The shaders and the visuals are REALLY nice, but the collision itself breaks - managed to clip into walls, and at a level where you start at the platform below the level I spent a lot of time trying to jump on the next platform, only to fall through. When I managed to not fall through - the jump to the second target feels close to impossible, so I couldn't progress.
Level transitions are cool, but sometimes I got a bit disoriented by the levels in the distance.
Really like the visuals and 3D/2D pan effect, very nice and pleasant. Sound effects and animations are on point and the controls feel good. Having a timer with the actual time in the top corner might be nice instead of just the bar since its a time trial style game. Having a setting to change the mouse inversion on the break jump would be nice but is more of a small QOL thing. One problem I had was that the levels and targets in the background could muddle up the real targets in the foreground. Would prefer not rendering those targets on the next level at all or bringing their alpha down more.
i liked it, very skillful precision platformer and the visuals are nice, although the tutorial messages were a little vague -- but nothing that couldnt be learned by a little trial and error
i would have preferred it if the mouse controls werent inverted, however. it feels much more natural to me to move the mouse in the direction i want to go
i think you should try pausing the timer until the player moves, after a restart -- it doesnt really matter in the grand scheme of things but it is annoying to have the timer constantly running even if youre just trying to get your bearings
You obviously got the graphics/programming skills to pay the bills. I’ll just list some thoughts I had, idk what your vision is, maybe some is helpful.
- Breaking a target while standing on floor not giving a boost feels quite punishing. I learned eventually that I can easily initialize a jump while still holding LMB.
- In general I felt I gained a lot of time by holding LMB as long as possible. Idk if it was just because my line-ups ended up being better. My instinct in this game was to go ASAP always, even when time is slowed by LMB. But I think it’s wrong.
- Walljumping is slower / clunky / less fun than the other movement methods to me.
- Sliding is cool but also some kind of 'additional' thing you are just tasked to do. I was thinking it could be replaced with an icy surface.
- Not seeing the mouse, and it being inverted (?) is hard to get used to. I would just show it.
- Got a couple nice yeets, also "thx for playing" showed up only very briefly the first time I beat the final level.
In general the levels felt very hard. It was fun to learn them in this demo, but for a full game I believe it would be better to copy Trackmania’s system with medals and also leaderboards. The times required to beat the demo levels felt what would be the "author medal" or at least gold in Trackmania.
If you add a level editor and more gimmicks, ’tis a very solid racing game.
major props for struggling trough the demo for 3 hours. i did a horrible job teaching mechanics and the game was so much harder for you because you didnt know about them. you can jump/fly higher if you hold the jump button as an example.
thanks for playing trough, and for the detailed feedback!
I did try holding the jump button - that one animal said I should. But it did nothing! [Trying it again now.] I mean, I guess it makes you jump a little bit higher than tapping? I would say, it’s a bit much to have both this mechanic and double-jump in the game. But I don’t feel I was held back by not using this consciously. I’m just not very good at this kind of game maybe? But I did enjoy it.
You could consider making different player characters in this game, with a bit different movesets and physics each. So you can add even more special moves, but complexity stays capped. It would also be fun trying to beat levels with characters other than the intended one.
Windows 7 but not a laptop, GeForce GTX 1060 3GB with an i5-4590 and 8GB Ram. “Old” by some standards I guess but usually runs anything great other than big triple As, DX11 limitations aside.
First impression of this game is that it's very odd. Feels like there should be a marker for the mouse, as it feels wrong move it around without feedback. The game defaults back to windowed mode every time you alt-tab out. The tutorial animals are way too small and easy to miss. The very first tutorial message with the panda is baffling and I have no idea what it's trying to say. The shooting is not intuitive at all. Combining the shooting together with the platforming doesn't mesh, as the mechanics don't complement each other in any way. Breaking the targets instantly whisks you away to the next stage, which is very jarring. Seeing future stages in the background makes it more confusing, as it makes you think there are more targets in the stage. You really should be able to move using the arrow keys as well as WASD. Walljumping is awful. Precision platforming in this game in general is bad. Shooting only being possible by destroying single-use targets is bad, since it means you cannot practice it.
On the upside, presentation is great. I'm just not sure why you felt this gameplay was worth all the effort.
-Looks like good production, though I'm not a huge fan of pixel art + lots of post process. Level curving around player feels like a step too far, in my taste at least.
-Showing the next level in the background is neat, but I find it distracting. The color and size is similar enough to the foreground that it makes the level harder to read, especially the background targets that still stick out visually and spin.
-Interesting mechanic, don't think I've seen fall-through platforms that are only passable when falling fast enough.
