough $ for some plane tickets to some of the bigger events next year. We'll see how a kickstarter goes tho too. This year is already a wash i think though.. just too late to get it going / not enough time to get something together anyway / not enough money to even make it there.
- cannonball19780
Well done, mantra kid. Inspires me to get back into what I'm working on (although I really dread the amount of work that a 3d game puts on a one-man studio). Are you going to be at GDG or PAX or anything like that?
- GDC rathercannonball1978
- id love to see what you're working on btw!!mantrakid
- Id love to show it. Unfortu ately its just a shitshow of half developed assets.cannonball1978
- fadein110
Do not feel bad for posting a lot - great to see it all progress.
- mantrakid0
TENDING THE GALACTIC GARDEN WHILE BLASTING EVERYTHING THAT MOVES IN COSMOCHORIA
- sorry if this is annoying if i keep posting to this thread, but its gone back far enough, it will serve as a nice history..mantrakid
- keep the updates coming. i'd like to think QBN is supportive of this sort of endeavourlodef
- you should post the articles on the Greenlight page.lodef
- Good call - ill get that done today - thanks man.mantrakid
- mantrakid0
Much love to IndieGames.com for doing a promo writeup on Cosmochoria. :D
- mantrakid0
Updated builds fixes some music issues, camera issues & gun issue:
Web: http://www.cosmochoria.com/build…
Mac: http://www.cosmochoria.com/press…
Win: http://www.cosmochoria.com/press…
Linux: http://www.cosmochoria.com/press…Any feedback is music to my ears, critical or positive.
- update to the web version:
http://www.cosmochor…mantrakid
- update to the web version:
- mantrakid0
You make a really good point ZOOP and it's something i wrestled with during that whole renaming process. It was hard because the simpler the name, the greater the chance i would run into copyright issues again, but in general, i tried to think about who would be playing this, and I always go back to 'guys like me' and 'guys like me' dig the name. I ran some names by friends and family and in general they all liked the more elegant stylings of cosmochoria, but maybe it was based on their options.
But you're right, its a bit of a gamble to go with something more complex. Part of my reasoning was that it may help it stand out more.. And even though it is 5 syllables, it cemented my decision when my 4 year old son was able to remember the next day without being reminded of it. He still tells me 'Sprout' was a better name tho. :)
- a lot harder than picking a password, and once the name gets cemented that's it, roll with it. I like the name myselfZOOP