Awesome! The asteroiid's are gonna break my screen and hit me.
I don't think good design should be limited to casual games. If you can make something intuitive, why not?
Sorry. Nobody writes here that it ia casual game. I will show you how to play in demo video.
GAMEPLAY: To me, this is the area that needs the most work. I recognized this game as an Atlantis/Colony 7 (Space Invaders/Missile Defense hybrid) clone. Your biggest improvement is the ability to alter the projectile direction based on your cursor's Y-position. The cross-eyed (cursor low) position seems pointless since it results in a shallow V-angle similar to a higher cursor position. I'd recommend having the lowest position be a straight shot, then the angle widens as you move the cursor up from there. I also liked that you can see the cloaked enemies, giving you an idea of where the groups will appear.
A lot of the gameplay elements confuse me. Do the asteroids hurt or help? They seem to block my shots and let enemies’ shots through, but shooting them costs energy and player focus. The relative benefits are unclear. Accessibility is the key to good game design. I had problems with the difficulty ramp. Repair prices are constant throughout the game, yet in the first few rounds, there aren't very many high-priced aliens to kill. As a result, if you lose a structure in the first few rounds, your game is doomed. I played this game through 3-4 times to verify. This is very unforgiving, especially when you consider the player is just figuring things out in these initial waves. Since there's no real way to defend against an enemy projectile once it's been fired, the player can easily lose a structure with a little bad luck.
I experimented a bit, and the game progressively rewarded me for NOT repairing my damaged structures. It was a considerable reward ($150 for the first round, $300 for the second), especially considering I generally only made $400-$700 on the first round. If you took damage early, it seems the only way to stand a chance is to skip repairs, spending the money on weapon upgrades instead. Otherwise, you’re bleeding money just to keep your structures on the map while they send progressively stronger waves against your starting weapon. The pricing seems to be skewed, too. The best weapon in the game costs around $5K while rebuilding a structure costs ~$1500-$3500. Earning money revolves around “ultra-kills,” stringing together your kills for a multiplying effect. This relies on you being able to fire fast into groups of enemies. Being able to fire fast relies on your generators’ health, the most expensive building to repair. This introduces a Catch-22: if a generator gets heavily damaged, the player will never be able to make enough money to repair it.
The fun of playing a game relates closely to its difficulty ramp. A good game is built on simple concepts which make the game easy to learn and forgiving. Later on, the concepts should have the depth to introduce complexity that requires skill on the part of the player to overcome. There should be a point in the difficulty ramp where it levels out, letting the player feel a sense of mastery. It can get harder after this point, but it’s vital to evoke those feelings for the fun-factor.
From the second I start your game, it feels like I’m boarding a sinking ship. If I play well in a round, I can plug some of the leaks, but I never feel like I have a fighting chance against the invaders. Space Invaders serves as a good counterpoint example. It gives the player positive and direct feedback: one good shot is a kill. The game gives you the satisfaction of destroying a wave. In your game, I destroy a wave, but I always seem worse off for it.
I don’t mean to sound harsh. I can tell you put a lot of time and effort into making this game. I hope my feedback helps.
This comp-up looks slick. I tried the game, too, and I feel compelled to give you some feedback.
SOUND: Overall, it's a little generic, but very well-suited. The music matches the action and evokes the nostalgia of a 90s arcade. For the effects, I would prefer to hear more "special-use" ones. Maybe every weapon has a different sound or when you hit the bigger enemies, you can hear the projectile tearing through their shells. Also, you should be able to hear when one of your stations explodes. As it is, it’s a bit anticlimactic; I have to look down from the gameplay to see if they've still there or not.
ART: The game makes a polished first impression. However, the art has to serve gameplay as much as possible. The buildings along the bottom bar blend in and look flat. In fact, I didn't even recognize them as elements until I completed the first wave and saw the repair screen. During gameplay, it's fairly difficult to differentiate the enemies aside from their size. This is vital to the gameplay, since the enemies have different abilities: whether they shield other ones or fire projectiles, etc. After one round of gameplay, I should be able to recognize everything at a glance to prioritize the focus of my movement and firing. Focus on making unique silhouettes. They might lose the feel of a homogenous attacking army, but if it benefits the player, it’s for a good cause.
It would be nice if the weapon upgrades looked vastly different. They're the same color, so I have to recognize them by their movement patterns.
The friendly portrait needs work -- currently it looks like lineart with a few fills. Pay more attention to the pixel-level rendering.
Preview reminded me a bit of SquirrelSquid's work. This is some real nice stuff, I'll be certain to give your game a go when I have time.
there is no reason you should not be happy i like the game good job dude
very nice grfx.... good job
.... the gameplay though seems a little slow to me (cannon movement..)..... but who am i to juj ^^.... pj is not about gameplay anyway,,, so id just say this is RLY nice stuff ;D
Excellent graphics. Haven't played the game though.