View Full Version : Resonance - Metroidvania iso-shooter
Gazza_N
23-07-2010, 04:59 PM
Hello everyone! S'been a while, hasn't it? The last you saw me, I was plugging away at Arion's Rift (aka. the Amazing Morphing JRPG Prototype). What happened? AR just wasn't fun. :(
I made Resonance instead.
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii48/Gazza_N/Titleshot.jpg
A metroidvania isometric shooter-type thing game by Gazza_N
What the crap is this?
Resonance is an isometric shooter that borrows heavily from the Metroidvania subgenre. In short, it's an action game that emphasizes exploration of an open-ish environment, while you collect upgrades to progress and, hopefully, stay alive.
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii48/Gazza_N/screenshot1.jpg
What did you use to make it?
The game was built using Game Maker 7, using the "MOSAIC Light 3D OBJ IMPORTER(c) 2006. Zoltan Percsich. All Rights Reserved." script to import the 3D models, which were built in Blender. Textures were sourced from free texture sites all over the internet, or whipped up over many seconds in MS Paint. Music was composed by yours truly using the Jazz++ freeware MIDI sequencer, then resequenced to high-quality MP3 by Chippit using some tricksy Linux package. Sound effects were generated and tweaked using the excellent SFXR freeware sound effects synthesizer.
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii48/Gazza_N/screenshot2.jpg
Is it a complete game?
Not yet! This is a proof-of-concept demo that I slapped together to see if it would work. It's a very elaborate demo, yes, but if people are happy with it I'll be able to add content really quickly now that all the nitty-gritty systems are out of the way. Basically, I need your comments and suggestions to determine what to do, or whether I should continue at all!
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii48/Gazza_N/screenshot3.jpg
SOLD! Where do I get it?
Demo 1:
Why, right here (http://sites.google.com/site/gazzagamesrepository/Home/ResonanceDemo1.zip?attredirects=0&d=1), for the low, low cost of 7MB. Hit F1 at any time to pull up the list of controls. It's not complicated, promise.
Demo 2 (2010/09/05):
Expanded for great justice with many fixes! 8MB of game awaits you at this link (https://sites.google.com/site/gazzagamesrepository/Home/ResonanceDemo2.zip?attredirects=0&d=1).
Demo 3 (2010/12/24):
A Christmas treat. 9MB ZIP file for your clicky-to-downloady pleasure (https://sites.google.com/site/gazzagamesrepository/Home/ResonanceDemo3Fix1.zip?attredirects=0&d=1).
I have ideas! I have suggestions! I found a bug or twelve!
Post them riiiiiiight here in this handy thread. I'll thank you for it!
GO!
Fengol
23-07-2010, 10:06 PM
I've already mentioned to you that it looks awesome so my only criticism is that you need a map (like metroidvania). Either do a menu or, and this would be my option, Diablo 2 style overlay.
Also, when are you porting to Unity3D?
dINGLE
24-07-2010, 10:53 AM
I played it! But before I comment, I should mention that I don't know what metriodvania means, so I didnt really know what to expect.
The controls seemed to work well, and I liked exploring the level. I quite liked the way things in the distance of the character fade away, and together with the music it creates a nice effect.
[spoilers ahead if you haven't played yet]
The only real complaint I have is with the metal spaceship-looking boss. I liked hiding behind the crystals when it shot at me, and that I knew when it was going to shoot. But I had no idea if I was doing damage by shooting it.
I shot at it relentlessly, right up until it killed me when I reached the end of that walkway. Then I tried again. And I died again.
I think that if there was some way of knowing that the shooting was working or indeed not working would give the player much needed feedback and make the game more enjoyable.
But looking at it another way, it is more scary not knowing if you are having any effect at all.
I still have no idea how to get past that part.
Telur
24-07-2010, 01:54 PM
@dINGLE Just keep shooting away at it eventually it does die.
