Cosmo Bots Beta

[Mike Boeh]

Hey Guys,

This is my first 2D game in many many years. It's based on the concepts of Jezzball and Qix. It uses the same engine as Pocket Tanks, although much enhanced since then by both Mike and myself. It's all software 2D, and the game has no real system requirements except 300 mhz.....

Download: http://www.retro64.com/cosmobots_beta.exe
Screen1: http://www.retro64.com/images/cosmo1.jpg
Screen2: http://www.retro64.com/images/cosmo2.jpg

Still To Do:
Fix Bugs
Fix Bugs
Change the name of the game (any suggestions)
Fix Bugs

Thanks for giving it a try! :-)

-Mike

[svero]

> Change the name of the game (any suggestions)

visittwilightgamesdotcom bots

- s

[Jim Buck]

I really loved the graphics and music on this game!! They are spot on. I'm not familiar with Jezzball, but I'm very familiar with Qix and similar games (like Aironix which I bought). I am so used to being able to do more than just a straight line "move" in those games that I missed it in this game.

[Larry Hastings]

Got a crash, which dumped me out to the desktop.
Did you mean "Caterpillar", or was "Catipillar" on purpose?


The presentation is phenomenal! That's 100% software rendering, huh? Jeepers!

[patrox]

Hey Guys,

This is my first 2D game in many many years. It's based on the concepts of Jezzball and Qix. It uses the same engine as Pocket Tanks, although much enhanced since then by both Mike and myself. It's all software 2D, and the game has no real system requirements except 300 mhz.....

Tried it on a 300mhz linux machine, didn't launch :( :)
</joke>

really nicely put together, i didn't like the music, it's just a matter of personnal taste though.

There's no icon in windowed mode.

pat.

[svero]

i didn't like the music, it's just a matter of personnal taste though.

I agree with Pat on the music. I think it's a weak point in the game.

[Andy]

Mike,

I know your preference to black color but I feel pretty bad without bright colors on current stage (platypus? age? winter?). You know I suppose this one looks closer to the game than to reality. ;-)
www.wildsnake.com/image/affiliate/CB_mike.jpg

Graphics is pretty fun and deep. But requires the final fun tauch.
Just my two cents.

PS I will play the game later today...

[tolik]

Wow, nice *nix! As usual, your skills are perfect ;)

What I find a bit confusing here - LCD option (I don't have LCD at home, just 19').

After game over you need to use your keyboard to enter name. This is the only place where you force the player to use it. I think some very casual people will not understand nowadays the meaning of a blinking cursor, so you might think about adding virtual keyboard... Another place is "GAME PAUSED" which requests to touch the keyboard.

Brilliant interface, everything is BRILLIANT! The last *nix I've played was Bugix: http://zone.msn.com/en/root/deluxe.htm?code=110186513&genre=Arcade&RefId=&Session=&origin=pcat_mp_lnk&ln=en

Your fast paced oldskool implementation is superior :)
Marvelous graphics, music, sounds...

I've encountered couple of bugs, first of them was on the 2nd (or was it 3rd?) level. I've cut the right part while one of the "line walkers" was there and this area wasn't "cleared"... I had to cut it 2 times and then it suddenly cleared.

In the 4th level one of the sawblades was stuck in a line till the end of the round. I was cutting and exactly the moment when the split was successfull this blade entered new line and became stuck.

Also, seems there's no bonus for quota, only for number of moves.

I find it a bit confusing that I can die touching the iced enemy with a splitter...
Another very player-friendly option is not to allow the player to use splitter when he's sitting inside the enemy, sometimes you do that accidentaly :(

I'm on level 25 and my high score is ~22k.

And don't forget to add ALT-TAB Icon to your game ;)

[tolik]

I agree with Pat on the music. I think it's a weak point in the game.

I don't think that techno tracked tunes will be widely accepted. I like oldskool scene, that's why I can't say it's bad...

On the subject of light colors - check Bugix, it's not always worth it.
You have style in your game, it's the thing that does matter - consistency: everything fits everything. I can't imagine other music genre that will fit so perfectly fast paced action space themed game :)



Retro64: and the game name iiiisss..... Space Scissors ;)

[svero]

I don't think that techno tracked tunes will be widely accepted. I like oldskool scene, that's why I can't say it's bad...


