Virus Effect (2D Platformer RPG Shooter)

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#59

Well I made an account so I could play, and your difficulty curve is maddening. Levels 1 and 2 are trivial cake walks and then level 3 is practically impossible and incredibly irritating. If I had a shotgun or machine gun in level 3 it would be possible, but when you get 1 credit per enemy and any decent weapon costs at least 475, well thatā€™s what we call a bad difficulty curve. You simply canā€™t kill all the blob spawners and blobs in level 3 with a shitty old handgun. Not to mention that the spawners have an unfair amount of HP and can also beat the bejeezus out of you, and if you run out the room oftentimes when you try to run back in a bug immediately forces you out again, so if you were lucky to make good progress youā€™re screwed anyway and have to restart the level.

So my advice: tone down the power of the slime spawners (make them stationary, make it so they canā€™t fight back, and give them less HP), and/or drastically decrease the difficulty of zone 3 or increase the money you get beforehand. Also recharging your life every time you die / restart a level is a good idea.

#60

Thanks for the suggestions, I need to start testing as a new player instead of with my own saves.

I lowered some prices and decreased the amount of spawners in some levels. I havenā€™t had time myself to beat the new levels, they were done by the map maker.

Iā€™ll try to balance everything a little more with suggestions.

#61

Well if youā€™ve got time I recommend trying out level 3 after having only played through levels 1 and 2. It is very very difficult to even get past the third room (I havenā€™t done it). It seems like the level was designed for a much more powerful weapon, but you really canā€™t afford one unless you beat levels 1 and 2 twenty times.

#62

Thanks for trying it out, my map maker is creating more maps to go in between episode 2 and 3. The current episode 3 will be moved to episode 5 or 6. Also I lowered some prices and reduced the death penalty to 15%. Iā€™ll edit more if needed once the new episodes 3 & 4 are up.

#63

So is your map maker a person or a program? If itā€™s a program, thatā€™s really cool ā€“ just having a program built thatā€™s smart enough to design levels of that complexity would be cool enough.

#64

Oh Semir, yeah hes a program. I made the AI a little too hard apparently. :stuck_out_tongue:

I put up forums on Shot Side, hopefully there I can finally discuss Project Xā€™s features, story/plot, and any suggestion with the community in detail. Iā€™ll definetly throw up polls also, when I canā€™t decide on gameplay issues.

Iā€™m going to work on weapon stats and upgrades for them next. With this added feature I will be able to balance everything out easier.

#65

Well I spent a while grinding on level 2 until I could afford an AK and I decided you should probably up its damage a bit. As it stands, I actually prefer dual pistols because they are much more accurate and do a lot more damage. And youā€™ll end up reloading them less often. And what does leveling up do, exactly?

It seems to me in general that you should make all the weapons cheaper or up the money of everything, as well as decrease the time it takes to level up. A game like this really shouldnā€™t require grinding or anything like that in order to progress, at least not very much of it. You should feel the progression is very fast at first to get you interested, then much slower later on so youā€™re already vested in it. Like the AK could remain this powerful if you could acquire it by level 3 while only playing through levels 1 and 2 (which means it costs around 15 only!), either that or a level up. That way that as youā€™re getting to the last level you have gotten enough cash for the 2nd or 3rd best weapon, then you need to grind for the very special ones.

#66

I increased the leveling up speed, and now you get full hp and full armor when you gain a level. You also get +5 max hp and +3 max armor. I have a test tomorrow so I canā€™t start weapon upgrades until after it. The weapon upgrades include stuff like +1 Damage, +1 Clip Size, +1 Reload Speed, etc. They will be available in a seperate store and they will also be randomly droped by certain enemies. This will hopefully make balancing a little easier. Each weapon will be unique with a maximum amount of slots per stat. There will also be different weapons of the same type with different max slots, so there will be rare handguns for instance, that can have huge damage capabilities, etc.

Canā€™t wait to implement, must study though.

#67

Played it a bit. When you get used to the fā€”ing jumping bastard, itā€™s cool. First and second level is ok. Third is way to hard, but you already know that.

Those little green boxes that spawns the jumping blobs are very nasty. I would limit it to not spawn unless it has less than two children. Or cut down the spawn rate.

