Invasion... realsed but Work In Progress

[Slider_j1]

So, i have released invasion - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Skellingames.Invasion&hl=en

Invasion

I thought i was done, no, honestly, i did!!!

and then i got feedback and found there was so much more i could do. So i’m doing it, listening to my feedback and working on my game to make it “complete”.

I am currently updating the font and putting mute and general settings into the “pause game” menu, but i’m asking you all, could you please have a look over my game, and give any suggestions on where it can be improved, i released it 5 days ago and i’m getting organic installations but i want to make sure my players are getting the best enjoyment that they can get.

If you have any questions as to how i did something in the game then please ask away, i’ll be more than happy to discuss

So if you have time, please look over my project and tell me where it needs work!

[Feelnside]

Hi, I have downloaded your game and here are my thoughts regarding that: first at all congratulations with the release. It’s really important to finish the work and get to the release line, so you are going very well! In terms of the game:

• It’s difficult to control the space ship. Once a finger is moved out of the control sphere - player is not moving. It’s not so good experience. Try to fix this restriction.
• Camera has the hard linkage with a player. In the last version of Unity you have an ability to use Cinemachine Camera for free. With this one you can add to the Main Camera the smooth moving.
• Main menu has a lot of text information. I don’t know what can you do with this one, maybe you can take a look at some similar popular games and check how they are teaching during the game.
• It would be great to add some shake to the camera during the explosions. So that it will add some drive and action to the game process.
• Of course you have to improve the graphics. It’s just suggestion for the future projects.

Regarding the release, for future: do not release the game without Open Beta testing. You can find out how to configure Open Beta testing in Google Play. WIth this one you can get a lot of reviews which help you to improve the game before the main release.

[Slider_j1]

hey, thanks for the review! it’s really great to get another persons opinion!

-on the movement /control point you made, noted, it will be done… it’s been on my list of possibilities to “expand” the zone where the touch is detected, that counts toward moving the ship. So i’ll try to get that crowbarred into the next version update along with the font changes and everything else.

-The camera is it’s own object, which tightly follows the player in lateupdate, there is some “camera shaking” that happens when you down a larger alien and that shaking magnitude is related to how far away the downed alien crashes from the player. this shake is quite violent, i’ll have a test of that cinemachine and see how good it looks, it could be an option but i don’t want it to dampen the camera shaking.

-text info, you know, i didn’t think about that, good idea, i’ll have a look into it and if anything comes up or anyone comes up with a cool way to do it, i’m all in favor of a bit of change

-camera shake… it’s there already but only for the bigger ships when they hit the ground, are you maybe suggesting when they explode in midair? i can do that, the camera shake routine i set up is quite simple but effective, it can take differeing degrees of magnitude/shake so it wouldn’t be a problem, i will have to make an option to also turn off the shake, it could get on peoples nerves if it’s done too much.

-i’ll see what i can do about the graphics… i think it’s going to have to get a review at some point, i’m just not sure where to start…

thank you so much for the review it really does help a lot. the more reviews and opinions i get the better, even if you don’t think i’ll like what you have to say i want to hear it, every voice and opinion matters.

[Feelnside]

Cool, no problem! Regarding the camera shake, yes, I meant to add small shakes during each explosion (if the explosion is small then use appropriate camera shake, otherwise use a bigger one). Anyway it’s just my point of view. For graphics… You can add the trees outside of the city, put several rocks and any other props. For trees you can use a shader with the Vertex Animation (it’s looks very well and has very small cost on performance). Also I have found some fps drops when several explosions are visible. Maybe it’s due to device (Nexus 5x) but you can try to review the count of particles in the Particle System components (just select any Particle System and in the bottom right corner hit the Play button and pay attention at the ‘Particles’ count). Best solution - be aware at the small count. It would be great to have this value so small as you can.

[Slider_j1]

hmmmm… sir/madam, i like your thinking. mid-air explosions won’t be too hard to implement (probably an hour or so to effectively put in then probably an hour or so to get the additional settings setup in the pause/settings menus and player-prefs.) Yeah i think i need to pull back on the use of particles, i did apply liberally LOL but looks so cool when there are lots going at once, BUT if it impacts on gameplay i guess i’ll have to turn it down a bit. As for more graphics… trees and things, yeah it needs something.

