

Stunt Pilot - our first flash game - reitzensteinm
http://www.rocksolidarcade.com
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!
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mwerty
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.

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LostInTheWoods
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.

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reitzensteinm
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...

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

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wmeredith
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.

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

Hi guys,

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!

~~~
rms
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.

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

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rms
I made it to level 12, I think, when I mostly stopped using the boost button.
The game over screen is unsatisfying, it would be fine if you added a "Best
Run" indicator on the main screen. You'll want to do global high scores
eventually too.

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reitzensteinm
Yeah, we'll be doing global high scores, and also stuff like challange a
friend over Facebook etc. Just have to write the site next, as well as work on
the next game! I think I'll put the last high score and best high score on the
main menu tomorrow though, that's a good idea for the short term.

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mrtron
Very slick game

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

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Hexstream
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.

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wmeredith
"left goes up and right goes down"

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

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spiralhead
i disagree

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Hexstream
I emulated the control scheme I proposed by rotating the keyboard 90 degrees
and guess what, I made it through all the levels by losing only one life on
level 40. I never made it even close to half this before.

The problem with having up + down instead of left + right is that (like most
people?) I alternate pressing up and down with only the middle finger, while I
have 1 finger on each key in the left + right scheme.

Considering that it doesn't take away anything for anyone to enable this
additional, arguably superior control scheme, I think this is the crucial next
feature to implement.

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JeffL
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.

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jmilton
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.

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jmilton
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).

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Hexstream
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.

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DarrenStuart
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.

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oPerrin
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

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reitzensteinm
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

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ps3udo
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>).

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staunch
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.

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yters
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.

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reitzensteinm
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.

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plusbryan
guns, more guns

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tmm1
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

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mattmaroon
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.

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eusman
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)

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DanielBMarkham
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.

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omnipath
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

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

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

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DarrenStuart
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.

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

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

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imasr
Outstanding! Cant stop playing.

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ctingom
Nice! It is hard.

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initself
I love it!

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lucraft
Like it.

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twism
love it

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nextmoveone
i like it alot

