Vastlanders ALPHA
Howdy and welcome to Vastlanders early Alpha!
If you want to see the beginnings of dashing, explosions and general badass Vastlanderness click the link below.
WINDOWS - alpha 1.4
The scattered people of the wood project would like to thank you for your kind contribution.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CREDITS
without these people this alpha would not be possible
Morne Booysen- @boysano
For near daily support, development discussions about Vastlanders
and weekly demo testing and feedback!
SOUND FOUNDRY
@Andrew_Sound_Foundry and @Greg
Sweet music for Vastlanders!
Elaine Williams
Amazing support and insight.
Jannes Oosthuizen
Feedback and advice for the ongoing story of Vastlanders.
Werner - my brother
The reason why I started making this game in the fist place.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you to everyone who gave feedback to the prototype!
PURPOSE OF THIS POST
This post is to prepare for the upcoming Super Friendship Arcade.
This alpha still has some bugs, isn't balanced yet, is level capped at level 6
and has some minor mechanics that still needs to be implemented.
CONTROLLER SUPPORT
I am still working on supporting various gamepad types, in the meantime I suggest using: Joy To Key.
Add this configuration file in the directory of the JoyToKey.exe: config file
KNOWN BUGS
-building objects sometimes doesn't want to build at certain locations.
-shielders shield doesn't stop bullets like its suppose to.
-when playing 2 player, when one player dies and revives at the next town, that player doesn't go to the tutorial platform.
-building doesn't spawn on consecutive towns.
WORK IN PROGRESS
-Depending on the ship and feeling that you need to invest in it for your survival.
-Neron (circle that is sometimes above your head).
-Balancing the levels.
-Further balancing of Rage system.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
Because the game is being set up for SFA there may be some things to take into consideration.
-lack of mouse type controls works better for shared screen experience.
-rage system is being set up to allow players with a variety of different experience levels to be able to play together.
-game is zoomed out to support multiple players on screen.
The game is currently built on three pillars:
-multiplayer (choosing to help a player or not)
-arcade
-story/progression (ship building and purchases)
Turrets were tested but doesn't seem to fit with the mechanics, a different kind of player controlled turret it planned for later implementation though.
FEEDBACK
All feedback is welcomed and highly appreciated.
Guidelines for those who want to give specific feedback:
- level balancing
- further integration of mechanics
- color balancing, making things look like they are in the desert without destroying the game play has been tricky
- prep for SFA (making things clear and new comer friendly)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
old prototype post
Hi everyone, so I'm working on Vastlanders.
It's aspiring to be a journey of comrade and loss.
Currently only one to two players are supported on keyboard - game-pad support up next.
Tutorial in game. Press Enter to restart.
Update 1.18: Windows
Feedback generally directed in the following directions would be awesome:
-I'm concerned about current key configuration - worst case scenario it's a gamepad only game.
-I am still trying to find a good balance between breaks and enemy raids.
-The number of enemies in each wave goes up each day. I am not certain whether pressurizing the player to keep moving like that is healthy or whether wave difficulty should go up by the distance traveled.
-I am still working on the feel of protecting and being protected by the hover platform you build.
Testing music used:
Borderlands 2, dam top track.
Thanks!
Comments
Answers to your questions :
1. I don't like the current key config and I explain why below.
2. The way it works atm is that the player gets to decide when the progress right ? If so then I don't think you need to worry about the pacing since the player can set their own pace. For instance one player might like building and trading more than another and thus he/she will spend more time on that before activating the hover platform to move on and fight again.
3. I vote for distance traveled. Again this allows the player to set their own pace which I think is cool about this game.
4. Cool. Perhaps you could add turrents etc. To allow for more elaborate structures.
So here is some critique :
1. I think you need to simplify the controls and the UI. I found it confusing and I don't see why the game needs to have so many buttons. One button for shooting and one button for interacting would be sufficient. In build mode you can have a like a component menu that you can cycle through to select the type of structure you want to add. Something like this :
2. The shooting is interesting but I found that the aim angle's movement to be jarring. What do you think about having it bounce back and forth instead of reseting to the start position. So instead of going {1, 2, 3, 4, 1} it would go {1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1} if that makes sense ? Think of a sin graph.
