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Feels like I need double my damage throughout the entire game. Even when I have rapid spread some enemies in the 2nd sector take way too long to kill even with 70% double damage and 3 drones that give more damage.
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Sector 60, dreadnought encounter. Spent a few minutes reading the dialogue. Clicks out of it to finally take down the boss. ...gets one-shot-killed because it spawns seeking mines while the dialogue is still on. There were probably at least 50 packed together in a single clump by the time I started...
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That was beautiful. The final boss was no pushover, but the plot, graphics, and music made me carry on until I managed to beat it.
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Now i'm pissed off because i'm constantly trying Endless on the heart for two hours and couldn't manage to get to wave 11.
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I'm happy that there's a dialog for every single upgrade i buy. i'm just starting out, but i can already rate this five!
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I can't say anything about ending because it's big spoiler.. but I can say one thing: Buy ship with heartseed. You can't regret that choice.
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at first time I pinned on that bullet hell tag. and now I'm play this over and over.. conversation between helix hunter and phoenix is pretty charming.
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Nice game, i like the style and the 'upgrade' system is fairly original (especially among flash games), though quite limited. Now to the little things that plague it:
Somebody might want to find the difference between difficulty (challenge) and grind (time consumption).
Balancing difficulty for a game is difficult (notice: not a grind) - this however is no excuse for the developer to use the [oh-so-popular-among-those-who-just-cant-bother-] "linear progression impossible, grind until it is easy enough for you" -scaling in it.
More difficult would be: More enemies / More bullets / Tougher enemies / More powerful enemies (or the counterpart: more fragile player).
Great concept, Fine implementation, Barely-satisfying variety of upgrades, Poor polishing. 3/5, but definetly has potential to be a 4-5/5, perhaps in the sequel?
I like grind and skill based difficulty better than purely skill based difficulty, which is why the game is designed that way. Some grinding is definitely necessary, but on easy I think very little is needed, especially if you play every stage. The difficulty is supposed to be overwhelming, or at least appear so at first, and you are supposed to die a lot, its part of the story. And since on harder difficulty you have less experience you are more fragile, and do less damage, so enemies are more powerful, so that's already the way the difficulty works. Anyway, I am happy that you like the game. =)
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Nice game there, just finished normal playthrough and wondering if theres any trick to sector ? - seems to be impossible :(
It was made to be much harder than anything else, and close to impossible, but it is no longer needed since I have added new game plus, and I will probably remove sector ? in a future version, or make it much, much easier. You don't get anything special for completing it anyway, it just drops the same things as normal bosses.
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In any bullet hell game, when pinned down, it is advised to make very subtle moves. However, the Momentum system forced me to move fast to create momentum to sling my shots to the enemies. With momentum, we do not need crappy "rear guns" upgrades offered in other "upgrade" games. // I know your game is already established, so I don't dare make gameplay suggestions, but I'd like to see the ship have more crowd-control power by itself, without spread-shot. Maybe holding down shift to temporarily shift your guns outward should do the trick. // Please remove the "notification bar" and give HUD icons instead. For example, momentum off should be an icon of a ship, an arrow that points to the side of the ship (represents lateral motion), and a word OFF. This should allow me to check my own configuration in the heat of a battle. // While this game is an "upgrade" game, it did give me a fresh experience, not the cliches enforced by others. Thank you for the game.
Something like what you suggest might be possible (shifting guns outwards) but the levels are not designed with that capability in mind and I'm not sure if it would work. I will consider it though. And about the notification bar, I have also noticed that it can become somewhat annoying when shifting momentum on and off multiple times in battle, and I will probably change that somehow in future versions. Thank you for playing. =)
Thank you. I am happy that you like it. I think the rating more reflects how the game was when it was released than how it is now. Hopefully it will get higher as more people play the game. =)
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Wow. Randomly decided to check back and see if you'd adjusted the game again. It's like a brand new game now! Only a few rounds in and the difference is phenomenal :D probably a 5/5
I am very happy that you like the new changes. After hearing the feedback I have gotten from players I think that when I released this game it was done prematurely, it was not as good as it should have been, and I will certainly keep updating it more. =)
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Remove the cheats from the game or hide them better. Use at your own peril. It will absolutely ruin the story for you... for it all to make sense (sort of) YOU need to struggle to win.