@Gazza As I mentioned to you yesterday. I think you should make the pistol reload a bit longer. At the moment I am not even noticing that the pistol is reloading at all.
All in all great work. Can't wait to see more of it.
DukeOFprunes
24-07-2010, 02:01 PM
It's pretty cool dude, my finger dexterirty just gets a bit taxed holding shift to run along diagonals which you do often, due to the isometric angle. I was thinking about a feature where you have a dodge/dash button that speeds you in a direction briefly instead, much like Castlevania has the reverse dodge.
DukeOFprunes
24-07-2010, 02:42 PM
Oh, and it's be nice to have a bunch of baddies to blow up with my hard-earned shock pulser :]
Gazza_N
24-07-2010, 09:43 PM
Whooo! Thanks for the comments, everyone!
@Fengol: I added both a minimap and a full map display today, and it's a-lookin' good. ;) As for Unity, well, I'm still working through it. I doubt that after all the work I've done on Resonance in GM that I'll port it, but by Shub Niggurath am I keen to rework one of my other games using Unity. I'm eyeing gGuardian. But one project at a time. :P
@dINGLE: You're not the first person to remark on this. You totally nailed the intended combat sequence, so it's not your bad. The problem is that although the boss shifts colour from white to black as you do damage, it's an incredibly subtle effect, especially with all the other ambient lights around. I'm going to add sparks and smoke as you do more damage - hopefully that'll make you feel that you're getting somewhere. ;) Anything but the dreaded boss health bar... ._.
@Telur: DONE! Reload time's been increased, and it works better. Now there's an appreciable amount of time where you scream in frustration because you can't shoot. :P
@Duke: The Shift-for-hyperspeed key was actually a testing hack that I forgot to take out (I've increased the base running speed anyway, and you'll be able to sprint with a later upgrade). That said, I hear what you're saying. One thing I do want to slap in is an option for the player to set the movement controls as either camera-relative or world-relative. I figured camera-relative would be more accessible and natural, but world-relative means less key-pressery. As regards new weapon-specific monsters, I'm workin' on it! :D
Fengol
25-07-2010, 07:43 AM
So where's the update?
Gazza_N
25-07-2010, 07:54 PM
In the interests of being infuriatingly engimatic, I'll play the "When it's done" card.
In the meantime, a screenshot of a map.
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii48/Gazza_N/screenshot107.jpg
Fengol
26-07-2010, 04:52 PM
I should mention that I don't know what metriodvania means, so I didnt really know what to expect.
Definition: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Metroidvania
Shadow Complex on the 360 is a perfect example of a metroidvania type game and I suppose Batman: Arkham Asylum is too (because you need your discovered abilities to get around).
Gazza_N
31-08-2010, 08:56 PM
It isn't dead! :O
I took the latest build of Resonance to Mayhem last weekend to get a couple of oppinonions, and feedback was generally good (as well as random people asking "what is that?", which is always rad :P). Consensus was that the game needs some rebalancing in areas, there are some glaring exploits, and there are graphical problems on certain hardware. Those are being worked on.
Otherwise, progress is steady. I've added a few new features, puzzles and monsters to the game, on top of some under-the-hood tweaks, and I hope to have something release-worthy done in the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime, I give you some exciting screenshots to tide you over, just like REAL developers do!
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii48/Gazza_N/screenshot110.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii48/Gazza_N/screenshot109.jpg
Gazza_N
05-09-2010, 03:06 PM
People keep asking me "What are the haps with Resonance, oh behatted wannabe-developer guy?", and all I've been able to do is shrug because content creation (AKA: Building Cool Stuff to Populate My Base Game With) takes work and has little apparent value until it's IN THE GAME. It now gives me great pleasure to present the latest build of Resonance, with the following cool stuff:
Additions!
>> A much-desired minimap
>> New upgrades. Not all of them are available to the player right now, but they work, and they're there. Waiting...
>> New enemies
>> One-and-a-bit new areas, as well as a slightly-expanded Crystal Caves area.
