Demo The Struggle of Combat - Randomly generated side-scrolling shooter

The Struggle of Combat is roguelike shooter with randomly generated maps.

There are currently:
- 7 zones with different enemies and bosses.
- 8 playable characters
- 23 different weapons with tons of variations.
- 31 possible upgrades

Work is still in progress, but i wanted to share this trailer:


Latest video


Demo is now available from following link.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w1xs31z0hn3ckpu/The Struggle of Combat Demo 01112019.zip?dl=0

Looking for game testers!

Development of gameplay is almost completed, so im looking for game testers. (Im still going to redraw all graphics.)
Let me know If you are intrested. I will send you link to full version in private message.

 

I like it! Interesting enemy variation and it looks like it'd just in general be fun to play.

 

Yrbiax this looks like a lot of fun! I love the feeling of indie feel this game has, I especially love that cactus-like enemy character. It's obvious you've put a decent effort into the programming/coding and also design of this game. The platformer, shooter style of this game reminds me a bit of my own game (currently demo) too. I am keen to play when you release a demo.

 

Thanks! Im planning on releasing demo this week.

 

Looks cool, but I really don't like the title. It sounds like it was thought up by someone who wasn't a native english speaker. Other than that, it looks pretty cool ey, keep working on it for sure.

 

Agree about the title.
Struggle with combat
Struggle and combat
Struggle of combat is just a little off sounding.

 

I mean, all of those sounds like descriptions to me, not titles. Struggle and Combat together just don't seem like title material to me. Find something unique about the game and emphasise that with the title (for instance, my game has the unique quality of you being a mage that deals with plants in a Stardew Valley type scenario, so Flora (plant-life) + mancer (mage) emphasises the hook of the game without being generic). I haven't played it obviously, so it's hard to give suggestions, but even Struggle is a better title by itself than struggle of combat...Btw, struggle has now become a weird looking word to me because it's been repeated so much

 

I think adding "The" to the beginning of the title is necessary, as it's grammatically required. Imo that's why it sounds off.

The struggle of combat

In the same way "neverending story" doesn't sound right without "the" in front

 

I agree, but it's still super generic. I can say with 100% certainty that a game titled "The struggle of combat" is -not- a game I would ever download on steam (and that's if it's free...Think about that, if it were FREE on steam I wouldn't download it because the title is literally nothing to me). It just sounds so goddamn generic. I would give examples of generic titles, but I can't come up with anything more generic than "The struggle of combat". It's like "Keyboard makes game work". "The struggle of combat" sounds like a chapter title in a badly written book. Definitely not the book's title. It's a description, it's not a hook.

Remember: No-one cares about your game. Literally no-one cares. Ask a thousand truly random people about -a- game (not yours specifically) and 99% will say they don't care. You HAVE to hook people in. Struggle and combat are both completely generic words. They don't describe anything. EVERY game has a struggle (otherwise what is the point...) and 95% of games have combat (and if you think combat is a unique hook of your game, you're sorely mistaken). Every example of combat is a struggle and every struggle can be described as combat. You combated the struggle of climbing a mountain. You struggled against the combat of a ping pong game. It's so generic. Pick something unique about the game and point it out. Combat and struggle are synonyms in most senses. If you think about it that way it's like titling your game "The combat of combat".

 

To be honest i used random game name generator and picked struggle of combat because it sounded funny.
I may change name if i come up with something good.

 

If you're happy with it, and you don't care about "Market Perception" then it's fine as a name. Just saying that if you did want it to do well, then that name -might- not be great (obviously, I can't speak for the market, but as I've said above, I would avoid a game named like that and I'm pretty sure there's plenty of others).

 

Demo is now available from following link.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b9qc7iuyds1ubww/Struggle of Combat Demo 11122018.rar?dl=0

Demo includes:
- 3 zones
- 2 characters
- 2 difficulty options
- 8 weapons
- all upgrades

Game still has bugs and unfinished graphics, but i hope you enjoy
Your feedback is welcome.

