WIP- Cold Star

Adrenaline

Hey all! I'm currently working on my second game and figured it might be a good idea to share it all with you. Not only do I want to show it off (I'm proud ) but I also want to light a fire in the production. Hopefully, posting here will force me to keep it up and get this game done soon!

The idea of the game is to keep it simple, challenging, and quick to try and re-try again!

The game is called Cold Star. You play as a red dwarf flying through space. When you click play, it triggers an endless series of fireballs falling from the sky. Tap to slide left and right to avoid the fireballs and increase your score. Simple as that.

I've posted an image of my character and a video of the gameplay as it stands right now.

Of course, I have yet to design the logo or any of the UI. But I'm close, and figured it was worth showing since it's in a semi-presentable state. I AM, however, incredibly proud of the background I've got scrolling.

The character is pretty much how I want him to look -BUT- I will be redrawing him. I want the linework to pop a bit more, so it will become a bit bolder and simpler. All of the detail is lost at the size he will be on the device, so keep that in mind when you see him larger here.

At the moment, there's also a bit of a disconnect between the dwarf and the fire from his jetpack. That will be fixed. Anyway, it's nearly unnoticeable on a real device (the GC preview seems a tad slower).

Please let me know what you all think! I'll be updating here as I have progress worthy of announcing

Bonus points to anyone who connects the title choice to the character choice

JDuaneJ

Video is privately published, can't view.

Your character reminds me of the guy from Golden Axe, nice. I would recommend taking a look at a tutorial for polishing him up a bit more in Adobe Illustrator. Check one of these out;

gomediazine.com/tutorials/from-sketch-to-vector-illustration/

blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/uncategorized/create-a-vector-pirate-cartoon-character-from-a-hand-drawn-sketch

design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-create-a-killer-chainsaw-bunny-character--vector-1021

Adrenaline

Thanks @JDuaneJ‌ ! I will be redrawing him, I am very familiar and comfortable with illustrator. Thanks for the heads up about the video, I changed it to public so it should be viewable now. Either way, I'll have improved content to show relatively soon so this first video should become obsolete.

JDuaneJ

Hey Adrenaline thanks for fixing the video. Looks interesting and has nice potential. I worked on a game a while back that was "kinda" similar.

I do want to suggest (if you are open for feedback) a different control mechanic that may be a bit more fluid and enjoyable. I would change the controls from tapping the sides of the screen, to a finger control. What I mean is, the jetpack would be constrained to touch X (with an offset on Y). I believe this would give a much more fluid and quicker reaction time for the players. You could also get away with faster gameplay IMO. For an example, checkout Penguin Chase for iPad and iPhone. We built it a couple years ago, and it will show you what i'm talking about.

Hopscotch

@JDuanej, nice tutorials

Adrenaline

Thanks again, @JDuaneJ‌ I appreciate the continued feedback. I am definitely open to feedback, that's one of the greatest things about this community!

While I understand and appreciate your suggestion to go with finger control, here's why I am choosing to go another way: The obstacles come down the screen in 6 columns, each with the width of the player's actor. To fit between them in an empty space, the player must be in a near pixel-perfect position. Originally, I did try a more free-flowing method of control, but it became more frustrating and less satisfying to the player because it would often result in a loss that felt undeserved (being barely clipped by a fireball when you truly believe you found the safe zone is not the way I want to make my players feel). In addition, I wanted the skill to be more about quick decisions rather than accurate finger swiping.

I did check out Penguin Chase and I can certainly see the similarities. However, I don't understand the connection to "faster gameplay". I did not play Penguin Chase for very long, but it was much slower than my game. Also, playing my game on a real device makes it more difficult than what you saw in the video. That's because I included keyboard controls for testing on my computer, and it's easier to twitch-click the arrows while looking up at the monitor than it is to hold the screen and quickly choose which hand should touch down on the screen to move.

Believe it or not, I've extensively tweaked the speed of not only the obstacles, but the delay in their spawning and the movement speed of the dwarf. As it stands now, there is virtually no leeway for hesitation in the most difficult situation possible: that is, a single gap on one edge, followed by a singe gap on the opposite edge. Not only does my current setup force you to react immediately in that situation, but you must also decide to hold the button for quicker movement rather than simply tap. I believe this is the ideal settings for speed because it allows for simple scoring in simple situations, and challenging scoring in challenging situations.

