Attack of the Alien Space Beetles - DEMO VERSION!
Community Forums/Showcase/Attack of the Alien Space Beetles - DEMO VERSION!
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| I now have a demo available for my game Attack of the Alien Space Beetles, written in BlitzMax! The demo features the first three levels of the game, and can be downloaded here: http://raccoonrocket.com/asb/Attack.of.the.Alien.Space.Beetles.Demo-v1.0.exe The full game is only $9.95, and can be purchased here and downloaded instantly: http://www.shareit.com/product.html?productid=300320729  I'd like feedback on it, but just be aware that I'm not going to be able to make any major changes to the gameplay at this point. I'm particulary interested to know if it runs well on Vista, since I was only able to test it on Vista once several months ago. |
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| Alrighty, Played first level, and half of the second. Presented very well, menus are done well enough. The enemies are smoothly animated and are drawn well. The game for what it is, I think ranks up with any other game ive played that intended to be in the Millipede, Galaxis type genra. The power ups, weapons and the juggling for more points are well done I think. Here are some rough points imo. I've never been a fan of mouse control in these types of games, i think its the cheap way to play.. I like to use keys or joysticks. With a mouse I feel like im playing with MSPAINT or whatever.. not a video game feel to me. But thats my personal opinion and I dont think ive had anyone else ever share that perspective with me. :) Sound is a little sharp at times, but not unbearable. The snap into positon effect between waves should be changed, either a fade in/out quickly. or an interpolate for the main ship from point to point.. The scene reset is jerky and obvious. I mentioned I only played to middle of level 2, but at least one bad guy is drawn as though he should be in a platformer game, its the three eyed green slug thing. His base looks like its resting on a flat surface and doesnt fit the open space theme well. Thats it from me, I didnt play very far. Im a little preoccupied, but I did notice the topic is three hours old, and thought your work deserved a reply of some sort soon :). is there ever a boss ? Keep it up. |
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| I've never been a fan of mouse control in these types of games Mouse control is a must for casual games though. No portal would touch the game if it didn't have mouse control. It would be too difficult for old wives to figure out. :-) I mentioned I only played to middle of level 2, but at least one bad guy is drawn as though he should be in a platformer game, its the three eyed green slug thing. His base looks like its resting on a flat surface and doesnt fit the open space theme well. Yeah, I agree, and originally I was going to leave him out for that reason, but he's one of the funnier looking aliens, and I needed something to replace another enemy which looked boring and which I couldn't think of a unqiue attack pattern for. is there ever a boss? Not in the demo. The first boss is at the end of level 5, and I didn't want to give away half the game. Anyway, thanks for the input. :-) |
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| Hi sswift, The game looks policed and nice but I'm on a laptop and without a mouse sensitivity adjustment its virtually impossible to play... I managed to get to mid-second level before I died but if you could add a mouse sensitivity adjustment to it you would increase playability into laptops. I couldnt get the powerups because of this problem... I'll check it out again if you add the mouse sensitivity adjustment. basicially... I need to be able to get from one side of the screen to the other with one sweep of the mousepad. looks good so far Cheers |
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| Skully: Could you check your mouse config on the control panel, and see if "Enhance Pointer Precision" under the pointer tab is enabled? If it is, that may be what's causing the problem. |
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| OMG I'm dumb lol... Ok, I adjusted my laptop mousepad sensitivity... hahahaha Is there a way to get weapon powerups? |
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| OMG I'm dumb lol... Ok, I adjusted my laptop mousepad sensitivity... I just assumed you didn't want to adjust your global mouse sensitivity so you could play the game. The game was not really designed for a trackpad. :-) Is there a way to get weapon powerups? The mugs increase your firepower. The barrel does so as well, but only temporarily. |
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| OK, it might be prudent to add key controls to the game as well as mouse... some people do prefer them even though I think in this game it would be a slight disadvantage... perhaps unless it did some kind of acceleration based movement Have you thought about adding wave-based enemy arrivals? In games such as this going for groups to get additional bonuses adds to the play and also to the "expertise" factor that you only get from playing the game a lot. The enemies feel a little random, and the initial enemies movement appears to be based on a sin pattern... which might be intentional.. but dont take that the wrong way I enjoyed playing it... just not being able to get additional weapons was honestly my biggest :( otherwise, its a nice clean good looking game... nice work! |
