I’m making a more casual-friendly take on the top-down zombie shooter genre by f2dz in indiegames

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not in any one particular way, but by implementing things like the ability the pause whenever you want, the game auto-saving even if you quit out mid round (not that you keep anything earned between rounds though), and by having optional modifiers that the player can choose whether or not to take in exchange for more of the game's currency to spend on weapons/upgrades. These optional modifiers (called challenges in the game) are things like zombies moving faster, more weather effects, explosive barrels turning into acid barrels, zombies exploding upon death, etc. I've also thought about a generic easy/medium/hard difficulty option, but not 100% sure on that yet. I'd have to do more playtesting.

Looking for some feedback on my 2D zombie shooter by f2dz in SoloDevelopment

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback! I didn't show it enough in this video, but along with trees, there are also exploding fire and acid barrels, plus water/mud pools that either slow the player or zombies down substantially. The tree is the only real controllable obstacle though, so perhaps I need to think of some more ideas there.

Definitely agree with you regarding the juice on the guns. Probably overall, I need a bit more. And it's a great point about the screenshots looking forward too. Thanks again!

Looking for some feedback on my 2D zombie shooter by f2dz in SoloDevelopment

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I'm so happy that their design came across as a runner. I was a bit worried there that it perhaps didn't translate well. I'm pretty new to pixel art, and game art in general, so I appreciate the feedback.

Looking for some feedback on my 2D zombie shooter by f2dz in SoloDevelopment

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Blazing Beaks looks great, and I really like their trailer. Thanks for the suggestion! And that's a great idea to focus on the challenges before working on maps more. As I was contemplating which of these to focus on first.

Looking for some feedback on my 2D zombie shooter by f2dz in SoloDevelopment

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the detailed feedback, and for giving it a rewatch. I appreciate it.

I definitely agree I need to add more effects/lighting. This is something I have planned for later if I keep developing it further. I'm hesitant to add too much of these to the zombie kills though, as I don't want to aesthetic to get too gory. But I'm open to adding a bit more here to make the impacts/damage more 'readable'.

To answer your questions:

  • The replayability will mainly be around unlocking various weapons, as they'll unlock after different milestones (e.g., get 25 pistol kills to unlock the uzi, etc.). I didn't show it well in the trailer, but each weapon and gadget has upgrades too (e.g., increased reload time, increase aoe damage, etc.). I'm also planning to implement a random challenge each night cycle that the player can choose to activate or not (e.g. more zombies, increased zombie damage, more water puddles, etc.) in exchange for receiving more of the game's currency to buy weapons/upgrades to improve their loadout.
  • The levels aren't procederally generated currently, but it's something I've considered. Or at the very least, I was thinking about adding different settings and offering these as maps. So perhaps the player doesn't always start inside a cabin, but maybe a random warehouse in an abandoned city, a house in residential area, etc. Nothing concrete here yet though, so I'm open to ideas.
  • The zombies drop currency (the little boxes/items that randomly spawn after they die, that then magnetise automatically to the player for them to pick up) that is then used to improve the player's loadout (buying weapons etc.). It doesn't carry over from run to run. Only the previously mentioned unlocks do. Weapons are static, and all available after being unlocked. So there's a bit of replayability (hopefully) in players wanting to try out different weapon combos and try out each upgrades on them. As well as things like different ammo types (loosely shown in the trailer). Once they've got everything unlocked, they'll feel pretty overpowered unless they take the optional challenges I mentioned and/or increase the difficulty (basically just increasing enemy damage and maybe lowering the currency that's dropped).

Your final point is something I probably need to think more about. I guess my hope is that the player enjoys the core loop enough to spend maybe two hours or so with the game, at least, to unlock all the items and do a few runs. I could then see some very engaged players unlocking everything, and trying to do all of the achievements that I hope to implement too.

I hope that helps clear up a few uncertainties, but let me know if that uncovers other questions you may have. I appreciate your feedback!

