Center Game [Tedium] - WIP

[xAudienceofone]

Well it was there and I knew you didn't have much done yet, so I figured that I could spare the 5 minutes.

 

[Tedium]

The tutorial works well, but I would suggest that it should be longer. I hardly get to try shooting and passing before level 1 comes up. You should also allow more opportunity to let the player discover that turrets can kill each other, but I felt really accomplished discovering that for myself, so the most you should tell me is a vague reference.

Yeah, about the tutorial length, I really felt that turrets killing each other is a feature meant purely to be discovered by the player. So in playing through the rest of the game, I reckon they'll have plenty of opportunities to explore possibilities such as that. Even though the Tutorial is short, I didn't want to linger on it, as most levels are going to be just over twice as long as the tutorial. I'll see if I can get up an undecorated version of Level 1 by tonight GMT and let you check it out in the context of a bigger game

Fun Fact #2: Making levels takes really fucking long

 

[xAudienceofone]

Fun Fact #2: Making levels takes really fucking long

haha, no rush, man.

 

[Tedium]

Quick summary of Thursday: Went around in circles fixing bugs caused by features that don't work. Also, finished (kinda) level 1.

Back to Square 1 for the parallax effect, and some physics based improvements.

 

[RogerDodger]

Newgounds username: Z3R0FLAME

 

[Tedium]

Newer version uploaded - once again, any bugs are likely known (ie screen sizes, etc) but I just haven't gotten around to fixing them

 

[Dax]

So, I played this thang. It was pretty neat! I found a few issues though. Keep in mind, a lot of these could be considered as personal preferences/tendencies, so if you don't agree, feel free to disregard

Technical:

• I think this was already discussed, but it's pretty much escapable everywhere. At all the 90 degree angles there's a little escape point that you can slip through. But also, if you just push yourself against any of the walls for a long enough time, you'll be able to escape through osmosis[?]
• Sometimes there's white box surrounding the ball whenever you die
• If you die but fall into the azure on your way down, you're still able to regain your stuff. (Not really a bad thing at all - just something I noticed that was kinda neat)
• This might be because I'm using the mouse pad on my laptop, but I can't rotate my cannon shooty thing and move at the same time. Might be worth looking into?
• Again this might be just me, but some parts of the game are a bit laggy, usually whenever those tutorial signs light up.
• There's a slight delay from when I click my mouse to when a ball is shot. Why is this?
• Another interesting little aside that could be good/bad - you can still receive damage from enemy cannons whilst chillin' in the azure.

Gameplay/Artistic:

• The balls shot by the enemy cannons were hard to recognize at times. I might try to make 'em more noticeable.
• Is the backlash that occurs when you shoot necessary? I only found it as a slight annoyance/distraction when I was trying to move and shoot at the same time. It kinda disrupts the natural flow which I don't think is a good thing.
• The artistic style felt a little washed out to me. It might have to do with the blurriness, or maybe the grayscale focusing on the center of the screen, but maybe try to liven it up a little bit somehow?
• In the tutorial, the signs were a bit distracting/hard to read (partially due to the brightness/color of the text/background). And since they didn't light up until almost as I passed them, I had to take a second to stop and read 'em, even though I wanted to keep on moving throughout the level. Especially so whenever I first came across the cannons. Having to stop to read the sign as well as dodge the cannons was a bit tricky and unexpected on my first run-through.
• The phase shift bars: It seems like those don't really have a purpose besides providing a random obstacle. It needs to feel less like a random obstacle and more like a part of this whole environment you're trying to create. There needs to be a reason for them being there for both thematic purposes as well as gameplay purposes. (for instance, going through a phase shift wall could reward you with something, it could be a shortcut, etc)
• The blue bars that cut across the screen are distracting. I feel like they should be something important or do something, considering the blue aspect of the azure pools as well as the gray phase bars that cut across the screen. A combination of the two should do something, right?? I would try to find another way to implement some artistic elements.
• For the beginning half of level 1, I felt a bit lost on what to do/where to go. I like the fact that you have it "open world-esque," but I personally find that games that mix the exploration factor with a "timer" usually don't work. It needs to focus on one or the other. At the moment, there's no direction in that portion of the level, so you're essentially left to wander around aimlessly. Which again isn't a bad thing, but if you want to focus on that, I would think about slowing down the timer on the azure depletion. Alternatively, you could give the players more direction of where to go/what to do (which I would like to see). This could still be done without making the flow of the levels *too* limited.

 

[Tedium]

Thanks for that Dax! Like you said, most of those thankfully known issues. Except this one:

Sometimes there's white box surrounding the ball whenever you die

Which is reaaally weird. That seems like a graphical issue that I can no way directly change. However, I've only noticed that in the newest version, so maybe I could try removing stuff and see how it changes. Also, that glitch is only there in the Newgrounds upload. Weird...

If you die but fall into the azure on your way down, you're still able to regain your stuff. (Not really a bad thing at all - just something I noticed that was kinda neat)

Yup, that was a feature I wanted there to still be a chance when players run out of health, to still survive. Especially if they're sooo close.

