Musa Monsoon: AirPirates- Horizontal shooter

ktfright

Tired,very tired, but I managed to crank out one more game for a total of three. this game is inspired by R-type and mini squadron, and now i'm addicted to making shooters now.

http://gamesalad.com/game/play/36729

Basically, its is still not 100% done, but the basic gameplay is still inhere, and all i need to add now are special weapons, but this is gonna be know for the epic boss battles. All the stages are currently unlocked, even if it looks like it doesn't, so tell me what you think!

urhungry

Sounds cool, I'll try it tommarrow when I'm on the computer. I love this type of game.

ktfright

Ima work on the sound, but hopefully I can crank out a whole soundtrack for this in one day.

ktfright

I am asking everyone in the forums, is there anything that i can do to make my game better? I am brainstorming features, but is there anything i should fix up or add instead of the gameplay UI?

ktfright

anything to make it better?

quantumsheep

I've been meaning to reply to this thread, so forgive me KT for the tardiness of it all.

As with all your games, i really enjoyed this one. Love the graphics, the little touches like how the enemy ships tip forward before exploding etc etc. There's a lot of good in there.

There are a few things I would consider changing/improving:

1. On your main menu, put 'Play' at the top, not the bottom.
2. Put restrictions in at the extremities of the scene so that you don't lose your ship off the edge!
3. Vary what happens in some stages. Maybe have the player avoid stuff only in one stage. Or have to collect things. Think of each stage as a game unto itself. It will add variety to what you do. Also consider changing the background to each stage completely to give each one a personality if you will, and consider adding an 'ending' to each stage so that people can complete it (this may already be in, but I didn't get that far! Maybe shorten the levels?).
3. Have a little variety in the design of the enemy ships. I really like them, but they're all the same shape. Experiment with different sizes and shapes, as well as speed.
4. Let your game 'breathe'. At the moment, the enemies appear and move to the left. They don't seem to come in waves, and they don't change speed or direction when moving.
5.Adding music may help. In my own forthcoming shooter, I've tried to time the waves to coincide as best I can with the music. It means that the screen is sometimes clear of enemies for a few short seconds, but it allows the player to catch their breath and heightens the anticipation of what might be coming next!
6. Smart bombs rule!
7. Yes, there are two number '3's.

Have a look at this
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/space-invaders-infinity-gene-lite/id347875436?mt=8
(it's the lite version of Space Invaders: Infinity Gene)

This game is lovely. I highly recommend it if you're doing a shooter, just to see its inventiveness and to perhaps inspire you with your own game.

(as an aside, look at how many 1 stars the lite version has compared to five stars - 884 to 374. Wow. See how that's reversed for the full version. 9 to 24. If ever there was a case to NOT do a lite version, there it is, folks!).

In closing, I'd like to say 'take it easy'. I get the feeling you're hung up on being 'successful'. Don't let it be to your detriment. Take pride in what you're doing, and if you've had fun doing it, then you've won. Right? Don't get too hung up on what others think. After all, nearly 900 people hated the lite version of Infinity Gene! The cads!

Good luck with it, and I look forward to what you do with this, and your other games as usual!

Hope that helps,

QS

jhaas

The sheep is good...the sheep is wise.

ktfright

Very wise indeed! I will take those things into account QS, and I will take it easy on myself. I keep forgetting making games is supposed to be fun, not stressful.

quantumsheep

Even if that's the *only* thing you take away with you, my work here is done!

/vanishes in blue light

/wakes up at GameSalad HQ prior to the .8 update

"Oh boy..."

ktfright

Dang this thread is old, but I finally dusted off this game! Here is a video of some if the upcoming things going on with it.

ktfright

Anyone have an idea of how many types of enemies there should be? i have quite a few different ones at the moment, but thinking of adding more to it.

quantumsheep

Hey, just seen this...

How many enemies do you have? What differentiates them from eachother?

QS

ktfright

There are 6 bosses; 4 of them look like buses, the sub boss is huge, and the final boss is 4x your size and hard as hell to beat.

there are 2 minion type enemies at the moment, but im cranking that to four more ship types of varying difficulty. certain weapons can kill certain ships, and most ships shoot back at you.

quantumsheep

Ok - seems like you've made a few improvements!

Maybe introduce new enemies on new levels. I've mentioned it before somewhere, but start off with the basic enemies on level 1. Then on level 2, have a new enemy along with the old one etc etc...

What I would stress is to make a nice, simple set of instructions, especially if different shots affect different enemies.

Remember the old arcade games? (actually, you're probably too young!). Well anyway, they had attract screens like this:



Instead of having the points value next to an image of an enemy, you could put in 'destroyed with X shot' (where X is the appropriate shot type).

Your enemies do all look the same, still, at least to a casual observer. Perhaps colour enemies the same as the shot needed to kill them. That way the player can make the association instantly.

Anyway, looking good - good luck with it!

QS

nulo

how are you planning on making the controls on the iphone?
one thing i noticed on the video, is that all actors, when getting near 0 on X disappear before exiting the screen. make them disappear when they reach -50 on x or even lower.
another thing i noticed, is that the sun is always on the exact same position. even when the stage changes.
i really dig the music, did you make it?

about the enemies. even though they have different colors, they still look the same, and seem to do the same things. maybe vary this a little more?
also some more weapon types. i saw 2 on the video.

anyway, just some minor details. keep it up!

quantumsheep

@nulo
The music is Ktfright's - all his games have awesome music - it's something I look forward to!

KT - maybe you could make a compilation of your in-game music and sell it on iTunes?

QS

ktfright

nulo said:
how are you planning on making the controls on the iphone?
one thing i noticed on the video, is that all actors, when getting near 0 on X disappear before exiting the screen. make them disappear when they reach -50 on x or even lower.
another thing i noticed, is that the sun is always on the exact same position. even when the stage changes.
i really dig the music, did you make it?

about the enemies. even though they have different colors, they still look the same, and seem to do the same things. maybe vary this a little more?
also some more weapon types. i saw 2 on the video.

anyway, just some minor details. keep it up!

Yeah, im gonna fix that sun and screen thing right now, but the music is all me. I'm a rapper, and It was hard to come by beats, so I started making my own on using beatmaker and Noise.io. I want to have more weapon types, but i couldn't get homing to work as well as I wanted to, but I am still drafting up more weapon types.

I wish the controls of the ship were better like Sketch Nation, but for now they work well, and for the types of ships, I thought Palette swapping some enemies would work, but I guess I gotta open up Pixen again and start on some new enemies...

ktfright

quantumsheep said:
@nulo
The music is Ktfright's - all his games have awesome music - it's something I look forward to!

KT - maybe you could make a compilation of your in-game music and sell it on iTunes?

QS

I should do that! There is a kid named Hudson Mohawke from the UK who makes The greatest instrumental music!

Here is some of his music in this video