I am writing this to express my profound appreciation for Project Landsword. Having been an early supporter since version 0.7.3, I have witnessed the game's remarkable evolution. The transition from a modest selection of primary and secondary weapons to the current (somewhat) expansive arsenal is commendable. The recent 0.8.2 update introduced significant enhancements, which contribute to a more immersive and engaging experience.
Suggestions for Enhancement:
Sandbox Mode: Introducing a sandbox mode would allow players to experiment with various weapons and tactics in a controlled environment, fostering creativity and providing valuable insights into game mechanics.
Expanded Secondary Weapons: While the primary weapons offer diverse functionalities, an expanded selection of secondary weapons could further enrich gameplay, offering players more strategic options.
Difficulty Settings: Implementing adjustable difficulty levels would cater to a broader audience, accommodating both newcomers and seasoned players seeking more challenging experiences.
Areas for Improvement:
Fullscreen Mode: As someone who utilizes Night Light due to eye sensitivity, Adjusting the display to align with the game's warm, orange aesthetic would enhance visual comfort.
Boss Encounters: The inclusion of boss fights, particularly a mech adversary that adapts to the player's combat style, would introduce a compelling challenge. Such dynamic encounters, akin to V2 in ULTRAKILL, could significantly elevate the game's intensity.
Concept Art Contribution:
As an amateur concept artist utilizing MS Paint, I am eager to contribute to the game's development. I can provide basic artwork to visualize new weapon designs, mech skins, or environmental concepts, aligning with the game's aesthetic and thematic direction.
Conclusion:
Project Landsword has evolved into a standout title, offering a unique blend of top-down mecha combat and strategic gameplay. I eagerly anticipate its future developments and am excited about the potential inclusion of my contributions.
MPD stands for Martian Planetary Dollars, it's the unified currency on Mars like euros. It would probably be shortened to something like Mardol or Marsdollar in casual speech.
why is Val always alone on missions?
I have yet to explain the situation in game, but basically your unit is both an isolated special purpose squadron made up of only a few high power crawlers, and has been cut off from most supporting units that would typically join you in a combined operation. Later on I think you'll actually be fighting alongside friendly units and be joined by allied crawlers in combat, but for now you're just a psycho who's fighting all on your own.
10/10 great game. looking forward to future updates!
This. This is the mecha game I always wanted, and I really look forward to the future updates
There's a few things that bothered me while playing though
Multi lock missiles really don't work for me. I am more used to them being more of a "fire and forget" weapon, but manually setting up the targets for it felt way slower then just using unguided ones. Maybe if they locked onto the closest enemy by themselves after being fired would make them feel a bit better? And even then, they were really inaccurate for they are. I had them do spirals, weird curves into the nearest buildings — everything but flying towards the target right ahead. It is rather underwhelming to spend time setting up a bunch of targets just for all the rockets to fly straight into the buildings around.
The smokescreen seemed to block the laser beam as if it was hitting an obstacle which is probably (?) A bug
And another minor problem I had is with the default key for grenades.Having them on x when using wasd was not very comfortable and I often just forgot about them. I found binding them to q work better for me, but that's more of my personal issue with it.
Right now they're probably the weapon people dislike the most. I admit they're pretty damn useless when fighting in close corridors or around buildings since they immediately curve outward. I tend to use them in more open maps like the second or fourth mission where you can really paint a lot of targets and let them fly, but I agree they need some major adjustments. I'll see about making them only curve towards targets if they have line of sight on enemies too.
The smokescreen seemed to block the laser beam as if it was hitting an obstacle which is probably (?) A bug
Due to the way smoke screens work the clouds are technically treated like an obstacle/object that collision checks run through, so the laser ends up doing a hit scan on them. I was aware of this problem, but simply didn't have enough time to come up with a fix that didn't involve restructuring a lot of code. Will definitely be fixed in the next build.
And another minor problem I had is with the default key for grenades.Having them on x when using wasd was not very comfortable and I often just forgot about them. I found binding them to q work better for me, but that's more of my personal issue with it.
That's totally fair. Glad to see key rebinding being used now!
Not my first foray into the comments to suggest this, so sorry if its a bother, but I think a discord may be good to consolidate updates, atm I have to check in a handful of places (X, steam, and here, unsure if there is a bluesky) to see updates on progress or full on updates to the game, it'd also let people discuss the game easier and more freely than on here, theres definitely a sizeable playerbase now too
I plan to eventually put up another post here showing all the progress that's been made, but for now I haven't really posted much new anywhere. Development on this project is unfortunately slow for a variety of reasons, so I apologize to people who are looking for more frequent updates. A lot of the development work also doesn't translate into things that I think are even worth sharing, so I tend to remain silent for the most part.
A few people did ask for a Discord channel before, but I really don't want spend time managing and interacting with it. Sorry.
Its understandable why development would be slow, i didnt intend to rush you, you're making great stuff and that takes time, though I am curious about some of the development processes, even small things could be neat
As for the discord yeah fair, it takes a lot to manage especially on top of making a whole game, would you be opposed to someone making an unofficial/fan discord for it though? I may not be the one to make it if so but if someone sees these messages and decides to.
As for the discord yeah fair, it takes a lot to manage especially on top of making a whole game, would you be opposed to someone making an unofficial/fan discord for it though? I may not be the one to make it if so but if someone sees these messages and decides to.
Honestly, I still think there's way too little content in it to warrant a Discord server. The demo can be beaten in 20 minutes, and generally anything like a story or lore just hasn't been developed enough to discuss. I don't think it's a good idea to have an unofficial one since that could open up the possibility for scams or worse if it falls into the wrong hands.
Very cool game! Just finished the recent build. The extraction mission is super fun! I've enjoyed all the newly added weapons a lot. Especially the Stacked Munitions Launcher and the Spider bomb (or whatever it's called)
For me personally, the game kinda lacks difficulty. Though last two missions taught me a couple lessons and managed to send me to the beginning. Anyways most of the time you can safely eliminate all the targets from great distance. What I love to see in such games: - intense long combats that make you sweat and mind your ammo (what 0.7.0 version of worms mission did not bad, but 0.8.2 - not really, the laser is op) - high risk duel segments that make you act tactically and greatly punish for mistakes. The pre-last mission with minotaur mechs did this not bad, just wanna see more of this
Anyways, those can be totally a bunch of me-isms. Just keep developing this beauty and good luck!
Thanks for playing! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the new additions in this build.
For me personally, the game kinda lacks difficulty. Though last two missions taught me a couple lessons and managed to send me to the beginning. Anyways most of the time you can safely eliminate all the targets from great distance.
I'm aware at the moment things aren't too challenging with the enemy variety and power that the player wields. In the future, all of the weapons won't be available from the start, and I'll probably be changing the order of the maps; for now they're all pretty disjointed.
- intense long combats that make you sweat and mind your ammo (what 0.7.0 version of worms mission did not bad, but 0.8.2 - not really, the laser is op)
That it is. The laser will be probably be quite a late game weapon. More horde missions featuring other organic enemies are planned.
- high risk duel segments that make you act tactically and greatly punish for mistakes. The pre-last mission with minotaur mechs did this not bad, just wanna see more of this
This is something I'm working on currently. Certain missions will have sort of mini-bosses with tons of health that you'll need to attack more strategically.
Just keep developing this beauty and good luck! And we're waiting for the next build!
Thank you for the feedback and wishes! It's probably going to be a while before the next build, but work continues.
This is something I'm working on currently. Certain missions will have sort of mini-bosses with tons of health that you'll need to attack more strategically.
bro why mini bosses? i want full on gigantic cool robots with lazer beams that i gotta fight against, and btw, a melee weapon would be sick but i dont really know how to make it not be overshadowed by the other ones, maybe make it launch you forward?
Hello, The game is real awesome! Had quite a blast! I'm wondering if you'll make a discord server for this, would be looking foward to that and to the game!
Well, after quite a long time, I'm back here (The one who first found Morse code in the UwU soundtrack). What can I say about the new and old weapons.
The 120mm cannon is good, but HEAT shells? Seriously? They don't penetrate walls and don't work at close range because of the damage to your own crawler. It would be possible to give separate ammo for APFSDS and HE shells. AP shells do more damage to armored targets and penetrate buildings, and HE shells are better at killing light vehicles and command centers.
There are no complaints about the laser, it's good.
The SMP is too good on all missions except the 7th.
The anti-tank mines are good, but they blow each other up too well, they need to reduce the chain reaction distance.
Spider drones are too good, but often get lost in narrow corridors of level 7 (as well as enemies). 12 pieces is VERY many for such a powerful weapon, I would limit it to 6, or better yet, 4.
Multi-lock missiles are still terrible, I already suggested giving them the ability to ignore trees and cars, but no one listened to me, they are still unplayable.
20 mm guns are terrible, but I suppose this is normal for a weapon of this caliber, especially if it is the starting one.
