The next build is now ready: - It now has a Game Center leaderboard - When pushed by a wall, the main character now slowly returns in place. This is kinda cool because now we can use walls as a tool, and it resolves the issue where we could barely see the MC. - I tried to resolve the issue where the MC goes out of the screen but it only worked partially. Trying zooming out and moving the camera upward caused more damage than benefits, so I made some adjustments to limit action happening high on the screen. - I also realized that it was not mentioned anywhere that the dailies had a finite length. So I added a progress % status. Later on, completing dailies will reward the player with coins. If dailies are too long, we'll adjust the length so your comments on that will be welcomed!
- Yeah, leaderboards! - Not exactly sure what you mean but this. Maybe I just wasn't noticing it yet - Still think zooming out as you clear the screen and then zooming back in when you come back would work best. Right now, I've still died several times because I couldn't figure out where I was going to land. - Nice addition, but I think it's in a bad spot. When playing, I'm focused on the right side of the screen, to study what's coming and how to react. The progress meter is off to the left; just seems like an odd location. Personally I'd prefer a more minimalist indication of progress, like a simple circle filling up as you get closer to the end or something like that. I think something simpler would fit better with the minimal theme and be easier to glance at in a moment and understand how much more you have to go. I think the dailies I've played so far have been a good length. Not too long, not short either, and just long enough that if you die, it doesn't seem like a chore to restart
Thought..if box jumps on platform it changes color..these colors could trigger the powerups..change a platform to green x comes along..etc..but when changing to red as player cycles thru colors for desired trigger if it hits red it collapses..even more chaos..the multiple jumps achieved per platform would have to be randomized with platform colors but might be neat.
Sometimes there's a red square close to a small gap, and the wall can now be used to fit into the gap more easily. Or sometimes there's a coin by a wall, which you can now pick-up, get pushed a bit by the wall but recover afterward. I know that this is not ideal and I also thought that zooming out or moving the camera up with the MC would work. But it with the move or zoom, the distances perception change and this adds to the difficulty of judging jumps. It also made me a bit dizzy and it slightly breaks the ambiance of the game. I could try again and prepare a build though, see what people think.
Another option which I've seen in other games is to have an indicator when you go off-screen, so you still track your location. So for example, you do a jump, clear the screen, a little arrow appears indicating your location so you can tell where you'll end up. It's kind of hard to describe. I'll try and find games that have done this. I think Indestructotank had an indicator when you went too high. Point is, it could be another option that doesn't involve zooming the screen out. The issue isn't needing to see the cube, it's not knowing where you'll land since you can't follow the arc of your jump once you go off screen.
I like this idea. Fits in with the existing gameplay and style and won't be obtrusive with power-up icons, etc.
I totally agree on the issue. You get used to it eventually but it's best if a player does not have to go through that sort of unfair learning process. The arrow is another good idea, i'll have to try it.
So just to clarify this idea, landing on a platform would make a selection depending on color, which would, let's say, be displayed in the HUD. Then, the power-up would be triggered when an 'igniter' of some sort would be picked-up?
Now that I think about it, this might be hard to implement because you always cause the platforms to change color when you land. Jumping multiple times on a simple platform results in different colors so I don't see how a selection would be made. I love the idea since it seems minimalist and I'd rather have something in this vein rather than a double jump icon to collect. Although another idea could be to add more cube types with different colors. And similar to how you collect the gold cubes, these cubes grant a power-up. So a green cube would do one thing, a white cube would activate something, an orange cube, etc. That way, you can keep the focus on platforming and maneuvering through the level and it would be up to the player to take a different route to reach whatever colored cube is ahead and activate the power-up
Well I had not explicitly stated that part, but this was exactly the idea . And they could add-up. Picking one up would place the cube in the HUD (smaller version displayed at the top of the screen), next to other cubes you had. They'd blink before wearing off.
Either using changing colors in platforms or collecting with boxes would be cool..saving and collecting colored boxes would need a HUD or the like to activate them..this also would add to difficulty if there was a timer for saved or burn out quality of collected cubes or pups..as stated liking that..