I like techno I just don't love this particular set.

[simonh]

I love it. Great presentation and graphics.

Small bug - on the credits screen, the mouse pointer goes behind the credits text.

[Mike Boeh]

Thanks for the comments guys, they really help, I addressed most below. For the most part, you guys are right, and I will change the game accordingly- I am not proud



I really loved the graphics and music on this game!! They are spot on. I'm not familiar with Jezzball, but I'm very familiar with Qix and similar games (like Aironix which I bought). I am so used to being able to do more than just a straight line "move" in those games that I missed it in this game. This is an implementation of the Jezzball concept, which is a bit different than Qix. The problem I have with doing straight qix is that there really isn't a great way to implement it with the mouse.








Got a crash, which dumped me out to the desktop.
Did you mean "Caterpillar", or was "Catipillar" on purpose?
Yikes, a spelling error! There have been a couple of other crash reports, I will kock'em out.



Axis Confusion.
How about when the right mouse button is used a couple times, auto-picking is totally turned off? I actually tried several different ways of handling the axis picking, and this seemed to be the best/easiest.



Too Hard?
The speed is independent of the refresh rate of course. Difficulty tweaking is something that's tough in every game. I will hand-tweak the levels to ramp it better.



Odd fill algorithm.
Would you guys rather just see the smaller side filled in, regardless of how many enemies are on each side?



Auto-complete levels when enemies are dead.
Good call, I will do it!



An advanced scoring system could add loads to this game.
Another good idea- I will implement more with this!



It crashed when I tried to start on level 300.
Woops, I forgot to take out the hardcoded level cap, Normally, you will only be able to select up to where you have made it. I just hard coded 500 in the slider for testing and forgot to take it out...



There's no icon in windowed mode.
I will take care of that Mr. Pat!



What I find a bit confusing here - LCD option (I don't have LCD at home, just 19').
I will change the wording :) It just centers the output instead of doing true full screen. Scaling can be yucky on lcd screens, which is why I added it.



After game over you need to use your keyboard to enter name. This is the only place where you force the player to use it. I think some very casual people will not understand nowadays the meaning of a blinking cursor, so you might think about adding virtual keyboard... Another place is "GAME PAUSED" which requests to touch the keyboard.
Agree, and I will remove any need for keyboard! I hate it when other people are right and it causes more work for me :D



I've encountered couple of bugs,...
Thanks, will fix!



Also, seems there's no bonus for quota, only for number of moves.
Again I agree and will do something for it.



I find it a bit confusing that I can die touching the iced enemy with a splitter...
Another very player-friendly option is not to allow the player to use splitter when he's sitting inside the enemy, sometimes you do that accidentaly :(
Bah, again I agree....

As for the music, that's the one thing I can't change. But Staffan, the musician reads these forums, so if you have any specific gripes, he will hear them. Personally I like it- but I have it turned up too loud during play. I need to lower it to put it more in the "background".

Thanks again!
Mike

[princec]

I liked it although the music began to grate on me after 30 seconds. I'm a little worried about the hardcore 1987 metal graphical theme versus the 1997 housewife-plays-jezzball gameplay... a little like the curious dichotomy of Solid Spheres, I didn't understand how it positioned itself in the market from a presentation/gameplay angle. But that's not really relevant.

Lots of crashes at seemingly random points.

Charlotte loved it. A good sign. Her favourite game is *still* Solitaire. Go figure.

Cas :)

[Hamumu]

I don't see any housewife to this game. This is great old-school arcade stuff. Housewives CAN play it, but it's the right game for me, too. And the looks are fabulous. Not every game needs to be full of dancing elves and rainbows. I think these looks will attract sales. Which means you should change them, because I'm not a good judge of that.

* Powerups need to explained more clearly the first time you get them, like a tutorial thing maybe. Actually, the only one that wasn't obvious was the Sweepers... I still don't know what they do other than make my beam look mightier. I expected to be able to impale enemies with the line because of it, and I was explosively disappointed (not a bad powerup idea though!). Does it make the beam zap wall-crawlers? Maybe I'll play again and check.

