Very early version of my Phaser mobile Space shmup game!

[moe091]

Hey guys, my first html5 game is finally in a somewhat playable state so I figured i'd post it now so I can get feedback early.

 

Right now I am concerned about my framerate/performance as well as the design in general. I tested on all 5 android phones I have and it ran fine on all of them (45+ fps at the low) except for my old samsung epic which runs at 15-30. The game is unplayable anywhere below 30 just because it's a shoot em up. 

If anyone gets a chance to play it on your mobile could you let me know how your fps is? And does anyone have any suggestions how I could make it run smoother?

 

Also, I'm aware of how bad my menu screen graphics are. I definitely need to redo the graphics for them but I don't want to add too much to the file size(I think I'm already around 2mg, not sure how bad that is). Also I'm really bad at pixel art so I'll need to get some help with that, anybody interested in doing some of the graphics in exchange for a cut of profits(if my game ends up getting sponsored).

 

Right now I'm using level1 as a testbed for new enemies and what not and none of the other levels work, the link I'm posting is to my dropbox public folder which is currently the one I'm working out of so things might change around.

 

 

I plan on getting the game to an almost finished state by the end of the week. Right now a lot of stuff doesn't work so if you wanna check out the gameplay just go into rpg mode and then select level 1, then at the end you can hit menu to go back. If you click upgrades you'll be trapped for ever in another one of my horrible looking menu screens(I'm completely redoing the way the upgrades work soon so atm they don't work).

 

 

I think it's still worth checking out even though a lot isn't done yet because the core gameplay is there. I would really really appreciate it if you guys could give me any feedback at all, on the gameplay and performance of the game. Also if you wanna help out with graphics send me a message or reply to this post, I'll share a cut of any profits but we can discuss that later. Btw does anyone think sponsors would be interested in a game like this once I get it all done and polished and looking good? Is the low framerate on very old android phones gonna be a problem?

 

Finally, the link:   https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/268817464/www/game.html

 

EDIT: Btw, if you played it please let me know what kind of phone you used and how it performed(what the fps was and how playable it was at that framerate) because that is the main reason I'm posting the game so early, I don't want to waste my time developing a mobile game that's to slow to run on mobile devices. AND JS/PHASER OPTIMIZATION TIPS WOULD BE GREAT!

I posted this in a reply but I wanted to put it up here so everyone reads it.

 

thanks guys

[Magnifisite]

Does the character have hp, I couldn't find that in your UI.

How did you create the scaling?

[moe091]

Oh yah, there is an hp variable but I no representation of it in the ui, it used to be where the fps is but I changed it for debugging so I could see what my framerate is. Soon there will be a bar in the top right of the ui, in fact I'll add that now.

 

And what do you mean by scaling? the scaling of the whole game? if that's what you mean phaser took care of that for me I just had to set the scale mode in the create method of my main menu by adding this code:

 

this.game.stage.scaleMode = Phaser.StageScaleMode.EXACT_FIT;

        this.game.stage.scale.startFullScreen();

        this.game.stage.scale.refresh();

 

 

EDIT: Health bar now added.

 

And for the record, if the level seems ridiculously easy/difficult at times its because I'm changing stuff around just to test out my enemies. I try to keep it as close to a real level as I can but sometimes I have other priorities.

 

Btw, if you played it please let me know what kind of phone you used and how it performed(what the fps was and how playable it was at that framerate) because that is the main reason I'm posting the game so early, I don't want to waste my time developing a mobile game that's to slow to run on mobile devices. AND JS/PHASER OPTIMIZATION TIPS WOULD BE GREAT!

[JessC]

Hi Moe,

 

I really love the arcade style of the game. Any ideas on sound implementation? I'm excited to see the development process on this one!

[moe091]

Yah I definitely plan on including sound effects and possibly music before I finish, It's just that audio is such a headache in html5 so I'm basically just procrastinating on implementing it right now, it'll be included before the game is released for sure though. 

