UniBulletHell actions

[Fat Pug Studio]

Hi guys,

i needed those so i made a few simple ones, i plan on putting some more:

https://github.com/FatPugStudio/Playmaker/blob/master/UBHReleaseBullet
https://github.com/FatPugStudio/Playmaker/blob/master/UBHStartShotRoutine
https://github.com/FatPugStudio/Playmaker/blob/master/UBHStopShotRoutine
https://github.com/FatPugStudio/Playmaker/blob/master/UBHStopShotRoutineAndPlayingShot

[jeanfabre]

Hi,

 you should optimize your actions by using ComponentAction<> overrides. this will cache your components better.

check out AddForce for example, it works for any components, you simply use This.CachedComponent to get to it.

Bye,

 Jean

[Fat Pug Studio]

Great, i'll update them, thanks

[PlaymakerNOOB]

Seeing this post reminded me of your game.  Im sad to see it pushed back to Q2 2020, but I am still looking forward to it.  I think you've successfully captured the joy of those 90's games you reference.  If you have an official thread somewhere point me there so I can provide some feedback.  But I do have the following I want to provide while its still fresh in my mind after playing the steam demo.

1) Need built in controller support.  I hated playing on keyboard and was too lazy to remap the controller
2) I almost had to quit playing because the screen flashes and screen shake were too much.  Luckily I found them in the help section
3) Speaking of Help, I first tried Menu at the pirate boss looking for the settings and it took me back to the beginning! I'd suggest putting a warning like "Are you sure you want to quit to the Main Menu?"
4) There were times that I was holding down Z and wanted to shoot a missile with C but couldnt.  I kept getting frustrated that when I pressed the alternate button nothing was happening.  Then after letting go of Z and hitting C i saw the animation showing that weapon Z was being removed and C was replacing it.  I think thats a brilliant move, but I would recommend that if whatever button is being held down, the next weapon button that is pressed would automatically switch over to it.
5) I loved that some weapons had kickback (the one that fired 3 big shots at a time) and others had a gentle enough kickback that it made you consistently move slower when going forward when active -- I dont remember the name of it.
6) As a player who loves Shoot em ups, i'd say that the first level was roughly 45 seconds to 1 min long before encountering the boss.  The steam page says 5 bosses and I think thats a bit too few.  Granted, i've also looked up the indiegogo and its due to a financial limitation but I think you can work around it with some more creativity.  For what its worth, I would highly suggest you also look into Spelunky and 20XX as additional inspiration of how you can use randomly generated content to prolong levels in a meaningful way.  One way that I thought would fit neatly with your game, was to have a random % chance say 5-10% chance that when a boss shows up on screen, the boss decides to 'run away'.  This means that both the boss and the player enters warp.  In Warp the player has to dodge all the asteroids for 20-30 seconds.  If they can, then the boss drops out of warp and the battle begins.  If the player touches or gets hit by an asteroid, then they drop out of warp and have to complete a mini level and then fight the boss.   

Spelunky video on level design =

20xx developer commentary on the game and level design =  https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ChrisKing/19691231/307769/Making_20XX_Listening_Well_and_Lucking_Out.php

[Fat Pug Studio]

Hi PlaymakerNOOB,

thanks for playing, playtesting means a lot to me, i'm unable to objectively observe things in my own game anymore.

1. I need to look into it, but it should be enabled via rewired. Is the controller working, but you would just like to remap it?
2. Thanks for that one, i can put some stuff on the loading screen like "you can disable screen shakes/flashes from the menu" and also put it in the menu besides shortcuts.
3. Ah yes, that is a bad one, i need to put the settings inside the game too. I'll put that one on the to do list.
4. To be honest, that's a tough one, i still haven't found the proper way to enable it, multiple inputs with couple of weapons are hard to do properly. For now it will stay like this, but i have to find a solution in the future.
5. Thanks, most of the weapons will have drawbacks.
6. As for level length, level progression is based on invisible variable, experience points. Each enemy gives you a number of XP, when you hit the threshold, boss fight activated. It is one of the mechanisms to make the progression slower or faster depending on the skill. Second level takes double the experience, third double of the second and so on, so you can expect to make a full run in about 30-45 minutes at minimum. Of course, i'll tinker with values probably. Anyway, look at the games like steredenn and such, first levels is always kinda quick, with their downside being that you get to the end of level no matter what, they have fixed number of waves, which i don't like, the focus on RH is on destroying enemies if you want to progress. It's all very hard to balance and make everyone happy. One thing i'm sure about is that i don't want the game to be bullet hell, but widely accessible, yet adaptive in regard to skill level.

As for bosses, the plan is to have 4 variations of each boss so it doesn't get boring, and kind of an ironman/heroic mode for hardcore players which will be VERY HARD since the start.

Once again, thanks for the comments, they mean a lot!

[PlaymakerNOOB]

Re-Controller.  I downloaded the demo via steam.  I was using a PS4 controller plugged in via USB on windows.  Steam saw it, but the game didnt so I was forced to use keyboard.

Re-Options.  I would say that maybe at startup have the player set those settings.  This way they know about it as a toggle, rather than a hardcoded feature.  It could be a one time popup, or something you set ever time on startup.  You have made amazing forward thinking progress by allowing your game to be played by those with disabilities such as poor vision and color-blindness.  But enabling the flashes and shakes to the degree you have, does alienate potential users who are prone to seizures. 

Re-Weapons.  I am not advocating for instant switching, just when a new button is pressed while holding down the existing button, to stop firing and switch weapons. 

Re-EXP.  Great!  Clever idea and it seems to work well but I never made it past the first boss because I dont like playing on keyboard so if it did have a 2nd level, I didnt know.