Comments - haedri

Want to get Snorms + 4 SciFi indie games, check out Indiebundle.org !

Thanks ^^ It's good to know you liked it :)

If a monster is missing, you should see it in the map (Escape > Map > Buy) as a red point. I've double-checked this map, and it's working fine, but there's one tricky part that might be the problem: (spoiler inside)

Did you try to blow the wall in the center of the big room with the 2 bosses ? it doesn't count as a secret, but it's still an interesting place

Ok, I feel really stupid, the whole texture recycling process was correctly coded, it was just not plugged in in isometric view ^^
Memory usage seems to be a lot more stable something around 100-150mb after playing a few levels (in total, with system stuff and such)

I will do more testing and add it to the patch I was planning to upload today
thanks !

I didn't notice it, I could play the whole game without restarting, but indeed you are right, I've used GPU-Z to check memory usage, and it grows up.
When in top-view mode it's working fine, so it's definitely a problem on my side, and I think I know how to fix it

Thanks a lot for reporting, now that I know how to check video memory usage (never tried this tool before) I should be able to patch this very quickly

It seems to be a Desura issue, you should try posting on Desura support forum:
Indiedb.com

It sometimes happen to me too, usually reinstalling fixes the issue (right click on Snorms in the Desura 'Play' page and select uninstall, once done select install)

Else you can download the standalone installer on Desura or on IGS, if you reinstall Snorms through Desura later it will use the same save files, don't worry

Thanks :)

- I've corrected a few typos on Snorms recently, they haven't been applied on Alien Blitz yet, I will look into it
- I think I will add an option to change control size, it might work better and won't be too much work I guess (on my 7" tablet they are a bit too big ^^)

Thanks for the report !

I have just submitted Snorms on Greenlight
Feel free to take a look :)
Steamcommunity.com

I have just submitted Snorms to Greenlight
Feel free to take a look :)
Steamcommunity.com

There will be an important update in a few weeks (if everything's fine), in order to add Top view support and lots of optimizations.

Why ? because I have implemented this for the Android version called "Alien Blitz" :)
Play.google.com

You can try it, it's free (with ads) :)
An ad-free version will also be made and I will see if I can generate keys or give the APK for users that bought Snorms on Desura.

Hehe indeed :) it's corrected
Thanks for reporting, I didn't even see it

Sorry for the late answer
That's strange, I had no problems on my tests computers, could you give me a little more details on what happens ?
- Do you have a black screen with an error message ? If so could you press enter on that screen so that It sends me a bug report automatically
- What is your OS ? Windows/Linux/Mac ?

I ran into some very random problems with some library I used, I'll try to update them on next release, maybe it's a lot more frequent on some configurations

There is a small "bug" due to the fact that I changed the way to get the minigun in the last version of the game, it can now be found on the "normal" route, at the same place where you get the missile launcher (e01m06, after the mini boss fight)
But I left it in the old places (secret level and episode2) for compatibility reasons, that's why you will still see the text saying you found it.
Now the secret level is only used to unlock hard mode.

So basically, if you have the missile launcher, then you should have the minigun... but the bug is it is called "Uzi" in the armory not "Mini gun". So you should have it under that name, if not I must investigate more :)

I've corrected the bad text and removed references to mini gun/uzi in the secret level. It will be available in next release, thanks for reporting that !

The news has been authorized before the update, update should be available soon.

Co-op would be nice indeed ^^
Maybe I'll work on it if there are more players ;)

Technically, everything could be fully destructible, but of course for gameplay reasons I mostly used the destructible walls for secret passages (it's a lot easier to destroy a door than finding its key ^^).
I am still looking for ideas on how to add more destructible things without affecting gameplay too much, without success so far....

But I think I will add a "special mode" in next episode, to replay levels in a fully destructible environment if you have already completed the game once.

Here's what it could look like:
Youtube.com
If some of you have ideas to share, I would be glad to hear them :)

If there are features you would like to see added or things you don't like in my game, please keep in mind it is still an alpha version (it's still in development). So don't hesitate to tell me in your review/pm/forum/... what features might be missing, or what you didn't like, I might fix/add it in a later version. It's what alphas are for :)
There are 2 more episodes to be done before end of alpha, so I have time to add features. Of course I won't change the whole game :)

I'll be off next week, so I'll release next version early April, here are some of the features that will be added:
- map editor & map loading
- weapon leveling (at the moment weapon level is automatic/linked to the player level)
- more stamina use (temporarily boost your weapons)
- barrels (explosive, poison)
- and bug corrections

Episode 2 is making good progress, 7 new monsters are done, 4 new weapons are done, and I began working on maps. There will be 16 maps in this episode.
As a reminder, episode 2 will be of course added for free if you already bought the game, no extra charge.

Nice video :)

Sorry for not reacting earlier, I was kinda busy.

I like the video, maybe a bit too long (with a good music it would be best, I really need to add some :) ), but it gives a good overview of the game, thanks !