* I don't like the 'too close' rule on powerups. It's limiting. I imagine it's for aesthetic purposes (or to keep them from being too puwerful?), but don't sweat that, people like to see enemies in ice cubes however they got there. Also the text for it is just so... UI. Everything else on the board is a real object in the world, then these little white text shows up. Not that my disbelief was suspended, but if it was, it isn't after seeing that text.

* I agree about entering your name mousewise. I never paused, but if it requires or requests keyboard input, I'd change that too. It was jarring to suddenly realize I needed the keyboard.

* the auto directioning worked well for me, but I can definitely understand why making it non-auto is a more functional idea. Maybe an option to turn auto-directing on or off.

* I didn't notice the music at all really, which maybe is a bad thing, but I have no complaints about it.

* the level select screen made no sense at all to me. There was the slider, which I figured out, but what were all the circles? And the way it had just a slider and "Click here when done"... needed some real information on it, like even just "Choose a level to start on" or something. [edit: oh, it says that! Well the circles still make no sense to me, and maybe "Click here to begin" or something is better than "when done"]

This is really a great game, and I just can't figure out how you do it!

[FlySim]

Great game - well done.

Music - yep gets on my nerves - but most game music does...

Level selector took me a little while to figure out.

Powers ups - didnt know good from bad or what they did. But I figured out most of them.

The to close message on the rocket/freeze was kinda annoying, but I can see the game play problem. Why have a rocket if you can just touch them with it. How about if you fire the rocket or freeze to close then you get blown up or frozen?

-J.R.

[svero]

How about if you fire the rocket or freeze to close then you get blown up or frozen?


I like this idea a lot. Definitely more natural than the too close label.

- S

[arcadetown]

Good stuff. No bugs or problems here.

The controls seem right. At first I was expecting how Bounce Game (http://www.arcadetown.com/bounce/index.asp) works in that if split a line between enemies nothing is filled in but I now get it as you need a way to kill enemies. Think it makes sense.

Probably agree about the music.

Perhaps the powerups should be auto picked up. Thought I was getting the powerups as soon as they appeared but later realized only got them when moved cursor over the powerup. Didn't feel natural to move cursor over already filled in areas to get the falling powerup which is why took a while to realise that.

The graphics are totally fine. A real world look might have been a little better but look at Ricochet for a good selling metallic look game. Love how Ricochet Lost Worlds added real world backdrops to make it not so space based. Our space based Realspace titles although drawing a good solid following were never really that popular. Yup it's not a housewives game and graphics should not reflect them at all. Only real complaint might be the fonts seemed a little old school.

Maybe also add bonus rounds and add new enemies / obstacles faster?

[Hamumu]

Just wanna note the bug about an area not filling in and then being unfillable is on level 34, where there is a diagonal gap. It happens on both sides, seems to be a clear mistake in the algorithm somehow.

[Mike Boeh]

Here's the thing on the graphics. It seems like everyone is making casual-style graphics these days, so I wanted something a bit less that way. Since I had an artist (Jim Abraham) capable of many styles, it was up to me to decide the overall look.

I guess we will see if casual gamers will play it or not, if/when I take it to the portals. Games like Ricochet and Atomaders have done well in the casual markets, and neither has casual graphics at all. My wife doesn't play Best Friends or Platypus, but she does play Cosmo Bots, so I do have some hope.

But anyway, my own audience is a bit less casual than the audience at Real Arcade, etc- so it shouldn't be a problem.

[Midnight Synergy]

Just played it for a while, here are my impressions:

Look & Style are great! Neat and very clean graphics, great animations of some of the enemies. Its feel really reminds me of the Atari/Amiga era, but mucho updated. Others have mentioned already that the retro/techno feel might not work attract the match-3 crowd, but I think the gameplay is quick and intuitive enough that they'll really get into it once they try it. And as you already mentioned, your audience is a little different anyhow.

I did get quite a few crashes (Win XP2, 1 Gig, ATI 9200, 512 MB RAM), one during gameplay, all the others in the stage select screen. If I try to select a level over 25 I get a crash each time.

I don't mind the auto-direction select, to me it would be six of one, half-a-dozen of the other. I didn't figure out what the sweeper bonus did for the longest time (just did right now, haven't had a chance to try it since). I agree that the smaller area should always be filled, regardless of the number of monsters - you need to be in control of your actions.