The shooting mechanism also allows for some weapons that the player have to charge up before firing which could be cool.
3. Just do some more general juicing stuff like :
-Bigger bullets from bandits.
-More bullets.
-Screenshake
The game has some pretty graphics, and the combat is nice and tense, but the rest is very, very confusing. I have an inventory full of items, and I have no idea what any of them do (did eventually figure out which one is gold). There are status effects that I have no idea how I got, or how to remove them. I don't know how much health I have nor how much damage my hover craft has taken. If descriptions of these are not provided in the game, please provide them in your post, this will help better understand your game and give better feedback.
Your two core components seem to be the combat (single player or co-op) and the hovercraft crafting. At the moment I don't see how these two compliment each other (apart from cover). If the hovercraft maybe had a turret or an accuracy bonus when you're near it, then that would support the combat. The crafting could also very easily be replaced by having predefined configurations and shapes that can be bought or upgraded (this would simplify things for the player and the designer). Unless being able to create custom hovercraft shapes supports the combat in some way, it's just crafting for crafting's sake.
I do like the idea of travelling through the desert and slaying bandits from your flying fortress, and I would love to see where it goes. Just give the player the information they need to play your game ;)
Some random observations/opinion which might be useful:
So I downloaded & fired it up. (I always hope my harddrive doesn't get wiped when the opt-in prompt for unknown content message appears when playing a new prototype for the first time...)
Menu:
I select player and configured her look with A/D (very cool, please add more diverse sprites - I could not find the dark skinned female Amazon I wanted to play...)
Your Gfx art is the bomb. (Agree with the bullet contrast issues mentioned in previous posts)
I took me quite a while to find how to start the game, which was funny. I did not notice "Press s to drop" appearing after a while, but took a few minutes to see it and get going... my bad perhaps.
Maybe the message can read "Press s to drop (starts game)" with a big 'ol yellow pulsating arrow pointing down? ;-P
Your title text is not very clear. VASTLANDERS. It's important to be crystal clear for people to remember it.
Very cool way to start the game BTW... dropping in like that.
I like the small details like dust devils appearing.
Also appreciate the effort in explaining game-play to player via tutorial and ability to choose to skip. Very nice.
Would love a zoom feature in this game. I want to have an up-close look at the decapitated head i just made.
The popup menu font is not very readable. The one above the player. I can hardly read the numbers. I know they're important...
I did not like the timed targeting cross-hair thing. I want full control over where I aim. ;-P
I loved all the carnage. parts flying, spray and blood etc.
A description of why there is a hovercraft would be more useful than the current sub text underneath the title.
That was just confusing to be honest.
I'll give this another play. I definitely will give this another play if you upload an update. :)
An interesting concept. I hope you explore it further. Thanks for sharing.
PS: Music was "sick"... hope you don't get sued ;-P
Is it a space western? (I liked the dropping from the initial menu, because I thought it meant that I was dropping in from space).
I found a few things tricky, there's a lot of controls, and it isn't intuitive which ones you use to move the platform, build walls, build more platform.
I think you could remove the "E" key altogether, and instead have build auto-on when there are no bandits and the platform is stationary. You could have a tip somewhere on screen saying "R" for floor and "F" for wall.
I think you could remove the "Q" key and just show the players' inventories on screen when appropriate (maybe at the bottom of the screen). (And have a use key to activate the traders).
The controls on the hover platform were difficult to understand. Although the trading was actually quite elegant. Although there is still room for improvement there (in particular the inventories are very small and not very clear).
The standard trading system in action games is having traders sell a limited selection of specific items at specific prices, like the traders Spelunky or Binding of Isaac or Downwell or Crawl.
