Alpha Basis-9 War [Demo 0.2.0] Settings menu, checkpoints, effects, and more.

John Andrews

Living Enigma
Basis-9 War
by John Andrews

Twitter: https://twitter.com/basis9dev <- FOLLOW IT!

Most recent update post!

https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?posts/421258/


Who are you, soldier?

Get in the boots of a mysterious soldier who has crash-landed in the planet of Basis-9 after being stranded in space for an unknown amount of time, and must now fight for his life while also getting his memory back. What is this planet? Why are it's inhabitants attacking him? Why was he stranded in space in the first place? And most importantly, who is he?

Controls:

A, D - Movement
Spacebar - jump
Mouse - Aim
Left mouse click - Shoot
Shift - Switch between weapons
ESC - Pause (hold to exit the game)
V - Melee attack (not avaliable in the demo)

Gameplay:

As the soldier, go through the multiple military bases and research facilities of your enemies to escape the planet and contact a helping hand, but be careful, as you won't have time to rest unless you are out of danger.

Features:

This demo features one third of a level (Or 0.5% of the planned game length) to test gameplay against some generic enemies, 5 weapons can be used out of 50, basic interactions with buttons and moving objects, and the basic gameplay for what the entire game will be.

Download the DEMO by clicking here!

Screenshots:









Social media and other contacts:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/basis9dev
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCO89W3GZTDI9RV9BlG7jqg
ItchIo: https://john-andrews.itch.io/basis-9-war
IndieDB: https://www.indiedb.com/games/basis-9-war-alpha

About the game:


This is my signature game, started around mid 2015, it was abandoned in 2016 after being unable to continue development on it because of lack of skill, it was revived as a complete remake, starting from scrap in November 2017, it kept growing in secret until becoming a decent prototype/demo that can be played. This is my real first game, and has been developed beyond what will end in the actual game, as it has an entire universe dedicated to it.
 
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nlolotte

Guest
Very nice work so far. The engine is good and a solid start to something that could be very fun to play.

The good:
The engine works - I didn't encounter any game breaking bugs or moments where I was unable to continue playing.
There is a good amount of different AI which don't over power you too much from the beginning.
Lots of guns and a good use of particle effects. You can actually tell when you've changed gun which is a nice effect.

The bad:
It would be nice to have a prompt when activating switches.
Changeable key bindings is a must for a game like this.
The AI could randomly miss a few shots. I'm not talking Star Wars where every shot misses but just like every so often.

The ugly:
The art, whilst good for testing and building, would need upgrading if you were to go further with this.
It also needs sound effects for the guns, jumping etc...

Overall, I think you've got a pretty decent start here and I hope you continue to work on it.
 

John Andrews

Living Enigma
Very nice work so far. The engine is good and a solid start to something that could be very fun to play.

The good:
The engine works - I didn't encounter any game breaking bugs or moments where I was unable to continue playing.
There is a good amount of different AI which don't over power you too much from the beginning.
Lots of guns and a good use of particle effects. You can actually tell when you've changed gun which is a nice effect.

The bad:
It would be nice to have a prompt when activating switches.
Changeable key bindings is a must for a game like this.
The AI could randomly miss a few shots. I'm not talking Star Wars where every shot misses but just like every so often.

The ugly:
The art, whilst good for testing and building, would need upgrading if you were to go further with this.
It also needs sound effects for the guns, jumping etc...

Overall, I think you've got a pretty decent start here and I hope you continue to work on it.
Thank you for the review! That's the kind of spread I like in my bread, now I'll proceed to give a proper reply about what I plan on doing, etc.

Thanks a lot about the good compliments like the particle effects and AI, the AI was something I worked a little more than other things, and the particles I consder them generic but I'm thankful someone likes it :)

I'll work on a notificator for switches and, about the binding keys, it's in my To Do list already (That thing's really messy and loooong), and the artwork is programmer art :p, of course since this is, kinda early, I don't have sounds yet, I'm thinking of adding them when the game's a little farther in development, maybe for the beta release.

Once again, I'm deeply thankful, and I'll take into consideration your suggestions.
 
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Red Phantom

Guest
Space background at beginning of the game is very nice.
Cloud background seems almost too-realistic and non-game-like.
Spaceship is cool.
Don't like the visual of the enemies at the beginning of the game.
Drone at the beginning of the game is cool.
 
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John Andrews

Living Enigma
Space background at beginning of the game is very nice.
Cloud background seems almost too-realistic and non-game-like.
Spaceship is cool.
Don't like the visual of the enemies at the beginning of the game.
Drone at the beginning of the game is cool.
Thank you! thank you, The cloud background is of course just a picture being dragged around as a background because this is kind of like programmer art made with the less effort possible, and the enemies are simple looking so I get why you may not like them, also, they're the enemies! You'll never like 'em! :D. Thanks for playing by the way.
 

pixeltroid

Member
Your game looks tons of fun OP!