I think one thing that would really add to the game is a clearer goal and stage progression. Right now you just play on and on, and while it's great fun, it's not clear what I'm playing toward. I see several planets (?) in your stage select screen - these are I guess the different backgrounds? How about a short intermission after each new planet is reached? Maybe just a small animation of the cosmobot warping to the next planet - then start the next level with the new background and new music. I think it would add the extra motivation of wanting to see the next planet. The flipside is that you would really then need to lock the planets that have not been reached in the stage select screen. Not sure if that works for you. (when I did this for Intensity XS I borrowed a page from "Gyruss" and started each wave with an quick intro "six more attack waves until warp". Some users have told me that they really get sucked in by that little feature - they play, only 1 more wave remaining, ack they die!!! "Damn, I was so close... gotta try again!").

I know some people prefer to have everything unlocked right from the start. I just know that personally, while frustrating, this type of stage progression really hooks me.

So overall, looking great! I think the best thing to say about the game is how clean it is - both in its visual style but also in its gameplay. I'm sure it will to quite well! (once those bugs are dealt with)

Why do you want to change the name? I kinda like Cosmobots.

Cheers,
Patrick

[tolik]

Games like Ricochet and Atomaders have done well in the casual markets, and neither has casual graphics at all.

I really can't understand the phenomenon of KraiSoft "uncasual" games on casual channels. I'll better ask the big guys before I'll start making my false assumptions ;)

BTW, Here's my fav screenshot :D
Have fun fixing glitches.

[Midnight Synergy]

Addendum: Now I can select Level 25 again - weird, couldn't before after multiple reloads. Ran into another bug a few levels later, one of the areas didn't fill properly (there was a tiny gap where the "fill" should have squeezed through) but I couldn't fill it later either - hence impossible to reach 85%. I've attached a pic, the unfillable area is where my spaceship currently is.

Good luck with the hunt - I know it's frustrating stuff!

[svero]

With regards to the graphics and whether or not the portal crowd will play, I don't see that it's any problem at all. Maybe I'm wrong, but there's no indication that casual gamers prefer one graphical style over another that I can tell. I think they just want it to look nice, be clear, accessible, and easy to play. This game does well on all those fronts. It's 1 mouse, 1 button and fairly easy to figure out. 2 secs and you're "playing" - there's barely any need for tutorial etc.. Casual gamers may not like the style of one particular game, but as has been pointed out several games with hard core graphics and casual pay have done well in the past.

[Mike Boeh]

Thanks Patrick, that is one of the easy-to-fix ones :)

[Anthony Flack]

I think people's assumptions about "casual" are starting to get out of hand.

[GrahamGoring]

Enjoyed it quite a bit although the way the scenery stays the same and the predominantly grey colour scheme meant that the levels felt very samey when there weren't interior bits of siding you could latch onto because many of the enemies didn't feel different enough. Perhaps giving the enemies different sounds will create distinct aural feels for each level and differentiate them more. It'd be nice to feel a little more panic if there was a particular noise for when the speeding up beetles were scrabbling towards your line.

Are all the levels symmetrical, btw? Only it seemed many of the early ones were and that contributed significantly to the feeling of repetition as you're immediately halving the number of level designs (although I suppose that's done and dusted now).

The presentation is very nice indeed although having the drawn bonus icons seems a little at odds with everything else being rendered, but I'd take clear drawn icons over possibly indistinct rendered ones any day.

The level selector seems a little clumsy with the arrows, plus having an enemy sprite show the player's progress is a little odd, too. I'd just prefer a simple line which was colour coded to show your current progress with another colour being used to show where you've selected to start on the line. But maybe I'm just being too picky.

As it stands I still think it needs a *little* more to make it special, like Wayward's suggestion of more advanced bonus multipliers, perhaps even factoring in a DANGER bonus if you manage to complete a line while an electric shock is moving up it towards you (and therefor getting that nice risk-reward dynamic which Bangai-o! excels at) or maybe reducing the points scored per enemy depending on how many lines you've created on the level so far so a very bold first move will net big points. Plus obviously you need bombastic presentation of these elements as they are awarded, perhaps by having a nasty electric sound that ramps up at the spark gets closer to you on the line with an appropriate louder payoff if you complete the line before it gets to you.

