Overdrive - Over the top bullet hell shoot 'em up
It is with great excitement that I present to you OVERDRIVE!
OVERDRIVE is an indie shoot 'em up that focuses on over the top bullet hell action while keeping it accessible to newcomers of the genre. There is no difficulty setting in the game, and instead contains a risk reward system that allows the player to decide how much risk they want to take in exchange for a higher score.
Quickstart Guide to playing Overdrive:
-Keyboard
* Arrows move ship/navigate menus.
* 'Z','X', Spacebar and Numpad0 - Activates Overdrive/Select.
* Escape - Pauses game
* 'S' - Takes a Screenshot and puts it in your [Drive]:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Local\Overdrive\Screenshots directory
-Gamepad
* D-pad move ship/navigate menus
* 'X' Button - Activates Overdrive/Select.
* Start Button - Pauses Game.
1. Main Overdrive Gauge
2. Charge Canister (Fully Charged)
3. Scoring Efficiency Gauge
4. Current Stage's Highscore
5. Your current score
6. Time left till either Bonus Rush starts or the stage ends (Depending on whether you die during the stage).
7. Current Overdrive Rate
8. Time left at current Overdrive Rate
Game Mechanics:
-Damage is directly converted into Score.
-The closer you are to enemies, the more damage you do.
-Activating Overdrive (Available once at least one Charge Canister is full) increases your damage. While in Overdrive you can activate successive Overdrives by filling up additional Charge Canisters, further increasing your damage output.
-Once Overdrive is activated you are invincible for 4.5 seconds.
-The more Damage you do, the quicker your Charge Canisters fill up.
-Your Primary Weapon starts firing automatically when the stage starts.
And with that you have everything you need to start enjoying OVERDRIVE. Follow the link below to download the Alpha of OVERDRIVE and start playing. Post all your Highscores in the comments below. I'm really eager to see what the pro players are able to achieve.
Latest version:
Overdrive - Alpha Version 0.1.0.2
Old versions:
Overdrive - Alpha Version 0.1.0.1
(OVERDRIVE is created as part of the Pieter Visser Studios range of games.)
Features for the enthusiast:
-Scanlines can be turned on in Options.
-Screen rotation and scaling available in options.
-On the Score Screen you can press up or down to cycle through various graphs showing your performance during the stage.
-Local leader boards.
Things to note:
-There is currently no menu music or sound effect. However the stages do have music and sound effects.
-The options that control music and sound effects volume has not been implemented yet.
-Pro Grid in the options has not been implemented yet.
Video of Stage 1 Playthrough
For those interested in probing a little deeper into the mechanics and some of the other design decisions, grab a comfy chair and mug of your favourite beverage.
Game Mechanics (In Depth)
-The closer you are to enemies, the more damage you do. So you really want to be up in their faces. How efficiently you are scoring (in terms of your primary fire) is shown by the Scoring Efficiency Gauge (Tag 3 in pictured above). It represents how much of your DPS (Damage per Second) is being converted into Score. This makes ground based enemies great as you can get right on top of them without fear of colliding with them, however you still need to watch out for their shots.
-Your Overdrive Rate ranges from 0 (Not active) to 3. For Overdrive Rates 1, 2 and 3 your Damage doubles, triples and quadruples respectively, however so does the amount of popcorn enemies meaning there are a lot more ships to collide with and a lot more of them shooting at you. Heavy Enemies buff up their Hit Points as the Overdrive Rate increases.
-You can activate Instant Overdrive by pressing and holding the Overdrive Button after activating Overdrive Level 1. This will make you trigger successive Overdrives automatically as your Charge Canisters fill up. (Aka white knuckle action)
-Heavy Enemies (The big ones that don't just melt in front of your shots)
* Any damage done to Heavy Enemies counts double towards your score.
* These enemies all consist of a Core that is protected by one or more Parts.
* Parts can only be destroyed by doing lots of damage to them quickly, exposing the Core.
* If damage is not done quickly enough, the Heavy Enemy will just be destroyed normally.
* Once the Core is exposed it will desperately try and kill you with a swarm of shots. Finishing it off in this way is what's know as obliterating the enemy, and at that moment all shots on the screen are turned into Point Tokens. The value of the Point Tokens depend on your Overdrive Rate when the enemy is Obliterated.
* The stages have been setup so that EVERY single Heavy Enemy can be obliterated, some situations are just a lot harder than others to achieve this, and require planning and practice.
-If you make it to the end of the stage without dying once, you are rewarded with a Bonus Rush.