-The previous problem I mentioned with the background just became way more annoying, it wasn't until the 4th time trying the time trial that I realized the shadows of the next wave of targets were there. This is because I was ignoring them since I thought it was from the background level. The fact these shadow targets in the foreground are less obvious than the background level's targets is ridiculous.
-IDK, the sliding under a low ceiling feels annoying to execute(specifically getting under it in the first place), though maybe I suck.
-Hitting targets and getting a boost is fun. Though I will say that it feels backwards to me to aim in the opposite direction it goes. Maybe make that an option to swap.
-Good idea letting the player keep playing after failing the time trial, by the way. I like when games let you do that, like Stephen Sausage Roll.
-Having water kill you but its waterfall and the resulting pond not feels needlessly confusing. Make it more obviously a background element, or different color.
-It would be nice if the countdown for the time trial didn't start until you move, so you can respawn and not have to move immediately always.
-Not getting a boost while standing on the ground feels kind of odd, considering the UI displays the aim arrow regardless.
-Portals are good fun, I like how it interacts with the boost mechanic. Level it's introduced in feels a little brutal, instant death everywhere so you can't have much fun with the new thing. Though I suppose it's needed since you could otherwise just wall jump around. My solution would be instead to make another terrain material, like smooth stone, that prevents wall jumps but doesn't kill you.
-I didn't realize until now that holding jump after a boost increases your speed. This doesn't feel very intuitive to me. Maybe you could force the player to learn this earlier on.
-You can walk over the top of the first portal level, which seems unintentional? The second set of targets is trivial you just walk over the top after getting the top right one. I feel like I missed an important lesson.
-I learn now that if you crouch on ground and destroy a target, you get a slide boost.
-Time being depleted while the portal animation plays feels annoying. Hard to say when using it as a boost saves time or not.
-Stopping on the level with the spike mountain top. Game is fairly fun, but the difficulty curve seems steep.
The game looks amazing, and these kind of platformers are really my type of game. I do have a few problems with it though.
The aim and shoot mechanic was not clear. I even restarted to see if I missed another mechanic. Finally I watched your video to find out how it works.
There should be a clear indicator on whether you still have your double jump.
It's also not clear when you are and are not allowed to wall jump.
I feel like it gets too difficult too fast. Which is at the first level with the timer.
I think it would be better if you give the player less time, but replenish time (not necessarily fully, just give some extra seconds) when you break a target. This way the player also knows earlier when they fail. Currently, if the player is slow at the start, it might be impossible to beat the level, but the player doesn't know that. If you replenish the timer the player will know it failed as soon as he actually failed.
At the first level with the teleporters I'm not sure what is intended, but I made an awkward jump to the left to stand on the platform but not hit the spikes. I felt like I was cheating the game.
The second set of targets is a cool mechanic but at the same time I feel like the game is tricking me. I thought I was done, but actually there was more. Along with starting with lower difficulty, this should maybe also be something that should be featured later in the game.
I don't get why you need to be in the air for the boost to work. If you're aiming, you should be boosting.
Like I said, I love these type of games, but they are also very easy to become frustrating rather than fun. Because why didn't my double jump work there, and didn't I do the wall jump correctly? Making sure that everything feels smooth is your number one priority. If you got that down, you got a great game here.
thanks for taking the time to play this, even when the game screwed you over. i definetly need to do better in teaching the mechanics and how the game should be played. that you somehow beat the portal level without knowing that holding jump lets you boost significantly farther is kinda funny, and sad cause the game is definetly designed with that in mind so you missed out on that i expect. Lots of good ideas, i've started implementing some of them. The wall jumping thing is intresting, they way i've imlemented it is opposite of what most people would expect i think, you have to move away from the wall after touching it then jump. i feel this leads to less accidental wall jumps in a game where you're likely to bump into walls when moving around. but enough people of complained about it where i'll have to consider changing it.
thanks again for the detailed feedback, heavily appreciated
Nice game man! I liked the style a lot. Good work!
I wonder if you are still gonna keep working on this or is it just a gamedev exercise, and if so, how are you planning on expanding on this idea? Because the visuals look amazing, but I wonder how the gameplay can hold up for longer sessions (not saying that it's bad, I liked it a lot), I'm just curious. Keep it up man! Nice work!
thanks for playing the demo! i've got plans to introduce more mechanics to add some variation. i'd also like to make the game more open world so you can travel between levels and explore a bit, but we'll see if i manage that (x
Comments
The shaders and the visuals are REALLY nice, but the collision itself breaks - managed to clip into walls, and at a level where you start at the platform below the level I spent a lot of time trying to jump on the next platform, only to fall through. When I managed to not fall through - the jump to the second target feels close to impossible, so I couldn't progress.
