0.203 The Hunter's Feedback

[The Hunter]

Did a few more runs, this time using Archer, SHMUP control scheme, hard difficulty. I really like this ship, no shields definitely changes gameplay for player to actually look at enemy attacks instead of flailing around at random hah(i honestly don't like shield mechanic), managed to get to floor 4 before being confused(to death) by Labyrinth.

Speaking of Labyrinth, how do you deal damage to him? Noted that normal attacks didn't decreased his hp bar at all.

Haven't had wallstuck situations so looks like it has been fixed.

Now of other things that i noted during runs, in random order(Including some BUGS):

-Afterburner still not very usable.

-Why there are rooms that /require/ missiles for player to progress, i've found one that required as much as /6/ missiles, does player has to suicide if he has not enough?

-[CHEESE/BUG]Bosses in rooms that have 4 sub-walls can be heavily cheesed by using walls as cover, MMS-style.  What about making some kind of forcefield that repels shots if player isn't in "inside" area? And maybe doesn't lets player get out of it either until boss is destroyed.

-[BUG]Battleswarm's second phase made game slowdown on my end.

-[BUG]Orbiting Ally Option pickup is just weird. For one info says its temporary but it for sure stayed forever. For second sometimes it locks onto weird things, like random white puffs of smoke and floating mine remains.

-[BUG?]Also apparently swapping ally pickup for something else drops it as an enemy which is required to be destroyed to clear the room? It even makes "Room clear" sound again if room was already cleared.

-[BUG?]There were a couple of times where enemies with "heavy" attacks, like Infiniform spawned very close to entrance door.

-Also it could be a good idea to add visual cue to when enemies are invulnerable.

-[BUG]Player seems to take no damage from mines after room is cleared.

-[BUG?]Sometimes item spots and "chests" seem to spawn nothing.

-Medical emergency pickup might be waaay too punishing, especially as it does damage on cleared rooms too, at least if in final version pickup names will be hidden?

-Speaking of pickups, it could be good idea to have some indication on map on whats left in the rooms, ala Binding of Isaac.

Were definitely fun runs , looking forward to playing more Archer in future! 

EDIT: Finally made mantis account and dumped all those as well as some in previous threads in there, was first time on mantis so i hope i haven't created any duplicates.

EDIT MK2: A few more runs have been done, a few more bugs have been noted!

-[BUG] When on teleport pad, ship's main weapons fire from the middle of the sprite.

-[BUG] When boss phase changes, bullets that are way offscreen apparently don't get cancelled(Happened with Mirror's first phase bullets "returning" during phase 2)

-[Weird] In certain room i got hit /instantly/ by something upon entrering the room but couldn't figure what it was, will attach screenshot to mantis report

-[BUG] Fat projectiles like Viper Strike eat energy but not fire if player is right near wall.

-[BUG] If Arc enemy breaks something with his projectile, sound of breaking is /very/ loud.

[Misery]

Okay, some answers:

1. Labyrinth is a little screwy right now.  Note that it has four "buddy" turrets in the corners (yes, that's what they're actually called internally, haha).   Boss buddies right now are generally a little wonky; they never became relevant until this boss was made so they were never tested before.  I spent a huge pile of time testing this boss right now in the actual main game (as opposed to the test chamber), and one thing I found was that SOMETIMES the problem you described would happen.... but not always.

When the boss appears to be invincible, try taking out all four turrets first.  And yes, I realize this takes absolutely forever.   The turrets actually arent meant to be attacked at all; once this boss is set up properly, the turrets will be indestructible, but will explode the instant the boss is defeated.  But for now, with this mechanic not even entirely there, this is how it is.  When I next send in an update I'll at least temporarily lower the HP of the turrets as a temporary solution.

2.  Ah, yeah, I'm aware of the issue with the "4 wall" boss room.  I just havent done anything about it, since right now it's not really a priority.  For the purposes of testing, just pretend that once you go in you ARE sealed in; that's basically how I've been approaching this, refusing to leave the arena once I'm inside.   Though, right now there's no game mechanic in place to seal a room anyway, but that's something I"m going to suggest to Chris when I email him next time.


3. Battleswarm's 2nd phase will be altered so that the slowdown doesnt happen.  It's a nice easy fix, not a problem.  It's not a bug that's causing it, it's just the game trying to process a few too many bullets at once since each of those green blocks is made of a large number of the things.


4.  Things spawning near the door is a definite issue.  There's going to be some incoming changes to rooms in a general sense, probably soon here, so this is likely to be an issue that's addressed at this time.  But yeah, it's a bit of a problem.  I've had a couple of them spawn practically ON me when testing the game.   That can be a very dumb way to suddenly lose, because the game does that to you like 4 times on a floor...

5.  The idea of a visual cue during enemy invincibility, I dunno if that one's going to happen.  I'd noticed this as a potential issue, and had mentioned it to Chris, but at the time he thought that it shouldnt be changed; I dont remember what the reason was.  Though, his reasons usually do make good sense.  One way or another though, it'll likely either be cleared up or just work out better later down the road.   Right now, if an enemy isnt moving or firing, it might be in an invincible state.

6.  Agreed on pickups appearing on maps.  Definitely necessary.  I always wish ALL games of this type did that.  Even something like Nuclear Throne, I always wish that game would like, point arrows in the direction of treasure chests I didn't grab once the portal opens so I dont have to run around the level for 20 years looking for the stupid thing.

7.  Bullets not all getting cancelled during boss fights, ah, my fault, haha.   I didn't make the shockwave radius big enough.  Easy fix.


And thanks for putting the bugs and such on Mantis, that always helps everyone a great deal. 

[The Hunter]

Huh, guess i had really "good" luck on encountering that problem when first time ever encountering Labyrinth then, hah.

Did several more runs and added more stuff to mantis(You're welcome! ). Was really enjoying flamethrower weapon!