It's possible to reach a state where the enemies are outside the map and refuse to return. I'm not sure what triggered this, but maybe one of my blueprints had knockback or one of the enemies decided to run away from me due to heavy use of shielding?
Bonus suggestions:
Not relevant here (I don't have that blueprint), but having some sort of indicator to make tiny enemies easier to spot would be helpful. I.e., if all remaining enemies are tiny, have them become a bit more noticeable somehow.
Once "camp" becomes available, off-screen attacks should be canceled. It's a bit obnoxious to have a random enemy shoot spikes 20 seconds after the camp appears (and if you're wondering why I was still around, I was collecting essence from ghost of sparta, who was already more than half-way across the map).
I also did several balancing improvements in the 1.2.3 version, including nerfing the Rage of Sparta by reducing its ammo count to 2 and preventing ammo regen when the shield is up, like you suggested. It's really awesome now! :)
Disable ammo regeneration while ANY shield is in place.
Increase ammo regeneration speed (i.e., such a base Rage of Sparta with no other blueprints has the same maximum shield time per time period)
I would also suggest reducing the ammo count to 2 and/or dropping the buff time by 25%.
Why:
Currently, it's very easy to get blueprints such that a player is always able to refresh Rage of Sparta on first shield blink (i.e., well before the shield runs out). For example, by combining Rage of Sparta with Quick Breath. Similarly, Other shield buffs (Vitamin D, Blessings from the Bronze House) make it very likely that a player can complete a stage without ever letting their shield vanish.
In contrast to the perpetual spear generator, this combo is not particularly fun, since it basically means the player is immune to all damage.
Alternative approach, which is perhaps complicated enough to deserve a custom mode rather than a pick-up:
After picking up Rage of Sparta, immunity (regardless of source) behaves as follows:
Being hit sets the shield timeout to 0.25s (unless the timeout is already below 0.25s).
Being hit with a shield turns the shield red.
If the player attacks while the shield is red, the shield buff immediately ends.
When a red shield ends (either due to timeout or due to attacking), the player is temporarily buffed with lower melee cooldown, higher attack, and increased defense. The attack scales logarithmically based on how much damage the player blocked with the shield. I'll note that this scaling is a bit of a risk-reward payoff, since typically using the shield to soak a ton of damage runs the risk that some of the damage will be soaked without the shield.
Using the rage of sparta attack just gives the player a shield (which behaves as described above.
Obviously I've provided way too much detail for a proper item description. So I'd use a description more like this:
"Replaces ranged attack with temporary invincibility. Player cannot attack during damage immunity, but blocking switches immunity to a massive buff.
I unintentionally froze the game by creating a perpetual spear generator. This requires piercing, ricochet, magnetic spear, and a small pile of invulnerable enemies (i.e., shield enemies). I sent a more detailed description over e-mail.
Note that I was playing 1.2; possibly this was fixed in 1.2.1 .
Thanks to your very detailed explanation by email of this bug I was able to fix it (without preventing the awesome item combination you got! I worked on the spear collision system instead.)
We have a couple of ideas of adding different game modes, and one of them could have tons of Blueprints unlocked so you can craft them at will. :) Thanks for the suggestion! :)
Other mode suggestions. Probably some of these should be unlockable:
Special heroes. Heroes start with a specific ranged and weapon blueprint (i.e., in inventory, not in shop) and never receive further ranged/weapon blueprints. Some heroes also start with unique, re-purchasable blueprints, though such blueprints often have a higher cost after each purchase.
Classic Hero (possibly part of special heroes, described above) - No blueprints are available ever.
Blue spartan: Every kill changes the weapon into one which is based on the enemy's weapon. Probably a hassle to implement.
Endless run - Camp is available once before the run starts. Player starts with a bunch of blueprints and essence. Timed waves are more frequent (i.e., waves which start even if not all enemies are defeated)
Last stand - Spartan has only 1 health and cannot earn armor soul points, etc. Essence gain and blueprint gain are both doubled.
No ranged - No ranged weapon/blueprints
No melee - No melee weapon/blueprints. Ranged weapons with at least two charges hold half as many charges (rounding down), but charge twice as fast.
