Arcen Games

General Category => Starward Rogue => : x4000 November 17, 2015, 09:17:42 AM

: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: x4000 November 17, 2015, 09:17:42 AM
Hey all,

When I say redshirts, I really mean freaking redshirts, too. ;)  So here's the deal right now:

- Carrying this metaphor too far, I'd like to throw you through the airlock into a structurally unsound part of the ship and have you check for leaks and explosives. ;)

- I'm looking for a handful of folks for this who are really into action roguelikes and/or twin stick shooters to come in and help identify both bugs as well as things that don't "feel right."  If you're not already experienced with these genres in some fashion, then the second part of this is something that you can't help with too much I'm afraid.

- Right now this is a private alpha that you'll get a copy of the game for free with.  This is a small group, and I am looking for people who can really dedicate some notable attention to this in the next week.

- After about a week, more or less, we'll move to a public alpha that will be paid.  Anybody can buy the game at a discount and get the current builds as we go, etc.  Things will be much better by then, but it's these first redshirts that are going to particularly help by being first into the breach.  ;D

- PMs are really a pain in the rear for me to try to manage.  Please don't PM me this go round, because it's really slow for me to respond properly.  Please shoot me an email at chrispark7 at gmail dot com if you want to sign up for this.

Thanks!
Chris



Details!

1. We have an incredibly robust engine at this point, but it's growing more and more all the time.  This is the documentation for the XML if you feel like making content or modding, haha: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-1qZwyf-T2Ym0c1LMk5Fk6Y79ztO2YFKWc0-oVe0ENg/edit?usp=sharing

2. We have a relatively small-but-growing amount of content actually implemented, and then a ton more designed.  A few dozen room designs, half a dozen bosses, maybe 20 enemies at most at the moment, a few dozen items (out of the 200ish defined so far), etc.

3. The mechanics for tutorials are in place, but no actual tutorials are there yet.  So you're STRONGLY encouraged to read the keybindings first, or missiles and ammo items on will really throw you for a loop.

4. The interface and hud is presently terribad.  We've been working on getting the flow of that the way we want before actually making it pretty at all... and it shows. ;)

5. The mix of enemies right now is not fully representative of what we want it to be.  Right now there is a bit more emphasis on bullet spam than I want to have in the final versions.  It's not that those enemies need to be changed, but we need more enemies of other sorts to balance them out.

6. Don't get too attached to your save files, because we may wreck those some at the moment.

7. The overall "feel" of the action is something that I'm still tuning.  There are some cool tips from Vlambeer that I've been reading, and I've implemented some but not all of them.  Anyway, overall I think it feels really good, but I am working hard to make sure that it feels GREAT.  There are some areas where it still falls short partly due to me needing more playtime with it and more time to actually implement some things.



Edit to add a response to a great question from below ("what do you want to know from us as redshirts?"):

To some extent it's "whatever you want to tell me, if you feel compelled."  But overall, things that stick out in my mind:

Things I Do Want To Know

1. How does it feel flying around?  Speed with and without afterburner?

2. How does the shot speed and firing rate to you feel in terms of satisfaction?

3. How does it feel to you in terms of how quickly enemies die, how many enemies are in each room, and so on?  Is it an annoyingly slow slog at times, and if so where?  Is it way too easy in a way that could have been fun if there was more health (or whatever) on a given enemy?  If so, what was it?

4. Does it feel like the overall floors themselves are too large or small or just right? (the collection of rooms making up one level of the dungeon -- not the physical object the floor of the room)

5. Any comments about enemies you hate or love, items the same thing, rooms the same thing.

6. Does it feel like you have too much health, or too little?

7. Is your invincibility period after taking a hit something that you feel like is too long or too short?  Maybe this should vary by difficulty to some extent.

8. Do the shots feel too large to you?  For some enemies or all of them?

9. Things that are confusing enough that you think a tutorial is needed to address them.



Things I Don't Really Care About Right Now

1. Most things related to sound or music, unless something is there and is grating on you.  But the lack of many things in this area is already known. ;)

2. Anything related to the graphics behind the room (the parallax floors), as those are still heavily inwork.

3. Anything related to the interface, unless we're talking about information that is lacking, versus just displayed in a crappy fashion.  If there's something you want to know but you literally can't see it, I want to know.  If it's there but it's ugly or hard to read or too small or in a stupid place, I don't care quite yet -- I know already, most likely. ;)
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: TheVampire100 November 17, 2015, 10:08:44 AM
I think I will wait after the redshirt phase. I'm not really good at bullet hell games and so I would be only in the way of testing. However I don't have any clue how hard the game will be.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Misery November 17, 2015, 10:18:13 AM
Wait, what?  This already?  didn't at all realize this was coming just yet.  I'd had this idea it was still a couple weeks away... 


