Paying Bitcoins for people to test and give feedback for my first Java game!

[Code4Coinz]

I am paying only 50 responders to this thread for comprehensive feedback for the first stage of development for my game. For those 50 individuals you will each receive $15 according to the current market value at this time at https://www.mtgox.com/. The current value for one Bitcoin is $750.00, so $15 is 0.02 Bitcoin. ONE lucky person will receive one Bitcoin. I got plenty, so don't worry about not receiving anything. Please leave your wallet address in your comment so that I can send the money.

Note: it's 50 people that I select out of all who provide feedback, not just the first 50 people.

I've been working on a small project over winter break (computer science undergrad). I'm pretty much finished with the first version but I'd appreciate some feedback on it before I move forward. The game is a Star Trek side-scrolling shooter. You control your ship via the mouse and fire with the left mouse button. If you get shot down, just press spacebar to respawn. It will clear the screen of all elements so you can get your bearings for a fresh start. The game has a built-in online leader board so you can post your scores and see eachother's. The scores are organized so it's an actual arcade-style hi-score chart. The game may seem basic and that's because it is; This is the first version, more will follow in the coming weeks.

The game was written in Java. The Windows version was wrapped with Launch4j because I wanted to give it a cool icon and .exe is just more familiar to Windows users. The Linux/Mac version is a .jar file, the command to run it is below. You need to have Java 1.7 installed, but you likely already have it.

Things for consider in your feedback: game difficulty, controls, fun-factor, glitches, feature suggestion, and the viewing of the hi-score chart (do you see your score? Is it in the right spot? Do you see other people's scores?).

Star Trek (Windows)
Star Trek (Linux/Mac)
For Linux/Mac, navigate to the directory via the terminal that the file is downloaded to and enter the command java -jar StarTrek.jar

https://i.imgur.com/BBrWppw.png

https://i.imgur.com/OqCx5AS.png

[Lethn]

Okay, you may not like this but I have a list for you already and I only spent five seconds playing but if your serious about improving any kind of software you need to listen to this sort of thing:

. The spawn rate for those borg ships is ridiculous, your teacher or anyone isn't going to be able to give you critique if they can't even last long enough to get through a long period of the game, it's a bit like if you made a massive 3D game but spawned a bunch of invincible NPCs that stopped anyone from progressing through it

. The mouse cursor seems to work fine but you've got a problem where the mouse disables and things go a bit haywire if you move the mouse outside of the window, you could cure this with a quick fix by making the game fullscreen or making sure the cursor can't move out the window in any way while the game is running

. Sound effects are fine even though they're clearly stock but this is expected if it's early or you aren't doing this professionally here's a tip, it's bearable if you have music looping in the background on the main title or in the game but always have an option to mute it wherever

. You might need to slow things down a bit or offer up some difficulty levels, maybe add some powerups or something if a side scroller is what you are going for? Definitely put in some variety

. Score system seems pretty standard, don't really have any complaints

p.s. Just in case you don't know about this sort of thing be extremely careful with using copyrighted material, it's only something you're doing for a learning exercise but if it's not original and gets attention you'll suddenly be in a legal minefield but you shouldn't have any problems if it's non-profit


13svHN2KikTjjHAVQv1uZENRU9S4Q1Bu9e

[Code4Coinz]

That's alright, Lethn. Any feedback is good feedback. Since there is a grand prize involved, I'll send out the coins when I conclude this thread. I got your address recorded, so no worries.

[burnum]

Well the borg cubes shoot while off screen and i can kill them while they are there wish more of my killing could be done on screen, I got a score of 675 after being told a hundred times you saw the whole thing, loaded a score of 405 I did not know when my score was done loading cause the text "loading" stayed at the bottom of screen, it froze up on me once so i thought I passed the level had to close and restart (first game I have played on this old pc), hmm all in all it seems like a easy enough game to learn what to do, I was disappointed that i had no shields, i might have to come back to it to try to get the high score, difficulty is not so bad considering it is just one level of a game
fullscreen option would be good.
bring the next levels
15T3cHaxzebs24UVdBpFi9BsCK2GNtMyPc

[Haidang1796]

after playing it for a couple times, I kinda get bored ) but anyway the game looks okay, the playing is good it's like the old-fashion flash game ) and I like it
12VsAz5pF8U6h26dBS1EDoAHKr8CX1nRUP

[Chance567]

Has potential.