I'll give you some details about some specifics points :
- Weapons: there are 5 weapons at the moment, the last one (uzi) is not available in the "main" route, episode 2 will add 4 more weapons (5 including uzi, wich will be in the main route for those who didn't get it in episode 1)
- Weapons detail (main screen, on the bottom right): the details mean (A) Assignment/(C) Clip level/(B) Barrel level/(P) Propeller level and (S) Sight level
- Mines: at first there was plan to add a more complex mine system (leveling, going deep to get more goods,...), now mines are almost useless indeed, they are built automatically, and give you money for each minute you pass in a level. I don't know what I will do with them in the future (keep them like that, improve them, or remove them)
- Music: I want to add music indeed, it would be a lot better, but I can't do it right now (royalty free music are quite expensive), I'll add some later
- Door bug: I didn't even notice it ;) nice catch, it will be corrected in a future release
- The first power up you take is a shield that send back missiles to the launcher, so when you take it, it's best to get the monsters to fire at you, as it will send back their missile and help you killing them (and not fleeing like you did :) )

The next release, which is currently almost done (under final test) should be ready early April, it will include a level editor, if some people want to add more content ;)

Thanks :)
Indeed, when I first played Steel Storm (during Snorms development) I immediately thought there were a few things in common (mainly because it's also a shooter, viewed from above (by default)). I had a great time playing Steel Storm by the way, it's also worth buying :)

I was not clear indeed, I didn't want to mean it's impossible, I wanted to say that my engine can't use open gl at the moment (it's still beta). Sorry for the confusion.
I began some 3d rendering (using lwjgl, in the released version lwjgl is just used for sound rendering, but I included it in order to add 3d someday), and in fact all the engine itself is internally 3d, I just use isometric for rendering.
I want to continue the 3d rendering someday, but at the moment I must admit it's not my priority, and I don't know if I will be able to keep the pixel rendering.

There are currently two problems with higher resolutions:
- technically the engine was not meant to do this, I use cube of 32x32x32 pixels for caching, which is nice at current resolutions, higher resolutions would need me to change the caching system to bigger cube (in order to keep around maximum 1000 blit operations/frame)
- second problem is more a gameplay problem, I don't want users to see too far away what's going on :)

In order to solve second problem, I thought about stretching output, problem is basic implementation (resizing final output thanks to java 2d) is either crappy (aliasing off and low quality) or slow (best quality, aliasing on).
At the moment I am thinking about using lwjgl for stretching final output, but I didn't look more into it yet. And I would also like to use slick 2d, that could help me and I hope it would improve rendering speed (at the moment rendering is using java 2d).

Small update:
- Added keymapping customization
- Changed a bit episode 1 boss behavior
- Windows installation is now corrected (ready status was "forgotten" at restart)

Thanks :)

1- The music is a planned feature (see forum for more information), I put the control and technically its almost done, but I don't have the music themselves yet

2- As they both use same ammo, you can indeed upgrade only one of pistol/shotgun/uzi (uzi is "hidden"). But this will change maximum ammo count during game only if you have the weapon assigned to a slot. At the moment there are 5 weapons and 6 slots, but in episode 2 there will be 4 new weapons, so a total of 9 weapons / 6 slots (and still 3 ammo types), and you will have to choose which weapon to assign, so I recommend not upgrading pistol barrel as pistol might be quite useless ;)

3- Yep, it's not clearly shown yet, but when leveling : damage % increase, life increase, and resistance increase (it's not linked to armor, it's a global resistance)

Problem with higher resolution is that they are quite resource consuming, that's why I didn't want to include them in the first versions.
I think I'll add them in a later version with a big warning because of the cpu consumption (sadly isometric rendering can't use 3d card for better performance)

(At the moment there is a little trick to force free window size (won't work in fullscreen) by launching the game in a low screen resolution and then restoring initial screen resolution, you'll be able to dynamically change window size to whatever you want)

Those who buy the alpha will get other 2 episodes for free (so if you buy now, don't worry, you'll have access to Episodes 2 & 3). That's to thank customers for testing the alpha.
Next episodes will be delivered as regular updates (price will increase for new customers, but old customers will just update their game, with no extra cost)

Thanks for your feedback, I'll add an option to turn auto jump off (and/or change its sensitivity).

No, levels are all hand made at the moment. A level editor will be available soon.

Yea, water is dangerous ! Your ship/tank can not swim, it sinks

Ok, I guess I found where the error is. I've contacted staff, it should be corrected soon
Thanks for reporting :)

Indeed, I have the same problem, I thought it was because of my developer account, but it's not.
I'll ask Desura what is wrong with my release, as I have no idea why it is doing that

Hehe, thanks !
Well, the game is still Alpha, final release (if alpha is working well) will include Episodes 2 & 3, and the real end (+ new weapons, monsters and so on) !
Stay tuned, as alpha purchasers will get new episodes at no extra cost :)

Thanks :)

Well, technically it's third person, because you can see the player.
But you're right, I used this term because 'Isometric shooter' is not very common. Maybe I should just use both terms, to make something like 'Isometric third person shooter', or just 'Shooter' ;)
I'll change the term where I can, as it could confuse people indeed

Yes it's planned ! I set default keys so that they work for a maximum of people, but key-bindings is indeed mandatory. I put it on the top of my 'to-do' list

It's available only on Snorms official page at the moment