* Bonus Rush is an additional section of the stage that lasts for 30 seconds.
* During Bonus Rush your Charge Canisters fill up very rapidly, and your Overdrive time stops decreasing.
* This makes it potentially one of the highest scoring sections of the stage.
Here are a few things you'll notice while playing OVERDRIVE:
-Infinite lives: This means you will always finish a stage and be rewarded with a Score Screen at the end. I felt that lives would hamper the enjoyment for the more casual players. The penalty for dying is the loss of time for scoring as well as any activated overdrive time (You keep any filled but unused Charge Canisters).
-No Bombs: In other words, no weapon that clears the screen of enemies and shots. This would disrupt the flow of the games as it's all about the balance of you pushing against the enemy waves.
-No End Stage Bosses: Blasphemy I know, instead the game has two difficulty peaks (In terms of enemy types spawned) in the middle and end of the stage. An extended peak is provided at the end of the stage (Bonus Rush) for those players who manage to finish the stage without dying once. Bosses were not included for the same reason as bombs as I felt they go against the flow of the game.
I've already shown the game to a very small focus group and have received incredibly helpfull feedback. Please feel free to leave any comments or feedback you have about the game below, I welcome them all. (Also don't forget to post your scores :D)
OVERDRIVE is an indie shoot 'em up that focuses on over the top bullet hell action while keeping it accessible to newcomers of the genre. There is no difficulty setting in the game, and instead contains a risk reward system that allows the player to decide how much risk they want to take in exchange for a higher score.
Quickstart Guide to playing Overdrive:
-Keyboard
* Arrows move ship/navigate menus.
* 'Z','X', Spacebar and Numpad0 - Activates Overdrive/Select.
* Escape - Pauses game
* 'S' - Takes a Screenshot and puts it in your [Drive]:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Local\Overdrive\Screenshots directory
-Gamepad
* D-pad move ship/navigate menus
* 'X' Button - Activates Overdrive/Select.
* Start Button - Pauses Game.
1. Main Overdrive Gauge
2. Charge Canister (Fully Charged)
3. Scoring Efficiency Gauge
4. Current Stage's Highscore
5. Your current score
6. Time left till either Bonus Rush starts or the stage ends (Depending on whether you die during the stage).
7. Current Overdrive Rate
8. Time left at current Overdrive Rate
Game Mechanics:
-Damage is directly converted into Score.
-The closer you are to enemies, the more damage you do.
-Activating Overdrive (Available once at least one Charge Canister is full) increases your damage. While in Overdrive you can activate successive Overdrives by filling up additional Charge Canisters, further increasing your damage output.
-Once Overdrive is activated you are invincible for 4.5 seconds.
-The more Damage you do, the quicker your Charge Canisters fill up.
-Your Primary Weapon starts firing automatically when the stage starts.
And with that you have everything you need to start enjoying OVERDRIVE. Follow the link below to download the Alpha of OVERDRIVE and start playing. Post all your Highscores in the comments below. I'm really eager to see what the pro players are able to achieve.
Latest version:
Overdrive - Alpha Version 0.1.0.2
Old versions:
Overdrive - Alpha Version 0.1.0.1
(OVERDRIVE is created as part of the Pieter Visser Studios range of games.)
Features for the enthusiast:
-Scanlines can be turned on in Options.
-Screen rotation and scaling available in options.
-On the Score Screen you can press up or down to cycle through various graphs showing your performance during the stage.
-Local leader boards.
Things to note:
-There is currently no menu music or sound effect. However the stages do have music and sound effects.
-The options that control music and sound effects volume has not been implemented yet.
-Pro Grid in the options has not been implemented yet.
Video of Stage 1 Playthrough
For those interested in probing a little deeper into the mechanics and some of the other design decisions, grab a comfy chair and mug of your favourite beverage.
Game Mechanics (In Depth)
-The closer you are to enemies, the more damage you do. So you really want to be up in their faces. How efficiently you are scoring (in terms of your primary fire) is shown by the Scoring Efficiency Gauge (Tag 3 in pictured above). It represents how much of your DPS (Damage per Second) is being converted into Score. This makes ground based enemies great as you can get right on top of them without fear of colliding with them, however you still need to watch out for their shots.
-Your Overdrive Rate ranges from 0 (Not active) to 3. For Overdrive Rates 1, 2 and 3 your Damage doubles, triples and quadruples respectively, however so does the amount of popcorn enemies meaning there are a lot more ships to collide with and a lot more of them shooting at you. Heavy Enemies buff up their Hit Points as the Overdrive Rate increases.
