Well I'm sure all the codes are gone. What I'd like is some honest impressions, so I can consider buying.
With all these codes being sent out, I'm hoping to hear some impressions soon. The game looks fantastic so I would love to hear it the gameplay lives up to my expectations.
I've redeemed probably 50+ promo codes from TA, and never once have I not said thank you and posted at least brief impressions. It isn't that hard, and is the right thing to do.
Sooo... Finally got to load and play this... ah, real life, why must you vex me so? Went to post in the main thread, but alas, there isn't one (and I still don't know how to make one... ) so here we go... The graphics, characters, and environment are great, buuut... This one needs a bit of work. Sorry. I don't enjoy leaving criticism, even constructive criticism. Movement is OK, but the camera does some funky stuff, and jumping is not "tight," if that makes any sense. You cannot move directly behind your starting positions, but must instead "loop around" in circles. Sometimes my jumps ended up doubles, sometimes not, all with the same inputs from me. Some of the tasks involved moving in a straight line, but the controls did not readily allow for such precise actions. Gameplay-wise, I'm honestly not sure what I was supposed to be doing? There is a timer, I'm collecting bananas, gaining money somehow, and I ended up with a key, but couldn't find anything to open with it? (yes, I tried the gates ) In the end, it looked like there were bananas still on-screen, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to collect them. Perhaps the key would have worked had I finished collecting all the bananas? The music NEEDS to change. It got grating to the point where I had to mute the sound. Oddly, there was something about how it was, idk, recorded or something that made it hard on the ears? Honestly, what I experienced is a game that could be something quite fun and rewarding with a bit of polish, but just isn't quite there yet. To the developer, I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to try it out, and apologize for my candor, but I take my reputation for honesty pretty seriously, so I'm just describing my experience. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss my experiences more thoroughly via PM, because I can see this turning out quite well based on the skill evidenced in this build. tl;dr: Not a recommend atm, but definitely one to watch... DBC
Yeah, really awesome review. Helpful to all of us, and the dev. I'll definitely keep an eye on this one.
I appreciate the honest review. And constructive criticism as well. I've got no problem with that and actually would rather see that than someone's sugar-coated praise. I mean, whatever it is, it is, and that's why we're here, right? To find out!
Youd have to purchase the game to be able to leave a review on the app store as you cant review games purchased with a code.
Unfortunately I am going to have to agree with DBC on this one. The controls are pretty terrible and make the game almost unplayable. One of the biggest problems is the jumping physics. The height of your jump is directly proportional to the speed you are moving when you jump (or at least that is what the game tells you is suppose to happen). The problem is that it is really hard to build up enough speed to jump up ledges and platforms, especially when you are already on a small platform. Another problem that I had was that while trying to build up speed for a jump I would run past an NPC and they would talk to me and their dialog box would disable my jump >_< . Also in one case it seems that either I couldn't figure out how to accomplish an objective, or equally likely the objective just didn't trigger. I tried to do the "Save the Great Pumpkin Seed" mission on the boat where I was told to grab a mask and some props, but all I could find was a shield and a viking helmet, and nothing else. All the while my timer keeps ticking down and I fail for running out of time. I am not even really sure why this game even NEEDS a timer in the first place. Finally the humor in the game is pretty juvenile. During the aforementioned mission, one of the NPC characters mention doing the old "Trick or Treat to Pee Pee dance" and another says, and I quote "AWRRGGHHH!!! Those narchos... I NEED to drop a duecer pronto!" Actually, here is a picture: Now I am definitely not someone who is easily offended, and I personally have no problem with "toilet humor", but I only enjoy it when it is actually funny. Where as in this game it just seems unnecessary and gratuitous. My suggestions for improving the game would be to work on the controls first, perhaps make the height of the jump dependent upon how long the button is held rather than running speed. Spend a bit of time creating a proper tutorial to teach the rules, goals and mechanics of the game to the player. Maybe remove the timer. And work on the NPC dialog, at the very least clean up the typos (narchos?). Perhaps English isn't the dev's first language, and I can understand this, but maybe you could run the script by someone who is familiar with English spelling and grammar. I do really appreciate the dev giving away promo codes and I in no way mean to come off like a jerk, and I apologize if my words are harsh, but I really feel that this game needs a lot of work. All that being said, I do hope that this game finds it's legs and shapes up to be something incredible. But as of now it really feels like an open beta rather than a full fledged release title. I will however definitely be keeping an eye on this one.
That's not entirely true. I've been told by a developer that some codes don't allow reviews, some do.
Hey that sounds nice! But I'm not sure the free code will let you review it or not? Apple do what Apple do ya know what I'm sayin Anyways you got one!
Well first, thanks for posting your experience! I'm glad you liked the graphics and characters, that means a lot because I made them based on cartoon versions of my real life friends and I'm really more into Gears of War lookin stuff ha! Constructive criticism is good criticism! When you say you can't move behind your self what do you mean? You can pull straight back on the joystick and Mugen moves straight backward. One thing worth noting is how far the stick is from it's center is how fast or slow you will go. There is a little guy that explains that in the game too. So to move in a straight line you really have to walk slow by holding the joystick close to center but a little up if that makes sense? Well you are supposed to find and open the Dead Mans Chests! The key opens those and there is one each level, sounds like you need to explore more! Also if you find all the bananas in a level something cool happens, another challenge awaits kind of thing. The number of bananas is always a round number like 300, 400, 500 etc. Eventually when leaderboards are turned on it will really change your score based on how fast you can collect them all and what order you do it in. The MUSIC! yes I am working on some updated tunes right now! I suggest turning it off and playing your own music because the sound effects will still be on and it's cool, that's how I play so go turn on Pandora before you play I'm glad to hear you think it can turn out well because I think so too. The beauty of the Apple App Store is I can get gamers feedback and adjust things and pump out a new update all in like a month, it's amazing! Thanks for trying version 1.7 and I hope you hang in there for 1.8 and higher and help me make an even tighter game! -Matt @FMJgames
