Alpha Steampunk Abyss(Looter Shooter Bullet Hell) [Feed back appreciated]

[The Video Gamester]

Steampunk Abyss is a fast passed dungeon crawler. Dodge your enemies bullets and unleash the power of your crazy arsenal in a bid to escape the underground city of Ducpointe. Pilot your Depths Exploration Bot (D.E.B.) and get new loot with each run. Mod out your weapons as you try to make your way towards the surface Death is inevitable but will you be the pilot that finally defeats the guardians left behind by the builders and claim the unguarded wealth of tech above ground?

Current Build:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11L7tnlp636NF1O0ZHZ8sng-5pQTD-pAP?usp=sharing
Note: This build doesn't contain many WIP features.

Controls:
WASD or Arrow Keys - Move
Mouse - Aim
Left Click - Shoot
Right Click - Boost
E - Switch Left/Right
M - Map (WIP) Currently Disabled.
Scroll - Change inventory selection
Space Bar - Reset​

Steampunk Abyss is still in the early stages of development. In this build the first two weapons in your inventory are random. The last three are always the same. The random generation is WIP so some levels may be much to difficult while others may spawn you within view of the stairs. Many of the graphics are programmer art by me. If a sprite looks professional you can thank Bahototh the artist who is working with me on the project. While the music is still not done I would also like to thank Gregory Belos for agreeing to compose a piece for my upcoming commercial and Kickstarter. Any feedback, suggestions, and ideas are appreciated. In addition I am currently looking to expand my team with another programmer, especially one who is good with shaders or online play.

Examples of Bahotoths Work:

Known issues: Many weapons are way over/underpowered. This issue should be resolved once balancing and the loot system are in place.
Player occasionally, while boosting, can glitch into corners.
S key saves but you cannot load.
Courtesy of O. Stogden - Sometimes in tight corridors the players arm can enter the walls causing projectiles to destroy themselves when created.

Features that are WIP and not in the current build:
Weapon Drops of various rarities.
Two recharging ability slots that change up combat.
Run based weapon modding.
Pre-run load out setup.
Bots that combine to give others new abilities or recombine the destroyed husks left behind.

Screen Shots :

Spoiler

 

[O.Stogden]

Hey, just gave this game a quick go and here's a few points I made note of:

Scrolling weapons can be a little difficult, especially when you're in combat and need to make a quick switch, I often found myself scrolling past the weapon I wanted. As you have numbers next to the weapons, I'm guessing you're planning to add pressing number keys to switch weapons, which you definitely should.

The enemies that rush you are very fast and very difficult to kill before they self-destruct on you, I think I probably killed 1/20 before they hit me. But as you said, balancing isn't quite finished yet.

When in 1 block wide corridors, often your weapon can't shoot, I'm guessing this is because the players arm can go slightly into the wall, and the weapon projectile is instantly destroyed as it collides with the wall as soon as it's created.

The steam doesn't regenerate very fast, you could increase the base regeneration rate, or I'm guessing you're planning on adding powerups/loot that makes the steam regenerate faster. I had to sit behind a wall for a while after every 2nd enemy to wait for my steam to recharge, and this feels like it's more suited to fast-paced gameplay.

The combat itself I found quite decent and enjoyable when I had enough steam to do it, it could be a good fast-paced, not quite bullet-hell kind of shooter. You have a variety of weapons already in which are fun to use, even more-so when you get balancing in.

I never did find the stairs though.

 

[The Video Gamester]

Scrolling weapons can be a little difficult, especially when you're in combat and need to make a quick switch, I often found myself scrolling past the weapon I wanted. As you have numbers next to the weapons, I'm guessing you're planning to add pressing number keys to switch weapons, which you definitely should.

Yes for sure. its one of the first post Kickstarter things on my list.

The enemies that rush you are very fast and very difficult to kill before they self-destruct on you, I think I probably killed 1/20 before they hit me. But as you said, balancing isn't quite finished yet.

When in 1 block wide corridors, often your weapon can't shoot, I'm guessing this is because the players arm can go slightly into the wall, and the weapon projectile is instantly destroyed as it collides with the wall as soon as it's created.

Both good to know. I have the dev power of being really good at it so this kind of stuff helps. And I do need to work on making sure the arm thing is fixed.

