Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members

http://www.rocksolidarcade.com/games/robokill/

by rms • 18 years ago

115 82 18 years ago

rocksolidarcade.com

rms5• 18 years ago

Congrats for making the good experience list: http://goodexperience.com/games/

Their original submission: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=84191

drawkbox• 18 years ago

Well done, gameplay is just fucking muhwhuaaa!

agotterer• 18 years ago

Thanks a lot. I just spent the last hour playing. Very cool though! Great job.

ericb2• 18 years ago

I'll be coming back to play again... Neat! Can I ask how long it took to build, how many of you there are, and if there is any engine over the flash? I've never built a game before, so it's all foreign to me.

reitzensteinm9• 18 years ago

It took two of us about 3.5 months to build. There wasn't any engine over flash except for what was built during development. A lot of development time went into optimization, caching etc though (I talk about that in the other thread I liked to here).

VinzO• 18 years ago

Are you guys working full time on this?

rsa3• 18 years ago

Can anyone give a more insight on how these games are build ?

Tichy6• 18 years ago

Where to begin? Do you know how to program?

I would guess download Flex and start coding.

rsa3• 18 years ago

Yes I do. I am not a game programmer though.

reitzensteinm9• 18 years ago

Wow, thanks guys! I'm kind of surprised to see it at the top, I actually submitted this when I first released looking for some feedback, but it was buried pretty quickly.

I've talked a bit about the technical aspects in another thread here:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=203952

I'd love to answer any questions anyone has, and I'm especially interested in getting any feedback on the purchase proposition and payment process if anyone does decide to buy it.

rms5• 18 years ago

For $9.95, I think you would do alright on Xbox Live Arcade/PS3 Network... have you thought about developing for those platforms?

reitzensteinm9• 18 years ago

We have, but we'd need to scale up a bit to be able to get on there. There's a lot of red tape involved!

jcromartie2• 18 years ago

Based on some of the games I've seen on Xbox Live Arcade, this would be a massive success.

LPTS4• 18 years ago

This is great. This is exactly the type of game I loved as a kid.

It must feel good to have your game to such a good spot and just have to tweak it and add cool bosses and a few more mechanics like level editors or retro zelda levels. Already a great flash game and also a lot of room to grow with a bit more work. I wish I could play it full screen.

I will buy it, but not tonight. I am looking forward to seeing the next version, where you take it from pretty damn awesome to totally badass.

hhm2• 18 years ago

This is quite impressive! An only usability detail: why do you need all users to approve access to the file system, if that functionality is only required for saving games? I'm sure most users will be scared by that banner.

reitzensteinm9• 18 years ago

That's a Flash problem - you can possibly use more space than the 100k default if you have five profiles, and Flash will fail silenty when trying to write to it unless you ask for the block up front.

And the Flash prompt is pretty badly worded - it's just the Flash cookies that it's talking about!

The whole thing has driven me crazy...

Edit: Oh, I see what you mean about waiting until the user saves. The game saves transparently when you walk around so there's no other good time to pop up with the allocation popup. Would have been much easier if we used a 'choose slot to save' kind of system when you are back at base.

swivelmaster4• 18 years ago

To answer your last question, yes. I had no idea my game was being saved until I read your comment.

teamonkey2• 18 years ago

Why can't you store the save games on the server? You can easily store a unique access key in the default 100k for casual users (and I assume that registered users log in).

hhm2• 18 years ago

Why don't you present a message asking users if they want to have the auto save feature or not? If they want, they need to enable a security option. Otherwise, they can play anyway even if scared by such option.

Ravenlock• 18 years ago

Bravo. Love the Zelda-dungeon-esque level design, the warp points make getting around easy, and the death penalty is extremely well handled. A joy to play, just lost an hour to it and never noticed the time pass. Well done.

sker• 18 years ago

I find it hard to be played with the touchpad of my laptop.

DTrejo• 18 years ago

What isn't hard with a touchpad?

(besides Emacs)

LPTS4• 18 years ago

My MacBook Pro's trackpad is totally awesome. No more mouse pains in my hand from using my computer a lot. Most trackpads suck, but a good trackpad beats a good mouse, I think.

goodgoblin• 18 years ago

Cool game - reminds me of Smash TV

icky2• 18 years ago

> Cool game - reminds me of Smash TV

Which in turn should remind you of RoboTron.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotron:_2084

as• 18 years ago

Ella Fitzgerald at low volume behind the gameplay music? Brilliant!

dkd• 18 years ago

nice one... i love it... is it completely coded in flash?

Tichy6• 18 years ago

Can't play with my Flash Security settings. Why can't you at least let me play a demo, before I adjust the security slider?

Tichy6• 18 years ago

Downvoted for reporting a bug?

randy• 18 years ago

Fun game, but it's missing the huge boss battles that made Smash TV so awesome (Seriously, if you want to up your conversion rates on purchases, make that last room in Episode 4 an onslaught to remember instead of four easily disposable dorks).

rms5• 18 years ago

Good point... this game needs more Mutoid Man

WilliamLP• 18 years ago

And an annoying anouncer shouting out "I'll buy that for a dollar!" and "Big money! Big prizes! I LOVE it!"