Just to add my thoughts:

I'll definitely emphasize the bit about there being alot of bullet spam at the moment.  Far as I know, it's mostly just my stuff that's roaming around trying to tear your faces off (correct me if I'm wrong, I've been focused on the bosses so I wont have noticed if you stuck more enemies in there), so.... it's gonna seem like alot of shots flying everywhere at the time.  But there'll be more variety once enemies from other people are in here too.  Particularly with the bosses though; right now the bosses in particular are pretty loopy. And these are NOT yet balanced for specific difficulty levels. So sometimes the bosses might seem a little... intense, for where you're seeing them. I'd say "I apologize in advance", but that'd be a big fat lie since I'll probably just laugh instead, so I wont.

Also, enemy stats and such.... not really set (by me, anyway).  Frankly I've been ignoring those.  Bosses in particular, I'll be looking over their health values later (unless you'd rather I not touch that right now, Chris), right now some of them may die too fast, which could alter how difficult or not they may seem.  Their patterns, however, are working as intended and absolutely guaranteed to be dodgeable at all times.  There'll likely be tweaking done to them nonetheless though as time goes on.

That being said, any feedback on particular enemies/bosses is very helpful!

Quite interested to see just what happens here.  I think the game as a whole is off to a pretty great start myself.

Also, Chris, I'm going to try to get a big batch of new enemy ships to you later tonight, so you know.  I'd wanted to do it last night but it's hard to make stuff when you're sleep-deprived (again).  Feh.

I think I will wait after the redshirt phase. I'm not really good at bullet hell games and so I would be only in the way of testing. However I don't have any clue how hard the game will be.
   

I dont think the game, in the end, is meant to be crazy hard.  The "bullet spam" being a little overboard right now is just because it's been mostly my designs that are active (AKA, it's mostly my fault, hah).  As enemies and such are made and added by people that ARENT me, that'll tone down alot. This being an Arcen game, it probably wont take too long for that to start happening since development always moves at warp speed.  That being said, you SERIOUSLY dont have to be super good at this to help even now.  In all honesty, feedback from someone that's very new to that type of thing actually IS really helpful, seriously.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: x4000 November 17, 2015, 10:34:39 AM
Wait, what?  This already?  didn't at all realize this was coming just yet.  I'd had this idea it was still a couple weeks away... 

Ah!  Sorry, you must have missed that in my wall-o-text emails I imagine, heh. ;)  I only send like 10 a day to the group...

Just to add my thoughts:

For those not aware, Misery is doing most of the bosses and a whole lot of enemy design in the game (though not remotely all of that part, since his style is a bit harder than we want as a baseline).

Folks will also see Mission around here on the forums, and he's working on weapons/items.  GameMakr24, Zack, is working on levels, and Erik (cupogoodness) is working on a variety of stuff.  Mostly enemy design thus far, although so far it's been on paper enemies that are then turning into mechanics that Keith has been implementing so that we can then actually do the enemy definitions in xml soon.

I'll definitely emphasize the bit about there being alot of bullet spam at the moment.  Far as I know, it's mostly just my stuff that's roaming around trying to tear your faces off (correct me if I'm wrong, I've been focused on the bosses so I wont have noticed if you stuck more enemies in there), so.... it's gonna seem like alot of shots flying everywhere at the time.

I stuck in about 9 new enemies yesterday of my own, and there are another handful of mine as well.  Can't recall right off exactly how many.  All the pursuers and jumpscares and local guards are mine at the moment.  Each one of those is a trio of enemies that are variants on one theme with them getting progressively harder.  Right now it doesn't give you any particular one in order yet, though, heh.  We have the tools for all that sort of gating in place in code, but we need some triggers to get set up for all that first.  I have some ideas on that that, but the xml is flexible enough we could actually do it several ways all at once, and I haven't settled on one method or had time yet.

Also, enemy stats and such.... not really set (by me, anyway).  Frankly I've been ignoring those.  Bosses in particular, I'll be looking over their health values later (unless you'd rather I not touch that right now, Chris), right now some of them may die too fast, which could alter how difficult or not they may seem.  Their patterns, however, are working as intended and absolutely guaranteed to be dodgeable at all times.  There'll likely be tweaking done to them nonetheless though as time goes on.

Also, Chris, I'm going to try to get a big batch of new enemy ships to you later tonight, so you know.  I'd wanted to do it last night but it's hard to make stuff when you're sleep-deprived (again).  Feh.

Awesome, thanks!  And no worries.  I plan to try to get at least another 15 enemies in today, myself.  Although I'm really bouncing around on a number of other things right now.

I dont think the game, in the end, is meant to be crazy hard.

DEFINITELY not.  It's meant to have the usual sort of range that people hopefully expect from Arcen titles.  Aka default difficulty is respectable and fun for most people, and maybe a bit of a stretch but not much.  Down to the cheesy easy levels, and up to the my-face-melts-off (aka Misery) difficulty levels.

The "bullet spam" being a little overboard right now is just because it's been mostly my designs that are active (AKA, it's mostly my fault, hah).  As enemies and such are made and added by people that ARENT me, that'll tone down alot. This being an Arcen game, it probably wont take too long for that to start happening since development always moves at warp speed.

Right now the main things that have been slowing that down have been that Erik has been really busy with the marketing stuff for TLF, and then Mission has been completely consumed with items thus far (which is a really important area, so he may be there for a few more weeks -- the item roster is freaking huge, and getting them all feeling completely right and being in the right pools and whatnot is a big deal).  Zack I've been wanting to keep on room design since he's our best at that sort of thing, and the xml can take a while to get into to say the least.