25 mm weapons, both simple and smartgun are balanced. Although the smartgun is too weak in my opinion, it needs to either increase the deflection speed, or completely remove the penetration, but give it high damage for minimal damage to buildings.
Scatter gun... I don't know what to say about it, I personally don't like it, but I can't give specific reasons why.
Smoke grenades are still simply the best choice, simply because it turns off the enemy's brain (I already said this, but I understand that it takes a lot of effort to solve, I'm just reminding you), and among fragmentation grenades, incendiary ones are simply better, although it's better to give them a small explosion damage, but a lot of fire.
The 120mm cannon is good, but HEAT shells? Seriously? They don't penetrate walls and don't work at close range because of the damage to your own crawler. It would be possible to give separate ammo for APFSDS and HE shells. AP shells do more damage to armored targets and penetrate buildings, and HE shells are better at killing light vehicles and command centers.
Other people seem to feel the same. I felt I could differentiate the weapon a bit by having it require both high accuracy and be low penetration, but I'll try the reverse and crank up the amount of buildings it can go through.
The SMP is too good on all missions except the 7th.
Yeah, it's going to need a damage reduction, it's way too powerful currently.
The anti-tank mines are good, but they blow each other up too well, they need to reduce the chain reaction distance.
I kind of enjoy that you can chain so many together in such a wide area, but I understand how it can be kind of frustrating at times.
Multi-lock missiles are still terrible, I already suggested giving them the ability to ignore trees and cars, but no one listened to me, they are still unplayable.
These do need a major reworking, they're pretty bad indeed and I don't tend to use the lock on very much myself.
25 mm weapons, both simple and smartgun are balanced. Although the smartgun is too weak in my opinion, it needs to either increase the deflection speed, or completely remove the penetration, but give it high damage for minimal damage to buildings.
I'll try speeding up the smart gun bullets, see if they're any better or worse.
Scatter gun... I don't know what to say about it, I personally don't like it, but I can't give specific reasons why.
I tried to make using it more fun by cranking up the fire rate, but I guess the damage is still too little at long ranges. At a closer range with hordes of enemies I think it's quite decent. Maybe some better sound design would spice it up too.
Dev'd by a single person (or small studio), already with 7 fully fledged missions in the demo alone, excellent enemy variety, engaging gameplay— really, I could go on. Hell, I'd say the game is practically finished as is, I could play this for hours if it had a couple more missions.
Solid 9/10. I patiently await further developments..!
The 2 new levels are great, I was a little caught off guard by the difficulty spike - those Minotaurs are terrifying. Rocked the Vulcan, Smoke and the new Spiders (they're goated) on every level except the 2nd.
One question though, how does rank get calculated? Is there a formula? I've always thought it was about getting 0 hits, but only got an A+ on the last mission.
PS: After reading the comments and trying out the laser - yeah it's pretty busted lol.
How does rank get calculated? thought it was about getting 0 hits, but only got an A+ on the last mission.
There are only two things that affect rank: hits taken, and mission time. You can take one hit and still get an S rank if you complete the level under 3 minutes. Past 4 minutes it will subtract from the rank. I'll need to tweak this since different levels should have different time thresholds.
Second, it might be a good idea to have an option to forcibly overwrite your current score. I obtained what I thought was a superior score, but it did not replace the old one. Though, if it isn't the score calculation's fault, then it may be because I alt-tabbed out of the game for a bit to take a pic of the 2nd one.
Thank you for the screenshots. It really should have saved it since your new score is superior. The only thing I can think of which caused it to not discard the score was the higher kill count, but your time and damage sustained is lower so it should take priority. Very sorry about this, I'll look into it further.
Fantastic update. Looking forward to further developments. 120mm cannon feels a little on the weaker side of things currently. It's susceptible to hitting buildings and cars and such like other weapons, but doesn't have the ability to rapidly follow through like other weapons - it takes more skill to use, but it doesn't feel particularly more rewarding. I'd much rather take any of the autocannons than the 120 because they let me take far more fights (with way less risk of blowing myself up) while sacrificing what feels to be a negligible amount of DPS.
Minor nitpick on the worldbuilding: a 5 petawatt laser drills through something like 20 kilometers of graphite a second (I think). I know it's "ultra high energy" but by the prophets it doesn't "violently ignite" or "sear a hole", it turns whatever it's looking at into a rapidly expanding cloud of ionized plasma, regardless of whether or not it's fleshy. I'm pretty sure a weapon like that would make armor irrelevant.
120mm cannon feels a little on the weaker side of things currently.
That's fair. I'm not completely happy with it either, and I can see how compared to the other more rapid-fire weapons it feels a bit underwhelming at times. Maybe I'll increase the damage and penetration to compensate for it.
Minor nitpick on the worldbuilding: a 5 petawatt laser drills through something like 20 kilometers of graphite a second (I think). I know it's "ultra high energy" but by the prophets it doesn't "violently ignite" or "sear a hole", it turns whatever it's looking at into a rapidly expanding cloud of ionized plasma, regardless of whether or not it's fleshy. I'm pretty sure a weapon like that would make armor irrelevant.
Haha, I like that. I'll see about adding some more visual effects to imply the objects being turned into plasma. The concept of an anti-armor laser is really appealing to me, and I'll eventually have some enemies equipped with them too.
Here i am again, very late to the party after the recent update. And oh boy did I love it !
I like the new weapons a lot, the stack launcher and the laser are awesome (i also, like a lot of people, think the laser is too powerful, but since you said that it will be a late game weapon i wont say anything :D), but the 120 feels very off. It does not have the dps to kill a command center before it calls reinforcments, which is pretty lame since you can do that with every other weapon (i think). I feel like changing it to a 140mm with APFSDS instead of HEAT, buffing its damage while lowering the rate of fire would be best, and it would also keep it in line with the lore since it is fitted on the tanks you fight.
I also just remembered that the laser does not go through smoke which is really annoying :/
The new seccondaries are really awesome ideas, but the spiders are insanly good ( even if their pathfinding bugs out 30% of the time), capable of taking out groups of enemies with ease, while mines are kinda useless, at least in my experiance. A cool feature to balence both in the future would to be to make unguided weapons like rockets and mines free while having to pay for each spider and guided missiles (though guided missiles feel pretty bad, maybe changing them to a top attack one shot on any target and limiting the number would help). As a request i would love to get LOSATs as a seccondary option, getting only 12 to keep it balenced of course.
The two new levels are straight bangers, I enjoyed the hell out of them even with the difficulty spike.
I adore the new enemies, both the drone and the minautor, but i feel like the drone has some un-tapped potential, as right now its both fragile and has low damage. I suggest adding it to some other levels, and making it so that when it spots you it starts a short 5 seccond alert that warns all enemies in a medium to large raidus of your prescence.
For new enemies, i eagerly await the bossfight (but also take your time dont rush), and I would love to see more heavily armored enemies, sort of like the tanks, because most things you see evaporate in secconds with most of the weapons at your disposal. I would also love to see an artilery unit that fires slow moving shells with medium damage and a large explosion, would shake up the gameplay pretty well I think.
I should also mention that I like the voice lines, but I wish we had more and more frequently, saying things like "i have to be careful with that one" when encountering a specific enemy, and getting voice lines from oposing pilots as battlefield banter and voice lines upon both player and enemy death would also add to the immersion a lot. But i think im asking too much now.
Another thing i adore is the intel screen. I love it so much i cant even express it right now. Could we possibly get an entry for our model of crawler and the compagny who employs us ?
Anyway this is really great, thank you so much for this game !
If you need help with testing anything, or writing lore for the game or extra feedback feel free to reach out hehe
the 120 feels very off. It does not have the dps to kill a command center before it calls reinforcments, which is pretty lame since you can do that with every other weapon (i think). I feel like changing it to a 140mm with APFSDS instead of HEAT, buffing its damage while lowering the rate of fire would be best, and it would also keep it in line with the lore since it is fitted on the tanks you fight.
Yeah, I can see how that can be frustrating. On the other hand, I was worried about making it too powerful since you can kill most enemies with just two shots. I might lower the amount of HP that the command centers have and just surround them with shields or something.
I also just remembered that the laser does not go through smoke which is really annoying :/
Sorry about that! It is something I needed to patch, but due to the way the smoke works I'll need to refactor quite a bit of code (they're basically treated like temporary building structures)
The new seccondaries are really awesome ideas, but the spiders are insanly good ( even if their pathfinding bugs out 30% of the time), capable of taking out groups of enemies with ease, while mines are kinda useless, at least in my experiance. A cool feature to balence both in the future would to be to make unguided weapons like rockets and mines free while having to pay for each spider and guided missiles (though guided missiles feel pretty bad, maybe changing them to a top attack one shot on any target and limiting the number would help). As a request i would love to get LOSATs as a seccondary option, getting only 12 to keep it balenced of course.