[princec]

I'm not so sure its the "casual" aspect... it's the "feminine" aspect. The graphics are incredibly masculine. Charlotte's mum didn't even give the game a second glance. Even a screenshot would convince her she wouldn't want to play it.

Not that this is a problem! Jezzball is already nicely ensconced on the machines of thousands of ladies worldwide, but I bet their teenage brats don't play it because it looks like poo.

Cas :)

[Rod Hyde]

* The game plays very well and definitely has that one-more-go quality. My wife even chose to play it instead of Ricochet Recharged, and believe me when I say that takes some doing.

* The graphics were darker than I would have expected for this type of game. Personally I quite liked them, but I did keep expecting to see a fleet of aliens scrolling down the screen, because they reminded me of old 2d shooters. My only concern is that screenshots are often the first thing that people look at when they decide whether to download something or not and I wouldn't have had any idea what the game was about from the screen shots.

* The music and sound effects were fine, in that they weren't jarring or grating, but I don't actually remember them either.

* Maybe I was just being a bit thick, but it took me a while to figure out how to select the starting level.

The bottom line is that I wish that I'd written it.

--- Rod

[EpicBoy]

Really nice! I loved it. I didn't think I would but your implementation is perfect ... you took what was cool about Qix and kicked it up a notch. I was fully expecting to have to cursor around the edges like in the original game ... the shooter device is a great improvement!

Some quick notes:

- remember my name from the last time I entered a high score. it's annoying having to retype it all the time.

- how about a powerup that gives you help for one shot? like it causes your line to go green when you are in an optimal firing condition based on the locations of the various enemies? Just a thought...

- when starting a new game, why not default me to the highest level I can start at? Odds are, I'm going to want to continue from my previous (as close as possible, anyway) location, not the first level...

[SmartMelon]

I managed to try out Cosmobots this weekend and overall I was quite impressed. The production values were very good although the music wasn't my taste. Great animations and effects. Most of the bugs I encountered were mentioned by other people but there were a couple of other minor glitches I saw. The sweeper didn't appear to work correctly when in slow motion, and if an enemy was walking on a section of wall that was destroyed, the enemy could wind up stuck in mid air and not be able to move. I found the axis selection annoying at times, but I didn't realize that right-click would work so I should go back and try it again.

Are there going to be any more enemies in the full version than in the trial? If there is, then you should mention that in the Buy Now screen. If not, maybe you should hold off on a few of the enemies - try to give them a little more incentive to purchase the full version.

Overall a great game - I wish you luck with it!

Graeme Sweet

[Hamumu]

I want to second the people who suggest advanced scoring possibilities. That adds tons of replay value and everybody who knows me knows I live for combos!

Ideas for this:

1- as someone else said, make it always fill the smaller side rather than the one with less enemies. That way, the player can strategically (and riskily) try to corral the enemies into a small area and blow up a lot at once.

2-obviously a combo multiplier for blowing up multiple badguys at once (say multiply their point value by how many guys you got).

3-simple, but I think flashing numbers floating up from enemies you destroy to indicate how many points you got is always good, it's satisfying when that number is huge.

4-when filling earn progressively more points per 'block' that fills in... 1 pt for the first, then 2, 3, etc. This rewards filling larger areas more (exponentially!), which is good because that's much harder than filling smaller areas. Accordingly a big number floating up from the area you filled to let you know how much you got is good too.

5-for these floating numbers, I always enjoy when numbers zoom over to the score counter to get added in, that's an idea.

6-Keep separate scores for your full game, and for individual levels, so you can go back to a level you like and try to beat your record there.

7-powerup that gives you x2 points for a while... and/or get x2 points when Hyper Motion or Slow Shot is active (x4 for both), /2 points when Slow Motion or Fast Shot are on (/4 for both)

8-I noticed there's a bonus scheme which seems to be based on # of shots used. I'd like to see that bonus stuff tally up and incorporate more things. Could be # of enemies killed x100+ percentage filled x1000 (since the level ends at 85%, this would require you to strategically fill right close to 85 and then get one big grab to finish it with extra - really advanced strategy, when it's not just luck) + best combo points - points for time spent - points for shots fired. Regardless of how much stuff is included, it would be good to indicate well what IS included in the bonus.