In some respects that actually leaves us slightly short on enemy designers, just in terms of who has availability.  But as Erik's time frees up, he'll have more things.  And it is an area where I hope to focus a lot of my energies.  I'm not really doing much in terms of direct item design, just approving what Mission is putting together for the most part since he's been doing such a great job.  I've been doing some room design as well, but my hope is that I can do progressively less of that as time goes on.  I hope to reach 1000+ rooms at 1.0 without me having to really do more than 100ish of them.  We'll see, but it looks feasible.

That being said, you SERIOUSLY dont have to be super good at this to help even now.  In all honesty, feedback from someone that's very new to that type of thing actually IS really helpful, seriously.

Definitely true.  Although, I think that perhaps later this week would be more helpful on that front.  I'd like to have a day or two to get the tutorials in, and a few more enemies that don't eat your face. ;)  Although one of my enemy trios actually is called the Faceripper, come to that, heh.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: crazyroosterman November 17, 2015, 11:47:57 AM
as much as id love to help testing I don't think I've ever really played a twin stick shooter in pretty much forever  and I've never come across a rogue like which I really loved not that I dislike them I just haven't come across one which really grabbed me(apart from invisible ink which as far as I'm concerned is part roguelike although I'm sure people will disagree with me there) but if you think id still be useful ill gladly sign on. ps why did I think this was a bullet hell? me and my dam brain farts
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: x4000 November 17, 2015, 12:05:26 PM
No worries!  The idea is that it isn't bullet hell, but still.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: crazyroosterman November 17, 2015, 12:27:07 PM
No worries!  The idea is that it isn't bullet hell, but still.
wait why did I think this was a bullet hell when nobody ever said it was? I think I must be going mad but regardless what I said still stands I'm realy not sure weather to sign up or not though I'm very undecided there.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: TheVampire100 November 17, 2015, 12:35:52 PM
No worries!  The idea is that it isn't bullet hell, but still.
wait why did I think this was a bullet hell when nobody ever said it was? I think I must be going mad but regardless what I said still stands I'm realy not sure weather to sign up or not though I'm very undecided there.
Because Misery is working with them  :P
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Misery November 17, 2015, 12:40:50 PM
That could potentially be the reason, yes.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: TheVampire100 November 17, 2015, 12:44:35 PM
Do you have already any ideas what the next wave will cost?
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Pumpkin November 17, 2015, 01:04:04 PM
Okay. Great. Just when I need time, things come up and my agenda get crunched.

Me joining the redshirts?
Two thing against:
- I'm currently lacking time to do everything I need to do.
- I'm not a bullet hell lover (but I'm not a bullet hell hater neither!).

So many things for:
- I love roguelikes.
- I love Arcen's games.
- So I'm 100% sure I'll love Arcen's Roguelike.
- I'm pitiless to people/things I love (because I want the best out of them).
- I played old and new roguelikes (from Nethack to Isaac).
- Being a wanabe game designer, I'm "design-aware" and I'll do my best to have a general feeling of the game.
- On the redshirt survivability chart, I'm DwarfFortress-level.

Conclusion:
Screw my agenda! I'm in!!!


: Chris
help identify both bugs as well as things that don't "feel right."
Question:
What do you expect from your redshirts, Chris? "Bugs and feeling"? If everything is wacky, we won't be able to report everything, from enemies' inconsistent design to UI roughness. You listed everything that is currently unfinished, but I would have appreciated one more list of things you want our thoughts on. Or things you know will evolve and are needless to comment. I was a bit overwhelmed by SBR's redshirt wave: there were so many other testers that already talked about everything. I would really appreciate some guidance on what to comment. If possible. Because maybe it's not and that's why we're call redshirts, and it's fine to me too.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Captain Jack November 17, 2015, 01:41:22 PM
Hey Chris, would LOVE to help with this one but it's getting close to my crunch time so I'll have to sit out until the public beta. Best of luck!
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Misery November 17, 2015, 01:41:52 PM
Okay. Great. Just when I need time, things come up and my agenda get crunched.

Me joining the redshirts?
Two thing against:
- I'm currently lacking time to do everything I need to do.
- I'm not a bullet hell lover (but I'm not a bullet hell hater neither!).

So many things for:
- I love roguelikes.
- I love Arcen's games.
- So I'm 100% sure I'll love Arcen's Roguelike.
- I'm pitiless to people/things I love (because I want the best out of them).
- I played old and new roguelikes (from Nethack to Isaac).
- Being a wanabe game designer, I'm "design-aware" and I'll do my best to have a general feeling of the game.
- On the redshirt survivability chart, I'm DwarfFortress-level.

Conclusion:
Screw my agenda! I'm in!!!