Interesting idea having special weapons cost money, I'll see how that could work. The bugginess of the spider's movement will be patched, I think it struggles with constantly recalculating its path to the shortest one when its target coordinates are over structures. And LOSATs will be a secondary eventually for sure, they're like pocket railgun shots.
I adore the new enemies, both the drone and the minautor, but i feel like the drone has some un-tapped potential, as right now its both fragile and has low damage. I suggest adding it to some other levels, and making it so that when it spots you it starts a short 5 seccond alert that warns all enemies in a medium to large raidus of your prescence.
Funnily enough, that was sort of the plan with the mortar carriers in the game, they were going to send out scout drones which would stop and lase your position from afar for enemies to start shooting you from off screen. Maybe I'll add artillery that functions that way. For now the VAC-3 drones are just going to be sort of cheap cannon-fodder enemies though, I think there should be more of them (although they can heavily damage you if you're not paying attention)
For new enemies, i eagerly await the bossfight (but also take your time dont rush), and I would love to see more heavily armored enemies, sort of like the tanks, because most things you see evaporate in secconds with most of the weapons at your disposal. I would also love to see an artilery unit that fires slow moving shells with medium damage and a large explosion, would shake up the gameplay pretty well I think.
There will be heavier enemies for sure, big ones that tank damage like the command centers. I'd like artillery that fires off screen, but I suppose on screen is fine since we already have the mortar carriers.
I should also mention that I like the voice lines, but I wish we had more and more frequently, saying things like "i have to be careful with that one" when encountering a specific enemy, and getting voice lines from oposing pilots as battlefield banter and voice lines upon both player and enemy death would also add to the immersion a lot. But i think im asking too much now
I wanted to add a lot more new lines and also have ones that are said only one killing specific enemies, but it'll require a bunch of code refactoring. Right now I basically have each line hardcoded in an enemy deletion event where it picks a random line and does a random chance check to say it, but more mission-specific dialogue would be a lot more interesting. I made sure to also code in a check that ensures dialogue lines don't repeat once said and added a 15 second cool down between them since I really fear that players can find it annoying if it goes off too often. But I have also had a few people tell me it's too infrequent now as a result...
Another thing i adore is the intel screen. I love it so much i cant even express it right now. Could we possibly get an entry for our model of crawler and the compagny who employs us ?
Absolutely, there will be plenty of shots and info on the player's quadtank as well as the unit you're serving in. I made the whole thing and all of the art in about five days, so it's pretty rushed at the moment haha.
Anyway this is really great, thank you so much for this game !
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it, and I'm glad you enjoy it!
Yay yippee thanks for the fix, you probably wrote it in the description, sorry that's mb, I should have searched more thoroughly. Btw great game !!!. I'll try the fix right now.
1. The laser in current version is incredibly powerful. Its damage is comparable to that of a tank killer. The firing preparation time is short, there is no spread, and it can penetrate buildings and tanks in an instant, hitting the second target behind the target that is unawared. Moreover, with a high ammunition capacity, I can finish a level in one go. I even don't need to use my right mouse button.
I hope that this powerful weapon, without any weakening, can be seenin the official version. If you think it is too powerful and can lead to the loss of significance of other weapons, you can consider this laser as a reward weapon for the later stages. For example,（1）when the main character becomes a seasoned veteran driver (for instance, he has completed multiple achievements ——if you plan to create an achievement system?), the organization believes that he is qualified to use this weapon. Or （2）assigns a scientist character to the main character, providing him with an experimental laser weapon (the firing duration is poor, it can only fire for a few seconds before recharging/cooling down, but the damage is very high, it vaporizes buildings and enemies instantly, and leaves a red lava-like trail on the ground) after completing a series of tasks, the main character officially obtains the strongest version of the laser.
2. For the second task, the worm level. Can the teammates and superiors' evaluations be arranged according to the combat situation? The insects are slow and do not have long-range attacks, and the threat is much lower than military targets. A qualified regular army driver should be able to complete this level without any self-hurt or collateral damage. But new recruits may feel too much pressure and make mistakes when seeing themselves surrounded.
If the main character makes a panic and makes a mistake, what will the teammates say?
I realized that by shooting outside the city, I could almost completely avoid damage to buildings. If the main character managed to do this, with almost no collateral damage, what kind of comments would he receive?
3. Connecting 1 and 2, can this scientist be a scientist researching energy supply for the colony?It is like a giant array that collects and focuses sunlight, with powerful lasers incorporated within. After the event breaks out, he temporarily uses his energy technology to manufacture laser weapons. The experimental laser weapon can even be more powerful than the final version because it is based on the huge scale of city power generation technology, so it is too heavy and has poor sustainability for the main character's vehicle, and it is successfully miniaturized through subsequent modifications.
4. I want cute female characters. Look at the desert on the map, I need the comfort of water.
For instance, in "4", the scientist could be a noble and intellectual woman who came to Mars for the purpose of developing agriculture in the colony, in order to ensure that the people have enough food to eat, and she was rescued by the protagonist. Additionally, I also want a short-haired female comrade with blonde hair that shines like the sun - especially considering the climate conditions, the lighting should be good, making it easy for her hair to shine brightly.—— if her hair hasn't become dry and split due to the dry wind，laugh.
The boss could be a cold, black-haired lady, or a tough, square-faced tough guy in a military cap and eye mask, like that. Have I formed too many stereotypes?Big boss？Bill？ Well, let's just leave it at that.
5. Is it necessary for single-player games to balance different weapons? Are you planning to do online battles?
6. Does the main character drive a medium-sized vehicle or a heavy one? Can he directly be immune to small-caliber weapon attacks from a certain distance? Or is 10/10 armor just a simulation for heavy armor?
7. What kind of combat mode do you expect? Considering that the main character is fighting against dozens of opponents in each battle, his single-unit quality must be much stronger than the opponent. Either it is a performance advantage or a system boost. In reality, regular armies can suppress second-rate troops with information superiority. I also rely on human reaction being faster than the AI, God's vision, and 10 armor to win. But probably many players are just here to experience the thrill of weaving through a sea of bullets, and this aspect must be thrilling as well.
8. Regarding 7, in the first level, no matter where I am in the city, the enemy keeps rushing towards me continuously, as if there is a reconnaissance aircraft reporting my position to them. But in the seventh level, I was clearly attacking a sealed military base, most of the enemies couldn't see me through a pillar, and there were no sensors inside the base? Was the attack not triggering an alarm? Why did most of the enemies seem to be sleeping in place and suddenly wake up when I approached? Usually, the standard for a single-unit penetration into the base is not a wandering patrol team and enemy forces trying to surround me from all directions? Why do the enemies in the first and seventh levels have such a big difference in target detection and battle AI?
9.I once imagined such an animation: after selecting the mission, it would continuously zoom in from the satellite view of the main map until it could show the protagonist's vehicle, just like when you switch to the 'watching the clouds' view in GTA.
But I don't know how difficult it would be to achieve this, so I just brought up this idea.And in addition, the equipment selection process will be skipped in this procedure.
10.You now have a variety of weapons at your disposal: gunpowder weapons, railguns, laser cannons, all these are typical sci-fi equipment. Only one more is missing - a plasma/electrolyte cannon.I wonder do you think the variety of weapons is enough for offical version。Don't misunderstand. I'm not opposing anything. I have no idea about the answer to this question, that's why I'm asking.
Could you also explain what situation the eighth main weapon is used for? Are there such weapons that primarily use projectile firing in reality? You're not referring to the 155 high-explosive shell, are you?
Does the preheating of the transfer gun conform to engineering practice? Was it just added to balance things out? I think his extremely high ammunition consumption has become a significant weakness.
11.Should we change the smoke grenade launcher to a separate button and make it not occupy the same slot as other weapons? You know that in reality, this thing actually doesn't compete with the weapon system. Whether you carry any weapons or not, it doesn't matter. Just bring some smoke bombs for your own protection.
However, this means there are five key positions that need to be operated: main weapon, secondary weapon, close combat, grenade, and smoke grenade. This can be a bit cumbersome.
12.Add a map and instructions in the seventh level.
Give me a laser pointer, please. It will help with aiming. Like an aerial fleet.
Turning the turret sometimes goes too far in overhead view. You know, it's like when the mouse accidentally moves across the radial line, causing the radius to shorten and the angular velocity to increase sharply.
13.When it comes to turrets, I think of "Galaxy on fire 2". There are several aspects in it that are worth learning from. First, there are self-defense turrets (with automatic aiming and firing). Maybe you could design a laser active defense system to intercept physical ammunition approaching the player (leaving the interception of long-range ammunition to the player's main gun). Second, I noticed that some other players commented that the initiative/aggressiveness of the mines was too poor. Then you could prepare deployable turrets. When anticipating a major battle, or at important road intersections, or even when encountering a boss, players can directly deploy multiple turrets, and the firepower will increase exponentially within a short period of time.Also expand the alert area，you can release the turret to guard one side，than focous on shooting to the other side without fear of being hit from back.
