Generic Zombie Shooter - Redux

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Generic Zombie Shooter - Redux is a top-down wave-based shooter and is a remake of my first game from 2013. The new game features enhancements over the gameplay of the original game and is continuing to become less generic.

Almost all artwork is from the original game and will be changed along with the music and sound in future updates once concept art is done.

Its been too long since the last update, so this update will not have as much content, but the features added are a big change. Now that I can begin developing regularly again, the next update will be a much bigger content improvement.

  • Talent Trees
    • The old skill training screen has been removed and replaced with a brand new talent tree feature. There are 3 talent trees to spend your talent points on.
      • Munitions - Generally, talents that improve your weapons and damage.
      • Fortification - Improves your defense and attributes.
      • Tactics - Improves your speed, melee abilities, critical ability, and various other attributes.
    • The default key to access the talents screen is still 'T', but can  be changed in the Settings.
    • When you have talent points to spend, open the talents screen and they are displayed for you. Click an unlocked talent (locked talents are darkened) to spend a talent point. If you leave the screen, your changes are discarded. Click the "Accept" button to lock in your changes. Right-click a talent to un-spend a point you have spent.
    • Hover over a talent to see a short description of what it does.
    • Talents have a level restriction (not currently displayed). Each tier of talents unlocks at 5-level increments.
  • Achievements
    • The player can now earn achievements for certain actions. Check the Achievements menu from the main menu or from the in-game pause menu.
    • The achievement system is still in its infancy, so there could be bugs I don't know about yet.
    • Achievement progress is saved to the data folder. Do not modify this file or you could risk it becoming unreadable by the game.
  • New Escape Menu - Pressing ESC while playing now brings up a menu that allows you to access the game settings or achievements while playing instead of having to return to the main menu first.
  • Added the 'Slow Down' status effect which is used by the 'Stasis' talent. The icon for this effect is a red down arrow. The speed up icon has been changed to a green up arrow to avoid confusion.
  • You can  now exit the shop and talents screens by pressing the Esc button as well as the button assigned to open those screens.
  • Corrected a bug where the soundtrack would restart when returning to the main menu from the settings.
  • Various bug fixes and improvements.

v1.3.1 will see bug fixes, performance enhancements, and features that didn't make it to v1.3.
v1.4 will focus on the crafting system, difficulty modes, the scoreboard system, and multi-screen progression.

Roasts

BellBlitzKing 6 years ago

Tutorial/Learning Curve Mechanics
You have all the ingredients of a top-down shooter; a high focus on functionality. New ideas, polish & tweaks should be easier with core functions working. The progression was fine to me, as new enemies were introduced at what seemed to be every two waves. It's a Functioning Top-down Shooter not a Unique top-down shooter---you'll have to find your groove as you polish.

ACTIONABLE FEEDBACK
1) Simplify Weapon Switching - Pressing numbers 1 to 9 is not intuitive as shooting game. Weapon Cycling is much more common, utilizing the UI efficiently and one/two buttons instead.

For example: Press Q to go to Previous weapon and W to Next Weapon. Your Currently Active weapon is shown in the UI as you have it with an ammo meter---however on the left of the active weapon photo add the weapon picture of your previous in-line weapon, then on the right of the ammo counter, add the next weapon in your line-up/inventory.

2) Per-Weapon Upgrades - Some weapons feel under-powered or their accuracy is questionable---there is also not much variety. Small Weapons Upgrades is a way to stretch your current set of weapons without adding more.

For Example: Upgrade the Pistol for a Red-Dot sight that helps your eyes in aiming. Upgrade your Shotgun with a Flash Detector so your flashlight glow turns ready when an enemy is in range. Upgrade your Bow to shoot two arrows/three arrows/fire arrows/fast charging/poison dipped arrows. And so on. Adding any of these would help make the weapons more impactful, fun to use and worth trying out different guns.
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packetpirate 6 years ago

Yeah, the weapon switching is something I'm planning to change in the next update. I might do something similar to Enter the Gungeon.

As for per-weapon upgrades, I'm also planning for the next release to implement a perk / talent tree system to replace the Skills that are in the game now. Everything you mentioned is a good idea, but I'm not really sure what you mean by a "flash detector" for the Shotgun.
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BellBlitzKing 6 years ago

Glad to hear you have new developments in the pipeline! I should have typed "Enemy Detector": your flashlight would turn red any time an enemy is in optimal range with your shotgun. It is a spread-shot weapon so there is a certain mid-range where you'll do max/best damage.

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare has this as you upgrade your shotgun----enemies barely outside of range will face minimal damage which may be hard for players to measure mentally. So instead your has a Line of Sight flasher on one of the shotgun that turns red if an enemy is mid-range for best damage.
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