game released!
http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/game/PlasmaPig


Hi all, I'm working on this freebie game at the moment, and I want some playtest feedback.. I was hoping you guys could help me out :)

here's a screen:



Ok so the premise is a challenge to myself to design a game with one-button input, and the method I came up with was you travel around these circular force fields, and change circles by pressing space bar when the character is over the small green 'connecting' circles. Your accuracy in timing these presses will increase a 'score multiplier' bar, and also increase the speed of the character. If you miss, the bar falls and so does the speed.

The aim of the game: destroy the robo-hogs which are advancing and chewing on the force field circles, eating their power. If you let any of the force fields dissapear it's game over. There's one more complication- some of the incoming robo-hogs have shields, and must be destroyed from hitting them on the unguarded side.

powerups
some power ups appear to help you:
heal: this heals whichever force field you are orbiting
slow: slows down the advancing ships
fireball: this allows you to destroy shielded enemies from any direction, and increases your destruction range
explosion: bomb effect

download (9.5 meg or so):
**notice: while i have scanned this file for viruses, and have never had any problems with quest3d exes, I cannot accept any responsibility for data loss or damage resulting from downloading this file**
http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/game/PlasmaPig

I would love any feedback you can give, especially on the difficulty curve, as is it so easy to misjudge this playing your own game over and over again. There are currently 5 levels- you need to beat the current level to get to the next one, with infinite retrys. I will be implementing 3 lives and a hi-score table

thanks!

*update:*
http://www.redprodukt.com/testing/pigs_beta_02.exe

changes:
first level about half length
difficulty ramps up quicker in later levels
player moves a bit faster
multiplier bar fixed to screen
current multiplier displayed on bar

[Edited by - RedProdukt on September 13, 2010 6:53:56 PM]

hmm, is this in the right place for game feedback?

Sorry, I'd test it, but I'm not to thrilled at the idea of installing random software on my computer. If this were made in flash, or browser based, I'm sure you'd have a much better response.

The game's quite fun, but may be quite hard to get familiar for some players (not me ^^ key is passing odd force shields to reverse the move ^^)
It reminds me an old FC game, which is about control a fist to eat all the dots and use hands to graping the nail on board to turn around ^^ Sorry for my crap English.

For the gameplay, I just have a bit suggestions.
1. The Power Up which slows down the enemies are annoying - it makes me wait :( as I can only hit the enemies close by a force shield.
2. Maybe show the health by the size of force shield will be better - reduce the force shield from the inner side ^^ and keep the outline of the force shield unchanged.

hi Cygnus_X, sorry to hear that. I guess I thought on a forum with large sections devoted to programming including C++ that people would be used to sharing windows game exes. Most indie games I've ever played have been .exes.
Don't know if it helps but it is not an installer, it is a standalone executable made with quest3d, so no registry changes will take place or anything like that.

MoonPine: thanks! the slow down is intended to give players breathing space when the screen gets quite busy, which can be useful. maybe I should limit its appearence to when there are more than x number of enemies, to ensure it's usefulness

good idea about the health! I agree that would work nicely to help display the status, I'll look into it.
thanks!

Hi RedProdukt,

First off, I had some fun despite only having a quick go and definitely feel that the central mechanic is a solid one. The movement makes me think of a spaceship using a planet's gravity for a slingshot effect. I like the art style as well (although I did double-take when I noticed the pigs).

It took a little while to get used to the game, but on my second attempt I was able to complete the first level without any problem. The second level was somewhat harder. You might want to consider adding a couple of easy but shorter early levels (perhaps skippable) to ease the player in slightly, introducing shields and enemy types more gradually.

There were a couple of specific things I noticed:

- Enemies would sometimes cross the path of one force-field on their way to attack another. This resulted in them being at a strange angle with respect to the player and introduced some confusion about how to destroy enemies with shields

- Overlapping circles in the later stages make the levels more interesting, but it can initially be a bit confusing and make it take a while to learn the path around

- The shifting of force-fields as one or more shrink actually looks nicely implemented, but it inevitably causes a "wandering" visual effect which can be a bit disorientating - Moon Pine's suggestion is worth prototyping and comparing to the existing solution

Hi WavyVirus, thanks for checking it out!
i've had a go at improving the legibility of the space station's health display:
http://www.redprodukt.com/testing/pigs_beta_04a.exe


I haven't quite used the thinning inside line technique, I tried a quicker solution of an inner field which shrinks down- I think it does at least give a much clearer picture how damaged a field is

here's the changes:
-player now slowly heals ‘current circle’ all the time
-new ‘inner forcefield’ to help represent health
-enemies have indicators when in range, and crosshair when you’re over them (this doesnt indicate if you can kill shield enemies yet)
-enemies fire ray beams at the stations to indicate attacks

I think you're on the money about making ealier levels a bit easier and slowly introducing elements. I reckon the first level should probably have no shield baddies at all, I'll work on the difficulty curve

how do! sorry to spam the thread so much, but there's a new version:
http://www.redprodukt.com/testing/pigs_beta_06.exe

changes:
this version is back to a pinball type mechanic where the ship 'bashes' into enemies by itself, with one key change:

- hitting the 'switcher' circles builds a 'fuel' bar
- hold the space bar to use fuel and accellerate your ship, and increase your multiplier
- baddies now have health and you only damage them a little when moving slowly. charge up to max speed to kill them in one hit!

additional changes:
exclamation mark warning sign when station health goes below 50%
new coloured trail and effects dependant on your current 'level' of speed

thanks!

* The enemy's HP's too high - even the little red one needs 2-3 punches to break :(
* The initial fuel (or speed)'s too low. It's very hard to get around the trajectories.
* Speed up and switch trajectory're conflicting - I cannot keep speed while switching the trajectory (So I'm forced to slow down after switch trajectory). I think the first design's better - switch trajectory increases speed directly.

I LOVE this game, its simple, fun, great graphics and sound... but it needs a bit more fast paced action. Definitely something id love to to have as an app on my phone.