That is true... perhaps just a quick stab motion, that is limited to killing one person at a time and is more suited for 1 on 1 encounters. That would make it much different than blade. For instance in COD you can knife a guy once off. But you cant run around flailing your knife everywhere or you will get shotgunned in the face.
I was thinking about the inner goal of Broforce and in which way it was a pleasant game. I was about to finish my report on this subject, here is an extract :
[...] The fact is, we have to focus on the gamer's expectations and needs. What does he, or she, really want ? It has been proved it is catharsis (relief and satisfaction), through explicit violence. But we have now to differentiate an instant satisfaction from an "expected satisfaction". You experience the first one everyday, as it is a physical and psychical response to the accomplishment of one of our basic needs : eating, having sex, killing people... for example. Instant satisfaction, in Broforce, is experienced every second. The controls are easy, the characters move and jump reactively, the hills and mountains adapt to your path and the enemies are easy to annihilate. Everything is done to make you feel powerful : indeed, the game experience is focused on instant satisfaction. Expected satisfaction is a much more complex mechanism which implies the notions of past and future. It is based on the human ability to anticipate an event, or in this study, a reward (the reward being instant satisfaction) : I will take the example of a young child whose mum promised he will get a candy if he keeps quiet. You can be 100% sure he will be smiling when his mum will say the word "candy", because he will be knowing he will get that candy sooner or later, and then, will enjoy the foreseen scene in advance. You experience the same expectation mechanism in Broforce, with grenades or barrels you expect to explode, which may cause a chain reaction, destroying the whole building and its occupants.[...] But after all these grenades and barrels have exploded, what can create "expected satisfaction" into the gamer's brain ? Nothing. [...] We, the experts and scientists who leaded this report, sincerely think Broforce needs expected satisfaction to be more present in its gameplay.
As you can see, we've come to the conclusion that the game must imply more "expected satisfaction" through playing hide&seek with the soldiers, preparing a destructive plan, and finally watching the world burn, whatever says Alfred. For example, I may suggest you to had the ability to grab the wood bridges from below, offering the player a new possibility, not to avoid the enemies but to get rid of them in a new deceitful way. I understand it would be hard for you to introduce it if you don't want to make it at the disadvantage of instant satisfaction !
Why do the rottweilers have dreadlocks ? Are they Rottwailers ? x) Nah mean ? The Wailers, Bob Marley... But joke apart, these dogs indeed are really, really a good idea ! Some bugs : for now, they don't have an animation when they're afraid of something, and so they simply disappear ^^ sometimes they also appear to get depressive and kill themselves into some pit, trying to chase me I think. For example, there is that dog on the second level, under the first bridge, whereas I never went on his platform, he begins to run faster and suddenly jump into the pit on his left, even if I'm on his right. I've seen that when you die, they can't deal any damage to your dead body. I may also suggest them to be less sensible to falling damages. I think they will then be much more dangerous and unpredictable (goodbye "expected satisfaction", now experience "unexpected rage" with falling rottweilers !), because for now, they just look stupid when they try to bite me as I am on a lower platform. :)
It brings me so much ideas ! For example, rottweilers could be attached to a soldier, then if they happen to see you, they will run in your direction, hauling his master behind him. They can also be attached to something like a box or an exploding barrel ! Or to a pole ! You know, they are many of these scenes in old movies, when a dog is attached and barks towards the hero, pulling his chains, those chains which will dramatically break the next second ! :D
The rottweilers are awesome! They really give the enemies an extra dimension, so you're not only dodging the regular shots but the possible dashing and jumping. In a confined space they really freak you the hell out. They're like facehuggers. Good stuff :) A good variety in enemy movement patterns is one of the best things a platformer can do, and with only a handful of archtypes Broforce has achieved awesome variety. Looking forward to more! :)
They do jump themselves to be killed quite often - maybe they could be a bit more tolerant to fall damage, because that'll make them a lot scarier and considerably more fun to dodge.
@Tuism : I played it again and it seems like they are attracted by the noise your bullets or rockets make. It can explain why they look like they've spotted you.
