Yahtzee's Last Stand
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Okay, I'll admit, it is pretty good. As a pure game experience, it probably does deserve the top spot. At first I was skeptical, as the whole thing seemed too manic to actually be manageable. But as I played, subtle hints stood out that convinced me of the title's quality.
1. The camera zoom. The camera zoom pulls out the more you move. (within a defined limit) And it zooms in on you if you don't move around much. Not terribly significant, but it does afford you the opportunity to view the art up-close.
2. The imp. Most of the enemies just seem to be randomly spawning in, running around fairly mindlessly, and throwing stuff at you. When you kill them, they drop a moving power-up that usually heals you. That doesn't strike me as very good design. But the imp changes all of that, and adds an interesting wrinkle. The imp isn't trying to attack you, he is attempting to collect any of the health bonuses that the other enemies drop. You need to be constantly grabbing health power-ups in order to survive in this game, and the imp is attempting to stop you. Killing the imp before he escapes causes all the health he had collected up to that point to spill out. This simple concept improves the gameplay immensely, giving you another element to watch out for, and different ways to approach it. You could kill the imp immediately, so that he can't snatch any of your health. Or you could wait for the imp to collect the health for you, and then kill him just in the nick of time.
3. The Floor drop. A quick down-tap will allow you to drop through the floor you are standing on. Not immediately obvious, but essential for a game with only one real level.
I had intentionally avoided using the likenesses of copyrighted characters in my own game, so I didn't take quite as much of a shine to the enemies as everyone else seems to have. The animations and graphics are clean and well-made. I would have preferred to see a little more "weight" to the characters' animations, but that is just an aesthetic quibble. One of the best features of the graphics is actually the GUI, and the non-game elements. They are laid out well, and have a very nice look to them. I was especially pleased by the custom logo on the main menu page.
The game reminds me of a high-energy version of the original Mario Bros. game. (single-screen, randomly spawning enemies, etc...) I approve.
1. The camera zoom. The camera zoom pulls out the more you move. (within a defined limit) And it zooms in on you if you don't move around much. Not terribly significant, but it does afford you the opportunity to view the art up-close.
2. The imp. Most of the enemies just seem to be randomly spawning in, running around fairly mindlessly, and throwing stuff at you. When you kill them, they drop a moving power-up that usually heals you. That doesn't strike me as very good design. But the imp changes all of that, and adds an interesting wrinkle. The imp isn't trying to attack you, he is attempting to collect any of the health bonuses that the other enemies drop. You need to be constantly grabbing health power-ups in order to survive in this game, and the imp is attempting to stop you. Killing the imp before he escapes causes all the health he had collected up to that point to spill out. This simple concept improves the gameplay immensely, giving you another element to watch out for, and different ways to approach it. You could kill the imp immediately, so that he can't snatch any of your health. Or you could wait for the imp to collect the health for you, and then kill him just in the nick of time.
3. The Floor drop. A quick down-tap will allow you to drop through the floor you are standing on. Not immediately obvious, but essential for a game with only one real level.
I had intentionally avoided using the likenesses of copyrighted characters in my own game, so I didn't take quite as much of a shine to the enemies as everyone else seems to have. The animations and graphics are clean and well-made. I would have preferred to see a little more "weight" to the characters' animations, but that is just an aesthetic quibble. One of the best features of the graphics is actually the GUI, and the non-game elements. They are laid out well, and have a very nice look to them. I was especially pleased by the custom logo on the main menu page.
The game reminds me of a high-energy version of the original Mario Bros. game. (single-screen, randomly spawning enemies, etc...) I approve.
Wow. I did not expect that. Awesome! 
A few comments:
Anyway, thanks everyone for the feedback (good and bad), keep it coming.