9-when I was playing it, I was actually thinking about the blackbelt system in Mutant Storm. Don't tell Bongpig, but you should rip that off! Some sort of overall reaching multiplier that grows as you keep yourself alive through multiple levels.

Anyway, there's some ideas if you want to shoot for a more high-score-based type of gameplay. And of course, having online high scores built in boosts it even better. Gets people really excited about it.

[BantamCityGames]

I think this game is really fun! The graphics and animations are nice. I didn't notice the music really (meaning it wasn't obtrusive), so thats probably a good thing for this type of game. The overall polish was excellent.

I agree with a previous post that eventhough my progress through the levels was fun, I didn't feel like I was working towards something. I'm noticing this same problem with my current project... and haven't come up with a great solution yet.

Keep the retro-style games coming! I love 'em! (I used to play Qix for hours on my atari)

[arcadetown]

Not certain that "casual" must always mean female. World Domination (http://www.arcadetown.com/worlddomination/index.asp) is now our top seller and it's mostly adult males buying it and it's definitely a casual game. People seem to ignore us adult males in the equation. Look at Alien Shooter or AirStrike, I doubt too many women are buying those yet they seem sucessful.

[EpicBoy]

Another small bug ... after I played the game, exited and came back in I was able to start at any level I wanted to. It would be cool if I was locked out of the levels I hadn't reached yet. :-/

[Optigon CG]

Hi all. I'm Jim. The artist for "Cosmobots"


It would be cool if I was locked out of the levels I hadn't reached yet.

That's the way it will be in the actual release. I believe Mike did that so you can all get a chance to test several levels of the game.

[Greg Squire]

Mike, Your beta link doesn't seem to be working anymore. Maybe you're in the middle of some bug fixes or improvements?

Anyway I remember playing CosmoBots out at IGC and I was impressed. The visuals were the first thing that grabbed me. The graphics are definately superb (Nice work, Jim)! I also liked the gameplay and the idea of having a shooter instead of walking the area like in Qix.

As far as the name goes, I don't think CosmoBots is a bad name. Maybe something like SpaceGrab, CosmoCapture? I'm sure you'll find something good.

[Mike Boeh]

Hi all. I'm Jim. The artist for "Cosmobots"



That's the way it will be in the actual release. I believe Mike did that so you can all get a chance to test several levels of the game.
Actually I didn't mean to do it at all :) I just left it in there by accident. Anyway, I fixed all the crashes, working on some of the requested features now. I especially like the combo bonus idea.

[tolik]

If you are implementing complex scoring system, don't forget to make "score counter" for each level which will provide a theoretical max score for each level. That way you'll be able to balance the levels in each episode yourself.

[aduro]

i get a '404: file not found' when i try and download the exe

[Nemesis]

I gave the beta a shot.. brilliant.. I love the music, graphics, style and everything. I don't think it's necessarily a hardcore game. It's not horrendously hard and it's fun to play.

Congrats Mike... keep the good stuff coming!

[FlySim]

This game is a bit addictive and is distracting me from getting my contract work done. The fact that Im currently porting Fortran code from the '70s has nothing to do with it. :rolleyes:

[stan]

Impressive level of polish! The filling effect is very nice; couldn't figure out how it's made. The only thing I think could be improved are the texts, maybe with a stronger gradient.

If I understood correctly the comments in this thread (didn't read everything), this isn't the smallest area that is filled but the area with less monsters. I'd rather get the smallest area :).

Maybe in the title screen tutorial you could add that you have to fill the play area... I don't remember seeing it mentionned.

[EpicBoy]

I find sometimes too that I split a very large area and neither side will fill ... is that intentional? It's very disheartening when I make a long line connect and I wait for my reward, only to receive - nothing.

[Anthony Flack]

It's a metaphor for the life of the indie developer, you see.

[Mike Boeh]

http://www.retro64.com/cosmobots_beta.exe
I put a new Beta up at the same URL... I made a ton of changes, here are the highlights:


-Fixed crashes
-New level select screen
-Changed how fills are decided, it just picks whatever side is smaller now.
-Added combo bonuses when you kill baddies. This is the single best improvement (imho), really adds a lot to the game!
-Made high-score screen so it can be mouse only
- tons more!

I would like to mention that I disabled sweepers, so when you catch that powerup, nothing happens.

