I've almost completed my latest game, Orbit Master. Screenshot - www.18giants.com/tests/orbitss1.jpg Download (7 megs) - www.18giants.com/tests/orbitmaster095.exe It's a fun and unusual space game that plays with the simplicity of a one-key game, though two keys are really needed. Let me know what isn't polished enough to ship!
I played until I finished the level where you have to destroy the flying saucers. Overall, I think the game is very well done! The graphics are simple but effective. I like the warped grid showing the gravity of large objects. It was a bit odd that crashing into the sun/planets didn't destroy the ship. I spent a lot of time carefully avoiding them at first. I hated the control scheme, though. How about being able to select which comet to grapple by moving the side arrow keys? Or maybe a really weak thrust of some sort? As for polish, the music is sometimes a bit too compressed (one loop in particular has horrible sounding drums). However, compression aside the music is quite nice and complements the game.
I gotta say... this game is very very addictive. I'm on level 21... I dunno how it's limited, but it sure isn't a 60 minute demo... I'll give more feedback later. -Tim
Overall I'd say the game looks and plays really well, there's just a few rough edges you could work on, the initial nag screen is so-so. It'd be really cool if you could make it work on the mouse as well, I don't remember if I saw that as a control option, but using the up/down arrows might not be comfortable on *every* keyboard out there (like mine ) I like that the game is untimed, so there's no real pressure to go fast, players can just sit back and enjoy the missions, I liked the in-game dialog, the wit is pretty good. Oh yea, the starfield in the back doesn't look nearly as nice as the rest of the game, like, if you could add some moving stars or something, it'd be much nicer. Anyways, pretty nice game, good luck with it.
RohoMech - You can also use the SPACE and Z keys, not just the arrow keys. Was that not clear enough, or are those keys just as cumbersome for you? Maupin - I wrestled with the control scheme for quite a while, and never seemed to find anything better. The whole game is predicated on that grab-n-swing control mechanic, and I've found that some people love it and others hate it. Is the grab-n-swing mechanic more frustrating, or boring, to you?
heh, I don't know why I didn't see the "space / z" stuff the first time around, it is clear. But yea, the game feels more comfy that way, thanks for pointing that out.
I think the "grab-n-swing" movement is kind of fun, but frustrating that it only works on the nearest comet. Sometimes there would be a comet perfectly placed to get me where I wanted to go, but another one would be just a little bit closer to my ship, and by the time it was out of the way, the first comet would be misaligned with where I wanted to go. I spent a lot of time waiting, braked, for orbits to line up. I didn't mention it in my first post, but the light-hearted dialogue between the crew members was amusing. Almost, but not quite, too cutesy. Just the right feel for the game, in my opinion.
I agree about the control scheme being alternately frustrating and fun. To me, the ideal gameplay would be "Click on the comet you want to grapple to". Left click grapples, right click breaks. Super-mad fun for the whole family. As for other more general feedback, I'd say the graphics could use a good once-over for polish, and those faces bother me slightly just because I've played with the face-maker thing that was used to create 'em (I don't think they'd bother me if I wasn't aware of the tool, however). I didn't notice the music much, so it was probably ok (hey that's the point, right?). Let me know when you've got a DS version running with the "click" gameplay so I can stylus-swing. Woo!
Thanks for all the great feedback, guys! I listened, and added mouse support to the game. Not only do the buttons control the grapple and brake, but you can left-click on any comet to swing from that specific comet. Here's the link to the special version: http://www.18giants.com/tests/orbitmasterMOUSE.exe Let me know if this change works for you. Thank you!
Pretty fun! The new version is definitely a big improvement. On a side note, this almost runs at 30 fps on my laptop with its crappy Intel graphics card. Some levels run fine, but the game slows down to ~18 fps on the more graphically intensive levels like those with three nebulae clouds. Since you're so close, maybe you could detect the low framerate and flip a switch somewhere to tone down the graphics?
I couldn't figure out what to do. The controls seems to work well and got my ship to jump around the objects circling the star but that was about it. If I'm having trouble, bet a lot of users will also so I'd try to figure out how to get people playing in depth w/o having to read instructions. Edit: ok after reading things a little more I now get it. Perhaps figure out on the fly how to tell users they need to sling shot to the stargate.
Oddly enough, even though I suggested the less frustrating mouse control and found it VERY easy to get around with it in the mouse version, I think it ruins the gameplay. When it's that easy to fly the little guy around, the game's goals are somewhat more exposed for what they are. Kill the aliens... feed the stations... herd the cows. When I was struggling with the intuitive but much more difficult gameplay of NOT being able to pick the asteroid I swing from, there was some feeling of accomplishment attained by finishing off each level. With the mouse controls I very quickly got bored with it... it lost its gameness and became just something to click on for a while. I dunno. Just my thoughts on the matter.
Wow. What a strange game... where are the diamonds I can match ;-) Anyway, I managed to pass level one. Not exactly my type of gameplay. Music is psychodelic all the best Roman