Hello. Thank you kindly for playing again and the feedback, I'll try to answer the best I can.
1. The laser in current version is incredibly powerful. Its damage is comparable to that of a tank killer. The firing preparation time is short, there is no spread, and it can penetrate buildings and tanks in an instant, hitting the second target behind the target that is unawared. Moreover, with a high ammunition capacity, I can finish a level in one go. I even don't need to use my right mouse button. I hope that this powerful weapon, without any weakening, can be seenin the official version.
I don't plan on reducing the power of the laser, I like that it's exceedingly powerful too. The only thing that I intend to nerf is its ability to tear down large, non free standing structures in underground missions, such as Mission 7 since that would allow the player to get outside of the level's bounds.
2. I realized that by shooting outside the city, I could almost completely avoid damage to buildings. If the main character managed to do this, with almost no collateral damage, what kind of comments would he receive?
The second mission is going to be redone with its level design to be more complete like the others. I really wanted to revamp it with this update, but I simply ran out of time while working on implementing the intel tab on the overworld's PDA. But honestly, I think it's going to be impossible to do little to no collateral damage on it since the sweeping hordes of worms will eventually start burrowing out of the center of the level and not just spawning from the corners. I don't think the collateral damage count should be taken too seriously, since I purposefully want to just ruin and destroy the garden as a joke with eventually a cutscene showing all the carnage caused. But it is an interesting idea to have missions with different outcomes depending on the amount of damage caused, I'll definitely consider how I can implement that in other stages.
3. Connecting 1 and 2, can this scientist be a scientist researching energy supply for the colony?It is like a giant array that collects and focuses sunlight, with powerful lasers incorporated within. After the event breaks out, he temporarily uses his energy technology to manufacture laser weapons. The experimental laser weapon can even be more powerful than the final version because it is based on the huge scale of city power generation technology, so it is too heavy and has poor sustainability for the main character's vehicle, and it is successfully miniaturized through subsequent modifications.
In the universe of the game, laser weapons have developed and matured to the point that they're already being equipped on certain armored vehicles, much like with railguns today. The player's crawler tank actually has a small nuclear reactor/battery which it uses to generate the power for it. I could still see it being a prototype that you purchase from someone, but I'm not sure if that will be where you get it. Maybe you'll obtain it from a boss that you kill...
4. I want cute female characters. Look at the desert on the map, I need the comfort of water.
Haha, don't worry. There will be cute female characters, although they won't make up the entire cast. I want something similar to the tone of the Mobile Police Patlabor movies and OVA.
5. Is it necessary for single-player games to balance different weapons? Are you planning to do online battles?
Online battles would be fun, but they'd be mixed up quite a bit I think. You might not even have all the weapons in the game, and instead play as a tank or enemy mech. But at the moment, an online mode is not a priority, just getting the singleplayer game down how I want is a gigantic challenge...
6. Does the main character drive a medium-sized vehicle or a heavy one? Can he directly be immune to small-caliber weapon attacks from a certain distance? Or is 10/10 armor just a simulation for heavy armor?
That's an interesting concept. I might have different armor parts, some with regenerating health, some with a different amount of layers, and some that reduce damage depending on distance or random chance. At the moment the 10/10 armor is just basic health, nothing special really.
7. What kind of combat mode do you expect? Considering that the main character is fighting against dozens of opponents in each battle, his single-unit quality must be much stronger than the opponent. Either it is a performance advantage or a system boost. In reality, regular armies can suppress second-rate troops with information superiority. I also rely on human reaction being faster than the AI, God's vision, and 10 armor to win. But probably many players are just here to experience the thrill of weaving through a sea of bullets, and this aspect must be thrilling as well.
Honestly, I think right now it's close to how I want it to be in terms of movement and dodging enemy fire, but I do think it needs some refinement with how enemies behave and attack. One of the things I try to stress when working on the general combat is that the player should be able to avoid any damage as long as they keep moving and are paying attention; all of the attacks and bullets should be dodgeable, and it's up to the player to actually think about how they'll approach targets in combat. Charging directly at the enemy with zero care isn't really going to do it, you need to think and watch where they're facing before attacking, lest you want to get torn apart by direct fire. Well, at least for vehicular combat that is; missions like the second one are more about endurance and spraying apart hordes in a more care-free manner.
8. Regarding 7, in the first level, no matter where I am in the city, the enemy keeps rushing towards me continuously, as if there is a reconnaissance aircraft reporting my position to them. But in the seventh level, I was clearly attacking a sealed military base, most of the enemies couldn't see me through a pillar, and there were no sensors inside the base? Was the attack not triggering an alarm? Why did most of the enemies seem to be sleeping in place and suddenly wake up when I approached? Usually, the standard for a single-unit penetration into the base is not a wandering patrol team and enemy forces trying to surround me from all directions? Why do the enemies in the first and seventh levels have such a big difference in target detection and battle AI?
That's interesting. Basically, in the first mission I simply spawn 3-4 waves with the each of the enemies set to search and destroy. They don't have any info where the player is, they just wander around and check random coordinates on the city's map. You'll note in other missions enemies are just on guard and hold their position; unless something sets them off like an explosion or building collapse, they'll just continue to wait where they are. On the seventh mission, when you retrieve the package and the alarm goes off I do the same thing I did on Mission 1 and simply spawn four waves of enemies randomly set to check around for coordinates.
Now I will note, Mission 7 is a lot different in set up since it uses the underground objects instead of buildings. These wall objects despawn when far enough out of the view, and if the enemies are suddenly seeing you behind walls when you get close, that may be due to the view being far enough that the walls despawned and allowed them see you. However, I specifically programmed it to increase the deactivation distance underground to prevent this, so this shouldn't really be happening. I'll try to figure out a better way to do it, sorry about that.
9.I once imagined such an animation: after selecting the mission, it would continuously zoom in from the satellite view of the main map until it could show the protagonist's vehicle, just like when you switch to the 'watching the clouds' view in GTA.
That's fun. There will be animations for deployment and mission end, I think it'll add a lot.
10.You now have a variety of weapons at your disposal: gunpowder weapons, railguns, laser cannons, all these are typical sci-fi equipment. Only one more is missing - a plasma/electrolyte cannon.I wonder do you think the variety of weapons is enough for offical version。Don't misunderstand. I'm not opposing anything. I have no idea about the answer to this question, that's why I'm asking.
A plasma weapon is planned, I just need to think about how it'll behave differently from the rest of them. I think in total the game will have maybe 15-20 primary weapons; it's hard to keep all of them balanced and interesting though.
Could you also explain what situation the eighth main weapon is used for? Are there such weapons that primarily use projectile firing in reality? You're not referring to the 155 high-explosive shell, are you? Does the preheating of the transfer gun conform to engineering practice? Was it just added to balance things out? I think his extremely high ammunition consumption has become a significant weakness.
It's basically a tank cannon that's rapid fire. I don't think it's the best weapon by any means, but it'll basically be a mid-tier one you can buy from one of the arms dealers in the game before you unlock super powerful weapons like the laser or railgun. Keep in mind not all weapons will be unlocked when you start the game, you'll have to actually buy each of them and the parts as things progress. I agree the ammo count is consumed pretty quickly, maybe I'll increase it.
11.Should we change the smoke grenade launcher to a separate button and make it not occupy the same slot as other weapons? You know that in reality, this thing actually doesn't compete with the weapon system. Whether you carry any weapons or not, it doesn't matter. Just bring some smoke bombs for your own protection. However, this means there are five key positions that need to be operated: main weapon, secondary weapon, close combat, grenade, and smoke grenade. This can be a bit cumbersome.
I know that in real life armored vehicles have smoke grenade launchers, but I think for the game purposes it should just take up a slot that regular grenades would use. And I agree it would become very cumbersome with yet another key to press.
12.Add a map and instructions in the seventh level.
Eventually. Technically there are already instructions on the intel display on the overworld map, but I know it can be a bit cryptic.
Give me a laser pointer, please. It will help with aiming. Like an aerial fleet.
There is one implemented already, you can turn it on in the settings:
13.When it comes to turrets, I think of "Galaxy on fire 2". There are several aspects in it that are worth learning from. First, there are self-defense turrets (with automatic aiming and firing). Maybe you could design a laser active defense system to intercept physical ammunition approaching the player (leaving the interception of long-range ammunition to the player's main gun). Second, I noticed that some other players commented that the initiative/aggressiveness of the mines was too poor. Then you could prepare deployable turrets. When anticipating a major battle, or at important road intersections, or even when encountering a boss, players can directly deploy multiple turrets, and the firepower will increase exponentially within a short period of time.Also expand the alert area，you can release the turret to guard one side，than focous on shooting to the other side without fear of being hit from back.
There will be automatic gun turrets you can drop eventually, I think that'd be pretty useful. They might take either the grenade slot or the secondary weapon slot, I'm not too sure yet.