 

Forgot to tell controls.

movement - WASD or arrowkeys
jump - w or space
shoot - mouse 1
melee - mouse 2
use ability - F
pickup items - E
swap weapon - Q
reload - R
Pause/Options - esc

Although i dont recommend visiting with audio options. Currently it messes up audio levels.

 

Looks super fun, has a ton of potential keep up the good work!

 

Looks like a lot of interesting game mechanics and content. Very nice!

 

Full playthrough of first zone during loop.



Difficulty increases everytime you loop and there is chance to find crazier weapons.

 

Right now there are 5 Difficulty mods.

- Elite: enemies are faster and some have additional abilities
- Damage: 2 x damage received
- Health: enemies have +50% health
- Boss: Every level has additional mini-boss
- Time: After 45-60 seconds reinforcements appear from beginning of the map

Currently im working on additional bosses.

Vulture rider:

Batman:

 

I tried to download your game but forgot I don't have RAR . Watching the video, I can tell this is a game that I'd enjoy playing for hours on end! I love roguelikes! The death screams the bad guys make is very satisfying!

I also love the cyanide and happiness style graphics.

 

I try to upload new version of demo soon. I used rar since its more effective, but i make it zip-file next time.

 

Updated demo avaible:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fash5iqisff67ue/Struggle of Combat demo 29122018.zip?dl=0

- Audio levels fixed
- Weapons rebalanced
- Floor outline added
- Some other bugs fixed

 

Some updates to backgrounds.



Updated demo avaible:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j7hlnw5d6zbrbz1/Struggle of Combat demo 06012019.zip?dl=0

- Backgrounds updated
- Cant shoot while using melee attack anymore
- Boss music fades away when boss is killed
- More bug fixes

 

Last zone with time and boss difficulty mods. (Boss in video is not final boss)

 

New entrances / exits added to levels.

 

WO WO WOOOO, this game looks so epic!!
(downloading... tomorrow I edit this post for review)

 

So nices!!
I think that menu system is strange (need to click 2 times to select) I think that is better to use "mouse enter" effects and click only one time...
When you die, the menu system is diferent (need to use keyboard), why???
And the shuriken has alittle bug I think... the ammunition draws "4.50, 3.50, 2.50, 1.50 and 0.5" this is a bug no???

PD: sry my bad english im spanish xD
PD2: where is the other levels that I see in the post??? D:

Of course, continue the game!! is very very good with very good musical ambience and funny enemies xDD

Ah, and the "explosion shoes item" doesnt work

 

Thanks for feedback!

I know menu is kinda bad now, but i put more effort into it once im finished with rest of the game.

I will fix weapon descriptions for next version.

Demo version have only 3 zones, rest of the levels will be in full version.

Explosion shoes only work if you have enough falling speed. I might buff them, since they are kinda useless now

 

Testing some new weapons:


Updated demo avaible:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dc02atap9mw5bcl/The Struggle of Combat 25012019.zip?dl=0

- 7 new weapons added
- Level entrances / exits added
- Weapon descriptions are more accurate
- Graphical changes to some weapons
- Explosions now deal 1/2 of bullet damage instead of 1/3
- More bug fixes

 

Prison will be starting room. Enemies will appear to prison cells as you defeat them. (I will redraw these later...)



Prisoners can also be released if you have unlocked key. This will open shortcut.


Keys can only be bought if you have elite, damage and health difficulty mods active.

 

Created small intro story, that plays at beginning of the game.

 

Special weapons now have limited ammo. Weapons still have infinite ammo, but bullets lose their special effects.

New item Carrier Bat in action.

 

Updated starting menu.


Difficulty options are displayed in prison.

Updated demo avaible:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6u9nuau4elvsgob/Struggle of Combat Demo 17032019.zip?dl=0

- Menu updated
- Ammo added for special weapons
- 8 new items added
- Character / weapon unlocking added
- Difficulty options moved to starting prison
- Opening story added
- Passive bonuses added to characters

 

Keys are now inside treasure chest instead of shop.


Treasure chest opens when conditions are met.

Looking for game testers!

Development of gameplay is almost completed, so im looking for game testers. (Im still going to redraw all graphics.)
Let me know If you are intrested. I will send you link to full version in private message.