There seemed to be no way to avoid death by poison. I'm not sure that the green erradiated zombies fit the theme very well. If you want to go with an erradiated wasteland theme then I'd suggest including more content that support this theme (like ghost towns that you go through with twitching bodies, or poisonous misty areas where you cannot leave your platform).
The bandits behaved quite strangely when climbing over the platform. (They sort of get stuck for a while and then move).
I'd like there to be trails in the sand left by the platform. I appreciated that some rocks disappear when the platform bumps into them, but I want the platform to be scraping the ground clean beneath it. Or at least sending up dust. I guess I interpreted it as a moving platform rather than a hovering one.
I'd like there to be a few more reasons to build a bigger platform. Like different functions that can be built. Like building a Lovers-In-A-Dangerous-Space-Time ship. At the moment the ship gets bigger, but I want to build more kind of things.
Platform VS platform desert battles!
In general, I think there's a lot of potential here.
First update is out now and is based on everyone's feedback.
Firstly I would like to mention the original goal for me with this game is to make a drop in drop out shared screen experience. If it works great at events such as super friendship arcade then I would have achieved what I intended for the game.
Secondly, still not in the game tutorial is the following:
1- the deathbar is like an inverse healthbar. (the black bar) It's an idea that rather than having less health, you are in the process of dying. Which is evident by crawling at 60% and not being able to move at all at 85%.
2- food and water is now replaced by Neron. It's what your body needs to survive and heal it self. If you are hurt your hunger for Neron increases rapidly and you need to have your hunger below 50% in order to be able to automatically heal.
If your hunger reaches 100% you start dying.
Your hunger is indicated by the circle that turns from green to red. (only appears if your hunger is above 0%)
<PRESS THE RIDE BUTTON (THIRD BUTTON) TO USE NERON TO SATISFY YOUR HUNGER>
@Kobusvdwalt9:
-Great initial tips, thanks!
@pieter:
-The building part of the game still needs its second coat - such as building barricades anywhere on the ship.
The idea is building the ship in such a way that you have good firing angles while making it difficult for enemies to reach the core (underneath the switch that moves and stops the ship) then breaking through the floor and stealing it.
-Turrets were definitely planned from the start and are up next.
@konman
-I was thinking of Transvast or Transverse (sort of already taken?)
-I am still working on drawing the text on the GUI layer but I am having some difficulty.
@EvanGreenwood
-ship vs ship battles sounds epic. I wholeheartedly agree with making the ship building more function based.
-thanks for the controls tip! -I am still working on making it look good. The enemies climb up and attack the barrier (which they get stuck on) before moving on.
CHANGELOG:
-Food and water are removed, Neron is now the only resources required for consumption.
-Bullets are bigger.
-Difficulty increases with distance not time.
-NEW AREA/DIMENSION added to give a further sense of the intended direction of the game.
-Aiming can now be switched between original and the way Kobusvdwalt9 suggested by using 'K'.
-Enemies now go more aggressively for the core.
-Player melee dammage halved.
-Controls changed.
-Screenshake added.
-Melee attacks now push back opponents.
-"done for" added, when the death bar reaches 85% you can no longer move until you heal. (will make that friends can drag you to safety in the future)
-Intro added.
-2 new characters added.
-Menu updated.
-I tried to get the gui elements drawn on the gui layer but still trying. guix=(player.x-view_xview[0])*2 doesnt work.
-Ship changes based on dimension.
-Controls changed again.
-Tutorial updated (too quick will rework it to flow better).
Hi really like the concept, and want to play it more!
But first can someone help me close the trade menu? I seem to get a lot more stuck than other to progress...
I'm playing on PC and want to use WASD, but the tutorial doesn't work for this player (on left).
To fix GUI layer send me PM or email and I can help.
You basically need to draw it bigger for now with normal draw event (please), or
if you still want it that small but HD or readable then make it bigger in actual size also, but draw a double density (scale the GUI layer) for more pixels - which will also mean that your GUI layers will have its own x/2,y/2 coordinates.