I've noticed another bug, or at least, strange behavior : when a scout spots you, he runs away calling for reinforcements. Those soldiers then come to the exact place the scout spotted, and if the block you were on doesn' exist anymore, they simply continue as if they were considering there was a block. And fall. Sometimes it ends in a massive suicide of 5 or 6 men at the same time.
The mooks and the hounds create an excellent experience. I can't just run past everything. :) Also please please pleaaaaaaaaaase let the dogs play fetch with the rambro style grenades :D
Also please please pleaaaaaaaaaase let the dogs play fetch with the rambro style grenades
We were actually talking about that last night :) because mcbrovers grenades are kinda hard to get off with dogs running at you at 100 million miles an hour :P
Thanks for spotting those! Blade's invisible death strike is brilliant!
Those shield dudes are meant to get knocked around... only we might need some animations to convey it, because obviously it looks a little funny as it stands.
Yes, it's something I wanted to talk about too, the "shield dudes" as you call them... Their purpose is to block you and your shots, protect the others behind them and to prevent you from striking from their side. But something I don't understand is what is to happen when you really try to kill them. With bros like Rambro, Bro Dredd or Bro-Hard, you have to get reaaaaaaaaaly close to them : they will float as the video shows, more and more, and will finally end showing their feet so that you can shot directly their body and actually touch them. Or in some other cases, they will throw their shield in a burst of fear and run away, but it happens more rarely. In fact, in most cases, you will have to land on them or to throw grenades towards them if you want to get rid of their protection. Something you could do might be to make them walk slowly towards you when they happen to notice you, and if they get close enough, to kick you with their shield, without necessarily killing you. At last, it will make them move, forcing the situation to evolve. Oh, that makes me think that without their shield, they are totally useless. Do you plan to make them act like spotters or something ? Because for now, when they stop yelling at everything, they just return to normal, like if nothing happened. Maybe you can make them go and find another shield, for example, in the nearest crate.
Here's some information about the effect of this video (for any of you that are interested in these things):
So far the video has made 500K views. That's translated into a massive spike in people playing the game. Above 10K players a day since the video was released.
Also, there seems to have been a fairly decent tail on the players playing. I think this might be the result of a little bit of secondary sharing of the link. Though it isn't a lot of secondary sharing, obviously we need to improve the game a bit more.
The stats don't actually track the very first day the video went up, there was a pretty massive spike on that day, which dropped a bit, and then climbed up a bit (due to secondary sharing I expect). This next image shows the initial spike (on the analytics on our website).
The first online build is ready for play testing : ) It’s still very rough around the edges, so I'd appreciate it if you guys could help me test the hell out of it and let me know about any weirdness. The AI is very loosely synced so some popping and premature gibbing can be expected, let us know if things get really strange.
We’re using Photon for hosting. They provide servers in Europe, US, Asia and japan. Unfortunately for us in SA, the ping never really gets under 170. I’d really appreciate it if you could post your pings so that I can get a feel for the variance. In fact, if you could post your ping with all bug reports that would be great!
Hiya! I was playing through the co-op alpha with some friends, and for some reason, when it's sorta lagging sometimes the suicide bombers will explode, and the fire will show up, but the actual physical destruction of terrain takes a second (understandable with lag), but it happens somewhere different than where the fire showed up, and the explosion is a bit bigger than it should be.
Although I knew most of the games there were still some new to me, some of which I highly recommend, like BROFORCE by Evan Greenwood who is from South Africa. He also was part of the jury and gave a talk about emergent humor. In BROFORCE you play one of the 1980s heroes like the Terminator, S.D. Bob "Snake" Plissken, MacGyver and so on, and use their special weapons to kill enemies and destroy the environment; at the finish of a level you leave the chaos by just smoothly catching the rope-ladder of a flying-by helicopter. Pure awesomeness + team-play + explosions!
Not particularly, its a lot better than what we are getting, but we're hoping for < 100 ping.
DragonTech said:
the suicide bombers will explode, and the fire will show up, but the actual physical destruction of terrain takes a second (understandable with lag), but it happens somewhere different than where the fire showed up, and the explosion is a bit bigger than it should be.