You mentioned the "the player should be able to avoid any damage as long as they keep moving and are paying attention" goal. In my gaming experience, the most effective attack from the enemies against me was like this. I was fully focused on the enemy on one side, preparing to fire from a distance first. At that moment, my vehicle was very close to the other side on the screen. Then, a small vehicle rushed out from the edge of the screen on the other side. Due to the close distance, it instantly approached and hit me.
I originally thought there was no need to mention this because according to what you said, "keep moving and are paying attention" could handle this situation. The reason I was hit was that I ignored the incoming warning from the other side and also because I tried to stay in place and fire. However, looking back, I was hit by this kind of attack too many times. Even from a statistical perspective, it was necessary for me to specifically mention this.
The other situation was the crazy attack of the enemies in the sixth level. A large group of enemies, including helicopters, forced me to retreat. Then, a small group of enemies surrounded me from behind.
I feel like the mines being your secondary weapon severely limit their potential and that maybe making them grenades but lowering their numbers would make them a lot better, or making more of them fire per volley would work better.
That would be a very interesting idea and cant wait to see if it goes through, off topic but this game is genuinely my 2nd nost anticipated game, it is so fun
a really fun and unique experience after such long time.
it has a variety of weapons to use and each mission is really fun.
i almost couldnt beat mission 7 it was hard and challenging but i like the satisfaction of beating it tho.
i suggest adding weapons like a saber sword or just a huge metal rod to beat up the crawlers(i hate em for some reasons),after killing an enemy there will be a chance of dropping supply like ammunitions.(with the melee weapons)
overall i really like the game i really enjoy it :).
i suggest adding weapons like a saber sword or just a huge metal rod to beat up the crawlers(i hate em for some reasons),after killing an enemy there will be a chance of dropping supply like ammunitions.(with the melee weapons)
I plan to have different options for the melee attacks in the future, like you'll have perhaps a chargeable energy lance that acts like a shield and ram which will allow you to plow through buildings and enemies, and also maybe a much stronger plasma whip that has further distance.
I think for supplies certain enemy trucks will drop them. I also wanted to have different colored shipping containers that have ammo if you bust them open, but I ran out of time to add that in this build. Next one will have it for sure.
Our vehicle and the minitour have little claw arms that from the intel things talks about how it's made to rip apart small vehicle's, which I think would be perfect for a beginner melee weapon for desperate times, and that the energy lance you were talking about could be a late game weapon
Yeah, the current plasma whip would be attached to the little manipulator arms on the player's quadtank. I think the energy lance would come in late game as well.
Hello from Linux! (wine seems to work) Finishing the 3rd level doesn't seem to unlock any more... am I missing something? It says 'mission complete' but no more missions appear.
Finishing the 3rd level doesn't seem to unlock any more... am I missing something?
Very sorry about that, not sure why it's happening. It could be related to using an emulator, did you try starting a new game? The second mission can always be skipped, it shouldn't unlock a new one.
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Please make a mobile version
Sir Mezz,
I am writing this to express my profound appreciation for Project Landsword. Having been an early supporter since version 0.7.3, I have witnessed the game's remarkable evolution. The transition from a modest selection of primary and secondary weapons to the current (somewhat) expansive arsenal is commendable. The recent 0.8.2 update introduced significant enhancements, which contribute to a more immersive and engaging experience.
Suggestions for Enhancement:
Sandbox Mode: Introducing a sandbox mode would allow players to experiment with various weapons and tactics in a controlled environment, fostering creativity and providing valuable insights into game mechanics.
Expanded Secondary Weapons: While the primary weapons offer diverse functionalities, an expanded selection of secondary weapons could further enrich gameplay, offering players more strategic options.
Difficulty Settings: Implementing adjustable difficulty levels would cater to a broader audience, accommodating both newcomers and seasoned players seeking more challenging experiences.
Areas for Improvement:
Fullscreen Mode: As someone who utilizes Night Light due to eye sensitivity, Adjusting the display to align with the game's warm, orange aesthetic would enhance visual comfort.
Boss Encounters: The inclusion of boss fights, particularly a mech adversary that adapts to the player's combat style, would introduce a compelling challenge. Such dynamic encounters, akin to V2 in ULTRAKILL, could significantly elevate the game's intensity.
Concept Art Contribution:
As an amateur concept artist utilizing MS Paint, I am eager to contribute to the game's development. I can provide basic artwork to visualize new weapon designs, mech skins, or environmental concepts, aligning with the game's aesthetic and thematic direction.
Conclusion:
Project Landsword has evolved into a standout title, offering a unique blend of top-down mecha combat and strategic gameplay. I eagerly anticipate its future developments and am excited about the potential inclusion of my contributions.
HIMOTHY APPROVED
also, bonus points i noticed while playing, the mc (whom i think is the person in intel data no3) is a baddie, would smash if i had the chance.
I love the mix between slow and calculated strikes and the chaos when the enemies spot you (especially if a pwz.40 is on the field).
Two things I would like to know, if it's not a bother, is what does MPD stand for, and why is Val always alone on missions?
10/10 great game.
looking forward to future updates!
MPD stands for Martian Planetary Dollars, it's the unified currency on Mars like euros. It would probably be shortened to something like Mardol or Marsdollar in casual speech.
I have yet to explain the situation in game, but basically your unit is both an isolated special purpose squadron made up of only a few high power crawlers, and has been cut off from most supporting units that would typically join you in a combined operation. Later on I think you'll actually be fighting alongside friendly units and be joined by allied crawlers in combat, but for now you're just a psycho who's fighting all on your own.
Thank you! It's being worked on.
Thanks for responding!
up until now I had just been calling them "Martian pound-dollar(s)" Martian Planetary Dollars makes a lot more sense.
Sounds quite interesting, might not be good for the housing market though.
I had a feeling she wasn't completely stable.
I hope stuff goes well for you!
This game is so cool.I spend all of my time on it,and small size too, are you spaces sorcerer like toby fox :>
Thank you! The small size is mostly due to all of the audio files being compressed in .ogg format, otherwise it'd be two or three times as big.
Thank you ! its the very usefull advice, what about making a linux version it will be great!!
Eventually, it's planned.
This. This is the mecha game I always wanted, and I really look forward to the future updates
There's a few things that bothered me while playing though
Multi lock missiles really don't work for me. I am more used to them being more of a "fire and forget" weapon, but manually setting up the targets for it felt way slower then just using unguided ones. Maybe if they locked onto the closest enemy by themselves after being fired would make them feel a bit better? And even then, they were really inaccurate for they are. I had them do spirals, weird curves into the nearest buildings — everything but flying towards the target right ahead. It is rather underwhelming to spend time setting up a bunch of targets just for all the rockets to fly straight into the buildings around.
The smokescreen seemed to block the laser beam as if it was hitting an obstacle which is probably (?) A bug
And another minor problem I had is with the default key for grenades.Having them on x when using wasd was not very comfortable and I often just forgot about them. I found binding them to q work better for me, but that's more of my personal issue with it.
Thank you for playing!
Right now they're probably the weapon people dislike the most. I admit they're pretty damn useless when fighting in close corridors or around buildings since they immediately curve outward. I tend to use them in more open maps like the second or fourth mission where you can really paint a lot of targets and let them fly, but I agree they need some major adjustments. I'll see about making them only curve towards targets if they have line of sight on enemies too.
Due to the way smoke screens work the clouds are technically treated like an obstacle/object that collision checks run through, so the laser ends up doing a hit scan on them. I was aware of this problem, but simply didn't have enough time to come up with a fix that didn't involve restructuring a lot of code. Will definitely be fixed in the next build.
That's totally fair. Glad to see key rebinding being used now!
Not my first foray into the comments to suggest this, so sorry if its a bother, but I think a discord may be good to consolidate updates, atm I have to check in a handful of places (X, steam, and here, unsure if there is a bluesky) to see updates on progress or full on updates to the game, it'd also let people discuss the game easier and more freely than on here, theres definitely a sizeable playerbase now too
I plan to eventually put up another post here showing all the progress that's been made, but for now I haven't really posted much new anywhere. Development on this project is unfortunately slow for a variety of reasons, so I apologize to people who are looking for more frequent updates. A lot of the development work also doesn't translate into things that I think are even worth sharing, so I tend to remain silent for the most part.
A few people did ask for a Discord channel before, but I really don't want spend time managing and interacting with it. Sorry.
Its understandable why development would be slow, i didnt intend to rush you, you're making great stuff and that takes time, though I am curious about some of the development processes, even small things could be neat
As for the discord yeah fair, it takes a lot to manage especially on top of making a whole game, would you be opposed to someone making an unofficial/fan discord for it though? I may not be the one to make it if so but if someone sees these messages and decides to.
Honestly, I still think there's way too little content in it to warrant a Discord server. The demo can be beaten in 20 minutes, and generally anything like a story or lore just hasn't been developed enough to discuss. I don't think it's a good idea to have an unofficial one since that could open up the possibility for scams or worse if it falls into the wrong hands.
man the 7th mission got so frustrating beacause of how long it is. this game desperately needs saving mid-mission
Sorry about the frustration. Maybe I'll have an upgrade that lets you do that.
erm... how about an enemy laser tank?
