Inviyya - OCS Shoot Em Up

[Tigerskunk]

Originally Posted by MarkBogaard

In NTSC mode the get ready screen has a little corruption like TjLazer reporterd
Sometimes the little enemy ships explode without me hitting them but during shooting another enemy (sometimes close by but sometimes also below or behind my ship)

The larger enemies show there legs through the platform they are standing on, just before getting getting into position to start shooting.

Thanks for the feedback and nice words, Mark.

[Alpha One]

Very nice new demo & pretty hard. :-)
Had some gfx glitches while playing, I will make a screenshot when they appear again.

[malko]

As said by others, there are some gfx glitches this and there, otherwise and difficulty wise, it's now a perfectly balanced first level (in my humble opinion)
PS: I really do like how the weapon improve



Great work Steril707 !!
(& ross )

[Tigerskunk]

Originally Posted by malko

As said by others, there are some gfx glitches this and there, otherwise and difficulty wise, it's now a perfectly balanced first level (in my humble opinion)

Don't you think this might be a tad to difficult for casual players?

Originally Posted by malko

PS: I really do like how the weapon improve

Yeah, I think that works quite well now.

Originally Posted by malko

Great work Steril707 !!
(& ross )

Thanks, man!

[roondar]

On the topic of difficulty, it's tricky to get correct. I'd say this is about on-par with R-Type level one (a bit harder in places, a bit easier in places), except for the end of level boss, which to me feels clearly harder to beat.

Not sure if this means it's too hard or too easy, just pointing it out

[Tigerskunk]

Originally Posted by roondar

On the topic of difficulty, it's tricky to get correct.

indeed.

Originally Posted by roondar

I'd say this is about on-par with R-Type level one

Interesting. I thought it's much harder than the first level of r-type.

Originally Posted by roondar

(a bit harder in places, a bit easier in places)

Could you list those places? Would give me some idea how to balance stuff even further..

Originally Posted by roondar

, except for the end of level boss, which to me feels clearly harder to beat.

Yeah, I will nerf that one a good bit again.

My primary focus was to get a good bit of challenge into this version, so I can get some feedback on where this needs to be on the difficulty scale..

[roondar]

Originally Posted by Steril707

Interesting. I thought it's much harder than the first level of r-type.

Well, it's just one mans opinion of course, take it for what it's worth

What I'm doing here is trying to look at this compared to how I remember first playing R-Type. By now I can fly through R-Type level one without even really thinking about it.

Could you list those places? Would give me some idea how to balance stuff even further..

The initial wave is fairly busy compared to R-Type so it starts out harder, then it IMHO gets closer to on-par (picking up the power ups helps here). The entry to the base with the gun is (to me) similar in difficulty to the "big flying robo-alien"+missile launching walker near the first force pod in R-Type. Inside the base, most of the waves are quite doable (less busy than outside), though there is a spot where you get the robot on the top platform followed closely by one on the bottom that is a bit harder because there's not much time to transition between the two.

What makes it somewhat harder is the scenery, there's not all that much room inside the base in places (especially after the first walking robot). I'd say that is (to me) the main difference - most of R-Type level 1 is fairly open with only a few tight spots.

Compare and contrast your level lay-out to levels 1 & 2 in R-Type and you should see what I mean. In those levels the main challenge is in the enemies which you either shoot or avoid and the level lay-out itself is fairly open (not without some challenge here, but mostly open). The tighter, closed spots only come in later levels.

This is over-analyzing it to death though, so take it as you will. It's also just my opinion and others might disagree

My primary focus was to get a good bit of challenge into this version, so I can get some feedback on where this needs to be on the difficulty scale..

Well, you got some challenge in and that is nice as the first demo might have been a bit too easy in places

[Tigerskunk]

Thanks for the detailed analysis, Roondar...

Feedback like that helps me immensely..