>> New obstacles and puzzles for the aforementioned areas
>> A new boss battle in the Processing area!
>> Added an in-game control-help overlay (Press F1 to toggle)
>> Added elaborate and awesome damage effects to bosses.
>> Made interactive objects pulse invitingly so that players know they're usable.
>> Moar music, rerendered from beepy MIDI into decent-sounding MP3 by his Excellency the Chippit.
Tweaks!
>> Rebalanced weapon damage, health, movement speeds. Hell, rebalanced everything. Three times.
>> Implemented global AI for monsters. Very little special-case code now! Whee! Improved AI a little while I was at it. Still lots of room for improvement, but I'm getting there.
>> Improved target cursor positioning.
>> Improved player character model with MOAR POLYGONZ and awful textures. Subtle, but effective.
Fixes!
>> Fixed bizarre issue that would cause certain textures to tile incorrectly on certain graphics hardware.
>> Fixed annoying issue where offscreen enemies were getting stuck in walls
>> Fixed intermittent issue where already-collected Shield Capacitor pickups would respawn.
>> Fixed hilarious issue that would cause Spitter Spiders to shoot themselves in the face.
I hate to say it, but your previous save files won't work with this new build, unless you enjoy watching games bork out horribly.
Please remember that the game is still under construction. There are paths that go nowhere of interest yet, puzzles that haven't been implemented, enemies that don't exist, blah blah blah. Nonetheless, as always, suggestions, comments and bug reports are welcomed with open arms. Helps me guage if I'm on the right track so far. ;)
You can get the latest version here (https://sites.google.com/site/gazzagamesrepository/Home/ResonanceDemo2.zip?attredirects=0&d=1), for a paltry 8MB. Press F1 any time in-game to toggle the help overlay (an experiment of mine into contextual help).
Fengol
05-09-2010, 05:51 PM
I can speak with experience that combat balancing NEVER ends, and every ability/stat/weapon/item/puzzle just means it takes longer to do each time
Fengol
05-09-2010, 09:15 PM
Plenty of improvement, the mini-map especially makes it easier to navigate the world.
That being said, here are a couple of suggestions for improvement:
* Collectables; you've created an interesting map but there's no reason to explore dead-ends and other branches. Add a collectable to your game and put them in these branches so players are rewarded for exploring. Dead enemies should drop the collectable too
* Ammo indication; It sucks in a fight to suddenly be out of ammo and there's no indication of how much is in the clip. Show bullets left on the HUD and play a sound when ammo runs out.
* Audio queues; you've added music but spend some time with sfxr (http://code.google.com/p/sfxr/) and create: shoot; hit; reload; pick up; can't pick up and collect noises.
* Map Indicators; show crystal and door blocks on the mini-map. Even if you only add them when the player discovers them. Later in the game it's hard to know where you've been and still need to explore. (This could also be solved with fog-of-war)
* Game Over; Firstly, I'm not sure if you're unloading resources but there's a long wait before getting back to the main menu after dying. Secondly, if you are unloading, instead of returning to the main menu, reset the player back to the last spawn point with full health and clip refilled so that the game doesn't have to end.
* Save Points; I used a save point with 1 health left. Closed the game and reloaded. I still had 1 health but the enemies respawned. Give the player full health and ammo when they spawn.
Gazza_N
06-09-2010, 08:48 AM
* Collectables; you've created an interesting map but there's no reason to explore dead-ends and other branches. Add a collectable to your game and put them in these branches so players are rewarded for exploring. Dead enemies should drop the collectable too
Agreed, as the disclaimer in my release post states. :P The thrill of exploration comes from discovering things, and if there's nothing to discover but a dead-end, players couldn't be bothered. There's also no real point to killing certain monsters, since you can easily outrun or avoid them. I dislike the idea of having ammo and health pickups dropped by creatures that, by all rights, shouldn't be carrying them. Collectables will be similar to Iji's, where they'll take the form of an XP-like resource that you can use to upgrade weapons and abilities at special upgrade stations.
