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AGDG DEMO DAY 53

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A jam submission

The Gun is Good - DEMOView game page

Action-roguelike horde looter shooter
Submitted by SPECXHT (@NorthwoodStudi0) — 2 days, 18 hours before the deadline
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Play good game

The Gun is Good - DEMO's itch.io page

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Comments

osur166 days ago

yeah you fucking won with this one. you know i love it so i'll stick with what's new (to me) and some minor thoughts. you can assume everything else is perfect. i will purchase this day 1.

i have made it to ~13000 points 3 times, and i paused to write this, i'll play more after.

>one of your enemies is a yorp from commander keen! very cute. he likes pushing me into walls, the bastard.

>line of sight is kinda weird. unsure how i feel about it. the only time it had any effect was the special maze/dungeon level, but otherwise it felt like an annoyance. even writing this now i'm unsure of how i feel about it.

>craters is a very fun gimmick, so is the special maze level. for that level, i'd consider doing more with the "dungeon" aspect. perhaps a room can have a random chance to just have a gun spawned (and that isn't dragged to the end portal on level end?)

>if a currency is on the ground when the portal appears, it shouldn't disappear, and should instead be allowed to be picked up. maybe this is me, but when the portal appears my eyes are drawn to the moving gun objects, which are permanent, instead of the static currency which will expire soon.

>new enemy designs and visuals are spot on. i like the circling dog-things, but all of them were cool. there were plenty i never saw before, and they fit perfectly

>i'd like more "gun mod shrines" if possible. i have a great control over my stats due to the level-up system, but guns are really RNG. sometimes i get a cool gun, sometimes i dont. the shop might have this, but then i don't want to waste a level on just shopping - i want to shoot stuff! i ended up going to any level thats marked with +% gun drop rate because of this. this is especially important to me since one of the most fun parts was always "look at this stupid fucking gun, it's got the silliest fucking mods, i'm going to use it". a gun shrine helps add a guaranteed feeling like this, especially if a run hasn't had any interesting drops.

>i often get shield specialist as a level up choice. too often. i don't particularly like shields, even! 

>the new music kicks ass. many were sort of upbeat and techno-y. i liked them a lot. one of the random levels (from a "random" level event, so i can't specify which) had a very nice track. if i stumble into it again, i'll report back the level name.

>some guns (like the super shotgun or faust) have a very long windup time. it might benefit from a timer or some information to let the player know it's charging up. i can imagine some confusion, especially with faust.

excellent work overall. you will be a very happy dev once this hits steam.

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SPECXHTDeveloper165 days ago

Thank you so much. Really glad to hear you like the new additions and changes.

one of your enemies is a yorp from commander keen! very cute. he likes pushing me into walls, the bastard.

Hehe yeah I think the inspiration for that one is pretty clear if you've played Keen.

line of sight is kinda weird. unsure how i feel about it.

I wouldn't really call it line of sight, walls and stuff won't occlude your vision but levels have different amounts of light and affect how far you can see. Other light sources can let you see further. So yeah it shouldn't really be noticeable except for the dungeon levels right now, but for regular levels I don't think I've changed how it works for several versions.

i'd consider doing more with the "dungeon" aspect. perhaps a room can have a random chance to just have a gun spawned (and that isn't dragged to the end portal on level end?)

I do agree something like that would be interesting and fun. I'm just being careful about adding things like that because the game isn't really about exploration, and you know if I carelessly add something that you have to search a level to find it'll change the dynamic of the game because if you can find something like that there what's to say there isn't stuff hidden in all other levels? I just don't want players running around empty maps looking for things, kinda like when you realize there are secret doors in Wolfenstein3D and you start humping every wall just to find them.

Maybe I'll put a chest visible on the radar or something. And if you open it it spawns a bunch of enemies too hehehe.

runes shouldn't disappear when the portal is up

Yeah I don't see why not, I've changed it.

i'd like more "gun mod shrines" if possible...

I need to do a gun pass and improve a bunch of things about them and have more possibilities like "look at this stupid fucking gun, it's got the silliest fucking mods, i'm going to use it" yeah. I've been thinking if I should remove rest sites and shops etc. and attach them to the end/start of regular levels instead. Or make the "overworld" longer and have more types of non-combat onces. I'm leaning on the first option, what do you think?

i often get shield specialist as a level up choice. too often. i don't particularly like shields, even!

I think I'm gonna fudge the numbers a bit for the random skills. But hey there's always re-rolling!

some guns (like the super shotgun or faust) have a very long windup time. it might benefit from a timer or some information

Yeah I know, I haven't really figured out how I wanna go about it yet.

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osur165 days ago

>I've been thinking if I should remove rest sites and shops etc. and attach them to the end/start of regular levels instead.

the bad feel i have with the current shop system is that if i have the option between "shop" and "shoot", i'll always pick shoot.

perhaps have the shop ALWAYS be every third level, and you can pick between shop and shrine.

having it be at the end of every level is too much, and having it at the end of every n'th level is basically what i outlined above but it's communicated to the player easily on the world map. 

