Hello all, I have recently finished a demo/beta version of my top-down vertical-scrolling 2D shootem-up game called Star Lance Alpha . I am looking for feedback on how the game plays, and just general opinions on what you think could be improved before I do a final release. You can find the game at: Screen shots: http://www.deepbluefuture.com/projects.html Warning: there are 18 somewhat large images on this page; 56k users might want to be wary. Download: http://www.deepbluefuture.com/downloads.html Download size is a whopping 16.5MB. I've had a great time developing it, as it is my first real game that I've developed. I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I've had in creating it. Thanks for any and all comments! roger_hq _____________________________ "Set Phasers to neuter..." "2+2=5 for sufficiently large values of 2." [edited by - roger_hq on January 28, 2004 3:29:34 PM] [edited by - roger_hq on January 28, 2004 3:31:03 PM] [edited by - roger_hq on January 28, 2004 4:26:09 PM]

WOW!!!

Truely an amazing game. I''m currently working on a shump type game, it''s my first attempt at a real game, and it does not look anywhere near as impressive as this one. This game is incredibly professional.

I''d be embarrased to post my game after seeing this one. :-/

How long did you spend making EVERYTHING (I see by the credits that you did it all!)?

Only bug I found was when I exited the game, my desktop resolution was not restored.

Also, could you include some sort of difficulty setting? The first level seems pretty hard for a first level...when you are first getting used to the controls.

I''m extremely impressed, but slightly disappointed in my own project now. I still have fun making though, and that''s what really counts.

-Q

Thank you very much! I''m glad you liked it. I''ve been working on it some time now (a little over 2 years on and off again). Its been a long haul but definately worth it, building a project from start to finish.

Yes, I did pretty much everything you see in the game (except the sound effects, which I purchased, and then re-mixed to suit my needs). I spent a considerable time on the graphics, and a bit of time on the music. I''m no musician, but it seemed to turn out ok.

Interesting to hear it didn''t swap you back to your default resolution upon exiting. Are you by any chance using an LCD monitor? I''ve found that LCDs are a bit troublesome. If you wouldn''t mind telling me your system specs, that would be great!

Unfortunately I didn''t put the levels in any particular order of difficulty in the mission selection box. I think perhaps the "Nebula Base" mission is easiest. I think in the final release I will either not have a mission selector (just a series of mission you can go on) or have the missions in increasing order of difficulty.

Thank you again for your input!


roger_hq

_____________________________

http://www.deepbluefuture.com

"Set Phasers to neuter..."
"2+2=5 for sufficiently large values of 2."

any thoughts on capping the frame rate? It''s just totally unplayable on my config! It''s so high you can''t even see the sprites of the enemy ships properly. lol :D

Looks really good though

athlon 1700+ @1.4ghz
Radeon 9700 128 mb
kt266, 512mb ram
Sound blaster audigy

Hrm... it should be capped. Have you disabled vsync on your monitor? I tried capping it to 60fps but sounds like it didn''t work on your machine. My only thought is that you might have vsync disabled on your monitor. Let me know, and I''ll see what I can do to fix that. Thanks!

roger_hq

_____________________________

http://www.deepbluefuture.com

"Set Phasers to neuter..."
"2+2=5 for sufficiently large values of 2."

yeah, I had my vsync always off. Now default to application, and it works. Maybe a warning on screen, in case the vsync is locked? or in the logfile?

Still, bloody hard game but really well done. good job!

Hey thanks for the input guys!

oliii:
Thanks for checking into that. I had a feeling that might be the issue. I think I will issue a warning if the user''s monitor has disabled vsync. I made a version of the game that didn''t require vsync to be enabled, but it simply didn''t scroll as smoothly. Did you find the controls helpful once you got used to them? Did you find the enemies to have too much shields?

CrystalClear:
Thanks, I very much appreciate that! No troubles running the game?




_____________________________
http://www.deepbluefuture.com
"Set Phasers to neuter..."
"2+2=5 for sufficiently large values of 2."

I think this is a great game, though somewhat difficult playing the first mission. Also,the game seems to run fairly fast on my rig.

It is a great inspiration to write my own shump, as I hope to do as I am learning DX right now.

Kudos!

CaptCanada:
Thanks for trying it out! Could you tell me what your system specs are? That would help me determine why it might be running fast on your machine. A previous poster had vsync disabled on his monitor, is that the same situation for you?

I''ll be uploading a new demo version that hopefully corrects the speed problem with vsync disabled monitors this weekend.



_____________________________
http://www.deepbluefuture.com
"Set Phasers to neuter..."
"2+2=5 for sufficiently large values of 2."