* Ammo indication; It sucks in a fight to suddenly be out of ammo and there's no indication of how much is in the clip. Show bullets left on the HUD and play a sound when ammo runs out.
Will do. I can see how the cursor ammo indicator may be nebulous.
* Audio queues; you've added music but spend some time with sfxr (http://code.google.com/p/sfxr/) and create: shoot; hit; reload; pick up; can't pick up and collect noises.
Truth is, music's there because I know how to create music. :P Sound effects creation, on the other hand, is a black art to me. Gotta get to it at some point, though. SFXR is great, and I used it to fantastic effect (a hurr hurr) in Gears RPG, but its results are too retro for my tastes. I should experiment more with it, perhaps use Audacity to jigger the sounds more to what I want.
* Map Indicators; show crystal and door blocks on the mini-map. Even if you only add them when the player discovers them. Later in the game it's hard to know where you've been and still need to explore. (This could also be solved with fog-of-war)
I wondered if people would have issue with only the basic layout being showed on the map, or if less would be more (especially for those metroidvania diehards for whom maps are anathema). I do agree that knowing where you've already gone is incredibly unclear, and that obstacles should be there. I like the Fog of War idea - I'll look into ways to implement it.
* Game Over; Firstly, I'm not sure if you're unloading resources but there's a long wait before getting back to the main menu after dying. Secondly, if you are unloading, instead of returning to the main menu, reset the player back to the last spawn point with full health and clip refilled so that the game doesn't have to end.
I didn't realise it would lag so much on other machines. Your suggestion will also make the game flow better. Done.
* Save Points; I used a save point with 1 health left. Closed the game and reloaded. I still had 1 health but the enemies respawned. Give the player full health and ammo when they spawn.
Full health and ammo? I dunno... How about setting it to some (reasonable) amount if the player's health is below a certain threshold? The last thing I want to do is to remove the tension of impending death.
Thanks for your feedback! :D
Fengol
06-09-2010, 09:40 AM
On the issue of save points, remember that you're controlling where the player can spawn so it's not like he can save anywhere and restart with full health and ammo. Spawn points should before crucial obstacles or encounters (like boss fights) otherwise the player must travel back to where he died with all the monsters and traps respawned. Giving him full health and ammo won't be an advantage, just an even chance.
On the audio cues, remember you're not at the polish stage yet but I'll bet you'll find the cues a welcome addition.
Just a reiteration of the "enemies need health bars" would be useful as always.
The + on the health bar still moves when you open the F1 overlay.
You should perhaps make an overlay message for the health pack when you dont pick them up just saying "Health Pack" or whatever you want to call it, I only realised what I was looking for after the water in that room after speaking to you about it.
Side note: the sliding platforms you can get knocked off of if an enemy is standing in the middle of the path which in turn kills the player.
Looking forward to the next iteration!
Chippit
06-09-2010, 05:43 PM
On the issue of save points, remember that you're controlling where the player can spawn so it's not like he can save anywhere and restart with full health and ammo. Spawn points should before crucial obstacles or encounters (like boss fights) otherwise the player must travel back to where he died with all the monsters and traps respawned. Giving him full health and ammo won't be an advantage, just an even chance.
On the audio queues, remember you're not at the polish stage yet but I'll bet you'll find the queues a welcome addition.
Cues! Cues! The word is 'cues'! :P
Fengol
06-09-2010, 06:01 PM
@Chippit, I do humbly apologise. I took my cue from all the MS tickets and forgot how to spell real good
Gazza_N
19-10-2010, 11:16 AM
Forsooth! 'tis a progress update! The following is a list of features that I've implemented so far, and plan to implement before the next release.
Stuff that's done:
> Fog of war.
> Fuller-detail minimap
> Changes to reloading - game now returns you directly to your last save, rather than dumping you back to the main menu.
> Save points now recharge shields to full
> Health pickups now restore a fraction of maximum health, rather than a constant value.