Thanks DragonTech, I will look into it. Syncing the the suicide bombers is pretty tough since the map may have different blocks destroyed at any given point, though what you are describing shouldn't be happening.
Although I knew most of the games there were still some new to me, some of which I highly recommend, like BROFORCE by Evan Greenwood who is from South Africa. He also was part of the jury and gave a talk about emergent humor. In BROFORCE you play one of the 1980s heroes like the Terminator, S.D. Bob "Snake" Plissken, MacGyver and so on, and use their special weapons to kill enemies and destroy the environment; at the finish of a level you leave the chaos by just smoothly catching the rope-ladder of a flying-by helicopter. Pure awesomeness + team-play + explosions!
I want to take this moment to take sole kredit for all the development of Broforce. Basically that's what I was telling everyone at AMAZE... (sad face)
Really wish it was easier to convey to folks at conventions that I'm just the bubbly figurehead of our multinational ruthlessly monetizing metric-driven conglomerate. (happy face)
Next time we'll all go hopefully. And I'll get BUSINESS CARDS!
Amaze was super duper fun btw. And Jana (who wrote that Gamasutra piece) is awesome too. Thanks for the head's up @Bensonance !
Thanks Navar0nius, I will look into it. Syncing the the suicide bombers is pretty tough since the map may have different blocks destroyed at any given point, though what you are describing shouldn't be happening.
Hello. The new online build works nice, with pings at 70-90. The new tweak to bro rescue was awesome, but it consumes abit too much time. There was even once I was killed when I shot the barrel behind the bro accidentally and got the bro. The bro was doing his animation when the barrel exploded behind him. Also, I saw, for the first time, an unrescued bro turned his direction. But when I rescued him, he faced the other way again. But overall, there is a nice improvement.
Comments
For example, I may suggest you to had the ability to grab the wood bridges from below, offering the player a new possibility, not to avoid the enemies but to get rid of them in a new deceitful way.
I understand it would be hard for you to introduce it if you don't want to make it at the disadvantage of instant satisfaction !
What's your opinion on it, bros ?
(And yes, some ceiling climbing is on its way).
Are we maybe looking at SpiderBro? :D
First tank boss concept & a sketch for meat grinder concept.
Tank Boss concept more fleshed out!
Also, wow. I love the detail on the tank, is that a shark-teeth decal? Lazorz!
i mean really, macross rocket barrage AND a laser mortar of sorts would be seriously cash
If you're keen to check it out, here's a build with just two jungle levels with a whole LOT of rottweilers. Let us know how you find them.
http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/BROFORCE/BROFORCE_Brototype_Windows_WithDog.zip
But joke apart, these dogs indeed are really, really a good idea !
Some bugs : for now, they don't have an animation when they're afraid of something, and so they simply disappear ^^ sometimes they also appear to get depressive and kill themselves into some pit, trying to chase me I think. For example, there is that dog on the second level, under the first bridge, whereas I never went on his platform, he begins to run faster and suddenly jump into the pit on his left, even if I'm on his right.
I've seen that when you die, they can't deal any damage to your dead body.
I may also suggest them to be less sensible to falling damages. I think they will then be much more dangerous and unpredictable (goodbye "expected satisfaction", now experience "unexpected rage" with falling rottweilers !), because for now, they just look stupid when they try to bite me as I am on a lower platform. :)
It brings me so much ideas !
For example, rottweilers could be attached to a soldier, then if they happen to see you, they will run in your direction, hauling his master behind him. They can also be attached to something like a box or an exploding barrel ! Or to a pole ! You know, they are many of these scenes in old movies, when a dog is attached and barks towards the hero, pulling his chains, those chains which will dramatically break the next second ! :D
They do jump themselves to be killed quite often - maybe they could be a bit more tolerant to fall damage, because that'll make them a lot scarier and considerably more fun to dodge.
Oh Douzeju mentioned the same :)
I've noticed another bug, or at least, strange behavior : when a scout spots you, he runs away calling for reinforcements. Those soldiers then come to the exact place the scout spotted, and if the block you were on doesn' exist anymore, they simply continue as if they were considering there was a block. And fall. Sometimes it ends in a massive suicide of 5 or 6 men at the same time.