The gameplay and mechanics reminded me a lot of a game called "Plazma Burst 2" that I used to play a long time ago!

Like others have said....you need to polish your graphics!

Will write a more detailed feedback after I play the game some more!

edit:

Here's the more detailed feedback:

- it might be nice to have "W" as an alternative jump button. Since "W" isn't used for anything, why dont you make it an alternative jump button?
- Player needs to be aligned exactly with fallen weapons and switches in order to interact with them -- which is a problem! Sometimes even though I'm touching the weapon, I cannot pick up the weapon....as shown below:
basis1.jpg
- Perhaps you could increase the width of the weapon and switch collision box so player can interact as he is touching it? Being unable to pick up weapons or flip a switch because I was a few pixels off is frustrating -- especially in the middle of a gunfight!
- Also why do I need to hold down "E" to perform minor actions like flipping switches and picking up weapons? I know it only takes a second, but it all adds up when you need to do it very often throughout the game! It would be nicer IMO if I could just flip switches and pick up weapons by just tapping "E"
- sometimes dead soldiers fly into walls and ceilings.
- moving camera reveals incomplete tilework
basis12.jpg
- Weapon swaps are kind of clunky! You could improve weapon switching and pickups...make it so that I can drop my weapon anywhere. Because if one weapon falls on another, its frustrating to drop one and pick up the other.
- I were you, I'd make it so that the enemy just drops ammo...and not the gun itself. If I already have a plasma gun with 30 bullets, why would I need to see my enemies guns all over the place if I dont need them at all?
- if I am using the SMG and I try to pick up a plasma rifle, I drop my SMG!
- You could provide player some way to take cover. (Add crates and barricades I guess?) As of now the game feels like a bullet hell but with not too many places to take cover. Its near impossible to avoid being hit by enemy fire!
- Game restart after death takes a little too long.
- health pickups could be larger. I almost missed them. Come to think of it, even the switches could be larger!
- I have no idea how to beat the walking spider robot thingy. I just gave up on it and ran away from it!
- Might help if you have save points. Its quite frustrating to go back all the way to the start of the level after dying.
- I think the SMG stops firing sometimes, even though I have plenty of ammo left?
-Edit: some extra ammo helps. Since the bullets dont go towards target in a straight line...maybe some extra bullet pick ups are needed to compensate. I died once because I was completely out of ammo!

What I like:

- Opening cut scene
- Enemy AI.
- Designs of drones, tank, guns etc.
- fast paced action
- ???
- I know I said your graphics need polishing a while back, but at this point, I'm overlooking the art and just focussing on game play! Its kind of addictive -- despite some short comings that I mentioned earlier.

As a fan of action platformers, I'm genuinely having fun playing your game! Keep at it!
 

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Red Phantom

Guest
Also I'll suggest using gamejolt as a better game download platform, thought it doesn't really matter.

Also I like the start Menu.

At the beginning of the game of you point your gun down you can see past the black platform beneath you which looks a bit dodgy. Fix that by increased the depth of black beneath you there.
 
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John Andrews

Living Enigma
Hey! Thanks for the reviews guys! I'll keep your recommendations in mind and I'll also answer some of them
reminded me a lot of a game called "Plazma Burst 2"
- it might be nice to have "W" as an alternative jump button. Since "W" isn't used for anything,
I'm working on it, Right now W is used for a feature you get later in the game, but i think I'll fuse both spacebar and W functions (already tried to do so but gave lots of bugs! XD)
Also why do I need to hold down "E" to perform minor actions like flipping switches and picking up weapons
Only swapping/picking up weapons requires holding E, everything else is just tap, because if you have a weapon underneath a switch, you could accidentally swap a weapon while trying to use the switch
moving camera reveals incomplete tilework
That's not incomplete, it's an artificial platform over an ocean, it even has columns :D
You could provide player some way to take cover. crates
I had some solid blocks here and there in dome places but i replaced them for pass through platforms for deco (like the table) because i wanted to foment fast paced agressiveness
- I have no idea how to beat the walking spider robot thingy.
Shoot shoot shoot!
Edit: some extra ammo helps
The little ammount of ammo left behind corpses is to disencourage players to leave behind their own main weapons, but I may change that

you also mentioned that you'd drop your smg if you wanted to swap for a weapon, the soldier only has 2 weapon slots (infinite ammo pistol doesn't take space) so if you already have 2 guns, you'll swap it for the one on the floor, I'm working on the GUI to show the other weapon slot in use.
Also I'll suggest using gamejolt as a better game download platform, thought it doesn't really matter.

Also I like the start Menu.