Will give more feedback when I can close the trade menu and actually make progress, most of the things have been mentioned already though and I agree with all suggestions. [EDIT] never mind, on 3rd try I could close the trade menu.
I was kinda hoping for a single player retro mad max sandbox feel, but this also works well. Love the theme! and art style...
If you want to do this, then have a look at pixel piracy, will also help with your crafting mechanics and how to do platform vs platform conflicts if that suggestion will get put in.
I agree with others if you want to keep crafting it must be meaningful (ie lots of more work and then more of a PC experience, not really arcadey action for FSA)
I'm starting to think you can make 2 versions,
1. first super juicy arcade FSA version with co-op and limited trade and change platform to mad-max style vehicles.
2. PC sandbox-style survival western with more trading and platform crafting mechanics which will be a much bigger project in scope.
Your Title Text art doesn't do justice to rest of the nice art in the game. Not sure why it bothers me so much.
I did like the intro story, but have the sub-title text after intro below the Title Text was confusing and I'd rather see it as pop-up speech bubbles during gameplay to give more character and story to the players...
Shooting without aiming was weird however I can live with it if crafting allows for accuracy and time to aim upgrades or it becomes a meaningful mechanic.
Yeah, controls can be a lot simpler, and has to be if it will be an action arcade game. If it is PC adventure action game then you can use mouse controls to simplify also.
BUG: pressing alt-enter to resize give fatal error, since a surface is destroyed and lost from memory - remember to always check if surface_exists before using them, then create them. [EDIT] In fact on every focus loss of game this crashes the game, check the surface in object: o_draw_bottom
PS: I will definitely be keeping an eye on this game, feel free to ask if you want some GMS help.
[EDIT 2] More feedback :). Did about 5 plays and got to day3.
Did much better 2nd run when only buying bullets, it is really difficult to stop (take too long) and I've missed crucial town stops around day 2-3.
BUG: Cannot die, game goes on, almost always.
The aiming mechanic is actually a good fit for this game, keeps combat close and intense which helps when picking up loot. Nice tradeoffs, since it feels very slow to wander too far from the platform. Also means you need to manage resources, gold vs bullets vs distance to next town. Thus, I'd like to know how far I am from next town.
Really like the procedural feel of the game, yeah juice needed are more platform versus environmental collisions - like destroying grass (hey small performance boost) on impact and enemies if you have spikes attached.
Enemies shoots from afar outside the screen can also cause performance issue later in game if your not careful with this one.
Small visual thing: Ladder doesn't shake with platform.
Looking forward to next update!
I am not certain whether you are playing the update so a few of the things below may or may not actually apply.
(if you saw an inventory menu at the bottom of the screen while playing, your playing the update)
Could you be more specific as to where it fails? It seems to be running as intended on my side. The controls and tutorial is different in the update.
I agree.
I want to play an arcade game with friends on a couch, with progression, co-operation and sacrifice. The reason why trading exists at all (save for progression) is so that you can run out of resources along the way to the next town/outpost and have the situation become dire. Perhaps the team leaves the wounded behind to save the rest or perhaps the whole team dies trying. If only one player can make it to the next outpost the whole team is revived. I understand that this is risking the conventional simplicity of arcade games but I feel I have to try.
If you are playing the update, I think you may have skipped the introduction that's added. This game isn't about the wild west apocalypse, at least not only about the wild west. The people wear wild west clothing because all technology and designs to weave any other clothes have been lost (there is no electricity). However that's one dimension you travel through. If the intro isn't clear, the apocalypse occurred in all the dimensions and locations all at once. Leaving everyone with their own kind of aftermath. You travel through space and time to find some kind of resolution to it all.
I remember pixel piracy, will definitely play it and see what they did there.
The title may change so I dont want to spend more time until I know for certain what it will be.
