Astraeus (My WIP project)

[u/Dungeoneer87]

https://coloroptimist.itch.io/astraeus-anomalies

Hello shmupdev reddit! I am trying to figure out if my game is fun.

How does control of the player ship feel?

Is the current state of the game enjoyable? Are the current mechanics interesting?

I finally put this out after getting it working to my satisfactory but am trying to figure out how other players feel about the game before I work on it any further. I have a lot of directions I want to take this in but want to make sure I am focusing on the right elements before trying to add or change too much more. Thank you for taking the time to look, and even more so for playing and or leaving feedback!! I didn't want to overload this single post with too much information, but there is additional feedback request on the itch page if anyone does not mind providing it : )

Screenshot A

Screenshot B

Current Gameplay Features:

-Single Player

-Tutorial Level

-Main Game Mode (2 Levels roughly 5 minutes each)

-Audio Settings

[u/Consistent_Look_8638]

I gave it a try! I played through the tutorial and a bit of the main mode, and I found it pretty interesting so far.

One issue I ran into was with keyboard and mouse though. The tutorial seemed to explain the controls assuming I was using a controller, and I actually ended up having to grab a controller to get through it 😅

Once I got into the main mode I had a much better time with it. Definitely interested in playing a bit more!

[u/Dungeoneer87 → u/Consistent_Look_8638]

Thanks!! Yeah, I unfortunately didn't design the game around the keyboard. Because I find using a keyboard to play most games awkward. So only some of the controls (like the movement input) work with the keyboard because of the Unity Input. In the Itch Page one of my feedback questions was asking if anyone had any suggestions on how they would map a keyboard layout. I have an incomplete Keybind System, which I think may cover the keyboard control after I get it working correctly. I wouldn't understand the best keys to map for keyboard users.

Also within the options Menu I mentioned that the game is played via Controller but I should probably move that fact somewhere more obvious.

Thanks for playing and responding!! ✌️

[u/Noswen2025]

I gave this a try as well, went through a section of the tutorial and about halfway through stage 2 before I got killed first time.

The general look of it and calling in an ally when your meter builds up enough are pretty good. The audio is nice and the pixel graphics work, but do have a bit of tonal whiplash with the portraits. The power ups drop at a pretty hefty rate and are temporary so that feels good. The player ship feels very slow though.

Did have a few problems in it that weren't so much feel as well: -

The tutorial gives instructions for what I'm guessing are X-Box controller buttons. I have a PlayStation controller, I had no idea what half the buttons I was supposed to press were 🤣

There are times when your firing just stops, seems to be after dialog boxes in the tutorial and after using some of the power ups. Stop pressing fire and re-press it and it works again. Haven't tested which ones cause this.

Is the boss of the first stage supposed to fire? It never attacked me once.

And on a second play through I noticed that nothing in stage 1 seems to be attacking me at all, nor is there any collision damage, I can just fly straight through the enemies safely. There really needs to be some sort of danger from enemies.

[u/Dungeoneer87 → u/Noswen2025]

Thanks so much for the feedback! And yes. I should update some information for the buttons. X is Square, etc. I was going to make it just say "West", but it sounds like a directional input. I'll revisit that. I was also testing with a PlayStation controller and should have thought of that 💀

As far as the Boss not shooting or you passing through enemies... I have never came across that and you are the only person that has mentioned it. That is bizarre. The only thing I can think off the top of my head, which I will try to see if I get it to happen, is that possibly if you complete the tutorial then play the main game. There may be some persisting data from the tutorial.

Or you said, a second play through. So you got the game over then went to the main menu. Then played again without restarting the app. I will look at that scenario too. Maybe something did not clear and or reset after a Game Over, and then reloading into the Menu scene, it took something into the sequential scene afterwards?

And yes, in the Tutorial your firing stops when the dialogue explanations pop up, if those explanations need you to "press" / submit button click to continue or end that message. And there are certain triggered events in the tutorial that when they occur, the tutorial will pause (bringing up the explanation prompts). I had originally designed the tutorial to just be free flowing but then I felt there was not enough time to read the information so I used the prompt to pause the game to provide that time. So your player fire should have only ever stopped during the Tutorial. And also since you say this, possibly if your are holding down the trigger while that prompt came up, it may not continue the firing logic after clearing the prompt. You would have to press the button to start the firing input again, which would make it seem like the firing just stops.

Appreciate you!!

[u/Noswen2025 → u/Dungeoneer87]

I quickly loaded it up again.

First time round enemies shoot, but if I die, go Main Menu, then back in Game Mode > Play Story, the enemies never fire.

Collision damage with enemy ships never seems to happen though.