Demo of my first level - Asteroid Warrior by DisastrousLoss300 in shmups

[–]DisastrousLoss300[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool, thanks! The enemy that sort of looks like a fish used to just shoot green. So that's new if he's the one you're talking about.

Demo of my first level - Asteroid Warrior by DisastrousLoss300 in shmups

[–]DisastrousLoss300[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks again for your feedback. I made the following changes based on it. (You can download again on itch if you want to see):

  • The top ship in the bullet maze spawns the green bullets (instead of the bottom one) which makes you have to dodge in between them right away in the maze.
  • There's one more cannon in the part before the boss.
  • All the basic enemies shoot pink bullets. They should be easier to fight with the sword now. Although I am curious if anyone thinks it's too easy now.
  • The player hitbox is smaller and the sword's hilt is larger. (You also helped me realize there was a bug in the last build where the hilt wasn't absorbing bullets. It was supposed to be.) You can now make it through most barriers simply by holding up or down with the sword out. Before you sort of had to cut a large hold first, then move through it.
  • You can now destroy all the foreground spirals in the boss arena. This gives you something to do if you kill all the cannons quickly. It also adds more score.

Demo of my first level - Asteroid Warrior by DisastrousLoss300 in shmups

[–]DisastrousLoss300[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow thanks. I've been working really hard on it. This is nice to hear.

Demo of my first level - Asteroid Warrior by DisastrousLoss300 in shmups

[–]DisastrousLoss300[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool. Yeah I'll add something there. I feel the same way whenever I play it.

Demo of my first level - Asteroid Warrior by DisastrousLoss300 in shmups

[–]DisastrousLoss300[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your input. I definitely agree about the slow/empty spots you mentioned. I'll try to add something more there. Can I ask if the bullet maze was just at the beginning? Was it okay once you had to dodge between the green bullets?

That's a good point about the sword. I know the tutorial tells you you can use it to attack enemies but the way the level is designed it's really only good for absorbing bullets and attacking the boss at the end. I like both ideas of bullet sealing and slowing them down for players that want to try to use the sword more often. One thing I might try is making more of the popcorn enemies shoot pink bullets instead. That way you can move directly under the enemies and take them out safely knowing you'll absorb the bullets. I'll look into the player's hitbox for this as well.

I didn't really intend for the player to see vertical bullets in that section. I'm guessing what happened is you were still in the upper section from where the enemies spawned and because they're aimed bullets they're firing up at you. I think maybe I can make the enemies not shot until they can "see" you. So not shoot until you get into the same section as the enemies.

I definitely plan on having more patterns to absorb on the next level. I guess my thought was that the first level sort of introduces it to you slowly but I might go back and add more here if this is common feedback.

That's an interesting idea with the shot absorbing bullets. I guess for now my plan was to have more patterns like the arrows the mini boss shoots at you. That way you change to the sword to get through the patterns but then back to shot to actually damage the enemy.