[Prototype] SoulSphere

edited in Projects
Hey guys,

I've been trying to make games but always end up scoping much higher than my current skill level which leaves me frustrated because I don't make finished games, so this time I've gone much much smaller in hopes of doing just that and this is what I got so far:

DOWNLOAD
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uu5ol554zhnvjlz/SoulSphere_prototype_v2.7z?dl=0

image

It's a 1 button / tap based twitch action game. Guns, Axes, Swords and Monsters are what I like and so that's what I want to make.

Inspired by Circle, SuperCrateBox, Nuclear Throne.

Personal Goal: In the words of uncle Derek Yu "Finish a damn game"
Games Goal: Kill as many monsters as possible.
Scope: Small as possible for to accomplish a fun 5min experience.
Mantra: simple input + easy to understand mechanics * spectacle.

Questions:

1. Would the concept of 3 lives increase the "fun" playable time?
2. How long did you play?
3. Was it fun?
4. How important is the ammo count / weapon durability number for you to see?
5. Suggest a game name?
6. What did you not like?
Thanked by 1konman

Comments

  • Played for a few minutes. Never seemed to have the sword for long enough to actually figure out how to swing it (intro screen says 0 but i'm not sure that did anything).
    Took me a while to figure out that you clicked to change direction and that was it - I like this as a movement mechanic because it made the monsters coming at you more scary cause you have to think about how you'd get away.
    Took me a while to figure out that I was getting weapons from the boxes flying overhead. Once I understood that, I liked that idea.
    I gained exactly zero points while playing, died a lot. I didn't find this too bad since you just restart, but perhaps once you get points you might want to see if you're improving/not improving.
  • edited
    @Pomb: Feedback! :)

    1. Would the concept of 3 lives increase the "fun" playable time?
    Yes, 3 lives gives it that arcade machine feel.

    2. How long did you play?
    10-15 minutes.

    3. Was it fun?
    Yes, though a simple concept. I can see potential. Was fun working out the mechanic.

    4. How important is the ammo count / weapon durability number for you to see?
    Very. I didn't like the fact I could not judge when ammo would run out.

    5. Suggest a game name?
    Capoeira. The rhythmic nature of the rotation reminded me of that Brazilian martial art/dance discipline of the same name...

    6. What did you not like?

    -7z archive.
    -Graphics on far edges seem blurry.
    -Short duration of ammo once I have a weapon (ammo runs out too quick)
    -Not immediately aware if enemy is attacking me or not (was their hit successful?), needs better feedback (sound and visual)
    -Too simplistic in current state.

    8) What I did like:
    -I like the basic control scheme, could work well on mobile.
    -Simple mechanic - Rotation swapping thing
    -How you "find" new weapons by disarming opponents
    -Variety in weapon style - close quarter and ranged weapons available
    -Like 1 click to attack as well as change direction
    -Art style
    -Musical soundtrack!

    Further suggestions:

    -More weapon variety
    -I would like to see armor piece pickups, so you "Level up" that way and become tougher
    -You can also lose armor piece by piece until you are naked vulnerable?
    -Enemy health, maybe they need more than 1 hit to kill?
    -Also if you could stagger an enemy when hit so you can do multiple hits (combos?)
    -Power-ups? Where you become uber powerful and pulverise in one shot.
    -Traps! to avoid (spikes, blades and fire)
    -Maybe holes in the island to avoid, so you drop down to lower more dangerous islands/levels (more traps/stronger monsters?)
    -Trampolines could elevate you upwards again towards higher levels that are lower in difficulty, maybe a heaven and hell theme to layered islands? You strive to get all the way to the top (heaven), but gravity? pulls you down to hell ;-P

    But I digress...

    K
  • @Dammit, soz I think the instructions were probably a little misleading, my bad.
    Hopefully it's clearer without instructions since, just click to do everything. Click to play.

