Death from Above a steampunk shmupNOW WITH DEMO

Played it again.

What is the player's hit box?

Super large enemies sometimes have bullet collision even after death.

Spacing is still an issue: because the game is horizontal from Left to Right, having enemies that appear bottom left AND follow the player closely guarantees damage.

Can you even get through the game without getting hit?

hi everyone I been away for a week on a small holiday well I am back now so lets go over all this constructive crisis and see what we can do also I am putting everything I write in bold so you know it is when I am responding to a quote

Just had a quick go at work.

I can use shield after I had died so shield is appearing without player sprite.

ok I fixed that in and will be gone by the next update

The player is jumping on the edges when trying to keep in bounds

(this is probably because your player control events are happening after your keep in bounds events. If you change the order around this should stop.)

totally didn't notice that i will try my best to fix that issue

There is not enough feedback when I am hit.

maybe I can add a noise or little animation or something

The primary fire sprites could do with a little beefing up graphics wise, just a little, they are hard to see against some of the backgrounds.

can do

The player hit box appears to be front weighted, (very accurate to the front of the ship but missing for much of the back of the sprite )

normally for these types of games you want a hit box that is smaller (maybe half the size) of the player sprite and bang in the middle.

this is my hitbox do you think it sould be smaller

I would dearly love to see the bosses animated….

can do but lets focus on fixing the controls and the basic first

Dude, Ive had a few more plays. and I think there is an issue with your player control. I've tried in both edge and chrome and your player ship is jumping / stepping in big jumps instead of moving smoothly while under control. Assuming this is not deliberate. It is like it is reading touch only every 0.3 seconds or fighting the input. Is it possible you have two sets of control active on the player ship at the same time??? Like a move to position is active at the same time as well as a drag and drop or something? Please dont take this the wrong way, its just that I love shmups and I think your game has the potential to be something special.

I don't think so if you like I could send you my game capx see if you can see the problem?

For wich platforms do you consider publishing it?

Honestly, I didn't think that far ahead, I make games for fun not profit

PrinceofMars

I'll be honest I only played it briefly.

In the time I played it I only have one complaint/suggestion.

The reason I actually closed it was because at some point I had acquired a power up to my gun that turn my shots into a constant firing laser beam that seemed to be switching fast between red,green, and blue I think.

Anyways that beams constant super fast color switching was really messing with me and I just couldn't keep looking at the game/screen because of it.

My concern is that I think some people with Photosensitive epilepsy might get seizures from watching it though I can't say for sure. I myself am not susceptible to that condition but I still think it might be a good idea to modify that beam/lasers colors and animations.

Just my 2 cents.

Other than that I found it pretty fun.

Ok, I will lower the speed of the animation from 15 fps to 5 that should fix the problem right? I hope you can find the time to play the whole demo

Played it again.

What is the player's hit box?

you can see it in my last post do you think it is too large

Super large enemies sometimes have bullet collision even after death.

do you mean you can still hit them with your bullets even after they die because that should not happen when an enemy dies, it deletes the original object and spawns the appropriate dead object

Spacing is still an issue: because the game is horizontal from Left to Right, having enemies that appear bottom left AND follow the player closely guarantees damage.

I do regret making the screen as small as it is I originally decided they make it that Samuel and the sprite as large as they are so it could be easy to see on mobile screen

Can you even get through the game without getting hit?

probably not since most enemy attacks are done by random that's why I gave the player a reflective shield and the health bar instead of a one hit kill

Played it again.

What is the player's hit box?

you can see it in my last post do you think it is too large

Super large enemies sometimes have bullet collision even after death.

do you mean you can still hit them with your bullets even after they die because that should not happen when an enemy dies, it deletes the original object and spawns the appropriate dead object

Spacing is still an issue: because the game is horizontal from Left to Right, having enemies that appear bottom left AND follow the player closely guarantees damage.

I do regret making the screen as small as it is I originally decided they make it that Samuel and the sprite as large as they are so it could be easy to see on mobile screen

Can you even get through the game without getting hit?

probably not since most enemy attacks are done by random that's why I gave the player a reflective shield and the health bar instead of a one hit kill

The size of the hitbox might not be an issue if it was clearly indicated in-game (highlighting it would help). Some of the larger enemies that don't disappear I feel either block bullets from hitting enemies behind it... OR there was so much stuff on screen that I couldn't tell. I have no idea how the reflective shield actually works. And you should never make a SHMUP where you could never get through the entire game without getting hit. I'm not even sure if there's a game developed in which you could never avoid taking damage other than RPGs.

PrinceofMars

I don’t mind having a look if you don’t mind sharing…

I can promise non-disclosure (for what it is worth)

but I can’t promise a quick response (very busy at work at the moment + family = have little time for anything, even my own project.)

