Hi, your demo is good so I just have a few nitpicks and suggestions to share:
* i know you will change this in the next version but why default is sdf and not wasd like in every game? not a complain but im genuinely curious, also the player can only jump once when pressing E but multiple times with J, is that a bug? if not, why?
* only works on the QWERTY layout, godot and unity automatically translates between keyboard layouts, though I don't know if game maker does... passing the tutorial on the DVORAK layout isn't fun.
* game runs slow on my old pc (i5 2nd gen), so ignore this if its hard to fix, but a graphics option would be nice, idk what causes lag, but at level 13 I had higher fps than the average level, at the lowest resolution it becomes acceptable but text is unreadable, keep it in mind if you plan to add more features that will slow the game
* not a fan of having that countdown each time the player dies, it creates dead time that I would rather spend playing
* the movement kinda feels slippery, but it may be just me
* what is the hook, or unique selling point? if it is hovering, then it should be a core part of the gameplay
* there's a typo on ghost and speedrun mode on "if activated, you can run against the ghost of your own best time if it less *then* 45 seconds" it should be 'than'
Lastly on a positive note, the art is great and has good readability!
By the way, if you have a moment, I’d love for you to check out the game I made and share your thoughts. Your feedback would be appreciated!
Wow, thank you very much! That is very useful feedback for me! To your points/questions: - Keys: The problem is in GameMaker that you can not address the keys by location, only by the letter. I have three languages implemented: english, french and german. Now , if you look on a french layout you see the "W" is in an other place. So I looked for a control scheme that would work for all three layouts. And "J" for Jump and "H" for Hover was to tempting, but after the feedback I already got I will take space as default for jump. And I still think about the most elegant solution. (choosing the layout in the first level?, customize the keys when starting the game ? ..) - The one time Jump: Originally the game was played with one button for Jump and another for Doublejump, after Feedback I combined both actions on one button, because players got confused. But at the moment the old control scheme is still active for now as a pro control. The advantage is, you can press the (one)jump button again in the air and keep it pressed until you touch the floor again and then you immediately jump on the same frame you touch the floor. But with the double jump on the same key you are forced to jump again before using that feature. I use it at the moment for speedruns. - Performance: The technical side is not my strong suit. I have some things already addressed but I have to look further into this. Good to know. - Countdown: If you press "Jump" while the countdown is shown it should be a little faster, but yes I'll make starting/dying faster I think. - Movement: Yes, I know. :) But it is how I wanted to design the game. It is a contrast to the very abrupt direct style of a lot of other games in that genre. It is also due to the relatively big jump height + double jump (gameplaywise). - USP: Good question. The hovering will be a lot more helpful in higher levels and seem necessary for the average player but I want every level beatable without it. It is a possibility to play the game with it but it should not be forced. (after beating the last level in the demo you see the least used hover time for each level, you get a star if you didn't use any ) I generally tried to make the level design as "flowable" as possible. So I tried to never really force the player to wait. In most levels in the demo you can press right and just have to jump and double jump at the right moments. Unfortunately I hadn't a lot of tester who tried to get S (or S+) time ratings. (I took my own best times for S+) . I have no real selling point besides it is hopefully fun to flow through the levels. A key aspect was also to try to bridge the gap between casual and more "pro" gamers (also the "exchange ink for more jumps"-mechanic) and that the player can choose his own style of playing. - Typo: I will correct it than ;) - Positive note: I put a lot of thought into it, so I'm glad to hear that. :D
I take a look at your game in the next days and give you feedback.
You're welcome! - Keys: I see, that's a hard problem to solve, maybe putting a suggestion or reminder in the tutorial(like 95% of users use qwerty anyways), also I would personally used shift for hovering and space and W for jumping, because of minecraft
I really like the game, and I think it is very fun. The difficulty increased nicely. The game wasn't too hard or too easy. This is my experience from only playing the game in a browser.
I would have liked the default keys to be standard WASD to move and SPACE to jump. Using SDF to move and J to jump felt awkward to use. I know I can change the controls in the settings but some people might skip or overlook it.
Using Enter or E to me feels more intuitive than using backspace when interacting with things like the ink machine.
I would have liked to be able to use my mouse in any of the menus. Using the keyboard to go through the menu is a bit awkward.
After upgrading my jumps and hover I could not collect any of the ink bottles or the green coin in any of the levels I was currently on. I don't know if this is a bug or an intended feature. I would like to be able to collect these things even after upgrading.
Hey, thank you very much for your feedback! I'm glad you liked it! I'm already working on a newer version and will address the WASD and SPACE problem, a lot of people mentioned that. Also the E key for the machine is a good suggestion. I'm also trying to implement the mouse control for the menues. I know the exchange ink mechanic is a little poorly explained, so that is also a priority for me. Originally I intended that you're not able to collect them (so a feature not a bug), as a form of price to pay and motivation to beat the level again later, when the skill has increased, but maybe I just make the jumps more expensive. Thank you so much for your feedback, I really appreciate it!