: Chris
help identify both bugs as well as things that don't "feel right."
Question:
What do you expect from your redshirts, Chris? "Bugs and feeling"? If everything is wacky, we won't be able to report everything, from enemies' inconsistent design to UI roughness. You listed everything that is currently unfinished, but I would have appreciated one more list of things you want our thoughts on. Or things you know will evolve and are needless to comment. I was a bit overwhelmed by SBR's redshirt wave: there were so many other testers that already talked about everything. I would really appreciate some guidance on what to comment. If possible. Because maybe it's not and that's why we're call redshirts, and it's fine to me too.


One thing that I'll directly ask for now, from testers, since you just reminded me of it:  I'd like to know just how difficult, exactly, the bosses are for you at this point.   Though note, again, they're NOT calibrated for different difficulty levels.  Eventually the intention is that as the difficulty level goes lower, the boss's pattern slows down, thins out, and becomes a little less complex (which will actually take the form of entirely seperate patterns, but they wont LOOK seperate, if that makes sense).  A very common theme in shmup-related anything.  But to do this properly, I need a general idea of how hard everyone is finding these to be at their current level.  Which, right now, can be referred to as "whatever the heck I felt like making them do at the time", though I've kept the murder level fairly low so far here.... trying not to go overboard.  Yet.

To some degree, that feedback is useful for normal enemies too; one thing I think we're all trying to avoid is having, you know, the "Damn Stupid Flying Medusa Head" type of enemy appear at all in the game.  The sort of enemy that doesnt really add CHALLENGE, but instead just adds ANNOYING.  TVTropes, I believe, refers to this enemy type simply as the "Goddamn Bats".  Those familiar with older games probably know why they came up with that name.   But yeah, nobody wants to see that sort of thing in here, so if something seems off, or is at all producing undodgable situations, please do point that out too. 
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: nas1m November 17, 2015, 01:47:14 PM
Not really that much into both genres, so I will pass for this week as you requested and get the paid alpha next week ;)...

EDIT
if you feel like making content or modding, haha: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-1qZwyf-T2Ym0c1LMk5Fk6Y79ztO2YFKWc0-oVe0ENg/edit?usp=sharing
Holy Moly!
You guys really are nuts :).
Looking forward to digging into this at some time.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: x4000 November 17, 2015, 02:02:18 PM
Do you have already any ideas what the next wave will cost?

My thoughts are that we'll run this at a 33% discount off the full $15 price tag of 1.0, so $10 during the alpha.  This game is being developed fast, but this is a BIG game.  If we don't have people getting 400 hours out of this I'm going to eat my hat or something else inedible. ;)

: Chris
help identify both bugs as well as things that don't "feel right."
Question:
What do you expect from your redshirts, Chris? "Bugs and feeling"? If everything is wacky, we won't be able to report everything, from enemies' inconsistent design to UI roughness. You listed everything that is currently unfinished, but I would have appreciated one more list of things you want our thoughts on. Or things you know will evolve and are needless to comment. I was a bit overwhelmed by SBR's redshirt wave: there were so many other testers that already talked about everything. I would really appreciate some guidance on what to comment. If possible. Because maybe it's not and that's why we're call redshirts, and it's fine to me too.

To some extent it's "whatever you want to tell me, if you feel compelled."  But overall, things that stick out in my mind:



Things I Do Want To Know

1. How does it feel flying around?  Speed with and without afterburner?

2. How does the shot speed and firing rate to you feel in terms of satisfaction?

3. How does it feel to you in terms of how quickly enemies die, how many enemies are in each room, and so on?  Is it an annoyingly slow slog at times, and if so where?  Is it way too easy in a way that could have been fun if there was more health (or whatever) on a given enemy?  If so, what was it?

4. Does it feel like the overall floors themselves are too large or small or just right? (the collection of rooms making up one level of the dungeon -- not the physical object the floor of the room)

5. Any comments about enemies you hate or love, items the same thing, rooms the same thing.

6. Does it feel like you have too much health, or too little?

7. Is your invincibility period after taking a hit something that you feel like is too long or too short?  Maybe this should vary by difficulty to some extent.

8. Do the shots feel too large to you?  For some enemies or all of them?

9. Things that are confusing enough that you think a tutorial is needed to address them.



Things I Don't Really Care About Right Now

1. Most things related to sound or music, unless something is there and is grating on you.  But the lack of many things in this area is already known. ;)

2. Anything related to the graphics behind the room (the parallax floors), as those are still heavily inwork.

3. Anything related to the interface, unless we're talking about information that is lacking, versus just displayed in a crappy fashion.  If there's something you want to know but you literally can't see it, I want to know.  If it's there but it's ugly or hard to read or too small or in a stupid place, I don't care quite yet -- I know already, most likely. ;)
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Pepisolo November 17, 2015, 02:04:39 PM
I'm interested. Sent an email.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: x4000 November 17, 2015, 02:06:26 PM
I got it -- thanks!  I'll be sending out links in a couple of hours. :)
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Pepisolo November 17, 2015, 02:08:39 PM
I got it -- thanks!  I'll be sending out links in a couple of hours. :)

Cool! I'm looking forward to checking it out, thanks.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: x4000 November 17, 2015, 02:16:00 PM
You bet. :)  I'm looking forward to having other folks beyond the 7ish of us checking it out, too! :)
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: crazyroosterman November 17, 2015, 02:45:49 PM
You bet. :)  I'm looking forward to having other folks beyond the 7ish of us checking it out, too! :)
I've been doing a thinkerton (no its not a real word I just made that up) and I think I'm going to wait till next week reasons are.

