Stunt Pilot - our first flash game

http://www.rocksolidarcade.com

by reitzensteinm • 19 years ago

32 44 19 years ago

We've just put up an initial version of our site, Rock Solid Arcade, along with our first flash game, Stunt Pilot. It's in semi-beta right now - the site itself is just one page, I'm working on the dynamic site in django to integrate high scores, comments etc. But the game itself is fully playable and pretty much done (we'll probably add features as time goes on). I'd really appreciate it if you could check it out and let me know what you think!

reitzensteinm6• 19 years ago

This is the initial submission text, reposted as a comment as it doesn't appear to be showing...

Hi guys,

rms2• 19 years ago

The text only shows up if you don't submit a link. This really threw me off for a while.

I played the game for five minutes -- I think I'm better than average at playing new games and I found it challenging. You want more of a learning curve. I would recommend making the loops bigger. I hit the sides of them too much. Maybe you can make them smaller again on later stages. Is the game too easy if you add a continue button, or passwords?

Also, do you get bonus points for doing loops? I'm not sure how the chain concept works. Is there a limit on boosts? These things aren't really clear. A tutorial might help, though I know it's better to put the player right in the game. When I initially started, I crashed into the ground twice. You should detect for this on first run and pop up telling the player that up is down and down is up, just like a real stunt plane.

Technically, you guys did a good job, the game seems to work flawlessly. One tiny thing I notice is that when you end the level while still flying vertically, the plane corrects itself pretty harshly. I think it would look better if you slowed that animation down, or maybe made it always finish in an extra loop... or don't take control away from the player and let him crash the plane if he wants.

reitzensteinm6• 19 years ago

Thanks for the feedback! Did you use the thrust button a lot when you were crashing?

Retric• 19 years ago

Found a bug when dieing at the end of the 2nd bonus stage right when time ran out.

The screen kept scrolling to the left without starting the next life.

I think the flow was die and have time run out while you are dead but before you restarted.

LostInTheWoods• 19 years ago

Cool game. My only suggestion would be to add a way for the player to unlock the higher levels and/or earn more lives. Kinda sucks to have to start at level one each time the game is played.

reitzensteinm6• 19 years ago

I guess it's kind of an artifact of the way the game was developed. It was meant to be something where you just try to maximize your score (so starting in the middle wouldn't really be a good idea), but then we went and added 42 levels to it...

jsmcgd• 19 years ago

You could give the player the option to trade points for extra lives.

DarrenStuart2• 19 years ago

love it, however adds some credits that the user can restart if they want to from the level they made it too.

I am not sure how you are going to do this but here are a couple of my thoughts. Each user to your sight starts with say 10 credits and can earn more for completing a game, inviting friends, highscores and {INSERT OTHER}

You could also add fruit machines so people could gamble the credits and earn more to play on the games.

wlievens• 19 years ago

I like it. I works smoothly, which you can't say of all flash games.

mwerty• 19 years ago

How is the time bonus calculated? I keep getting whole number multiples.

Edit: Wanted to add that I like it. Good job. It could be more addictive though: eg: I never ever want to restart from level 1.

omnipath• 19 years ago

Doesn't seem to be working on Opera. Once you tap up or down on keyboard, it just spirals out of control. I'm on OS X 10.4.11

twism• 19 years ago

love it

asmosoinio• 19 years ago

Really nice graphics and sounds, but I am not hooked by this. At least not yet.

Hexstream3• 19 years ago

Nice game!

If you have no use for left and right, I'd suggest that left goes up and right goes down, as well as the normal controls.

wmeredith2• 19 years ago

"left goes up and right goes down"

Seconded. This seems like a more natural control scheme considering the plane's orientation.

spiralhead• 19 years ago

i disagree

eusman• 19 years ago

addictive i'd say! can't wait for multiplayer.

Creating a multiplayer game with a click of a button giving you a url you can give someone through instant messenger and join you instantly.

other things i think that would add more fun:

new levels with thunders, moving obstacles, warfare trying to shoot you down,

missions like delivering parcels.

and maybe in the hall of fame you could show the most risky pilots (i guess you could measure speed and angle entering/avoiding the obstacles)

wmeredith2• 19 years ago

Very nice execution. The dynamic of the planes motion control is very satisfying. I also like the clean graphics and the Rock Solid Blimp.

Quick idea for taking or leaving: Add some different bail-out animations. Parachute, rocket-pack, umbrella, anvil (Think Wile E. Coyote), etc.

Nice work.

dazzawazza• 19 years ago

I used to work on console games and I think you've got the handling on the plane just right. Nice job. Good luck.

DanielBMarkham• 19 years ago

I like it.

