Re: [pygame] Game demo for review

["David Mikesell" <dave_mikesell@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wow, Brian - outstanding feedback.  Fixing the input has bubbled to the
top of my list.  

Many thanks,

Dave

On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 12:02:34 -0800, "Brian Fisher"
<brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> said:
> On 1/11/06, David Mikesell <dave_mikesell@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Other than that, I welcome feedback on every other aspect of the game.
> > Thanks for taking the time to read this and (hopefully) play the demo.
> >
> Hi David,
>   I'd be happy to try out your closed-source 17MB download windows-only
>   game
> 
> The first time I ran it, I just got a black screen for a bit, then I
> got your "Errors occurred" message box (nice to have as an unhandled
> exception handler) I'm attaching the error log
> 
> The next time I ran it, loaded up fine - nice and snappy and quick no
> problems
> 
> Actually playing the game though, the control bugged me a lot... It's
> definitely what stopped me from playing any longer
> 
> For mouse control, I'd perfer to play entirely with the mouse - I
> really wanted shoot mapped to the left mouse button (leaving
> right-mouse as the thruster). For the type of game this is
> (medium-paced action, not too much thought) I'd rather be able to not
> be tied to the keyboard at all, so I can lean back, maybe sip a drink
> while playing or hold my phone while talking to someone...
> But the worst thing about mouse control is just that it's trying to
> act like a joystick (mapping left to rotate left, right to rotate
> right) - in my opinion if you are going to have mouse control at all,
> it should either be a pointing device or a gestural device... nothing
> else. I can imagine it as working either way in this game well (so
> either you get a targeting cursor to aim with, or mouse movement in a
> direction tends to point you in that direction)
> 
> I am glad to see you trying mouse control though, because I think it
> could be the best for this game, and would be something kinda new
> 
> Working with just the keyboard control though, I think the biggest
> problem was that I could only use one input at once, couldn't turn and
> shoot, or move and turn. It was very very annoying for me, I really
> think it should let you do multiple inputs at once. Other issues past
> that, I like how fast you can go, but found that I couldn't make
> precise movements or adjustments at all. I would suggest having some
> kind of small acceleration to the input, so a tap turn would be a
> finer movement, but when you hold to turn you'd do a 180 in about the
> same time. A little acceleration on thrust might be nice, but I like
> how quickly you can stop, and wouldn't really want to lose that.
> Finally, it really feels like I should be able to go backwards as well
> with the arrow keys (I tried a number of times) and I think it would
> make it feel cooler if you could.
> 
> I would much rather have this game have one or the other control types
> (mouse or keyboard) work really well than have an option to pick
> between two where one or the other aren't great. My recommendation for
> anyone working on a control scheme would be to play around with your
> options as you go, but ultimately pick the best control configuration
> and make it just completely awesome - taking advantage of all the best
> things about your input device.
> 
> When I was controlling things well enough, I really liked the pacing
> of the game (speed of the enemies vs. speed of your ship and all that)
> it's just about right for me - the game isn't too fast paced, but I
> feel like I can really move when I have to, which is very cool - a
> nice fun casual feel. (didn't seem to match the name of "frantic"
> actually, but I don't like twitch games)
> 
> As for as aesthetics go, I like the environment and style (space games
> are cool) but I think for this kind of thing I'd love to see lots of
> graphical flash, particles, jet thrusters, some kind of trail behind
> the shots, enemies that fracture into pieces when destroyed... I want
> to fill the void of space with the fire, light and destruction in my
> wake
> 
> All in all, I think if the control was better, it would be quite nice
> for a first game