Reviews for Starmada

[Pagasaeus]

Fairly decent game. I like the graphics design in terms of technical skill, although the overall artistic style of the game could have been a little better. Also, as others have pointed out, the game lags when using mouse control. I did end up completing the game. The final level is a bit hard, so I had to farm up some extra lives in order to beat it.

The problems with the game design are as follows:

1. In general, I dislike shooter games with a large ship hitbox. This game isn't the worse in this, but the hitbox should be smaller. Preferably, the hitbox should be smaller than the actual graphic of the ship, so it makes dodging more epic. The NG game Bullet Heaven is a good example. When the hitbox is big, everything is extraordinary clumsy, and it feels like you're a fatass that can't get out of the way.

2. This game is mostly about luck rather than skill. The powerups are way too powerful, and if you keep on getting lots of shield and extra lives, it's very easy to beat anything.

3. The game could use more storyline to immerse the player into what is going on.

Vibe13 responds:

that all sounds very sensible.

I realise now that a smaller hit-box would have been better - when I was writing it I was obsessed with making collisions as accurate to the pixels as I could, I realise now that was a mistake.

I don't like the fact that there's too much 'luck' involved either, I'll need to work harder on creating 'skillfull' levels next time around.

Art direction and storyline are definitely not my strong points but I can see that a bit more of both would be a good thing.

[anton-raadschelders]

Is it weird to find the small crafts harder than the actual boss in a level? Because I get killed before the boss more than if the boss himself. Maybe make the bosses harder and the small stuff from the start a little easier? Also hoping if you make a sequel of this game you edit and extend the resolution. Because sometimes it's really hard to see the bullets.

Overall very good game got me entertained for an hour+
I love platform shooters. <3

Vibe13 responds:

the bosses really should be harder than the enemies - my problem was that as it stands at the moment you can replenish health and grab shields while fighting the smaller guys but not against the bosses...obviously it would be better in the next version to just eject some bonuses during the boss fights, so thats something I really wanna do.

[SunDawn]

The game is great, the sound (explosion, weapon) is great, and the concept are nice too. Concepts such as squad bonus are nice, and the bosses are nice too.

Some cons of the game are as follows : The text is not too visible (too italic in my opinion). The music is nice, but become boring at later time. The controls are also an issue, because the spacecraft controls (I use mouse) seems too sluggish. Maybe this is intended, but I think it is still too sluggish. The speed of the spacecraft could be reduced, but the control should not be reduced. There are also some issues regarding the explosion animation, I suggest that you just use an explosion, in my PC if an enemy is destroyed, the enemy exploded then moves very fast to the top of the screen.

Good game.

Vibe13 responds:

that enemy explosion bug sounds interesting - I've not seen anything like that before?!?

I'm pleased to hear someone mention the squad bonuses, 'cuz even though they're a simple idea I was really happy with them.

I don't know if you upgraded your ship speed but it does improve the sluggishness of the controls - that being said I was never sure about whether to include that as an upgrade 'cuz maybe the ship should just be fully responsive right from the start...

[RikerZero]

Consider this a significant leap over ya last one. This is the only game I've played so much that earning all the metals meant nothing so long as I actually managed to finish. Lol. Great design, great sound, good difficulty, lots of replayability, I want more!

Oh, look, that's 5 stars, that's the first time that's happened.

Lol, well, this was great in every aspect and it was really, really hard to find anything to improve upon. One of the things I noticed around hour 2 of playing however was that as you mentioned earlier you let the FX take precedence over the gameplay itself. Which while it didn't slow anything down was noticeable in the later levels with dozens of enemies eating my lasers. Point (2) was the sound track, the thump and pump kept my blood rushing to my hands to keep playing but after a while got drowned out. A little diversity between the three difficulty tiers would have helped I think.

And (honestly) the only other thing that I can think of that niggled at my mind was how your own ship was so basic and almost uninspired compared the rest of the baddies. I'm a little blue shell laughing and screaming while slaughtering an entire species. Easy to spot, yes, but still a little customization or visual improvements woulda been cool.

Now then, excuse me while I take the bodies of my enemies and use their bones to build a whorehouse for their women, lighting the torches to the alter with the fire from their bellies.

Vibe13 responds:

The player ship was the first sprite I designed and I think I got better at doing it over the course of developing this game, I _should_ have gone back and fancied it up a little, but by the end I was exhausted and didn't have the energy....next time around I'd really like to design multiple ship sprites maybe indicating your level of armor upgrade or something

[TonyWilk]

Superb, manic, mouse-cramp inducing mayhem - loved every minute of it.
Very like Starmageddon (which I play again and again), but I thought this manages to be even more "totally-impossible-OMG-no-way...yes-
yes-YES-got-the-little-b******s !"

Others have said the bosses aint so tough, but I found it really difficult to beat the later bosses without losing a life (and losing the multiplier).

Anyhow, didn't do too bad... c'mon, someone should beat 104mil ;-)

Yours,
TonyWilk

Vibe13 responds:

thanks for the support: it's definitely possible to do all the bosses without losing a life, although the later ones do get a bit difficult. Originally it was a lot harder, I mean I was literally sweating to finish them off: In the end I thought that was too much considering I had been practising every day to get to that stage.