River War -- Strategy Flash Game
Author
Hi there,
I just completed a flash game and would appreciate it if anyone could take a look and leave some feedback regarding coding/gameplay.
http://www.battlephase.com/riverwar
The dynamics are very simple, but I kept it that way as I am still learning and didn't want the complexity of the project to overwhelm me.
Thanks!
Nice game. It reminded me of Advanced Wars. The whole one move turn for all enemies is kind of odd in that the units have to move into direct like of fire and wait a turn before they attack. Allowing the helicopter to fly 2 squares and such would add another level of strategy to the game. (Not to mention being able to attack only adjacent squares. Also it wasn't clear before you went into battle what advantages each unit had. Also for a game like this things like fog of war help a lot to add strategy.
The only obvious problem in the interface is the usability. All of that could be done with the mouse which would make the keyboard pointless (which is a good thing). Also the screen moved along the grid which wasn't really necessary. A free roam camera would be much nicer and just allow the mouse to scroll to the edges to move it.
Sweet game nonetheless. I'm sure you've seen these tutorials:
http://www.tonypa.pri.ee/tbw/tut19.html
The only obvious problem in the interface is the usability. All of that could be done with the mouse which would make the keyboard pointless (which is a good thing). Also the screen moved along the grid which wasn't really necessary. A free roam camera would be much nicer and just allow the mouse to scroll to the edges to move it.
Sweet game nonetheless. I'm sure you've seen these tutorials:
http://www.tonypa.pri.ee/tbw/tut19.html
Author
Thanks for the feedback. I'm pretty new to Flash so I didn't try anything too ambitious with the scrolling.
I haven't seen that tutorial but it looks fantastic, thanks for the link :)
I haven't seen that tutorial but it looks fantastic, thanks for the link :)
Looks like a good start. :)
A few things I would change are, indeed, the controls. I can clearly see the mobile game influence here, but Flash games are different (then again, they're also different from downloadable games). A combination of mouse control and hotkeys is probably best. Note that the traditional way of scrolling in RTS games (moving the mouse to the edge of the screen) doesn't work very well for Flash games because they're usually not full-screen, but part of a larger page.
Second, the game has a slow feel to it. I think the scrolling is the main factor here: you're moving the camera to show the latest opponent actions, but the camera movement is slow and blocky.
Third, the game lacks overview. There's a minimap (nice), but the camera is too close to the actual playing field. By making tiles (and units) smaller, you give the player more tactical awareness and it allows for larger, more interesting levels. You could combine this with fast-moving units (multiple tiles).
Fourth, the camera doesn't start at a favorable position (I started as blue yet the camera showed me red units - confusing since they also display control numbers), nor does it move back after showing an opponent action.
A few things I would change are, indeed, the controls. I can clearly see the mobile game influence here, but Flash games are different (then again, they're also different from downloadable games). A combination of mouse control and hotkeys is probably best. Note that the traditional way of scrolling in RTS games (moving the mouse to the edge of the screen) doesn't work very well for Flash games because they're usually not full-screen, but part of a larger page.
Second, the game has a slow feel to it. I think the scrolling is the main factor here: you're moving the camera to show the latest opponent actions, but the camera movement is slow and blocky.
Third, the game lacks overview. There's a minimap (nice), but the camera is too close to the actual playing field. By making tiles (and units) smaller, you give the player more tactical awareness and it allows for larger, more interesting levels. You could combine this with fast-moving units (multiple tiles).
Fourth, the camera doesn't start at a favorable position (I started as blue yet the camera showed me red units - confusing since they also display control numbers), nor does it move back after showing an opponent action.
I didn't actually play the game, so I'll limit myself to some polishing nitpicks:
At a first glance, the game looks nice though. Keep it up! [smile]
- Personally, I would appreciate the option to mute the music.
- In the menu, allow the user to also use the mouse to select an option. It's more intuitive.
- The menu headers ("main menu", "play") look exactly the same as the buttons. It's a little confusing.
- Besides the WASD keys, allow the use of the arrow keys. Some keyboard layouts don't have the WSAD keys grouped like that (the French speaking parts of the world).
At a first glance, the game looks nice though. Keep it up! [smile]
I became annoyed at the WASD key layout (which, on my keyboard, maps to where the ZQSD keys would be). I also find the tiles a bit too large to get a correct impression of what is going on.
Im going to second the motion everyone else made... bad... bad controls for a flash game. changing controls, coupled with the inability (as far as I could tell) to scroll that screen... it just wasnt intuitive.
THAT BEING SAID. it looks REALLY good for a flash game, and seems like it would be a fun little RTS if the controls were fixed.
THAT BEING SAID. it looks REALLY good for a flash game, and seems like it would be a fun little RTS if the controls were fixed.
Quote:Original post by Sirisian
The only obvious problem in the interface is the usability. All of that could be done with the mouse which would make the keyboard pointless (which is a good thing). Also the screen moved along the grid which wasn't really necessary. A free roam camera would be much nicer and just allow the mouse to scroll to the edges to move it.
i agree its a little hard to get the hang of controls
but looks great and probably has potenial awesome job!
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