Prrometheus2• 18 years ago

Before I walked into the objective room on the first mission, I had a little fear in my stomach like I always get before a big boss battle. Then I walked in and it was nothing and I was disappointed. Like waiting in line to ride the roller coaster and getting stuck on the merry-go-round.

reitzensteinm9• 18 years ago

That's a good point. We'll definitely put bosses in for the next version.

volida• 18 years ago

you should have a very short domain name linking directly to the game. I tried to recomend the game and the easier way was to tell them google for robokill

Darmani• 18 years ago

Very impressive! Unfortunately, I can't give any higher praise than "a well-executed dungeon-crawler with style." I'm having a blast now, but I get the impression I won't look back after beating it.

In many ways, this sci-fi, shooting, dungeon-crawling RPG reminds me of "Virus Hunter," a walk-through example used in the Game Design program of "Cybercamp," which I enrolled in when I was 10. Is there some common inspiration I'm not familiar with? I highly doubt Virus Hunter had much originality...

As a comic side-note, I initially thought the Light weapons meant they fired light as their projectile.

P.S.: I must compliment the decision to jump straight from one mission to the next. I initially told myself I'd stop after beating mission 1, but, with the game offering no natural breaking point (e.g.: "Congratulations! Save and continue?" or some other kind of pop-up exposition or prompt -- an analogous phenomenon: it's easier to put down a book between chapters than one paragraph into the next chapter) , I found myself telling myself "I'll stop after beating this mission." As mission 3 rolled around, I found it hard to force myself to quit. It's the game designer's job to get the players addicted, and you certainly succeeded there!

LPTS4• 18 years ago

There is no higher praise for a video game then "a well-executed dungeon crawler with style"

swivelmaster4• 18 years ago

I love the game. My only problem with it is that when Flash gets busy (lots of items on the screen), the controls get sticky. I've fallen off the side several times because I let go of a button while Flash was bogged down and it didn't register... so I kept going in that direction.

I'm on a dual 2ghz G5 with a gig of ram, running in Safari, in case you're curious.

As a side note, I'm an AS3 coder and though I love my current job that has nothing to do with games, it's stuff like this that makes me entertain thoughts of game development. I'm gonna go read the technical notes from your link now....

hwork• 18 years ago

OK I checked it out. And by checked it out I mean spent three hours and beat the first four missions. What an awesome game. Smooth gameplay, intuitive UI, etc. Thanks for that.

One idea I have -- cut the demo off after the first two missions. I'm kind of burnt out on the game right now and needing a break; not in the mood to buy the game and play it some more. After two missions I was deep into it and most likely to convert into a sale.

Hexstream2• 18 years ago

As for myself, I thought there was barely enough free content... I would have found it really cheap if you could only do the first 2 missions, especially since they're so easy. I didn't die before the 4th, which is significantly more challenging.

Create• 18 years ago

Superb new Flash game for News.YC members: http://www.egg-attack.com

Backgrounder: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/19/ballmer_eggs/

http://www.theserverside.com/news/thread.tss?thread_id=49451

Prrometheus2• 18 years ago

How do I save my game? If I can't, then I'll have to leave my browser open. Don't want to risk going to the main menu without knowing what will happen.

rms5• 18 years ago

If you go to the main menu you can start at whatever mission you are on, but not mid mission

babul• 18 years ago

A lot better than I thought it would be. Thank you for exceeding my expectations.

icky2• 18 years ago

Glorious game.

My only question is why do the robots carry cash?

astine• 18 years ago

Real questions: why is there a shop in the middle of a warzone?

sdp• 18 years ago

Presumably, there is high demand for supplies in the middle of a warzone.

jcromartie2• 18 years ago

The graphics in this are above and beyond anything I've ever seen in a 2D flash game. Breathtaking!

rlm• 18 years ago

Fun game, but it's weird that the Level 2 Weapon (the shotgun) has a lower DPS than the level 1 weapon.

Why would anyone want to use the shotgun then? :P

symptic2• 18 years ago

it does spread damage of course. I found several situations where I'd equip multiple shotguns and sit in a corner and let all the bugs come at me. :D

lpgauth• 18 years ago

I tried the first level and it looks exactly like one of the castles in zelda for snes.... At least the map layout.

wmeredith• 18 years ago

This is killer. I played for about an hour right out of the gate. I'm loving it.

Constructive criticism: 1) The ambush's seem lame without bait. Put a dollar bill at the far end of the room, or something. 2) In at least one situation I got a key that was just used in the next room I was going to in the logical progression of things. This doesn't add much to the game since I don't have to go find it and seems superfluous. 3) The Flash permission-ask is lame, but that's already been talked through elsewhere in this thread. 4) Where are the really hard fights in the objective rooms? Get bosses or REALLY pack them with baddies.