It does have an insane number of spawning enemies onscreen at a time, which makes it highly difficult, but it does hold my attention for longer than a minute.

Might want to find a way to lock the mouse to the game screen, as I frequently found myself clicking off the game when it got hectic. (side note, when I did this, my ship was invulnerable to everything until clicked back to, nice touch if on purpose)

Beyond that, I think it could benefit from being able to select from different types of enemies (maybe add some more sprites from different enemies encountered in the series?)

Great first attempt overall, not broken in any way.

I would suggest making it story-based if you chose to build from the Star Trek Universe, add text dialogue and .gifs of the characters issuing the current scenario, and maybe some unique power-ups or changing backgrounds to make it more interesting.

To prove I actually did play it, I posted to the leaderboard - Chance567: 783 (leaderboard is working fine by the way, real-time updates.)

1D4CVpVNSFnQieNBqxhQsErB9UVRXyVMxk

[deepceleron]

I would caution everyone here that you not blindly trust code from a user who's first post out of newbie jail is a request for you to run an EXE on your system. An exe or Java bytecode can do anything at any time, including installing a backdoor or grabbing your wallet.

[Code4Coinz]

I would caution everyone here that you not blindly trust code from a user who's first post out of newbie jail is a request for you to run an EXE on your system. An exe or Java bytecode can do anything at any time, including installing a backdoor or grabbing your wallet.

Nothing of the sort going on here. You're correct in your caution though.

As for those who have provided their addresses, I have recorded them down and will take care of everything when the testing is over. Thanks!!

[Welsh]

I would caution everyone here that you not blindly trust code from a user who's first post out of newbie jail is a request for you to run an EXE on your system. An exe or Java bytecode can do anything at any time, including installing a backdoor or grabbing your wallet.

One reason I ran on a old machine which I do not use for anything else except taking apart. Also, it was tested in a virtual machine as this computer doesn't run windows.

[yatsey87]

OP, are you going to put this Bitcoin payment in an escrow, because I see many of these bounty threads who never pay out.

[sdp]

I would caution everyone here that you not blindly trust code from a user who's first post out of newbie jail is a request for you to run an EXE on your system. An exe or Java bytecode can do anything at any time, including installing a backdoor or grabbing your wallet.

This is exactly what I was thinking.  Such a program can do virtually anything you can do.  If you pay attention to these issues, Java in your browser is not even safe either.  There are always new ways for Java the Hut to break out of its sandbox and cause problems in the galaxy. 

Use a distinct machine for testing software like this.

It 's Sunday, I will test tomorrow in a Cybercafé.

sdp 

[gogodr]

If you want to continue game dev in Java I recommend you to move away from swing as soon as possible and start looking into JavaFX
I made this project for my java class in uni to learn javaFX. It took me 2 weeks to finish and fully understand how to work with transitions in javafx as managed threads and how to prepare objects for the java garbage collector (which was very important since I was loading assets like crazy for this game)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyRMoe4heGc

That's the game, I can provide you with the source code if you want to.

[sdp]

It 's Sunday, I will test tomorrow in a Cybercafé.

sdp 

Let' s  make that tomorrow Tuesday.

[sdp]

Okay, I've played it.  Good thing:  EXE loader tells you you need to update Java when needed. 

I don't think a game should be too easy when you start playing.  Imagine Starcraft I died in the first five minutes of the game when I first started playing.  That's what creates the challenge.

I am on the leader board for now.  I got over 1000 points.  My user name is 'sdp'.  It would be nice to have a set of keyboard controls as well.  On the other hand, if it is mouse driven, we ought to use a mouse button to respawn; perhaps it could work with a click on a space ship button.

I got 3000 points but I accidentally respawned when I tried to enter a username with a space in it. 

I am not sure if you could reproduce it but it is possible for to see the '...updating...' status string appear but not disappear.  I respawned without putting a username on the first try.  I played several times and then I tried update and put my username and it showed '...updating...'.  I respawned before it disappeared and it remained.  Maybe it was going to disappear but I didn't give a chance.

sdp