Flamethrower is fun as fuck but overpowered I think. Did you reduce enemies hp btw?
Redability definitely improved, yet I still think you need to work on outline to make it more subtle
Make the main menu a little faster, it looks awesome otherwise
Play game
Project Landsword's itch.io pageComments
Cheers for playing! I did reduce the HP of the mech enemies, I felt with the minigun and autocannon it took a little too long to take the them out. I'll need some tougher ones to compensate.
I agree the outline could use some transparency, I still need to rework the shader. Will speed up the main menu as well, even though it's a placeholder for now.
Thank you for playing!
I like the small filesize, very based. However, it should come organized in folders.
I don't have much control over that, but I agree it'd be nicer to have those extra audio files and such hidden away.
Framerate feels low (30 fps?).
Can I ask what your system specs / OS is? I am developing this game on a 2013 Toshiba Satellite C855S laptop with 4 GBs of RAM with an integrated Intel Pentium 2020 graphics card. It runs at 56-60 most of the time, though when combat gets super insane it can drop to around 30 sometimes. For the most part it should be a steady 60 though.
The ingame graphics look great and very colorful; feels like the menu should match it instead of being monochrome.
Glad you liked it. Those menu graphics are entirely placeholders for now. I will be redoing the main menu, mission screen, options, everything really.
I think the enemies should wait for you to approach them in the first stage, to give the player time to mess with the controls.
They actually do give the player some time as they have to enter the level, but it's sort of randomized so I suppose sometimes they can reach the player much faster than normal.
Boost should be mapped to spacebar instead of shift.
I didn't plan on including key rebinding, but I suppose I really should now. Noted, thanks.
Gamefeel and juice is awesome, but paradoxically, the actual gameplay feels like shit. If there is a strategy to the combat, is it not obvious. You need to have some sort of obvious countermeasures for enemy units.
I'd like there to be countermeasures and things like smoke grenades to blind enemies so you can go at them full force. There is a bit of a cat-and-mouse thing with the city level in that you can sneak around behind enemies with buildings and such, but I agree it needs more depth. I'm thinking maybe if you hit enemies in the back you have a chance of staggering them or doing more damage, more incentive to play it stealthy/tactical. It needs work for sure.
Whatever you have right now can attract players, but it will not retain them.
This is true, and I respect your honesty. Thank you for the in depth critique!
My specs are fine, the cursor was felt choppy so I assumed the game was running at low FPS. For enemy countermeasures, I'm not talking about advanced tactics. This kind of mech combat is meant for 1 vs 1, or a low amounts of enemies. It does not fit Vampire Survivor-like enemy spam, as the player does not have the mobility for that. You either need to be way faster than than the enemies/projectiles, or have something like an i-frame dodge roll (though I don't like those in 2D games).
My specs are fine, the cursor was felt choppy so I assumed the game was running at low FPS.
That's highly unusual. Did you have v-sync or the alternate sync method enabled? Are you also running this on Linux with wine?
For enemy countermeasures, I'm not talking about advanced tactics. This kind of mech combat is meant for 1 vs 1, or a low amounts of enemies.
I agree, and I don't intend for there to be hundreds of mechs on screen for that type of combat. On the first mission they randomly spawn with a maximum of about 15 for each wave, but if you take too long they can gang up on you easily.
You either need to be way faster than than the enemies/projectiles, or have something like an i-frame dodge roll (though I don't like those in 2D games).
There will be upgrades for speed and armor, maybe with a dodge function built in with the dash. When you mentioned countermeasures I was actually thinking of having an APS system like on real tanks, i.e. your mech automatically shoots out small projectiles to deflect enemy bullets and missiles, but will eventually run out of ammo.
62 days ago(+1)
-Contrast is better this time, didn't have trouble seeing the enemies in the chaos.
Good to hear!
-Actually beat the garden mission this time. The flame thrower was pretty rad, the fire sticking around and spreading really saves what would otherwise be a kind of boring weapon. RIP frenchie greens
Awesome, I'm glad you managed to beat that second level! The flamethrower really can change the way the game is played, especially since you can lay fire traps that enemies will run into.
-Wish the mission report was more exact, I can't tell what stats are good or bad for the grading. Though if you aren't planning on making that a serious feature I suppose it's fine.
