More Criticism Needed (Xeno II)

[Nexic]

First of I'd like to thank everyone who gave comments on the previous version of Xeno Assault II. I have done my best to act on almost everyone's set of criticisms and I hope the game is now a hell of a lot better for it. I am hoping to release it by the end of this week or early next week so I could really do with some more improvement ideas (as you know its much harder to change things once the game is released).

If you played the game the last time round you may have ran out of time in the demo. If this is the case please send me a private message and I will let you know how you can reset the timer. I really don't want to post it on these boards because anyone can read them :)

Thank you to Yossarian for the new HUD graphic :)

Screenshothttp://www.jaggedbladesoft.com/IndieGameDev/XenoIIshot.jpg

Game (zip format, 7mb)
http://www.jaggedbladesoft.com/IndieGameDev/xeno2demo.zip

I look forward to hearing from you all again :)

[Yossarian]

hrm.. told me I needed to install Xeno II and run it once before I can run a mission pack.. .won't let me get any further than that.

Might be that I have a strange copy of the game from alawar here, although I did try uninstalling it first and then running it.

[Nexic]

Lol! Sorry I accidently set the game to run in mission pack mode before I compiled it. Ill upload the new version in a few minutes, get it from the same place.

[Reactor]

Cool game... worked well for me. Couple of small things...

The asteroids. The UV mapping looks pretty bad on them... mainly the streaking down the sides of the larger ones. Have you tried cube mapping? I'm not sure what you have there but, I think it could look a lot better. Also, there were a couple of what seemed like 3D errors going on, with some polys overlapping others.

[Yossarian]

Vast improvement. You really got a lot of stuff reworked in a pretty short time.

Adding that asteriod level along with the new freedom of movement really game the a whole new feel to it (and thats a very good thing). I think it really turns up the excitement level.

And dare I say, that is the coolest looking sidebar every! :D Seriously though, good job on getting that integrated in and adjusted to really fit the theme well, I think you turned the overall graphical presentation up a notch.

[Nexic]

Yeh the graphic glitches are caused by me deciding to use 3D for a game in which 3D doesnt add anything, and by me not knowing how to skin properly :)

Thanks for the comments, however I really want some more negative feedback, if its possible, which im sure it is :)

[cliffski]

yes this is much better. but...

levels are too short
The asteroid bits are dull
too much of your screen real estate is 'wasted' with all the HUD stuff on the right. I barely glanced at it, but it wasted half my screen.
Getting really good now though. nice work.

[Black Hydra]

I'm downloading it right now. I'm sure I can give you some possible areas for improvement.

I think it is important to note that nobody seems to be commenting on the value as a demo. I would like to point out that it is the demo that sells the game not the game. So if your demo is too long, or it is too difficult to install, or doesn't accurately display the features people won't buy it.

I notice you zipped it. While I use WinZip myself, I think it is important to mention that some people either don't have or don't know how to use WinZip. While it is far more common than WinRar, I would suggest looking into a self-installer type of file. If your game is more suited for the more 'experienced' PC gamer then I wouldn't worry. But if your game is designed for the 'soccer mom' gamer (I hate that term but can't think of a better one) then I would probably look for one. I know that some people had some free installer/compresser programs that the only downside was a small advertisement by the installer itself. Either that or browse the BlitzBasic forums for some packing/compressing code snippets. ;)

Anyways, I'll post in a bit. Testing it right now! :D

[Black Hydra]

Alright here is what I found.

First off I must say that the game is excellent. I thought it was very fun and had excellent graphics, easy controls, and good sound effects/music.

However, me pointing out the good things won't help you so I'll focus on areas for improvement.

1) I have a crappy computer. But when loading the game the music was a bit choppy and very irritating. I don't know what you might be able to do, but at least provide a notice saying that older computers may experience sound distortions when loading game and that this won't affect further play. Seeing as that may leave an unwanted impression on the player.

