Heavy Weapon clone demo-your comments

[Purgatorium]

I sent my demo to 10 publishers listed in IGDA casual games whitepaper. :D

And before I show u their replies, please comment on my game.

screenshot: bambinorama.50megs.com
game: angelfire.com/ab9/ab999/setup_orange.zip


1.Can the game make it as a commercial game? Will publishers take it?

If yes, why? If no, why?

2.What aspect can the game improve on?

3.Or do I need to trash the game? :eek:

[Ricardo C]

1.Can the game make it as a commercial game? Will publishers take it?

Maybe ;)

If yes, why? If no, why?

If you improve the graphics and control, it could be a good game.

2.What aspect can the game improve on?

1. Unless you're going for an "All Your Base" effect, redo the introductory text. "Invation" is not a word ;) And the final panel just says "Airport", as if that should tell the player enough. I think you COULD make this surreal intro work, but you need to make sure the bizarreness of it comes across as a stylistic choice and not an error ;)

2. Some of the ship graphics are pretty good, but mostly, the graphics are mediocre. Untextured mountains, pixelated folliage, etc. It's just bad. However, some of the enemy ships made me think of the cartoony enemies in Platypus. Heavy Weapon + Platypus-style visuals could be a big hit. Get a better artist!

3. The character's motion is not as smooth as in Heavy Weapon, you should work on that.

4. The Alpha channel is your friend. Learn it, live it, love it.

3.Or do I need to trash the game?

I wouldn't say that, the core game has potential.

[Purgatorium]

From one of the publishers, the other 9 haven't respond in 2 days...

"This would appear to be a torque2d game.... I don't mean to be cruel,
but it's not close to being where our game standards are. Compared to
Blah, it's just not slick or polished to anywhere near the same
level. I am sorry."

While breathing with a paper bag on top of my garage roof, I was thinking what "slick" and "polished" means exactly. :confused:

Thanks for the comments :) Now where can I kidnap a 3d artist....

[Robert Cummings]

http://www.puzbox.com/samples

Kidnap your artist right here :)

[Indiepath.T]

Nice stuf Rob, did not know it was you who did the Dot3 and Cubemapping demos on Blitz. :D

[Robert Cummings]

Old git now, been around lurking. :D

[stanchat]

From one of the publishers, the other 9 haven't respond in 2 days...

"This would appear to be a torque2d game.... I don't mean to be cruel,
but it's not close to being where our game standards are. Compared to
Blah, it's just not slick or polished to anywhere near the same
level. I am sorry."


Actually your game is a GameMaker game. To be specific you probably used Gamemaker 6.1 as I can see some of the new explosion effects I worked with Mark to get put into that 6.1 engine. Those can be tweaked and alpha-blended to get a richer effect.

The underlying gameplay is actually pretty good. U just need some better graphics and presentation.

BTW, if I may ask how old are you? The reason I ask is that a lot of the GameMaker crowd are usually 18 and under. I once was working with someone doing level design for me only to get a nasty-gram from his mother telling me I was taking up to much of his time. I had no idea he was only 11yrs old. He was really good though..

PM me and I will help you with some of your artwork.

[Nexic]

Looks like I might have some more competition...

*hurries back to work*

Oh, why can't I download the game? When I request the file I end up downloading an html page instead.

[Purgatorium]

Gee, me too, competition........*evil grin*. :rolleyes:

Cough, seriously, I tried the link

angelfire.com/ab9/ab999/setup_orange.zip

and it can download(though angelfire bandwidth is limited)....

[Purgatorium]

Great art! Robert. :D

But I can't afford you. :o

I live nearby the world's most beautiful coral reef(literary) and a lobster here cost $0.35, my income adjusts accordingly.

Unless you want to form a partnership.... :p

[Purgatorium]

:D LOL everybody says I look like 13.

I am 33, still traumatized after my 30th birthday, "discovered" game dev on that traumatic day, applying secret herbs to hold my hair together, my 2 years old kid takes over my chair every prime time. :D

Will pm soon.

[Mike Boeh]

Funny, I thought it was a torque2d game. Joke's on me I guess. I received this game in my e-mail and my reply was something to the effect of "It just isn't good enough". I was mainly referring to the production values, which are very important these days.

[Purgatorium]

O my gawd! You're the administrator! :eek:

Gee didn't know you are here. Cough....sorry to post your reply on the forum. :p

A noob question, what does production value mean? Does it mean reward to cost ratio? Shooter games customer segment low? :confused:

[Purgatorium]

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?t=4230

Hmmm It means lots of small detail add together like good looking and getting them right....ok.

[Mike Boeh]

Yes, I was the cruel one- but I would rather be honest. By production values I mean quality of graphics, sound, music... But also, how the game "feels"....

[Purgatorium]

Platypus did have a special feel to it.

Not even Heavy Weapon have this feel, though I prefer its gameplay.

I don't understand how Chicken Invaders got listed in Yahoo Games, I only manage to play two levels and wasn't interested anymore.

[Purgatorium]

I was thinking what other games have this special feel to it, then an image of a flower pops into my mind, ICQ! hmmm interesting..... :D

[Purgatorium]

Hmmmm perhaps I didn't pour my "spirit" into the game.

I am a very functional guy, my room is bare, my desktop is bare, I stare at zen gardens(only for 15 seconds, >1 minute use up too much time), I eat corn flask to stay alive not to taste, perhaps my spirit has died a little.

While making this game, with time constraint, I was in my hyper functionality mode. 75% rule! Get the game working quick! Get a big mac out in 30 seconds! Slap a cherry with a flag on it the customer is AOK! They just wanna eat not taste!

Communism. Industrialism. Nihilism. Modern China after the fall. No art. No heart. No life. No quality.

Hmmmm lots to think about. Dusting off my Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance book, going into hibernation mode before I rework my game.

[baegsi]

Funny, I thought it was a torque2d game.This sounds like a bad thing. Is it? What makes a game look like T2D?

[Sharpfish]

What makes a game look like Tourqe2D? This may "stir things up" but from the limited games I have played that have been made with T2D one defining factor springs to mind.. they both had shocking framerates on an amd64 3400+/r9700 gfx when things got busy. That could be coincedental non-optimisation on the developers part rather than T2D itself though ;)

[arcadetown]

Yes, I was the cruel one- but I would rather be honest.
It's not at all cruel to give some honest feedback and more than what I typically do if get a submission that doesn't pass muster. I personally hate being the bringer of bad news. Rather focus on positives and not negatives.

[Nexic]

A couple of people have actually asked me to publish games for them, and they were pretty bad (they must be desperate if the want me to publish). It's pretty hard being in that situation as you can't lie and tell them it's good and if you tell them the truth you feel all bad inside :(

[Kaos]

I enjoyed what I could play of it, really enjoyed the "cartoon feel" about the game, powerups were adequate as well.

Only thing is, I dont feel that 1 level will be enough for a time trial version (demo)of the game, it took me about 10 minutes to get to the end of the demo as I recall.

[Purgatorium]

TY. ;)

Rainbow banana ice cream boat coming up.