Indeed. The rank is always A+, it's purely cosmetic for now. I haven't fully decided what should count for a good rank still? Time? No hits taken? Least missiles used? Need to think on it more.
-Pilot talking on coms is neat, but it 's difficult to read it, especially if it shows up while in combat. In a perfect world, it would be be voice acted like the Ace Combat conversations. Otherwise, keeping the text up for longer at least would help.
Noted! Voice acting would be cool and probably doable with AI, but the same reason it's on screen for so little is I'm worried it'll get too repetitive if it happens too often, especially if there's around 20 or so missions in the game. I don't know if I should have an option in the settings to just turn it off entirely since I think it can actually be helpful to remind the player they're out of missiles, ammo, armor, etc.
-New mission is neat, I like the new city locale. The briefing is also interesting, room for the possibility of the brigade being sabotaged by some other force so they couldn't contact the outside... though that's a bit of a stretch.
Awesome! Eventually I'd like there to be cutscenes and an actual briefing for each mission, but for now I've just had that brief little text/exposition dump on the mission screen.
Game is still looks great and is fun to play, looking forward to more.
Thank you for playing this time, previously, and the feedback! I appreciate it tremendously.
62 days ago(+1)
Thank you for playing again!
The game is far more readable now. I can tell the units have outlines and the UI is noticeably larger.
Indeed! I'm glad it's noticeable, I'm quite happy with the change.
I think enemies might be more proactive now too. It took me longer to beat the past levels now, but the flamethrower is really good.
The mech enemies still behave the same, but I did give a buff to the slugs since previously they weren't much of a challenge. I should note on level 3 the mechs do probably behave more aggressive since their fire rate/chance is actually tied to how many of them are in the level. So fewer mechs = more aggression, like they get more desperate the more die off.
It's also nice of the pilot to show up and offer some comments every so often, although it's hard to justify looking at her while you are getting shot. Maybe she should show up at the mission briefing too so her role is clearer.
She'll show up more as I intend to have an actual story, cutscenes, and a cool intro (hopefully). I've tried to keep her on screen very shortly for the reasons you've mentioned - it's cool, but distracting and if done too much I feel could get irritating.
hey dude, i was thinking about your game just now. You probably have this idea already but it would be really cool if some missions do not involve destruction or combat at all. Since I think you're going for the Armored Core hired contractor thing right?
It would be nice to have like a mission where you have to control a riot without casualties, or an escort mission of a VIP with like a meme character, like that dude from Papers Please that appeared in some of the stages which would always bring the most fake ass passports lol
i think there could be opportunities for some gameplay narrative instances that could be really cool for your game. Some Patlabor-esque civilian situations or something like that.
61 days ago (+1)
hey dude, i was thinking about your game just now. You probably have this idea already but it would be really cool if some missions do not involve destruction or combat at all. Since I think you're going for the Armored Core hired contractor thing right?
Originally I was thinking you're more part of a specialized unit a la the SVU in Patlabor rather than a contractor/merc since that's been done a lot already, but I haven't fully decided on it yet. I definitely want to have some missions without combat to mix it up, could be nice to chill a bit and have a bit of contrast from the psychotic violence haha.
It would be nice to have like a mission where you have to control a riot without casualties, or an escort mission of a VIP with like a meme character, like that dude from Papers Please that appeared in some of the stages which would always bring the most fake ass passports lol
Riot control sounds like a neat mission idea, but I haven't experimented with having crowds or actual people in the game yet, mostly because they'd be like 2-3 pixels.
Now an escort mission would be neat, especially if you had to shoot down incoming missiles and defend say a limousine trying to get through the city. Would definitely have some interesting gameplay opportunities (though coding special pathfinding won't be fun lol)
i think there could be opportunities for some gameplay narrative instances that could be really cool for your game. Some Patlabor-esque civilian situations or something like that.
Absolutely, and I'd love to do that! There'll be possibly a hangar with minor characters and maybe some side mini-game esque tasks like doing repair work on your mech and helping out your faceless maintenance crews who get it ready each mission.
I really appreciate these suggestions a lot, so thank you!
Hey, thanks for playing again!
It's so much more readable than the last build and that was my only major gripe with it.
Phew! Glad to hear it.