 

Added challenge arena for each zone. Completing arena gives special weapon as reward.

River Arena

 

I had a go at it. This is about as far as I got. It's lots of fun, I suggest making enemies drop more fruit (to regain health).
Improve fruit sprites. I like enemies, I like the weapons. I like the jail idea and start screen.

 

Thanks for playing!

There is upgrade in shop that increases fruit droprate.

Im going to redraw all sprites now that most of the gameplay is done.

 

I did a 5 minute gameplay review for you:


I rated your game's: visual, audio, story and gameplay.

 

Looks like you played old version of demo. Newest version have updated menu screen.

I think you are right about brown background. Im probably going to remove it, since other levels dont have that kind of layer either.

 

Created new trailer:


Updated demo avaible:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9wvbkchrzca88vg/The Struggle of Combat Demo 13042019.zip?dl=0

- Arenas added (~15% change to appear)
- Text boxes added to descriptions
- Pause menu updated
- Fullscreen option added

 

I have now started redrawing of graphics.
There will not be huge changes to most of characters. I will mainly try to get rid of small imperfections and create slightly smoother walking animation.
Old New

 

Here is video comparing old and new sprites that i have drawn so far. Probably still going to make some changes to some of these sprites. (Vultures are too big etc...)

 

Hey! Gameplay was really fun, I liked the variation in weapons/items and enemies. Seems like the levels are somewhat random generated? Kept it fresh after dying.

Some constructive feedback:
-The camera goes too far ground and you can see the background below the floor
-When I die, I really should keep some stuff, like exp gained/ weapons collected or a health boost. That would motivate me to continue playing. I only got to the cave and kept dying because my hp was 10 when I entered, So everytime I died I came back with 10 hp.
-Would be nice with some particle effects. Like dust when enemy or player lands on the floor. Blast effect when a weapon is shot and a simple impact effect when the bullets hit the enemy.

They looked cool both before and after. I think you should focus and adding more detail to the backgrounds and floor instead of changing details

Also well done with the different AI types.
Awesome death sound effects

Good luck

 

Thanks for playing!

Yes, levels are randomly generated.

This is on purpose. For example fishes use this area.

Keeping exp would break balance of game, but i could consider full health on restart. This was supposed to be roguelike, but i kept level restart for sake of testing.
Im still not entirely sure if i want this to be roguelike. Perhaps i implement some kind of life system instead.

I will consider adding special effects There is small blast effect, but its so kinda hard to notice.

 

Looks awesome, kind of reminds me of terraria when you fight bosses and stuff, I like these kind of games, 2d sidescroller/platformers, I'll give it a try!

Edit after playing: I freaking love it! Reminds me of the times I used to be a kid and just made games for pure fun, and this game is fun on itself, it doesn't have a complex story, simple mechanics that makes the game easy to understand, you just have to go right and keep going, such a funny game, and yet it's still challenging at some points, it's simply... so good.

It's a gem, I'll keep watch on this game and I hope you keep doing a great job, because this is an excellent game

 

Thanks for playing!

Im glad you liked it. Gameplay has always been main focus, i kinda created story on the fly.

 

Here is small update on new sprites. Currently struggling with owl flying animation.

Old sprites


New sprites

 

Updated demo avaible:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5kcw8ik9f7atvbo/The Struggle of Combat Demo 21052019.zip?dl=0

- Some of player sprites updated
- Desert, Cave and Forest enemy sprites updated
- Lives added (10)
- Restarting level now gives you full hp (you will still lose exp and weapons)
- Difficulty mods now have to be unlocked

 

Here are some new running animations.

 

I added custom level creation. You can now generate more interesting maps and choose what enemies will spawn.

You can customize:
- Tile generation
- Map size
- Enemy spawns
- Enemy Health and Damage

I will add more options later (bosses, darkness and backgrounds etc...)
l

 

This game is pretty cool. I like that it's randomly generated the ai is pretty cool.
Just wondering how you make the art for your game because I think it looks pretty good.

 

Thanks!

I make graphics with Paint.NET and finish details in gamemaker studios own image editor.
Not exactly professional artist but i try my best