> Health pickups now spawn floating text on pickup to reflect your health gain.
> AI now respects LOS more, and will attempt to reposition if the player's hiding out of sight instead of staring stupidly at the wall.
> Tweaks to the way collisions on the Shockpulser wave work to make it more precise.
> Tweaks to Processing level layout and puzzle pacing.
> Fixed collisions with enemies while on a moving rail platform causing you to slip onto the rails.
> Made weapons switching time correlate to reloading rate, rather than refire time.
> Added a progress bar HUD element to provide an accurate secondary indication of reload time and remaining ammo.
> Silly animation tweaks for experimentation and lulz.
> Experimental sound effects added for lulz.
To do (For next release):
> Complete puzzle implementation, boss battle, and layout for Power Plant area.
> Fix some problems involving non-destruction of projectiles.
> Expand AI to allow for evasive manoeuvres in melee/close-range enemies (circle-strafe! Wheeee!).
> Enemies, enemies, enemies, sitting on the page, begging to be translated into code.
> Implementation of the XP-style currency/resource/pickup thing and a player upgrade system. Too many ideas, gotta lock this down and implement.
To-do (long-term):
> Finish the game. :P
Fengol
19-10-2010, 01:04 PM
I SOOOOOO cannot wait!
Gazza_N
24-12-2010, 03:41 PM
Yes. Irony. <_<
A Christmas present to all: the latest build, with 99% of the to-do list to-done. This version includes limited sound effects, two new complete-enough areas with boss battles, and lots of tweaks and stuff. Graphics are still as muddy as you'd expect, but the gameplay should be fine. And if not, well, you know what to do! Upgrade mechanic is due in the next version, although you'll be seeing inklings of it here.
Get it here (https://sites.google.com/site/gazzagamesrepository/Home/ResonanceDemo3.zip?attredirects=0&d=1), or at the link in the first post.
Also, a screenie for fun:
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii48/Gazza_N/screenshot111.jpg
Fengol
26-12-2010, 06:08 AM
I don't know what I'm doing wrong but after extracting and starting the game and the little loading bar I get a black screen for a bit before the menu shows. I then click start and I get another black screen but then the game seems to hang :(
P.S. Restarting and trying Continue gives me the same results.
Gazza_N
26-12-2010, 11:32 AM
Having downloaded and tested the game with no problems, there's only one thing that immediately springs to mind: the minimap texture may be an issue. My graphics card has no issues with texture size, so this has bitten me before in testing on other machines. Given that all the other systems worked the last time you tested, and nothing else of note occurs right at the start of a level, this is the most likely problem. Let me throw some checks into the minimap calculation and we'll see if that helps.
EDIT:
Try this one out (https://sites.google.com/site/gazzagamesrepository/Home/ResonanceDemo3Fix1.zip?attredirects=0&d=1). Link in first post updated too.
BlackShipsFillt
26-12-2010, 07:14 PM
Looking sweet so far! I love the low-bit feel.
I got stuck at a point where it was impossible to get past... The save point respawned me to where I had been, but the platform that I had used to get there was presumably where it had started off. It's the same place that is depicted in the screenshot you posted 2 posts back, except for me the doors were closed. So that's as far as I got.
I like the way the electricity and blue stuff zaps the avatar, but the electricity came as a bit of a surprise, because there is no clear indication that those areas are electrified it felt like a bit of a cheap death.
I know it isn't in the blueprint for Metroidvania games, but the enemies are really tough and the player doesn't get any rewards for defeating them (with the exception of the droid boss battle, which was really cool). Personally I have gotten quite used to getting experience, cash, items or other advantages from my enemies in shooter games and it feels missing here.
Fengol
27-12-2010, 07:33 AM
Still having the same problem but I wonder if it's not an audio problem. When I click start I see my ffdshow audio decoder start up but I'm not getting any sound. Might that be hanging it?
