Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

New version!
*Handicap modes (thanks to Sokko for inspiration)
*Refreshed help screen

Any more suggestions/bugs?

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

zex20913
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1723
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

You should take out the R button thing from the help screen, as that does not work anymore. You should replace it with something that says "F2 will take you back to the title screen" or another thing along those lines.

It would also be neat to have high scores for the different versions of the game. I.E, 3-5 slots for levels, 3-5 for normal, etc.

If you couldn't tell, I love this game.


____________________________

DiMono
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1181
Registered: 09-13-2003
IP: Logged

Sounds like a good thing I haven't been playing this lately, my school would have totally slipped by the wayside

If you don't mind me asking, did you hand write this game, did you use GameMaker, did you do something else? I'm just curious.

____________________________
Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!

StuartK
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 564
Registered: 06-10-2003
IP: Logged

Nillo wrote:
New version!
*Handicap modes (thanks to Sokko for inspiration)
*Refreshed help screen

Any more suggestions/bugs?

A number of unfiltered suggestions...


Easier modes for the aged. A bigger sword?

Some on-screen indicators when combo kills occur, a combo time limit indicator, when the next free health point is due, what the current difficulty/level/game type is. More visual feedback.

Locational damage. Front half ('hands') of Beethro could be lowest damage, rear half could be higher damage, and a collision from behind could take full damage. Probably accompanied by a lowering of the number of initial health points.

If Beethro is near the edge of the screen, newly generated enemies should either not appear right ontop of Beethro, or could cause lower damage for the first second or so (e.g. they could fade into view)

Game type - timed kill. A slowly decreasing time limit in which to make each next kill.

Score for practice mode. Could be interesting in combination with the above.

Pressing F2 ingame should have a 'Do you want to quit this game?' prompt.

Make the options/title screen navigable by keyboard shortcut. The help button location should be swapped with the options button.

Also, a minor point, but the order in which the controls tab through should be logical. At present, pressing tab takes the focus around the controls in a seemingly random order.

Pressing enter when a control is highlighted should activate/select that option.

Tooltips for the different game options.

Given the increasing number of game options, perhaps have the ability to choose from a few basic game 'types' or predefine custom game types. Select game type from a dropdown rather than radio buttons. If a gameplay option does not have a direct effect on other options, it could be a checkbox rather than a radio button.

Change the menu text for 'Hide the menu' to 'Hide/unhide menu'. Right clicking on top of screen/on the the title bar could have the unhide option available.

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

You should probably include powerups. All games like yours have them.

[Edited by The_Red_Hawk on 02-20-2004 at 03:20 AM GMT]

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

New version!
Thanks to StuartK for the ideas.

*Combo timer!
*New option, "Die Without Combo"!
*Checkboxes! (more to come)
*Updated help screen!
*Swapped Help button with Options button!

If you don't mind me asking, did you hand write this game, did you use GameMaker, did you do something else? I'm just curious.

I use The Games Factory Pro. I've made a bunch of other games too, but this is my best game, and it has a DROD theme.

[Edited by Nillo on 02-20-2004 at 07:56 PM GMT]

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

sims5000
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 117
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

you should be able to get more points in dizzy/helecopter/direction modes

joker5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 607
Registered: 11-25-2003
IP: Logged

Idea: Powerups: These spawn randomly(like roaches if you want). They look like colored roaches. If they hit you...

GREY: Bigger sword(twice as long)
LARGE GREY: MUCH bigger sword(3.5 times as long)
WHITE WITH RED CROSS: 1 health
LARGE WHITE WITH RED CROSS: 3 health
YELLOW: DOUBLE Combo Timer(IE time until combo fades) for 30 kills
LARGE YELLOW: QUADRUPLE Combo Timer for 50 Kills
RAINBOW: Invincible for 10 seconds
LARGE RAINBOW: Invincible for 30 seconds


Needless to say the larger are rarer. So rarity goes (in my mind) like this:

Large Rainbow(rarest)
Large White/Red
Large Grey
Large Yellow
Rainbow
White/red
Grey
Yellow(most common)

If that's ok with you, of course.