The steam doesn't regenerate very fast, you could increase the base regeneration rate, or I'm guessing you're planning on adding powerups/loot that makes the steam regenerate faster. I had to sit behind a wall for a while after every 2nd enemy to wait for my steam to recharge, and this feels like it's more suited to fast-paced gameplay.

The combat itself I found quite decent and enjoyable when I had enough steam to do it, it could be a good fast-paced, not quite bullet-hell kind of shooter. You have a variety of weapons already in which are fun to use, even more-so when you get balancing in.

Part of the WIP is a store where you can upgrade that kind of stuff. Certain mods and abilities also help. But I still need it to start higher most likely. I'm glad its got some fun to it. Still working on getting that all figured out of course so I know what the game should focus on.

I appreciate the feedback. I will definitely be working on this over the next few builds. Its good to know what people notice about it so this is enormously helpful.

 

[The Video Gamester]

Hey, just gave this game a quick go and here's a few points I made note of:
The combat itself I found quite decent and enjoyable when I had enough steam to do it, it could be a good fast-paced, not quite bullet-hell kind of shooter. You have a variety of weapons already in which are fun to use, even more-so when you get balancing in.

I was wondering if there was any specific gun that stood out and was fun to use?

 

[O.Stogden]

I was wondering if there was any specific gun that stood out and was fun to use?

I definitely preferred the rapid firing weapons as opposed to ones where you have to wait a second or so between shots. Just felt like the single shot ones didn't fit the pace of the game, which seems to be quite fast.

 

[The Video Gamester]

I definitely preferred the rapid firing weapons as opposed to ones where you have to wait a second or so between shots. Just felt like the single shot ones didn't fit the pace of the game, which seems to be quite fast.

I will keep this in mind when I start balancing the game. Thank you

 

[The Video Gamester]

Updated: Hopper AI smarter - still needs a little work. New Tileset for more variety. Minor map improvements. Hoppers now lay a trail of fire rather than bullets. Progress has also been made on the inventory system and will possibly be ready for the next build.

 

[O.Stogden]

Updated: Hopper AI smarter - still needs a little work. New Tileset for more variety. Minor map improvements. Hoppers now lay a trail of fire rather than bullets. Progress has also been made on the inventory system and will possibly be ready for the next build.

Great, will give this another test late tonight or tomorrow for you!

EDIT: Managed to give it a quick go this morning.

1 Thing I noticed that might be a bug, is that the enemies that run towards you and explode don't seem to die if they haven't been activated yet. I shot a few from long range and they didn't seem to take damage, then, when I got within their Line of Sight, they exploded on the spot.

My favourite weapon was the one seen in the video below, seemed to have a nice balance of fire rate, while not taking up too much steam. Some of the rapid fire weapons take up so much steam that they can only fire 4 or 5 shots, which is a shame.

I definitely prefer the current tileset to the one in the previous demo, much more clearly defined.

 

[The Video Gamester]

Great, will give this another test late tonight or tomorrow for you!

EDIT: Managed to give it a quick go this morning.

1 Thing I noticed that might be a bug, is that the enemies that run towards you and explode don't seem to die if they haven't been activated yet. I shot a few from long range and they didn't seem to take damage, then, when I got within their Line of Sight, they exploded on the spot.

My favourite weapon was the one seen in the video below, seemed to have a nice balance of fire rate, while not taking up too much steam. Some of the rapid fire weapons take up so much steam that they can only fire 4 or 5 shots, which is a shame.

I definitely prefer the current tileset to the one in the previous demo, much more clearly defined.

I will have to look into that bug. Thank you. I plan on doing some rebalancing before my next build as well. I will keep that weapon in mind as a good bench mark. Thank you!

 

[The Video Gamester]

Updated: Added shadows(WIP). Rebalanced weapons - The enemies may be temporarily much easier due to this. First boss prototype up and running - Not available in demo but will soon be getting a video. Added chests in three tiers. Added the wreckage drop to enemies. Interacting with these will smash them and generate some gears and rarely a blueprint container. Note: Blueprint containers can not yet be opened.

 

[The Video Gamester]

Updated the dungeon tiles. Added E to switch the player gun left and right. Major update to the camera. Full screen added. Changed the weapons to show case the Hellfire Shotgun.