There's a slight delay from when I click my mouse to when a ball is shot. Why is this?

The ball is shot once the program recognizes that the mouse is "clicked". "Clicked" happens when the mouse button is released, rather than pressed down. But if you're experiencing more of a delay than that, I can't really say way. I guess I'll chalk that up as "lag".

Another interesting little aside that could be good/bad - you can still receive damage from enemy cannons whilst chillin' in the azure.

Yup, not sure about that one. Now that you mention it though, I could simply make it so that bullets can't pass through Azure. Except if I do that for the cannons, I'll have to do the same for the player, for authenticity's sake (in terms of game 'realism', the player's gun uses the same technology as the cannons'). I suppose all in all a player just can't die in the Azure, no matter how much they're getting shot. And I'd never put more than two turrets within range of the Azure.I reckon I'll leave it in, as to not further dull the already fairly non-dangerous enemies.


Gameplay/Artistic:

The balls shot by the enemy cannons were hard to recognize at times. I might try to make 'em more noticeable.

Bullet outline alpha increased from 0.5 to 0.8.

Is the backlash that occurs when you shoot necessary? I only found it as a slight annoyance/distraction when I was trying to move and shoot at the same time. It kinda disrupts the natural flow which I don't think is a good thing.

I'm always a fan of backlash. Especially so when you're able to ultimately use it to your advantage - I actually recently increased the backlash because I felt it could be used very nicely for moving about the turrets. Pro tip: You can use the backlash to accelerate quickly from being stationary. Regardless, I've removed it in the newest version so I can get your thoughts on the change. Go on and check it out and see how it feels. I personally find it lacks the oomf it needs, when the backlash is taken away. Lemme know what you think though!

The artistic style felt a little washed out to me. It might have to do with the blurriness, or maybe the grayscale focusing on the center of the screen, but maybe try to liven it up a little bit somehow?

Hm... well I ultimately wanted to give the whole place a feeling of greyness, but I suppose I should probably consider changing it, as this isn't the first time I've heard that advice. I'll keep this in mind going forward. For the moment though, I'll try to get a teensy bit of color into the background, see how it looks.

In the tutorial, the signs were a bit distracting/hard to read (partially due to the brightness/color of the text/background). And since they didn't light up until almost as I passed them, I had to take a second to stop and read 'em, even though I wanted to keep on moving throughout the level. Especially so whenever I first came across the cannons. Having to stop to read the sign as well as dodge the cannons was a bit tricky and unexpected on my first run-through.

Yeah, I'm not sure how to approach this problem. I'm a fan of the current player speed, but I can't deny the stop-start motion that inevitably happens when the player's forced to stop at every sign. However, if I slow the player down, they should still be able to read the signs. Check out the newest version - I've changed the player speed from 1.25 to 0.6. Let me know if you feel this slows down the game too much.

The phase shift bars: It seems like those don't really have a purpose besides providing a random obstacle. It needs to feel less like a random obstacle and more like a part of this whole environment you're trying to create. There needs to be a reason for them being there for both thematic purposes as well as gameplay purposes. (for instance, going through a phase shift wall could reward you with something, it could be a shortcut, etc)

Added Hazard lines along the ends of the phase bars. I originally wanted to have these fit into the environment as "security" measures, through which only authorized personnel could pass, but I forgot to actually communicate that Thanks for letting me know. On top of that, I plan for the canon of these bars to be explained in the "intro" of all this. For example, the game won't just abruptly start where it is now. It'll begin with the construction of that module, and facts such as the security walls, will be mentioned.

The blue bars that cut across the screen are distracting. I feel like they should be something important or do something, considering the blue aspect of the azure pools as well as the gray phase bars that cut across the screen. A combination of the two should do something, right?? I would try to find another way to implement some artistic elements.

Are they that distracting? They're meant to be the pipes holding the luminescent Azure, and transporting it around the facility. Is that not being portrayed well enough, or is it simply distracting in essence?

For the beginning half of level 1, I felt a bit lost on what to do/where to go. I like the fact that you have it "open world-esque," but I personally find that games that mix the exploration factor with a "timer" usually don't work. It needs to focus on one or the other. At the moment, there's no direction in that portion of the level, so you're essentially left to wander around aimlessly. Which again isn't a bad thing, but if you want to focus on that, I would think about slowing down the timer on the azure depletion. Alternatively, you could give the players more direction of where to go/what to do (which I would like to see). This could still be done without making the flow of the levels *too* limited.

Honestly, I didn't see that one coming. I had no intention of giving it an open feel at all! I actually wanted to slightly move away from the corridor-room-corridor pattern I saw myself following when designing the rest of the levels. I'll stick a pin in this one though, since I want to believe that upon adding the scenery, players won't feel so lost and without guidance. But I must ask, which area specifically are you referring to with this? I'll know what area you're talking about if you let me know what's shown on the nearest AI message screen.

Thanks again for all that feedback Dax, it's been very useful

Okay, the new game is up Dax. There are some new issues, but I'm too tired to find out how to fixed them right now

• Some of the phase walls look funny
• The Lights are too bright