Not what I was thinking, wouldn't like this either. I was envisioning just a small little arrow (could be the same color and style of the main cube) that basically indicates where you are while off screen. --- And to debate what others have said, I'm totally against upgrades. I feel upgrades just aren't needed. From the start, you already have all the skills needed to overcome any challenge. The focus should be on the player improving their own skills and reactions, rather than the player unlocking new upgrades to move faster or jump higher. Plus that would kind of throw off the whole progression IMO. Right now, once you play for a bit, you get a hang of the jumping. You always know how fast you move, how far you jump. That remains constant so the only factors that come into play are your own skills and timing. If you could increases speed and jumping height through upgrades, this would cause the player to have to essentially relearn that every time. Look at Bitless, Impossible Game, Geometry Dash, even N and Super Meat Boy, part of the challenge is learning the limits of your movement so you know exactly when to jump to land exactly in a certain gap or clear a hazard. If those limits are always changing because they're being upgraded, I just feel like it would mess up that learning curve and sense of mastery. Also I kind of like to see the minimalist style preserved. Because then if you add upgrades, you need to add a shop, and we'd need to worry about credits/points to upgrades a skill, etc. It might detract from the whole minimalist, zen, just start and go flow of the game Okay, I'm done
I really like activable power-up (have them in reserve, use them when you want), like in mario kart. The trouble here is that you need 2 buttons to introduce them. One for selection, one for use and this would affect the spirit of the game. Worth keeping this in mind though. Complexity is a double edged-sword. One of the experiences I tried during the development was to make the game a bit more link a 'musical game' where you'd get bonuses to step on platforms in the same way for each repeated sequence (in order to produce the same sounds sequence every time). I had added symbols in the HUD to help remembering where were the platforms. It turned out that it was really distracting and pulled me away from the zen side. Fun discussion going, its nice to have an active thread .
Well my suggestion for power-ups was basically to have a power-up roulette, with power ups (or I guess mutators would be a better term, because some would have bad effects) being randomly chosen at certain intervals. So maybe every 25 points, a new power-up/mutator would activate, good or bad, and then it's all about the player just adapting and reacting to whatever happens While I also like the traditional collect power ups to use them model, I think the roulette concept would fit more with the idea that the challenge here is the level, always the level, reacting to the level, adapting to the level. So then these changes just become another factor to react to
I like skills upgrades. Don't Run With a Plasma Sword was constructed around that, how you can evolve your character and gameplay through time. However here the focus is on a core mechanic and the beauty of a 'difficult simplicity'. Evolving gameplay would not only be more difficult to design in this case, but also hurt the purity of the concept and competitive side. If difficulty turns out to be a big issue, I'd try other solutions first. That said, we should make a distinction between skills upgrades and power-up upgrades. Having a shop for power-ups looks like the best of both worlds and seem to connect with the majority of expectations we collected so far (still have not heard everyone though).
Well I can't say i dislike the idea because the original concept was exactly along these lines. What I wanted to do was to change the game rules every x sec (instead of just platform sequences). The change would have included shifting color of objects, gravity, buttons, controls, direction of moving, etc. The game could have went in a blink from a platformer to a shooter where you float in the air. However after implementing the platforming part of the game, it was already fun and going away from it would have made the game more special but more frustrating and less elegant. So yeah, I totally dig the idea of shifting gameplay although here if we want to connect the dots and stay universal we probably need a power-ups shop to give a sense of progression while keeping the balance to make sure that the game remains a player skills game and not an upgrades game. We'll see where this lead to through comments and tests!
Deffo sounds like many modes of play are desired., minimalist, powerup packed..etc..all seem to keep coming back to more play style start button choices/modes/difficulties..
Yeah it might comes to that, but game modes in that sense break the unity of the spirit of a game. Since this game is mostly about trying to find a perfect spot in the universe, we ought to see if there's a possible satisfactory solution for everyone first.
I'm finally getting the hang of it and I really like it. I find myself enjoying the Dailies more than endless as I can learn the patterns and try, try again! Similar to Duet Game and Octagon. I definitely think adding power ups would be beneficial but adding a Pure mode would be cool if power ups were added