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SPECXHTDeveloper165 days ago(+1)

Oh I didn't mean to have it after every level, but like a modifier for some like the gun cache.

But in the end it might just be best to have them at set points.

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diabolodevSubmitted168 days ago

it is done


this screen and the wishlist loading screen were the only parts that had errors because of my 16:10 ratio

Submitted
Solitaire Battle
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SPECXHTDeveloper168 days ago

Congrats! Amazing work. You are now part of the very few who have gotten that screen. Do you know about how long it took you to complete it on this version? I'll fix the 16:10 issues.

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diabolodevSubmitted168 days ago

i think it was less than 10 attempts, the run was probably 30-40 minutes long. i got close once but got destroyed by the tiny guys with swords before i knew they existed. i specialized into the shield gun because in my experience you can't get very far without relying on it. i think i was lucky to find the Skarl early, and i don't think i would have been able to beat the final boss if i wasn't carrying the Faust

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WebCoughSubmitted169 days ago

DD53 feedback videos:

Demo Day 53 videos of games starting with letters from A – J:

https://mega.nz/folder/DdVwTYAK#ZsxVSpsd5L2yvgaqtcvBsA

Demo Day 53 videos of games starting with letters from K – Z:

https://mega.nz/folder/zBIi2A5T#DE3_eooG3HE-K3XTmpnR0g

Hey, unfortunately I was not able to play your game this time. 

I still recorded a short video on where I was experiencing the problem. I do not know what you changed between this and previous demo. If you figure it out I am going to be very happy to record a proper video for you.

Submitted
Goblin Resort
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SPECXHTDeveloper168 days ago

Well shit. From the little I could glance from your video it could be something to do with the new input system I changed to for gamepad support. I'd really appreciate it if you could upload the log and post it here. Oh and you can delete the other folders that aren't Northwood Gameworks, its just old stuff.

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WebCoughSubmitted168 days ago

Here are the two folders packed in case you want to compare them.

https://files.catbox.moe/utfao8.zip

let me know if the link expires before you get it. I hope that helps.

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SPECXHTDeveloper168 days ago (1 edit)

Thanks I think I can solve it with this.

If you'd like to try though; if you have a gamepad plugged in - try unplugging it and starting. I think there's a newer version than the one you downloaded, it shouldn't fix your issue but you never know...

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WebCoughSubmitted168 days ago

I do not own a gamepad.

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SPECXHTDeveloper166 days ago (1 edit)

Yeah its really odd because Unity's input system is getting spammed with events saying that you keep changing between keyboard and joystick.

Anyway, I've uploaded a new version (TheGunIsGood_53-3_LinuxExperimentalCrashfix) that hopefully fixes it. If you try it I would really appreciate if you could upload the log file again, regardless if it crashes or not.

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WebCoughSubmitted164 days ago

Alright, whatever you have changed, that had fixed it.

I played one run just to quickly test if it works and I was doing quite well. I think I got to 7th room.

here's new log:

https://files.catbox.moe/nhvlj4.zip

The new area type is my favourite. It makes me feel like playing Serious Sam, but I see enemies getting stuck there more than in other areas.

It can take a while for weapons and ammo to fly towards the portal at the end.

Of course I ended up buying to so nasty bullet hell

I am going to record a proper long video for you with feedback. I just wanted you to know the game works now.

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SPECXHTDeveloper164 days ago

Great thanks! And yeah I know they can get stuck a bit on that map and why it happens right now.

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WebCoughSubmitted160 days ago

I recorded myself play. The video is in this folder https://mega.nz/folder/zBIi2A5T#DE3_eooG3HE-K3XTmpnR0g

I am still not good at it, but it's fun. I hope the video is going to be useful for at least being able to see how a low skill players plays the game.

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SPECXHTDeveloper159 days ago

Thank you so much for the video, it does help me a lot every time you do it. Also I don't have many that play on Linux so that's great too. I saw a strange bug I haven't seen from anyone before with the bullet casings being all black, something I'll have to look in to.

And well the game is supposed to be hard and have you learn along the way, but it has to be interesting and fun enough to get you to press the Retry button. So it is a balancing act. I think you're overthinking things a bit when playing, you should try to just keeping the fire button held down as long as there are enemies in range sometime hehehe.

You know the dilemma you had with choosing between the Frags and the Quadzooka ties into a problem that I've been ignoring a bit lately - the gun stat screen being pretty bad and I haven't really figured out how I want to change it better. Secondary effects on guns aren't being shown at all right now like the small bullets released by the Frags. Also those guns have very different strengths, for example the best thing about the Frags is that they have a very fast swap speed so you can almost instantly swap to them, toss a grenade, and swap right back to another gun.

Enemies getting stuck on craters is improved for the next version.

I don't think I will have any difficulty options, not that fond of it. But, unlockable characters are planned. With different starting loadouts, active skill (instead of dash), and some base stat differences. I am also looking into changing how the first level works.

Thanks again.

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ADMANSubmitted170 days ago

I played this a few Demo Days ago and had a great time, and I had a great time now. Only real negatives I have are that the whackier weapons didn't seem to spawn for me, although that might just be bad luck on my part. And the game crashed on my third run when I selected the restart button on the game over screen.

