1. Flame, laser, stacked munitions, and smoke all work underwater for some reason. I think that there should either be a diegetic reason for this or the weapons should be disabled (or just not work properly when brought in).
I don't see why these wouldn't work while in water? You're not under the water, you're floating over it, so they should all be just fine.
2. When smoke is deployed, it can't be shot through. At least not with the laser. It's like there's this hitbox blocking projectiles from passing. I think there's the same issue with other grenade types.
This is an issue that'll be fixed in the next build. The system I'm using currently for the smoke clouds basically has them as solid objects, so the laser ends up treating it like a building object. Same thing with the spider mines, it's not great.
3. I also don't know how to use the melee, so... how?
Press the F key or check the settings menu, you should be able to rebind it.
Suggestion: when you get intel, the notification could preview what it’s about.
I agree. I've been considering overhauling the whole system and way it's displayed at all though, perhaps it'll go to a separate section entirely rather than the PDA on the overworld.
I hope there will be an upgrade for dash instead of acceleration.
This is planned. I really want to have different movement options.
I got an S rank on level 7 using a shotgun and spider mines, but it was very difficult compared to other levels. I was too curious about the new intel to step back. The pixel art there looks great.
Nice job! Level 7 is very hard to get an S rank on, I've only done it a few times myself.
Is collateral damage bad for the rating?
Currently there's no penalty at all, rank is strictly determined by number of hits taken and your total mission time. In the future certain levels will require you to keep a collateral damage threshold down though.
I assuem a rough idea would be for the player to eb doing a beach defense against waves of crabs?
I've been thinking the objective will be that you'll actually need to wipe out some nests in an area, or perhaps retrieve a crate similar to the seventh mission in the demo. There would likely be allied support units as well.
Also loving that artwork and especially that cockpit view! The telephone really reminds me of Cowboy Bebop.
Thank you for the comment. The weapon idea sounds kind of like an EMP to me, and the concept of fighting in a level that's already been destroyed from previous combat in the area will show up too. I'm glad you like the technical manual too!
Thanks for the report! I'll need to figure out a way to have Game Maker detect if you're alt tabbed. It's supposed to only be rendering what's on screen but if nothing is then everything despawns.
Also I love this game but getting an S rank on level 6 and 7 is so difficult, especially with the targetting difficulties of level 7. Very fun tho. Keep up the good work!
It is indeed very difficult right now, but you'll be able to come back to those levels later on with upgrades!
I BEG YOU, PLEASE TAKE THAT SMOKE AWAY FROM THE AIRSTRIKE, JUST NOT THE WAR THUNDER AGAIN. Use IR beacons to guide missiles; the crawler can certainly warn you about it.
While this would be more realistic, smoke gives enemies the chance to react and run away like with the spider bombs. I think readability is a lot more important in that regard, plus it helps distinguish it from enemy air strikes which won't have the smoke visible.
1. An electromagnetic emitter. It requires a certain amount of exposure to the enemy to disable them, but it allows you to completely or almost completely avoid collateral damage (the same goes for sonic weapons, but I don't know how it would work against unmanned vehicles.)
That's an interesting concept and I'll definitely consider it for missions where one needs to keep collateral damage down, though it does seem extremely specialized.
7. Drones with machine guns and kamikaze drones in the missile slot. They can follow terrain and are homing, but their slow speed makes them susceptible to being shot down by machine guns and autocannons, but they can't be intercepted by APS.
Are you going to post a new demo or is this the last one.
More demos are coming, it just takes a while since it's a solo project.
Are you going to add more legs? Not just quad, maybe Bipedal or even tracks.
Honestly, after a lot of consideration, I'm thinking probably not since I don't really see how it'd change the gameplay aside from a tweak in visuals. It's easier to just swap the "engine" of the vehicle to change things like speed and acceleration.
Also one fun idea you could do is double weapons, one side shotgun and the other side machine gun instead of missiles.
I considered it, but I think it would make balancing the game much harder.
Also, I just read the new report, does it mean Smoothbore cannon is gonna be faster in firerate, because it would make it 10x better.
It will have a faster fire rate and building penetration, plus more damage.
Ok thats all I have and btw, did I mention this game is peak?
Knowing your core gameplay loop and optimizing the hell out of it is far preferable to "triple A" titles that shove in everything and the kitchen sink, and end up with an experience that is just bland (*cough* Bethesda *cough* Starfield *cough*).
I fully agree.
As it is, my suggestion is to consider environments that would challenge the Landsword. For example, a level with lots of tall peaks and narrow valleys (which Mars definitely has) such that the mountains obscure radar returns and allow for enemy ambushes.
Varying terrain height would be pretty hard with the way things are set up currently, but perhaps not impossible. I'll probably need to figure out some new methods to render things in order for it to look right though; something to research.
