Adventure Beaks - platform runner (by GameResort)

I played further and it is impressive. Also some friends saw the game and they love it too. Could be one of the best auto-runner around.

 

Gotten to the Jungle levels now, and boy has the difficulty ramped up!

The last few Arctic levels - The Ice Castle & Deep Blue - in particular are pretty darn tough. Stuck on Piranha Pain Prelude at the moment, but I WILL get past the enclosed spiky ground/ceiling and piranha fish section. Swimming is not my forte

 

Wow, you've gotten far rather quickly! I was worried that Deep Blue was too hard, it was the first level that was a serious challenge for us to beat (and it's impressive that you've beat it with 5 lives!)

So it's not TOO hard? I was worried that people would be throwing phones in frustration!

 

Yay, finally got around to playing it and reached past the first gate now =D

The game kinda reminds me of Project 83113 since both is an auto-running platformer with collectibles and multiple path, though I must admit, Project 83113 is still more fun at the moment.


Anyway, let's start with a more thorough feedback.
I think the game has really nailed the platformer part. While the basic mechanic is really simple (jump, double jump, and dive/slide), the level design provided tons of interesting mechanics with switches, platforms and spikes. So far the game has keep surprising me with new mechanics like swimming or even water-jumping thingy =D I don't think you even need the enemies to be honest, I always feel like they're a bit distracting and doesn't add much to the game.

Speaking of swimming, I think you really need to make a simpler underwater area when swimming mechanic is introduced. When I first stumbled upon the swimming part, I got confused about the mechanic and died several times.

BTW, I'm in a kinda love-hate relationship with multiple path system. On one hand I'm a completionist who likes collecting everything, on the other hand I don't like remembering all the paths I've been through XD But I know that adds a lot of replayability to the game and a lot of people would like it. Besides, it's not that hard to progress in the game without collecting everything, so it's fine I guess.

My biggest "whut?!" moment with the game is when I died when I crashed into a wall mid-air. Since it's a platformer and not really a runner, my instinct tells me that the character should just slide down instead of dying when it hit a wall in the middle of a jump. I don't really know if that part is crucial to the game design or not, so I can't really say whether you should change it or not.

Anyway, some nitpickings!
> The grey transition between scenes feels unpolished =/ Maybe you should switch to black?
> The game really needs more SFX, especially in the result scene. Like, there should be an SFX when you open the chest, when you assemble the artifact, when you got new highscore, when you press a button, etc etc.
> Oh, and make the result counting animation skippable please.
> The BONUS bonus feels underwhelming. I mean, it's hard to get, yet sometime all I get is a lousy 5 coins bonus XD
> And I'll be honest with you, I'm not really a fan of the visual of the interface. I liked the game visual a lot, but definitely not the interface visual.
> There doesn't seem to be any way to view the objective once you're in the level =/

Oh wow, that's kinda long. Sorry, I think I got my "reviewer mode" switched on >.<

Anyway, I really liked the game and I think you have nailed the hardest part of a platformer, which is game and level design, so keep up with the polishing!

 

Got a code to try this out and it's fantastic. Very polished auto running platformer. Lots of replayability with branching paths. There's also some challenge here as parts of artifacts aren't always easy to get and nearly impossible on some levels I get on one run (or so it seems).

Question though: I'm assuming the gold is for buying costumes and/or new penguins but I haven't seen a store yet. Is it between worlds? Still am on the arctic levels.

 

Thanks for the detailed feedback, it's very helpful!

Good observation, I'll reduce the complexity of that first section, there's probably too much going on there. We also were planning on adding a quick tutorial to mention that you can jump indefinitely while swimming.

We have discussed ways to help the player remember which paths they've been down, hopefully some of those will help.

The player needs to always be moving at a constant speed to keep things in sync, so I think the best thing would be for me to 'smooth' over some sections with diagonal blocks so that the penguin doesn't face plant as much.

We agree with a lot of these and some are already work-in-progress!

Thanks! And thanks again for the detailed constructive feedback! Anything else you think of or discover as you continue to play would be appreciated!

 

Penguin Clothing

Hey TA, I'm the programmer for Adventure Beaks, really glad to see everyone giving feedback on the game.

We removed the store in the beta because the menu for it is still a work in progress (menu stuff is tricky haha). In the final release you'll be able to spend coins to get more penguins and to buy outfits for them.

You will also be able to get outfits in chests and on the bonus wheel at the end of the level.

Our artists have been working really hard and we currently have about 140 pieces of clothing complete for the game (with a few more to come hopefully).

 

I found Deep Blue's trickiest parts were swimming through the narrow spiky section at the start of the level. It's really easy to hit the spikes. I can do this part pretty consistently, but I can see people dying loads on this part. This trap appears towards the end of the level, though that can be avoided by using a key just above it.

 

Went back to earlier level Shifting Ice's challenge 'Collect at least 200 coins'. Tricky one, but managed to get exactly 200 coins Penguin sacrifice required.

Question: How do you unlock the red locks inside certain levels? I've not come across any special (red?) keys to unlock these.

Thanks.

 

I'm loving the game so far, but have to admit I sometimes feel a little overwhelmed with all the paths that go by.
I can never be bothered to repeat a stage twice in a row, so I fear all these paths are going to get lost unless I re play ever level again.
It'd be nice if we could have some sort of an indication which levels have secrets to be unlocked.
Other than that, it's a very fun game, very polished and intuitive.
Ill keep playing and see how it progresses in difficulty, and what new gameplay elements are added, if any, (I hope there are!)

 

LOL it's cool that you beat that mission, in the build you have there's a bug where the coin requirement is set too high, so you really had to get clever to beat it

The locks turn red when you don't have any keys (we thought this was helpful feedback, is it confusing?)

There are exactly the same number of keys in each world as there are locks. The idea was that you'd have to decide if you wanted to spend a key on getting a shortcut or a treasure chest, and that it'd be a tough decision because you may not have a lot of keys at any given time.

 

The game is definitely designed so that you replay levels many times and explore all their paths (and find secrets.) Is there anything that you think could help with the confusion of having so many paths?

Thanks for the feedback Very happy that you enjoy the game! We'd love to hear your thoughts as you continue to play (especially as the game starts to get more difficult )

 

That character art looks solid…SOOO FAT. Looking forward to it.

 

Thanks for the clarification! I should've noticed that.

 

The dress-up items are funny, cute, and ironic... It'll be awesome when you guys start making costumes. I can't get enough of stuff like this:

 

I'm still in the tutorial levels, but gameplay is outstanding. This game is really fun, and the production values are high.
I have not discovered any issues yet (other than just me) , but then I'm not very far in.

 

Thanks

Glad you like it so far! Hopefully no issues as you get further along haha.

 

Hey guys,
Wanted to post a pic of our icon, which is intended to show the penguin-ness and adventure-ness of the game.



Also, as we've been playing through the game we've found it takes us about 14 hours just to play through all the levels, and that's not finding the entire Artifact, or doing any of the missions. Plus we know where all the traps and prizes are in the levels and finish as fast as possible, so we estimate that a new player could take up to 100 hours (!!!) to get through all the content. And of course your penguins will be adorably dressed!

Really looking forward to the launch, which is March 20th! Hope you guys like it as much as we do!