

Ask HN: please review my html5 web game - PlanetFunk
http://planetfunk.posterous.com/last-man-standing-a-zombie-apocalypse

======
PlanetFunk
A couple of weeks ago I showed you guys a web game I wrote for the 10k
contest.

I wrote that in about 7 hours and hadn't intended to submit anything until the
last minute which is why it was so rough.

It's been 18 days since then, and this is where I'm at so far.

It uses the html5 canvas and browser database (SQLite not indexedDB) so will
only run in Safari, and Chrome, and I've been specifcally targeting the
iPhone.

The url goes to my posterous for an overview of the game and links to it and
the source.

Being my first game, I would greatly appreciate any comments you have on it.

To go directly to the game:

<http://dl.dropbox.com/u/165110/lastmanstanding/index.html>

Or see the original 10k Apart entry:

<http://10k.aneventapart.com/Uploads/358/>

Edited for spelling and 18 "days"

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sabj
I thought the game was really neat. Very impressive.

Feedback:

1) Control scheme was not as intuitive as it could be. Maybe it would be more
obvious on an iPhone using my finger? I lost 95% of my health trying to figure
out how to move my character.

Not a big deal since I could restart, but I was frustrated and might have left
if I wasn't trying to figure it out : )

Also problematic is that this leads me to keep accidentally using up grenades
because I keep thinking the intuitive behavior is to click-to-move, not drag-
to-move.

2) Something of help could be to show gun ranges, so you know better how to
move / draw a path.

3) Bigger issue: it would be very helpful to have a notice or info on what the
kinds of Zombies are and what their special abilities are. Tutorials can suck,
but even a few lines of text might help here, or something to help out the
novice player. Likewise how to use health packs.

~~~
PlanetFunk
1) My initial game was arrows keys and mouse to shoot which didn't translate
into touch. That's the best I've got at the moment that allows movement and
throwing grenades. Ideas would be appreciated.

2) I place a light grey outer circle around the player for weapon ranges
initially but my wife hated it :) i'll see what else I can come up with.

3) Help screen. You're absolutely right. I'll make it my first priority.

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

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integraleq
Man, that game is so much fun!! It gets really hectic at points! What are the
guys the spit junk at you called? Are they like bosses?

~~~
PlanetFunk
Yeah, they're based on L4D specials, so you have boomers, smokers, and tanks.

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adolfojp
The next time that somebody tells me that Flash is dead and that HTML5 is its
replacement I will show them this game.

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wccrawford
Cute, and it seems to work well, but it's not something that I'd play for more
than 30 seconds.

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superted
The graphics game me pleasant flashbacks of long and gory Cannon Fodder
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannon_fodder>) sessions. Good work! -"War Has
Never Been So Much Fun".

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DiabloD3
Uh, I hate to inform you, but it doesn't seem to function properly on Firefox
trunk.

~~~
PlanetFunk
Correct. You'll need Safari or Chrome to play.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_SQL_Database>

Web SQL Database is supported by Google Chrome, Opera and Safari but will not
be implemented by Mozilla(Firefox) which instead advocates Indexed Database
API access.

~~~
pom
Maybe you should try to use the simpler storage API like localStorage as it is
more widely supported?

~~~
PlanetFunk
Ok, I've replaced the database with localStorage and it's all good to go - at
least in FF 3.6.8, although it seems to be washing out the font colors.

Thanks for the suggestion.

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spcmnspff
Very nice. Maybe I'm missing something but controlling two survivors is hard
though, I lost him in a day.

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TamDenholm
I like it, it also works well on the iPad. Perhaps make it bigger for ipads
screen.