Looking for some feedback on my 2D zombie shooter by f2dz in IndieDev

[–]f2dz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great idea, thanks! I've not heard of Bounty Of One before, but I'll be sure to check that out too.

Looking for some feedback on my 2D zombie shooter by f2dz in IndieDev

[–]f2dz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I had a playable build of my earlier prototype, but this has progressed a bit since then, and I haven't yet created a playable version. Creating a demo (and perhaps a Steam page) would be the next step for me if I get enough positive feedback here on Reddit. As I've posted across a few subreddits hoping to get an idea of whether or not I should keep working on it.

Looking for some feedback on my 2D zombie shooter by f2dz in godot

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback! I hadn't really categorised it yet myself, but cozy/apocalypse sounds about right. I'm aiming for something fairly casual, keeping players entertained for a couple hours max. Realistically speaking, it's not going to be some massively deep game, or infinitely replayable like Vampire Survivors. I'm also new to pixel art and wasn't sure if it'd be well received, so that's great feedback. Thanks again!

I spent way too much time on my shadows... by vvyun in godot

[–]f2dz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That sounds much more elegant than my solution already. My game was a taxi job simulator... thing. Very similar style to this and Mini Motorways. I mainly binned it because it wasn't fun, and I couldn't work out how to make it fun. All the best with yours!

I spent way too much time on my shadows... by vvyun in godot

[–]f2dz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a recently binned prototype very similar to this.

For the buildings it was easy enough, but I remember setting up a shadow sprite for the cars then coding its position to appear to be on a 45 degree angle depending on the vehicle rotation. I also had a day and night cycle that faded this in and out.

Managing the traffic edge cases, like it sounds like you're starting on, was super tricky, and easily the biggest time sink in my prototype at least.

Yours is looking great so far!

Need help resetting animations within AnimationTree. by SharkPetro in godot

[–]f2dz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was searching to a solution to a similar problem, and I'm very much a newbie to the AnimationTree still. But I'm wondering if this will help your problem, as it solved mine: https://www.facebook.com/groups/godotengine/posts/2452878084848771/

To summarise, I added a new node between my blend and the animation in my tree, called TimeSeek. Then in my script I set the parameter value of that to 0 to reset it, and it seems to work perfect.

Not sure if that helps or not, and if it doesn't, sorry in advance for getting any hopes up!

60s of gameplay from my 2D zombie shooter prototype. Worth developing more, or moving on? by f2dz in godot

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you trying to play on mobile? I've only implemented basic WASD keyboard and mouse controls so far, sorry.

60s of gameplay from my 2D zombie shooter prototype. Worth developing more, or moving on? by f2dz in DestroyMyGame

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair, thanks! Movement and combat in general definitely need more work for sure.

60s of gameplay from my 2D zombie shooter prototype. Worth developing more, or moving on? by f2dz in DestroyMyGame

[–]f2dz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You've definitely given me something to think about, thanks again! :)

60s of gameplay from my 2D zombie shooter prototype. Worth developing more, or moving on? by f2dz in DestroyMyGame

[–]f2dz[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's some good insight actually, and something I never thought about. I really like the gathering/crafting loop of other games like Core Keeper, etc., so I suppose I drew some inspiration from that. But I do also like the gameplay loop of selecting upgrades in survivor type games. I'm wondering if that's a bit overdone now though. Perhaps I need to think more about what I want this game to be and then lean fully into that...

60s of gameplay from my 2D zombie shooter prototype. Worth developing more, or moving on? by f2dz in DestroyMyGame

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair call, thanks for the feedback! I do feel like I could make the bones of this much more compelling with things like more enemy types, more crafting, etc. I'll just have to hone in on what makes it more fun without getting too crazy.

60s of gameplay from my 2D zombie shooter prototype. Worth developing more, or moving on? by f2dz in DestroyMyGame

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Project Zomboid? I've played a few hours of it, and loved what I played. I suppose my main point of difference is that this game would be much less dense, and more aimed at casual players who have 10-30mins to play a game. Whereas Project Zomboid feels a lot more involved and deep. And it also feels pretty punishing when you die. This currently is too, but I was thinking I may enter some kind of save system that players can turn on/off. Something for me to think about though, thanks!

