Hexlaser 2 : Ultios Insector by rxninja

[raw]
made by rxninja for LD27 (JAM)
Hexlaser 2 : Ultios Insector is a dual stick shooter where you try to survive, destroying as many insectoid enemies as possible before you go down.

***HEXLASER 2 REQUIRES DUAL ANALOG STICK INPUT, SUCH AS A PS3 CONTROLLER***

Hexlaser 2 is my first game, so there are bound to be some things woefully wrong with it. For instance, there's nothing stopping you from just going off-screen in some random direction for infinity. I figured you'd naturally want to stay close to the things that give you points, plus I liked the feeling that you're kind of "cheating" by briefly going off-screen if you need to avoid something. It's fun to break the rules.

Hexlaser 2 also requires a joypad with dual analog sticks. I built and mapped it for a PS3 controller and I'm honestly not sure how it works with anything else since I have nothing else to test with it. I realize that this is far from ideal for a game jam game where you want as many people to play it as possible, but it was more of a personal goal than a "let's see how well I can do in a competition" footnote.

I know the Mac OSX build works, but I have no way of testing the Windows and Linux builds. I deployed them with Unity so I hope they work.

I had an initial conception of this game that fit much closer to the theme (you have a ticking clock and you destroy enemies to refill it), but I realized late in the game that that didn't work. Currently, the loose tie to "10 seconds" is that the big guys, worth LOTS more points than the little ones, spawn every 10 seconds ad infinitum. I'm not proud of that aspect of it, but I thought a game that loosely fits the theme is better than a non-existent game that does. "Follow the theme" took a back seat to "finish and publish my first game."

Along the way I learned some key stuff about dual stick control implementation in Unity. I wrote a post about it here if anyone is interested in the technical details: http://spriteborne.tumblr.com/post/59265932817/twin-stick-shooter-control-in-unity3d

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy HEXLASER 2: ULTIOS INSECTOR!


Engine: Unity3D (http://unity3d.com/)
Graphics: Hexels Pro (http://hexraystudios.com/hexels/)
Music and Sound Effects: Bosca Ceoil (http://distractionware.com/blog/2013/08/bosca-ceoil/)

Feedback

ENDESGA
27. Aug 2013 路 05:22 UTC
The hex-based grid is pretty neat :)
nice game overall :D

-ENDESGA
Ithildin
27. Aug 2013 路 20:09 UTC
I've tried with an Xbox controller and it didn't seem to work. I got stuck on the menu :S
馃帳 rxninja
28. Aug 2013 路 04:37 UTC
Hmm, fire is mapped to button 11, which is left-stick click on the xbox 360 controller. I'll see if I can make a quick alternate button map tomorrow and do a build fix to accommodate 360 gamepads.
archaeometrician
28. Aug 2013 路 22:08 UTC
As soon as I get my XBo controller back from my friend, I'm gonna try this ! From the screenshot, this game look really nice!
Urfoex
28. Aug 2013 路 22:29 UTC
Playing with a cheap Hama gamepad. Look-Axes are transposed so it's hard to look around. Shooting is also on the stick.

You might also consider forcing the player on the screen ;-)

Nice art and tune.
Kad
01. Sep 2013 路 15:55 UTC
Great work! I would suggest that you implement a keyboard alternativo to your control, so can receive feedback from a lot more people. Don't worry too much for the theme: game making is about making yourself happy and then showing your having the world enjoy the with the results.
truiton
06. Sep 2013 路 09:10 UTC
I don't have my xbox controller with me... too bad, the game seems fun :/
Solifuge
12. Sep 2013 路 00:39 UTC
I really really want to play this, but I'm running the Windows version, and it doesn't seem to recognize my X-Box Controller.

If nothing else, the title theme is Super Catchy. I'd love to see a post-compo version of this, possibly one with mouse and arrow-key support in lieu of dual analogue.