At the beginning of the game of you point your gun down you can see past the black platform beneath you which looks a bit dodgy. Fix that by increased the depth of black beneath you there.
Thanks for liking the cutscene, it's the first time I'm doing one "animated" for a game, also, IndieDB and itch.io have brought me more viewers than jolt (IndieDB especially!)

And thanks again for the reviews! I'll keep you informed about new features and updates, as this demo shows lees than 1% of the planned full game!
 
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John Andrews

Living Enigma
I think the SMG stops firing sometimes, even though I have plenty of ammo left?
MY BOY! I know exactly why that happens and I know how to fix it, in the next update for the demo, that will be fixed, and some features will be added (Also the mean spider has been nerfed :p)
 

Joe Ellis

Member
I played it for about an hour, I really like it, its well programmed and its very hard but each time you learn and manage to get through each bit after practice.
At first I thought, what this is way too hard, but I kept trying and then learnt what you need to do at each bit,
The major critique I have is the graphics, I know its still in development, but it would really benefit from better graphics, not that they should be all HD and stuff, but more fine tuned and probably have a better color scheme, or a more planned out one, stuff like that makes a big difference,
the rain is vivid blue, and it really sticks out and looks bad in that color, but the actual code for it falling on walls and not going through them is really good,
also the ai for the enemies could be improved, its good when they see you and then start trying to kill you, but in the parts when they're around a corner or under a platform you're standing on, they just keep jumping up and down,
Other than that its very good so far, nicely programmed and I can see alot of work and thought has gone into it
 

pixeltroid

Member
MY BOY! I know exactly why that happens and I know how to fix it, in the next update for the demo, that will be fixed, and some features will be added (Also the mean spider has been nerfed :p)
Hey...it was the first spider robot that was difficult to kill. The second one was easier to kill because it had a longer delay time before it shot at me.

Also, I had an idea: make it so that if theres blood fallen in places where its raining, the rain washes off the blood. IMO that would be a cool effect.
 

John Andrews

Living Enigma
I played it for about an hour, I really like it, its well programmed and its very hard but each time you learn and manage to get through each bit after practice.
At first I thought, what this is way too hard, but I kept trying and then learnt what you need to do at each bit,
The major critique I have is the graphics, I know its still in development, but it would really benefit from better graphics, not that they should be all HD and stuff, but more fine tuned and probably have a better color scheme, or a more planned out one, stuff like that makes a big difference,
the rain is vivid blue, and it really sticks out and looks bad in that color, but the actual code for it falling on walls and not going through them is really good,
also the ai for the enemies could be improved, its good when they see you and then start trying to kill you, but in the parts when they're around a corner or under a platform you're standing on, they just keep jumping up and down,
Other than that its very good so far, nicely programmed and I can see alot of work and thought has gone into it
Yes, the graphics, right now all graphics are pretty much programmer art, and I will begin to work on them when the basic gameplay stuff is all complete (like an engine, when I only have cutscenes and levels left to make), the rain being hard blue is because the "resolution" settings are set to medium, which eliminates a transparency that makes it look more like water and less than a line, but I think it looks ugly too so I may make rain have transparency at any time, also the bug with the enemies jumping up and down is something I've been trying to fix for a time now, those guys are hard to crack omg (I made their AI back in 2017), but well, working on it! :D
Hey...it was the first spider robot that was difficult to kill. The second one was easier to kill because it had a longer delay time before it shot at me.

Also, I had an idea: make it so that if theres blood fallen in places where its raining, the rain washes off the blood. IMO that would be a cool effect.
Hahahaha, well anyways, I nerfed them a bit, you may not even notice it, also about the rain washing off blood, it's a feature I implemented looong ago, but... It consumes lots of processor resources so I just commented those lines of code, I may bring it back for a "Ultra high" resolution setting.
 

John Andrews

Living Enigma
Hey everyone! I've made some changes these past few days and I wanted to share some of them...

So the first, and most important change, was the addition of rooms, as in, rooms inside of buildings and that, as you can see in this video: https://twitter.com/i/status/1112050784353562626 , the player can now access rooms inside of buildings, which will make the game a bit more interesting, as it can give more options for gameplay and exploration, even storytelling.

The other change is a minor one, I added storage units, which hold items inside, and well, that makes some things a little bit easier, also, objects with which you can interact will now be highlighted by a glowing outline, as you can see in the gif below:


That's it for these updates, other changes are bug fixing and tile replacement, so it's not worth covering.

I will be uploading an updated demo soon, so be sure to check in when that happens!
 

John Andrews

Living Enigma
Basis-9 War: Update 0.1.0 has arrived!

In this version of Basis-9 War, I've added many cool things, like interactable storage places, dialogue in some places, doors to access areas inside buildings, a quest to free a prisoner that's an apparent ally, and that may be it.