The text beneath the title was a placeholder, as soon as I get an opening to add more NPCs I will remove it. The idea of that text is that its answers to the question, "who are the Vastlanders".
Crafting second coat is up next (turrets included). Though I may need a bit of a break to work on some other non-gamedev related work I have been putting off to make this prototype.
The tutorial doesn't start or show when selecting WASD player as P1 and only player. I'm using Win10 64bit.
Also, once when using arrow key player as the only player on not completing trading tutorial in the first town, the message to trade stayed with me the whole game.
I like your idea you have for the co-op compromise players need to make when things get 'dire', well worth exploring!
Also, just now I let an enemy go onto my platform and he hit me off and I got stuck under it.
Single player can also still be fun, but the controls are a bit cramped or close together in that scenario then.
Cool man, I understand your busy...I won't hold it against you if you take your time to update :). I will play it then again.
Now there only exists two buttons: the action button and menu button. I think that is the simplest I will get the controls. Consumption of Neron is now automatic. Please let me know if the tutorial still fails and if your trader problem persists (I doubt it will, menu closes as soon as you release the menu button).
Thanks again to everyone who guided the controls to where they are now.
Surface error is also fixed, will tackle that bug, thanks for the heads up.
I am trying to run the game, but it just causes windows explorer to stop responding,
Has this happened to anyone else?
I'm running windows 7.
I'm also running windows 7. I made a new update. Try again?
Also, at night the black targeting icon becomes invisible due to the dark backdrop.
I like how you can still shoot while incapacitated. Is it possible to get back up again? A med pack perhaps.
The expanding of the platform and continuing to move on-wards is very cool. Agree with previous suggestion for turret defenses perhaps.
It is clear you plan to have the game travel through other dimensions, times and places and eventually revealing why the "monolith?" keeps moving?
So that makes the platform some kind of time machine or device, perhaps an alien artifact itself? The fact you are not really controlling the platform, but instead just allowing it to continue on its seemingly predestined course is infuriating. I like!
Where is it going? :) Can I hang on for the duration of the journey?
Keep us updated, Thanks!
Edit: The targeting thing is growing on me. Could it travelling *around* the player in a circular clockwise manner be easier instead of the auto-track thing ? Just a thought.
I will try it and let you know what I think! so far it looks really cool! :)
The core is the thing that makes all the hovering and teleportation possible. Beware I dont think everyone realises this yet but your core can and will be stolen.
@karl182 thanks for your effort. I'm curious about what is causing the problem, i will perhaps pm you a seperate version some time I think might work on your pc.
Here is the GMS example project,
import it into GMS to read the code and compile and test it.
I hope it helps us get a better experience and that other can learn from it also! We need better GMS games.
The code is a bit rough around the edges, but should give you the handles to play and test what I mean.
Enjoy here is the download link for it https://www.mediafire.com/?hgdschkq7o9cbyz
PS: I noted they stole the core while I was incapacitated. it made me feel... helpless. Would have been good to have a team mate rez me and save the day, but alas!
I tried playing @Pieter 's 2D beat em up game and it also didn't work. then I tried running some of my old packaged game maker games, and also no success. After trying a bunch of things, I disabled my anti virus and they all run now! So I will just add exceptions for them. I think it may have to do that the games do not have proper Descriptions and Product Names embedded in the file.
But yeah, if anyone else struggles with this, check your anti virus. It may just be the culprit! :)
Now I can try this properly!! :)
Glad it's the anti-virus and not something more lethal.
I also found out by mistake that you can start the core without actually being on it...that could be cool if you are in a hit+run scenario but it seems that you can't actually outrun/outdrive the bandits anyway...
The nightime was quite spooky, I felt very vulnerable and alone and wished the day would come sooner so well done on creating that mood! The ominous red glow was a bit confusing the first time I saw it, I thought the core was being targeted or something...maybe a little misleading but maybe it's just me. :<
The aiming was alltogether a different can of worms....I initially liked the sweep method but got a bit frustrated with it as it is a lot more unreliable on far distance...BTW was it intentional to make the barriers so that they provide aim-support because I seemed to snap on to the targets while right next to a barrier...if it was then thats cool! Maybe thats a neat mechanicl, being able to "rest" your gun on the barrier for aim support but it would render you immobile in exchange..
