Dawn of the Red - Beta

In light of the Kongregate exporter, I have decided to release my game beta, even though the Google Chrome mouse/keyboard bug still exists. This is so I can get beta advice quickly and release the full game as soon as Google fixes that bug.

So, I release for public Beta testing my game, Dawn of the Red.

Play it here.

Please let me know what you think of the overall experience. Here is a list of things to report on, in order of priority.

1. Bugs (other than the keyboard/mouse bug)

2. Unbalanced gameplay. This is probably the main reason for beta testing. Making all the weapons, upgrades and their prices, as well as the enemies, balanced is very difficult and that is why I need community testing.

So make sure you report if:

    -Weapons are too powerful / not powerful enough RELATIVE TO THEIR PRICE

    -Enemies are too powerful / weak

    -There are any game breaking strategies

3. Things that NEED to be added.

4. objects without sound effects.

5. Is the tutorial good enough?

6. The first time you play, the main menu button should be 'start' only, which directs you to the tutorial. After the tutorial has been completed, there should be a 'start' button (which goes to the game), and a '-with tutorial' button, which goes to the tutorial.

7. Things that SHOULD be added.

Enjoy.

GAME UPDATE 1: Tutorial expanded to include inventory and elevator explanations, also you can now hold down space bar to make the text scroll faster.

GAME UPDATE 2: The elevator is now free and activated by tripping switches on the floor. New scoring system where you get more points faster on higher levels, also get points for killing enemies. The shield now uses energy. The level-specific difficulty increases more slowly.

'New high score' message in Game Over screen.

GAME UPDATE 3: Added tips at the bottom of the game over screen. Hopefully these will help, and build anticipation about weapons which the player hasn't seen yet ;)

GAME UPDATE 4: It was too easy to descend to lower levels. Now there is a 'hacking time' for all elevator overrides.

Well done Squiddster, the tank reminds me of ghost in the shell for some reason.

I always like games that can be played with different strategies. Its hard achieve but 'so far' i think you have done it well ( - Having only played a couple of stages).

The tutorial was a little longwinded - but i think it only appeared that way because i was always waiting for the text to scroll. I like the scrolling effect but i would make it faster.

I dont want to put a spoiler - the transition from tutorial to the actual game is VERY nice. The music is perfect, sounds are good. Impressive.

I didnt like having to spend money to go down a level, I think that if you want to slow down the players rate of advancement then you should make the guns more expensive.

How about to go down a level - u need to hit 2 levers (which would be in different places every time they went down a level). That gives the player another objective.

There is a lot more i could say but I'll save it for the next time i have a go.

Its really a shame about the chrome mouse problem :/

I think this will do well on kongregate - are you aiming for a sponsorship? One thing that concerned me was that there is a section on the application that asks if you have made your game public already - im not sure if this forum counts? Maybe you could shed some light on it for me.

Ok, i better get some work done myself now. Very good work though mate.

GenkiGenga

Thank you for your prompt replies.

I've never seen Ghost in the Shell, so I can't comment of your first statement ;)

I think you are right about the tutorial, I will add the feature so that if you are holding down spacebar the text scrolls faster (a la gameboy ;) )

About transferring to a new level... This is probably the part of the game I need the most suggestion on.

I'm not sure being able to freely go to the next stage would be good... But then... hmm...

I'm not sure about 'levers' that have to be pushed, it would be another concept for the player to understand, and already the levels are a bit crowded...

Yeah, anyone wh has any really good ideas about how to handle going to the next level (it should be a tactical decision).

I don't know much about Kongregate sponsorhip... but having it up here won't be a problem, I can remove the beta once the full version is complete.

Thanks for your kind comments!

Very nice

But its hard to make money fast and to upgrade

Also you can add some more tought enemies

But all except this is awesome

—

Could you elaborate on the money situation? I need more details of your concerns.

Also, have you been to all the levels? there are tougher enemies as you go further down.

ok

for money i mean

double the money income from killing the monsters

Hmm, I think that would make the game too easy.

I'd need some more people (or an in-depth explanation ;) ) to concur with that.

Wonderful game, really polished and entertaining, I found it too grey though.

0plus1

The game is supposed to be completely monochromatic, and as such grey needs to be used as the main midtone colour.

