What do you think about our indie game? [demo included]

[theoverall]

I'd love to tell you all about this awesome game but THERE'S NO TIME TO EXPLAIN!

Download the demo FAST! [http://tinybuildgames.com/No_Time_To_Explain_tinyBuild_com_demo.exe]

Was originally released in the beginning of the year as a small flash game and is now being made into a full downloadable indie game.

Follow the progress at tinyBuild.com [http://tinyBuild.com]

Do you like it? Do you want to smash the keyboard because of the controls? (they're already better than in the flash prototype, believe it or not)

 

[theoverall]

So within half an hour nobody was able to beat the demo?

 

[Smooth Operator]

Hmm, well I loved the parts I made it too, but the jump+blast seems inconsistent(doesn't always reach the same height), so there is a platform I can't get past at all(100+ deaths).

Is there a trick to this?

 

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

From the Code of Conduct,

Use Our Forums Appropriately
Our forums are a place to talk with like-minded people, not a place to advertise your blog or YouTube channel. Your profile has a place for such things, and that is where it should stay. Similarly, posts including, advocating, or linking to illegal or adult material are a very quick way to end your time as part of The Escapist community.

This kind of thing is best suited for your profile. I could possibly have let it slide had you not hastily said "There's no time to explain," but bumped a half hour later to demand more views. There are places you can do this sort of thing, but this isn't really one of them.

Try starting a discussion on Indie games, or making a user group, and PMing the interested users to hand out the links. This is pretty blatant advertising, and generally is misuse of the forums. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Warmest regards,
Nuke

 

[_Wolfos]

I think this is better off in TIGsource. Also, I tried playing it in Wine but that didn't work. If you could tell me what frameworks it uses I might be able to help you port it.

edit: Ah, nevermind, it uses Flash and in fact does work in Wine.

For a Flash game, it's pretty nice but does a very bad (or actually not at all) job of explaining what the fuck to do.
For what I've seen it's an alright game but if you're wanting people to pay for it, I say no. You're better of posting it on Newgrounds with some advertisements or getting a sponsor on Flashgamelicense.com.

The concept is very nice but not explaining what to do sucks. I don't say you should include an instructional DVD like Nintendo does (retards) but it's a bad design choice.

 

[theoverall]

I think this is better off in TIGsource. Also, I tried playing it in Wine but that didn't work. If you could tell me what frameworks it uses I might be able to help you port it.

edit: Ah, nevermind, it uses Flash and in fact does work in Wine.

For a Flash game, it's pretty nice but does a very bad (or actually not at all) job of explaining what the fuck to do.
For what I've seen it's an alright game but if you're wanting people to pay for it, I say no. You're better of posting it on Newgrounds with some advertisements or getting a sponsor on Flashgamelicense.com.

The concept is very nice but not explaining what to do sucks. I don't say you should include an instructional DVD like Nintendo does (retards) but it's a bad design choice.

The game's too big to be published as a free to play flash game. It will be big, really big.

Interesting feedback regarding the tutorial. This was never part of any feedback on the flash prototype.

Didn't you immedietly understand how to use the gun as a jetpack?

 

[Phlakes]

Do you want to smash the keyboard because of the controls?

This, but only because of how unreliable they were. Trying to run and jump up off a ledge when there's a ceiling above you basically comes down to luck. If you look at something like Super Meat Boy, which it seems like you have, everything is responsive and you (almost) always have complete control, with no flying off ledges or anything because of weird friction.

snip

This is why there should be a section for things like this in the forums. I'm glad I played this, and will probably follow it a bit, but if he hadn't posted it I honestly never would've checked his profile for any reason and would never see it. There's probably at least a couple dozen or so users here who have something amazing that they've created and want to share, but only put in on their profile which nobody ever sees.

 

[theoverall]

Do you want to smash the keyboard because of the controls?

This, but only because of how unreliable they were. Trying to run and jump up off a ledge when there's a ceiling above you basically comes down to luck. If you look at something like Super Meat Boy, which it seems like you have, everything is responsive and you (almost) always have complete control, with no flying off ledges or anything because of weird friction.

Ah, yes. Some players do get it, most don't.

Thing is you _do_ have complete control over what you do and the power of the ray. The trick is that if you fire before jumping up, you'll fly higher -- and the beam weakens the further you fly.

 

[Phlakes]

Do you want to smash the keyboard because of the controls?

This, but only because of how unreliable they were. Trying to run and jump up off a ledge when there's a ceiling above you basically comes down to luck. If you look at something like Super Meat Boy, which it seems like you have, everything is responsive and you (almost) always have complete control, with no flying off ledges or anything because of weird friction.

Ah, yes. Some players do get it, most don't.

Thing is you _do_ have complete control over what you do and the power of the ray. The trick is that if you fire before jumping up, you'll fly higher -- and the beam weakens the further you fly.

I'm not talking about the ray, I did get that part, it's just sometimes hard to do precise platforming with the character.

 

[Smooth Operator]

You should always explain all the possible actions so people aren't confused, it may come as second nature to you guys because you know it so well, but we are still trying to figure it out.
Maybe just make the guy scream the controls/tricks as he gets dragged away, and what hes saying should come up in a bubble so you can't miss it.
Something like: "WASD you idiot! WASD!" as he is being pulled out of the room, and so on for shooting and jumping, and whatever else there might be.

Also there is a very little room for error yet the controls are floaty, both of this together is very frustrating, you really need to polish controls/movement to be pin point accurate if you want a good platformer.