EDIT: The game runs fine on my work machine. I suspect it must be a codec issue then :(
Chippit
27-12-2010, 10:52 AM
You can try add it to ffdshow's exceptions list. I know most directshow filters let you define programs that they won't try to intercept. See if that's the issue.
Also, icky directshow filters :< :x :s
Gazza_N
27-12-2010, 11:21 AM
The game runs fine on my work machine. I suspect it must be a codec issue then :(
Bleh. :(
Well, at least it's not the game, but it still makes me sad.
I got stuck at a point where it was impossible to get past... The save point respawned me to where I had been, but the platform that I had used to get there was presumably where it had started off. It's the same place that is depicted in the screenshot you posted 2 posts back, except for me the doors were closed. So that's as far as I got.
>.< I am a incredibly silly man for letting that happen. That goes on the to-fix-ASAP list.
I like the way the electricity and blue stuff zaps the avatar, but the electricity came as a bit of a surprise, because there is no clear indication that those areas are electrified it felt like a bit of a cheap death.
Erk... Do you have any suggestions as to how I could communicate that to the player better? Occasional arcs of electricity running along the rails, perhaps? I admit that I was kinda going for the old Nintendo "lol u died now u know u shoodnt do that on reload lol" technique, but I can understand it feeling cheap. Because it is. <_<
I know it isn't in the blueprint for Metroidvania games, but the enemies are really tough and the player doesn't get any rewards for defeating them (with the exception of the droid boss battle, which was really cool). Personally I have gotten quite used to getting experience, cash, items or other advantages from my enemies in shooter games and it feels missing here.
In the works, don't you worry. Enemies will be dropping an XP-like collectible which you'll be able to spend on weapon upgrades at upgrade stations dotted around the levels. Also, if you look around the levels in the current version, you may find upgrade tanks, which are essentially large chunks of XP lying around for the careful explorer.
Thanks for the critique! :D
BlackShipsFillt
27-12-2010, 04:10 PM
Yes, occasional arcs of electricity would convey the message fine... What really confused me when it happened was that the round platform hubs didn't shock me, so I walked a bit further and onto the rails and suddenly I was dying really quickly...
A cheaper solution would be to have a note about the electricity like you had for the blue shield depletion stuff. (although a visual representation would be superior)
By the way... also, when the platforms start to move, the player seems to miss one frame of movement and so kind of jerks back a little... I presume that if the player was standing near a edge the player may fall off and die... and while I was cunning enough to avoid this (by readjusting my position each time) I'm sure eventually someone will die because of it.
In the works, don't you worry. Enemies will be dropping an XP-like collectible which you'll be able to spend on weapon upgrades at upgrade stations dotted around the levels. Also, if you look around the levels in the current version, you may find upgrade tanks, which are essentially large chunks of XP lying around for the careful explorer.
I was a bit hesitant to suggest spendable collection things from killing enemies... It seems to me that the Metrovania style relies on gameplay bottle necks... in that the player can only get so far until they find a new device which allows them to progress and also return to places they could not reach before...
Being able to gradually grow the player's strength (through purchasing upgrades) seems to run against this a bit... in that if the player can purchase a bunch of weapon upgrades then it will be tricky to limit the player to certain areas by limiting his/her weaponry... conversely if the next area requires the purchasable upgrade/weapon then the player is essentially farming enemies for the weapons needed to progress.
I suppose if it is basically minor upgrades (which make things a bit easier, but don't unlock new areas) rather than new weapons, and each station has a limited supply of upgrades, it could work without hurting the Metrovania flow. Shield drops and temporary bonuses would be safer design-wise, but upgrade stations could add some nice depth (provided it doesn't feel like farming).
I don't know exactly where you are going with this. Considering the toughness and small quantities of the enemies as well as the long loading times it feels a bit like a survival horror shooter (as opposed to a messy shootemup with dozens of enemieon screen at once)... if you want to take it in this serious direction you could limit the player's ammo as well, allowing you to do ammo drops from monsters and purchasable ammo.
