Starfire - Ares Assault released.

[aNewHobby]

really great work.. I love it!

[Sui]

really great work.. I love it!

Thanks. Are you finding the difficulty OK?

[aNewHobby]

not really. I play a lot of these types of games and this one isn't nearly as hard as some other ones I have played. It is hard to tell after a quick "look see" because these games are often about repetition and learning patterns.. that is how games like Ikaruga are played.. at least for me. I think difficulty is one of teh hardest things to put into a game.. to easy and people hate it to hard and people hate it.. make it good for one set of players and you piss of another set. Also anyone who says "just put in a difficulty setting" knows that this is about as good as putting in a video settings.. everyone wants to play on the hardest with the best gfx.

I think maybe you should look into "ramping" the difficulty more. Start easy and get hard, but go slow so beginners get a good play in and ramp it to super crazy hard.

[Jove]

Ramping is a good idea of course, so is the concept of pulling back the difficulty for a while after a new (harder) gameplay element has been introduced.

Carefully hiding learning mechanics into the actual gameplay itself is another thing that goes way back to games like Megaman and beyond.

BTW, lovely work Sui.  Your 'cloudfield' inspired me to do something similar with awesome results!

[Sui]

I think maybe you should look into "ramping" the difficulty more. Start easy and get hard, but go slow so beginners get a good play in and ramp it to super crazy hard.

Thanks.

I'm a bit tied because the game is an experiment in synchronising attacks with the music. The enemies and patterns are driven by what's in my head when I listen to the music.

Maybe I could start on Easy then prompt to play the next difficulty level when it's beaten...

[Sui]

Ramping is a good idea of course, so is the concept of pulling back the difficulty for a while after a new (harder) gameplay element has been introduced.

The game does have lulls between fights, due largely to the ebb and flow of the music.

Carefully hiding learning mechanics into the actual gameplay itself is another thing that goes way back to games like Megaman and beyond.

Are there any mechanics you didn't figure out?
I have some hints to add (e.g. warning before destroyer enters at the bottom).

Thanks.

[Sui]

I have blogged my development plans for the game:
http://suisoftgames.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/mac-version-and-future-plans.html