-You can activate Instant Overdrive by pressing and holding the Overdrive Button after activating Overdrive Level 1. This will make you trigger successive Overdrives automatically as your Charge Canisters fill up. (Aka white knuckle action)
-Heavy Enemies (The big ones that don't just melt in front of your shots)
* Any damage done to Heavy Enemies counts double towards your score.
* These enemies all consist of a Core that is protected by one or more Parts.
* Parts can only be destroyed by doing lots of damage to them quickly, exposing the Core.
* If damage is not done quickly enough, the Heavy Enemy will just be destroyed normally.
* Once the Core is exposed it will desperately try and kill you with a swarm of shots. Finishing it off in this way is what's know as obliterating the enemy, and at that moment all shots on the screen are turned into Point Tokens. The value of the Point Tokens depend on your Overdrive Rate when the enemy is Obliterated.
* The stages have been setup so that EVERY single Heavy Enemy can be obliterated, some situations are just a lot harder than others to achieve this, and require planning and practice.
-If you make it to the end of the stage without dying once, you are rewarded with a Bonus Rush.
* Bonus Rush is an additional section of the stage that lasts for 30 seconds.
* During Bonus Rush your Charge Canisters fill up very rapidly, and your Overdrive time stops decreasing.
* This makes it potentially one of the highest scoring sections of the stage.
Here are a few things you'll notice while playing OVERDRIVE:
-Infinite lives: This means you will always finish a stage and be rewarded with a Score Screen at the end. I felt that lives would hamper the enjoyment for the more casual players. The penalty for dying is the loss of time for scoring as well as any activated overdrive time (You keep any filled but unused Charge Canisters).
-No Bombs: In other words, no weapon that clears the screen of enemies and shots. This would disrupt the flow of the games as it's all about the balance of you pushing against the enemy waves.
-No End Stage Bosses: Blasphemy I know, instead the game has two difficulty peaks (In terms of enemy types spawned) in the middle and end of the stage. An extended peak is provided at the end of the stage (Bonus Rush) for those players who manage to finish the stage without dying once. Bosses were not included for the same reason as bombs as I felt they go against the flow of the game.
I've already shown the game to a very small focus group and have received incredibly helpfull feedback. Please feel free to leave any comments or feedback you have about the game below, I welcome them all. (Also don't forget to post your scores :D)
Comments
Overdrive is a completely new idea and engine built from the ground up. Aero Flux however did prove to be a very valuable learning experience, and lessons learned on Aero Flux definitely made Overdrive much easier to develop. For one, having a design document made a huge difference ;) It really helped me focus my efforts right from the start.
Video playthrough of Stage 1
So finally finished downloading it (my net is crap.) And gave it a good couple of play throughs.
I also need to prefix this that I deliberately didn't read any of the doc stuff since it would bias the feedback I would give in my first playthrough.
My first instinct was to hold z down to shoot: I soon realized that the game just always shoots and it would be pointless if it didn't.
Next was that I didn't really get the overdrive. The effect that triggered when I activated it made me think that it might damage the enemies, but it didn't. I didn't really notice the difference between stage normal and overdrive stage 1 bullets. And for the rest of this playthrough I didn't go beyond stage 1 because it didn't really occur to me that I could.
So now I sat down and thought about what was going on and how I was playing. I saw the screenshot with the orange bullets and I kinda wondered how I would get to it. Soooo I tried the only active I could do, and then I tried it again and BAM! Yellow bullets, but I don't think I would have figured it out if I hadn't seen the screenshot.
The overdrive mechanic itself is cool, but in a sense it feels like it lacks a certain force to it. This isn't to say that it doesn't make a difference to how the game plays: just the the feedback I am getting from using it doesn't make me feel like I'm suddenly way more badass.
---
Overall the game is feeling good, and it feels like it's heading off in a good direction so I'm really happy to see where it goes.
@vintar Thanks :D
So I was scoring around 0.5 -0.7m before I read the instructions. I'm currently scoring around 1.5m now that I have.
Having those instructions makes a HUGE difference, but unfortunately the two most important parts aren't really conveyed anywhere in the game.
1. I had no idea about the heavy's core.
2. I really didn't think that being closer did more damage.
Initially I used my overdrive on killing popcorn since it 'felt' the coolest especially when you get higher overdrive and there are absolutely millions of them. It just feels good wasting them with abandon. Once I knew about the heavy cores the game completely changed. Since now overdrive was used just for heavies so I could sit right in front of them and blast them until their core was exposed.