 

Thanks for the interest in the game btw, did you play it on a phone or computer? If you played it on a smartphone would you mind letting me know what kind of phone it was and how well the game ran? I am just trying to make sure it's not lagging on any devices before I go and add a bunch more stuff to it. Let me know if you have any other suggestions or criticism, the game is still far from done so it's hard to judge at this point but if you have any cool ideas or notice any problems I'd love to get some input.

 

Btw I'm about to go check out your game portal, I'll be sure to give you some feedback when I'm done.

[moe091]

Okay I fixed a lot of the problems with the game and made a real level now just so I could get some more relevant feedback, if anyone has the time could you just do a quick playthrough of the first level and let me know what you think? The things I mostly need feedback on are:

 

Performance, What kind of phone are you using and what was your fps, did you have any lag spikes or unplayable framerates?

Level design, I know the current level is pretty hard for level 1 but does anyone have any criticism or even general tips about designing levels for such a game? I'm kinda happy with my first level but I feel like I'm already running out of ideas.

Enemy Types, what do you think of my current enemy types and do you have any ideas for new ones?

Graphics, I know I need to redo my menu screens but I don't know how to go about doing it and I can't afford to hire anyone. Anyone have suggestions for an easy style/method I could use for making acceptable looking menu screens? And do you have any suggestions on what I should change about the actual game graphics? Should I change the little HUD graphic at the top of the game that shows health/points?

after I make the necessary graphics changes and finish the game, do you think this game will be high enough quality for any publishers to want to license? What should I do to make it more 'licensable.'

 

 

Those are just the things I'm currently worrying about, I'd greatly appreciate any tiny bit of feedback about any aspect of the game though. 

 

 

 

And Biscuit, I was on your game portal for a while last night and I really like the layout/site design. Is the mobile section supposed to be blank still? And are you planning on adding mobile games to the site soon? I can't really think of any suggestions because everything is already done much better than I'd be able to do. The lights out feature is pretty awesome, I don't know if most portals have that but this is the first time I noticed it on any game sites. One thing I did notice is that your Heliwars game isn't working for me, the loading screen flashes for a split second and then I just get a blue box. Not sure if this is related but I inspected the page in chrome and I had 3 Failed to load resource errors similar to this:

Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 400 (Bad Request) http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-024944867656358…0&eae=0&vis=1&fu=0&ifi=6&xpc=Anu0M5GRCe&p=http%3A//gamegetter.com&dtd=1528

 

[JessC]

Yah I definitely plan on including sound effects and possibly music before I finish, It's just that audio is such a headache in html5 so I'm basically just procrastinating on implementing it right now, it'll be included before the game is released for sure though. 

 

Thanks for the interest in the game btw, did you play it on a phone or computer? If you played it on a smartphone would you mind letting me know what kind of phone it was and how well the game ran? I am just trying to make sure it's not lagging on any devices before I go and add a bunch more stuff to it. Let me know if you have any other suggestions or criticism, the game is still far from done so it's hard to judge at this point but if you have any cool ideas or notice any problems I'd love to get some input.

 

Btw I'm about to go check out your game portal, I'll be sure to give you some feedback when I'm done.

 

I entirely understand. I actually played the game on chrome originally and am testing it out on iPhone now. It works great! The only thing I've come across is, when the level has ended, the "Level Complete" screen actually does not show me my "Kills", "Score" and "Points" (although, I did kill some ships.). When I go to the "shop" menu,  love your different shots and lasers, but there isn't a "back" button so that I can re-play the game. One of my favorite aspects of the game is that you can upgrade your ship. Awesome!

[JessC]

 

Okay I fixed a lot of the problems with the game and made a real level now just so I could get some more relevant feedback, if anyone has the time could you just do a quick playthrough of the first level and let me know what you think? The things I mostly need feedback on are:

 

Performance, What kind of phone are you using and what was your fps, did you have any lag spikes or unplayable framerates?

Level design, I know the current level is pretty hard for level 1 but does anyone have any criticism or even general tips about designing levels for such a game? I'm kinda happy with my first level but I feel like I'm already running out of ideas.

Enemy Types, what do you think of my current enemy types and do you have any ideas for new ones?