1 I'm really to busy with other games right this moment to really have the time for this.

2 having never played a twinstic before its probably won't hurt to start with this game(since this will run butter if your other games are
anything to stand by) and id rather support you than take a free copy of a game I won't be very helpful for mechanically.

3 there was enougher reason but its ran away from me ill edit it in if manage to catch it.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: TheVampire100 November 17, 2015, 02:58:29 PM
Only 10$? You really should set your goals higher, Chris.
Can't wait to buy it next week or the wek after next week or the week after that one and so on. Any week is fine with me.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: x4000 November 17, 2015, 03:21:26 PM
Cheers!

In terms of the pricing, I think that the price is appropriate for a number of reasons:

1. It's a reasonable reflection of what we're able to do with it budget-wise from our end versus the scale of the market.  Aka it's not that this is lower effort, but the effort-to-market-size ratio is more in our favor.

2. Other games that are similar in this genre are priced similarly, and we don't want to stick out as "the expensive one," because then that makes purchases a lot less likely.

3. Well, and other variations and subtleties related to the two things above.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: mrhanman November 17, 2015, 03:28:17 PM
Rogue-likes and twin-sticks are right up my alley.  Count me in.

Email sent
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: x4000 November 17, 2015, 04:03:24 PM
Got it, thanks! :)
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Pumpkin November 17, 2015, 04:34:19 PM
Thanks a lot for the list of "wana know / don't wana know". It's exactly the kind of precision I was looking for. Thanks!
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: x4000 November 17, 2015, 04:38:05 PM
Sure thing!
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: tombik November 17, 2015, 04:41:56 PM
I am fairly experienced in such games, so I might be useful. Count me in. Sent the mail.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Tolc November 17, 2015, 04:42:23 PM
Oooh, nice! But I'll refrain from testing this time, because I got a few deadlines coming up over the next two weeks. I'll certainly buy the alpha next week, though.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: crazyroosterman November 17, 2015, 04:46:24 PM
by the way will this game have a demo come out with it next week? just so I can make sure it won't start a fight with my laptops internal systems?. (I'm assuming this'll run like butter but its always best to be safe than sorry)
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: x4000 November 17, 2015, 05:04:13 PM
It's going to be another 4ish hours before I have a build for folks, unfortunately.  We're shaking out a number of spiders still. ;)

I am fairly experienced in such games, so I might be useful. Count me in. Sent the mail.

Thanks!  I have you on the list. :)

by the way will this game have a demo come out with it next week? just so I can make sure it won't start a fight with my laptops internal systems?. (I'm assuming this'll run like butter but its always best to be safe than sorry)

I'm honestly not sure.  On the one hand I would like to, but on the other hand this will be a challenge to do a demo for.  So I'll have to think about it in terms of exactly what to have it do in order to actually be a demo.  Maybe just one floor per run, I'm not sure.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Pumpkin November 17, 2015, 05:49:36 PM
I'm just curious. How many redshirts are being thrown by the airlock invited to test this fine game?
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: ptarth November 17, 2015, 05:56:01 PM
If you need another, I've got sufficient time to spend on it for the upcoming week. However, I'm not confident I'm proficient enough at the genre. I can play TLF on Misery Combat level with Misery, but I don't find it fun. Otherwise I'll see you guys in the second wave.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: x4000 November 17, 2015, 09:22:50 PM
ptarth, I'd love to have you in this.  Please shoot me an email if you want to. :)  In terms of the difficulty you're talking about in TLF in Misery difficulty, ugh -- I would not find that fun either.


Right now there's something like 5 testers, because I've hardly said anything and the forums are quiet right now.  And you all seem afraid of the game for some reason. ;)

I am unfortunately going to have to wait until tomorrow to push the release of this next build, as I've spent longer than I meant to in getting some things prepared for you today.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: mrhanman November 17, 2015, 09:44:04 PM
If this was mentioned elsewhere forgive me, but will there be controller support?  I assume so, but I wanted to be sure.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: TheVampire100 November 17, 2015, 10:24:00 PM
Right now there's something like 5 testers, because I've hardly said anything and the forums are quiet right now.  And you all seem afraid of the game for some reason. ;)
I'm not afraid! Well, maybe a little. I played today Hero Siege (Awesome game) with my friend and died a dozen times. So I'm really not good at dodging stuff. Or maybe that's an excuse and in fact I'm just lazy and stand around, taking the hits. Who knows.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Misery November 18, 2015, 12:31:05 AM
If you need another, I've got sufficient time to spend on it for the upcoming week. However, I'm not confident I'm proficient enough at the genre. I can play TLF on Misery Combat level with Misery, but I don't find it fun. Otherwise I'll see you guys in the second wave.

Seriously, it doesnt get THAT hard.