Also, I like the opressive feeling it gives, as well as the contrast with the enemies.

Not a fan of anime? :)

What reminded me about it was the way the mobile tanks could 'hover' much like the way you move in your game. They released a game on ps1 youtube.com/watch if you used a similar sound effect when the tank is sliding i think it could add a bit more atmosphere. (example around 3:15 if you want to get straight to it).

I'll give you a quick run through of why i suggested the levers based on my how my experience/fun changed in realtime while playing.

1st minute: really enjoying myself, strafing, being paticular with my shots to not overheat - always moving to not get ganged up on.

2nd minute: The experience of just moving away and shooting is not holding me as much - this might be because the shields i find are extremely forgiving, you can pretty much charge your way (through enemies) and get out of most situations fine (Then wait a sec for full shield again).

Its at this point im looking for another objective to hold me. The act of finding levers (or maybe a key instead?) is something that players should always run into by chance because to avoid death they are moving all the time anyway.

Then the strategy of 'choosing' when to descend becomes more important.

The way i see it, employing a strategy like this provides the major benefits of;

1. Allowing the player to control the rate of difficultly directly, instead of having to pass easy stages to get to the desired skill-to- difficulty-ratio. (I could probably stay on that first stage for around 10 mins - but i wouldnt be having fun until it was incredibly overwhelming.)

2. Giving players another strategy to play, build yourself slowly over time - or my personal fav, charge GUN-HO! ;)

3. Making the player feel like they are achieving more than they actually are. (reffering to picking up the lever/key by chance) - You can give the players the illusion of extra objectives. (this doesnt have to be explained in the tutorial either if when they pick up the key for the first time it says "now find the door").

(I should point out that im treating your game as I would any game that I played on kongregate - If i was determined to play your game for over an hour, I might discover new levels of enjoyment - but im really focusing on holding the player to get them to that point.)

Wow this is getting long, but just as a PS: Does the chrome bug affect movement when a key is press instead of the mouse? for instance if you used space bar for shooting?, its a comfortable enough position for the thumb and should be fine for long term play as long as it doesnt get to the point where you are rapidly tapping, but the overheating kind of prevents this.

Again, awesome game.

GenkiGenga

Again, thank you very much for analysing the strategy, after reading your second post I really like your ideas.

So, how about this:

The tutorial will explain the lift. It will be for authorised overseers only and you will be told to ignore it for the period of your training.

Then in-game, there will be buttons/pads/I don't know (advice anyone), and when you go over them, they trip, and you get message "ELEVATOR OVERRIDE 50%" for the first one and ELEVATOR OVERRIDE 100%. ELEVATOR ACTIVE" for the second one.

To supplement this, I implement a new scoring system in which the score rises FASTER depending on which floor you are on. Also I could add score for killing enemies. This will also help me as a kongregate statistic has to be an integer.

Oh, and shields can use energy. It makes sense, and you will think twice about running into enemies as a strategy (although, it is still there as an option ;).

This means I can also tone down the rate at which the level gets harder.

In regards to the spacebar being used as firing control, I find it very unnatural (and so would many players, I'm sure). We'll have to wait for Chrome to fix the bug... Hopefully, not long now!

Thanks for your help, I think these adjustments will really improve the game!

(P.S. I spent awhile looking for a hover sound, but since you never really stop, it caused a very irritating drone. I'd need more direction to a non-grating sound.)

Wow, it sounds really good to be honest!

The whole "ELEVATOR OVERRIDE %" sounds awesome for building suspense :) way to incorporate it into the story! (possibly picking up keys/buttons/whatev from broken security drones?)

Every change youve suggested should make for a more intense experience. Thumbs up. I can understand with the sound - hmmm.. maybe a very low areoplane or jet sound in the background might do the trick, low enough that it doesnt compete with the music but is there if you listen hard (Or maybe it is best to leave it out i dunno).

And no worries for the feedback, lol - ill be calling for yours soon :)

Looking forward to testing again with the changes.

Thanks, I'll be adding all that right now ;)

Make sure you PM me when you release your game so I don't miss it.

Game updated! Should flow a lot better now.

Will do!

With the new system its so much more fun - as soon as google fixes that bug this will be gold :)

great stuff.