The new level is cool, the tank enemies aren't scarier than the missile enemies but if their job is to soak up more damage then they're doing it right.
Originally they had twice the HP but I found it difficult to gage how well players would be able to handle them without certain weapons; for example using the minigun takes forever to knock one out, while the flamethrower cooks them up almost instantly.
Maybe the first two guns could use a lil buff, especially the rotary cannon.
For sure, it's almost made the first two obsolete, even if you can't take out missiles with it. Might need tougher enemies and have it unlock later in the game to balance it.
There still isn't a ton of content but a demo leaving you wanting more is a good thing.
Yeah, I've been really focusing on getting the core of that gameplay feeling good, once that's done hopefully I'll have a loose story, base, hangar, unlockables, and a bunch of other content to fill up at least 2 hours(?) of gameplay. At least something that's just long enough so people will play it, finish it, and not immediately refund it on Steam afterwards haha.
Thanks again!
Glad to hear the readability and minimap have been improved since last time, that was the biggest thing that needed an overhaul and took the majority of time since the last DD to correct haha.
Now I have to complain about to slugs on level 2, their readability against the floor isn't great.
Yeah, 100%. I was honestly torn on whether or not I should have even included that level on this demo. Compared to the first and third mission it's just not that fun, and the level is still the same one thrown together since the last time. There actually is a finite amount of enemies (if you're not being hyperbolic) - about 360 that once you've exterminated will conclude the mission.
It kind of turns into an endurance battle of balancing ammo and trying to navigate around the hordes without getting mauled, but it's still not that interesting. Originally I actually wanted this game to be a mecha-inspired version of Starship Troopers a la EDF, but as time has gone on I think the mech vs mech action is way more interesting (plus Hell Divers 2 came out, can't compete with that lol)
There will probably only be two or three missions out of a total of 25(?) that will have them. I should also probably lower their health a bit.
Please launch the game for the first time in full screen, trying to make it larger from a tiny window is rough.
Another thing that I forgot to do last time, oops. Sorry about that!
Where'd you learn to create such top notch interfaces/menus? formal education?
I said it on an AGDG thread once, but I'm much more of an artist than a programmer. I'm self taught, never went to any art schools or took any UI design courses. I guess being an enthusiast of old computers and retro games helps. I spend a lot of time looking at old GRiD laptops and obscure PS1/PS2 games, I think the two can mesh together very well.
A GRiD Compass laptop from the 1980s
64 days ago(+1)
Thank you for playing!
The flamethrower is a brand new weapon that wasn't in the previous build. I'll try experimenting with a few different colors for the UI. Originally it actually was green but I found the white on black color scheme to be more readable on different backgrounds. I could also try increasing the shadow under the UI, it's only at about 50 opacity.
I thought about having the pilot on screen permanently but I felt like she took up a bit too much space on the UI, so I went the Bulk Slash route of having it open and close only when she's talking. Same reason the quips are also very infrequent (if you saw any) - I'm slightly worried it'll outstay its welcome if it comes on screen too much, especially for a full length game lol.
I like your idea of a linear level like the highway scene from GITS; honestly the level design and mission structure has probably been the biggest challenge so far. I was thinking of doing five different biomes/areas with five different types of missions as someone on the previous DD suggested. I would really like there to be more variety since as you said even with different weapons and upgrades it'll just become repetitive. I might need to recruit some outside help to really get that part down haha.
Thank you again for playing and the feedback, it's much appreciated!
64 days ago (+2)
For those who played last time - updates include:
- Even more destruction (yes, really)
- A flamethrower weapon - (hopefully) just as destructive and fun as the minigun and autocannon.
- A whole new level with tanks and a different play style from the city.
- Pilot portrait as seen above. She will remind you when you're out of ammo, doing poorly, and occasionally pop up to quip at some of the excessive violence.
- Enemies and players have outlines, target indicators, and higher contrast sprites to be more readable than before.
- Overhauled main game UI to be much more visible at a glance as well as have better indication for low armor.
- Camera has been tweaked to have better range/zoom limits, makes things much easier to keep track of now.
- Redid mission end screen; no longer do you need to wait so long to see your results.
A lot more is planned, but there wasn't time to get much of it in this DD, however I think compared to the first demo this is a way better quality of life upgrade.
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