Thanks for updating me, there should be a new release coming sometime this week, hopefully with a few of your suggestions in there too!

[Feelnside]

Good luck in development! Just one more thing from my side: at this moment you have 1 month to do the best until the game is marked as “old” and removed from the “New Games” category. So all your updates would be very helpful for your game (for future, that is why I suggest to release your new games only after performing the Open Beta testing).

[Slider_j1]

Just to let you all know, We have just released a newer version of the game with a lot of your suggestions (from this thread and other sources)
Power-ups to bullets are now apparent with new, funkier shot GFX, a better movepad is implemented(larger and with run-off buffers at the side), a new font, and because of the new font a LOT of UI reworking to show ALL the text (some people were missing text from displaying), new settings options in the pause menu, camera shakes with explosions… oh the list goes on.
if you have a couple of minutes download and have a look, its a freeeeeeeeeee app and there are no ads(well, unless you want to watch an ad for in game money, and even then you have to choose to do so)

[Feelnside]

Yea, it plays better now

[Slider_j1]

I released the game about a week and a half ago, and already there has been some big updates, see below (even a new trailer)

Invasion Trailer

if you think you can help make it better please leave me some feedback, these upgrades have all come from feedback and the game is so much better for it! thank you!

please take a look at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Skellingames.Invasion and let me know what you think.

EDIT: for those of you wanting to know what has changed over the last week, here is a very brief overview-

• the movepad was expanded and given run-off buffers so wandering fingers are given a little forgivness should they stray off the movepad the character (player gameobject) will keep moving
  *mute, vibration, shadow and camera shake controls were put into the pause menu
  *Shooting routines were changed to give the player more range and a trail renderer was put onto the shot which grows with the shot(projectiles) power ALSO the shooting sound pitch is played at a lower pitch according to shot power.
  *in a drive to increase the FPS, the number of Particles was subtly reduced, camera near and far bounds were closed tighter, the ragdolls were re-worked with IK bones removed, all ground object that are far enough away have their mesh renders disabled.
  *camera shake was added to give that extra punch to explosions.
  *new world objects added to make things look nicer, more will probably be coming too.
  *lower spec missiles were tweaked to be more agile
  *player shot rate also beefed up
  *emp power was nerfed (you shouldn’t be able to 1 hit the mother ships

and work that has been completed but not released

*controller support is now in place so that you can use a controller to move the player gameobject/ship, i am looking to remove the on screen buttons and pad if you are using this option so that more screen real estate can be seen rather than covered by buttos and movepad that won’t get used.

if you think the game needs anything else now is your chance to tell me and it should get put in soon!

[Slider_j1]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Skellingames.Invasion&hl=en
So… another update-

• Coming from feedback i have removed a couple of the effects that were very subtle on the explosions, this should mean that there will be minimal dropped frames when an explosion occurs. This was mainly due to an effect that performed a while loop to fade a light… very costly for very little visual effect so dropped.
• Added in a prompt after the user has played something like 11 games to rate it. why 11? well, i think it’s a long enough time for the people who like the game to stay around but the people who weren’t fans have uninstalled by that point. it’s also at a point where you are in full “Upgrade” flight and there are tons of things to do, kind of a sweet spot in the game when starting.
• Game controller support was added, which took about 5 mins to put in. most likely 1 person in 10,000 will use it, but it’s an extra option for the players.
  *visual effect were tidied up and just generally made to look better, for example the EMP has 2 effect, one is a burst of particles which is scaled to the world while the electric arcs are local to the ship, so the arcs follow the ship about and the particles stay at the EMP launch spot.

This update was basically to tidy everything up before the next big release, which will be to alter the landscape/hillsides to be more mountain looking rather than lumps in the background. This also means i can shift my focus away from the technical side and over to marketing… i really need to find out what is making it such a big hit in India, it’s only been out 2 weeks with no announcement on release and there is already over 100 installs in India alone, and i have no idea why!