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Pseudolonewolf ā Raider: Episode 2
Published: 2009-09-03 21:19:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 8742; Favourites: 70; Downloads: 130
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Description
The second episode of the Raider series of Flash games.Again, it is designed to be very challenging, so I do not know who it will actually appeal to here...
It follows on from the last one, which you can find here: [link]
As before, this is made entirely by me. I did the graphics, code, writing, music, sound effects, even the pixel fonts...
So, uh, yes. Hopefully someone here will derive some kind of enjoyment from this!
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Comments: 17
You want critique, huh? Okay, I'll give it a shot. I won't be super-detailed, though.
Great music, fiendish level design, interesting character designs, devilish boss (I suck, I'm not going to go past Beginner e.deviantart.net/emoticons/a/aā¦ " width="19" height="19" alt="
e.deviantart.net/emoticons/c/cā¦ " width="18" height="15" alt="
That said, though, I think maybe you could have a little more variety in terms of the traps. I got a little tired of the vertical blades after a bit. The always-instagib lava (great lampshade of Convection Schmonvection, by the way!) was a good way to up the ante, and the mid-jump-only spike formations were great, too, but I couldn't help but notice a sort of reliance on spike mazes. I'm not a professional platformer, but that seems a little odd to me.
The story so far is interesting, but it's not super-enticing--at least, not yet. I'm sure it'll pick up the next game or two. (Then again, this IS an action game, so...*shrug*) I guess I'd like a little more exposition than what we get at the intros, boss fights, and endings. The signpost comments are pretty funny (see above lampshading), but I'd still like to see a little more story in this game if story is an emphasis. (At least, according to Fig Hunter's blurb for Episode 1, it is.)
Overall, though, this and the first episode are pretty good. A great change of pace from MARDEK. (I loved the cameos from MARDEK in this episode, by the way.) I look forward to new episodes in the future...when you're not busy making other games and having a life, that is.
*looks at the rating stars system, mrfs that they don't quite fit games, adds this: *
Music: 4/5 (I think I might've liked the music in the first episode better; it was catchier. The music here fit like a glove, however, and, as frustrating as the level was, I never got tired of it.)
Graphics: 5/5 (LOVE the graphical style of these games! I just wish maybe you'd add some blinking animations once in a while to the normal standing sprites, but that's negligible, and I'm a sucker for idle anims.)
Gameplay: 4.5/5 (It's pretty damn hard, and I can see it being super-frustrating above Beginner. (By the way, I love how you note that Intermediate is not "Normal Mode".) The grading system seems a little harsh, but then again, I've only played each episode once and on Beginner, sucking hard each time, so there ya go. It's not super-innovative, but it's solid. Only thing I'd maybe watch for is the spike mazes and short vine-hopping. I'd also prefer if I could get a better sense of the hitbox.)
Overall: 4.5/5 if I'm doing my math right (I wanna see more of this game, despite how much I suck at games like this. I had fun, and that's what counts.)
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Fun fact; the old logo of Raider was reused from the original Raider (there was another Raider game before the 2009 reboot)Ā
Did you know there was another version of Raider (which would've been released in between Cyber Ortek and Mardek), where Arkus Zei raids another ship where he finds out it's a generation ship raided by aliens? And has to fight off some rival named Gruen while exploring the ship?
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I did a critique of this after playing. I'd better get to homework and stuff now. Ta!
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Hm. -252 points. I think maybe I need to die less.
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hi are you a flash developer for games do you use php and mysql
cos i have some knowlegde.
I am trying to make a score board for a game.
do have any experience in the above.
so you can offer me some advice.
thank you for your time .i do have intermediate actionscript 2 skills just need some advice on getting php to communicate with flash.
send me message when not busy cheers
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This might not be a very fair critique since I didn't go to many rooms in it.
Graphics are really appealing. You really managed to make something very catching. Many might play this game just for the graphics.
The game might not be very original. Although game engine is very well designed, the main game is only about jumping and pushing buttons. Even killing monsters isn't a major issue in the game. The more you play, the more bored you get because of that. If the game is concentrated about evading and jumping, there should be some powers to help in that. Example, sticking to walls, using ropes, double jump, hovering for a while, dashing, speed falling, running, etc..
The more to do in the game, the more interesting it gets and the more inovative the players get.
Also, when you think "Very Hard", make sure you don't cross the red line and make it become "Very frustrating". You did a good job by adding check points. Yet, I still find the amount of niddles too much. Things like niddles and pitfalls are already outdated.
I think I'll be playing it more to see the bosses if there is. I felt the game deserves some review since it is very promising. Hope you find this helpful
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Hmm. First off, this was a lot of fun. However, although I did only beat it on Beginner, it seemed a little easier than the first. I got to the end with all four artefacts after only an hour, hour and a half of playing. Of course, I did get very good with Raider 1 first. I liked the artefact hidden in the area where you're switching things off, where you have to switch blue on to get it. That was clever and a lot of fun. The others seemed a little easy to notice if you got the ones in the first. Boss battle, on beginner, seemed somewhat ridiculously easy: Beat it first time. Will have to poke around with intermediate and compare.
Final criticism is that it might be nice to have a menu option to view the achievements (and maybe get a list and discussion of the artefacts you found?), if you're going to have them.
