To shoot or not?
Hey this is my first post here, so be gentle
I've been developing my first indie game (not my first game though) for some months now, and obviously I want to appeal to the casual demographic so I can get onto portals etc.
Would adding missiles/shooting to a game detract from its casual status (which I'm not sure it truely falls into anyway)? Personally I always planned to add these elements, but having read the forum anything regarding shooting, missiles, or even death explosions seems to be a mistake?
Currently I'd say the game was a frantic 3d sidescrolling, breakout/pinball, with puzzle elements game. Just not sure if I should add "with things shooting at you" to the list
Anyway a free screens
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/3...screen23jj.jpg
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/8...screen55cr.jpg
Anyway thanks in advance for your help. I hope to become a regular poster on this board once I develop a suitable indie knowledgebase.
Regards Rob B
Screen 55 - Mushrooms growing out of the glass roof? Somehow, that doesn't look right..The screenshot look interesting though and folks here were talking about pinball style games just the other day. I'm sure they'll give you the feedback depth you need Rob.
Have a good one!
Glenn
Just stay away from complexity if you want to appeal to casual people.
Right now it appears very complex all that frantic 3d side scrolling breakout pinball with puzzle elements screenshots of yours... if you add a "top down shooter" to all that its going to be real complex, and you will be very away from the casual stratosphere, actually i think you went away from the casual scope since you passed from breakout to pinball and on, i tihnk you should have sticked to only one.
Christian Ibarra Forum of Game design FunEffect.com
I didn't want it to seem like I've taken all the gameplay from sidescrollers, breakout and pinball and merged them, and then wondered if I should make it a shootemup too. The game itself is a very simple idea, but it doesn't have an obvious peer, so I said breakout/pinball (It has balls and bouncing - but no bat or flippers!)
You actually control the ball, which moves constantly left or right bouncing off the blocks it hits. The only player control is up and down. 2 Keys! It has puzzle element in that hitting levers will open passages etc, and the basic goal is to collect X and return to Y to complete a level within time limit Z
As for shooting I thought it might be fun to have robots with guns that hunt the level like pacman, but was unsure if this was a good move.
Oh and as for the floating mushrooms! I'll just claim I was having a mad hair day
I'll probably post a level demo in a few days time, and see what people say then.
Regards Rob
There is an obvious peer, but I guess it's not that obvious because I've forgotten the name of it. It was a game for the 8-bit computers that used the same mechanic. I seem to remember it being quite good simple fun, too.
Anyone know it?
Well yes this game is a reworked version of on an old 8-bit game (that I wrote in about 1989) for the Amstrad CPC called Ball Bearing, which in turn used the ideas from a game called Croco Magneto. Not sure if these are what you mean cos I'm sure only 1 person in a million would of heard of them.
Regards Rob
Yep, Croco Magneto, that's the one I'm thinking of...
You know, I think I might have played Ball Bearing too. I had a CPC.
[edit] - yep, I've definitely played Ball Bearing.
Even if adding missiles detract from a games casual status, several games manage to be successful on the portals anyway even with missiles in them. Have you ever played a breakout game that didn't have missiles? I haven’t. Do you have any idea how many breakout games have done well on portals? A lot!
James C. Smith - Producer/Lead Programmer - Costume Chaos, Build in Time, Ricochet Infinity, Big Kahuna Reef, CasualCharts.com
Thanks for the replys. Good I'll add missile firing robots into the mix too then
Oh and a fellow ex-CPC'er, who played Croco and Ball Bearing. And there was me thinking I was the only one with taste!
Regards Rob
Your visual seem a bit confusing for the uber-casual audience but appealing for the gamer-veteran/moderate casual ones.Originally Posted by Trebmint
Thanks for the replys. Good I'll add missile firing robots into the mix too then
Oh and a fellow ex-CPC'er, who played Croco and Ball Bearing. And there was me thinking I was the only one with taste!
Regards Rob
If I were you I would wait after a few levels to statr using the firing enemies, don't use them at the beggining because they could scare off the people who need a bit of time to adapt to the POV and controls.
I think you should make a slow learning curve for this game.
looks like a complex marble madness
--
You should download Croco Magneto to see how complex it isn't. But I agree, the screenshots look confusing; I think the textures have got too many bits and pieces.
Perhaps I agree that the stills of my game look confusing, but I've tried very hard to make it one of those games like Tempest, where the screen looks packed for the viewer, but the player really sees through it all.
I've really only got a basic intro screen, and nothing much going on a single level at the moment, but anyone who'd like to see check it out and see if it is too complex or not I'd be happy to get some feedback. Email me at robertbaggins@btinternet.com
Regards Rob
Hey all,
I'd be grateful if a few people could try out this small demo. Its by no means finished, but is a indication of the final game. I'm interested in what people think of the camera/movement, and if you find the control intuative rather than cumbersome etc.
The controls are only up and down
http://big10p.mysite.wanadoo-members...allbearing.zip
Its about 5mb, and note its a Windows DX7 3d game so the system requirements are moderately high at the moment before I optomise.
Rob
Last edited by Trebmint; 03-08-2006 at 11:23 PM.
the download doesn't seem to work, I get a very small zip file that doesn't uncompress anything...
Have borrowed somebodys webspace for the download. Now at
http://big10p.mysite.wanadoo-members...allbearing.zip
regards Rob
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote