Space Lander (Early Demo)

Hey all,

Wouldn't mind some feedback on this thing I'm working on:

https://crudepixel.itch.io/space-lander?secret=mD1odbHus8dCGCBKXXq2u0zOzE

It's part of another game, I just pulled it out and made it its own thing to test with to get some feedback on how it feels. I'll update this with audio soon.

Looks good so far! Can't wait to see what you do with this

Huge potential here. I agree with TabloidA, would like to see what you make of this.

Good luck.

TabloidA

—

Thanks guys, how does it feeeeel? Too slow? Boring? Annoying?

It has the potential to be a rage-inducing game, that's for sure

That could just be that I'm bad at it though.

Controls

The overall controls are nice, I see now that you added a left and right propulsion (Q&E) since I last played. This is hard to explain, but at times it can get disorienting and hard to tell whether you're travelling right or left, up or down.

Graphics

The graphics are really cute. The simple art really fits the gameplay. It lets you focus more on the objective than being bombarded by flashy art.

Gameplay

The gameplay is nice and calming, although it can be a bit aggravating if you mess up one little bit, since it's hard to recover. And expanding on what I said above, losing track of what buttons you're pushing can sometimes cause you to lose track of which direction you're travelling. (Which I guess in a way is part of the challenge of the game) The collisions of the ship can make things a bit annoying too. You think you're about to dock when wham, you explode. Especially on the levels with moving parts to dock onto. EDIT: I realize now after playing a bit more that this could have to do with how fast you're travelling, etc.

As for level progression, it can be annoying to go from a straight shot to dock (Level 1) to a moving platform that requires you to travel at more of an angle (Level 2). I'd say make each level introduce a new added challenge, don't just throw the player in. (Especially on starting levels. These are the first the player will play. You don't want them to get super frustrated without really getting far into the game.)

Conclusion of this cheap little review

Different parts of what I said above could apply towards helping improve your game or not, depending on the type of game you're going for. All-in-all though, I really enjoy this little game Great job so far.

Super fun. Crazy potential. Gratz man!

Are the structures randomly generated? Infinite levels would fit pretty well on this game.

TabloidA - wow thanks! Amazing detail. So yeah Q and E to strafe introduces a funny issue where you're upside down and the controls 'feel' inverted, I will maybe display the controls around the ship which the player can toggle on / off - but I don't think that's really solving the problem. And it is a problem because I still make mistakes with it too hah.

Yeah so when the 'speed' text turns red it means that you're going too fast and will explode on impact. I'll make the text flash.

Agree about the progression, there levels are all just physics tests really.

— - Thanks! Yeah I wish they were random, I tried that initially but I couldn't work out how to do it, will keep trying because I'd love it to be this 'Desert Golfing' type experience that keeps going and going

— The way I do random levels is have a variable set to (for example) "LevelNum". Then when you need a new random layout, you assign a random number to the variable with a "floor(random())" function. Then you have a check that basically checks what number is in the variable, and sets the layout accordingly.

Example:

After player docks => Set var "LevelNum" to floor(random(3))
    If "LevelNum" is 0 => goto Layout 1
    If "LevelNum" is 1 => goto Layout 2
    etc.
[/code:1zjlbw3m]

There might be a simpler way, but that's the way I do it. It allows for more customization with which levels you want to be randomized.
-
As for the speed indicator, could you possibly put a pixel indicator on the ship itself along with the angle speed text? It will stay Blue if you're fine to dock, and flash or stay solid red when you're going too fast.

TabloidA - wow thanks! Amazing detail. So yeah Q and E to strafe introduces a funny issue where you're upside down and the controls 'feel' inverted, I will maybe display the controls around the ship which the player can toggle on / off - but I don't think that's really solving the problem. And it is a problem because I still make mistakes with it too hah.

Yeah so when the 'speed' text turns red it means that you're going too fast and will explode on impact. I'll make the text flash.

Agree about the progression, there levels are all just physics tests really.

— - Thanks! Yeah I wish they were random, I tried that initially but I couldn't work out how to do it, will keep trying because I'd love it to be this 'Desert Golfing' type experience that keeps going and going

I'll try to do something for you on this subject. If I reach something that you can work around I'll contact you here.

I enjoyed what I played, but was confused half the time as to what side of the ship I needed to dock. Sometimes I had the top of the ship bumping up against the docking platform and nothing was happening, until I realized i needed to turn around.

If you made it so it was clear where the landing gear was, it would alleviate some of the frustration.

I am not game player but, I always look out for anything like this created with C2. This game shows the power of C2. Good work keep it up

I like the simplistic art but it could convey more information: Make it clear what the front of the ship is.

I do like the shadows under everything as well, that is neat.

Fuel gauge, and restart are must features. You should also be able to zoom further in.

I'll try to do something for you on this subject. If I reach something that you can work around I'll contact you here.

Wow thanks!

..Sometimes I had the top of the ship bumping up against the docking platform and nothing was happening, until I realized i needed to turn around...

I guess it's not as clear as it could be, I'll colour the back part of the sprite differently. The 'back' is the bottom half of the ship in this image:

Ruskul - thanks for the feedback