It's also worth noting that THIS doesnt have the main issue that TLF had on that difficulty:  There's no inflation of enemy health numbers or anything.  Enemy HP does not change/scale with the difficulty this time.  Your own max HP and shields will change, and as stated before, boss patterns and such will become weaker/slower/thinner on lower difficulties VS higher ones (it's just that this bit isnt there yet).  There may be other things that change (heck if I know) but things dont alter in such a way that would make everything take forever.

And heck, I could prioritize the designing of weaker versions of enemy patterns for lower difficulties if that turned out to be needed right away, if Chris should want me to do that. That's not hard or time consuming to do.  But for right now, you could just put the game on easy or very easy in order to have lots of HP to work with.

The actual game areas ARENT bullet-hell style.  Bullet SPAM, yes, but because these are not huge open rooms most of the time (think rooms like in Isaac or, well, pretty much any other game of this type, which are usually filled with walls and things) there isnt room for full bullet-hell situations to appear.   And the enemies dont fire even close to as often to produce that anyway. 

Really though, it's not as hard as it looks or sounds.  It's just not meant to be that sort of thing.  The "base" difficulty is likely to be, well, right around where it usually is for an Arcen game, I expect.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Misery November 18, 2015, 12:31:56 AM
If this was mentioned elsewhere forgive me, but will there be controller support?  I assume so, but I wanted to be sure.

Seems to work fine to me.  I'm using a PS4 controller myself (machine recognizes it as a 360 type).
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: YukaTakeuchiFan November 18, 2015, 03:40:40 AM
Ahhh, you caught me during a two-week period where I really need to get some side work done, otherwise I would be all OVER this.

Looks like I may have to wait for that public alpha. Really is too bad, I've been curious about what this game's gonna look and feel like. =3
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Shrugging Khan November 18, 2015, 04:10:01 AM
I'm a mite busy right now, too, else I'd be up for it.

Will there be an orangeshirt wave?
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: mrhanman November 18, 2015, 08:29:45 AM
If this was mentioned elsewhere forgive me, but will there be controller support?  I assume so, but I wanted to be sure.

Seems to work fine to me.  I'm using a PS4 controller myself (machine recognizes it as a 360 type).

Ok, great.  That's the same controller I'm using.  Thanks!
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: ElOhTeeBee November 18, 2015, 09:44:32 AM
Is it too late to sign up?
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: crazyroosterman November 18, 2015, 12:33:35 PM
ptarth, I'd love to have you in this.  Please shoot me an email if you want to. :)  In terms of the difficulty you're talking about in TLF in Misery difficulty, ugh -- I would not find that fun either.


Right now there's something like 5 testers, because I've hardly said anything and the forums are quiet right now.  And you all seem afraid of the game for some reason. ;)

I am unfortunately going to have to wait until tomorrow to push the release of this next build, as I've spent longer than I meant to in getting some things prepared for you today.
I'm not afraid as I've already mentioned I just don't think id be any use for what you want this week and so I'm going to wait to buy into the alpha.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Misery November 18, 2015, 12:48:24 PM
ptarth, I'd love to have you in this.  Please shoot me an email if you want to. :)  In terms of the difficulty you're talking about in TLF in Misery difficulty, ugh -- I would not find that fun either.


Right now there's something like 5 testers, because I've hardly said anything and the forums are quiet right now.  And you all seem afraid of the game for some reason. ;)

I am unfortunately going to have to wait until tomorrow to push the release of this next build, as I've spent longer than I meant to in getting some things prepared for you today.
I'm not afraid as I've already mentioned I just don't think id be any use for what you want this week and so I'm going to wait to buy into the alpha.

Right now, honestly, ANY bit of feedback, no matter how small, is totally of use. Alot of use.  I sure dont exactly have everyone else's experience with the whole game design process, but I'm definitely seeing the point we're at now as being exactly the time to start bringing in every conceivable bit of input from people outside of the dev group as possible. Particularly as new content starts coming in at a rapid rate.

The stuff Chris pointed out is of course the central focus right now, but sometimes advice even on side things can turn out to be unexpectedly important.  Or at least, it seems so to me anyway.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: crazyroosterman November 18, 2015, 01:07:26 PM
ptarth, I'd love to have you in this.  Please shoot me an email if you want to. :)  In terms of the difficulty you're talking about in TLF in Misery difficulty, ugh -- I would not find that fun either.


Right now there's something like 5 testers, because I've hardly said anything and the forums are quiet right now.  And you all seem afraid of the game for some reason. ;)

I am unfortunately going to have to wait until tomorrow to push the release of this next build, as I've spent longer than I meant to in getting some things prepared for you today.
I'm not afraid as I've already mentioned I just don't think id be any use for what you want this week and so I'm going to wait to buy into the alpha.

Right now, honestly, ANY bit of feedback, no matter how small, is totally of use. Alot of use.  I sure dont exactly have everyone else's experience with the whole game design process, but I'm definitely seeing the point we're at now as being exactly the time to start bringing in every conceivable bit of input from people outside of the dev group as possible. Particularly as new content starts coming in at a rapid rate.