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| In regards to wave based enemy arrivals... Early on, when developing space beetles, I had enemies moving in traditional attack patterns. They'd fly across the screen while taking pot shots at you, then take up residence at the top of the screen in a space-invaders style formation, and then occasionally dive at the player. This however, effectively made the game just another Galaga clone. And who wants to play another Galaga clone? Besides, there's another game out there with alien bugs called Bugatron which fills that niche nicely. Also, traditional attack patterns aren't very amusing, and the game is supposed to be funny. So, I threw all that out and started over. This time, I tried to come up with more creative and funny types of enemy attack not normally seen in a shooter, thinking about games like Super Mario World and how enemies attacked in those. The aliens that fade in and out were loosely based on Mario's Boo ghosts for example. And the bouncing aliens... well I don't know what I based those on, but they're pretty fun to watch. That was good and all, and the game is better for it, but unfortunately it came at a cost: All those weird attack patterns lend themselves very poorly to the traditional fun of memorizing what spot the next wave of enemies will come from and blowing them all away for a bonus. However, I didn't entirely throw out the idea of enemies appearing in waves... for in addition to the non-traditional attacks, I also implemented other non-traditional elements. Specifically, I used Left 4 Dead as a model for keeping the player on their toes. Like Left 4 Dead, the game spawns random wandering enemies, and then every few seconds it spawns a horde. And speaking of Left 4 Dead... Another idea I took from Left 4 Dead which makes my game stand out from a traditional shooter is that of a director which gives you health, weapons, and lives when you need them, and takes them away when you don't. With this director, in theory, you should be constantly near death, which is generally the state which it's most fun for the player to be in... as long as they manage to stay alive, and they get to take a breather once in a while, which the level transitions provide. |
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| Oh, and as for key controls, I might implement those at some point. It's not that I don't want to offer that option... I just didn't have the time. Anyway, how are you guys liking the music? The credits screen has another song which isn't in any of the demo levels, btw. |
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| Thats a good explanation.. when I was thinking waves I didn't mean for them to hang at the top of the screen Galaga style... or if they did, beyond view... but just a "Hello were here" type of thing. Anyway.. it was just a suggestion... I'm full of it..erm I mean them LOL. Anyway... I did enjoy the ambiance of the game and the graphics are nice and crisp |
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| Very good! I think I'll order it as soon as my CC will allow it. :) One bug, though. The game allows me to change from full screen to window but when I start it again later it reverts to full screen. That should be fixed. BTW. It works perfectly under Windows 7 build 7100 and build 7137. Barney |
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| BTW. It works perfectly under Windows 7 build 7100 and build 7137. That's good to know. I'll update the share*it order page to reflect that. |
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| Great demo... I liked the music and had to laugh at the crazy laughter when you collect power-ups. I often prefer keyboard controls but here it seems mouse controls work very well. After what you said about casual and old wives I was a bit surprised at the amount of action in Wave 2 and the rest of the demo. It seems like quite a challenging shooter! I hope it sells well. (Played it on Windows XP.) Also nice that it can adapt to different resolutions. I tried to set up something to do that in Blitz Max but couldn't get it to work. |
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| As someone who's kept an eye on this since the earlier demos, notes, etc, I really wanted to like this game. But unfortunately it falls a bit short. 3 Years too short to be honest. This game might have sold ok 3+ years ago, but in today's market, there needs to be more to glue the game together. Where's the storyline? Why am I shooting at these baddies? Why is there beer mugs, gems, falling? The graphics are good, the sound fx/music is ok, but again..nothing is really glued together. Just seems like a collection of sprite routines moving things around without any real interaction with the player or the game environment. I hope you consider coding a proper sequel with a tied in story line, weapons shop, etc, etc. Because obviously you have the talent to code it. The media is good, the game name is awesome, etc. You just need to make a real game out of the assets. For research purposes, check out the "Chicken Invaders" games. A perfect example of a zany concept glued together nicely. I hope you take these comments for what they are, just my honest opinion and not an attempt to minimize what you have coded. When I get this kind of real honest feedback from other developers it sometimes stings, but ultimately it helps me understand what it takes to make a sellable product. Good luck! |
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| Unfortunately, the game isn't the next Starfox, and doesn't have a cast of characters or an interesting bad guy to drive any kind of a real story. Nor did I have the artwork to do a proper story screen. It was never really meant to be more than an arcade shooter. I know it falls short of other offerings by companies like PopCap, but they have 30 employees working on their games, and a decent budget. |
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| It was never really meant to be more than an arcade shooter. And that sums it up nicely. Why should a typical arcade shooter have a story line? Why should I stop my play every level (or whatever) and go to the shop to purchase more weapons? The game is just what it has to be. Especially for the price the author is asking. Barney |
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| Skully?! Like from 8 years ago??? Cool I gotta try this when I get home. Looks great as usual though. |