These have been planned for a while actually, expect them to show up at some point.
so good. hardcor gami lik im thinkm its peam
Very cool game! Just finished the recent build. The extraction mission is super fun!
I've enjoyed all the newly added weapons a lot. Especially the Stacked Munitions Launcher and the Spider bomb (or whatever it's called)
For me personally, the game kinda lacks difficulty. Though last two missions taught me a couple lessons and managed to send me to the beginning. Anyways most of the time you can safely eliminate all the targets from great distance.
What I love to see in such games:
- intense long combats that make you sweat and mind your ammo (what 0.7.0 version of worms mission did not bad, but 0.8.2 - not really, the laser is op)
- high risk duel segments that make you act tactically and greatly punish for mistakes. The pre-last mission with minotaur mechs did this not bad, just wanna see more of this
Anyways, those can be totally a bunch of me-isms. Just keep developing this beauty and good luck!
And we're waiting for the next build!
Thanks for playing! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the new additions in this build.
I'm aware at the moment things aren't too challenging with the enemy variety and power that the player wields. In the future, all of the weapons won't be available from the start, and I'll probably be changing the order of the maps; for now they're all pretty disjointed.
That it is. The laser will be probably be quite a late game weapon. More horde missions featuring other organic enemies are planned.
This is something I'm working on currently. Certain missions will have sort of mini-bosses with tons of health that you'll need to attack more strategically.
Thank you for the feedback and wishes! It's probably going to be a while before the next build, but work continues.
bro why mini bosses? i want full on gigantic cool robots with lazer beams that i gotta fight against, and btw, a melee weapon would be sick but i dont really know how to make it not be overshadowed by the other ones, maybe make it launch you forward?
There will be properly massive 1v1 bosses as well, don't worry.
There's one in the game right now actually, it should be binded to the F key by deafult.
Hello, The game is real awesome! Had quite a blast! I'm wondering if you'll make a discord server for this, would be looking foward to that and to the game!
Hey, thanks for playing! I'll make a Discord server eventually, but right now I feel there's not enough content to warrant one.
Well, after quite a long time, I'm back here (The one who first found Morse code in the UwU soundtrack). What can I say about the new and old weapons.
The 120mm cannon is good, but HEAT shells? Seriously? They don't penetrate walls and don't work at close range because of the damage to your own crawler. It would be possible to give separate ammo for APFSDS and HE shells. AP shells do more damage to armored targets and penetrate buildings, and HE shells are better at killing light vehicles and command centers.
There are no complaints about the laser, it's good.
The SMP is too good on all missions except the 7th.
The anti-tank mines are good, but they blow each other up too well, they need to reduce the chain reaction distance.
Spider drones are too good, but often get lost in narrow corridors of level 7 (as well as enemies). 12 pieces is VERY many for such a powerful weapon, I would limit it to 6, or better yet, 4.
Multi-lock missiles are still terrible, I already suggested giving them the ability to ignore trees and cars, but no one listened to me, they are still unplayable.
20 mm guns are terrible, but I suppose this is normal for a weapon of this caliber, especially if it is the starting one.
25 mm weapons, both simple and smartgun are balanced. Although the smartgun is too weak in my opinion, it needs to either increase the deflection speed, or completely remove the penetration, but give it high damage for minimal damage to buildings.
Scatter gun... I don't know what to say about it, I personally don't like it, but I can't give specific reasons why.
Smoke grenades are still simply the best choice, simply because it turns off the enemy's brain (I already said this, but I understand that it takes a lot of effort to solve, I'm just reminding you), and among fragmentation grenades, incendiary ones are simply better, although it's better to give them a small explosion damage, but a lot of fire.
That's all, thanks for reading.
Cheers for revisiting it again!
Other people seem to feel the same. I felt I could differentiate the weapon a bit by having it require both high accuracy and be low penetration, but I'll try the reverse and crank up the amount of buildings it can go through.
Yeah, it's going to need a damage reduction, it's way too powerful currently.
I kind of enjoy that you can chain so many together in such a wide area, but I understand how it can be kind of frustrating at times.
These do need a major reworking, they're pretty bad indeed and I don't tend to use the lock on very much myself.
I'll try speeding up the smart gun bullets, see if they're any better or worse.
I tried to make using it more fun by cranking up the fire rate, but I guess the damage is still too little at long ranges. At a closer range with hordes of enemies I think it's quite decent. Maybe some better sound design would spice it up too.
Thank you for the feedback!
extremely good. super fun looks good the guns are fun the minotaurs are terrifying 11/10 fun chaotic destruction
Thank you so much for playing!
This is a *stellar* game.
Dev'd by a single person (or small studio), already with 7 fully fledged missions in the demo alone, excellent enemy variety, engaging gameplay— really, I could go on. Hell, I'd say the game is practically finished as is, I could play this for hours if it had a couple more missions.
Solid 9/10. I patiently await further developments..!
Thank you for playing!
More missions and features are on the way, there's still much more to add.
cool on dirait eithisix
Merci, je vois la similitude.
vous ne vous ete donc pas inspirer de ça
Non, je ne l'ai pas vu en fait.
how do i unlock armor kits
Sorry, currently both the armor kits and powerplant options are not implemented in the game yet.
thats ok still an amazing game
holy shit this game is so sick.
that being said, please get rid of the exit to desktop button in the pause menu.
Thank you for playing!
I'll see about adding a prompt to the exit button. For development, being able to shut the game off instantly is really convenient.
amazing and addicting game! 10/10
needs an option to toggle Val's portrait on screen like Doomguy
Cheers!
Haha, that's a fun idea.
The 2 new levels are great, I was a little caught off guard by the difficulty spike - those Minotaurs are terrifying. Rocked the Vulcan, Smoke and the new Spiders (they're goated) on every level except the 2nd.
One question though, how does rank get calculated? Is there a formula? I've always thought it was about getting 0 hits, but only got an A+ on the last mission.
PS: After reading the comments and trying out the laser - yeah it's pretty busted lol.
Thank you for playing again!
There are only two things that affect rank: hits taken, and mission time. You can take one hit and still get an S rank if you complete the level under 3 minutes. Past 4 minutes it will subtract from the rank. I'll need to tweak this since different levels should have different time thresholds.
First, thank you very much for clarifying.
Second, it might be a good idea to have an option to forcibly overwrite your current score. I obtained what I thought was a superior score, but it did not replace the old one. Though, if it isn't the score calculation's fault, then it may be because I alt-tabbed out of the game for a bit to take a pic of the 2nd one.
Thank you for the screenshots. It really should have saved it since your new score is superior. The only thing I can think of which caused it to not discard the score was the higher kill count, but your time and damage sustained is lower so it should take priority. Very sorry about this, I'll look into it further.
Good Job. Is a very good game. I Like this. Congratulations of ggsgbgames.itch.io.
Cheers.
Fantastic update. Looking forward to further developments. 120mm cannon feels a little on the weaker side of things currently. It's susceptible to hitting buildings and cars and such like other weapons, but doesn't have the ability to rapidly follow through like other weapons - it takes more skill to use, but it doesn't feel particularly more rewarding. I'd much rather take any of the autocannons than the 120 because they let me take far more fights (with way less risk of blowing myself up) while sacrificing what feels to be a negligible amount of DPS.
Minor nitpick on the worldbuilding: a 5 petawatt laser drills through something like 20 kilometers of graphite a second (I think). I know it's "ultra high energy" but by the prophets it doesn't "violently ignite" or "sear a hole", it turns whatever it's looking at into a rapidly expanding cloud of ionized plasma, regardless of whether or not it's fleshy. I'm pretty sure a weapon like that would make armor irrelevant.
Cheers for playing!
That's fair. I'm not completely happy with it either, and I can see how compared to the other more rapid-fire weapons it feels a bit underwhelming at times. Maybe I'll increase the damage and penetration to compensate for it.
Haha, I like that. I'll see about adding some more visual effects to imply the objects being turned into plasma. The concept of an anti-armor laser is really appealing to me, and I'll eventually have some enemies equipped with them too.
Here i am again, very late to the party after the recent update. And oh boy did I love it !
I like the new weapons a lot, the stack launcher and the laser are awesome (i also, like a lot of people, think the laser is too powerful, but since you said that it will be a late game weapon i wont say anything :D), but the 120 feels very off. It does not have the dps to kill a command center before it calls reinforcments, which is pretty lame since you can do that with every other weapon (i think). I feel like changing it to a 140mm with APFSDS instead of HEAT, buffing its damage while lowering the rate of fire would be best, and it would also keep it in line with the lore since it is fitted on the tanks you fight.