The stuff Chris pointed out is of course the central focus right now, but sometimes advice even on side things can turn out to be unexpectedly important.  Or at least, it seems so to me anyway.
I suppose you've got a point if by the end of today nobody else has signed up(or a minuscule amount at least) ill sign up and donate at a later point providing you don't mind my lack of any real experience at twin sticks.(I think there was something like this I used to play when I was very young but that's all that comes to mind) 
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Misery November 18, 2015, 01:19:53 PM
ptarth, I'd love to have you in this.  Please shoot me an email if you want to. :)  In terms of the difficulty you're talking about in TLF in Misery difficulty, ugh -- I would not find that fun either.


Right now there's something like 5 testers, because I've hardly said anything and the forums are quiet right now.  And you all seem afraid of the game for some reason. ;)

I am unfortunately going to have to wait until tomorrow to push the release of this next build, as I've spent longer than I meant to in getting some things prepared for you today.
I'm not afraid as I've already mentioned I just don't think id be any use for what you want this week and so I'm going to wait to buy into the alpha.

Right now, honestly, ANY bit of feedback, no matter how small, is totally of use. Alot of use.  I sure dont exactly have everyone else's experience with the whole game design process, but I'm definitely seeing the point we're at now as being exactly the time to start bringing in every conceivable bit of input from people outside of the dev group as possible. Particularly as new content starts coming in at a rapid rate.

The stuff Chris pointed out is of course the central focus right now, but sometimes advice even on side things can turn out to be unexpectedly important.  Or at least, it seems so to me anyway.
I suppose you've got a point if by the end of today nobody else has signed up(or a minuscule amount at least) ill sign up and donate at a later point providing you don't mind my lack of any real experience at twin sticks.(I think there was something like this I used to play when I was very young but that's all that comes to mind)

Nah, you dont need experience.  Frankly, it's good to have players around that DONT have experience.  If everyone here was an expert at this type of game.... this wouldnt end well.   Hell, that's why I'm constantly asking for feedback on stuff *I* make, because I'm not capable of judging the difficulty of any of it properly.  It's all easy to me.  But then show it to someone else, and much of the time the response is "OMG DYING SO MUCH".  Though again, I'm toning it down alot here, but still. 

The thing you should just do is put the game on easy or very easy; the only things these do right now is increase your HP and shields, so they'll make it so you can keep going & testing even if you take a pile of hits.  It's not so much about how often you're DYING to various things.... it's more about how much you're getting hit by them.

All you need, I think, is time to play, and the willingness to deal with the usual things that come with testing; bugs & reports for instance.   That sort of thing.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Bluddy November 18, 2015, 02:17:02 PM
My research group's paper submission just fell through, so I have an unexpected chunk of time that just freed up. Are you still interested in redshirts?
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: crazyroosterman November 18, 2015, 02:31:51 PM
ptarth, I'd love to have you in this.  Please shoot me an email if you want to. :)  In terms of the difficulty you're talking about in TLF in Misery difficulty, ugh -- I would not find that fun either.


Right now there's something like 5 testers, because I've hardly said anything and the forums are quiet right now.  And you all seem afraid of the game for some reason. ;)

I am unfortunately going to have to wait until tomorrow to push the release of this next build, as I've spent longer than I meant to in getting some things prepared for you today.
I'm not afraid as I've already mentioned I just don't think id be any use for what you want this week and so I'm going to wait to buy into the alpha.

Right now, honestly, ANY bit of feedback, no matter how small, is totally of use. Alot of use.  I sure dont exactly have everyone else's experience with the whole game design process, but I'm definitely seeing the point we're at now as being exactly the time to start bringing in every conceivable bit of input from people outside of the dev group as possible. Particularly as new content starts coming in at a rapid rate.

The stuff Chris pointed out is of course the central focus right now, but sometimes advice even on side things can turn out to be unexpectedly important.  Or at least, it seems so to me anyway.
I suppose you've got a point if by the end of today nobody else has signed up(or a minuscule amount at least) ill sign up and donate at a later point providing you don't mind my lack of any real experience at twin sticks.(I think there was something like this I used to play when I was very young but that's all that comes to mind)

Nah, you dont need experience.  Frankly, it's good to have players around that DONT have experience.  If everyone here was an expert at this type of game.... this wouldnt end well.   Hell, that's why I'm constantly asking for feedback on stuff *I* make, because I'm not capable of judging the difficulty of any of it properly.  It's all easy to me.  But then show it to someone else, and much of the time the response is "OMG DYING SO MUCH".  Though again, I'm toning it down alot here, but still. 

The thing you should just do is put the game on easy or very easy; the only things these do right now is increase your HP and shields, so they'll make it so you can keep going & testing even if you take a pile of hits.  It's not so much about how often you're DYING to various things.... it's more about how much you're getting hit by them.

