Indie Game Bash!
Good fun, good showing
Behold, The Mighty Boss
The game needed something to bookend a level, convey a feeling of accomplishment and closure. Pretty obvious that bosses also change up the gameplay and provide a strong barrier to advancement, but you don’t really miss it until it’s gone.
Combo-based Upgrades After a lot of thought on how upgrades should work, I’ve settled on powerups that unlock during a level based on your combo. For example, at combo 20 and 30 you gain extra wingmen, and at 60 you fire a nova. You lose these powerups when hit, as your combo resets to zero.
Each enemy bullet is significant, beyond just dealing damage. Fewer bullets on the screen are needed and it really opens up the possibility space.
Getting feedback is so important. As a placeholder, all enemies spawned to the same ground level. This led to an undercurrent of issues that was finally addressed after it really started hindering gameplay during playtests.
Increasing verticality of the ground turns it into a shooting gallery, creating a wider space for more combat options. The robot no longer has a lower barrier and can traverse the entire screen.
Check out the Indie Game Bash in Calgary on June 6!
TowerFall characters were included on this sweet event poster from Justin Luk
I’ll be showing off Overlord!
Game Discovery Exhibition (GDX)
This weekend the fine folks at VGAD Club over in Edmonton are hosting an expo for indie developers. I’ll be heading over there and demo’ing Little Overlord.
It’ll be an excellent way to play test the game and see people’s reactions.
Updating the map so the player has a better understanding of the relative city strengths
Infinite scrolling
With certain patterns of bullets the player gets trapped against the sides of the arena– but no more!
There’s a buffer space on either end of the screen, that when bullets, enemies, buildings, etc, fall off, they get teleported to the other side. The score multiplier resets sooner to discourage the player from continually flying to the left / right.
Due to the lack of landmarks, the player may lose the sense of a wrapping world. To counter this, buildings will be destroyed but instead of disappearing, become part of the landscape.