Project Phoenix Alpha Release

I took a good preview of your game... You have alot to work on if you are going to expect to get any form of money from this I would think. Im not bashing you, just stating the fact. That being said im highly impressed, as you are one of the few people out here who actualy have completed (or near completed) something that they started :). Anyways, I figure its fair to list some of the reasons for my conclusion.

Your input mechanism is HIGHLY flawed. Pressing and holding up and down hardly works, it goes a bit up or down, then waits, then moves. This is similar to the typing patterns for standard keystrokes, you shouldent be using that in a game.

There is no easily apparent (At least I couldent find it) way to restart the game after you die.

Your use of screen space could be done much better.

Enemies approched from behind before a keyboard could possiably respond to moving at times

Graphics are of a quality that is easily overdone by freeware games in the same genre.

Im presuming you are using 3d rendering do to the apparent distortion caused by change of viewing angle when going left and right. IMHO It would look nicer to just have a straight orthogonal display, OR at least tilt the entire viewing on the vertical level, so that you maximize the 3d effect.

1) I've been trying to fix the problem with input for a year --- no success yet. I will continue to work on that, although I havent a clue how to fix it

2) Hehehe, did you try clicking on the game logo in the upper-left hand corner :-) i will include that tip in the documentation once the game is complete.

3) I know having the menu screen ever-present is rather unusual (and rather wasteful) but I currently havent any better ideas (and at this point changing it would require rewriting most of the viewport code).

4) The textures i'm using are junk -- they would be better if I hadnt made them. I will try to kick up the quality of those soon, and I may or may not add support for a higher resolution (again, this would require rewriting alot of the engine, and seeing as I havent been able to get another coder to help me this is rather unlikely).

5) I am using OpenGL and OBJ models for all ships and objects on the screen (look in /obj in the install directory). The distortion you see isnt so much distortion as it is a change of perspective. The view works basically as if you were looking directly down upon the objects, and so they look rotated vertically (screen vertical, not literal vertical) when they are on the sides. I have considered changing this, but yet again I do not have the time to research and make major modifications to the existing code of the engine.

It probably isnt worth money, but I have been working on the game almost completely by myself (i've done well over 99% of the work myself) for over a year now and I think I deserve at least a little something for my effort. Perhaps i'll release the game as donationware, but somehow I doubt anyone would donate.

I will take this opportunity to ask for artists/coders to assist me in development of the game. Most of the changes you suggested, PaulCesar, could be implemented if I simply had some assistance (and my art wouldnt be nearly as terrible).

Actualy as for the distortion, I did mention it was the perspective, and it was something that could be easily resolved simply by changing the perspective more, this time adjusting the vertical so that it has some "tilt" to it.

I'll play with settings a bit and see if I can improve it.

[[UPDATE]] I have just uploaded a new version of my game to my website medevilenemy.f2o.org. This revision includes a new level and a new enemy ship.
Enjoy :-)

(and a slight modification to the graphics engine. Basically, i've played with the perspective a tiny bit)