BETA
0
0
Polychoron
Polychoron is a simple but challenging zero-gravity 3D shoot'em up in endless series of unique mazes. Designed for hassle-free short game sessions. Available on Windows, Linux, Android and Web.
Navigate your way through mazes filled with hostile drones and deadly machinery. Survive longer, take out more hostiles and collect more score than others to get your name on the global high score table.
The game is currently in development and I'm looking for feedback!
- Added new patrolling enemy type shooting slow projectiles.
- Added two more random decorative meshes on maze walls.
- Added notification sound on HUD messages.
- Added ship start-up animation sequence.
- Made laser beams cause the same amount of damage over time independent of frame rate.
- Improved particles emission at laser beam contacts.
- Limited sentry gun field of view to 180 degrees while looking for targets.
- Sentry guns looking for target turn to direction of damage if shot.
- Made sentry guns a bit easier to destroy.
- Mines turn towards player and blink when triggered.
- "Fixed" weird white pixels wandering on screen at level start on some PCs.
- Rotate projectiles as they move.
- Added slightly different wall colors in parts of the maze to ease navigation.
- Added varying shininess to wall textures
- Fixed spark particles not fading out smoothly.
- Emit colored spark particles on projectile hits.
- Flash laser screen white and play a sound when its power box is damaged.
- Flash all power boxes of a laser screen white when one of them is damaged.
- Place laser screen power boxes a bit closer to it.
- Fixed dark blue HUD text using GLES2 renderer.
- Added HUD scale adjustment in settings menu.
- Hide inactive teleports completely to prevent confusion.
- Changed default (not inverted) pitch control direction to match most other games.
- Added control bindings menu for remapping controls.
- Fixed settings not being saved if closing menu instead of leaving settings page.
- Added sounds to menu interaction.
- Add pitch inversion quick toggle by F2.
- Added controller guide overlay (press F1 to toggle).
- Show completion page with statistics on death without high score too.
- Added a short fade in animation when opening menu.
- Use different target detection sound pitch for different enemy types.
- Keep enemy weapon damage constant between levels (does not increase anymore).
- Halved initial sentry gun projectile speed.
- Activate level completion teleports in the unlikely case that level contains no enemies.
- Added lightning symbols to power boxes.
- Apply small impulse from projectiles to hit objects, including the player.
- Added jammer module power-up that disables all enemies for a while.
- Fixed enemies occasionally playing target detection sounds at level start.
- A few more power-up types.
- General improvements in graphics, audio and gameplay.
Roasts
Karg 4 years ago
Controls Level Designreminds me of a minimalist version of descent, i think you've managed to capture the spirit of that classic game.
i couldn't find any way to regenerate health. i expected the green thingies that pop after you kill an enemy would heal, but apparently they don't? they seem to grant score points? in any case, i found myself at level 3 with 3% life and died soon after. perhaps regenerate the health to full at the beginning of the level?
in the first couple of levels, it would be helpful to paint the walls with signs, i felt lost navigating around. also, the fact that you have to destroy those red thingies to open gates, it's not very straight-forward. perhaps it's better to add old-school keys/keycards and color-code the gates?
the portal that activates the level end, i think it should really scream "this is the exit!!!!!". it took me a while to figure out that that was really the exit and not some glitch/visual effect.
i couldn't find any way to regenerate health. i expected the green thingies that pop after you kill an enemy would heal, but apparently they don't? they seem to grant score points? in any case, i found myself at level 3 with 3% life and died soon after. perhaps regenerate the health to full at the beginning of the level?
in the first couple of levels, it would be helpful to paint the walls with signs, i felt lost navigating around. also, the fact that you have to destroy those red thingies to open gates, it's not very straight-forward. perhaps it's better to add old-school keys/keycards and color-code the gates?
the portal that activates the level end, i think it should really scream "this is the exit!!!!!". it took me a while to figure out that that was really the exit and not some glitch/visual effect.
fractilegames 4 years ago
Thanks for playing the game!There is no way to regain heath, although some power-ups like the shield module will help you avoid taking damage. This is intentional and unlikely to change.
It seems I will have to make it more obvious to the player how things work. I have some ideas on how to make navigating easier. Perhaps adding actual wires going from the power boxes (the red thingies) to the laser screen would make it more clear that destroying them will turn the screen off.
As for the level exit teleports, I didn't know they are that unclear. I don't know which version you played, but in the web version the teleports do look boring due to the lack of distortion effects. I will see if I can find some way to make them look more like exits.
Dyuozor 4 years ago
Game Graphics ControlsReminds me a lot of descent.
I like the simple graphics and the atmosphere in general.
You really get a claustrophobic/lost feeling. The music is great too.
I enjoyed the gameplay, my only problem is that the controls are a little bit too loose.
I understand that it's a space game and you are trying to give that feeling of floating but I think the game would gain if it had slightly tighter controls.
I like the simple graphics and the atmosphere in general.
You really get a claustrophobic/lost feeling. The music is great too.
I enjoyed the gameplay, my only problem is that the controls are a little bit too loose.
I understand that it's a space game and you are trying to give that feeling of floating but I think the game would gain if it had slightly tighter controls.
misha 4 years ago
Mechanics Tutorial/Learning CurveI like the mechanics, it's quite fun.
I had troubles reading the blue on black text popping up at the top of the screen, so I have no idea what it was saying.
Also, it wasn't very clear from the very beginning what am I doing there and how. In the first play I got killed without any understanding what just happened. In the second play I figured out that I'm in zero gravity and I need to shoot those red things shooting back at me. After clearing the whole level and flying through the dim purple circle without anything happening, I somehow stumbled up the brighter purple circle, which got me to the next level, where I got killed again. In the third play I tried pressing various buttons and figured out that Q and E rotate you, which was exactly what I needed, but still got killed. The fourth play after noticing the red energy gates I started to think that maybe I need to open them somehow, and maybe the other red things attached to the walls can help me with that. And so on. What I haven't figured out is what do the different green things do.
I had troubles reading the blue on black text popping up at the top of the screen, so I have no idea what it was saying.
Also, it wasn't very clear from the very beginning what am I doing there and how. In the first play I got killed without any understanding what just happened. In the second play I figured out that I'm in zero gravity and I need to shoot those red things shooting back at me. After clearing the whole level and flying through the dim purple circle without anything happening, I somehow stumbled up the brighter purple circle, which got me to the next level, where I got killed again. In the third play I tried pressing various buttons and figured out that Q and E rotate you, which was exactly what I needed, but still got killed. The fourth play after noticing the red energy gates I started to think that maybe I need to open them somehow, and maybe the other red things attached to the walls can help me with that. And so on. What I haven't figured out is what do the different green things do.
fractilegames 4 years ago
Thank you for the feedback!I assume you played the web version because it has a bug that makes the text color much darker blue than in the other versions. I will have to fix that at some point.
The game does need to make the objectives more clear and add some instructions. Currently the controls are only documented in readme.txt -file and on the website. There will be an in-game help screen once I have implemented configurable controls. As for the level exit teleports, laser screens, and the green things (score and score multiplier items to collect), I need to make them more intuitive. I'm trying to avoid adding a tutorial. We'll see if I have to change my mind..
ADDION 3 years ago
Game Graphics Tutorial/Learning CurveThere is no clear explanation for the controls but i like the graphics