Kudos, overall, though. "Superb" is an apt description for this flash game.

elai• 18 years ago

AWESOME GAME! Wayy better than 95% of the flash games out there.

swivelmaster4• 18 years ago

Another game design criticism: I feel like the rooms where you start on a narrow path and get shot at from directly in front and have nearly no room to dodge... are kind of cheap.

It may just be me, but I much prefer the big rooms with obstacles and lots of baddies - they let me exercise a lot more strategy. The narrow corridor rooms just make me think "oh crap oh crap oh crap I'm going to get hit and there's nothing I can do about it!"

Perhaps in the sequel (if you do one) you can add moving platforms and rooms that change structure. Conveyer belts. Maybe a garbage compactor like in Star Wars. Muahaha.

edit: Also - perhaps more visual cue from the grenades? Maybe a little circle with trails. Also, try getting a few more explosions and picking them randomly instead of using the same one each time.

DanHulton• 18 years ago

I think I would have purchased, had there been boss fights. Also, it's pretty easy to get yourself into a bad situation if you enjoy trying different weapon loadouts - since weapons sell for so much less than you buy them for, the more you experiment, the worse your gear. And there's a few rooms on the fourth level that are "Gear check" rooms - if you can't put out enough damage, you simply can't progress (narrow path, many blue enemy spawners).

schtog• 18 years ago

Very cool game, well done.

What language(s) did you use?

FiReaNG3L• 18 years ago

For some reason the CPU usage is very high and sometimes controls stop responding on my system (Athlon 3200+), which is annoying in big fights / when you fall off a cliff. Great game though!

rory096• 18 years ago

Very fun, though there needs to be a way to turn off the sound without quitting out of the game.

symptic2• 18 years ago

I bought the game. Not just because it's a product of News.YC members, but because it's really fun.

After beating it, I think it would be more fun if...

1. later versions of each gun is more or less equal in power, but each have different perks. That way if someone loves their shotguns, they can effectively keep using shotguns throughout the whole game rather than being forced to replace them for a gun that will actually give them a fighting chance to win.

2. Bosses.Be it a really fast unit that is annoyingly hard to aim at or the big enormous monster that somehow never seems to die, the game needs some things to curse at... I mean.. make it hard and to build anticipation. Bosses are also great for continuing the story in a possible sequel. ;P

3. An upgrade you can buy that lets you jump. That would be really cool and make the game way more dynamic, especially if you make it so the grenade launchers have a little arc to them where you can sit on a safe spot and shoot ground units down with them.

4. Perhaps skills? Regeneration or added weapon/upgrades slots? The possibilities are really endless.

That's all I've got for now. I may play through again tomorrow and write another reply in here. :)

LPTS4• 18 years ago

I love this game. This is exactly the kind of game I want to play when I want to kill time but not learn something complicated. It's easily the best flash game I have played.

You should have some bosses, and some retro zelda dungeons or something though.

andreyf• 18 years ago

Multiplayer mode would be beyond awesome. Flash-based MMORPG, maybe?

whiletruepass• 18 years ago

I really want to like this game, I really do. But the keyboard controls make it unplayable. They have a habit of sticking in the game, so I walk straight off the ledge or into a robot swarm. Does anyone else get this?

swivelmaster4• 18 years ago

Sometimes. I think it's a Flash thing and it depends on the speed of your computer. Perhaps key up events aren't being fired correctly.

louislouis• 18 years ago

Great game, very addictive! Will definately play again when I'm bored!

superchink• 18 years ago

This game ruined my productivity for about 2 hours last night. Thanks a lot!

Harkins• 18 years ago

...if I pause to change audio settings, the first option throws away my progress without warning. Happened twice to me, doesn't make me want to keep playing.

helveticaman• 18 years ago

I found it annoying that you couldn't pay the shop to regenerate your shield. If it was low, you'd have to die before the game went on.

ericb2• 18 years ago

one issue I have is the mouse-for-aim requirement. If I could hold control to turn, then release to move, that would be much better. I have trouble with using the mouse for action...

ars• 18 years ago

I don't know if you are still reading comments here but:

The robot the spawns bugs should have a cap on number of bugs. Otherwise you can sit there killing bugs that drop shield recharges as long as you want. You can fully recharge your shield, and also build up exp for free.

If you finish a room you get a recharge, if you kill a box with an ambush you get a second recharge.

The store seems pointless - everything is far too expensive to actually buy. i.e. when you finally have enough money to buy something, it's weaker than the gun you picked up from the floor.

All the extra powerups, like riot shield and the others, are pointless - you don't have enough spaces to actually use them. It's a no-brainer to have the shield rechargers always equiped. Unless you want to constantly switch them on and off, which is a big hassle and detracts from the game. (You get about 1 second after killing everything before it recharges, so you theoretically could swap them every single time, but that really ruins gameplay.)

Have dedicated shield recharger spots, and then spots for everything else. The reasoning is that recharges are used after a room is finished, but everything else is used during a room.

I kinda of enjoyed playing it, but the balance was poor.

Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members

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