Reviews for Boss 101

[WCCC]

This is an original concept, and I do very much enjoy it. There are a large fistful of things that stops this from being a high-calibur product though, in my eyes. I'll list some bulletins, and I'm sure some people will agree with them and some people won't.
-Powerups and health don't last very long in the air. Additionally, many kinds of exploding munitions or minions seem to have the explosive effect make the powerup invisible until its last split second of lifetime.
-Many of the powerup weapons are ill-explained and TERRIBLY balanced. I am aware that some powerups seem to be rarer than others and some enter the game later on, which should make them more powerful. The being said, the flintlock looking pistol was useless, the scattershot weapon was so puny you can hover next to minions shooting them point blank and the puny minion won't even die. The charge up laser was pretty awful IMO. The sound was loud and high-pitched, making it annoying. It's fire rate was very low, its stopping power equally minimal, and its multi-penetration ability sometimes failed for unknown reasons. Additionally, the rocket launcher was alright earlier game but got tedious and the iron fist is outrageously overpowered, but on the plus side it does keep me grabbing for powerups in an attempt to get one.
-Powerups have no way of indicating their ammunition or how long they last, which is somewhat counter productive.
-The music, while nice and cinematic, didn't seem quite suited for the action scenes and really got annoying in addition to not getting the blood pumping. Seeing how this is bullet hell-like in gameplay, lots of gamers are probably looking for an energy-filled soundtrack they can get into while shredding their foes in a hardcore battle to the death.
-Hats were really, really cheap and their effects weren't really clear in magnitude as well as some of them being uniquely present to the hats family and not shared in upgrades. This really leaves the player unsure what "+2 health and +16 money" does in its full magnitude.
-Although there was definitely a large variety of parts later on, the total pool of enemy variety does feel stale at some points, and especially after playing through 40 or so bosses. I'm sure you're already hard-pressed to find lots of original ideas for parts, so I'm not really counting this one against you. This unique game has that at the center of its concern.
-Dialogue at beginning of fights would've been something I'd prefer an option to skip. Maybe there is one but if so I haven't found it.

I don't want to seem like a dick or just sit here and bag on this game. My underlying opinion of this game is rather positive because it is new and fresh and experimental. However, these aspects also provide lots of new areas that could seem worth polishing or developing, and I hope this feedback helps or at least gets the gears turning for the next project you ensue, though I'm sure other people (more and less literately than myself) have pointed out a number of these points previously.

This is a solid product, but is still not in the "wow" zone for entertainment. I applaud the unique ideas and new concepts being employed.
7/10, 3/5 (borderline decision, sorry. I just sat back and sighed in my chair contemplating this one pretty hard) ~WCCC

DarkTimmy responds:

First off, thank you for the review and the play. I know it takes a lot for you or anyone here to take a bit of their time and write something down not knowing if it will fly off into the ether and never be read. I do read all the comment and make a hearty attempt to reply thoughtfully to people. I figure – if YOU put in the time I will too.

OK – there is really nothing I disagree with in your comments. All fair points and I completely realize that Boss 101 (for me) was a huge learning experience. I love the game and the idea. It took me about 4.5 months of intense labor to make it and most of that was learning programming since I’m an artist by trade. Tons of fun and if I had to do it again it would probably take 2 months and be a lot tighter. To your points (in order)

Powerups – yep. They do get occluded by the explosions. In retrospect that was a bad call on my part. What that means is I didn’t even think about it at all and during my games times I kinda didn’t get bothered. That was a little shortsighted but you are totally right. They should have lasted longer and been more visible.

Powerup abilities – I think you are hitting on a good issue here and arguably bigger than the one above. The weapons are cool in theory but all over the place in terms of power. They actually do scale with your abilities and upgrades but the basic points you are making are valid. They could all use a pretty good tune to make each worthwhile in its own way. For instance the pistol was always the money gun with low damage. Doesn’t get explained well (except through the use of dollar signs instead of coins when it hits). Overall though this one along with the others all have some design weakness that prevents enjoyment at various times. I do agree with you about the fist gun. Even I will grab away at guns hoping that thing shows up! HAHAH! It’s just too fun to use even though it deals a ton of damage and nearly every time will end the round before it goes away.

Powerup timing – yep on that. I know in a sequel I want to address this.

Hats – I had to really think about this one cause what you are saying is exactly right and it is completely by design. I think the main thing is the price is too cheap. The abilities are all ‘shrouded’ by generic terms and that is intentional. I can’t say that was the best decision but I really wanted the player to experiment and also have some easy comparisons to make (2 versus 3 as opposed to stats like in Borderlands guns). I think a more robust hat system is called for in the next game. Hats were one of the last things added and done so in somewhat a rush. That’s no excuse, just a fact. Good point you made though.