Also if you did want to make it seriously scary for the player you could limit the monsters' visibility to the player's line of sight.
But I don't know if you are going for a feeling of doom or not.
Also nice music by the way!
Gazza_N
27-12-2010, 05:55 PM
A cheaper solution would be to have a note about the electricity like you had for the blue shield depletion stuff. (although a visual representation would be superior)
I'll do both. :3
By the way... also, when the platforms start to move, the player seems to miss one frame of movement and so kind of jerks back a little...
I thought I'd be able to pass that off as inertia myself. Noted.
I suppose if it is basically minor upgrades (which make things a bit easier, but don't unlock new areas) rather than new weapons, and each station has a limited supply of upgrades, it could work without hurting the Metrovania flow. Shield drops and temporary bonuses would be safer design-wise, but upgrade stations could add some nice depth (provided it doesn't feel like farming).
Well, I'm looking at being able to only upgrade items that the player's already collected. Primary progression items will always be obtained via pickups that you need to find, a-la Metroid. I'm hoping to introduce a resource management aspect by doing this - do I spend my upgrade points on what items I have, or save them for a later weapon? To be fair, the majority of upgrade requirements will be supplied by the aforementioned upgrade tanks, so there'll be no real need to farm for upgrade points unless you really want to. Upgraded weapons will also require an additional resource - energy, obtained through the Energy Cache pickup. Yes, it'll take some balancing to ensure that player who don't actively go upgrade-hunting can still do okay in the game, but I'll get to that.
I don't know exactly where you are going with this.
Heh. My design style's always been organic - take two existing sets of mechanics I like that may work together (metroidvania and iso-shooter, in this case), jigger them around a bit, and see what happens as the game develops. I'm going for a "Resonance" feel, whatever that ends up being. :P
Also nice music by the way!
Thank you! ^_^ Also thank Chippit, who's been critiquing the soundtrack all the way, as well as resequencing it from MIDI to HQ-sample MP3 using his mystical Linuxhax.
Nandrew
27-12-2010, 08:19 PM
Okay, finally played this game, appropriate that I hopped back onto the forums roughly in time for your Christmas version! :P
I really should've gotten my hands on this sooner, sorry. The game is shaping up to be quite charming! A lot of my immediate suggestions overlap BlackShip's (in fact, I had pretty much exactly the same save/load issue at the same place as he did :P ). Additionally, I'd like to point out that dying/respawning cancels the level music for me. I find this very sad, because I like Gazzatunes. :(
I'm really enjoying some of the subtler points that you've inserted: the "secret room" in the second area has not gone beyond my notice (though I've yet to figure out how to get in and away without dying!) and you're nailing the exploration mechanic pretty well.
There are, however, one or two points I'd urge you to consider, especially since they work so well in Metroidvanias:
1) With the exception of bosses, I really think that enemies need to respawn (WITHOUT needing to save/load), and this can be based on simple distance (so travelling x blocks away from a location will allow any dead enemies to respawn). I think this is important because your game is definitely faithful to Metroidvania in the regard that exploration, dead ends and frequent backtracking occur. :P Backtracking is OK in, say, Castlevania, because the player is always occupied with enemy encounters ... but in Resonance, destroying the first droid boss results in having to hoof your way back through bare, uninteresting corridors to get to the next zone. Granted, I was having fun blowing up crystals by that point, but I think that having some enemies to immediately use your new gun on would've been even more awesome (but I think that point's been mentioned already :P ).
2) I see that after some debate, your save points restore health (which is fair, really), but again: this would work better if enemies respawned. It feels a little too easy to attack some baddies, take some damage, and then hop back to the safe zone to restore yourself fully before going after the next group of baddies at full strength. It's cheap. Don't let me be cheap, Gazza!