I like the idea of making the extra jumps and hover time more expensive. I was able to beat most levels easily without any upgrades. Then I had a bunch of ink I could spend in the more difficult levels to max out the upgrades which made those levels feel too easy.
That is a little bit due to the shortness of the demo. I planned to have 120 regular levels in the final game. So it is now that if you use 1 extra jump it costs 12 ink and in the current level you can't collect some. That means for every level regularly beaten (and collecting all 24 ink bottles) you can beat two levels with one additional jump in each but then you have no more ink, so you got to beat the next without extra jumps or you go back and beat one again without extra jumps. The levels will get increasingly harder from the next world on, so you will eventually go back to older ones to get ink back for these harder ones (that is my hope at least). The first twenty are more to get the player comfortable with the game and its controls without the danger of getting stuck, so he can amount some ink for the first harder levels. There are also 4 bonus levels which get already a bit harder and there you can't use the ink exchange, but you have to find hidden keys in the levels to unlock them. They are more highscore oriented (time, jumps, killed rats, collected thingies). If you beat the 20 levels there is also an a knowledgement for beating the level without using the hover mechanic (star in the level select screen). Is the time ranking or getting all ink/coins interesting to you or are you just interested in getting through ?
(edit: in the shop you can get hints in which level the keys are hidden, if you find a key you don't have to end the level, you can just go to the level select screen through the pause menu)
This game was a tonne of fun. A really solid platformer that ramps up the difficulty really well. What a feature complete demo! A great accomplishment and I can't wait to see the full game.
As someone who has been playing games for over 30 years, I particularly like the fact that I was able to unlock the bonus levels. You develop an eye for hiding places in levels over time and yet I didn't find all the keys for the bonus levels on my first run through. Fortunately, there is a shop where you can buy hints. All in all, a great experience. Keep up the good work!
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Hi, your demo is good so I just have a few nitpicks and suggestions to share:
* i know you will change this in the next version but why default is sdf and not wasd like in every game? not a complain but im genuinely curious, also the player can only jump once when pressing E but multiple times with J, is that a bug? if not, why?
* only works on the QWERTY layout, godot and unity automatically translates between keyboard layouts, though I don't know if game maker does... passing the tutorial on the DVORAK layout isn't fun.
* game runs slow on my old pc (i5 2nd gen), so ignore this if its hard to fix, but a graphics option would be nice, idk what causes lag, but at level 13 I had higher fps than the average level, at the lowest resolution it becomes acceptable but text is unreadable, keep it in mind if you plan to add more features that will slow the game
* not a fan of having that countdown each time the player dies, it creates dead time that I would rather spend playing
* the movement kinda feels slippery, but it may be just me
* what is the hook, or unique selling point? if it is hovering, then it should be a core part of the gameplay
* there's a typo on ghost and speedrun mode on "if activated, you can run against the ghost of your own best time if it less *then* 45 seconds" it should be 'than'
Lastly on a positive note, the art is great and has good readability!
By the way, if you have a moment, I’d love for you to check out the game I made and share your thoughts. Your feedback would be appreciated!
Wow, thank you very much! That is very useful feedback for me! To your points/questions:
- Keys: The problem is in GameMaker that you can not address the keys by location, only by the letter. I have three languages implemented: english, french and german. Now , if you look on a french layout you see the "W" is in an other place. So I looked for a control scheme that would work for all three layouts. And "J" for Jump and "H" for Hover was to tempting, but after the feedback I already got I will take space as default for jump. And I still think about the most elegant solution. (choosing the layout in the first level?, customize the keys when starting the game ? ..)
- The one time Jump: Originally the game was played with one button for Jump and another for Doublejump, after Feedback I combined both actions on one button, because players got confused. But at the moment the old control scheme is still active for now as a pro control. The advantage is, you can press the (one)jump button again in the air and keep it pressed until you touch the floor again and then you immediately jump on the same frame you touch the floor. But with the double jump on the same key you are forced to jump again before using that feature. I use it at the moment for speedruns.
- Performance: The technical side is not my strong suit. I have some things already addressed but I have to look further into this. Good to know.
- Countdown: If you press "Jump" while the countdown is shown it should be a little faster, but yes I'll make starting/dying faster I think.
- Movement: Yes, I know. :) But it is how I wanted to design the game. It is a contrast to the very abrupt direct style of a lot of other games in that genre. It is also due to the relatively big jump height + double jump (gameplaywise).