Graphics, I know I need to redo my menu screens but I don't know how to go about doing it and I can't afford to hire anyone. Anyone have suggestions for an easy style/method I could use for making acceptable looking menu screens? And do you have any suggestions on what I should change about the actual game graphics? Should I change the little HUD graphic at the top of the game that shows health/points?

after I make the necessary graphics changes and finish the game, do you think this game will be high enough quality for any publishers to want to license? What should I do to make it more 'licensable.'

 

 

Those are just the things I'm currently worrying about, I'd greatly appreciate any tiny bit of feedback about any aspect of the game though. 

 

 

 

And Biscuit, I was on your game portal for a while last night and I really like the layout/site design. Is the mobile section supposed to be blank still? And are you planning on adding mobile games to the site soon? I can't really think of any suggestions because everything is already done much better than I'd be able to do. The lights out feature is pretty awesome, I don't know if most portals have that but this is the first time I noticed it on any game sites. One thing I did notice is that your Heliwars game isn't working for me, the loading screen flashes for a split second and then I just get a blue box. Not sure if this is related but I inspected the page in chrome and I had 3 Failed to load resource errors similar to this:

Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 400 (Bad Request) http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-024944867656358…0&eae=0&vis=1&fu=0&ifi=6&xpc=Anu0M5GRCe&p=http%3A//gamegetter.com&dtd=1528

 

 

Thank you so much for your feedback! I am going to check out Heliwars right now and see why it's acting up. Thank you for the resource errors, that's so helpful. On the topic of mobile games, yes, I am planning on implementing mobile games into the site-  I just have to get it off the ground with visitors and users. I can;t wait to implement mobile, though. Thank you so much for taking the time to look at the portal

 

Now, back to your game On mobile, my FPS started at 54 and spiked just a bit to 60 when the first enemy came into sight. It stayed between 55 and 60 for the whole first level. On the other levels, it drops as low as 46, but again, generally stays between 55 and 60.

 

I think your levels are spot on. I have never been a fan of "the first level will kill you" games, so I really love how your game starts off with an easier enemy load, On the subject of your enemies, I like how you have a pretty wide variety of them and different lasers as well- so unless you're feeling really creative and want to add in some sort of ultra rare enemy..like a black hole (just thinking of something different than a ship), you're looking good there, too. Keep in mind, the screen doesn't reflect the points, and maybe (just as a suggestion) at the end of every level, you can have your regular "Menu" "Shop" and then add in a "Next Level" . Also, how about a health maximizer upgrade? Just an idea

[haden]

I tested the game on my LG Optimus L7. On the stock browser the fps was 15-18 but on Chrome it dropped to less than 5 fps ! my phone is really slow though so I guess that's expected. On the stock browser the game was still playable although the enemy bullets seemed too fast to avoid (maybe because of the low fps).

[moe091]

Ooh you gave me the idea of adding enemies that aren't actually ships, that just sparked a few different ideas in addition to the black hole thing that I want to try out . 

 

As for the end level screen and the upgrade screen, I honestly just haven't gotten around to finishing them yet. I'm thinking about hiring an artist to re design the screens so I was going to wait to after I did that to finish programming them, but since I'm not sure if I'm going to find an artist I'll probably finish up both of those parts today, and I'm definitely going to include the health upgrade too.

 

I keep trying to make easier levels for the first 3 or 4 levels, but every time I try I just end up with a level that was much harder than I expected :/. If I ever manage to make any easier but still fun levels I'm going to bump the current levels up to number 5 6 and 7 and create some easier ones for the first 4. I'm just having trouble designing a level that is fun but that will be easy enough for a casual player. Once the upgrades are done it will be easier to beat the levels to

[moe091]

Oh and Haden, I am curious if your phone lags on a lot of html5 games or if it's just mine? If you read this could you do me a huge favor and let me know how my game compares to most html5 games? Thanks a lot for your input though it helps a lot because I only have 5 working phones to test with.

 

If anyone who has experience selling games to sponsors reads this could you give me your opinion on whether it'll be a problem that my game lags on on older phones? I'm hoping I can get away with it because it is going to be pretty sizeable game compared to other html5 games but I still plan on doing a lot of optimizing before I release it.