3) I think that, especially for the first area, it may be nice to throw in an extra enemy type with very low health and reasonable movement speed. Not to specifically challenge the player or anything: more as an excuse to spam enemy presence slightly more, allowing for less walkage through "lonely corridors" and making sure that players are kept on their toes a little more regularly. I'm basically suggesting mindless trigger-stimulation here, yes, but look how well it worked in Castlevania SOTN: the first few rooms were filled with swarms of ****-easy enemies, but new players could get into the groove of just smacking a lot of **** around before committing themselves to more deliberate combat tactics.
4) Actually, following on from above (and perhaps not as considered a suggestion as the others): DUDE! You've totally got to get in with the Metroidvania trope of starting the game with "look at me I'm a badass with all sorts of equipment and weapons that make me immortal OH WHOOPS I TRIPPED AFTER FIGHTING THESE DUDES AND ALL MY STUFF FELL INTO A RANDOM GRATE I SUCK NOW." It would be amusing.
Hope this is useful. Poke me on Gtalk if you wanna chat about this more.
Chippit
27-12-2010, 08:49 PM
4) Actually, following on from above (and perhaps not as considered a suggestion as the others): DUDE! You've totally got to get in with the Metroidvania trope of starting the game with "look at me I'm a badass with all sorts of equipment and weapons that make me immortal OH WHOOPS I TRIPPED AFTER FIGHTING THESE DUDES AND ALL MY STUFF FELL INTO A RANDOM GRATE I SUCK NOW." It would be amusing.
Aah, I love that one.
From a design perspective, though, it often makes a lot of sense structuring your game that way. It serves both as a motivating factor to progress and restore your strength to your former glory (and often surpass it), and often make fantastic tutorials because you get to mess around with all your **** without really needing to be afraid of the consequences of not doing particularly well, since you're mostly invincible. The original Metroid Prime did this pretty well in particular, without ever making it seem like a tutorial (the best kind of tutorial). Metroid Other M, on the other hand, was pretty retarded about it, with a literal training room type tutorial that had me :|-ing all the way through.
Gazza_N
28-12-2010, 10:37 AM
Well, you'll all be thrilled to know that after all this awesome feedback, I spend my reading-instead-of-sleeping-because-it's-holidays time last night coding-instead-of-sleeping-because-it's-holidays. Since the request level has now catapulted to ultra-lots, enemy respawns without reloading are now implemented and working, good players. Nandrew's request for squishy-swarmy enemies has been taken into consideration. The blobby exploding things were meant to fulfil that purpose, but I guess we need more of them. Lots more. With less health.
POP! :3
The opening "tutorial" level is also a great idea, and I'll be looking into implementing that. I already have a convoluted story point that robs the player of their toys. ;)
BlackShipsFillt
28-12-2010, 01:16 PM
Oooh! I agree that more enemies == good. In terms of shooters I am most fond of the masses of enemies, feeling powerful, variety (like Alien Shooter 3).
I wasn't sure if the limited-tough enemies was a purposeful design choice in order to create a more horror-survival-shooter feel. (And if so I would suggest implementing some sneaking or field of view or other stealth mechanics... kind of System Shock-like)... but if you aren't going for horror-survival, and rather a feeling-powerful game, then gratuitous amounts of violence would be sweet.
Nandrew
28-12-2010, 03:06 PM
That's a good point, actually. The number of foes you have could definitely influence the "mood" of the game. Maybe I'll revise my suggestion to "just a few more enemies, just a little less health" or something. :P
Gazza_N
28-12-2010, 03:24 PM
I'll play around with it. One definite design goal is to have each area feel different, with different puzzles, monsters, etc. I already have a darker, more paced area in mind that'll probably have some thriller/horror vibes (The Deep Caves), and a shoot-'em-so's-the-goo-flies-everywhere area (The Biolabs). A few swarms of explode-o-blobs in the Crystal Caves area to ease the new player in is an excellent idea, though, and upping the enemy count will likely make existing areas a bit more fun, like the Refinery area (that nobody seems to've got to yet, even though it's totally accessible right after getting the shockpulser. :P)
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.4 Copyright © 2019 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.