Auto-fire - No melee. Ranged weapons charge faster, but also auto-fires. Great for those trying to play on a trackpad without dedicated buttons.
Auto-fire 2 - Same as auto-fire, but every attack simultaneously fires a melee attack and a ranged attack.
Survival - Killing an enemy causes more enemies to be summoned. Beating a level is time-based. Killing more enemies if still a good idea for essence and blueprints.
Chaos - More/Smaller enemy parties (i.e., more distinct enemy types at once during each level).
Double - Double enemies, essence, blueprints.
Poor planner - Blueprint is emptied after every level.
Tinder - After each level, two blueprints are available. Both are free, but player can only pick one (or can skip). Blueprint-related blueprints do not show up.
No Healing - No health blueprints (also no armor, no soul points, etc.), but start with 3X health.
Fun mode - Double essence, double blue prints, double health, heal 20HP between rounds.
Duel mode - Only one enemy at a time, but enemies are far more dangerous. All enemies have a couple points of armor and some invincibility frames.
Vengeance - Start with whatever blueprints you had on last defeat. Cannot unlock more blueprints . Cannot play vengeance twice in a row.
Basically, vengeance is for when a player had an especially fun setup and wants just a little more time to enjoy it. However, probably the player will have trouble getting as far, since they can't get more blueprints (e.g., food).
Minor bug in the version launched today: If you die with a campground available, the campground remains when you retry. The easiest way to cause this to happen is to die via damage while possessing the, "kill all enemies if you take damage with less than 20 health" item.
Feature suggestion: A "catalog" menu which displays a grid of all blueprints. Obviously, any blueprint that has never been encountered would be filled with a question mark.
Every log file is an identical 243 byte file (other than the changing timestamp and version number). The most recent log file is below:
For Sparta - 1.1.0 - Win32 x64
2021/03/06 22:07:30
Initting DX11 (1920x1080)
Using DXGI Adapter 'AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics'
XInput check_connected_controllers: No controllers found
DirectInput check_connected_controllers: No controllers found
time for constructive feedback: -I would recommend to have the player always look towards the cursor, not only when actually attacking. -Make the level itself more attractive. You could easily randomize some parts on the ground and put some decoration on it. That would massively improve the overall look and feel
The game mechanics themselfs feel very good. Nice fast paced game :)
Yeah feels a lot better in my opinion. You work with Unity? If so, add Controller support (dual stick) and make a mobile version with adds. Just one day of work and you have a fully finished game, making Add revenue ;)
I personally would make the difficulty raise a bit more shallow...but I am very bad at bullet hell games, so I am not the key audience :D
Than I don't know how difficult controller support would be^^ But especialy if you are aiming for steam I would give it a try. Bullet hell is often played with a controller.
Hiii, I've made a video about the game and wanted to share some feedback about it, hopefully it is useful for the development :D
-The main concept is pretty interesting.
-The visual style is quite good and fits very well the game.
-I really like all the gameplay mechanics that you have implemented on the game as they feel pretty solid and fun.
-I think that the game has a lot of potential and that, with some extra polish on making the game a little bit easier on the first round and some other minor tweaks, the could have an strong base to star adding some extra details and extra mechanics to make it a little bit more engaging.
In conclusion, the idea is great and I hope you keep working on it. Hopefully this is useful for the development :D, also if you could subscribe that would help me a lot :)
I just updated the game and made the gold hitbox larger and all of the spawned gold in the end of the wave will be concentrated in the center - you don't have to run all over the arena to collect it now! :)
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Great
Bug Report:
It's possible to reach a state where the enemies are outside the map and refuse to return. I'm not sure what triggered this, but maybe one of my blueprints had knockback or one of the enemies decided to run away from me due to heavy use of shielding?
Bonus suggestions:
Found and Fixed the bug! :D
I also did several balancing improvements in the 1.2.3 version, including nerfing the Rage of Sparta by reducing its ammo count to 2 and preventing ammo regen when the shield is up, like you suggested. It's really awesome now! :)
There were several other small things there. :)
Suggestion:
Nerf Rage of Sparta as follows:
I would also suggest reducing the ammo count to 2 and/or dropping the buff time by 25%.
