Post by psymage in Frontier Force comments

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I think this game does have plenty of things going for it like the graphics and the rank system, but I think the dodge mechanic needs to be tweaked a bit. It's too easy to activate it by accident when you're trying to adjust your position slightly or tap dodge. Also, because you use down to switch weapons, using diagonals as an alternative is obviously not going to be an option here.

My suggestion would be to tweak the dodge to where you can only do that while you're not firing. That way, you can double tap while firing without having to worry about accidentally dodging.

But I love seeing a new Master System game in 2025.

Bad Computer155 days ago(+1)

Thanks for playing!

On accidentally dashing. I discussed this with the play testers and we found that it disappears over time. As you get used to it you begin to move knowing there is a dash move, avoiding double tapping unless you want to dash. It's just incorporating that into how you move.

I like your suggestion, but there are times (without spoiling) you might want to dash and shoot.

psymage154 days ago

What if you programmed it to where you can still tap the shot button and dodge, but not dodge when you're holding shot down long enough since you do have autofire in this game? Just a thought.

Bad Computer154 days ago

It starts to get a bit complicated having different states to enable dashing and introduces another layer of difficulty to the controls. Although I agree it can be difficult to control dashing in the beginning, it feels more straightforward to learn.

psymage154 days ago

Just curious, did you try having faster base movement for the main character before implementing the dodge? Many arcade shmups give you the option of having ships of different speeds and shots or in the case of some PC Engine shmups, giving you the option to switch between ship speeds. You'd be surprised how many shmup superplayers can control a fast ship even without a focus shot mechanic.

Bad Computer153 days ago

The game briefly had speed power ups but it didn't really add anything to the game, other than an extra pick up. The dash came in after that as I felt it was a more interesting mechanic. Faster movement is just a stat increase, but the dash can be used for temporary faster movement or to dash through bullets, it also has risk/reward if you fail and is tied to the scoring mechanics by generating score if you dash through bullets.

Another reason is the game is not exactly the same as traditional shmups due to no vertical movement. Likewise a dash mechanic would be harder to integrate in a traditional shmup I imagine.

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