Boss parts – yes! I know. I actually re-tuned the game about 1 hour before it was put up on the web. Originally you were selecting from boss parts from a narrower pool. There were ‘sectors’ and each was themes (like animal robots, samurai robots). The thing there was you would ONLY fight those type for 20-30 levels. When I realized how boring that would be I opened it up to all robot parts at any time. I think it made it better but it didn’t address the whole issues. Again – that is something I would love to come back to and adjust!

Dialog – yeah, that is a great idea. Didn’t even occur to me that might get grindy. I mentioned elsewhere about the fact I had implemented a bunch of checks to keep it fresh and even then I myself would see repetition. HA!! DANG IT! Again – good point and yep, that can be address in a sequel. Doing it in Boss 101 might be more trouble than it’s worth sine the system would request an overhaul.

All in all – good stuff man and thanks for the nice review. It’s really something I enjoy since I’m making games for YOU and the others here. I work within my limits but where those limits overlap with your taste in games is where I want to be!

Best,

-Tim

[funnybun]

Very fun, but infuriatingly frustrating. I don't even mean that by how difficult it was - that part, I actually enjoyed quite a bit. The game needs some tightening up. I liked the concept of this game - where the boss battles WERE the game, not just part of it - and the humor was fine, but the cutscenes... Man, the cutscenes killed me. They were often times longer than the battles themselves and the skip mechanism was slow and ineffective. It was, at times, almost impossible to navigate the menus because it would sometimes not allow me to click on the menu options for a brief moment. It would have been nice if you could have added a "Skip Dialogue" button that could have skipped the texts that I've read 30 times. Oh, and how great would it have been if you had tied most of the mouse-necessary interactions to keyboard shortcuts? Having to reach over to my mouse really broke me from the experience EVERY time I did it. It bogged things down. If you are to make a sequel, I suggest streamlining the game as much as possible.

Not to only complain, I did have enough fun with the game to play it to completion. It was simple, sh'm'up-y, bullet-hel-lite, upgrad-y, all that good stuff. I would recommend this to someone, if only to see what they'd think about it.

Post Script: An example of what I feel could have been tied to the keyboard would be the Store. Why wasn't I able to navigate the Store items by pressing the left and right arrows? Would have been a hell of a lot easier than clicking on a 24 by 16 pixel box each time, then moving the mouse over to the buy button. I binge bought most of the items in that store (I discovered it a bit late into the game) and that small action REALLY got in the way. Sorry for making this Post Script long, I'm just trying to get you to understand.

DarkTimmy responds:

Hey! Really good suggestions and I assure you that any sequel will have much better keyboard control. Agree about all the points and appreciate your feedback. It means a lot when anyone takes some time to write up a comment after playing! I LOVE the store idea and think that is an obvious candidate for some UI upgrade. I'm looking at a patch for this but an extensive game wide upgrade may be more trouble than a full blown sequel with many more bells and whistles (which I would rather spend time towards if I had to). Reason being, my programming kung-fu was weak on Boss 101 and I'd like to think I'm a little better now. Going back to that code base isn't impossible but the re-write would take a while. What you said won't be forgotten though and thank you! Best, -Tim

[TheOrdinaryGrunt]

This game has given me mixed opinions.

Pros:

The gameplay is solid, good graphics, funny dialogue, easy controls, decent music. The bosses look nice.

Cons: Easy - even on hard mode. Super Mode is over powered. Espeically with the Big Head you can purchase at level 90, I know this is the last 10 stages, but it's too easy. The bosses are re-used but with a different mesh each time.

This is a decent game even for one person entirely. It's decent, but can do so much better.

DarkTimmy responds:

Thank you for the response and the play. I agree with you that I can (and will) do a lot more. I learned a ton from this game and think it was a great start for a series of games. Boss 101 isn't perfect but I put my heart into it and am really glad people see the potential! Thank you again! Tim

[Maxasdf]

Far to easy. Beat the first boss buy the Z activated thingy and aim for the head. Won. The rest is awsome. But it realy destroys the game:(.

DarkTimmy responds:

HA! Thanks for the play and the comment! I hear you about the power curve and I'm going to improve that in a sequel. I appreciate you hanging in there too! Thank you again! Best, -Tim

[DualZodiac]

Pretty good idea, I like the thought of having a randomized boss every time, but they really weren't all that random. They all kind of look like bowls of cereal with heads. I'd also much prefer to use the mouse to shoot, that way I could shoot in all directons as well. The bosses patterns don't reall change either, they just shoot you for a bit and fly in a straight line.

It's a good concept hopefully the sequel will be more advanced and have a wider variety of parts for the robots.

~DZ

DarkTimmy responds:

Agree and I mos-def want the sequel to take all that works and cut out the weaker bits. Thank you for the play and the comment. I appreciate you and others taking a moment to write something down! Best, -Tim