Why:
Currently, it's very easy to get blueprints such that a player is always able to refresh Rage of Sparta on first shield blink (i.e., well before the shield runs out). For example, by combining Rage of Sparta with Quick Breath. Similarly, Other shield buffs (Vitamin D, Blessings from the Bronze House) make it very likely that a player can complete a stage without ever letting their shield vanish.
In contrast to the perpetual spear generator, this combo is not particularly fun, since it basically means the player is immune to all damage.
Alternative approach, which is perhaps complicated enough to deserve a custom mode rather than a pick-up:
After picking up Rage of Sparta, immunity (regardless of source) behaves as follows:
Obviously I've provided way too much detail for a proper item description. So I'd use a description more like this:
"Replaces ranged attack with temporary invincibility. Player cannot attack during damage immunity, but blocking switches immunity to a massive buff.
Below is a screenshot of my Rage of Sparta setup.
To add insult to injury, Rage of Sparta shields can stack. Which certainly was great when I later collected a second and third Quick Breath.
Just uploaded version 1.2.3 with these improvements and noted the other suggestions as well! :)
I unintentionally froze the game by creating a perpetual spear generator. This requires piercing, ricochet, magnetic spear, and a small pile of invulnerable enemies (i.e., shield enemies). I sent a more detailed description over e-mail.
Note that I was playing 1.2; possibly this was fixed in 1.2.1 .
Hey man!
Thanks to your very detailed explanation by email of this bug I was able to fix it (without preventing the awesome item combination you got! I worked on the spear collision system instead.)
Thanks a lot! :D
An option to sell unwanted blueprints for essence would be nice.
you could also add a bestiary and it should work like this, when you kill a new enemy it appears in the bestiary with some info about the enemy.
Hello LoadedCube,
Thank you for the suggestions! We'll definitely keep in mind for future updates!
Cheers,
Tiago
this game is really hard and not worth 1.99 USD i just got huge amounts of shield enemy’s on only day 2
Maybe your next run will be better? :)
There are +200 items for you to craft. Surely you will get one that makes the game easier and more fun for you.
Awesome game, I recommend maybe a store where you can purchase heals or any other stuff but besides that this is awesome!
I'm really happy you liked it! :D
We have a couple of ideas of adding different game modes, and one of them could have tons of Blueprints unlocked so you can craft them at will. :) Thanks for the suggestion! :)
Other mode suggestions. Probably some of these should be unlockable:
Another mode idea:
Basically, vengeance is for when a player had an especially fun setup and wants just a little more time to enjoy it. However, probably the player will have trouble getting as far, since they can't get more blueprints (e.g., food).
Some really cool ideas you had there! Thanks for sharing them. :)
I wrote them all down to implement and play around with when we add more content (most likely after the Steam release!) :)
Minor bug in the version launched today: If you die with a campground available, the campground remains when you retry. The easiest way to cause this to happen is to die via damage while possessing the, "kill all enemies if you take damage with less than 20 health" item.
Feature suggestion: A "catalog" menu which displays a grid of all blueprints. Obviously, any blueprint that has never been encountered would be filled with a question mark.
Thanks for letting me know!
Is it possible for you to send me the latest log file (should be located in the "logs" folder where you unzipped the game)?
You can send over it to contact@gamecraftstudios.com
The catalog sounds really cool! We want to implement something like that as a post-Steam-launch update. :)
Every log file is an identical 243 byte file (other than the changing timestamp and version number). The most recent log file is below:
Thanks.
That's really strange... Because I fixed this exact bug (dying in the "Press E to make camp" state would keep this state active) a few releases back.
I quickly tried replicating it now but I couldn't make the bug happen. I will investigate it further. :)
Maybe it's specific to dying in that state via the "kill enemies when taking damage while below 20 health" item?
I have just reworked how the game resets after the player dies and now it should be physically impossible for this bug to happen! :)
This game looks amazing! (haven't downloaded it though😭). I have a question. Is this going to stay free and when will a full game come out?
Thanks!