As a pilot, I'd like to see you add airspeed and stalling -- you just can't fly a plane anywhere you point the stick at -- but other than that, looks like a fun little game.

staunch• 19 years ago

The big balloons crashing you vs the small balloons giving you point seems a bit counter-intuitive. The restarting on Level 1 after making it quite far made me stop playing. That's definitely the most glaring issue I saw. Overall excellent work.

Hexstream3• 19 years ago

I think it could be cool if we could stop the engine temporarily in midair and hover. It would let us make sharper turns when for example you're going up and then need to make a 90 degrees turn. I'm not sure if the physics make sense but I think the feeling would be great!

The restarting of the engine would have to be perfectly timed with the release of the key though, unlike the boost.

Oh yeah, and the "time left" label in the bonus rounds is truncated.

lucraft• 19 years ago

Like it.

ctingom• 19 years ago

Nice! It is hard.

mrtron• 19 years ago

Very slick game

only comment is i dont like going back to restart after dying...should at least be a few continues

plusbryan• 19 years ago

guns, more guns

initself• 19 years ago

I love it!

ps3udo• 19 years ago

I like the game. I suppose it would be nice to have a password for each level (like in the "minefields" games for exemple : http://www.zeronews-fr.com/flash/v-9-mindfields2.html).

injesus• 19 years ago

Nice Game. I wish you didn't have to start over from scratch everytime, otherwise very nice.

JeffL• 19 years ago

Plays very nicely.

One comment is that it's not obvious that you can go through the rings in any order, so the first level where you might want to do this seems extremely hard at first and is jarring compared to the previous couple of levels which were cakewalks. Maybe a little flashing info at the beginning of that level that tells you that you can go in any order at all.

Also, the first two levels were just way too easy, maybe, and a little boring.

It would be more fun if there were more reason to boost. A time bar at the bottom or top of the screen that starts full and ticks down to zero as an indication of how much bonus you will get when you finish would be a great indicator of where you are for time and I can totally see the user trying to boost at the end or throughout trying to finish the level while the time bar is at a more full state.

imasr• 19 years ago

Outstanding! Cant stop playing.

mattmaroon• 19 years ago

I'm not really a fan of the genre, which I call "see how well you can maneuver some hard to control object", but it's very well done.

I do like the casual flash gaming market a lot though.

DarrenStuart2• 19 years ago

after playing it some more and a bit to much the feature I want is the ability to reverse the controls if I want. so up is up and down is down. Little button at the bottom of the screen is needed or maybe an option at the start.

nextmoveone• 19 years ago

i like it alot

tmm1• 19 years ago

very cool. nice and simple, i love the three graphics explaining game play at the bottom. controls seem a but un-intuitive though.. up/down are reversed, and left/right might be a better fit

reitzensteinm6• 19 years ago

Thanks for the comments guys, it's been really helpful. We're planning a revision in a few days that'll fix a lot of problems, including:

> Better instructions

> Option to reverse the controls

> Remember high score on main menu

> Continue from within the game

jmilton2• 19 years ago

Crashing into one of the big hot air balloons is not nearly as satisfying as it should be :)

Just an aesthetic note, but the yellow smoke trail is a bit unappealing. A red color might show up better against the background, and the color does add a hint more excitement.

Or perhaps some simple customization where you choose your smoke color at the start (also functioning as the start button).

Other than that... very fun. Definitely could get popular on facebook with challenges and best scores/times for each level and overall, or just as a fun way to pass time.

jmilton2• 19 years ago

and maybe I didn't get far enough, but this type of game definitely needs moving rings. Adds tons of extra challenge and excitement (and if you have some smooth rotation effect for the rings as they move it would look pretty cool too).

yters• 19 years ago

Is it possible to make these kinds of games multiplayer? I think dogfighting would be fun, or co-op stunts. Maybe a sandbox mode?

Anyways, I like the game, and echo the request for level unlocking.

reitzensteinm6• 19 years ago

Multiplayer is definitely possible, but it opens up a few issues that we're not really happy dealing with yet. After a few games, definitely.

The first multiplayer games we do will probably be something far less twitchy, because lag between countries won't be so much of a problem (we simply can't afford to go and rent servers in many different countries, which we'd have to do for a twitch game).

But something like a multiplayer strategy game, we could just use EC2 to spawn instances to handle it. I'm not sure whether we'd make a profit on the traffic at the time that they're actually playing the multiplayer games (it depends how many people per server can be hosted), but I'm willing to be that it would still be worth it all round.

oPerrin• 19 years ago

From the name I assumed I would get more points for being creative with my flying.

Here's my idea: Sky write with their trails and get uber bonuses for making certain shapes.

Make a star out of smoke, it flashes solid and you get invulnerability for a few moments. That kind of thing.

-Ian

Stunt Pilot - our first flash game

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