[nikosidis]

Yes, I agree. First level difficulty is on par with R-type.
As a game designer this is for sure difficult. To much challenge and you can scare people away. To easy and will get boring.
I know this was talked about before. The game could have 2 - 3 difficulty levels.
I like a learning curve in all levels. Like in this game you learn that the first enemy can fire bullets at you. Next up is to be aware of the big fire in the middle and so on. I hate when games get way to hard after a couple of levels. Way many games don't balance that right I think. Reshoot R did balance this perfect.

I like first level in this game a lot now. A little to difficult is my opinion.

The minor tweaks that could change that is for me this.

1. When big cannon start to fire in the middle there are less enemies.

2. Bullets should not go through boxes. Steril707 already confirmed they should not.

3. Make the big laser a little more powerful in killing the big spaceman.

4. Give powerup if you die right before the boss. Killing the boss with single shot is almost impossible.

[Tigerskunk]

Got rid of two complicated bugs today..
Thought this would take much longer..

So, it has been very productive day already..

3. Make the big laser a little more powerful in killing the big spaceman.

4. Give powerup if you die right before the boss. Killing the boss with single shot is almost impossible.

Both implemented now..

On the topic of difficulty, I really thought this difficulty might be a tad too much for most people..
It's easy to make the game more difficult for me.

I am just a bit scared to do so, since I remember that most games back then were much too hard...

[nikosidis]

Steril707: Great news Don't make it more difficult unless you do normal and hard mode. Like you say most games back in the day where to hard. On top of that they did not have save or continue

[TjLaZer]

Tested the game on my Amiga 1000 NTSC with 1.5MB Fast. Doesn’t run. Guessing it needs 1MB Chip?

[DamienD]

What KS is on your A1000 NTSC Amiga?

[ross]

Originally Posted by TjLaZer

Tested the game on my Amiga 1000 NTSC with 1.5MB Fast. Doesn’t run. Guessing it needs 1MB Chip?

Hi TjLaZer, I have tried different WinUAE A1000 NTSC configurations and it works.
Can you describe your setup precisely?
What exactly happens? Does the executable not load and stop at the CLI? Where does it hang? Does it guru?

(actually NTSC is not officially supported so take it as a bonus, but it works better than I expected )

[TjLaZer]

It has kickstart 1.3. I get an AmigaDOS error code 103 and it exits back to CLI.

It does have an external floppy drive but I do have 1.5MB fast RAM, so I didn’t try to disconnect it.

[ross]

Originally Posted by TjLaZer

It has kickstart 1.3. I get an AmigaDOS error code 103 and it exits back to CLI.

It does have an external floppy drive but I do have 1.5MB fast RAM, so I didn’t try to disconnect it.

Ah, ok, then it's not a big deal
Error 103 is "not enough memory" (in this case not enough chip memory), sure w/o external floppy you fix the problem.

A proper boot block can fix it.

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by ross

Ah, ok, then it's not a big deal
Error 103 is "not enough memory" (in this case not enough chip memory), sure w/o external floppy you fix the problem.

A proper boot block can fix it.

A “ross” bootblock can fix this.

[DanScott]

Personal opinion time I am going to be quite critical

1) Too hard at the start... game needs at least some ramp up to difficulty (even if fairly quick ramp up)

2) Really don't like the "bobbing" motion on those initial enemies... a smooth "sin wave" movement would be much nicer

3) Would prefer at least some "waves" of enemies that follow a pattern near the start, the placement of those bobbers seems very random

4) Enemy bullets seems to linger for too long, and don't seem to fire towards the player. Also, perhaps enemies should not fire at you as they pass above or below you, but when they are towards the right of the screen. This might be a little fairer to the player

5) I don't like how the player weapon fires from underneath the ship's nose

6) Too difficult to pass the 1st blocking cannon if you have died and restart just before it

7) Things look a little messy against that large planet background, quite hard to make out the enemy bullets

8) Play ship explosion looks a bit feeble



Having said all that, technically looking wonderful

[Predseda]

I do not agree. I like the difficulty and who is not able to pass, is a lamer

[TjLaZer]

Why does it only have one life? Like the ReShoot R game too. Hopefully it will have more in the final game? Not everyone is an expert gamer like Predseda.