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| Had a go, quite polished, looks and sounds good, plays well (I would have liked an 'auto fire button' on my mouse as it gets a bit tedious continually left clicking. Won't be buying it though, simply as it's not the sort of game I'd usually play and also because I've played many games like this over the years and have 'grown out of them', favourites being Raiden and Xenon 2 |
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| swift few questions for you :) 1. who is your target audience with this game? 2. how long did it take you to finish this game? 3. how much $ did you invest or had to spend in some way to make this game? :) if you could answer them plz :) |
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| Maximo: 1. The casual gamer. People who are inclined to buy a game because it has cute characters, and aren't looking for anything too challenging. Kids too. 2. The artist began work on it back in September 2006, but I was still working on another title under contract at the time, so I didn't start writing code until January 2007. I worked on it off and on from there, alongside other projects. 3. It cost me $1500 for the art (plus money order feees), and around $400 for the music. Of course if you want to include my living expenses... well, you figure it out. :-) |
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| Chroma, Ya... back in the game LOL. For the record it was only about 5 years ago ;) sswift, Ouch $1500 for art! Thats a big investment (and risk) for a game of this nature since there are many flash/java games similar to it that are free. |
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| Swift...please check your gmail account. Thanks. ;) |
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| thanks for answering questions swift, I wish you success mate :) |
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| Alright, just tried it. I had more fun than I had initially expected( based off of the teaser stuff you've posted in the past )-- and its nicely polished, and looks like you put effort into it. The music is very good too. It is fun as a distraction. I think MGE summed it up quite good, better than I can. So I won't try. I do hope it is a success for you though :) A couple of bugs: -After I lost, I went to look at the credits, waited for them to finish. I exited from the main menu and it locked up. Waited awhile, tried to ctrl alt del and alt tab but no dice. Completely frozen on the main menu, with the windows mouse pointer in front. I ended up having to hard reset. I'm on XP, and never experience problems for the most part. Though, I did have opera with a million pages open, and a big visual studio project in the background while running your demo. -More minor thing, there is a roughly 1 pixel line at the bottom of the screen that shows the scrolling text through it. Just detracts a little for the scrolling text(s). Not a show stopper at all. |
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| More minor thing, there is a roughly 1 pixel line at the bottom of the screen that shows the scrolling text through it. I don't understand what you mean. After I lost, I went to look at the credits, waited for them to finish. I exited from the main menu and it locked up. Waited awhile, tried to ctrl alt del and alt tab but no dice. Completely frozen on the main menu, with the windows mouse pointer in front. I ended up having to hard reset. If there's a bug, it's not in my code. This is the code which is called when you click the quit button or hit ESC from the main menu:
' From the menu code:
Case Button_Quit
Hide()
MinimizeWindow(App.Window)
If (DEMO_VERSION = True) Then OpenURL("http://raccoonrocket.com/asb/index.html")
End
' Also from the menu code:
Function Hide(HideBackground%=True)
'If HideBackground Then Background.Hide()
Logo.Hide()
Button_Start.Hide()
Button_Options.Hide()
Button_Credits.Hide()
Button_Quit.Hide()
End Function
' From the sprite system:
Method Hide()
_Hidden = True
End Method
If you could try running the game again to see if it is something reproducable, that would be helpful. I suspect it was just a fluke, but it may have been caused by the attempt to open your web browser to show you the page begging you to purchase the game. That shouldn't have crashed your system though. However, I haven't tested it with Opera, so who knows what that's doing. Maybe it uses DirectX and conflicts with attempts to open it from another running DirectX app. |
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| If there's a bug, it's not in my code. Heh.... |
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| Well it's NOT. :-) BlitzMax isn't C. There's not a lot you can do in it which would break anything, as long as you don't access windows DLL's and stuff. While is is possible I could put the game in an infinite loop, as I showed in my code there, it basically sets one variable, calls minimize, and then ends. |
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| FWIW: I experienced a similar bug/issue when looking at the credits. Afterwars it seemed like the textures were all messed up, things were generally very messed up. I had to hard reset as well. Running on XP as well. |
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| Didn't have any problems with Win7 with the demo and don't have any now with the full version. Excellent little shooter. Just what the doctor ordered to shine up a dull day. :-) Barney |
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| MGE: So your problem is just looking at the credits caused the graphics to become corrupted? What kind of video card do you have and how much ram has it got? The only thing the credits do differently from anything else is the graphics aren't loaded when the game starts. They're loaded when the credits are displayed. Then they're freed when the credits end. Baranbius: Oh, so you're the one that bought the game. Thanks. :-) I was wondering how it sold a copy when I'd barely advertised it yet. |
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