Level transitions are cool, but sometimes I got a bit disoriented by the levels in the distance.
A nice game, but the collisions need fixing.
Really like the visuals and 3D/2D pan effect, very nice and pleasant. Sound effects and animations are on point and the controls feel good. Having a timer with the actual time in the top corner might be nice instead of just the bar since its a time trial style game. Having a setting to change the mouse inversion on the break jump would be nice but is more of a small QOL thing. One problem I had was that the levels and targets in the background could muddle up the real targets in the foreground. Would prefer not rendering those targets on the next level at all or bringing their alpha down more.
i liked it, very skillful precision platformer and the visuals are nice, although the tutorial messages were a little vague -- but nothing that couldnt be learned by a little trial and error
i would have preferred it if the mouse controls werent inverted, however. it feels much more natural to me to move the mouse in the direction i want to go
i think you should try pausing the timer until the player moves, after a restart -- it doesnt really matter in the grand scheme of things but it is annoying to have the timer constantly running even if youre just trying to get your bearings
As a connoisseur of europoor games Teeworlds and Trackmania, I can enjoy this. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2192376200
You obviously got the graphics/programming skills to pay the bills. I’ll just list some thoughts I had, idk what your vision is, maybe some is helpful.
- Breaking a target while standing on floor not giving a boost feels quite punishing. I learned eventually that I can easily initialize a jump while still holding LMB.
- In general I felt I gained a lot of time by holding LMB as long as possible. Idk if it was just because my line-ups ended up being better. My instinct in this game was to go ASAP always, even when time is slowed by LMB. But I think it’s wrong.
- Walljumping is slower / clunky / less fun than the other movement methods to me.
- Sliding is cool but also some kind of 'additional' thing you are just tasked to do. I was thinking it could be replaced with an icy surface.
- Not seeing the mouse, and it being inverted (?) is hard to get used to. I would just show it.
- Got a couple nice yeets, also "thx for playing" showed up only very briefly the first time I beat the final level.
In general the levels felt very hard. It was fun to learn them in this demo, but for a full game I believe it would be better to copy Trackmania’s system with medals and also leaderboards. The times required to beat the demo levels felt what would be the "author medal" or at least gold in Trackmania.
If you add a level editor and more gimmicks, ’tis a very solid racing game.
major props for struggling trough the demo for 3 hours. i did a horrible job teaching mechanics and the game was so much harder for you because you didnt know about them. you can jump/fly higher if you hold the jump button as an example.
thanks for playing trough, and for the detailed feedback!
I did try holding the jump button - that one animal said I should. But it did nothing! [Trying it again now.] I mean, I guess it makes you jump a little bit higher than tapping? I would say, it’s a bit much to have both this mechanic and double-jump in the game. But I don’t feel I was held back by not using this consciously. I’m just not very good at this kind of game maybe? But I did enjoy it.
You could consider making different player characters in this game, with a bit different movesets and physics each. So you can add even more special moves, but complexity stays capped. It would also be fun trying to beat levels with characters other than the intended one.
Lags and almost bricks my whole computer when launching, then crashes before a window can appear. Windows 7, might try on 10 later.
do you have a dedicated gpu? old gpu? if you're on a laptop is it using the gpu to run the game?
Windows 7 but not a laptop, GeForce GTX 1060 3GB with an i5-4590 and 8GB Ram. “Old” by some standards I guess but usually runs anything great other than big triple As, DX11 limitations aside.
that gpu should work, might be because of windows 7. i'll have to do some testing
I really want to play, but the game crashes when I release the mouse button on a target or try to enter full screen.
do you have a dedicated gpu? old gpu? if you're on a laptop is it using the gpu to run the game?
I use a laptop with an integrated gpu.
First impression of this game is that it's very odd. Feels like there should be a marker for the mouse, as it feels wrong move it around without feedback. The game defaults back to windowed mode every time you alt-tab out. The tutorial animals are way too small and easy to miss. The very first tutorial message with the panda is baffling and I have no idea what it's trying to say. The shooting is not intuitive at all. Combining the shooting together with the platforming doesn't mesh, as the mechanics don't complement each other in any way. Breaking the targets instantly whisks you away to the next stage, which is very jarring. Seeing future stages in the background makes it more confusing, as it makes you think there are more targets in the stage. You really should be able to move using the arrow keys as well as WASD. Walljumping is awful. Precision platforming in this game in general is bad. Shooting only being possible by destroying single-use targets is bad, since it means you cannot practice it.
On the upside, presentation is great. I'm just not sure why you felt this gameplay was worth all the effort.
-Looks like good production, though I'm not a huge fan of pixel art + lots of post process. Level curving around player feels like a step too far, in my taste at least.