DOWNLOAD: http://download2261.mediafire.com/9q87vl0nwy2g/tbt34tpz4zbwbpz/Basis-9+War+DEMO+v0.1.0.zip
Switches and storage boxes, they glow to indicate that they can be interacted with.




Now the weapons at the start of the game are inside a ship's storage unit:



Doors to enter areas inside of buildings:



What information could this prisoner hold?

Complete changelog:
-Added objects:
-Blocking zones so that the player doesn't move to certain places.
-Doors that will take the player to locations inside buildings.
-Added prisoner and prison key.
-Storage units that have items inside them.
-Two new switch sprites.
-A new optional area with a new enemy inside.
-Added some dialogue in some places.
-Messages that tell the player when a special item has been added to the inventory.

Changed:
-Switches now glow white when they can be used, and display a text to indicate use.
-Slightly nerfed spider robot enemy.
-Changed some tile placement.
-Weapons at the start of the level are no longer out in the floor, but inside a storage unit inside the ship.
-Pause screen now shows the paused game instead of a black background.
-Messages of ammo now get stacked one over the other.
-Weapon swap text is now shown on the bottom right of the screen instead of over the player's head.
 
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John Andrews

Living Enigma
Basis-9 War: Update 0.1.1

Here it comes! Basis-9 War has a new update! version 0.1.1 brings some small changes and bugfixes, but the important stuff is the one that follows:

Autoswap: When you run out of ammo in a weapon, you automatically change back to your other weapon, useful in combat!

Headshots: Now enemies (and you) can be headshot, dealing more damage depending on the type of ammo your weapon uses.

Skippable dialogues: Any kind of dialogue can be skipped by pressing CTRL.

download: http://download2261.mediafire.com/ip41199wwi4g/bv7hpda93cuez3q/Basis-9+War+DEMO+v0.1.1.zip
 

John Andrews

Living Enigma
Hey, i tried your demo.

View attachment 24632
Gameplay was cool, but no audio? I beat demo on my second try. Crouching just made me eat crits to face :D
Elevator ride down was bit bumpy.
Hey my boy! No audio yet that's right hehehe, I'm trying to polish gameplay first, and yeah, the player can get headshot, I have to fix that haha (and the elevator). Also very well done! You even rescued the prisoner, now that's the dedication I like, I'm working on the next levels and other important stuff like inventory menu and upgrades, so be ready for those! ;)
 
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John Andrews

Living Enigma
Everyone, I've been making the second level, so far I've got the layout, and I think it's going to be hell in life to tile this thing out.

Opinions? Maybe this map will be avaliable in 1 or 2 weeks
 

John Andrews

Living Enigma
Awesome job on this! It is actually quite an in depth game. Solid work so far! :cool:
Thank you! I haven't been active on this thread lately here, but I've been reworking the weapon system, and on the next update, that'll be avaliable, though the 2nd map won't, it became too difficult and long to be a second level, so I'll save it for a more advanced mission :D
 

John Andrews

Living Enigma
News & Updates!

Weapons system rework:


The new weapons system brings a new way of carrying your weapons in the inventory, essentially you can now have all weapon at the same time!

Since having the limitation of only being able to carry 2 weapons hindered the non-experienced players (who lost a lot of ammo very fast), I decided that the player can have all weapons in his inventory, however, you'll have to pick them up as the story progresses, and some weapons share ammo, so you'll have to manage the usage of certain weapons for which ammo is scarce.

You can press 1-6 to quickly swap between weapon groups, into the weapon actually selected for that group, to switch between weapons in a group, you only have to scroll the mouse wheel, and of course, you can swap to another weapon group with the mouse wheel.

But all in all, you'll now be able to handle all weapons in the game ;).
 

John Andrews

Living Enigma
Basis-9 War: Update 0.2

Basis-9 War has a new update, version 0.2 brings some big changes to the weapons system, camera effects, settings, and more!

Reworked weapons system: Now you can carry all of the weapons you find in your inventory, every weapon has a category, and there are 6 categories: Pistols, SMGs, Rifles, Shotguns, Explosives and Specials, your weapons toolbar will hold your actual selected weapon of that category, and you can press 1-6 to switch to that weapon, or go through your weapons with the mouse wheel.



Here's an example of the weapons toolbar.

Settings menu:
You can now change some settings to improve performance of the game.

Checkpoints: There are checkpoints distributed throughout the levels that you can use whenever you die to make your run easier and less tedious.

Camera effects: Now the camera has new effects, when you are in a small area, your view size will decrease, and when you go to an open area again, the view size will go back to normal.

That's all for this update, enjoy!

download: http://www.mediafire.com/file/74ywk2ccij0d68n/Basis-9_War_DEMO_v0.2.0.zip/file
 
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