[feedback] Gunwing - vertically scrolling shoot em

Community Forums/Showcase/[feedback] Gunwing - vertically scrolling shoot em

Binary_Moon(Posted 2007) [#1]
The demo has been updated on the 9th of Feb - you can get it from the same location

Gunwing is a vertically scrolling shoot em up that we are just putting the final touches too so we are looking for feedback...

You can see screenshots and an interview with the developer about the game here :

http://www.binaryjoy.co.uk/games/features/gun-wing-formerly-eridani-game-preview/

you can get the demo here :

http://www.binarysun.co.uk/downloads/demo_gunwing.exe

Any and all feedback would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance


Grey Alien(Posted 2007) [#2]
well you know my feedback. Good luck with this!


Panno(Posted 2007) [#3]
runs smooth here 35576 points


the rockets are cool
personally i dont like the enemy gfx - sorry
it needs more gfx tricks an a cool hud

mfg


Binary_Moon(Posted 2007) [#4]
grey - we made quite a few of the changes you suggested. There are a few things that didn't go in... generally because they were too much work, but most things have been changed :)

panno - we realised that not everybody would like the graphics, but we think it looks good enough that there will be some interest - and we wanted it to be nice and stylised.

ignoring the graphics how was the gameplay?

at least it worked :)


Geehawk(Posted 2007) [#5]
Completed the demo fine. Ran smooth enough.

Mouse control just felt too slow and cumbersome to use.

Gameplay was nice and simple. The rockets seemed a bit slow. Other shots had usually destroyed everything before they got near.

The difficulty levels however are not to my liking. They seem to be harder not because of in increased level of enemy speed, intelligence or firepower, but rather just by a crippling of the firepower you have by making them take longer to kill. The result being that you can play for umpteen levels, not killing much, not increasing your weaponry or score, and not getting killed either.
I quit playing the hard level as I just got fed up rather than I got killed which in my opinion is not how it should be.

Oh and, I'm sorry but I can't ignore the graphics. The enemies look like they come from a completely different game to the rest. Its very odd.


Panno(Posted 2007) [#6]
first to say :
i played in easy - so i need no other buttons as left mouse .

onetime an enemy comes from the back , is this right ?

the updatemethod for the wepons is ok.
But i mean more
gamefun will come if the player must collect the gem's.
speedup the time for ship follows the mouse is not in yet or ? (easing = dunno in english)

The Gameplay is ok (easy) here smooth and fast enough

sometimes i move the mouse out the gamescreen , "resume game" is a nice option :).
move the mouse back to the latest position before she left the window and then resume is needed , because ithe player have no control for the ship after the outwindowthing.

now test extreme thingy.

hmm this is really hard only get 100 points

one thing moore : kill the enemyshoots isnt possible ??
i like the the player-ship-explosion :)
mfg


Grey Alien(Posted 2007) [#7]
OK Ben I'll take another look soon.

I prefered Joystick control :-)


HappyCat(Posted 2007) [#8]
Hi, cheers for the feedback everyone!

Anyway, Gun wing is my baby so I guess I should respond :-)

Enemy Graphics: When I first started the entire game had a very abstract look (enemies and backgrounds) so it looked more coherent. As I expanded the game with more backgrounds I started to include some more "realistic" backgrounds to show a progression (from earth, into space and towards the aliens's abstract planet). Unfortunately that's kinda lost by putting the first two backgrounds in the demo. Perhaps we should choose different backgrounds for the demo so it doesn't look so odd.

HUD: I like it simple like that. Doesn't clutter or get in the way.

Mouse Movement: Mouse movement is the same speed as keyboard and joystick movement, which was the idea.

Difficulty: They do have increased firepower, but yes the main factor is their increased hit points. No ones else has commented on this, but will keep it in mind.

Enemies from behind: Yes that's intentional - there's not many of them, but I have to keep you on your toes :-)

Mouse out of window: Yes, I'm not 100% sure of that myself. Until very recently the mouse was confined to the window when you were controlling the ship. I do find myself getting confused at times with the new method - will see if anyone else has any thoughts.

Enemy shots: You can't shoot them, but the shield and smartbomb will get rid of them.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback :-)


fredborg(Posted 2007) [#9]
Plays fine!

Contrary to what most people have mentioned so far, I think the enemies are fine, but the backgrounds are quite poor. I liked the old version, when it was called Eridani or whatever, it was much better looking. It's just not consistent as it is now.

Oh, and you knicked my name! *shakes angry fist*


HappyCat(Posted 2007) [#10]
What "Gun Wing"? Came from a pretty random list of game-name-type words that I put together - Gun Wing stood out to me as being a "correct" description of the game (that is you control a flying thing that shoots) and it sounded like an old arcade game - which I liked. Sorry :-)

And the old Eridani backgrounds are still in there, they're just a bit later on in the game now (they're not in the current demo). As I said above, perhaps we should choose different backgrounds for the demo :-)


TheSin(Posted 2007) [#11]
Liked every bit of the demo but without multiplayer I'll not pay 20 dollars for it :-/ The mouse controlls are excellent, had a fun time collecting the 34,5k points :-)


smilertoo(Posted 2007) [#12]
Easy and normal mode were fine, extreme sucked ass...cant kill any waves which means no wepaon power up which means its just a game of dodge.