2) You've made the most common mistake of all! The demo is WAY!!! too long. One hour? Please I could have made up my mind within 5 minutes of whether I liked the game. And I definitely could NOT sit through a total of one hour of a demo in such a high intensity game. An RPG maybe, but for an action game all I need is 5-10 minutes to decide whether I liked it. So instead of a timer limiting it. Simply cut the game off when they hit a particular level. So at around level 5-10 just stop it and then give your reasons to buy the full version. If I ever voluntarily stop playing the game before the demo is finished I probably wont buy it.

4) You mispelled 'multiplyer' in the high scores, I assume you meant multiplayer. I make tons of spelling errors, but in the demo it is often a subtle distraction that makes the user feel the game is unprofessional.

5) Don't give me the list of screen resolution options at the start. There is plenty of BlitzBasic code for searching through the users system and picking a preferred selection. You can put the resolution as an options change in the menu, but for new users you want to avoid giving them anything complicated to confuse them in the demo. If it would be hard to change I probably wouldn't bother as this isn't critical, however, simplicity and ease are key selling points.

6) I didn't really like the HTML help format. If possible integrating it into the actual game probably would be easier. Or at least say something like Online Help or "Online Help Manual", to give the impression it will load IE and start loading the page. Having it auto-minimize the game to load the file can be a tad distracting.

Other than those already mentioned thats all the advice I can give you.

I really enjoyed your game and I would consider it to be of a very high calibre, so don't confuse my lengthy constructive criticism with dislike.

And I wish you good luck on your future projects! :D

[svero]

Well.. I tried it again. I have to say I went into it not expecting much. And boy.. what a pleasant surprise. You really improved it quite a bit in that short time. It's definitely much better than it was.

The only extra comment I have right now is that I don't care for how the power shot works. I recommend you change it to work like the one in R-Type - Where you have to hold down the fire button to charge it. And then when you let go of the fire button the powershot fires. The way you have it not doesn't give me all that much choice about when I use the power shot and so it takes a little of the skill out of it which makes the game less fun.

[Nexic]

Response to Black Hydra:

Its only in zip format for giving to you lot, I will of course be using an installation package!

The demo is limited to one mission (10 stages). But I think I will change the time back to 30 minutes.

I did not mean multiplayer, I meant Multiplyer - as in, 'something that multiply's something' :) Im pretty sure this is correct?

Thanks for the other comments, and I will definitely try that idea Svero, I think it could work out quite well :)

[svero]

Thanks for the other comments, and I will definitely try that idea Svero, I think it could work out quite well :)

Just be sure if you do it that players know about it. It's the kind of thing people might not notice.

[papillon]

I meant Multiplyer - as in, 'something that multiply's something'


*twitches frantically at apostrophe abuse*

Let's try this again. :)

"I meant Multiplier - as in, 'something that multiplies something'"

There we go. :)

[Cartman]

Here's my two cents from just going through the menus. I haven't even gotten to game play yet.

- Chose windowed mode and it loaded full screen, then went to windowed mode. Didn't expect that.
- Didn't care for the size of the cursor. Too large.
- The menu select seems to lack polish. I like the font, but I'm expecting buttons or something more artistic.
- Nice scrolling background effect.
- The II after Xeno Assault should be a little further away from the word Assault.
- Buy now completely kills the game. I wanted to go back but I couldn't.
- The loading screen needs an icon in the left corner if you're using Windowed Mode. Same with the menu screen.
- Loading bar needs some artistic touches. Looks too plain.
- Sometimes have to click the menus twice if I go to Rankings, WorldRankings. Then choose Continue. Have to hit it twice to take effect. Same with Options.
- While in Windowed Mode. I chose Options, changed it to High Detail. Then chose Back. It went to full screen with a loading screen, then the game came back in full screen. Seemed to have forgotten that I was in Windowed Mode.
- I expected instructions to show in the game, not in HTML. However if I'm in Windowed Mode and I choose Instructions, they appear behind the window and I can't get them to come to the front of the game for me to read them. I had to minimize or move the game window to see the Instructions.
- Extra Missions takes me to a web page and kills my game. I didn't like this.
- Exiting the game puts me into a screen that I don't understand. Nothing is on the screen. It should show screen shots and a description of why I should buy the game. And it shouldn't make me wait to exit the game. I resent being held hostage like that. :)
- More Games takes me to a web page and kills my game. I didn't like this.

Good game so far.