I also just remembered that the laser does not go through smoke which is really annoying :/
The new seccondaries are really awesome ideas, but the spiders are insanly good ( even if their pathfinding bugs out 30% of the time), capable of taking out groups of enemies with ease, while mines are kinda useless, at least in my experiance. A cool feature to balence both in the future would to be to make unguided weapons like rockets and mines free while having to pay for each spider and guided missiles (though guided missiles feel pretty bad, maybe changing them to a top attack one shot on any target and limiting the number would help). As a request i would love to get LOSATs as a seccondary option, getting only 12 to keep it balenced of course.
The two new levels are straight bangers, I enjoyed the hell out of them even with the difficulty spike.
I adore the new enemies, both the drone and the minautor, but i feel like the drone has some un-tapped potential, as right now its both fragile and has low damage. I suggest adding it to some other levels, and making it so that when it spots you it starts a short 5 seccond alert that warns all enemies in a medium to large raidus of your prescence.
For new enemies, i eagerly await the bossfight (but also take your time dont rush), and I would love to see more heavily armored enemies, sort of like the tanks, because most things you see evaporate in secconds with most of the weapons at your disposal. I would also love to see an artilery unit that fires slow moving shells with medium damage and a large explosion, would shake up the gameplay pretty well I think.
I should also mention that I like the voice lines, but I wish we had more and more frequently, saying things like "i have to be careful with that one" when encountering a specific enemy, and getting voice lines from oposing pilots as battlefield banter and voice lines upon both player and enemy death would also add to the immersion a lot. But i think im asking too much now.
Another thing i adore is the intel screen. I love it so much i cant even express it right now. Could we possibly get an entry for our model of crawler and the compagny who employs us ?
Anyway this is really great, thank you so much for this game !
If you need help with testing anything, or writing lore for the game or extra feedback feel free to reach out hehe
Thanks so much for playing it again!
Yeah, I can see how that can be frustrating. On the other hand, I was worried about making it too powerful since you can kill most enemies with just two shots. I might lower the amount of HP that the command centers have and just surround them with shields or something.
Sorry about that! It is something I needed to patch, but due to the way the smoke works I'll need to refactor quite a bit of code (they're basically treated like temporary building structures)
Interesting idea having special weapons cost money, I'll see how that could work. The bugginess of the spider's movement will be patched, I think it struggles with constantly recalculating its path to the shortest one when its target coordinates are over structures. And LOSATs will be a secondary eventually for sure, they're like pocket railgun shots.
Funnily enough, that was sort of the plan with the mortar carriers in the game, they were going to send out scout drones which would stop and lase your position from afar for enemies to start shooting you from off screen. Maybe I'll add artillery that functions that way. For now the VAC-3 drones are just going to be sort of cheap cannon-fodder enemies though, I think there should be more of them (although they can heavily damage you if you're not paying attention)
There will be heavier enemies for sure, big ones that tank damage like the command centers. I'd like artillery that fires off screen, but I suppose on screen is fine since we already have the mortar carriers.
I wanted to add a lot more new lines and also have ones that are said only one killing specific enemies, but it'll require a bunch of code refactoring. Right now I basically have each line hardcoded in an enemy deletion event where it picks a random line and does a random chance check to say it, but more mission-specific dialogue would be a lot more interesting. I made sure to also code in a check that ensures dialogue lines don't repeat once said and added a 15 second cool down between them since I really fear that players can find it annoying if it goes off too often. But I have also had a few people tell me it's too infrequent now as a result...
Absolutely, there will be plenty of shots and info on the player's quadtank as well as the unit you're serving in. I made the whole thing and all of the art in about five days, so it's pretty rushed at the moment haha.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it, and I'm glad you enjoy it!
PLayed this game sometime ago but can play it anymore :'( :
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FATAL ERROR in Vertex Shader compilation
ShaderName: shd_outline_old
D3DXCompile failed - result
at gml_Object_o_player_Draw_0
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stack frame is
gml_Object_o_player_Draw_0 (line -1)
This happens after launching the very first mission
Please download and run the DirectX patch in the description, that error occurs only due to it being outdated or not installed.
Yay yippee thanks for the fix, you probably wrote it in the description, sorry that's mb, I should have searched more thoroughly. Btw great game !!!. I'll try the fix right now.
1. The laser in current version is incredibly powerful. Its damage is comparable to that of a tank killer. The firing preparation time is short, there is no spread, and it can penetrate buildings and tanks in an instant, hitting the second target behind the target that is unawared. Moreover, with a high ammunition capacity, I can finish a level in one go. I even don't need to use my right mouse button.
I hope that this powerful weapon, without any weakening, can be seenin the official version. If you think it is too powerful and can lead to the loss of significance of other weapons, you can consider this laser as a reward weapon for the later stages. For example,（1）when the main character becomes a seasoned veteran driver (for instance, he has completed multiple achievements ——if you plan to create an achievement system?), the organization believes that he is qualified to use this weapon. Or （2）assigns a scientist character to the main character, providing him with an experimental laser weapon (the firing duration is poor, it can only fire for a few seconds before recharging/cooling down, but the damage is very high, it vaporizes buildings and enemies instantly, and leaves a red lava-like trail on the ground) after completing a series of tasks, the main character officially obtains the strongest version of the laser.
2. For the second task, the worm level. Can the teammates and superiors' evaluations be arranged according to the combat situation? The insects are slow and do not have long-range attacks, and the threat is much lower than military targets. A qualified regular army driver should be able to complete this level without any self-hurt or collateral damage. But new recruits may feel too much pressure and make mistakes when seeing themselves surrounded.
If the main character makes a panic and makes a mistake, what will the teammates say?
I realized that by shooting outside the city, I could almost completely avoid damage to buildings. If the main character managed to do this, with almost no collateral damage, what kind of comments would he receive?
3. Connecting 1 and 2, can this scientist be a scientist researching energy supply for the colony?It is like a giant array that collects and focuses sunlight, with powerful lasers incorporated within. After the event breaks out, he temporarily uses his energy technology to manufacture laser weapons. The experimental laser weapon can even be more powerful than the final version because it is based on the huge scale of city power generation technology, so it is too heavy and has poor sustainability for the main character's vehicle, and it is successfully miniaturized through subsequent modifications.
4. I want cute female characters. Look at the desert on the map, I need the comfort of water.
For instance, in "4", the scientist could be a noble and intellectual woman who came to Mars for the purpose of developing agriculture in the colony, in order to ensure that the people have enough food to eat, and she was rescued by the protagonist. Additionally, I also want a short-haired female comrade with blonde hair that shines like the sun - especially considering the climate conditions, the lighting should be good, making it easy for her hair to shine brightly.—— if her hair hasn't become dry and split due to the dry wind，laugh.
The boss could be a cold, black-haired lady, or a tough, square-faced tough guy in a military cap and eye mask, like that. Have I formed too many stereotypes?Big boss？Bill？ Well, let's just leave it at that.
5. Is it necessary for single-player games to balance different weapons? Are you planning to do online battles?
6. Does the main character drive a medium-sized vehicle or a heavy one? Can he directly be immune to small-caliber weapon attacks from a certain distance? Or is 10/10 armor just a simulation for heavy armor?
7. What kind of combat mode do you expect? Considering that the main character is fighting against dozens of opponents in each battle, his single-unit quality must be much stronger than the opponent. Either it is a performance advantage or a system boost. In reality, regular armies can suppress second-rate troops with information superiority. I also rely on human reaction being faster than the AI, God's vision, and 10 armor to win. But probably many players are just here to experience the thrill of weaving through a sea of bullets, and this aspect must be thrilling as well.
8. Regarding 7, in the first level, no matter where I am in the city, the enemy keeps rushing towards me continuously, as if there is a reconnaissance aircraft reporting my position to them. But in the seventh level, I was clearly attacking a sealed military base, most of the enemies couldn't see me through a pillar, and there were no sensors inside the base? Was the attack not triggering an alarm? Why did most of the enemies seem to be sleeping in place and suddenly wake up when I approached? Usually, the standard for a single-unit penetration into the base is not a wandering patrol team and enemy forces trying to surround me from all directions? Why do the enemies in the first and seventh levels have such a big difference in target detection and battle AI?
9.I once imagined such an animation: after selecting the mission, it would continuously zoom in from the satellite view of the main map until it could show the protagonist's vehicle, just like when you switch to the 'watching the clouds' view in GTA.
But I don't know how difficult it would be to achieve this, so I just brought up this idea.And in addition, the equipment selection process will be skipped in this procedure.
10.You now have a variety of weapons at your disposal: gunpowder weapons, railguns, laser cannons, all these are typical sci-fi equipment. Only one more is missing - a plasma/electrolyte cannon.I wonder do you think the variety of weapons is enough for offical version。Don't misunderstand. I'm not opposing anything. I have no idea about the answer to this question, that's why I'm asking.
Could you also explain what situation the eighth main weapon is used for? Are there such weapons that primarily use projectile firing in reality? You're not referring to the 155 high-explosive shell, are you?