If a player absolutely wants to cheat he should be able to. Doing so means that the game no longer plays like it was designed to play, and cheating without limit means that there is no game, but both of those facts are obvious, and if they are not then learning them is valuable. But it is no different than editing the .sol file, which can be done anyway without the console. And the console can also be used for restoring your progress if you lose your save, since cookies are flimsy things that can be lost simply by having the wrong settings in your browser. In fact, I see the console as a form of modding, all cheats are really, for they alter the rules of the game to the will of the player, and modding is always a good thing. It can be abused of course, but that is entirely up to the modder. And if he wants to, I say go ahead. =)
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I highly recommend that you do not skip to story dialogues.
After completing the game I feel empty. There are a lot of questions but they cannot be answered. There is no deep meaning here and there doesn't need to be. (I hope this doesn't spoil it for anyone. Using the cheat codes will absolutely ruin it for you... I used them when I was close to finishing and I wish I had not)
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I can't believe this game has so few plays... anyway, I wrote a strategy guide for New Game +. It has pictures and frills and a pinch of fanfiction; here's hoping you other fans enjoy it. http://www.kongregate.com/forums/3-general-gaming/topics/345958-amber-helix-strategy-guide-walkthrough Mr. Diser: if anything posted there is inaccurate or unwanted, let me know. I'd be happy to change or remove it.
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You say you updated to 1.17 - so why do I get 1.16, even after deleting my cache? Had everything backed up, but still. It SHOULD be updated by now.
The auto update does not seem to working properly right now. On some sites it updates to 1.17 and on some it does not. I'll see what I can do to fix it. EDIT: I've updated the game manually on this site and that seems to have fixed it. =)
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You're a hell of a storyteller, Mr. Helix, and this is one of my fave Flash games. I'm looking forward to more. Also, the 1.15 version you posted today doesn't seem to be showing up [still says 1.14 for me]. Not sure if this is a problem on my end or not.
Sometimes the old version gets stuck in your cache. When that happens restarting the browser works for me, but it probably depends on your browser's settings. Anyway, I am happy that you liked the game so much. =)
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Gods, yes, there's an undo option for drone deletion? Where's the sixth star, where's the tip jar? I already know this will be a find to rival Red Rogue, and WHY is the score so low?! Really hope to see more from this team...
The tip jar feature has been removed from the site, I read on the forums. And I do think I will start working on a sequel once I've updated this game some more. =)
When I made those I thought of them more like projectiles you could shoot, so I didn't give them an exp value, but maybe they should have one. I will consider that. =)
For some reason the game seems to be reading/writing to chat.kongregate instead of assets.kongregate right now. If you have no Data.sol in chat.kongregate, take the one in assets and move it there. In Windows 7 these folders are located here: Documents and Settings\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\[Some random code]. I don't know why this is happening since I haven't changed anything about the savefile in any update. I have asked about it on the tech support forum but so far received no answer. So while this is going on you should probably back up your save as well if you want to keep it (something you should probably always do anyway). Or you could play on another portal like NewGrounds for example, and move you old save to the new folder created by that portal, since only Kongregate seem to be behaving like this.
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Finally on NG+. Looking back, it would've been nice to know that everything is retained. Also, the ability to batch sell all tier 1 or 2 drones instantly would have saved my mouse/fingers some trouble. Nice and yet somewhat predictable ending, but a GREAT story nonetheless. If there were a rating above 5/5, you would have earned it. :)
I could write something more about exactly what NG+ does after the credits. And selling all drones below a certain mark would surely be useful, but it is a very specific function, and there are 21 marks in the game (so far), so I'm not sure it can be implemented in a simple way. Anyway, I am very happy that you liked the game and the story so much. =)
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In that case, I would suggest adding a temp cap to the uncapped stats, something like it cannot be upgraded 2-3 over all the rest. An example being my 52.5% int, but only 13.5 salvaging drone. Also, do the faded ones have different caps or leveling rates?