-Showing the next level in the background is neat, but I find it distracting. The color and size is similar enough to the foreground that it makes the level harder to read, especially the background targets that still stick out visually and spin.
-Interesting mechanic, don't think I've seen fall-through platforms that are only passable when falling fast enough.
-The previous problem I mentioned with the background just became way more annoying, it wasn't until the 4th time trying the time trial that I realized the shadows of the next wave of targets were there. This is because I was ignoring them since I thought it was from the background level. The fact these shadow targets in the foreground are less obvious than the background level's targets is ridiculous.
-IDK, the sliding under a low ceiling feels annoying to execute(specifically getting under it in the first place), though maybe I suck.
-Hitting targets and getting a boost is fun. Though I will say that it feels backwards to me to aim in the opposite direction it goes. Maybe make that an option to swap.
-Good idea letting the player keep playing after failing the time trial, by the way. I like when games let you do that, like Stephen Sausage Roll.
-Having water kill you but its waterfall and the resulting pond not feels needlessly confusing. Make it more obviously a background element, or different color.
-It would be nice if the countdown for the time trial didn't start until you move, so you can respawn and not have to move immediately always.
-Not getting a boost while standing on the ground feels kind of odd, considering the UI displays the aim arrow regardless.
-Portals are good fun, I like how it interacts with the boost mechanic. Level it's introduced in feels a little brutal, instant death everywhere so you can't have much fun with the new thing. Though I suppose it's needed since you could otherwise just wall jump around. My solution would be instead to make another terrain material, like smooth stone, that prevents wall jumps but doesn't kill you.
-I didn't realize until now that holding jump after a boost increases your speed. This doesn't feel very intuitive to me. Maybe you could force the player to learn this earlier on.
-You can walk over the top of the first portal level, which seems unintentional? The second set of targets is trivial you just walk over the top after getting the top right one. I feel like I missed an important lesson.
-I learn now that if you crouch on ground and destroy a target, you get a slide boost.
-Time being depleted while the portal animation plays feels annoying. Hard to say when using it as a boost saves time or not.
-Stopping on the level with the spike mountain top. Game is fairly fun, but the difficulty curve seems steep.
Hey, thanks for going trough the demo, and for leaving such detailed feedback!
The game looks amazing, and these kind of platformers are really my type of game. I do have a few problems with it though.
Like I said, I love these type of games, but they are also very easy to become frustrating rather than fun. Because why didn't my double jump work there, and didn't I do the wall jump correctly? Making sure that everything feels smooth is your number one priority. If you got that down, you got a great game here.
thanks for taking the time to play this, even when the game screwed you over. i definetly need to do better in teaching the mechanics and how the game should be played. that you somehow beat the portal level without knowing that holding jump lets you boost significantly farther is kinda funny, and sad cause the game is definetly designed with that in mind so you missed out on that i expect.
Lots of good ideas, i've started implementing some of them. The wall jumping thing is intresting, they way i've imlemented it is opposite of what most people would expect i think, you have to move away from the wall after touching it then jump. i feel this leads to less accidental wall jumps in a game where you're likely to bump into walls when moving around. but enough people of complained about it where i'll have to consider changing it.
thanks again for the detailed feedback, heavily appreciated
Hey bro, i tried to download your game but it's detected as a virus. I liked the videos you posted so please let me know what can I do about it.
fuck, yeah this is probably gonna take me a while to solve. if anyone wants to play it now you'd have to disable windows defender.
updated the download once again, it works without virus/trojan warnings on my end now. let me know if you try it again and can get it working
Nice game man! I liked the style a lot. Good work!
I wonder if you are still gonna keep working on this or is it just a gamedev exercise, and if so, how are you planning on expanding on this idea? Because the visuals look amazing, but I wonder how the gameplay can hold up for longer sessions (not saying that it's bad, I liked it a lot), I'm just curious. Keep it up man! Nice work!
thanks for playing the demo! i've got plans to introduce more mechanics to add some variation. i'd also like to make the game more open world so you can travel between levels and explore a bit, but we'll see if i manage that (x
i updated the download, hopefully removing the false positive trojan warning. if you get a trojan warning please leave a comment.
it gives me a trojan warning unfortunately :(
there's a few thin platforms that you're able to fall through so i was confused the whole time on what i could or couldn't fall through
howd you make the top of the window black wtf
i couldnt tell that the next set of targets in a level were faintly visible because i thought they were just stuff in the next level in the background
i always forget if i have double jump or noterm does water kill me or not
kinda easy to miss the talking animal critters
anticlimactic, the "thx for playing" didnt even have crazy flashing colors or sound or anything
9.5/10, this game threatens me