Comments on: duetosideeffects’s Project 2

By: ragnar

ragnar — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 03:40:51 +0000

This project is very good. The art, controls, and idea are great at this stage. I just have a couple suggestions/comments on the controls. I noticed some skyscrapers in the background and wanted to go check them out. The map is pretty big and the hovercraft doesn’t move that fast, so it might be a good idea to add in a boost button or something for when covering large spaces. Also, I noticed that the ship cannot shoot backwards even though the reticle can look backwards, which can be a bit confusing if I am focusing on the reticle to aim. I’m not sure how well it would work, but it could be worth trying a 3D reticle like in Star Fox 64 to show exactly where you are aiming.

By: mulletman

mulletman — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:43:58 +0000

Controlling the hovercraft was a lot of fun. It was very responsive and fairly easy to control once I got the hang of it. The setup of the level also seems great. You’re definitely on the right track for making a really great hovercraft battle game. There are a few things that I can think of that you could do to improve this game. First, giving the player the ability to destroy things. Second, giving the shoot function one sound effect and the actual collision with an object a different sound effect. Last, having a display that shows damage of the player and number of kills. The feel of the game is great. The hovercraft handles exactly the way you’d think it would. Both textures and sounds are helping to create this game feel.

By: livingled

livingled — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 14:55:53 +0000

This game is ambitious and well-executed (for the stage we are at here in P2). I definitely see the potential and enjoyed playing it.

“what are some things you LIKED about what they did, and why do you like them?”

I feel like I am controlling a medium-to-large entity – like a ship or something. The controls are fun to get used to – I eventually sort of “go the hang of” when to stop accelerating to stop at where I want to stop, etc. The thing feels good to control and looks cool. Shooting stuff is always fun, as well, hah.

“what are some specific things that could be improved, and how might they be accomplished?”

Everything I’m going to say is something you are probably already working on but just didn’t have time for in this stage of prototyping, hah. I’d like super obvious visual feedback for shooting ships (DAMAGE!). Also, I think some background music could actually enhance the game, a bit, if you chose the right tune (but that is more an artistic direction choice than an “advice” so obviously, take it with a grain of salt).

“do the two motions feel like they meet the assigned “feel”?”

(Note: we didn’t need two feels for this one, so I’m ignoring the “two” part).

The ship feels great. Really good. I have only good things to say about how the ship feels.

“do the interaction aspects help create game feel (controls, avatar movement and how it interacts with the world, polish effects used directly to emphasize these interactions)”

Yes, the bullet effects and their collision with the other ships seems spot on. It can be improved, though – I think this is one of the first areas you can begin when you start piling on more polish/features – these hovercrafts are big and mighty, I want a huge crash when they collide, I want them to blow up buildings, I want to SEE the weight and heftiness (I already feel it).

“are the other parts of the prototype (textures, sounds, etc) helping or hurting?”

Helping. The textures give me the idea I’m on some space-wasteland battlefield. The sound effects give me audio cues of what’s going on – I like them!

By: starlord

starlord — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 00:09:29 +0000

I liked the feeling of controlling the hovercraft, it might be just a little bit too floaty, but it feels really fun to slide it around. The sound effects that are there are pretty good, but you need to play around a little with the volumes, since some things, like collisions, are really hard to hear. You may also want to add a sound for firing the cannon, since it feels a little weird to only hear one when it hits. The environment looks really good, and the zoom was a nice touch. I think that would be really cool for multiplayer, especially since you mentioned doing longer range battles.