However, there's a lot of good to mention as well. The setting feels very different from the first.
The interaction with Echelle adds a bit of depth to the game; I hope that this increases. It'd be really cool to have her playable for part of a mission, and, if she has different abilties to him, maybe later, have her and Arkus have to be switched between to move forwards, or to get artefacts? Your call, of course: You've done so much good stuff that I trust you completely on these.
Some of the room design is very clever, though, having only played through once at time of writing, I can't name very many specific ones. I liked the early race against the moving platform to climb up, and the later one, just after the sign (with hilarious commentary by Arkus) about dropping through moving platforms, in the room with the three moving platforms. I do somewhat wish, though, that the enemies didn't repeat from the first episode in a couple places: plot-wise, the... what is it, zombie ship crew member and crew member ghost are naturally rather specific to the ship, and it's not clear why they're on this planet. That said, the two new beasties have great design, and the knife traps are really fun.
Really, the remainder of what I have to say boils down to "more plz", but I'll go ahead. I liked the ship, and the return to it at the end. It'd be nice to be taken back to it a little more often in the course of the level. A little more exposition about the planet wouldn't hurt, just to give us some fun background detail. Arkus' personality is a lot of fun, so giving him a few more NPCs to interact with, now that it's possible, would be a lot of fun. Perhaps a village (or just a crazy old hermit) at some point in the surface exploration?
Looking forwards to seeing more work from you, and, presuming that life, which looks to be getting busy shortly, gives me enough time, I'll make another post after playing a bit more.
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Managed to test the problem I had with first connected with holing up key and being damaged. May be you remember from last time.
Well it seems that logic you programmed is that up button is considered not pressed after being damaged until you press it again. It makes me pretty often fall of as it feels always wrong for me... Can't get used to it... I mean I do hold/press up button but he does not grab because I got damaged and while I was repressing it he got damaged again... You repress it always? It feels right for you?
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cool to see you post it here as well, finished it yesterday myself on Congrgate, and DAMN you make hard games! 
haha but yea I laughed hard at those funny signsposts in the tutorial level "this is a SIGNPOST"
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I wasn't able to comment on Kongregate because I'm not a member there, and I wasn't able to comment on Fig Hunter because I was away.
Anyway, my thoughts on this one.
First, I really like how you were able to insert a story into this game from where it was previously. I also like that you were creative enough not to have just copied or made some variations of Raider Zero's story. It's almost too easy for you, apparently.
I like the background music because it gives such a fitting atmosphere to the jungle-ruins-theme of the game background [on which I also commend your ability of achieving], or that's what it seemed like at least. Nice work on making the lava thing and making it blend in with the theme, though I don't really understand how it would fit there, if I thought about it. Still, it's your game, so it's your rules.
Gameplay-wise, it seemed to be a lot similar to the first, including the boss battle, which I seem to have figured out in my first attempt [I took about ten or so attempts on the level 1 boss], hmm...
I also like how you made beginner mode such that it was impossible to lose there unless you were a complete novice at this kind of game, or to playing games in general. I would second [once more] the comment someone gave on Kongregate to make a "wuss" level which made you invincible, but played insults whenever you take a hit. That, in my mind, would be a lot less demotivating [in fact, I think it actually motivates] to people who play this game seeking relief from boredom, because that's what games are really for, right? To kill boredom, not to make playing and beating them as one's career or something?
Now that I've touched that though, I also commend your patience and ability to handle these kids who rate your game really low for things that are either THEIR shortcomings [not yours, like difficulty], or things that are unrelated to the making of the game altogether [like lag]. I might have cried if I worked on something for months only to have it unfairly bashed by people half my age.
Concerns... On Kongregate, I already got the four relics but when you altered the engine [or whatever it was that you did alter], they disappeared. That's not really a problem though as it's a one-time thing, as you said. The boss, as I've previously noted, is a bit easy to figure out if you've beaten the first level boss. Why don't you try something that spawns enemies, or shoots a laser BEAM.
A question, ever since I started playing Raider, I've seldom, if ever actually seen Arkus avoid shots by crouching, unlike in Raider Zero where it is clear that you can use crouch to avoid being hit in some parts. Can you actually avoid shots by crouching? If so, maybe you can incorporate it into some boss battle? If not, well... maybe you can MAKE it so? Unless it's too much work, of course.
I've seen a little of Episode 3, from what you allowed us to test on Fig Hunter. Dodging the obstacles is progressively getting harder with new additions to the kind of terrain and obstacles, but there can be other things to watch out for, like uh... some sort of gas thing that if you walk through, will slow your movement for a time, or sticky mud where the highest leap you can make is the height of a shift-jump, or other things. Obstacles don't necessarily have to deal immediate damage, they can also limit skills, which would lead to taking damage.
--
To everyone, I've played it on Kongregate and managed to get as high as 210 points on intermediate. Since I don't have an account there, all the proof I really have is this screen shot:
[link]
Who here has actually gotten a Rank S? Any tips?
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wow, really nice!!
The only thing was it wasn't working at first... and then I realized my key scrambler confused the hell out of the game.
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Such a nice game. You don't see this kind of games on DA or some sites on the Web. Nice one
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Good god, you didn't pull any punches with this one either. Lots of fun, but damn dude, you make your games HARD.
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