A few comments:
Thanks, I'll definitely use that quote.Blanks said:
Yeah, I was worried people wouldn't quite get the hang of this properly (even Yahtzee said it was useless)... Basically the way it works is that you launch in a straight line (in whatever direction you're aiming) & you'll keep going while ever you're holding your mouse button. Then if you hit an enemy (when the colours invert) you'll relaunch in whatever direction you're aiming at at that point. So the trick is to aim at someone, launch and then as you're flying through the air (before you even get to the first target), start aiming at someone else in preparation to relaunch. That way you can chain a bunch of kills together.Sonicron said:
The problem is, once you get the hang of it (see above), it's too powerful, since you're effectively invincible while launching and can just keep killing things... so it was a bit of a trade off (and obviously I didn't balance it well enough since lots of people have commented on it).Nova5 said:
I very much wanted a leaderboard, but I had no server to integrate it with...D4zZ said:
Yeah, I was a little unsure of where the "fair use" line was on that one, but took the risk. (also I'm glad you noticed how the imps worked).Richard Kain said:
Anyway, thanks everyone for the feedback (good and bad), keep it coming.
Also, just for my own curiosity, can people post their best scores (wondering how well/badly I tuned the difficulty as I didn't get time for proper play testing).
Trick to a good score is to get your multiplier up a bit (goes up one with every kill, but gets halved if you get hit) & then time it right so that when a new wave of enemies arrive launch to kill them (you score 100 x multiplier for launch kills as opposed to the 10 x multiplier for normal shooting). Takes a bit of practice to keep your launch going from enemy to enemy...
From memory my highest score was around the 75000 mark. (For those curious, the death quotes are "You died Pants-on-Head Retarded" for under 5k, "...a Clingy, Complaining Dipshit" for 5k-10k, "...Stonking Great!" for 10k-50k & "...a Charismatic Stallion!" for 50k+).
Trick to a good score is to get your multiplier up a bit (goes up one with every kill, but gets halved if you get hit) & then time it right so that when a new wave of enemies arrive launch to kill them (you score 100 x multiplier for launch kills as opposed to the 10 x multiplier for normal shooting). Takes a bit of practice to keep your launch going from enemy to enemy...
From memory my highest score was around the 75000 mark. (For those curious, the death quotes are "You died Pants-on-Head Retarded" for under 5k, "...a Clingy, Complaining Dipshit" for 5k-10k, "...Stonking Great!" for 10k-50k & "...a Charismatic Stallion!" for 50k+).
Oh, I got that. At one time I even managed to pull it off, and it is jolly entertaining (and even looks nice)! The reason why I ultimately decided to label it 'useless' is because the process of charging takes entirely too long for a game where you're constantly being rushed by endlessly respawning baddies with projectile attacks. Most of the time when you try and activate the cool super move, you'll get a dagger or a batarang stuck up your arse, and that's that. The power would have worked and added another level of entertainment value if the charge time had simply been reduced by 50%.Alconja said:
-EDIT- Still, a fun little game! I've only played it twice, but I managed to get 12300 points on my 2nd try. ^^
I honestly liked the 3rd place winner the best. It was buggy, sure, but it had the most interesting idea. I like the concept of a Yahtzee-themed Alien Hominid, right down to the funny graffiti on the fences.
Also, REAL men don't use the flamethrower, they go Guitar/Chainsaw all the way through.
Also, REAL men don't use the flamethrower, they go Guitar/Chainsaw all the way through.
Eh. I played it once and felt like I'd seen everything. No replay value, bad controls for a laptop, so it loses points there, and I would have thought something with a little story would have been nice (beyond the doom style explanation). Also, any game in which death is the only option loses just about all my respect and admiration. Winning must be eventually possible if there is no concrete story, because otherwise we truly are wasting our lives.
I liked it, it was fun and unique, the frame rate stuttered a bit. I think its a good chance that yahtzee will call it the winner but who knows he's probably going to do a big screw over come review time where he dous somthing like not even play any or just say they all suck or somthing, not that Im saying it sucked it was good fun.
Okay, you should probably cut the guy some slack here. Flash has no built-in functionality for retaining data. And I'm pretty sure that The Escapist wasn't going to provide him with access to their databases for this game. So the only way for him to implement leader boards would have been to host them himself on his own servers. And that means also developing his own log-in system, and storing the profiles for everyone who signed up for the leaderboards.D4zZ said:
That is a shit-load of work to do for a Flash game on a contest with no monetary prizes. The man implemented a perfectly functional scoring system, and even tiered the game-over response based on score. I think that's more than enough given the scope of this project.