Does the preheating of the transfer gun conform to engineering practice? Was it just added to balance things out? I think his extremely high ammunition consumption has become a significant weakness.
11.Should we change the smoke grenade launcher to a separate button and make it not occupy the same slot as other weapons? You know that in reality, this thing actually doesn't compete with the weapon system. Whether you carry any weapons or not, it doesn't matter. Just bring some smoke bombs for your own protection.
However, this means there are five key positions that need to be operated: main weapon, secondary weapon, close combat, grenade, and smoke grenade. This can be a bit cumbersome.
12.Add a map and instructions in the seventh level.
Give me a laser pointer, please. It will help with aiming. Like an aerial fleet.
Turning the turret sometimes goes too far in overhead view. You know, it's like when the mouse accidentally moves across the radial line, causing the radius to shorten and the angular velocity to increase sharply.
13.When it comes to turrets, I think of "Galaxy on fire 2". There are several aspects in it that are worth learning from. First, there are self-defense turrets (with automatic aiming and firing). Maybe you could design a laser active defense system to intercept physical ammunition approaching the player (leaving the interception of long-range ammunition to the player's main gun). Second, I noticed that some other players commented that the initiative/aggressiveness of the mines was too poor. Then you could prepare deployable turrets. When anticipating a major battle, or at important road intersections, or even when encountering a boss, players can directly deploy multiple turrets, and the firepower will increase exponentially within a short period of time.Also expand the alert area，you can release the turret to guard one side，than focous on shooting to the other side without fear of being hit from back.
Hello. Thank you kindly for playing again and the feedback, I'll try to answer the best I can.
I don't plan on reducing the power of the laser, I like that it's exceedingly powerful too. The only thing that I intend to nerf is its ability to tear down large, non free standing structures in underground missions, such as Mission 7 since that would allow the player to get outside of the level's bounds.
The second mission is going to be redone with its level design to be more complete like the others. I really wanted to revamp it with this update, but I simply ran out of time while working on implementing the intel tab on the overworld's PDA. But honestly, I think it's going to be impossible to do little to no collateral damage on it since the sweeping hordes of worms will eventually start burrowing out of the center of the level and not just spawning from the corners. I don't think the collateral damage count should be taken too seriously, since I purposefully want to just ruin and destroy the garden as a joke with eventually a cutscene showing all the carnage caused. But it is an interesting idea to have missions with different outcomes depending on the amount of damage caused, I'll definitely consider how I can implement that in other stages.
In the universe of the game, laser weapons have developed and matured to the point that they're already being equipped on certain armored vehicles, much like with railguns today. The player's crawler tank actually has a small nuclear reactor/battery which it uses to generate the power for it. I could still see it being a prototype that you purchase from someone, but I'm not sure if that will be where you get it. Maybe you'll obtain it from a boss that you kill...
Haha, don't worry. There will be cute female characters, although they won't make up the entire cast. I want something similar to the tone of the Mobile Police Patlabor movies and OVA.
Online battles would be fun, but they'd be mixed up quite a bit I think. You might not even have all the weapons in the game, and instead play as a tank or enemy mech. But at the moment, an online mode is not a priority, just getting the singleplayer game down how I want is a gigantic challenge...
That's an interesting concept. I might have different armor parts, some with regenerating health, some with a different amount of layers, and some that reduce damage depending on distance or random chance. At the moment the 10/10 armor is just basic health, nothing special really.
Honestly, I think right now it's close to how I want it to be in terms of movement and dodging enemy fire, but I do think it needs some refinement with how enemies behave and attack. One of the things I try to stress when working on the general combat is that the player should be able to avoid any damage as long as they keep moving and are paying attention; all of the attacks and bullets should be dodgeable, and it's up to the player to actually think about how they'll approach targets in combat. Charging directly at the enemy with zero care isn't really going to do it, you need to think and watch where they're facing before attacking, lest you want to get torn apart by direct fire. Well, at least for vehicular combat that is; missions like the second one are more about endurance and spraying apart hordes in a more care-free manner.
That's interesting. Basically, in the first mission I simply spawn 3-4 waves with the each of the enemies set to search and destroy. They don't have any info where the player is, they just wander around and check random coordinates on the city's map. You'll note in other missions enemies are just on guard and hold their position; unless something sets them off like an explosion or building collapse, they'll just continue to wait where they are. On the seventh mission, when you retrieve the package and the alarm goes off I do the same thing I did on Mission 1 and simply spawn four waves of enemies randomly set to check around for coordinates.
Now I will note, Mission 7 is a lot different in set up since it uses the underground objects instead of buildings. These wall objects despawn when far enough out of the view, and if the enemies are suddenly seeing you behind walls when you get close, that may be due to the view being far enough that the walls despawned and allowed them see you. However, I specifically programmed it to increase the deactivation distance underground to prevent this, so this shouldn't really be happening. I'll try to figure out a better way to do it, sorry about that.
That's fun. There will be animations for deployment and mission end, I think it'll add a lot.
A plasma weapon is planned, I just need to think about how it'll behave differently from the rest of them. I think in total the game will have maybe 15-20 primary weapons; it's hard to keep all of them balanced and interesting though.
It's basically a tank cannon that's rapid fire. I don't think it's the best weapon by any means, but it'll basically be a mid-tier one you can buy from one of the arms dealers in the game before you unlock super powerful weapons like the laser or railgun. Keep in mind not all weapons will be unlocked when you start the game, you'll have to actually buy each of them and the parts as things progress. I agree the ammo count is consumed pretty quickly, maybe I'll increase it.
I know that in real life armored vehicles have smoke grenade launchers, but I think for the game purposes it should just take up a slot that regular grenades would use. And I agree it would become very cumbersome with yet another key to press.
Eventually. Technically there are already instructions on the intel display on the overworld map, but I know it can be a bit cryptic.
There is one implemented already, you can turn it on in the settings:
There will be automatic gun turrets you can drop eventually, I think that'd be pretty useful. They might take either the grenade slot or the secondary weapon slot, I'm not too sure yet.
Thank you again!
You mentioned the "the player should be able to avoid any damage as long as they keep moving and are paying attention" goal. In my gaming experience, the most effective attack from the enemies against me was like this. I was fully focused on the enemy on one side, preparing to fire from a distance first. At that moment, my vehicle was very close to the other side on the screen. Then, a small vehicle rushed out from the edge of the screen on the other side. Due to the close distance, it instantly approached and hit me.
I originally thought there was no need to mention this because according to what you said, "keep moving and are paying attention" could handle this situation. The reason I was hit was that I ignored the incoming warning from the other side and also because I tried to stay in place and fire. However, looking back, I was hit by this kind of attack too many times. Even from a statistical perspective, it was necessary for me to specifically mention this.
The other situation was the crazy attack of the enemies in the sixth level. A large group of enemies, including helicopters, forced me to retreat. Then, a small group of enemies surrounded me from behind.
is there a way to save the game
turns out it just dosnt save when i lounch it through the itch.io app
I feel like the mines being your secondary weapon severely limit their potential and that maybe making them grenades but lowering their numbers would make them a lot better, or making more of them fire per volley would work better.
I agree. I'm thinking about having grenade style mines that burst mid-air to scatter into a small field like the enemy mines on certain maps.
That would be a very interesting idea and cant wait to see if it goes through, off topic but this game is genuinely my 2nd nost anticipated game, it is so fun
a really fun and unique experience after such long time.
it has a variety of weapons to use and each mission is really fun.
i almost couldnt beat mission 7 it was hard and challenging but i like the satisfaction of beating it tho.
i suggest adding weapons like a saber sword or just a huge metal rod to beat up the crawlers(i hate em for some reasons),after killing an enemy there will be a chance of dropping supply like ammunitions.(with the melee weapons)
overall i really like the game i really enjoy it :).
Thanks so much for playing!
I plan to have different options for the melee attacks in the future, like you'll have perhaps a chargeable energy lance that acts like a shield and ram which will allow you to plow through buildings and enemies, and also maybe a much stronger plasma whip that has further distance.
I think for supplies certain enemy trucks will drop them. I also wanted to have different colored shipping containers that have ammo if you bust them open, but I ran out of time to add that in this build. Next one will have it for sure.
Our vehicle and the minitour have little claw arms that from the intel things talks about how it's made to rip apart small vehicle's, which I think would be perfect for a beginner melee weapon for desperate times, and that the energy lance you were talking about could be a late game weapon
Yeah, the current plasma whip would be attached to the little manipulator arms on the player's quadtank. I think the energy lance would come in late game as well.
Nice can't wait for the next version of the demo to release!
Hello from Linux! (wine seems to work) Finishing the 3rd level doesn't seem to unlock any more... am I missing something? It says 'mission complete' but no more missions appear.
Hello!
Very sorry about that, not sure why it's happening. It could be related to using an emulator, did you try starting a new game? The second mission can always be skipped, it shouldn't unlock a new one.