Arrow Wars

[15jamie20]

Hi!

I'm making a wee top-down shooter in some of my spare time. I've got the basics just about implemented. It's nothing special but it's not the least fun way to kill 5 minutes.

It's very much a work in progress. Any feedback or ideas are more than welcome.

You control the blue arrow. Kill the black arrows.
Arrow keys to move
Spacebar to shoot
Hold shift or ctrl to not change direction when moving (running away from enemies while facing and shooting them seems to be a good tactic)
Sometimes when enemies die they drop items. Walk over the items to pick them up. Hearts heal you. Press enter to use bombs and missiles.

Uses middleclass, ATL, hardoncollider, cock, hump, quickie, and love2d-assets-loader, so thanks to the authors of those. Yous made my job much simpler - there's only 1279 lines of my own code in there out of 9050 total.

Enjoy!

[Germanunkol]

Phew, quite difficult!

Nice little game. Got a score of 19 on my first try.

It works very well, although I'm not too fond of the controls, I'd like WASD for movement and mouse for aiming more, that would be simpler. On the other hand, the controls set it apart from other games, so maybe just leave it.

The one thing wrong that I noticed was that the black arrows can somethimes get stuck on the corners of obstacle. If the corner is a lake then it's quite easy to shoot the enemy...

Otherwise, well done!

[Karai17]

Not bad. Got 11 on my first try

[katekerillf]

I tried it and it is indeed difficult.

[randomasta]

Got 12 in my first try. I find it easier to fight your enemies over the lake.

[BozoDel]

I got an 8, I suck

I love those strange-but-functional control schemes. Stuff being intuitive is great, but it doesn't have to be like that all the time, you know? It's like the XEvil controls, but reversed. I know it's the second time I mention XEvil in the forums, but it's pretty great. It's also a great time waster, and that's why I don't have it installed (5 minutes can easily become 20, and we all see where that's going). My point is, check XEvil out, it might have a lot to do with what you're going for.

I think this has great potential!

[Lafolie]

Cool little demo. You should consider building on what you have; polish it up a little and you'd have a solid game in your portfolio. Some points to consider:

• Controls are a little unintuitive (controller support would be awesome!)
• It's possible to get stuck in places - the edge of the screen was problematic for myself
• Enemies are dumb - if they're stuck make them move somewhere else (or try a path finding solution)
• Add some sounds
• Add visual/audio feedback when the player is damaged, picks up an item, etc (didn't notice I had a missile for some time)

The controls is the main issue for myself. The 'moonwalk' mechanic is good but it's a little difficult to pull off, perhaps you could do it via checking to see if the player is holding 2 opposing directional keys and keeping them facing in the first direction pressed whilst moving along the second? Or allowing the player to hold the fire key and retain the facing direction until it's released?

[15jamie20]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

My list of things I want to slowly work my way through includes:

• smarter enemies (with pathfinding)
• music and sound effects
• blood when you get hit
• more items and some powerups
• more (and better) levels
• multiplayer

About the controls... I'm not really sure what to do. I plan on adding gamepad support, that'll definitely help. I'm used to them as they are since I've played it so much, but clearly they're not the best for everyone. I'll probably investigate and add some alternative options.

It's got a github if anyone wants to check it out: http://github.com/jamienicol/arrow-wars

[BozoDel]

(controller support would be awesome!)

The 'moonwalk' mechanic is good but it's a little difficult to pull off, perhaps you could do it via checking to see if the player is holding 2 opposing directional keys and keeping them facing in the first direction pressed whilst moving along the second?

Heck, what kind of controllers do you have, Lafolie?

Or allowing the player to hold the fire key and retain the facing direction until it's released?

That's... actually a pretty good idea!

[Lafolie]

I was referring to the keyboard

With a modern game controller I'd expect this to work via dual thumb-sticks, but I can imagine other mappings would work too.