You might as well blame him for not having 3D controls and environments. Sure, he COULD have. But it would have been a misappropriation of his time and effort. Part of the reason he won this contest is because his game is considerably more focused than a lot of the other entries.
Leaderboards are hardly as complex as 3d controls. I could code a leaderboard and I am hardly a Flash pro. 3D controls would mean a complete rework of the game, nothing I suggested would change any gameplay aspect and could be done in about an hour.Richard Kain said:
Everything I suggested was not particularly hard, unless there is no way you could access a server. I also gave the reason a leaderboard would have been a good idea, so he could see why it felt necessary, that way the problem could be tackled without a leaderboard but by another means to an end.
This is a message board, you can't take everything literally. The 3D controls comment was an obvious exageration. Of course, I'm not the only guilty party here. I seriously doubt that you could set up a database, program in the various fields necessary, program a sign-up web page, and then code a log-in system for flash in one hour. That is also an exageration. All of that is necessary in order to incorporate leader boards into a flash game. Leaderboards can't be stored as XML files.D4zZ said:
What if the developer wasn't already familiar with database creation and management? What if they didn't already have their own web-hosting? And why should they go to all the trouble you are describing for a simple flash game that they don't actually get to own, for a contest that they didn't know they would win? And users would have to sign up to their leaderboards before their scores would be recorded, adding another level of complexity to the game.
I'm not saying it was a bad idea. For a game like this, where the objective is to stay alive and get the highest score possible, on-line leaderboards do make sense. I just don't feel these circumstances warrant the extra time and effort.
the charge thing is useless but it's simply fun to run around on platforms like down syndrome batman and shoot stuff. Good way to kill a bit of time. If only I could get it on my iPhone.....
And it wasn't stars!
And it wasn't stars!
The super power is hardly useless, you just have to use it right--in fact, I think it makes the game perfect for a silly time waster.
Get 10x-16x or so, kill stuff until the spawns slow down (which means there's going to be another wave soon) and charge that shit. Release and watch all the 1000++s pop up.
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4231/scoreo.png
Get 10x-16x or so, kill stuff until the spawns slow down (which means there's going to be another wave soon) and charge that shit. Release and watch all the 1000++s pop up.
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4231/scoreo.png
I'd kind of have to disagree on that point. The charge definitely has its uses.Sonicron said:
For one, when you charge it, projectiles arc away from Yahtzee, so you don't always "get a batarang up your arse" because it's like Yahtzee has some sort of Iron Man repulsion field going on when he charges it. Two, you can change direction as you hit an enemy, so you can wipe out nearly the entire screen if your reflexes are good. And three, it kills the Imps in one hit, so you can grab a whole mess of fans if you smash a huge one with it.
By the way, my current high score is 60250.
Charismatic Stallion! Woo!
The leaderboard wouldn't take that longer than an hour, but I meant the other suggestions I made would easily fit into an hour.Richard Kain said:
There are a million and one tutorials online on how to make a simple Flash leaderboard, I've use a couple for college projects and it's not difficult even on the first time. So even if he isn't familiar, he obviously has coding skills and isn't an idiot, I'm sure he would pick it up easily.
A lot of people have servers, well a lot of people I know do, I'm sure he could find someone with the small space needed to just whack it up for this.
But my view is quite bias on that, as I make websites for the majority of my income, so my contact list has quite a few nerds with servers in it, but someone who programs Flash games well enough to win a contest must know someone.
And exactly, it isn't a bad idea for this kind of game, the developer himself said he wanted to but couldn't. Which is fair enough and I don't see why you're kicking up a massive fuss over suggesting something that was wanted to be included anyway, it's not a huge amount of extra work, and is really cheap to get one even if you didn't. The response the developer game me was more than adequate and reasonable, I think you're going a bit over the top.