PGD Big Boss Entry: Earth Under Fire

[NecroDOME]

Forum -> Your projects -> Announcement: PGD Big Boss Entry: Earth Under Fire.
It was on the front page

[savage]

Sorry I should have been clearer. I meant the update in October rather than the initial post in May.

[NecroDOME]

dunno... can't remember I saw it there...

[savage]

Comments on gameplay....
Ok I just had a quick game on Normal and Hard. Hard is way to hard and Normal is not challenging enough. I know you are trying to go for realistic effect with only having one life, but it halts the game too abruptly. You might have to tweak it a little so that Easy and Normal get 3 lives and Hard only get 2 or something along those lines. I think the power-ups look good, but would look better if they had more of a neon glow about them and maybe have them tumbling.

You may also want to consider making the asteroids obstacles that damage the ship's hull, but maybe have them smaller and less frequent. Again this is a game play balance issue. Maybe also make the asteroids more irregular in shape.

When I saw the intro, before the main menu comes up, I actually thought you could pick the ship you wanted to use, so I was a little disappointed to find that the ship I had to use was "allocated" to me.

Overall a great little game and I look forward to further enhancements to it.

[Huehnerschaender]

Okidoki, after this post I recognized that there is something new on one of my rivals in the last competition (nope, I think there was no news entry on that Dom).

I've downloaded the latest version and played it right now...

First comments:

- It looks much more like a real game to me now! Good work! The competition entry had too much of like a "proof of concept" thing.

- The graphics are well made (but I still don't like the pickups). Pickups look too comic-like. They don't fit to the rest of the graphics which are made quite realistic

- There were pickups I was not able to pick up.... and I don't know why.

- It's a little hard to keep an overview of your stats (life etc) and keeping an eye on your doings. Maybe it's me, maybe it's the positioning of the HUD. Don't know.

- and yes, like Dominique said.... one life is a little short gameplay. I was happy to reach first kind of boss... it killed me and GAME OVER. Hmmm.. Just try to let the player have a chance on trying out some tactics etc.... one or two more lives will help here.... (I know, in TANX the player had just one life, too.... so I am one of the last who can find fault on this )


This were justsome thoughts about this version..... but hey, it's very FINE! So this few things changed and you have one more potential customer for a shareware or commercial game.... So please take this as a very positive criticism!!

Very good work so far. Finish it to a complete game!

Greetings,
Dirk

[Galfar]

Thanks for comments Dominique and Dirk.

There were pickups I was not able to pick up.... and I don't know why

You won't pickup items that you already have like weapons and reactors. Also when you have
max amount of energy, ammo, and hull you won't pick up these types of pick-ups. That way your
wingmen can use them if you don't need them.

It's a little hard to keep an overview of your stats (life etc) and keeping an eye on your doings. Maybe it's me, maybe it's the positioning of the HUD. Don't know

Well, the stats are displayed directly on you ship too as little bars. But I too have problems
with it because I usually don't look at my ship but on what's in front of it. I just don't know where else to put them.

When I saw the intro, before the main menu comes up, I actually thought you could pick the ship you wanted to use, so I was a little disappointed to find that the ship I had to use was "allocated" to me.

Right now the ship you fly is part of the story. At least at the beginning - you are a test pilot of a new prototype (later you get a bigger ship). But I think ship class selection (say before every mission like in some combat space sims) could be done. But only main differences between ships
now are the look and hit points. You can get all other equipment from pickups. It could be much useful if ships had more distinguishing features like speed, maneuverability, armor, and others (maybe in future).

Pickups: I would gladly replace those boxes by some models but I don't have any. I can make only the simplest 3D models so the boxes will probably stay here (possibly with the neon glow - that's a good idea). Most of the ship models now are from various Internet or free or other sources (so majority of them would have to be replaced if going shareware or commercial). At least they are quite noticeable now if not pretty.

And finally: more player lives. Player can repeat each mission any times he wants now. But I understand that being shot down just before the end of the mission is not very pleasant experience. Well, pilot could eject and Navy could send him another ship. Maybe make the new ship invulnerable for a few seconds so the player could get out of the fire that killed him before?