    @Konman Thanks for playing mate! I'm stoked it was worth more than 3mins of play time thats awesome, thanks for your input. I'm still considering the Armour thing, I'm on the fence on how I feel about being able to get hit multiple times, but that being said I added a 1 life mechanic of death mode / soul mode.
    I'm totally going to try put in more trap like weapons like Ice spikes and flame things, I really like some of your suggestions, like the holes idea and multi hit enemies are really cool :D

    What's new:
    camera shake
    death/ soul mode
    mines and explosions
    best score
    sfx
    particles
    logo... haha
    menu screen

    For those who don't have the time to download and play.


    I'll just add in quick that making the Logo, whilst at this stage is totally useless in terms of making more game, it allowed me to delve a little deeper into the art of particles, more specifically animated particles, and what doesn't work.
    Thanked by 1konman
  • Really like the graphics and game style!
    There was an issue I found when playing on different resolutions. It seems that the mouse position is a bit offset on lower resolutions which makes the game pretty impossible to play but it worked fine on full resolution.

    Questions:

    1. Would the concept of 3 lives increase the "fun" playable time?
    I like the current mechanic where you have to hit an enemy twice in a short duration to die but 3 lives could also be fun although it is difficult to say without really testing.

    2. How long did you play?
    20-30minutes. Needs more content to keep me playing because it was the same types of enemies the entire time.

    3. Was it fun?
    Definitely. Could be a really fun mobile game as well.

    4. How important is the ammo count / weapon durability number for you to see?
    Very important.

    5. Suggest a game name?
    Name as is looks fine.

    6. What did you not like?
    * Very low ammo.
    * At times there were no way to kill enemies for long duration especially if you get hit by a bird at the same time a crate comes.
    * Little content. Add more enemies (different behaviors) and weapon choices.
    * When you need to pickup a crate and at the same time turn direction you would lose one ammo sometimes. (Not sure of a solution to this except having 2 buttons. One for moving and one for shooting)

    7. What I did like?
    * Graphics style was nice and neat
    * Gameplay core mechanics were easy to understand and really fun
    * Random weapons to take out birds
    * Small map
    * 1 button game

    Suggestions
    * Add a basic attack that can kill enemies but difficult to land. Almost like the Axe with a very short hit range.
    * Add different types of enemies that behave differently. Some could move unpredictably or even have more health requiring more hits to kill
    * Powerups that make your player kill all enemies it runs over or make it move faster or slower depending on the powerup
    * Port to mobile
  • @Zaphire Thanks for taking the time to play and write feedback. Pretty happy that the games current content can hold attention for that long, it's quite surprising.

    6. low ammo counts; So part of the reasoning I'm going with here is that it makes for higher frequency change in type of game from offensive to defensive, the next build I'll double the ammo counts just to see how people re-act to this, but becoming a common remark among my work colleagues that they want to be attacking more than dodging.

    More enemy behaviors! Doing it! I'm trying to implement an enemy that flies in a sign wave along the x|z plane it's going to be pretty tough to judge I think.

    7. At the moment you can't kill the birds, and I'm not sure I'd want you to kill them because they the source of change, what I don't know how to fix here is new players don't know that the bird/crate is collectible, and then never try get the bird. I might do away with the bird completely and have the crates spawn on the circumference of your path. It needs some more thought.

    8. Attack and direction on the same key, done to make it easy for touch devices. playing one hand holding the device the other tapping. I'll experiment with adding in the 2nd button though.

    suggestion: short ranged weapon! DONE making a dagger! or a floppy fish that stuns and knocks back enemies :D

    Thanks again!

    Here's the new weapon I'm working on: IceShards
    https://vine.co/v/eFLgb6AYgn1
    ps: so difficult is it to record and play at the same time!! wow.
  • Hey @Pomb

    Didn't mean take out the crate birds. Thought all the enemies were birds :D

    I think what you could do for the crate drops is have floating text above the bird that says "Collect". Looking forward to your updates.
  • Hi @Pomb, had a quick play and it was fun. I like the main character. Would be cool if it murmured to itself little funny sounds maybe.
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