Nineties Cockpit Freakout - Feedback Request

[Synnah]

Hello! You might remember this as my entry into Wizard Jam last year. Back then it looked a bit like this:


 
I spent a couple of months working on it recently, and now it looks more like this:
 

 

This is much closer to what I originally wanted the game to look like, and I'm generally happy with the visual side of it. The reason I ended up going back to the game a year later was because I'd submitted it to EGX Rezzed, and it was accepted, so I needed to get it into a much more playable shape. Watching people playing the game at the show gave me a lot of really useful feedback regarding what I was doing wrong; it's a difficult balancing act in a game that's supposed to be confusing and alienating, but I realised that there was a lot more that I could be doing to help people understand the rules without spelling them out completely.

 

Another thing that came out of showing the game to people was that a lot of them just expected it to be on Steam. I'm not crazy about this mentality, but I understand why it exists, and it made me think that maybe putting the game on Greenlight is a good idea. So that's basically my current aim; I want to get a trailer together to show the game off so I can put it on Greenlight, with an aim to releasing it for maybe £1.50. I'd like a bit of feedback on the game as it stands, though! Basically, do you think it's worth paying for, and if not, what do you think would make it worth the cost?

 

You can play the game as it currently stands here: https://giraffecat.itch.io/nineties-cockpit-freakout (Download v0.91)

 

A few things I definitely need to add/change:

• Music in the main menu.
• Improve the menus in general; those buttons look cheap as hell, and I'm not crazy about the static title screen.
• An options menu, for graphic detail levels, volume levels and resolution.
• A bit of story dialogue at the start of the game, and in between waves; the transitions between waves need to be more like progressing from one level to the next, rather than just spawning a bunch of new enemies.

Aside from that, I had a few more nebulous ideas for improving the game:

• Variation in the arenas; currently it's always square. I spawn buildings in different places every time you play, but this doesn't really add that much variation, and there's not really anywhere to go. I noticed that a lot of people that played the game at Rezzed tried to fly over the mountains, and were surprised when they hit an invisible wall.
• Actual arms that shoot out and grab the sliders and press the buttons. I feel like it would be difficult to make this look good, though, and I definitely don't want to sacrifice responsiveness for it.
• More buttons and lights on the console. It still feels a bit too empty.

I'd love to hear any ideas you might have; and please, be as honest as you need to be! I want to know if people think my weird thing is worth paying for.

[Mythalore]

This certainly looks awesome, although I've haven't had a chance to play it yet I'll report back once I do.

 

I was at Rezzed this year, but sadly didn't see the game about, was it in the left-field collection or the main indie zone?

 

One thing that might be worth a look for a game like this is Alex Bruce's talk on the iterative design process he went through while making Antichamber. (

)

Antichamber is at it's heart is a very confusing, even alienating puzzle game, but through testing Bruce designed the game not to lead the player but to account for their mistakes,

which has meant that the final version of Antichamber is actually quite easy to fumble through while you end up learning it's mechanics as you play.

 

I don't know how much of this is helpful, I haven't played the game but it's clearly not a puzzle game.

However game design is all about lateral thinking after all, so I though you might still be able to get something out of it.

 

All the same good luck with development and I'll be sure to report back with my thoughts on the game itself.

[Synnah]

Thanks for your comment! Yeah, it was part of the Leftfield Collection. I didn't actually play anything outside of that room, because I wanted to be in the vicinity of my game as much as possible, and when I did explore elsewhere I got a bit overwhelmed or depressed by what was on show. Leftfield was rad, though, and I played pretty much everything there.

 

I'll have to watch that talk! I liked Antichamber a lot, although my progress did eventually grind to a halt and I never finished it. Iterative design will definitely help with my game, on account of just how obtuse it is at first. I wish I could have made changes after each day of Rezzed, but I was getting home at like 9pm each day, and I was exhausted. At any rate, I do need to sit a few people down in front of the game, and make changes each time.