This game is pretty neat! You managed to make this seem very much like a real Gameboy game (minus the noise channel in the music), and the gameplay is really fun! My only complaint is that I couldn't really control it very well. I'd much prefer if S was to fire and A was to jump. Other than that, awesome job! I can't wait to see the finished product.
Reviews for "Sole Gunner: Mini (DEMO)"
SinclairStrange responds:
Aye, the music was literately thrown together in about ten minutes so excuse the quality of it. I've just added in a swap feature in now, so you can swap around fire and shoot if you wish :)
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
This is pretty good, and it takes a while to get used to the controls.
SinclairStrange responds:
I've added the option to swap around the fire and jump buttons for now :)
seemed good until the gun stopped working in the middle of the game
SinclairStrange responds:
Odd, I've not encountered that bug before. I'll look into it.
Is nae bad, e'en fer a demo. Personally, I like the super-retro Gameboy-green aesthetic (probably because Super Mario Land was one of the first video games I ever played), and the music is decent. That said, I would suggest adding some sort of knock-back effect upon contact with enemies, since being able to walk right through them feels a bit awkward. Also, since the enemies only ever come from the direction you're going, shooting straight up is much less useful than shooting at an angle, which in this demo can only be done while moving; I would suggest making the up and down directions fire at 45-degree angles, so that they can be used to target enemies coming from the right side of the screen. Furthermore, you may want to implement a checkpoint feature that activates automatically after every sub-boss (though you could also omit this if you want the game to feel really Nintendo Hard--it all depends on what feel you're going for). Lastly, if you give the various guns more stopping power when killing enemies, it could counterbalance making the enemies stronger and/or reducing the maximum vitality which, combined with knockback, would make the enemies much more dangerous (so, both the player and the enemies would be stronger, which would make the game feel more intense). Sorry I got so long-winded, but this demo feels like it has potential, and I really hope to see it made into a solid final product.
SinclairStrange responds:
Thanks for the review. In terms of checkpoints, they will be in the final game however because this is purely a demo (as I didn't have enough time to complete a full version for Robot Day,) I've decided to leave them out.
With regards to knockback, I used to add it in my games however I get a lot of negative feedback for adding it in, I just don't bother anymore. Maybe if I add in a "hardcore mode" I might include it, but for now it's not going to be added.
For the eight directions, in the final product there will be an option to press a key and able to fire on the spot. (Like not being able to move, and just aim.) I think it wouldn't be the best idea to add up and down at 45 degree angles 'cause then it doesn't give you all options of aiming.
No worries about getting long winded! I love reviews like this, it helps me create better games.
I actually prefer this one over the original. The controls are SO MUCH BETTER!
SinclairStrange responds:
Aye, one of the main criticisms from the original game was that you couldn't fire in eight directions so I decided to add that in for this!