Vektar 0.9

[Dzz]

Hi All!

I have just released version 0.9 of my game Vektar, an arcade-style shooter.

http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,30,1382

All comments are welcome. This version has a lot of new features compared to the version from the recent coding competion, and I won't be adding more significant features for the '1.0' release, though I'll make a few tweaks here and there.

I'm sure there will also be some bugs that need fixing before I call it version 1.0.

Hope somebody enjoys it!

 

[halo9]

Thanks very much for this, downloading now.. Excellent game..

 

[deadlychicken22]

Sounds great, I'm testing it out right now!

EDIT: I just tried it out, so far it seems to be a great improvement over the original, thanks!

 

[Aninhumer]

http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,30,1382

Why have you put the text for the info page and the link to the download?

Anyway I'll try it out, I loved vektar

EDIT: w00t and such, this is way better than the original, but it has a different feel to it, I might keep the original because I liked that too (unless that's what the harder game is)

 

[xrti]

Excellent game,looks great as well.Thanks

 

[aapje89]

Nice, I like colorfull games

 

[BobBorakovitz]

Thanx for an excellent game, should've gotten 1st in the contest, IMO...but it's too easy...lol

 

[scorpio]

Looks great, thanks for the update. Nice to see that the difficulty ramps up a lot quicker now - It really makes it worth taking it out for a quick blast at breaktimes now.

Would it be possible to make the keys user defineable though? I find it impossible to use the stick for rotating and keep control over thrust/no thrust. I'd like to try using L + R for rotating, the stick button for fire, and the buttons for thrust and brake.

I was also thinking that it might be interesting to have a reverse thrust option to replace the brakes.

There is an old Windows game that I played a lot of (some time back) called Hyperoid, which this reminds me a lot of, for some reason, even though the gameplay is totally different.

It would also be nice if we could customise the music and sound effects, rather than holding everything in the binary, as this is definitely shaping up to be the kind of game that deserves some Yak-style audio!

Also, do you have any plans to release the source for this on the 1.0? I think a lot of people (myself included) could learn from looking at it.

 

[PSyMastR]

Really nice game, only suggestion is if you could add the option to either hit a or b for fire, and x or y for shield, as i feel more comfortable with the a button.

 

[Voyageur]

It feels a little different than your first release, but apart from that, nice improvements.

The shields addition is especially nice, since I like to run it blockade-breaker style: wait for all bad guys to amass, then go through them, thrusters and cannons ablaze (and shields on now! B)

 

[Dzz]

Thanks for the comments everybody; I'm not going to make any large additions to this version but I'm paying close attention for the future!

 

[thelamer]

I love this game !

You definetly should have won the 4 gig .

 

[jbrodack]

the game is lots of fun and a big improvement but still too easy. i think its mainly due to being way too generous with extra lives. i think you are a little too generous with the shields too.

great graphics and tons of fun though. im really looking forward to future developments with this.

 

[Imerion]

This game is fantastic! I just got my GP2X and this was the first game I tried. I never thought it would be so fun. Its great that there is so many variations of enemies.
I have to agree with some of the above mentioned comments though : A different thruster-button would make it a lot easier. Same for the shield. Perhaps you could simply have two control-modes which can be selected after selecting difficulty.
Also, a background which interacts with the action in some way would make it perfect. Not needed, but Ill mention it anyways.

 

[Ash]

I love this game.

For V1.0 can you make it so that the game remembers your initials so you don't have to enter them all the time? Can you also add an option to the menu to view the high score board?

 

[Dzz]

I'll see what I can do about configuring the controls. Writing a large menu system to let you choose everything is probably more effort than I want to put into it right now, but I might be able to something with a text configuration file.

The 'remember my initials' is such an obvious and simple thing, I should have thought of it.

As to the game being too easy still, I think I agree. It does seem to me that once there are a lot of enemies flying around the odds of getting killed are pretty high so I don't want death to be TOO high-impact.

My current thought is to do the following: Increase the 'free ship' score to every 8,000 points (instead of 6,000), cut the shield replenishment rate somewhat, and allow the player to start on wave 1, 2, 3, or 4 (instead of easy/hard which is just wave 1 / wave 2 anyway). I don't think wave 4 is too easy for anybody. If somebody wants to start at wave 1 and invest the time to build up a bunch of ships for an assault on wave 5, that's fine with me.

I'll release 1.0 in a week or so, I want to see if bug reports (like the freezing issue with the competition version) come out.

Thanks for the feedback everybody!

 

[NeoStuey]

My current thought is to do the following: Increase the 'free ship' score to every 8,000 points (instead of 6,000), cut the shield replenishment rate somewhat, and allow the player to start on wave 1, 2, 3, or 4 (instead of easy/hard which is just wave 1 / wave 2 anyway). I don't think wave 4 is too easy for anybody. If somebody wants to start at wave 1 and invest the time to build up a bunch of ships for an assault on wave 5, that's fine with me.

Thanks for the feedback everybody!

​

Hi Dzz,

Just had my first try of this new released, it's feeling more polished than the compo entry version. I would have given that entry 1st palce.

You comments above were along the lines of what I was thinking when playing the game.

Make the player work harder for extra lives, say at the start one at 8,000 then again at every 12,000 points then 16,000 and so on. Make it progressively harder to make up for lost lives later in the game.

One bug/feature I have was that when sound is disabled and the game paused then restarted it starts with music. Some of us are late night gamers.

Thanks for all your hard work.

 

[Trashman]

Well done on the update, its like playing it for the first time again. Love the new difficulty levels. Im another in the ' would have given you first place in the compo' gang. Thanks. B)

 

[Dzz]

One bug/feature I have was that when sound is disabled and the game paused then restarted it starts with music. Some of us are late night gamers.

​

Thanks for the bug report, I'll look into it and make sure it gets fixed.

Hey NeoStuey, my icon for the game stinks, want to make me a good one?

Regarding the competition: BubbleTrain, Beat2x, Extraterrestres, Vanguard Wars, and others all deserved prizes and applause IMO (not to mention the emulators and utilities!). I'm not competitive so I'm just glad there were good entries for people to enjoy.

 

[ingrin]

Heck, I would have given you first place for your original entry, but this version IS alot more refined and fun.
Any chance for a hardcore setting without any shields? That would be good for some serious pulse pounding, frantic action (and shorter gaming sessions). While I personally enjoy the shields, I can't help but think it might be a bit more 'arcadey' and challenging to have an option to play without them...