henke on 21/4/2018 at 08:43
Reporting for post-mission debrief, Commander!
-I enjoyed the zero-G gameplay, and had a reasonably easy time figuring out what I was supposed to do on each level.
-please add flight controls for arrow keys as well, feels weird playing the whole thing with just the left hand.
-maybe for the Repair objective add "(press R)" at the end. I had a hard time remembering the button.
-everything from the crude graphics to the amateurish voice over makes it this feel like something I stumbled over on a mid-90's demo disc. I love it.
Neb on 21/4/2018 at 10:55
I left the repairing for last because I forgot about the 'R' key too. By then I'd already docked with the station, and then had to leave and return again just to tick off the final docking objective.
Pyrian on 21/4/2018 at 17:03
Thanks for trying it out, guys! :D
Quote Posted by henke
...had a reasonably easy time figuring out what I was supposed to do on each level.
Hooray! I think that's literally a first for me, lol.
Quote Posted by henke
-please add flight controls for arrow keys as well, feels weird playing the whole thing with just the left hand.
There's a little story behind that. Early drafts used arrow keys. But my cheap-ass keyboard won't recognize up, left/right, AND space at the same time. So if I was thrusting and firing, I couldn't turn! This kept getting me killed (in the orbital level, which was the first one created). I did some research, and it turns out keyboard manufacturers support WASD concurrency much better and more consistently than arrow keys, because so many games use WASD.
The obnoxious thing is, if you make a game and the player's keyboard doesn't work, they'll blame the game and not the keyboard. The plan is to support arrow keys (or almost anything, really), but include a concurrency test to make sure the keyboard works.
Quote Posted by henke
-maybe for the Repair objective add "(press R)" at the end.
Good idea, thanks. :cool:
Quote Posted by henke
-everything from the crude graphics to the amateurish voice over makes it this feel like something I stumbled over on a mid-90's demo disc. I love it.
Ummmmm... Thanks? :p Lol.
Quote Posted by Neb
...and then had to leave and return again just to tick off the final docking objective.
I'll fix that. Good catch. I never noticed...
Pyrian on 22/4/2018 at 04:11
Now in Linux because someone asked...
(
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zi8ggwnunpahcgg/LinuxOrbiceptor0.1.zip?dl=0) Linux Download
Includes fixes for the two repair-objective issues mentioned above. :D
EDIT: Linux build seems to be sensitive to which monitor it's launched in, if you have more than one. Try launching from monitor #1 if you're having a problem.
Yakoob on 22/4/2018 at 20:59
Captain oh captain!
* I agree the mechanics were pretty well explained, but I never got a chance to really use the powerups (I'd always get them too late)
* I don't normally play zero-g games so I was REALLY bad at it. When the ambushers (lv2) were on my station I kept flying by it and overshooting, needing like 10-15 seconds just to slow myself down and return to station (only to overshoot again and repeat like 10 times). Felt like it took forever to stop myself if I went full-speed in one direction
* Initially when I flew towards the ambushers, they sat idle until I started shooting at them - was that desired?
* I had to quit Lv 3 because the fast spinning background was making me motion sick (which is odd, given I NEVER get motion sick in games o.0). Maybe if you made a more sparse background (waaay less stars) for this one it would be better?
Pyrian on 23/4/2018 at 06:29
Thanks for trying it 'Koob, sorry it nauseated you. :(
Do you feel you got better at the zero-G stuff by the end of the second level? Do you think it would've helped to have more explanation or hand-holding for how to effectively maneuver? Or a video? (Or even just a "Is your foot stuck on the gas pedal, Captain?" Lol.)
The intention is that you blast through the asteroid field and then the ambushers activate and come towards you afterwards (time based). I wasn't really expecting anyone to jump on them first, lol, although they were programmed to activate upon getting hit. Eh, whatever, I just added a proximity wakeup, as well.
Sorry again about the nausea! That's a new one; I wonder how common it'll be. Early versions were very disorienting, but the stars and rings are supposed to help with that. (Well, helps me, anyway.) What size screen were you playing on? I've added some controls to expand/contract the background: [-expand, ]-contract, \-reset, if you're willing to see if that might help.
(
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u8wy8aetlj32lcz/Orbiceptor_0.1.3.zip?dl=0) Orbiceptor 0.1.3
Yakoob on 23/4/2018 at 23:23
Honestly I don't think zero-g is a problem. It's a specific genre that caters to a specific demographic that will get it and enjoy it. Me, I never play those so whenever I tried them (even other games) I always end in that terrible overshooting-loop-of-doom. I'm sure that if I played more I'd get the hang of it - it's kinda like muscle-memory for how the thrusters work.
So yeah, unless you want specifically target people who haven't played the genre before, I wouldn't worry about it ;)
I'm on 1080p. IT got really bad when I started moving really fast, I was basically starting at a black screen filled with shitton of tiny white dots spinning around REALLY fast. If there were far, far fewer of them (perhaps just in that one level) it might've been better.
I tried it and zooming way in made it better:
Inline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/IQZSo5A.jpgalso, zooming way out (where the starts almost blend into cohesive hole) also made it better. I think you might have picked the exact worst possible zoom level for my eyes ahah ;p
I think it actually gets worse when I am near the ring or the space station. Something about the disconnect between the spinning stars and the spinning ring/debris that just makes it more nauseating, hmm...
Pyrian on 24/4/2018 at 02:03
Dang, 'Koob, did you fly straight into the planet at high speed or what? Lol. Thanks for trying it again. I suspect that the reason the game seems tuned to bother you is precisely because it's tuned to make the motion clear. It's almost like anything that makes it more clear what's going on makes the discomfort worse, which makes perfect sense if "what's going on" is what's causing the discomfort. Still, I can certainly provide some optional starfields at least. Well, probably. It was surprisingly difficult to get the one I'm using, and it's still got issues.
demagogue on 28/4/2018 at 08:57
Old is more stylized. New is more sim like. Just depends on the look and feel you prioritize.
