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.
- 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=sharing2. 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 Know1. 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 Now1. 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.
