Going backwards part is weird and managing to get up on platform to the right feels more of a platforming challenge than a driving game fun.
Smashing aliens is fun.
Going fast and flying is fun. You could consider adapting levels to only some type of car and allowing to glaze through level if driving at the right speed.
Mouse zoomout could max out earlier, maybe at 75%. That way would be easier to see things that are far away. Otherwise it's weird to keep mouse pointer close to the game's window border.
Honestly this game is the most fun I've had in this demo day. The default loadout seems kinda weak though. You just go too slowly. Sedan with continuum booster is just way more fun. Also it would be nice to have pickups so you can use your item again. The level design could use some work so it lets you go faster. The flying enemies seem to get stuck in mid-air when they die.
-On this build, i made possible to the player to choose whatever item he wants to so he can test it. But later on development, you will only have access to only 2 items on the very first level: one pistol and the upper burster thruster (yes, you will be able to buy the thrusters separately) that can force you to go up. Later in the game, you will be able to buy new cars (some with more item slots than others), other items and you will be able to upgrade all of them.
-The pickup ideia is actually a pretty good. I will implement it later.
-I will probably make more changes to the first level (the one on this current build), but some levels will have slow areas or areas that you need to go on reverse. OFC i want the player to always go fast most of the time (say, 95% of the time), but a change of pace sometimes is good and can be used to teach the player something about the game.
-The celling bug got fixed. I know that you said mid-air, but Rokas commented that it happens when they touch the ceiling (while dead).
It's a flash game alright. Surprisingly smooth in browser, but I'd want a native build regardless. The pixel font is trash. Can't mute, muted the tab, but that mutes the sound effects, which I want to keep. Use R instead of Backspace. Pinned the dragons to a ceiling, they couldn't do anything. Not sure if I was meant to drive backwards, but the level seem to fore it. With some polish I'd sink some time in it.
Thanks for the feedback. Here is somethings i would like to make clear:
-I will build to PC later. It's just more practical to play on browser when this current build got only one level.
- Font is a placeholder (its the default font from the engine. i need to make my own or find a font that can be used in commercial projects).
- I'm not sure about the mute bug. It's probably a weird interaction between the build and the browser you used to test the demo. I've tested myself on firefox and chromium and the mute tab feature worked fine on both of them. This bug is forgettable, because the web build is just temporary.
- Yeah, i will change to R to restart. But the restart button is temporary since i will make a pause button where you can restart clicking on a button there.
-The pinned dragons on ceiling is fixed now. Later builds that i upload there will be fine. (thanks for letting me know about that)
-The part on the level where you need to go on reverse is intended. Some levels in the future will have some slow areas/reverse areas, but most of them you will always go foward (and go fast).
On this level case (it's the first level of the game), i placed the reverse part for 3 reassons (like i replied to the mqdev's commment):
>To teach about a mechanic that i will introduce to the game later (something like FTL's pursuit fleet that can catch up with you and strong monsters will start to spawn next to you. This mechanic is inteeded to make the player always go fast, or else things get difficult.)
>If you go at a slow speed (its rare to go slow when you are going forward, since the game incentivizes you to go fast), the normal monster on the ground can hit you even if you run them over.
>On the area where you go on reverse, you can see the next floor above you. You will probably see the flying monster. This makes the player to get introduced to a new type of monster at a safe distance, and he will get ready for it.
And thats it. Thanks for testing the demo and letting me know all this.
I was waiting to play this. It is very engaging, but I found the level design a bit lacking. Having to go backwards after the first loop breaks the tempo of an otherwise fast paced game. Is this deliberate? Are you considering giving it "switch direction" capabilities? V8 FTW.
Thanks for the feedback. The backwards part right at the start of the level is there to attempt to teach the player three things:
-First of all, teach about a mechanic that will be implemented later in the game: there is always a wave of creatures that are trying to catch up with you. Think like the fleet pursuit in FTL: you can see their advance on the map, and if you step on the beacons inside the zone/let them catch up with you, you fight a very strong enemy.
In my game, you will not immediately be greeted by a strong enemy if you let their advance catch up with you, but strong enemies will start to spawn next to you. You need to be fast to avoid their advance/kill them with your weapon, else they can fuck you pretty hard. While going backwards on this area, the chance of the advance zone to catch up with you is high.
-Second, teach that if your car is going at slow speeds (30~40), while you can still run over them with your car, the basic ground enemy CAN hit you if you dont shoot at him. If you let him hit you, he can hit very hard.
It isn't necessarialy unavoidable damage (which is bad design by default), but it has high chances of happening since reverse speed is way slower. This ideia can feel counterintuitive, but the chances of the player acknowledge this is a thing normally is low (since 95% of the game is always going foward as fast as possible). Better know that this can happening right at the start of the game while going backwards.
-Third, while going backwards, the player will probably see the flying enemy type flying on the next floor. He will acknowledge the existence of a new enemy type and get ready for it.
There is a second part on the level where you go backwards. This one teaches nothing, but this specific area will be a cave/mine/something like that. A few levels later, you will get out of the desert and go inside a cave like this area. Its just to give the player a hint of what is coming next.
And about switch directions, i played elasto mania a lot when i was a kid. The mechanic can probably work well, but it contradicts the mechanic that i told you about of you trying to avoid the creatures advance. The ideia of the game is always go foward, never look back. While in some situations, you can go backwards in reverse, you will always go foward and flee from their pursuit, no matter what. So i will probably not implement the switch direction mechanic.
Comments
Finally have gotten around writing feedback:
Played a lot of Hill Climb Racing on my phone.
Thanks for all the feedback!