Thanks again for the feedback guys, it really did help!

[lakibuk]

Runs well on my PC.
But on a friend's PC there's a problem: When he finishes the first level the game crashes to the desktop without any message.

[Mike Boeh]

Runs well on my PC.
But on a friend's PC there's a problem: When he finishes the first level the game crashes to the desktop without any message.
Can you have him re-download it? (making sure it isnt cached)
Thanks!

[lakibuk]

Ok,done. Now the game crashed the first time he clicked "start game" in the start menu (right after installation). He started it again and it worked without problems now.
I found some strange behaviour in your fill algorithm. Don't know if it's as you want it.
Sometimes no area is filled, like in the image where i made a line in the middle of the playfield.
http://www.blueskied.com/level4.jpg

[Mike Boeh]

Ok,done. Now the game crashed the first time he clicked "start game" in the start menu (right after installation). He started it again and it worked without problems now.
I found some strange behaviour in your fill algorithm. Don't know if it's as you want it.
Sometimes no area is filled, like in the image where i made a line in the middle of the playfield.
http://www.blueskied.com/level4.jpg
When the space on either side was equal, and either side had the same number of enemies, it didn't fill either. I just changed it to pick one at random in that case- and re-uploaded :)

The crash concerns me, I suspect fmod somehow :o

[EpicBoy]

I will say that the game seems extremely easy now. I just breezed through the first 19 levels without even breaking a sweat. Maybe we've gone too far the other way now. :) I often finish the boards because all the enemies are dead...

[Valkilos]

First of all, I played the game for a while... but after the first time, I've been unable to get the game to run. It lets me go to the level select screen, but once I choose a level and go to start playing, it crashes to the desktop. I have yet to get to play again, even after a reboot :( Which is a shame, because this game is quite addictive!

Oh, and for reference, as far as the crash goes - I've unlocked up to level 30 (got to 34), running Windows XP on a P3-869 with 384MB of RAM.

I think the game balance could use a bit of tweaking - I found the first twenty or so levels to be a pretty quick breeze, and then found it to be suddenly very tough going (hurrah for levels with over a dozen enemies that require shooting across the entire screen!).

Something that may be worth adding is a failsafe, if you will. I found that in some of the later levels (particularly 30+) that if I sealed off a significant portion of the level without killing enough enemies, the level becomes practically unwinnable. Then my only option was to die a bunch of times and start at the last checkpoint. So, by failsafe, what I mean is a little something, say, on the pause menu, with a "Forfeit a life to restart level" option. Another option might be some kind of gameplay device - say, a super shot you can use once per level, that will make a single uninterruptible line, but you immediately lose a life.

The power-ups could use some balance - I found that some levels came down to whether I got the appropriate powerups or not. Slow Shot is absolutely crippling, while Fast Shot makes almost any level a breeze. You may want to tone down the difference in speed, or make them last a limited number of shots, or something. Collecting multiples of the same weapon power-up wastes them (for instance, picking up three missiles or freezes at once), which kind of negates the point bonus for a multiple kill. Seeing the sweeper power-up made me cry, because I could've gotten a useful, working power-up instead :(

I also noticed that I could occasionally fill both sides of an area if I centered myself right, leading to a whole bunch of 99% scores in the early going (It would've been 100%, but the counter won't go to triple digits). I wasn't sure if that was intentional or not. That also made me think of the possibility of another kind of point bonus - extremely high % ending level bonuses. If the % over bonus were, say, doubled if you got more than 90%, or tripled if you got more than 95% filled, it'd be rather cool, IMHO. It may lead to some ludicrous scores, but hey, people like seeing big numbers at the top of the screen :D

I hope this helps! Oh, and let me know if you figure out why it won't run anymore... I need my CosmoBots fix :D

[Diragor]

Very well done! Great game. No crashes or technical problems for me.

I'll throw in my agreement on a couple of previously mentioned issues: 1) it should remember the last high score name entered, and 2) the difficulty seems to jump suddenly around level 20.

I've also got a new one to add to the pile: I find it annoying when the game decides to automatically flip my shot orientation as I move around.

[Ferdi]

The game runs flawlessly on my computer. I managed to complete all the 40 levels. The last 10 levels were challenging, I had to retry a couple of times. My top score is 69409. :D

The only problem is after you finish the demo, you can click on the big question mark circle ( in the start game menu ). You slide the level to 100 or 500 depending on which question mark you press. Then the game quits on me.