I don't think such caps are necessary. I like it being random. Makes it more interesting, and it evens out in the end. But stats listed in white are more likely to increase when the drone is upgraded, and the grey and dark grey stats are less likely, so the white ones will most of the time be higher. That's the only difference between them. =)
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I felt the beginning to be a little slow(possibly due to grinding), as the story really picked up past the first section. Haven't quite reached NG+, but so far so good. If there are caps to the stats, I would like to know(maybe have the cap percentage to the side). My >200% INT still seemed to be helping (tested on target practice).
Favorited and 5/5. Also, amazing response time from the dev; you don't see that enough on this site.
Stats are only capped on drones, and when you reach the cap you will know since it will stop increasing when you upgrade the drone. The normal stat caps on drones are as follows: Projectile +0.25 / Speed +8 / Evasion +5% / Regen +100% / Salvaging +100%. And the gold stat caps are: Projectile +1 / Speed +16 / Evasion +7.5% / Regen +200% / Salvaging +200%. All other stats can be infinitely raised. =)
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This game appears to be inconsistently loading from chat.kongregate.com or assets.kongregate.com; I copied my main data from assets replacing Data.sol in chat.kongregate.com. Please advise >_>
I also seem to have a save in chat.kongregate as well as assets.kongregate, but in my own testing the game only read from assets.kongregate and only wrote there as well. In what folder the save is placed is controlled by this site, not the game, so I don't know why this happens. Unless there is something I don't know about how this kind of thing is handled. EDIT: I've now noticed this happening myself, but I still don't know why. There is a thread about it in the forum and I have posted there.
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a static, universal drop rate to aim for is another idea. maybe you could cap salvaging as well like you did evasion and regen, and then make all ng+ tiers drop the same percentage based on that cap, regardless of what level of ng+ you're on. this way, it would never get out of hand and still be balanced. you could make it more difficult to reach, for example require perhaps 3 drones all with a maxed salvaging to achieve this optimal drop rate.
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Fair enough. I guess it's just that since damage and armor/shields are only numbers, whose effect is gauged solely by how quickly enemies die vs how quickly I do, you can tweak their effects on subsequent playthroughs without players noticing. Something that has an objective effect like drop rate feels like it would be harder to nerf without actually making the player feel as if something's been taken. . . Maybe have laser/invincibility drain faster on later cycles of New Game + to sidestep the issue?
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Yeah, but the drawback to that is the player feels like they get less powerful; punishing people for progressing is seldom well received >_>
That's already what NG+ does. The enemies don't actually become stronger, it just seems that way because the player becomes weaker (by decreasing damage done and increasing damage taken). Strengthening enemies makes the player weaker just as weakening the player makes enemies stronger. It doesn't matter which way I do it since the end result is the same. And the end result of progressing should always be a more difficult game, not an easier one.
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Well, part of the "too easy" problem is that at some point (for me it was New Game +++), you basically are a semi-permanently invincible god of lasery destruction. We'll see if that happens on Death mode, though; I might've largely done it to myself via overgrind :P
I understand. You can increase salvaging without limit and when you get to the point that most things always drop powerups it does not matter how strong they are, since you would be invincible most of the time anyway. Maybe I should decrease the powerup drop rate for higher levels of NG+ so that more salvaging would always be needed for the same result.
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This game is amazing. Is there a way you could make the game harder though? I recommend having a drone that spawns all of the enemies all at once, so you get a harder level and finish the level faster.
I have been thinking of adding drones with more interesting abilities, and having one that speeds up the game somehow would surely be interesting, but I don't think it's possible with the way the levels are written. Spawning waves too early and ignoring pauses would lead to all kinds of strange problems. Once I test the later New Game + levels I will probably make them harder though, since I hear they're too easy. =)
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I am liking the 3-2-3-2 level arrangement a lot; it definitely feels like it provides more freedom to go play another level if beating your head against one isn't getting anywhere. Maybe have an achievement later for actually clearing all levels?
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So, I realize that playing on "Death" mode is, perhaps, SUPPOSED to be frustrating. That said, the 100% xp loss upon death combined with the 1/3rd xp rate is making the early game uncomfortably grindy. Perhaps tone it down to no loss on normal, 50% on hard, 25% on Death or something? I know it doesn't matter so much once you get some INT, but as I said, it makes early game kinda irritating.
