A Modern Day Gallaga!

[Radlabgaming]

What do you guys think of a Schmup like Gallaga except it leads into a more story driven sequel?

If you guys agree with our vision feel free to purchase the first in a trilogy of great indie games!

http://radlabgaming.itch.io/space-masters-blasters

[Sentura]

Thanks but I disagree with your vision.

[Radlabgaming]

Thanks but I disagree with your vision.

I am sorry you disagree with our vision but I would love to find out what you think we could do to make our game better.

[Warby]

Here is something you could do better:

 

-your explosions are not animated ... that stuff doesnt feel juicy at all D: shooters need juicy feedback they live from their fx spend more time and effort in that area!

 

-Also I hate to be the spelling nazi because i miss type stuff all the time but "shootem" is not a word. That might be acceptable in an internet comment or or a forum post but in a trailer that is just embarrassing.

 

-If i click on the 2.99 buy button it prompts me a paypal window that has as a default value 3.99 entered into the price field ... I am sure that is just a mistake but stuff like that smells of "scam".

 

 

 

EDIT: I dont mean to be discouraging but you will have to gather a lot more experience before you can consider your work-output to be of commercial quality the stuff you have right now you should just release for free and than gather feedback and than iterate on that feedback and in a couple of years (10+ free indie game releases later) after you have developed more skill, a reputation and maybe even a small following than you can make something that is worth paying for.

[Radlabgaming]

Here is something you could do better:

 

-your explosions are not animated ... that stuff doesnt feel juicy at all D: shooters need juicy feedback they live from their fx spend more time and effort in that area!

 

-Also I hate to be the spelling nazi because i miss type stuff all the time but "shootem" is not a word. That might be acceptable in an internet comment or or a forum post but in a trailer that is just embarrassing.

 

-If i click on the 2.99 buy button it prompts me a paypal window that has as a default value 3.99 entered into the price field ... I am sure that is just a mistake but stuff like that smells of "scam".

 

 

 

EDIT: I dont mean to be discouraging but you will have to gather a lot more experience before you can consider your work-output to be of commercial quality the stuff you have right now you should just release for free and than gather feedback and than iterate on that feedback and in a couple of years (10+ free indie game releases later) after you have developed more skill, a reputation and maybe even a small following than you can make something that is worth paying for.

Thank you for your feedback.

 

The animations have been upgraded since the video post and they are animated and in the process of being put in the new version.

 

Also with the spelling of shootem up, I made it that way because the trailer is specifically made for that market. This is how people always spell it in the forums and etc. So I made it that way to connect to the target audience I am aiming for. I would understand though people that are not part of this target audience being confused and thinking I miss spelled stuff!

 

We use itch.io for our processor and they handle everything. To my understanding it is an editable field where you can put the intial price stated but the suggested value was $3.99. I have however got that fixed and changed and it will match now.

 

thanks for the feedback and hope to have you on as a fan and support continued development!

[blackdog]

-Also I hate to be the spelling nazi because i miss type stuff all the time but "shootem" is not a word.

Well, should mention that the original game title was"gaLaga", not "gaLLaga"

[Taylor]

It’s also shmup and not schmup!

 

I think the main difference between Galaga and other Space Invader-style games is the enemies detaching from their formation and diving down the screen...

 

 

I’m also so not really sure players want Galaga with a storyline. Modern shmup players generally want 25-30 minutes of high-octane action (games that loop forever died in the golden age of arcades) and a difficulty ceiling that makes beginners and expert players look staggeringly far apart. This is not indicative to an in-depth story...