I really couldn't tell though because it was so far zoomed out. I know you want to show more of the map and have more area to play with but the GUI could definitely be a size bigger in my opinion! Keep polishing this, I like it!
Keep it up man I can't wait to try it!
Karl
No turrets; polish.
link same as top
-New aiming method!
-Overhaul of most character sprites.
-Menu changes.
-2 new player characters.
-Bug fixes!
-Game is now more challanging!
-Tents that can be raided for booty.
-Building GUI improved.
-Text is now clearer, thanks to @Boysano
Is there any way to change the resolution or not yet?
Overall this is a much improved version. Thanks ;)
yet here is some ideas for improvement still. I really like new targeting or shooting mechanic feels great and novel.
1. Yeah still want to see bigger UI, maybe x1.5
2. I don't really like the stun or (not being able to move) mechanics it makes this game less fun and feel like it is buggy.
3. I like the distance text at the top, since many battles occur at this position of my pc screen it can be in the way.
Yeah much more difficult, and I still only play single player. Consider a difficulty multiplier like in Diablo 3, where each player spawns more enemies?
Like new improvements!
Thanks
@Boysano the difficulty is in preparation for the next update which will give more power to the player, generally speaking.
Difficulty increasing with the number of players is already in the game. Doing a test shortly to see how the update fairs in multiplayer.
EDIT:
Test went ok, minor issues that are easily fixed. @Boysano I must agree the maiming seems pointless in playthrough.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
@konman it is time I brought that in, thanks for the reminder.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ You can out hover/fly/run/drive the bandits, with the exception of some fast ones.
Allot of the mechanics seem like unncessary extras when the game is played in singleplayer, only becoming clear once you have played with a fellow Vastlander. hehehe
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wish has been granted, aiming is 60% easier when your on the hovership.
Howdy and welcome to Vastlanders early Alpha!
If you want to see the beginnings of dashing, explosions and general bad-ass Vastlanderness click the link below.
WINDOWS - alpha 1.4
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CREDITS
without these people this alpha would not be possible
Morne Booysen- @boysano
For near daily support, development discussions about Vastlanders
and weekly demo testing and feedback!
SOUND FOUNDRY
@Andrew_Sound_Foundry and @Greg
Sweet music for Vastlanders!
Elaine Williams
Amazing support and insight.
Jannes Oosthuizen
Feedback and advice for the ongoing story of Vastlanders.
Werner - my brother
The reason why I started making this game in the fist place.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you to everyone who gave feedback to the prototype!
PURPOSE OF THIS POST
This post is to prepare for the upcoming Super Friendship Arcade.
This alpha still has some bugs, isn't balanced yet, is level capped at level 6
and has some minor mechanics that still needs to be implemented.
CONTROLLER SUPPORT
I am still working on supporting various gamepad types, in the meantime I suggest using: Joy To Key.
Add this configuration file in the directory of the JoyToKey.exe: config file
KNOWN BUGS
-building objects sometimes doesn't want to build at certain locations.
-shielders shield doesn't stop bullets like its suppose to.
-when playing 2 player, when one player dies and revives at the next town, that player doesn't go to the tutorial platform.
-building doesn't spawn on consecutive towns.
WORK IN PROGRESS
-Depending on the ship and feeling that you need to invest in it for your survival.
-Neron (circle that is sometimes above your head).
-Balancing the levels.
-Further balancing of Rage system.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
Because the game is being set up for SFA there may be some things to take into consideration.
-lack of mouse type controls works better for shared screen experience.
-rage system is being set up to allow players with a variety of different experience levels to be able to play together.
-game is zoomed out to support multiple players on screen.