But yea, PM me if you like…

Right I have updated the game a little I have included the ability to use keyboard controls slowed down the laser animation slightly changed the enemy bullet sprites to make them slightly more noticeable and made the player sprite flash when taking damage

PrinceofMars your game is looking brilliant.

A small bug report: When I chose "Z X arrows" and play it works fine, then in the second level still fine.... but I lost all lives and the game started again in level ONE, but now X didn't FIRE, Z still activated sheilds but had to press LMB to FIRE.

I'm really impressed with the amount of work you've put into this. Keep it up.

PrinceofMars

something different i want to ask: what tool/s you use to ceate the animated GIFs from the videos?

really nice, the gameplay is awesome and graphically i must admit : i'm jealous !!! keep up the good work

I would just like to apologize to everyone for my delayed response, I had something of a family emergency last week when my mum had a stroke, so I have spent most of my free time in and out of the hospital, but it was only a mini stroke and she is looking much better now so I can slowly get back to work.

Steve Cameron[quote:1ilwe4m4]

A small bug report: When I chose "Z X arrows" and play it works fine, then in the second level still fine.... but I lost all lives and the game started again in level ONE, but now X didn't FIRE, Z still activated sheilds but had to press LMB to FIRE.

I know exactly what caused that bug and it will be fixed by the next update

mercuryus[quote:1ilwe4m4]

something different i want to ask: what tool/s you use to ceate the animated GIFs from the videos?

I use screentogif http://www.screentogif.com/ I can't recommend enough, it does exactly what it says on tin

remib74[quote:1ilwe4m4]really nice, the gameplay is awesome and graphically i must admit : i'm jealous !!! keep up the good work

thanks bro it means a lot I got to admit this game was not the breakout success I had hoped so fan mail means the world to me

Ok, some more concept art since I got to admit drawing the bosses is the most enjoyable part of game creation to me

I would just like to apologize to everyone for my delayed response, I had something of a family emergency last week when my mum had a stroke, so I have spent most of my free time in and out of the hospital, but it was only a mini stroke and she is looking much better now so I can slowly get back to work.

Steve Cameron[quote:4m0rmskp]

A small bug report: When I chose "Z X arrows" and play it works fine, then in the second level still fine.... but I lost all lives and the game started again in level ONE, but now X didn't FIRE, Z still activated sheilds but had to press LMB to FIRE.

I know exactly what caused that bug and it will be fixed by the next update

mercuryus[quote:4m0rmskp]

something different i want to ask: what tool/s you use to ceate the animated GIFs from the videos?

I use screentogif http://www.screentogif.com/ I can't recommend enough, it does exactly what it says on tin

remib74[quote:4m0rmskp]really nice, the gameplay is awesome and graphically i must admit : i'm jealous !!! keep up the good work

thanks bro it means a lot I got to admit this game was not the breakout success I had hoped so fan mail means the world to me

Ok, some more concept art since I got to admit drawing the bosses is the most enjoyable part of game creation to me

good job on this game, you continue working on it sure? <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink">

Nice to see your game becoming better and better every month =D

PrinceofMars hasnt been around for months. I have a feeling his mom took a turn for the worst. I was working with him on some touch control enhancements for his next build around the time his mom had the stroke. I haven't heard from him since and he hasn't posted any updates here.

Hopefully he will resurface sometime again as it was a great project.

Such is the fragile nature of indi development. The universe's plans will not always align with our own.

PrinceofMars hasnt been around for months. I have a feeling his mom took a turn for the worst. I was working with him on some touch control enhancements for his next build around the time his mom had the stroke. I haven't heard from him since and he hasn't posted any updates here.

Hopefully he will resurface sometime again as it was a great project.

Such is the fragile nature of indi development. The universe's plans will not always align with our own.

I am so sorry i totally forgot to upload the improved touch controls i will do that today as for my mum yeah she had another stroke not long after my last post but she is recovering well and out of the blue she said she wanted to try video games I gave her my psp and she loves jrpgs now especially the suikoden series I also had some other personal relationship stuff i dont want to get into but yeah i had a pretty awful year.

But for the last month or so I feel the urge to create again.

I am not sure if I want to continue with Death from Above, it had a very lukewarm response, but I feel I learned a lot from making it the most important lesson I learned was gameplay comes first I should make sure it plays well before I spend forever making sprites.

what shall I make next? I have 2 ideas the first being completely remaking Reload my Time Crisis homage it was highly popular on the scirra arcade but I want to make it from scratch because of the VERY messy way I programmed the original.

the other idea I had make a metal slug like game not sure if I want to make it a metroidvania type game or a arcade style game but I have been drawing concept art