 

Anyhoo, I play lots of arcade shmups! I can 1cc a few CAVEgames [1, 2], and I have made shmups before [1, 2, 3]. So, here is what I noticed from the trailer:

• All bullets just fire straight down whereas all bullets in Galaga are aimed at the player. But more importantly ever good modern shmup uses the players position in some way to determine 99% of patterns. This is because it avoids the “wall of undodgeable shit” problem as the player can use advanced techniques like streaming, feathering and bullet herding to control the screen. This also gives you free reign to turn it up to 11 without worry.
• Enemy explosions are a single frame image, player explosions are that image stretched infinitely in X, and cannons don’t explode. Part of the fun of shmups is a visceral, sensory overload and currently you haven’t got this going. Geometry Wars and Galaga Extreme do this with flashing lights and particles, games like DoDonPachi do it with constant explosions and showers of gold.
• Unless you’re Armed Police Batrider most shmup fans groan at the concept of 20+ ships. AFAIK CAVE have never released a game with more than 3 ships in their main game mode. Once you’ve got your fast linear ship and slow wide ship you’ve got room for another with homing/wave nobody uses and then you’re pretty much spent. It’s much better focusing on three big options than all the granularity in-between.
• Your fast mode is too fast and your slow mode is too slow...
• Even non-bullet hell shmups tend to have much smaller hitboxes. It doesn’t really hurt to just to make it smaller, the player feels less like they get robbed on death and it lets them do more interesting stuff.
• If you’re going to have a high rate of fire, and the goal is not to be precise with your shots but point it in the general direction of the enemies, then your bullet speed should be much higher. Otherwise your bullet trail looks really ugly as you move around the screen. (Edit: for player bullets only)
• Your scoring system is 10 points each time you hit something. This is really not a competitive scoring system!

This is a really nice game for someone starting game development and there is lots of potential. But I’m not sure about the price tag or getting people excited for a sequel.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Taylor

[Radlabgaming]

It’s also shmup and not schmup!

 

I think the main difference between Galaga and other Space Invader-style games is the enemies detaching from their formation and diving down the screen...

 

 

I’m also so not really sure players want Galaga with a storyline. Modern shmup players generally want 25-30 minutes of high-octane action (games that loop forever died in the golden age of arcades) and a difficulty ceiling that makes beginners and expert players look staggeringly far apart. This is not indicative to an in-depth story...

 

Anyhoo, I play lots of arcade shmups! I can 1cc a few CAVEgames [1, 2], and I have made shmups before [1, 2, 3]. So, here is what I noticed from the trailer:

• All bullets just fire straight down whereas all bullets in Galaga are aimed at the player. But more importantly ever good modern shmup uses the players position in some way to determine 99% of patterns. This is because it avoids the “wall of undodgeable shit” problem as the player can use advanced techniques like streaming, feathering and bullet herding to control the screen. This also gives you free reign to turn it up to 11 without worry.
• Enemy explosions are a single frame image, player explosions are that image stretched infinitely in X, and cannons don’t explode. Part of the fun of shmups is a visceral, sensory overload and currently you haven’t got this going. Geometry Wars and Galaga Extreme do this with flashing lights and particles, games like DoDonPachi do it with constant explosions and showers of gold.
• Unless you’re Armed Police Batrider most shmup fans groan at the concept of 20+ ships. AFAIK CAVE have never released a game with more than 3 ships in their main game mode. Once you’ve got your fast linear ship and slow wide ship you’ve got room for another with homing/wave nobody uses and then you’re pretty much spent. It’s much better focusing on three big options than all the granularity in-between.
• Your fast mode is too fast and your slow mode is too slow...
• Even non-bullet hell shmups tend to have much smaller hitboxes. It doesn’t really hurt to just to make it smaller, the player feels less like they get robbed on death and it lets them do more interesting stuff.
• If you’re going to have a high rate of fire, and the goal is not to be precise with your shots but point it in the general direction of the enemies, then your bullet speed should be much higher. Otherwise your bullet trail looks really ugly as you move around the screen. (Edit: for player bullets only)
• Your scoring system is 10 points each time you hit something. This is really not a competitive scoring system!

This is a really nice game for someone starting game development and there is lots of potential. But I’m not sure about the price tag or getting people excited for a sequel.

 

 

Thank you for your feedback!

We have just uploaded the newest version on http://radlabgaming.itch.io/space-masters-blasters and as you can see many of the suggestions have been implemented. With brand new animations for the explosions, sounds, and etc.

The reason we have a wall of bullets is it allows for the use of some of the special tools you have as the player. Including Time-warp and Space-jump! 

 

I would love the support from you and your friends and hope you enjoy the game much more with the new changes!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APKMEVwFrvA&feature=youtu.be