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About Me: Sorry, but I haven't yet shared the information about myself that would typically display here. Check back later to see if that changes, or if I instead choose to remain an enigma. |
MS really don't have a clue.
The Halo 3 multiplayer beta went public yesterday. Those who were Friends & Family of the bungie forums got in no problems, although some of them didn't receive their access codes by email. The 'Rule of Three' players faced the same problem. Seems a lot of people don't know how to check their bulk/spam folders.
But, the Crackdown players, who are the only ones who actually paid to get on the beta, couldn't access it. The beta was working, the link to it wasn't. And, since the link is actually built into Crackdown's code, we couldn't even download it another way. We just had to sit and wait.
I can understand the logic behind putting the Eternal Sonata demo onto the Japanese marketplace, but not other territories. After all, there is as yet no guarantee that the game will ever see the light of day outside Japan, althogh the fact that the demo is in English certainly leads one to believe this.
I can understand the logic behind certain movies and TV shows being region locked. I don't agree with it, but it makes sense to not alienate potential advertisers in other regions. (After all, if I can download episodes of stuff that isn't on TV over here yet, I have no need to watch them when they broadcast.)
What I do not understand is how MS decrees that a game can be released free of charge in one territory, but doesn't exist in another one!
You can find the latest version right here.
The first, and most obvious, improvement is sound. My good friend syn found a fantastic PD chiptune called 'Insectmania', which I have included as the background music. You now hear your shots, you hear when spiders, redants, and gnats spawn. I still need to find a good sound for the centipedes, so for now they remain mute.
The other big addition, and I mean BIG, is the beetles. These guys are tanks, taking 5 hits. It is because of this that they are also slow. They don't spawn from the existing holes, instead creating their own 'emergence' holes, randomly on the playfield. Don't worry, you get warning!
Going from feedback from various sources :
Because the game gets so hard so quickly, the red ants don't really get the time required to become a threat. That is easily fixed. I'll just slow down the rate of increase for the black ants, and tweak the red ants so that they get faster quicker.
That is now 3 people who would prefer a button mapped to each direction of the compass. So, I shall implement it as an alternative control method. I still think the rotation method I have so far has merit, but I happen to agree with pup that the half-speed button is useless. (I put it in originally because I could, and I had been playing a bunch of indie J-shmups, which all seem to have that button!)
I shall ignore the one guy who said I need better graphics!
I need to put the beetles in.
Available here!
It should be pretty self-evident, but at any time you can press F1 to get an instruction sheet.
I would particularly like feedback from people who had problems running the game. Whilst I am aware that it is not the most intense game you have ever played, it is possible that the sheer amount of independent insects could feasibly cause slow-down on some older PCs. It works perfectly well on both my desktop and my laptop, but they are both pretty high-end machines.
And, yes, before I get any complaints. I am FULLY aware that the game gets way too hard too quickly. This is deliberate, and is something I will tweak later.
Have fun!
You thought I'd given up? Not I, said the Lee. Sure, it got sticky, when I realised that I was going to be dealing with over 200 different objects in my game, but I don't mind the amount. It's the amount of repetition that got to me.
Currently, my game is almost ready to go to its' first beta. This version has black ants, red ants, spiders, centipedes, and a gnat. Today, only the centipedes and red ants give a score. By this time tomorrow, I hope to have everything providing a score.
Also, as things stand right at this moment, no insects are fatal. Obviously, I have to fix that, and certainly will do. But, the important thing is that right now, as I type this, EVERYTHING DOES WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO DO!
I am tempted to review Crackdown.
The problem is, I can't get to play it! My girlfriend is completely obsessed with it. Still, at least I get to watch.
Another problem is that I generally don't do reviews. I find the concept to be somewhat stange. Honestly, rating games out of 10 is quite pointless. Take Final Fantasy VII, as an example. At the time of release it was a true step forwards in interactive story-telling. The production values attached to the game were above almost anything else up to that point. If I were to mark it on aesthetics alone, it would have to get a 10.
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