- USP: Good question. The hovering will be a lot more helpful in higher levels and seem necessary for the average player but I want every level beatable without it. It is a possibility to play the game with it but it should not be forced. (after beating the last level in the demo you see the least used hover time for each level, you get a star if you didn't use any ) I generally tried to make the level design as "flowable" as possible. So I tried to never really force the player to wait. In most levels in the demo you can press right and just have to jump and double jump at the right moments. Unfortunately I hadn't a lot of tester who tried to get S (or S+) time ratings. (I took my own best times for S+) . I have no real selling point besides it is hopefully fun to flow through the levels. A key aspect was also to try to bridge the gap between casual and more "pro" gamers (also the "exchange ink for more jumps"-mechanic) and that the player can choose his own style of playing.
- Typo: I will correct it than ;)
- Positive note: I put a lot of thought into it, so I'm glad to hear that. :D
I take a look at your game in the next days and give you feedback.
You're welcome!
- Keys: I see, that's a hard problem to solve, maybe putting a suggestion or reminder in the tutorial(like 95% of users use qwerty anyways), also I would personally used shift for hovering and space and W for jumping, because of minecraft
I really like the game, and I think it is very fun. The difficulty increased nicely. The game wasn't too hard or too easy. This is my experience from only playing the game in a browser.
I would have liked the default keys to be standard WASD to move and SPACE to jump. Using SDF to move and J to jump felt awkward to use. I know I can change the controls in the settings but some people might skip or overlook it.
Using Enter or E to me feels more intuitive than using backspace when interacting with things like the ink machine.
I would have liked to be able to use my mouse in any of the menus. Using the keyboard to go through the menu is a bit awkward.
After upgrading my jumps and hover I could not collect any of the ink bottles or the green coin in any of the levels I was currently on. I don't know if this is a bug or an intended feature. I would like to be able to collect these things even after upgrading.
Hey, thank you very much for your feedback! I'm glad you liked it! I'm already working on a newer version and will address the WASD and SPACE problem, a lot of people mentioned that. Also the E key for the machine is a good suggestion. I'm also trying to implement the mouse control for the menues. I know the exchange ink mechanic is a little poorly explained, so that is also a priority for me. Originally I intended that you're not able to collect them (so a feature not a bug), as a form of price to pay and motivation to beat the level again later, when the skill has increased, but maybe I just make the jumps more expensive. Thank you so much for your feedback, I really appreciate it!
I like the idea of making the extra jumps and hover time more expensive. I was able to beat most levels easily without any upgrades. Then I had a bunch of ink I could spend in the more difficult levels to max out the upgrades which made those levels feel too easy.
That is a little bit due to the shortness of the demo. I planned to have 120 regular levels in the final game. So it is now that if you use 1 extra jump it costs 12 ink and in the current level you can't collect some. That means for every level regularly beaten (and collecting all 24 ink bottles) you can beat two levels with one additional jump in each but then you have no more ink, so you got to beat the next without extra jumps or you go back and beat one again without extra jumps. The levels will get increasingly harder from the next world on, so you will eventually go back to older ones to get ink back for these harder ones (that is my hope at least). The first twenty are more to get the player comfortable with the game and its controls without the danger of getting stuck, so he can amount some ink for the first harder levels. There are also 4 bonus levels which get already a bit harder and there you can't use the ink exchange, but you have to find hidden keys in the levels to unlock them. They are more highscore oriented (time, jumps, killed rats, collected thingies). If you beat the 20 levels there is also an a knowledgement for beating the level without using the hover mechanic (star in the level select screen). Is the time ranking or getting all ink/coins interesting to you or are you just interested in getting through ?
(edit: in the shop you can get hints in which level the keys are hidden, if you find a key you don't have to end the level, you can just go to the level select screen through the pause menu)
Hey knaago,
This game was a tonne of fun. A really solid platformer that ramps up the difficulty really well. What a feature complete demo! A great accomplishment and I can't wait to see the full game.
- Arluc Games
P.S. Check out my playthrough here:
Thank you! Glad you had fun with it. And thanks for choosing it as the gem of the stream. :D
I've also started a discord for anyone that's interested in my Gem Hunting adventures, has featured in them or would like to be in future ones:
https://discord.gg/esbZTv5f
Hope to see you there 😊
Very nice experience! I was hooked :) Will there be a multiplayer one day? :)
Thanks! Glad you liked it. :)
As someone who has been playing games for over 30 years, I particularly like the fact that I was able to unlock the bonus levels. You develop an eye for hiding places in levels over time and yet I didn't find all the keys for the bonus levels on my first run through. Fortunately, there is a shop where you can buy hints. All in all, a great experience. Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much! I will! :)
I will be playing this live tomorrow 11/26 around 630-7 PM EST =).
Cool, I'll check it out! Thanks man, I'm eager to get some feedback :)