Children of Apollo - feedback request [Demo Available]

Demo finished. This represents the quality of the finished game. How does it play?

Children of Apollo

roguecore Here's a quick feedback (I played only one life with gamepad).

The music is good but I found the sound when we fire a bit annoying.

The enemy which looks like bat seems a bit too quick comparatively to the bullet speed.

The number of enemy look a bit too big and decrease the feeling "I'm alone in a foreign planet".

The arts and the gameplay are great. Nice job.

Hi roguecore I just got to the boss on the demo and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed your game. At first I thought the level was too big and maze-like but I soon found all the rescue pods (or whatever) - and then was glad to find that I didn't have to get back to the ship.

pros

• being able to destroy the enemy spawn points
• the amount of enemies
• particle effects (or enemy death animations)
• weapon upgrades
• the music is really nice
• the level feels big and requires proper exploration

cons/glitches

• the player should have a simple (2 frame) walk animation
• the default weapon sound is a little weak sounding
• weapon would randomly upgrade (even though I hadn't made a rescue)

Hope that helps roguecore.

claurent9, stevecameron

Thanks for taking the time to play my game and for your feedback! This information will help me improve the game.

There is a 2 frame walk animation but I think it was too subtle so I'll increase the contrast on the leg shadows to make it more visible.

Every time you hit with a bullet your weapon will gain power. When you get enough power it will upgrade.

If you get hit you lose all power. The power bars next to the health show upgrade status.

Maybe I need to change the look to improve feedback to the player so it does not seem like a random upgrade?

Thanks again

Wow, this looks really nice. Excellent job on the retro style, I really dig the old school TV style.

It could be handy if you also enabled the mouse on the level select. I was a bit confused because in the menu you have a mouse, then you got no control and then you got control in the game again. But this is just something minor.

I really dig the simplicity of the game, like I said lovin' the retro style. However one of the most annoying things is that the enemies are infinitely spawning! I didn't have time to target the spawn points of the enemies, presuming you can destoy them. Those flying creatures are terribly annoying, perhaps a bit too fast.

The reason I quit after a few minutes is purely because I got frustrated dealing with these infinite enemies. Combine that with those annoying flying things.. I barely had time to explore and look around because I got swarmed (literally) by hordes of enemies. I thought that if I just kept moving they'd leave me alone but they didn't...

I actually like the sounds as they are now, fits the retro style well. I also dig the game name, got no clue why it's called that way, but it sounds fitting nevertheless.

• R

—

Hi, Rudi,

Thanks for taking the time to play and post. You've given me some very useful feedback I think you're totally right about the mouse cursor in the map screen. Even though any click takes you to the next level it feels weird if you've got a cursor, then suddenly have no cursor.

Yes! You can destroy the spawns. Remember that every time you hit with a bullet it charges up your gun. So if you take a second to destroy the spawns your gun will power up faster and the flying enemies and everything else will become a lot easier.

The flying martians are very sensitive to seismic vibrations. Any walking will disturb them, so if you need a break to recharge your shields you can stop walking and they will stop coming after a few seconds. This trick doesn't work in the boss area though because the drilling machine is constantly shaking the ground.

Thanks again

Also, the name "Children of Apollo" is because the colonists on Mars that you are sent to rescue are the generation of space explorers after the Apollo Moon missions.

Very fun sounds. Design is also great. Good work, dude!

Love it!

Agree with all that's been said

—

Hi, Rudi,

Thanks for taking the time to play and post. You've given me some very useful feedback I think you're totally right about the mouse cursor in the map screen. Even though any click takes you to the next level it feels weird if you've got a cursor, then suddenly have no cursor.

Yes! You can destroy the spawns. Remember that every time you hit with a bullet it charges up your gun. So if you take a second to destroy the spawns your gun will power up faster and the flying enemies and everything else will become a lot easier.

The flying martians are very sensitive to seismic vibrations. Any walking will disturb them, so if you need a break to recharge your shields you can stop walking and they will stop coming after a few seconds. This trick doesn't work in the boss area though because the drilling machine is constantly shaking the ground.

Thanks again

Also, the name "Children of Apollo" is because the colonists on Mars that you are sent to rescue are the generation of space explorers after the Apollo Moon missions.

Hi roguecore,

Ah yes I couldn't remember if there was a tutorial, if there isn't one, maybe consider adding a quick one? Or to fit the retro style, how about you display a booklet/small guide that comes with games, on the screen that you can flip through? You know, with page numbers, a header and then a simple drawing with a few lines of subtext, displaying the tips you just gave.

Because I was kinda clueless as to what to do in the game (though I guess that fits the theme because 80's games were tough as hell) but you know, you gotta compete with present days games which are often intuitive and easy to understand.

I guess I also didn't have much patience to try out things in the demo, I'm one of those folks that like to jump right into a game and play without reading too much and learn 'as you go'. Perhaps also make the booklet available ingame (somewhere you can always access it), or display it just before the game starts.

But hey, this is just an idea, feel free to do something with it or leave it at that. Anyway, good luck with the game!

• R

— facecrime Thanks!

— Thanks again! Great suggestions. I'll be adding a help screen that displays when the game is paused to solve this problem. It seems like the most unobtrusive way to make the gameplay information easily available.

— I think this should help: Instructions.

It won't make it into the demo but the full game is coming out soon.

— , facecrime Thanks!

— Thanks again! Great suggestions. I'll be adding a help screen that displays when the game is paused to solve this problem. It seems like the most unobtrusive way to make the gameplay information easily available.

roguecore

I would personally still prefer a bit more elaborate instructions (with images). For example you could cover facts like being able to destroy spawn points or the fact about vibrations that attract enemies. But then again, I would understand you would leave that for the player to find out and let them experience it along the way.

Music for Level 2. The Underground City