Cheers

Ferdi

[Melin]

Hey!

I'm Staffan Melin, the music composer for this game.
As I've read through the posts, I've noticed some people don't like the music. I know this is bound to happen, you can never please the whole crowd.

It would be really nice with some feedback though, especially from people that did NOT like it. It would be cool to know what's bad.
I know some people will not like the style itself, oldskool techno, but that was what I was told to do. Also, I had to work with old programs such as Fast Tracker, since the music had to be in XM format.

Anyway, hope some people like it!
Take care,
Melin

[svero]

>It would be really nice with some feedback though, especially from people
>that did NOT like it. It would be cool to know what's bad.

I think the music is a weak point in the game. But that's not to say its completely terrible or doesnt work at all. I just felt it could have been better.

The music itself is actually not bad. If someone were to just play the track for me and ask if I like it, I'd say yeah that's pretty cool. My problem is more with how the music is used in the game, and how well it jives with what's going on during gameplay.

Zuma is a good example of game music done "just right" -- First off it fits the theme of the game very clearly and distinctly. But it's also about how the music fades into the background during regular play, and then changes slightly and subtely to become more tense as you approach losing a man. It's how it becomes happy when you've won..and so on. The cohesion of game and music is very tight.

In this title it feels like the game and the music weren't made for eachother. It feels like a simple pairing of some tunes and states; track1 -> intro; track2 -> playing level; track3 -> highscores etc... At least for me they didn't feel like they locked together that nicely. It felt like a good game and good songs stuck together but not really working together to a common goal/experience. There's a certain standard-feel to it.

[Melin]

I can agree with that, and I actually made some intros and stuff, but somehow all of them seems to be cut out of the game. I was never told to do any certain parts like you're talking about. I just make the music I'm told to make.
You're right though, and usually there are a lot more things like winning tunes, losing ones etc.
Maybe we should implement that? What do you think Mike?
I'm sure up for it and it would make the game a bit more fun.

[princec]

I agree; get a few more tunes in there. And turn them down a little ;)

Cas :)

[Melin]

You gotta talk to Mike about this though.
It's really not up to me what to put in the game, even though I create the music.
As you said, svero, I just got a list like "track1" "track2" etc, and that's what I did.
If anything else should be implemented then it's all up to Mike.
Whatever he decides, I'm there to compose. =)

Take care,
Melin

[Mike Boeh]

I don't necessarily agree with Steve. I do think the music fits the theme of the game. Spacey techno music for a spacey techno game :D

Implementing the music to change in a game like Zuma just happens to apply a lot more than in Cosmo Bots. When the balls close in on you in Zuma, it's a gradual process, so it's easy to tune the music accordingly.

As for intros, the only one I cut was the intro to the title music, because it just didn't go well with the splash screen, which would have occurred during the intro, and would have been too slow. The only real change I have done with it is to lower it during gameplay to be a lot more ambient.

[aduro]

am i on crack? the exe link gives me a 404 error no matter what browser i use.

[Optigon CG]

I'm pretty surprised there are so many crits on the music. Personally I love the music. Even though I had to listen to it a million times while working on this game. I still love it and I think it fits my mood when I play.

Don't sweat it Steffan. I think music is one of the most difficult things to get people to agree on.

Jim

[3dben]

Great Game, Great Music, Great Graphics, Great Fun!!

My only complaint would be that I was never quite sure which side of the line it was going to try and fill in. I would naturally feel like it would fill in the smaller area of the two, but that wasnt the case; im not sure if anything needs to change here - but that was the impression I got. Otherwise, I had alot of fun playing it, would play more but im knee deep in deving; but it was a nice breath of air.

-=ben
www.clevermonkeystudios.com

[Greg Squire]

I think it looks great and I like the new power ups and power downs (they really add a new dimension to the game). It ran great on the Radeon 7000 series card in my machine (Dell workstation) at work. I don't mind the music and I think it fits with the game. You seem to have a winner as usual Mike.

Also, I still like "Cosmo Bots" for the name, not sure why you want to change it. (Is it trademarked? or you just aren't pleased with it?)