Submitted
Cyber Surfer Prototype
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SPECXHTDeveloper168 days ago

Thanks for playing! And I saw your VOD. Yeah the more crazier guns and gun mods drop more on later levels, and well another tester played for 6 hours and didn't see every gun. I think I've solved the crash on restart, at least I can't replicate it anymore.

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Alvarius GamesSubmitted174 days ago

I've really got nothing negative to say! Super intuitive, just plain fun. Love the small details, controller vibration, "juice" things like screen flash, etc. Just fix the camera in the level select area to follow wherever the dpad is hovering. Awesome job, would love to see more!
Submitted
Two Putt (alpha)
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SPECXHTDeveloper168 days ago

Thank you very much for playing and the video! Nice to see someone playing with a controller for once, and it working well. Will absolutely change the map like you said.

I have no idea why there was no sound though, haven't heard about that problem before. Do you know if it was on your end?

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Team Puzzle GamesSubmitted174 days ago

You're 100% gmi with this. Everything is so polished, juicy and fun, I don't really have any useful critique to provide. These types of games aren't really up my alley, but I'm still having fun with it. Great work.

Submitted
Cult of Damaskus
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SPECXHTDeveloper174 days ago

Thank you very much. Well if you look at it as Doom slaugthermaps but top down maybe it makes more sense to you? haha

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agdg_53_stream174 days ago

Very nice.

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SPECXHTDeveloper174 days ago(+1)

Thanks for playing so long! I've watched the whole 6 hours.

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CLYDE176 days ago

It's fucking great as usual. All the weapons I tried felt fun immediately. The length of the levels is great, I think it gives it a good pacing between fighting and choosing upgrades. 

Wishlist button on the main screen was misaligned at 1920x1200 however.

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SPECXHTDeveloper175 days ago

Thanks a lot man! Oh yeah I definitely didn't check it out at 16:10 hehe, I'll fix it thanks.

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TexasRed26Submitted176 days ago

Played for quite a while, really liked it. Has alot of strong elements and the shooting and killing feels satisfying. Some further polishing and more content and you got yourself A GAME. One thing i noticed tho was that some attacks (like for example the mortar in meteor area) werent noticable enough when youre already fighting other enemies. Maybe thats just me tho. 

Very Cool, i hope you make it big!

Submitted
Cosmic Call - Demo
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SPECXHTDeveloper175 days ago

Thanks a lot for playing! No I agree about the mortar, I know the projectile shadow for it isn't very noticeable.

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MohaggedSubmitted176 days ago

Only played 5 minutes so far. Might play more over the weekend.

  • pretty overwhelming to get into with so many options, upgrades, buttons, items...
  • the satellite gun is hilarious
  • space feels incredibly narrow for how slow the early weapons are - I would end up getting cornered
  •  it's not clear which walls are breakable (even though all of them blink on hit?)
  • pick-ups and other collectable are very hard to see, there's just so much clutter and noise and no contrast at all
  • manually shooting feels incredibly annoying

<to be continued>

Anything specific you're looking for in terms of feedback?

Submitted
Kansei UberDrifto (Prototype)
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SPECXHTDeveloper176 days ago

Thanks for playing!

All walls are breakable but explosive damage does a lot more damage to them than other sources, so regular bullets for example will take a lot longer to break them. I've tried to keep enemies and their projectiles the most visible things, but yeah it can be improved. It isn't really meant to be a survivors type of game (closest equivalent would be something like Nuclear Throne) so the way the game is designed I don't think automatically firing your guns would work.

Not looking for anything specific, just anything you can think of really. More thoughts are better than less.

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MohaggedSubmitted176 days ago

My problem with manual fire was that it's so tedious for how many enemies there were. Hm, when I think of something comparable, something like Diablo 2, I would click constantly, too, but it doesn't feel as exhausting. Can't really pin point.

Another thing: the perspective felt incredibly far zoomed out. I always had the urge to zoom in. At the same time, it was sometimes difficult to separate a wall from a walkable path, when it was all dark and narrow.

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SPECXHTDeveloper176 days ago

One guess would be that you feel disconnected from the action. There is a debug function that I haven't bothered to disable to zoom in and out (9 and zero 0 buttons), you might think it feels better zoomed in. However some things might feel unfair instead, like getting shot from offscreen and not seeing enemies. Also if you zoom out more things will look very weird.

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MohaggedSubmitted176 days ago

Yeah, I expect that much. From a tactical side it's nice having that overview.

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MohaggedSubmitted176 days ago

Addendum: My first attempt.

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SPECXHTDeveloper175 days ago

Thanks for the vid, its great help just to see people play. Oh and I'll fix the loading times, I've added a lot of resources and everything gets loaded into memory at the same time for no real reason. I just haven't got around to fixing it.

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SPECXHTDeveloper176 days ago

Changelog from last DD

https://specxht.itch.io/the-gun-is-good/devlog/630043/update-53-dust-and-brass-c...

Reply
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