Spot spot spot.
And now... ... ...guilt.
Also, dogs eat corpses.
Thanks for spotting those! Blade's invisible death strike is brilliant!
Those shield dudes are meant to get knocked around... only we might need some animations to convey it, because obviously it looks a little funny as it stands.
Their purpose is to block you and your shots, protect the others behind them and to prevent you from striking from their side. But something I don't understand is what is to happen when you really try to kill them. With bros like Rambro, Bro Dredd or Bro-Hard, you have to get reaaaaaaaaaly close to them : they will float as the video shows, more and more, and will finally end showing their feet so that you can shot directly their body and actually touch them. Or in some other cases, they will throw their shield in a burst of fear and run away, but it happens more rarely. In fact, in most cases, you will have to land on them or to throw grenades towards them if you want to get rid of their protection. Something you could do might be to make them walk slowly towards you when they happen to notice you, and if they get close enough, to kick you with their shield, without necessarily killing you. At last, it will make them move, forcing the situation to evolve.
Oh, that makes me think that without their shield, they are totally useless. Do you plan to make them act like spotters or something ? Because for now, when they stop yelling at everything, they just return to normal, like if nothing happened. Maybe you can make them go and find another shield, for example, in the nearest crate.
Is this in fullscreen mode in the webplayer? And if it is in the webplayer, what browser are you using?
(the problem has got to do with the resolution and the engine, but I can't sort it out without more information)
also, will the webplayer brototype be downloadable?
We got a big fat Let's Play video from the good folks in France:
(Much thanks to GameKult being so awesome we expect)
So far the video has made 500K views. That's translated into a massive spike in people playing the game. Above 10K players a day since the video was released.
Also, there seems to have been a fairly decent tail on the players playing. I think this might be the result of a little bit of secondary sharing of the link. Though it isn't a lot of secondary sharing, obviously we need to improve the game a bit more.
The stats don't actually track the very first day the video went up, there was a pretty massive spike on that day, which dropped a bit, and then climbed up a bit (due to secondary sharing I expect). This next image shows the initial spike (on the analytics on our website).
Thought this information might be useful(ish)
The first online build is ready for play testing : ) It’s still very rough around the edges, so I'd appreciate it if you guys could help me test the hell out of it and let me know about any weirdness. The AI is very loosely synced so some popping and premature gibbing can be expected, let us know if things get really strange.
We’re using Photon for hosting. They provide servers in Europe, US, Asia and japan. Unfortunately for us in SA, the ping never really gets under 170. I’d really appreciate it if you could post your pings so that I can get a feel for the variance. In fact, if you could post your ping with all bug reports that would be great!
http://www.freelives.net/BROFORCE/OnlineAlpha/OnlineAlpha.html
This is a development build. The URL may become unavailable in the future.
Press [Enter] to send a message
press [Tab] to see the connection status and ping
Thanks!
EDIT: It works now. Thanks anyways.
(also, latency in russia is 170ish but that might be because i'm running steam and a godawful amount of chrome tabs)
Thanks.
Glad it works sometimes! We're still sorting a lot out. I'm amazed at what Merrik has achieved so far. Thanks for pointing out that glitch!
I've uploaded a newer build with some tweaks to how bros are rescued.
http://www.freelives.net/BROFORCE/OnlineAlpha/OnlineAlpha.html
Really wish it was easier to convey to folks at conventions that I'm just the bubbly figurehead of our multinational ruthlessly monetizing metric-driven conglomerate. (happy face)
Next time we'll all go hopefully. And I'll get BUSINESS CARDS!
Amaze was super duper fun btw. And Jana (who wrote that Gamasutra piece) is awesome too. Thanks for the head's up @Bensonance !
But I'm happy to help.
The new tweak to bro rescue was awesome, but it consumes abit too much time. There was even once I was killed when I shot the barrel behind the bro accidentally and got the bro. The bro was doing his animation when the barrel exploded behind him. Also, I saw, for the first time, an unrescued bro turned his direction. But when I rescued him, he faced the other way again. But overall, there is a nice improvement.