Hi

Leaderboards are awesome. I mean it, I really think so. Some folks, like Pippin Barr for example, have made fun of them but I think they really do something important. A leaderboard, a little one, creates a community.

I’m not super concerned with holding the high-scores on my games, you know? Like, I don’t mind if someone beats me at the games I make or play. What I love, though, is the rally. I love when you post a score, and someone beats it, and then you come around and one-up them.

This happened with Super Plumber Bros: Vlad70 and TCrafter12Games vied for the top score, and the resulting arms race pushed me right to the bottom. I was convinced for a long time that ~130 points was really the max you could get in SPB. I wasn’t posting shoddy runs, you know!

This morning I woke up to a high-score in Gunship Souls that doubled mine. I couldn’t believe it! Another guy, at a party, has played a 16,000 point game, but 27,000 points was some next level shit! This evening, I sat down with a beer and really pressed into this, and after an hour of trying I managed to double that score. I seriously can’t wait for someone to post a score in the ~80,000 or higher.

At the same time, high-scores also make me aware of the flaws in my game. Gunship Souls was made in three 12 hour days, and it has great depth for such a quick game. However, the high-score getting technique that I’ve developed doesn’t lool like the game I want Gunship Souls to be. I didn’t record the run, but basically I spend most of my time “riding the bullets” to build up my multiplier, and then I spend the rest of the run firing blindly behind me a rain of bullets with enemies dying fully off-screen. I spent some time later in the run in the asteroid belt, but basically most of it was in deep space, weaving through a rain of bullets (and singing, around 40,000 points I started extemporizing the “I am the angel of bullets” song, much to my girlfriend’s dissmay).

In the post jam, this is the first thing that will change: dynamic camera work to keep enemies on screen, and tighter controls/better AI for epic asteroid dodging.

Thanks karunakaruna, you are an inspiring pilot!

z.

PS last day to vote! Vote for Gunship Souls!