160 for an AK??? It should cost 40, at most. :slight_smile: That, or have the tougher enemies drop more money. Or both. And make the money stay a little while longer.

Why not have a ā€œscaredā€ mode on some of the monster. All of them just attack until they die.

Keep it up!

#68

Thanks, these are great suggestions. I plan on updating different aspects of the AI after I work on backgrounds.

As for the gun prices, I lowered them again, and added Weapon Upgrades! These are the last thing needed to keep this game fun, once you jack up your gun.

There is also a new episode 3, the old one is now episode 4. This version is one to try out. :slight_smile:

#69

I played the new level 3. Very hard, but beatable. Iā€™m not sure if I could have done it without leveling up midway through though. You need to remove bad guys who are directly next to the door, because there is no way to avoid losing at least 30 to 50 life in that situation. Sometimes youā€™re completely surrounded and canā€™t move, losing up to 100 health. Just one enemy near the door is fine, but 3 is pretty annoying and just makes you lose life no matter how good you may be.

Also, the AK is a reasonable weapon after one upgrade, so I think itā€™s okay at its current level. One thing you should probably do though is allow you to holster your extra weapons somewhere near the weapon shop so you can swap out weapon choices depending upon the situation. I want a shot gun, but I think in terms of all purpose a pistol and an upgraded AK are better, but I would like the option at least without eliminating my old weapon. This seems especially necessary now that you allow weapon upgrades.

Looking great, though - itā€™s certainly fun already!

#70

I agree, it much better now with upgrades. Also, the prices are reasonable. Beating lvl 3 like five times and now I have a maxed out AK. It kicks ass, but I still have to think. I was also able to beat lvl 4. Even with this very good gun, the game is still not easy, very fun. Good work!

#71

The tutorials were nice (but I had a lot of trouble with the anti-grav gun bit). Mouse wheel to switch weapons is very sensitive and fiddly.

Would play the actual levels but canā€™t be bothered to sign up. Why canā€™t we play without registering? ???

#72

Omg, im sorry you guys, I completely forgot to mention that you can now store your guns in your room. Just drop them there and leave, and they will be there when you get back. So with that you can choose any weapon you have for the situation and max out all the guns. And now there is U for viewing weapons stats which I also forgot to mention, but its on the controls list. It a little annoying, maybe I should make it where you have to hold it down to view, I need your suggestions.

The main reason I ask people to register is because I need to handle saving in a certain way. I chose the route of a MySQL server since I had one with my webhost. So I need some info to store your specific data. The mouse wheel part I believe depends on the mouse, there is also Q for a quick switch.

This is only the begining we still have tons of features to implement, that are all possible, Iā€™m just busy with other stuff so I have to use any extra time to program. cough dual wielding cough

Also there will be a few ways to kill enemies when your surrounded, iā€™m going to implement skills. These will also be upgradeable. Iā€™ll keep you all posted, enjoy :wink:

#73

How about a ā€œplay unregisteredā€ option that doesnā€™t save? (with a suitable warning). As is itā€™s not obvious to a new player why they should register. And Iā€™m more likely to register if Iā€™ve already played a level or two and know I want to go back to it.

#74

Thats a good idea, iā€™ll try to implment something of that sort. I needed a way for people to see the main game play. I was just thinking about making a video to put up.

#75

Have you thought about temporary invincibility when you get hit? Even if it was for 0.5 seconds if it allowed enemies to pass through you it would really help with being surrounded.

#76

Doesnā€™t work for me. I dropped a GL, played a level to finish. It was there when I finished. Then I hit escape and ā€œPlay gameā€. It was gone. I guess my room is the one I spawn in?

#77

Yeah, the room you spawn in is supposed to be your personnal room. The room just outside is supposed to be a ā€œtownā€ like in regular rpgs, we call it a city. Another pixel has contacted me, and he is amazing with backgrounds and tiles. So that will make it easier to distinguish different areas of maps.

Once I complete the multiplayer, the city will be where everyone hangs out and finds other players to finish certain missions.

#78

Ah that makes sense. I dropped a pistol in the shop area and lost it.

By the way, I hope you did well on your exam. :slight_smile: