Post by SPARSE//GameDev in Space Ranger comments

Viewing post in Space Ranger comments

Very cool game! At first I thought it was infinite until I hit the boss (who died very quickly lol)

My one bit of feedback is that it would be nice if the "weapon" upgrade made the shot visually look stronger instead of just upping the damage. You could do this either by having chunkier/wider bullet sprites, or simply by upping the fire rate instead of damage. Consider increasing bullet speed a bit as you upgrade too -- it's not really much of an advantage but it will look/feel stronger to the player.

Dumenglume204 days ago

Hey! Thanks for playing and providing your feedback. I agree the sprite should change when powering up. This has been fixed in the latest update so you should now see a visual change on each power increase.

Regarding shot speed, this is actually technically already in the game -- the closer you are to the top of the screen, the faster you shoot, so as to reward riskier playing. The effect may be a bit too subtle though.

I'll definitely consider this for future versions!

SPARSE//GameDev204 days ago

I did notice that yeah! I wasn't sure if it was a shot limit or something else, the fact it's based on height on the screen explains it, as it didn't seem like I was shooting faster just from getting close to enemies.

I played through with the new changes -- the new bullet sprites feel really nice, good work! Definitely feels like more of a power upgrade even though it's just an aesthetic change, very satisfying.

I also like the new coin design, they're a lot easier to distinguish from the enemy bullets.

One thing I noticed is I don't seem to be able to collect the powerups as they're leaving the screen -- sometimes I miss the one I want in the rotation so I wait for it to come around again, but the powerup is too low to collect even though it's still visible.

Dumenglume204 days ago

Interesting. I'll do some testing on my end to see if I can reproduce.

I'd like to gather some more data on this -- Does the issue occur when the powerup sprite is still fully visible? Or is it partially out of view when you're unable to collect it?

SPARSE//GameDev204 days ago

I'm not sure -- I think it was still mostly on screen but starting to leave. It might just be that the hit box is a bit smaller than I was expecting

Dumenglume204 days ago

Gotcha. Yeah I'll check it out and see if I can make some adjustments.

Quick side note -- You do amazing work btw. Absolutely incredible shmup you made with Praxis Fighter -- You're one of the folks who inspired me to feel comfortable about making a single level shmup experience.

I would love to finish a roguelike that even comes close to the elegance of Into Ruins as well!

Dumenglume201 days ago(+1)

Hey, just wanted to follow up and let you know I was able to reproduce the powerup issue you mentioned and it should now be fixed in the v1.2 update.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

SPARSE//GameDev200 days ago

Awesome, thanks for the update! I played through again and finally managed to get through the game without getting hit, and sustaining my combo the whole time:

I like to aim for 3 options with 1 magnet powerup as that gives me a nice spread, and then collect weapon powerups after that.

Dumenglume200 days ago

Very nice! I find myself getting annoyed now if I can't sustain a full combo since I've playtested it so many times at this point :P

I typically go for the Options first as well. I've been trying to think of how I could have Magnet and Weapon synergize with each other better as I feel like there's still a missed opportunity there, but hopefully all three powerups are still useful.

itch.io

Viewing post in Space Ranger comments