~joker5

____________________________
Criminals, like other people, dislike being shot. ~FBI study on guns

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

"Two words: Beam Waffle!" -me

sims5000
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 117
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

how long does grey last for?
Ideas::::
untill beet.. you get hit?
untill you get another powerup?
untill it's been 20 seconds

joker5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 607
Registered: 11-25-2003
IP: Logged

Grey lasts for a 30 seconds, Large Grey lasts for 2 minutes.

~joker5

____________________________
Criminals, like other people, dislike being shot. ~FBI study on guns

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

"Two words: Beam Waffle!" -me

sims5000
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 117
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

2 minuits come on say 1-1 and a half

joker5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 607
Registered: 11-25-2003
IP: Logged

Well, it's really rare for a reason.

But if it's TOO excessive... 1.5 minutes.

~joker5

____________________________
Criminals, like other people, dislike being shot. ~FBI study on guns

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

"Two words: Beam Waffle!" -me

RoboBob3000
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1982
Registered: 10-23-2003
IP: Logged

Entire games don't even last a minute and a half!

____________________________
http://beepsandbloops.wordpress.com/

joker5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 607
Registered: 11-25-2003
IP: Logged

This should help them last then

Seriously, though, if you think it needs to be shorter what would you suggest?

~joker5

____________________________
Criminals, like other people, dislike being shot. ~FBI study on guns

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

"Two words: Beam Waffle!" -me

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

How about something that kills everything within a radius of x?

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

joker5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 607
Registered: 11-25-2003
IP: Logged

That might work.

Ok, Yellow/Black roach(nuke pattern) is slightly rarer than the greys. If it's triggered, everything within 5 sword-lengths is gone(including Beethro). However, it WILL disappear after 5 bounces/10 seconds/whatever.

Or maybe after it's triggered it waits 3 seconds and then blows?

The large version of this hits everything within 10 lengths.

*ding* idea!

Green Roach(random ASCI character on its back in light green, on really really dark green) Matrix roach! No, seriously, this slows down the roaches by 50% and slows Beethro down by 25% for 5 seconds(your time, not roach or Beethro). The large version slows roaches by 75%(Beethro still slows down 25%); and lasts for 30 seconds. These are less rare then health, but more rare than anything beneath health.

~joker5

[Edited by joker5 on 02-22-2004 at 02:31 AM GMT: Forgot large yellow, and rarity of green.]

____________________________
Criminals, like other people, dislike being shot. ~FBI study on guns

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

"Two words: Beam Waffle!" -me

mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5198
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Here's a simple way to fix that awful skip when the music (re)starts: drop any frames (i.e. ignore updating the game state) where the time since the last frame is greater than X (1/10s, for example).

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

zex20913
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1723
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Interjection: We may be approaching too many cooks...I am loving the game in its simplicity, and it can be spoiled if too many (possibly any) powerups are added.

/Interjection.

____________________________

Skylancer64
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 62
Registered: 10-25-2003
IP: Logged

I really don't like the idea of such overpowering powerups. Making them rare doesn't solve anything, as then the game becomes all about luck. Minor powerups would be great, but not anything that will make such a severe difference. I mean, 3.5x sword length for 1 and a half minutes? That's insane. The moment someone gets that, whether it's rare or not, it breaks that game just out of luck of getting it. It should be more about skill.


Some more new enemies. These are just basic ideas, but would work well. (I think)
Blue Triangle (roach?) - Moves 1.5 times the speed of a red triangle.

Green Triangle - Moves 0.5 times the speed of a red triangle. (Even though it's slower, it could still throw people off after they get used to red triangles)

Black Triangle - If it runs into the sword, it bounces off instead and becomes a green triangle, which can then be killed.

