23 Medals (500 points)
Use your enemies to destroy as many blue stars as you can!
Author's Comment
Looks like the author wrote half the guide for us.
Commentary
My design goal with AVOIDAL was to create a mouse skills game with a fun and unique core mechanic. The point of the game (if there is one to any game) is entirely about highscores and testing your skills as a player. I also thought about classic arcade games from the 80s like Robotron, Yars Revenge, Frogger, Pac Man, Asteroids etc. None of these games had upgrades or shops or power ups. Are those things fun? Yes no doubt they are--sometimes I enjoy them too. I worry that these days upgrades and the like are often applied like some kind of placebo snake oil onto games lacking a fun core mechanic. I didn't want to do that with AVOIDAL. I also wanted to test my skills as a game designer by not using those crutches. I wanted a game that would either stand or fall based on it's own simple, no frills premise. It is OK if you don't like the game or find it fun! I totally respect that. Games are subjective like any other creative pursuit.
Control Tips
Since this is a mouse skills game it was always designed to be played with a mouse or tablet. Does this limit potential player base? Yes--but it was an intentional choice. It will be a lot harder on laptop touch pad or keyboard. I can't do anything about that. I enjoy mouse skills games and I've made a few because I like them and like to try and improve the genre.
Screen Tips
To address the issue of mouse cursor hitting edge of screen mostly it is out of my control because it is inherent in the way the flash player and web browser work. The best solution may be to use the expand game button in the top right here on Newgrounds to make the area larger. This may make the game run slower I'm not sure.
Medal Concerns
A lot of you are complaining about the medals hardness. There are actually only 2 of the 23 that are incredibly hard. I put these there as insane motivators because I did actually have a few players playtesting that were operating at that level to get 200+ star streaks. The rest of the medals are attainable and were attained during heavy play testing of this game. You either have the skills or you don't--not sure what else to say. :D
Overview
In AVOIDAL, you guide a robot with your mouse. Your target is to destroy as many Blue Stars as possible, using your own enemies, the Red Seekers and the Yellow Spikes. By destroying stars, the difficulty increases, so get ready for a challenge!
How to Play
Here's some stuff you need to know.
The Enemies
There are 3 enemies in the game, they are the Red Seekers, the Yellow Spikes, and also the Blue Stars. I'm not going to mention those colors anymore, since Seekers can only be red, Spikes can only be yellow and Stars can only be blue.
- Seekers: Seekers are small, red orbs that spawn on a random spot on the screen. Once you get near them, they'll start following you. Use this to your advantage and make them crash into a Star. Hitting them will make you lose health.
- Spikes: Spikes can only spawn at the sides of the screen. When you get near them, they will fly to where they are pointing. When they align with a Star, you can use Spikes to hit it. Hitting one will make you lose health.
- Stars: Stars will, just like Seekers, spawn randomly. You must hit Stars in order to increase your score. There is a donwside on these Stars, however. They make you lose LOTS of health when hit. Also, when they are on the screen for a long time, they'll turn white and eventually explode, releasing a few small spikes. When you get hit by these spikes you'll also lose health, but not as much as hitting a Star. Also note that Stars are not always stationary.
The Scoring
- An interesting aspect: the scoring. I've made a list with all the stuff regarding this.
- Your next difficulty is equal to the amount of Stars you have to destroy to get there (so if you're at difficulty 3, you must destroy 4 Stars to get to difficulty 4).
- Hitting a Star with a Spike will give you much more points than hitting one with a Seeker.
- When you hit Stars in a row, you'll get a combo. The maximum combo is 5. Your combo is used as a multiplier. Getting hit will reset your combo.
- When you hit Stars in a row, you'll start a streak. There are medals that require big streaks to get. When you've gotten to a certain streak, you will get bonus points. The higher the difficulty, the more points. When you get hit, your streak gets reset.
Credits
Guide written by LiquidOoze.