I will take a look/make some changes to the backwards part and zoomout stuff
Honestly this game is the most fun I've had in this demo day. The default loadout seems kinda weak though. You just go too slowly. Sedan with continuum booster is just way more fun. Also it would be nice to have pickups so you can use your item again. The level design could use some work so it lets you go faster. The flying enemies seem to get stuck in mid-air when they die.
Thanks for testing and for the feedback!
Im glad you like it.
Just some notes:
-On this build, i made possible to the player to choose whatever item he wants to so he can test it. But later on development, you will only have access to only 2 items on the very first level: one pistol and the upper burster thruster (yes, you will be able to buy the thrusters separately) that can force you to go up. Later in the game, you will be able to buy new cars (some with more item slots than others), other items and you will be able to upgrade all of them.
-The pickup ideia is actually a pretty good. I will implement it later.
-I will probably make more changes to the first level (the one on this current build), but some levels will have slow areas or areas that you need to go on reverse. OFC i want the player to always go fast most of the time (say, 95% of the time), but a change of pace sometimes is good and can be used to teach the player something about the game.
-The celling bug got fixed. I know that you said mid-air, but Rokas commented that it happens when they touch the ceiling (while dead).
And thats it. Thanks for everything.
It's a flash game alright. Surprisingly smooth in browser, but I'd want a native build regardless. The pixel font is trash. Can't mute, muted the tab, but that mutes the sound effects, which I want to keep. Use R instead of Backspace. Pinned the dragons to a ceiling, they couldn't do anything. Not sure if I was meant to drive backwards, but the level seem to fore it. With some polish I'd sink some time in it.
Thanks for the feedback. Here is somethings i would like to make clear:
-I will build to PC later. It's just more practical to play on browser when this current build got only one level.
- Font is a placeholder (its the default font from the engine. i need to make my own or find a font that can be used in commercial projects).
- I'm not sure about the mute bug. It's probably a weird interaction between the build and the browser you used to test the demo. I've tested myself on firefox and chromium and the mute tab feature worked fine on both of them. This bug is forgettable, because the web build is just temporary.
- Yeah, i will change to R to restart. But the restart button is temporary since i will make a pause button where you can restart clicking on a button there.
-The pinned dragons on ceiling is fixed now. Later builds that i upload there will be fine. (thanks for letting me know about that)
-The part on the level where you need to go on reverse is intended. Some levels in the future will have some slow areas/reverse areas, but most of them you will always go foward (and go fast).
On this level case (it's the first level of the game), i placed the reverse part for 3 reassons (like i replied to the mqdev's commment):
>To teach about a mechanic that i will introduce to the game later (something like FTL's pursuit fleet that can catch up with you and strong monsters will start to spawn next to you. This mechanic is inteeded to make the player always go fast, or else things get difficult.)
>If you go at a slow speed (its rare to go slow when you are going forward, since the game incentivizes you to go fast), the normal monster on the ground can hit you even if you run them over.
>On the area where you go on reverse, you can see the next floor above you. You will probably see the flying monster. This makes the player to get introduced to a new type of monster at a safe distance, and he will get ready for it.
And thats it. Thanks for testing the demo and letting me know all this.
Brings to mind fond memories of playing Flash games in middle school. You should make a jump button though.
good old flash games inspired me to do this game
but i didn't understand the jump button thing
what did you mean by jump button?
Never mind, I wrote that before realizing how to use the burst thrusters.
I was waiting to play this. It is very engaging, but I found the level design a bit lacking. Having to go backwards after the first loop breaks the tempo of an otherwise fast paced game. Is this deliberate? Are you considering giving it "switch direction" capabilities? V8 FTW.
Thanks for the feedback. The backwards part right at the start of the level is there to attempt to teach the player three things:
-First of all, teach about a mechanic that will be implemented later in the game: there is always a wave of creatures that are trying to catch up with you. Think like the fleet pursuit in FTL: you can see their advance on the map, and if you step on the beacons inside the zone/let them catch up with you, you fight a very strong enemy.
In my game, you will not immediately be greeted by a strong enemy if you let their advance catch up with you, but strong enemies will start to spawn next to you. You need to be fast to avoid their advance/kill them with your weapon, else they can fuck you pretty hard. While going backwards on this area, the chance of the advance zone to catch up with you is high.
-Second, teach that if your car is going at slow speeds (30~40), while you can still run over them with your car, the basic ground enemy CAN hit you if you dont shoot at him. If you let him hit you, he can hit very hard.
It isn't necessarialy unavoidable damage (which is bad design by default), but it has high chances of happening since reverse speed is way slower. This ideia can feel counterintuitive, but the chances of the player acknowledge this is a thing normally is low (since 95% of the game is always going foward as fast as possible). Better know that this can happening right at the start of the game while going backwards.
-Third, while going backwards, the player will probably see the flying enemy type flying on the next floor. He will acknowledge the existence of a new enemy type and get ready for it.
There is a second part on the level where you go backwards. This one teaches nothing, but this specific area will be a cave/mine/something like that. A few levels later, you will get out of the desert and go inside a cave like this area. Its just to give the player a hint of what is coming next.
And about switch directions, i played elasto mania a lot when i was a kid. The mechanic can probably work well, but it contradicts the mechanic that i told you about of you trying to avoid the creatures advance. The ideia of the game is always go foward, never look back. While in some situations, you can go backwards in reverse, you will always go foward and flee from their pursuit, no matter what. So i will probably not implement the switch direction mechanic.
Mmmmh. I see. Thanks for all the info. I will try to beat it later on. See you on the thread!
level 2 is still not in this build
i will update it til sunday