Touhou fan game - danmaku shmup

[Noro]

I was making a fan game of Touhou shmup series for a several months already and now it can be called alpha version, at last, so I can show it without being embarrassed too much.
Made with ClanLib 2.2 almost entirely(for the one exception of sound system, I used irrKlang for it).
You can grab a working demo from http://www.mediafire.com/?9d9tho05l7myck7 , I believe it should run without problems on any computer capable of running ClanLib examples.
Controls:
Arrows - move
Shift - slow mode
'Z' - shot
'X' - invoke spellcard
Also support gamepads.

There is still much work to do and there are lot of things half-made in this demo but I'll appreciate any feedback.

622623624621

[Seth]

Post some screenshots! :crazy:

[Noro]

I shall post screenshots later. I have a troubles with uploading from the location I am now.

[Noro]

Attached some screenshots at last.

[mpxd]

Nice game!
:]

[Melodatron]

10 Minute Critique
Feedback written as I played

T < 1 minute

I don't understand the first two options! Russian or Japanese maybe? I'll pick the Kanji because I like Japanese :)
Some mice menu animations and sound, they give it a polished feel.
Hmmm, don't understand why I can't select Start or Results, they look exactly like the other menu options. Graying them out would make it more obvious if it's a bug, or if they're disabled.
Player? Is that asking "How many players?" or are the options specific for each individual player?
Key Config is a little hard to understand, but I get what he's doing there. I'm pretty sure that number represents the key it's mapped to.
"Quit"? But I don't want to quit, I just want to go back...

T < 3 Minutes

The main game screen looks nice, I guess work on the UI comes later
Ach du scheiße, I've forgotten the buttons. Arrows move, good... X does something interesting looking...
Oh. I'm dead already. Should probably look up the buttons again.

T < 3.5 Minutes

And... he had to choose "Z" as a shoot button. Damn German keyboards. Glad I can change the Windows input language! (That would explain why I couldn't find the other shoot button)

T < 6 Minutes

Okay, so I feel a little slower than what I'm used to, but it's not so bad that I won't get used to it.
Wow, I shoot a lot of bullets with Z, and they're killing enemies way quicker than the X button did. I thought X was a super attack?
Pretty patterns on the screen :)
The bullets do a good job of standing out from the background, no confusing what will kill me!
Hmm... are these bullets even hurting me? It looks like they're passing right through me
I wish I knew how big my hitbox was, it's getting a little difficult to weave through these bullet clouds.
Oh. Dead again.

T < 10 Minutes

Okay focus. Let's rip this up!
Hmmm, what do all these boxes do? I like variety, but do they do anything different? Do they even power me up, or are they just points?
I feel like a lawn mower against these fairies - MWAHAHAHAHA :D
The explosions are really nice, so are the fairies... Why aren't I that pretty? Is that why I'm killing them all? (I really think the enemies are much better presented than the player character)
X-Button Time!.. Okay. So it makes me move slowly and surrounds me with a circle... Looks like I stick with the Z Button when I actually want the other fairies dead.
Wow, these line-shooting fairies make really good patterns. Complex, beautiful and challenging - this designer knows a bit about schmups!
Oh yeah, almost forgot I can slow stuff down, SLOW-TIME!
Okay, so I think it's only slowing when I hold it. Does it use Magic or something?
Oh yeah, stuff on the right, it would be really nice if I didn't have to die just to look at the stats and stuff...

Final Notes:
Okay, so I played it once more just looking at the UI and what happens, and it appears some of (but not all?) the blocks power me up? Haven't worked that out yet. Realised that I can press Z while I've got that X button thing active, but really it did take me more than 10 minutes to work that out. I really don't get the "Spell-Time" bar, or the bar that appears at the bottom of the screen when I hit X. Why is that bar not with the rest of the bars on the UI?

Overall it's not a bad piece of work, and it's on the way to becoming something really nice. I have recommendations I can give on how I would change it, but hopefully this outlining of what I think the problems and strengths of the game design thus far are, allow you to find your own solutions and make the design choices yourself.

Good job thus far, and best of luck in future development,
Melodatron

[Noro]

Wow, thank you very much for such detailed review!
My bad, I really should have placed some kind of manual for those who doesn't familiar with Touhou. I'll make it for the next update.
It is a fan game made with all rules and mechanics used in Touhou games so I think it should feels a bit of strange for people not familiar with danmaku shooters. Z as a shot key is usual for Touhou as well but it also assumes you would usually use gamepad for this game(and key config is a gampad key config). All menu options has explanation tips actually but it is only in Russian and Japanese for now, sorry.

The hitbox is really small - it is, again, a Touhou tradition since in this games you have a thousands bullets on screen and have to evade them all. Actual hitbox size is shown when you engaging slow mode.

As for power-ups:
Red boxes - power up your shots.
Blue boxes - score points
Teal boxes - spell time points
Spell time bar is showing the time spellcard will be active. Additional bar at the bottom of screen is your spellcard's HP. Spellcard will break after time limit or all of it's HP depleted.

Scoring system isn't complete yet. And this demo is bugged and unbalanced too, sorry. :sweatdrop:
Thanks again for detailed review, it is really helping me.

[sphair]

Looking good already!

Please feel free to add your game to the ClanLib Game Showcase page at http://clanlib.org/wiki/Projects_using_ClanLib!

[Melodatron]

Hey Noro,

I'm not sure what you're making this game for, but if you want to exercise your design skills, take these tips:

Don't write a manual! That's the opposite of what I want you to do. Why not have a blue floating "+10 points" or "+1 power" that appears over the characters head on collecting a box? That way I know exactly what's going on without having to look at the UI or read a manual :)
Don't worry too much about the Key Config thing, as long as I can change it that is. Assuming everyone is using a GamePad or a US keyboard is a good way to lose 60% of your audience on the spot.
The reason I brought up the hitbox thing is that the character silhouette/shape is really complex, much more than the enemies, and so I have no idea where the bullets can hit me. Also, I don't remember them actually disappearing when they hit me, (but that may have been because there were so many bullets on-screen,) which would also be a good indicator to let me know when I've been hit.

Lastly, don't friggin' apologise! :)
You asked for a feedback, on a work in progress, on a game dev forum - no-one can rightly expect everything to be finished. Thus, I intentionally didn't critique the score system or the difficulty. I mentioned the boxes because I didn't understand what they did, regardless of the score system (if something gives me points, let me know it gives me points,) and the reasons I died had nothing to die with the game being un-balanced. I mentioned it because it always surprised me when I died; that is to say that I never knew if I was getting hit or how much health I had.

° Melodatron °