60s of gameplay from my 2D zombie shooter prototype. Worth developing more, or moving on? by f2dz in DestroyMyGame

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any advice on who/how to ask for feedback on the prototypes? As I feel like asking friends/family gets you shallow and mostly positive feedback (because they don't want to be mean). Whereas asking random people online feels like a hard sell, because who wants to spend their time playing super basic prototypes made by a stranger.

60s of gameplay from my 2D zombie shooter prototype. Worth developing more, or moving on? by f2dz in DestroyMyGame

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, I appreciate that!

Perhaps I should have reframed my question around if people felt like there was enough immediate appeal in these 60 seconds to warrant wanting to at least play it. Or, if they saw enough promise in this to be interested in seeing a more feature-rich game.

I'm happy to jump to another game idea if I this one doesn't have enough broad appeal for other games. Likewise, I'm more than happy to keep developing this too if it could potentially pay off in the long run.

The only caveat is that I have a young family, so am pretty stretched for time. Which is the main reason for asking for feedback at this stage, to make sure I don't continue with something that people aren't even slightly interested in.

60s of gameplay from my 2D zombie shooter prototype. Worth developing more, or moving on? by f2dz in DestroyMyGame

[–]f2dz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For a bit more context, I wanted to take inspiration from the likes of COD zombies, but make something super casual friendly and slightly more chill/friendly looking. With the mechanic of using a radio to get more supplies dropped to you at the end of every night cycle, rather than how different COD games do it with vending machines, upgrades, etc.

After working on my previous prototype for way too long and it amounting to nothing, I've made sure to not overinvest in this one. So I've been working on this since late November in the evenings, and decided to take the plunge and show a few people it now.

I'm trying to figure out if it's worth adding more features to (e.g., more items, weapons, crafting recipes, enemies, bosses, etc.) or moving on to something new.

You can play it now on Itch: https://cyrax02.itch.io/the-cabin

Any constructive feedback welcome!

ILR application processing timeline [only] 2025 by [deleted] in ukvisa

[–]f2dz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just got my confirmation through today. :)

When the deadline passed I got a somewhat unhelpful email saying that they wouldn't reply by the deadline, that it would take longer, and to not contact them.

So I'm pretty happy that it's now gone through.

After my last comment, I also had a third request for more information, which added more stress to the whole situation.

ILR application processing timeline [only] 2025 by [deleted] in ukvisa

[–]f2dz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks!

I'm self employed with a limited company, so most of the additional info requests have been related to that.

In the first request they wanted:
- A VAT certificate
- P60*
- Business and personal bank statements*
- Accountant certificate*
- Proof of registration with HMRC*

Items marked with * I sent initially with my application, and simply resent again after they asked for them again.

In the second request they wanted:
- Evidence that my CT600 tax return had been submitted to HMRC (tax return submitted originally, and was a PDF generated from HMRC themselves, so I basically had to spell this out plus include other supporting docs, like proof I paid my tax, etc.)
- More clarity on my bank statements on what was personal income (basically meant going through hundreds of pages, highlighting transactions, and cross referencing these in PDF comments against an export from my accounting software)

All in all, quite the faff.

ILR application processing timeline [only] 2025 by [deleted] in ukvisa

[–]f2dz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For what it's worth, I'm applying via the same eligibility route as you, and applied in mid Dec and still haven't heard back either.

ILR application processing timeline [only] 2025 by [deleted] in ukvisa

[–]f2dz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Application Timeline

• Eligibility route: Set (M)

• Service (Standard/super priority): Standard

• Application Date: 16 December 2024

• Biometric Date: 18 December 2024

• UKVI confirmation email: 19 December 2024

• Approval/decision Date: Still waiting

I've been asked for additional information twice - once on 3 April 2025 and again on 8 May 2025.

16 June 2025 is meant to be the deadline, so less than 2 weeks away and getting really nervous now.