The XP loss is at 100% so that without drones it will be at 0% when Intelligence is fully upgraded. And Death mode is for people like me who like grinding. Having to work hard for success makes it feel much better when it happens. If I made it easier I would just have to add another harder difficulty.
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I like the changes to upgrading, but with the drones I have, I've become pretty overpowered (specifically, the pair of observers mean that I can upgrade everything like, 200 times per level). I think I'll start over on hard, see how that is, post-changes :P
I still haven't tested much beyond the first NG+, so it is possible that it may become too easy. The strength of the enemies does increase exponentially, so I thought that it would always become harder even if you got a lot of experience, but if that is not the case I will have to change something. But I am mostly focusing on adding more levels right now. =)
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what i meant was that when you have bullet momentum off (which i need to because of what you just mentioned), it's impossible to get low enough on the screen to destroy the horizontal drill/laser things that spawn at the lowest possible point, right above your health meters. it may also be worth mentioning that when i position myself in the lowest point of the screen and in the center, while having a laser and invincibility on, they fly right through me and don't get hit. when the laser and invincibility isn't on and i'm in the same position, they die from colliding with me, instead of getting shot. like i said though it's a minor thing and doesn't really affect gameplay
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two minor things: the first is that i can't seem to be able to hit the bottom most of the things that come at you horizontally with bullet momentum off. the second may work as intended but the bosses seem to have a safe zone right inside them. you could hover right in the center of the first and third bosses and avoid most if not all damage while maximizing your output on the boss, because they're always shooting outwards. to a certain extent this can still be exploited as they use lasers as well.
About the first thing: I am not entirely sure what you mean, but I know that hitting things get problematic if your speed is too high, which is what tends to happen later in the game. What I have considered to fix this is to reduce the speed you get from drones and/or give your projectiles a percentage of your speed in forward momentum at all times. About the second thing: I think it's a valid tactic. It is dangerous to get in position, and dangerous to get out, and when you are in position you cannot attack anything else but the boss and you will still get hit by his lasers, so I think that most of the time, it is not the best way to do it. =)
You are right. I must have broken something there. EDIT: When I rewrote the waypoint code I messed up that boss and another one. It should be fixed in a few minutes. =)
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And on the topic of hp-scaling, is there any way to know which drones are best for, say, attack, without upgrading them 50 times so I can directly compare them with my current stuffs?
All drones are of three different types that get more of certain stats. Type 0 get mostly speed/damage/projectile, type 1 get mostly armour/shield/regen and type 2 get mostly int/salvaging. Drones of type 0 are: cell, wasp, turret, hunter, lance, bomber, colony, fighter. Drones of type 1 are: freighter, sapper, carrier, observer. Drones of type 2 are: tower, star, fortress, guardian. And there is really no way for the player to know any of this without experimenting as you say. But what I could do is display stats that the drones prefer in a different color. It should be easy to do and will probably be in the next version.
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As far as the new enemies go: The double-laser guys seem like a remix of the standard laser enemies (which usually occur horizontally offset from one another anyway), but the randomly jinking ones are a welcome addition; they make for less predictable waves. The spawners are also fun, though I can see them getting out of hand really fast depending on how their hp scales. . .
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Okay. Guess I'll stop trying to grind up enough attack to break through his waves of mines, and just move on to the next cycle. Thanks :)
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Huh. I got Endless Journey, and yeah, I'll admit, it's by no means a thing you'd have to implement backtracking for. "The Heart: ?", on the other hand. . . I didn't even know that was a thing! What's the deal there?
It's an extra boss I added as something extra to do before NG+ existed. But it may be too hard, and killing it gives you nothing special, so I might be changing it in the future or removing it. I'm not sure.
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It'd be nice to have the ability to return to an earlier New Game + cycle; I find myself regretting not getting "Endless Journey" before everything got harder >_>
Endless Journey is not that important. An Observer with some upgrades would do the same thing (+100% Intelligence). And you do get a warning when you start NG+ that it is irreversible, so I don't really see the need for a return function. But I will consider it.