I am looking for stuff I can add/improve about my game. Everyone is welcome to share their thoughts!
6 Likes
good but I move painfully slow
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Gotcha. Go to Options and change the difficulty to hard. That should help with the game tempo a little.
3 Likes
Lmk if you want the powerups to spawn more often. I get the feeling they don’t spawn often enough.
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Hey, I had an idea for a mechanic to add to the game. I’ve been getting a lot of advice, lately, to change the way the ship travels and to make the ship not drift like it is on ice.
I agree with this. I think it could make the game feel better and play better, but with this fundamental shift in my game comes an opportunity for expansion.
My idea is having a gearshift with three gears. The top gear is the old mode, which is super drifty and floaty. I decided to leave it in to give the player max freedom to decide play styles. The second gear is what everyone suggested: a forward mode with an automatic brake. The last gear is completely new: reverse. The idea behind this is to provide more leniency to the player should they run into a wall of enemies and regret their life decisions. Reverse will have an auto brake as well.
4 Likes
Awesome, full support
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Ok, Full support too.
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This is my progress on the gearshift so far. The gearshift itself functions like a gearshift but it doesn’t control anything yet. I am taking a break for now, but I will be back later.
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The Gearshift is in the game and perfectly functional! It works really well and gives the game some much needed complexity.
Click and drag the gearshift into the desired gear. The top one (neutral), is the drifty mode that was always in Ace Vanguard games. The middle gear (drive), is similar to that, but has an auto brake. The third gear is the reverse.
Feel free to try it out and let me know what you think!
@Galactican (I’m pinging you because you mentioned this as an issue before)
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Got a new idea! This one is pretty self explanatory: it is an arrow that will point at bosses whenever they are present (every 5th wave).
Let me know if you want this one in the game!
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Yes I want this in the game 
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It has been awhile! After I posted a poll for the community, they decided I need to finish Ace Vanguard 2.
Fair enough!
Today, I added screen-wrap to the game to remove awkward borders. Unfortunately this caused some problems I have to resolve:
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Enemy spawn rate feels weird now. I will have to adjust it later.
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The camera does not teleport to the other side but drifts there, making a really janky transition.
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Enemies have a hard time catching up to the player if he keeps bouncing around the map
If you want to experience this for yourself or give feedback, here is the link to the game. I appreciate any help I can get!
5 Likes
Perhaps these issues are personal preference. I was playing the game today and those issues not only felt fine… they actually enhanced the game for me. The enemies having to chase the player because of screen-wrap gives the player a sense of control that has been lacking in the game so far.
3 Likes
Today I remade the second boss. Now the progression is a lot easier and unique, reducing stress on the player while keeping them interested.
I also added an rng naming system for bosses. While I may have overdone it with the names, I think they’re all awesome. Each boss has two names unique to just them. One is funny and the other is menacing.
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Epic naming system :)
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The player is such a small lad in contrast with the boss.
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Bosses now have a health bar!!!
That sounded way cooler in my head.
Anyway, the health bar is not a stationary object. It will remain on the boss while it is on screen. Once it leaves, the health bar will spawn at the corner of your screen.
This was super hard to do. On one hand, i needed a free-moving object, but on the other hand, I needed the object to stick to one spot on the screen. This is something game-layer objects can’t do! I ended up making two objects (one for game layer and the other for user interface layer) which took twice as long. When one object disappears, the other appears, giving the illusion of having one health bar.
This was a weird solution, but it works.
Idea for Boss 3
I wanted to run this by everyone and see if it’s a good idea:
The third boss is called the Cursed Ship. If you try to kill it regularly (by shooting it), you will die. Instead, because it is a tracking enemy, you have to lead it into space rocks to kill it. This strategy works for any enemy in the game, but it is the ONLY strategy for the Cursed Ship. Does this sound like a good idea?
5 Likes