All you need, I think, is time to play, and the willingness to deal with the usual things that come with testing; bugs & reports for instance.   That sort of thing.
all good I think ill sign up later and yes indeed I shall do that I gotta say I really like testing its like playing video games except your being a lazy bum and rather being a very productive helpful person its the best. ps I wonder if this will have as many crash issues as stars did for me when I was helping test that.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: TheVampire100 November 18, 2015, 03:08:47 PM
Oh, well, I will sign up as well and send Chris an E-Mail. Here goes nothing. I will blame Misery if I fail multiple times  >D
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: crazyroosterman November 18, 2015, 08:25:26 PM
yea ill sign up tonight or tomorrow it looks I'm going to need to make a g mail account for this if I'm not mistaken.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: crazyroosterman November 18, 2015, 08:39:25 PM
so gm mail refused to let me send Chris a message so I had to do it with Manx net hopefully that'll work.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: TheVampire100 November 18, 2015, 10:45:48 PM
Got it! Begin testing procedure now.
Edit: At least I would like to. It does not work for me, does it open for anyone else? Maybe I didn't download it properly.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Misery November 18, 2015, 11:12:48 PM
I tried the latest version of the game just now to check, and it works just fine for me, no problems.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: TheVampire100 November 18, 2015, 11:41:24 PM
I just had an idea and this might be the problem. I had this once with another game (don't know which it was). The problem was, that the resolution was set too high for my screen/computer and it refused to start it. So I had to manually change the resolution somewhere in the data files.
If you can point me in the right direction where I can do it here I would appreciate it, maybe it resolves the problem.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Misery November 19, 2015, 12:29:44 AM
Look in the RuntimeData folder, there's a file just called "settings". 

The lines you'd be looking for are:

IsFullscreen (set to 1 for fullscreen, 0 if not), WindowWidth & WindowHeight (if windowed), FullscreenWidth & FullscreenHeight (if fullscreen, of course).

At least, I'm pretty sure that's everything that should do that.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Pumpkin November 19, 2015, 03:04:32 AM
Ow, sad! I had the file unzipped and my headphones on my ears just when I realized it was the Windows version. Well, luckily I have one Linux and one Windows PC and I'll be able to test it in a minute.

However: will we have a Linux version, in the end?
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: TheVampire100 November 19, 2015, 10:22:38 AM
There is no file in the RuntimeData folder. In fact, there are no files. Only folders. I checked the other folders but there was no file called "settings".
Maybe that's the problem, I miss a file.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Misery November 19, 2015, 10:25:41 AM
There is no file in the RuntimeData folder. In fact, there are no files. Only folders. I checked the other folders but there was no file called "settings".
Maybe that's the problem, I miss a file.

There's no settings file in that folder?  Uhhh.... it could be that my version is structured differently?  I am pretty darn certain I've got piles of folders on mine that just plain dont appear in the versions you guys are getting.   But then, I'm not sure of that at all, just a theory.   

Aside from a suggestion of just doing a quick search for the file over the game's overall set of folders, well.... beyond me, this is.  You'll have to ask Chris about it, I'm sure he can help you no problem. 
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: TheVampire100 November 19, 2015, 10:40:12 AM
No file was found. Guess I have to wait what Chris says.
Edit: Chris helped me to fix it. It looks liek the game folder needs the right name otherwise it won't start. when I used Winrar it didn't copy the game folder and instead loaded all files int he folder I created for the game.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: crazyroosterman November 19, 2015, 12:15:15 PM
email wouldn't send I'm a bit cafuzzled I'm clearly not meant to tag it literally as he put it and I've various other interpretations which didn't work either so I guess either my laptops had a weird day yesterday or I'm just being an idiot who's missed the point entirely regardless though I guess ill just have to wait till the start of next week to begin testing no big deal really.
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Cinth November 19, 2015, 04:53:07 PM
The one day I don't check the forum for new info...  seems like this is how it's gonna go for me  ;)

Anyway, email sent, I'm here if you need me!
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Draco18s November 21, 2015, 07:59:38 PM
I should probably stick my snout into this thread.
Might be easier. :P
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: The Hunter November 21, 2015, 08:36:03 PM
Is it too late now? I am very interested in this as i like both shmup and roguelike genres. :)
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: jerith November 22, 2015, 04:12:44 AM
Email sent. I'm not convinced I can be useful at this stage, but I'll let the Arcen Ministry of Software Testing make that decision. ;-)

(After sending the email, I saw comments here about Windows versions. I primarily use OSX, but I can probably set up a VM (or steal my girlfriend's laptop when she's not looking) if necessary.)
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: Kingpin23 November 29, 2015, 03:28:02 PM
Hey,
I was helping with the Last Federation alfa and would like to track some bugs with this one.
Played a lot of shooters so if there are any more testers wanted let me know. 


: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: MaxAstro December 06, 2015, 04:58:45 AM
Having just watched the alpha trailer, I am suddenly very interested in playtesting if there is a slot available.

Somehow through all of this I didn't realize "twin stick shooter" means "it's like Binding of Isaac".  Since BoI is one of my favorite games... yes, very interested in this all the sudden.  :)
: Re: Starward Rogue Redshirts Wanted -- Today!! :D
: gonekrazy3000 December 09, 2015, 06:41:17 PM
*Puts on Red Shirt*
Please tell me i'm not too late D= Would love to help test this game out! Already
digging what i saw in the alpha 0.2 video. It feels like a pseudo roguelike spinoff
to last federation. I'm guessing this is based on the older shmup gameplay that
was discarded from that game ?

Already sent an email to [email protected] :)