[Prototype] Couch multiplayer shooter - 2 players (feedback please)

flobar

This is a quick prototype I made of a fast paced couch multiplayer shooter. Currently only 2 players can play but in future you'll be able to play with four. This was inspired by Samurai Gunn and Hotline Miami.

I would really like to get some constructive feedback on my progress so far and how I can improve it.

Gameplay




Coming soon
- ricochet ammo
- wall piercing ammo
- burst ammo
- bomb/dynamite

Player 1 controls
Keyboard and mouse
Move - WASD
Dash - SPACE
Aim - Mouse
Shoot - Left click

Player 2 controls
Xbox controller
Move - Left analog stick
Dash - Left trigger
Aim - Right analog stick
Shoot - Right trigger

Windows: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7neYzQ4n-YCOHRkRWNuOXVIRms

Jassmi488

Finally somebody's making a couch co-op game! can't wait to see the end product. Looks awesome.

flobar

@Jassmi488 haha thanks man. I'll keep this discussion up-to-date with my progress.

KleinM

Awesome! Looks good. Reminds me of BaboViolent

flobar

@KleinM Thanks man. I had a look at BaboViolent and it looks amazing. I'll use it for inspiration.
Did you have a change to play my prototype?

critic

Don't have anybody to play it with, but spent a few minutes in the game. Mechanics are fine, would be nice if you showed the mouse cursor or limited the mouse to the area around the aim circle, in the current state it's not easy to aim smoothly as only direction of the mouse is taken. So when the invisible mouse cursor is close to the body of the player a few pixels move will redirect the aim 180 degrees and opposite for when the mouse is far away. I never play MP games, especially arcade, so in my biased opinion it would be great for the opponent to be AI controlled.

flobar

@critic thanks for playing.

I know about the mouse issue and haven't really found a solution for it yet but you gave me an idea now. I do think the Xbox controller works much better though.

As for AI I do want to implement that in future but wanted to focus on mechanic and game design first before diving into path finding.

Thanks again for checking it out.

flobar

Dash and shoot

flobar

@critic I think I've managed to improve the mouse movement. I've restricted it to stay in the center of the window. Might just need to play with the sensitivity but otherwise it feels solid.

I've updated the game if you'd like to give it another go: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7neYzQ4n-YCOHRkRWNuOXVIRms

critic

Takes a bit of getting used to, but it's better. How difficult would it be to make this a online multiplayer game, P2P?

flobar

@critic thanks.

Regarding the online multiplayer I'm not sure how long it would take. I've never done that before. Are you asking for testing purposes or is something you'd want to play?

critic

I think it's the next logical step for this prototype, it's very restrictive to have the game only play in a two player couch setting, even online MP games struggle with concurrent players, but it's a much wider audience that you can reach. So if you think you can handle the online MP implementation, it might be a good idea to add it.

PavoStudios

I like the idea and I like a lot the graphics. Just a couple things:

- The sound of the shoot its difficult to me to hear it. I don't know if maybe to try something a bit smoother. For instance the reload sound I really like it, but the shooting one it's a bit hurting me the ears (I really mean it, I am not being sarcastic, or so).
- I don't know what ideas you can have for the future, but maybe I miss blockers in this kind of games, like you throw a bomb somewhere, or you block the path so you can alter temporary the map, for the strategy.
- I guess in the future when you develop further you will do a kill counter.
- Final though, when you kill the other, its kind of motivating to have a big letter or sound, or something like, "KILL!", or "HEAD SHOT!!", even if you kill twice in a row, "2 KILLS", "CARNAGE", etc... some kind of messages, that motivate you to see how many kills you can do in a row before you get killed :D

I hope it helps, good work, keep doing it!

flobar

@PavoStudios thanks for playing the game. Did you play it with another player?

My response:
- The sounds where just place holders for now. Once I start polishing it I'll replace them with better ones.
- I really like your idea about blocking a path way, thanks.
- Yes, the kill count is in the newer version now
- I like the idea of sounds rewarding you when you've done well.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

konman

Hi @flobar, I gave your prototype a play. Very cool. Controls function well and are intuitive. I could play using my logitech controller for player 2 and it works well. I like the dash/dodge and the auto reload mechanics a lot.

There's a lot you can do with it:
1) Different bullet types like Ricochet will add additional strategy (I see it is planned)
2) Having common points of interest on the map could force players to move around more (power-ups)
3) Line of sight maybe (player is hidden if behind wall) could add to the tension (if player moves over elevated tile they can spot larger areas of map)
4) Indians! (bow and arrow versus six shooter) :)
5) Larger scrolling maps maybe
6) Movement inhibitors (smoke screen, mud, puddles)

You could also look at similar games like TowerFall_Ascension for ideas.

Keep up the good work.
K

flobar

Hi @konman

My feedback:
1) Yes I think this can greatly improve the game.
2) Thinking of adding the ammo as collectibles that spawn on a random location on the map.
3) Really like the elevated floor idea. I don't think the line of site will work if it's a couch multiplayer though.
4) Thought about adding Indians but I want to keep it simple at first.
5) Again not sure how that would work in couch multiplayer unless the camera zooms in and out relevant to the players positions.
6) Good idea

Thanks for checking out my game.