HappyCat(Posted 2007) [#13]
Yeah, I played the harder modes again last night and I have to say they were crap. I screwed up there and will re-visit them asap.


TheSin(Posted 2007) [#14]
Smiler is right...
Compared to normal, the harder modes are too difficult. I got Level 4 weapon upgrade in wave 9 and was killed by the enemy in wave 10 the first time. If you die you've got no chance to beat the enemy. Sucks!


caff_(Posted 2007) [#15]
fredborg - Any news on your Gunwing? :)

(sorry to hijack)


TheSin(Posted 2007) [#16]
Thread hijacking sucks


HappyCat(Posted 2007) [#17]
That's okay - I didn't realise there was another Gun Wing around. I had a good look around before picking it and couldn't find anything.


Binary_Moon(Posted 2007) [#18]
Have updated the demo. Hopefully you can now do something worthwhile in the harder difficulties :)

http://www.binarysun.co.uk/downloads/demo_gunwing.exe

Have also played with the backgrounds and generally tweaked things all round.

Let us know your thoughts

Thanks


Geehawk(Posted 2007) [#19]
The hard/extreme levels still seem wrong to me.

Granted I managed a weapons upgrade so was able to kill more, but then lost a life and got my weapons downgraded and from then on in it was impossible to gain upgrades again.

Do the upgrades only get awarded if you destroy all enemies in a particular formation?
It seems that way, and at times (a lot of the time) it was impossible to destroy the whole formation in the available time it was on screen, even with a 100% hit rate.

Maybe award just for individual kills too with a bigger bonus for whole formations. At least that way slow progress could be made.

Easy is still fun though ;-)

EDIT: oh and some of the new backgrounds made me feel ill/motion sickness type thing :-(


HappyCat(Posted 2007) [#20]
Yeah, you get weapon upgrades by filling up the power gauge, which happens when you destroy whole formations of enemies.

Early testers complained that the whole game was too easy so I'm actually quite comforted that Hard is actually quite hard (but do-able). Extreme is pretty over the top though, but it is called Extreme after all :-)


Sonic(Posted 2007) [#21]
Yeah I like it, fun and hypnotic. Not sure about the player sprite, and I felt in Easy you get too many weapon powerups, while in Normal not enough. Apart from that, great!


Binary_Moon(Posted 2007) [#22]
I think maybe we need to tweak the upgrades again.

Keep the feedback coming people - we're releasing it soon!


Binary_Moon(Posted 2007) [#23]
final demo is up - hopefully the difficulty is sorted now!


Geehawk(Posted 2007) [#24]
You're not going to like this but I still think the difficulty is up the spout.

Easy - very easy, but still quite fun

Normal - Seems a bit harder, and quite fun

Hard - Suddenly when there are enemies which shoot on the screen, there is a hail of shots which with the best will in the world are impossible to avoid, so you smart bomb, shield or die, none of which help in the weapons upgrage stakes.
I'm not saying its not harder, but the way in which it gets hard just makes it a chore for me not a challenge.
Extreme is much the same but you are even more likely to die young, and there seems nothing you can do about it.

I would also still question the point of the missiles ?? as by the time you are awarded them your lasers (?) are more than capable off destroying anything on screen well before the missles get there.

It does also seem very samey with the one colour enemies, mostly from the demo at least appearing in straight line formations.
I got excited by the snake formations, but then was disappointed when on shooting it it did not break into 2 separate enemies in different directions but kept on as before.

I've been playing one of the Gridwars clones a lot lately, and there is a sense of urgency as things hot up in that, and you get attacked by something with apparent intelligence.
In this unfortuneately I feel cheated as the harder levels just start out too hard IMO, and you are killed by enemies which exhibit little intelligence, they are just better armoured and have bigger guns.

I much prefer the gets progressively harder approach.

Certainly now I get killed rather than bored in the hard/extreme levels, but there is an inevitability about it that makes me not choose them.

Sorry. Its just my opinion.


Réno(Posted 2007) [#25]
I like it ;)

I like slow shooting action. Thanks for the gamepad support.

The music plays good and the sound effects are great.

But...

You should make all the graphics in the way of the ennemi's style.

What about making a futurist Shoot-them-up with landscape collision, ability to go down or flighing in the techno-sky... minimalist electro music dancing in realtime... someone said REZ ?

I don't know if it is possible, but why not adding a GLOW effect in realtime too ?

...mmm, it gives me ideas for a futur game...

;)