The game is currently built on three pillars:
-multiplayer (choosing to help a player or not)
-arcade
-story/progression (ship building and purchases)
Turrets were tested but doesn't seem to fit with the mechanics, a different kind of player controlled turret it planned for later implementation though.
FEEDBACK
All feedback is welcomed and highly appreciated.
Guidelines for those who want to give specific feedback:
- level balancing
- further integration of mechanics
- color balancing, making things look like they are in the desert without destroying the game play has been tricky
- prep for SFA (making things clear and new comer friendly)
At the moment I still do not really need build or extend the platfrom, I get myself into the combat which is fun.
I have not yet managed to save $200 in game currency to buy the new gun upgrades, I seem to always spend it on more bullets. As I play however I realise that I can basically melee kill most enemies and the gun almost fires by itself since it is on the same button. I understand the choice to have less buttons, but it makes me feel like the game decides to fire and not me when I want to do melee or assassin combat.
Miss the building that gave more flavor to the towns,
and sometimes there is a bit of a lull or nothing to do when traveling between encounters on between towns at the start. Now the breaks are necessary to calm down a bit between fights, but may there can be smaller fights or some other less intense actions between encounters.
There is still a lot of work or things you can do with this game and world, but it is worth it...
Good work, keep it up. Currently my favourite project I'm following on the forums!
Wot I liked:
1) KICK ASS NEW MUSIC. GAAAAAAAAAAAH. (Kudos to the sound guys...wooohooo, you rock! @Andrew_Sound_Foundry and @Greg)
2) Art: I am noticing little things, like the mouse move anim and the banners flapping in the wind. Just awesome production values. I am really impressed and love the art direction.
Just general observations:
The drop in anim when you started in previous builds was interesting to me. Where has it gone? It hinted at something bigger than just plain arriving somewhere. (Not sure yet what you intend the story to be, but the drop-in anim hinted at an orbital entry of sorts that hints at something bigger than JUST the planet you find yourself on. Just interesting in a RimWorld kinda-way. The music/world also hints at Firefly scenario of sorts which I found interesting and exciting).
The tutorial at first indicated controller style keys for me - might be a bug... (without my dual stick being plugged in), but on 2nd boot of game it correctly mention W and F, G keys (just seemed strange to begin with).
The traversal from the start to town 2 (with timer ticking down) and the enemy platforms and boarding was too easy IMHO. The shooting seemed to just auto lock-on. What happened to the 2 previous targeting mechanics?
I just didn't find it interesting as I felt I could complete it with one hand holding my glass of red wine, while another eye was waiting for the enemy to land on my platform and then... boom they're dead if I click a button.
The first 5 minutes of the game needs to grab the player by the throat and tell them this is going to be a challenge. If you don't concentrate, you WILL die. :) Don't be afraid to let the player die during the tutorial either. It is good for them ;P
This is just a "first 5 minute" impression review and I have more to explore yet.
A) I am glad you are continuing exploring this prototype/idea and world as it is an interesting concept.
B) Impressed you are gathering a team around this too
C) Will play this past the 5 min mark and hope to give more feedback based on that in the future.
Thanks for posting this here on MGSA. We're a small community and it is hard to make a game, so I hope more people will invest the time to play-test this and give you valuable feedback.
K
Edit: Minor spelling mistake found "Bandits Incomming" should read "Bandits incoming". Minor gripe.
1- the orbital drop no longer makes sense in the story. I am still working on making the menu more clear. Its the constellations of legends.
I want to make a cut scene in the future where there's a short intro to the story.
I like that reference to Firefly.
2-Theres no lock on and its the first level its suppose to be dead easy, but you can use this to your advantage, the quicker you kill the more enemies come - the more kills you can gather and the more score and cash you're left with.
So no, don't wait for the enemy, your an experienced player so see how quickly you can kill, if you do that quick enough the third wave will give you loads of guys to kill and that's just the first level. Waiting is for the noobs.
By the gods a spelling mistake! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