I also feel that introducing more varied enemies will help because it will give you more building blocks to design levels with. For example, an easy early level could be revisited later with more challenging enemies. More aerial attackers is also an option to consider.
Good idea. I think some of the Ratchet & Clank games on the PS2 did that in addition to randomizing enemy positions. Will definitely try to implement that.
Finally, I think the campaign needs more coherent connections/transitions between levels or groups of levels - right now they feel very disjointed and arbitrary.
I agree, they're quite disjointed at the moment. I intend to have different regions split up into groups of five or six missions which will reuse the same set of assets so that the levels will feel more connected together and lead into the next region/set.
Overall, I am looking forward to where you go with things and I'm confident you'll deliver something even more outstanding than what you've already shown us.
There'll definitely be a very hectic mission at some point where you fight both at once, haha.
Thanks for the weapon ideas! I think the electromagnetic coil mortar is an interesting one that'd be easier to balance than the current setup with the stackgun.
I am aware that MASER is an acronym like laser, but I wanted something different from the laser weapon that's already in the game and I didn't want to call it a tesla coil honestly, haha.
That brings me to my 1st weapon suggestion, a high powered microwave: An HPM is to a maser what a floodlight is to a laser, and it's the technology behind what is usually depicted as "EMP" in fiction. It should be capable of downing drones and missiles, messing with computer systems and comms, and even stunning or killing organic nervous systems at very close range.
Cool concept! I think it's pretty important that the player can see a visible beam where they're firing like a laser though, and I also think it might behave too similar to the flamethrower/laser with how it creates fire. I feel like it might end up being too close to those weapons and end up by the wayside or make them completely obsolete.
My 2nd, cooler suggestion, is the gyrojet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrojet. The projectiles would start out slow and harmless, and accelerate, gaining damage and penetration power as they travel.
This one sounds like it'd be fun and somewhat amusing to see the rapid acceleration. Will definitely try it!
The 3rd suggestion is what basically everyone else mentioned: explodier indirect fire weapons! Though for something as martian (read: spindly) as a crawler, a mortar probably makes more sense than a howitzer.
Many people have suggested something like a howitzer/mortar before, I'll give it a shot but I do worry that like the stackgun it'll end up being extremely OP since you can fire over buildings with it.
An idea for yet another 20mm Autocanon: Hyper burst mode, based on yet more cold war era madness, in the form of the G11 or the AN-94: first few rounds after firing are fired almost simultaneously and very accurately, then it becomes regular auto-fire if the mouse button is still held.
I actually tried a burst fire chaingun weapon that fired three shots rapidly and then paused, but I thought it just didn't feel very good to use. The different types of ammo are a cool idea though, and maybe that could make it feel more distinct.
I'm especially thinking about the 120mm cannon, which I feel is the least useful weapon currently, by virtue of having a low rate of fire, bad penetration, and not enough damage to justify everything. Being an adaptable multi-tool with different shells could make it both more useful and more unique and interesting.
I've majorly boosted its damage and added penetration since the release of the current build, in the next one it should be way more useful.
Electrolaser - ruler-straight lightning is a visual that always fascinated me, and in-game it could have the visual cool factor and damage profile of your new electric arc weapon without the tracking, but the fire - starting and hit-scan convenience of a laser without the infinite range.
It might be a bit too similar to the maser and laser in the game right now I'm afraid.
Ball lightning launcher - we don't know what ball lightning actually is irl, so we can make up whatever! My idea is slow, floaty balls of plasma that automatically home in on targets made of steel before zapping/exploding them.
Fun concept! Worth a shot trying out.
Thermic lance - A melee weapon, could work like a jousting lance: damage would be dependent on velocity at time of impact, though maybe it could also be used to slash, like the plasma whip. Unlike real thermic lances, this one could have its rod be unwound from a spool of wire to restore its length after every attack, with that being the "ammo" for the weapon.
This one has been planned for a while actually. I really like the spool idea, I think that could look very cool in game.
Well these were all my ideas. Again, thank you for this game that's both beautifully pixelated and refreshingly arcadey!
Thank you again for all of the ideas and kind words, I appreciate it!
A hacking weapon could be cool since the team system is now in place, but I do worry it could become too OP very quickly. It's worth a shot experimenting with though, thanks for the idea!
As for some suggestions, perhaps it could be interesting to give the crabs a small animation where they spread their claws before they lunge? I did think it could be frustrating to not know when they're going to jump, unless that's part of their charm.
They have some sound cues in addition to a limited range, but I think it's best to keep players on their toes without a clear indicator. The main thing is just staying away from where they're facing, there's a randomized cone of about 20-30 degrees where they'll lunge if they're lined up at you.
For weapons someone mentioned a radiation gun, I like that idea, perhaps it could be some kind of short range weapon that does that blast thing with nuclear explosions where everything gets incinerated by the heat and it does that puff of smoke on everything (I don't know if that's really clear though, explaining is not my forte)