It won't! The game is only free while it's on Beta. On March 22, it will go its (very cheap) price of $1.99. :)
Ok, thanks for the reply!
Show post...
WOW, epic intro to the main menu
Hahaha!
I'm glad you liked it!
It was a lot of fun recording it. :)
You are such a good player! It was a joy watching you play! :D
But next time you see the ghost, you ATTACK HIM IN FULL FORCE!!
I will share your gameplay video on our social media. :)
This is a masterpiece :)
one of the best indie game i've ever played
Wow!
Thanks so much for your comment. :D
time for constructive feedback:
-I would recommend to have the player always look towards the cursor, not only when actually attacking.
-Make the level itself more attractive. You could easily randomize some parts on the ground and put some decoration on it. That would massively improve the overall look and feel
The game mechanics themselfs feel very good. Nice fast paced game :)
Thanks so much for your comment!
I will experiment further with the points you mentioned. :)
Hey!
I just released a new build where the player always looks towards the cursor!
I think it's way more responsive now. Thanks so much for your suggestion! :)
I would love to know what you think.
Yeah feels a lot better in my opinion. You work with Unity? If so, add Controller support (dual stick) and make a mobile version with adds. Just one day of work and you have a fully finished game, making Add revenue ;)
I personally would make the difficulty raise a bit more shallow...but I am very bad at bullet hell games, so I am not the key audience :D
This game is not Unity... It's a custom engine made in C++! :D
But we will release on Steam on March 22nd for $1.99. Hopefully a lot of people will like the game over there as well. :)
Other people also said that there is a spike in the difficulty, I think I might make it smoother indeed.
Than I don't know how difficult controller support would be^^
But especialy if you are aiming for steam I would give it a try. Bullet hell is often played with a controller.
If you are talking about PC gamepad support, we already have it :)
I have just worked on the level art and I think it looks way better!
I focused on the "border details" to leave the main area clear for the gameplay to happen.
I would love to know what you think about the improvement! :)
I really like it. That gets the atmosphere a lot better. Always impressive how much of a difference such small details can make.
Hiii, I've made a video about the game and wanted to share some feedback about it, hopefully it is useful for the development :D
-The main concept is pretty interesting.-The visual style is quite good and fits very well the game.
-I really like all the gameplay mechanics that you have implemented on the game as they feel pretty solid and fun.
-I think that the game has a lot of potential and that, with some extra polish on making the game a little bit easier on the first round and some other minor tweaks, the could have an strong base to star adding some extra details and extra mechanics to make it a little bit more engaging.
In conclusion, the idea is great and I hope you keep working on it. Hopefully this is useful for the development :D, also if you could subscribe that would help me a lot :)
Regards
Thank you so much for your comment and gameplay video! I shared it in our social media. :)
Your feedback was really nice!
I have just uploaded a new build improving the main point you mentioned regarding the difficulty in the first round.
Now, the first and second days have fewer monsters so you can learn their behavior.
PS: I just subscribed as well! Best of luck with your channel. :)
Awesome :D I'm happy to hear that.
Thanks for the support and good luck with the game, it has a lot of potential ^^
Minor improvement suggestions:
Collecting gold at the end of each round is tedious. I wish any remaining gold was collecting at the end of each round.
The player's gold collection hitbox is just a little bit smaller than I'd like. It doesn't feel comfortable.
Thanks for the suggestion!
I'll try to improve those points for the next update.
Hey!
I just updated the game and made the gold hitbox larger and all of the spawned gold in the end of the wave will be concentrated in the center - you don't have to run all over the arena to collect it now! :)
Let me know what you think! :D
You could also ad a coin magnet item to craft, if it is not allready in the game.
It's already in. :)
ah ok, I haven't played that long yet but I really like it.
I just increased the chance of the Collector item to drop! But there are still 200 other items competing with it... :D
Both changes make for a far better experience. Thank you!
We can have the "claim option" ?
I just added the option to claim it!
The game will be FREE before the full release on March 22nd.
Please, let me know if it works for you! ;)
Thanks bro :)
Show post...
THIS IS SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Show post...
hahahaha yes :D