I hope I'm not coming off as super sensitive and defensive because, as I said, I am very open to feedback. I just love discussing all of this because I've given it all a lot of thought and have extensive opinions on the reasons why I made these decisions.

Again, thank you for your comments and suggestions. It's greatly appreciated Please feel free to shoot down everything I said above haha

Braydon_SFX

Now see, this is the kind of game I enjoy a lot. A pick up and play, but ones that you cannot focus too much on the incoming fireballs because of the fireballs behind that incoming wave. Love it. Don't know why, so don't ask.

Nice stuff so far. Keep it up!

Adrenaline

Thanks @Braydon_SFX‌ that's exactly what I'm aiming for

Adrenaline

As it stands now, the difficulty remains the same at all times. I've been brainstorming on ways to tweak it, but I'm pretty adamant about sticking with the current speeds (fireball drop speed, fireball spawn rate, dwarf tap speed and the press+hold speed), so speeding up/slowing down is not an option I want to consider.

Instead, I think I will do the following:

Up to a certain score (maybe 25?), there will be a min of 1 open spot and a max of 3 for every row of fireballs.

After points and up to 50, the max will become 2 open spots per row.

After 50, there will always be exactly 1 open spot per row.

This allows the player to become familiar and comfortable with the game speed, yet gives them a bit of a cushion for reflex time and accuracy at the beginning of a play through.

As always, thoughts and comments are welcomed and appreciated!

radagar

this is a very nice looking game im sure you can do some great things with it. good job

Adrenaline

Hey guys, update ready!

Unfortunately the recording app I'm using isn't very good so you can't see all the crisp and smooth details --- what recording program do you all use to show gameplay?

Anyway, here's a list of the changes since I've last shared my progress.

I now have a title at the top of screen. It's semi-transparent text that floats between different layers of the background stars/colors.

There is now music! I've got techno music in the background and subtle sound effect when you get hit by a fireball.

I re-drew the dwarf in Illustrator so he's all vector now. His beard and mustache now flap in the wind to give him some life.

There's a UI now! Simple and all accessible immediately. You can instantly see your last score, high score, volume button and the play button. These elements slide in and out of view when it's appropriate.

I also coded a simple color-fade for the tweet and trophy buttons for when you achieve a high score.

Here it is in action:

jay2dx

Hey there, I could be wrong, please correct if I am, but I would get rid of the iPhone graphic, apple have in there documentation that you should not have a representation of their device in your title! This would lead to the app getting rejected by the reviewer,

But I could be wrong just too tired to check the docs rite now good luck with it,

Adrenaline

Thanks @jay2dx‌ I will definitely look into that

Adrenaline

I'm also planning on placing different items at certain score intervals. If you gather these items, you unlock an achievement. Hopefully that helps with getting people aiming for high scores, along with fighting for spots on the leaderboard.

After I make this last addition, I should good to go. Then it's all about the final touches: app icon, screenshots, a little marketing, etc. Can't wait!

Adrenaline

Okay people, my game is finally live! Please check out Cold Star in the App Store right here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cold-star/id853319853?ls=1&mt=8

If you'd be so kind, please rate and review as well. Thank you all!

Enjoy!

Adrenaline

I've got a friend with a 4s who is reporting a lot of crashing issues. I tested on an even older iTouch and it ran just fine. I don't have a 4s, so I can't verify the problem, but it's a pretty big bummer. If anyone can check this and report back, it would be a huge help.

Everwild

I downloaded it for iPad. Fun game! I haven't had any crashes yet (iPad 2).

Adrenaline

Thanks for the support and info! I'm holding out hope that it's just his phone

Adrenaline

A 2nd report of crashing on a 4. Could this game somehow be too much for it to handle? They're saying it only gets through the splash screen and then quits every time

Adrenaline

I'm assuming the crashes are due to how I handled the large and overlapping background images. I adjusted that process, cutting it down by at least half. The update has just been submitted, so I'll find out how that goes in a few days...

I'll report back for those who may be interested...