When I was dealing with multiple heavies I would shoot one until I had exposed its core and then moved onto the second since it didn't really see like I would have to kill the core myself in order to get the tokens.
I still haven't gotten to the bonus rush since popcorn have gone from being something cool to kill to something which are kinda fucking annoying, but I can see that that's what the design is meant to be like.
In the end there needs to be a to show the players the flying into the enemies is a good things, and I know that that's a pain in the arse in shmups first hand from zX.
---
On a completely different note: I managed to find an old copy I had of Aero Flux and had a playthrough of it. Really great to see where you've gone since then :)
I think blind playtesting is what you should aim for, not really giving people a pile of text and then go. It should be at a stage where you want to see how that works out.
OK so into the game - The first thing I tried to do was to fly ahead like you did in your video. And then I pulled back, and went forward. I couldn't tell any difference, and I didn't really see any bar changing... So I kinda doubt the average player would see that difference, if indeed there was any.
Then a bunch of things:
> The screen seemed very static. The way the shots moved without moving (I understand it's a frames thing and is actually how oldschool shooters look), the way the explosions and enemies were above explosions (which are pretty gorgeously animated, just not really visible) made the screen felt quite dead. As a design decision it could let you focus on the more animated bits like bullets to dodge them, but the general effect feels... underwhelming.
> The hitbox on the ship takes a lot of figuring out. Eventually I kind of understood it to be wherever the shield is when it comes up, but without the shield I had no idea how or if I was gonna die (initially). The wings don't clip, but I didn't know that. Then after figuring out the hitbox, it was apparent that it was bigger than I'd like it - especially in conjunction with the movement (more on that later). I keep mentioning Jamestown regarding bullet hells - they have a tiny hitbox so it feels REALLY GOOD to try and dodge things, and I think that's a good thing to have. Also Jamestown's hitbox is dead centre of the sprite you have no ambiguity of where you're getting hit, also because it's so tiny you *know* you got hit *good*.
> I made the same comment with @Kobus' game, the movements are fast and therefore feels imprecise for smaller movements, which are needed to dodge like a bauss. I remember older games had you moving slower, but the shots were slower too, so you could dodge like it was the matrix. If you don't wanna lose the speed, maybe add an acceleration so you can move tiny increments in close range. Not sure if it'll work out as *right* but it feel that it would add to the feeling of dodging. I realised this is why most platformers have a slight tiny acceleration in running, even Mario and Meatboy had them. It's because you feel not in control if you can't move a tiny bit without flying off the edge, and you need it.
> The system with the three tubes... I don't quite understand them. When does it use one instead of another, and why doesn't it just fill up from one end to the other, and reduce it by a segment when you fire? It seems like three things. Additional unnecessary information.
> The "overdrive" writing behind the ship, is that to tell people you can use your special now? It's too subtle I think... Something smaller and more shiny might work better?
> I don't know when my shield is going to go away, and that is information I want to know where I should be going. It should flash or something before it disappears. Right now there's no cue for disappearance.
> Then the big system about damage efficiency and whatnot... is it not visible? I mean is it like the EVs of Pokemons so that you don't have to see it to play it, but if you know it you'll play better without having to see it? I don't like that, if it's the case. Then there's the behaviour it encourages - if you're encouraging people to go up to the top of the screen to do more damage, the game actually looks less impressive, less interesting. That's from a spectator and a beginners' perspective, which is important because you want stuff to attract beginners with. I know what zX did with the blades was going for the same thing, but seeing a ship going in with blades while shit explodes everywhere around it looks cool, while what your video showed me looked... not cool. So that's a design thing to think about.
> Then on the same line of thought - it feels like there's too much catering to experts - like you have to know this and that and that and this and that. If you don't, it's just a generic shooter. And those things aren't taught to players (yet, I guess), so you should consider making the game more visually and mechanically understandable for the layperson. Like an indicator that showed your proximity to enemy ships, how it affects damage output - maybe your shots change colour when they're stronger, or size, or whatever. I dunno.
Whew, sorry for wall of text XD
Make no mistake - it's a highly polished product already, really pretty sprites, visuals, it's solid, but it's just not fulfilling all the potential you seem to want for it, and I'd like to see those fulfilled, otherwise it may just be seen as a generic shooter.
I've been working on making the mechanics clearer through gameplay (Thanks @Karuji and @Tuism). These have been only visual changes to help guide the player to the preferred method to play (So the stages are still long and a little boring :)
So, taking a queue from Tuism, I will give no further info and hope the game teaches you the rest.
Overdrive - Alpha Version 0.1.0.2