[Edited by Skylancer64 on 02-22-2004 at 01:46 PM GMT]

____________________________
Complexity is the source of Life.

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

Orange Triangle: stays in the corner farthest from Beethro and shoots a red triangle at him every 10 seconds.

Black Powerup: Destroy everything on the screen except Beethro.

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

joker5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 607
Registered: 11-25-2003
IP: Logged

We'd need a lookup chart in the helpfile if we had these...

~joker5

____________________________
Criminals, like other people, dislike being shot. ~FBI study on guns

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

"Two words: Beam Waffle!" -me

StuartK
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 564
Registered: 06-10-2003
IP: Logged

I'd like to add my vote for no powerups (or gameplay tweaks) unless, that is, they have some game-balancing drawback

e.g. larger sword could make Beethro move & rotate slower. A REALLY big sword would of course make Beethro very unwieldy to control.

Couple the above with a creature that, for instance, homes in on Beethro in a slow spiral, and the advantages of having a small, maneouverable sword become more obvious.


I made two proposals which, though not powerups, might be considered game altering.

1 - Larger sword. Already discussed, but I would still like to see this as a seperate, easier gameplay mode (without the slowing effect discussed above) It's true I'm finding DRODer quite difficult...

2 - Locational damage. I wanted there to be less of a penalty for a 'near miss' given the all or nothing nature of the current collision detection. It is discouraging to miss a sword swing by a few pixels and still recieve the full penalty. Balance this by giving Beethro fewer starting hitpoints, or else more hitpoints, but hits from behind just do more damage.

joker5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 607
Registered: 11-25-2003
IP: Logged

I think if there are alternate enemies/critters we should be able to turn them on and off.

Possibly even alter the odds of them appearing.

Aside from that, I agree. Powerups do need a downside. So, the matrix roach will cause Beethro to take double/triple damage, depending on its size. The invincibility roach will do 1 or 2 damage depending on its size. The swords cause you to slow down. And I think the combo thing is ok as is.

~joker5

____________________________
Criminals, like other people, dislike being shot. ~FBI study on guns

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

"Two words: Beam Waffle!" -me

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

How about a "Mimic" powerup?

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

DiMono
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1181
Registered: 09-13-2003
IP: Logged

I think the beauty in this game is its simplicity. Notice how the author hasn't said anything or posted any new versions since the power-up suggestions started rolling in? I think everyone needs to take a step back, and realize that this is meant to be something small to pass some time, not a major game release, and stop trying to overcomplicate things.

____________________________
Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

I make new versions whenever I feel like it, nothing's guaranteed.
And this is a DROD game, so no randomness, okay? There's too much of it already.
I like suggestions, but the last ones have been very monotonous.

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

Skylancer64
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 62
Registered: 10-25-2003
IP: Logged

What's everyone's high score on "Survival?" I just got a 1485.

That mode is crazy.

Also, can there be a no music option? That way, we don't have to be losing games due to the sound loading bug.

[Edited by Skylancer64 on 02-23-2004 at 02:04 AM GMT]

____________________________
Complexity is the source of Life.

bovis
Level: Goblin

Rank Points: 19
Registered: 12-06-2003
IP: Logged

When I download the rar i can't open it and when I download the zip theres nothing inside the zip file.

Can someone help.

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

Skylancer64 wrote:
Also, can there be a no music option? That way, we don't have to be losing games due to the sound loading bug.

You can turn off the music in "Options" in top of the game window.

bovis wrote:
When I download the rar i can't open it and when I download the zip theres nothing inside the zip file.

Hmm... Did something cancel the download? What zip archiver do you use?

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

Nillo
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 548
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

After a ridiculously long pause, here's a somewhat small update: Duel Mode!
Beat your friends mercilessly in this built-in minigame.

Internet play will be available as soon as I figure out how to use that absurd DirectPlay object in TGF.

____________________________
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”