 

[psivamp]

You should always explain all the possible actions so people aren't confused, it may come as second nature to you guys because you know it so well, but we are still trying to figure it out.
Maybe just make the guy scream the controls/tricks as he gets dragged away, and what hes saying should come up in a bubble so you can't miss it.
Something like: "WASD you idiot! WASD!" as he is being pulled out of the room, and so on for shooting and jumping, and whatever else there might be.

Also there is a very little room for error yet the controls are floaty, both of this together is very frustrating, you really need to polish controls/movement to be pin point accurate if you want a good platformer.

This.

I played for less than a minute I think. You quickly get to very difficult jumps which is ... bad. You should really start off more gently and let new players get used to the raygun/jetpack mechanic.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Tell me, have you played Spewer and Time Fcuk? Because the core mechanic in the former is very similar to this, and the plot of the latter is also roughly the same.

Anyway, you may want to work on the level design. I know it's a demo, but the learning curve is pretty brutal at the moment.
Also, fix the jumping mechanic. The mouse sensitivity is far too high.
Otherwise, this looks pretty good. Let us know when it's completed.

 

[theoverall]

You should always explain all the possible actions so people aren't confused, it may come as second nature to you guys because you know it so well, but we are still trying to figure it out.
Maybe just make the guy scream the controls/tricks as he gets dragged away, and what hes saying should come up in a bubble so you can't miss it.
Something like: "WASD you idiot! WASD!" as he is being pulled out of the room, and so on for shooting and jumping, and whatever else there might be.

Also there is a very little room for error yet the controls are floaty, both of this together is very frustrating, you really need to polish controls/movement to be pin point accurate if you want a good platformer.

Noted.

But tell me, how much of a tutorial does Minecraft have?

 

[Smooth Operator]

...

Noted.

But tell me, how much of a tutorial does Minecraft have?

It has none(and that is it's biggest fault), but it does have a huge fanbase that made several thousand youtube videos, not to mention an extensive minecraft wiki.
But instead of waiting for the fans to do all that, ease our pain and add it yourself we will all greatly appreciate it.

Well I went back to analyze the odd platforming, and there is a couple of inconsistencies:
- the ray wears off when jumping and shooting, but not when running and shooting - extremely disorientating (and a power bar wouldn't hurt as you can't always tell at what stage it is)
- when jumping you have full air control, but shooting+jumping you lose all air control - again extremely disorientating
- the "camera shake" when you fire the ray is actually a world shake, making the game believe you moved the mouse, so as you shoot the mouse is jumping up and down non-stop and changing direction, and the closer you have the pointer to your guy the worse that shake affects it - you simply cannot have a random shake effect on something so crucial to gameplay

 

[theoverall]

...

Noted.

But tell me, how much of a tutorial does Minecraft have?

It has none(and that is it's biggest fault), but it does have a huge fanbase that made several thousand youtube videos, not to mention an extensive minecraft wiki.
But instead of waiting for the fans to do all that, ease our pain and add it yourself we will all greatly appreciate it.

Well I went back to analyze the odd platforming, and there is a couple of inconsistencies:
- the ray wears off when jumping and shooting, but not when running and shooting - extremely disorientating (and a power bar wouldn't hurt as you can't always tell at what stage it is)
- when jumping you have full air control, but shooting+jumping you lose all air control - again extremely disorientating
- the "camera shake" when you fire the ray is actually a world shake, making the game believe you moved the mouse, so as you shoot the mouse is jumping up and down non-stop and changing direction, and the closer you have the pointer to your guy the worse that shake affects it - you simply cannot have a random shake effect on something so crucial to gameplay

Great feedback on the camera shake.

@disorienting jumps - that's interesting, because when we had that (controllable jumps via both mouse trajectory and keys) it felt more disorienting.

 

[Smooth Operator]

...

Great feedback on the camera shake.

@disorienting jumps - that's interesting, because when we had that (controllable jumps via both mouse trajectory and keys) it felt more disorienting.

Hmm, well I played it somany times now I'm almost used to the whole thing, but it seems you need to go more the arcade way.
Right now it's more of an infinite trajectory(any speed and direction), so every jump can end up a million ways, while that sounds neat it's no good for platforming because you need to know the jump you make will always sit be on the money.
So the thing to do is put some limits on it, max/min speeds, min/max jump heights/distances, try classing ray push direction into 8 sides(up,down,left,right, and all in the middle, this should combine with key directions far better), don't haveto go 100% arcady but the pain points need to iron out.

I hope this helps a little, because you got a great game concept, but for platformers the control mechanics are of the utmost importance (if those fail the game is killed right there).

BTW, why does it say (Valve Demo) in the title bar, you aren't working on a Valve release schedule are you?

 

[freefang]

My virus scanner (Norton 360) seems to treat it like a potential threat. I don't know if it is something with the file itself or a misconception from norton, but you might want to look into that.

I'm sorry I can't give any feedback on the game, but I have learned from experience that if my virus scan says thinks something fishy might be going on I should trust that more than anything from the web.

 

[theoverall]

...

Great feedback on the camera shake.

@disorienting jumps - that's interesting, because when we had that (controllable jumps via both mouse trajectory and keys) it felt more disorienting.

Hmm, well I played it somany times now I'm almost used to the whole thing, but it seems you need to go more the arcade way.
Right now it's more of an infinite trajectory(any speed and direction), so every jump can end up a million ways, while that sounds neat it's no good for platforming because you need to know the jump you make will always sit be on the money.
So the thing to do is put some limits on it, max/min speeds, min/max jump heights/distances, try classing ray push direction into 8 sides(up,down,left,right, and all in the middle, this should combine with key directions far better), don't haveto go 100% arcady but the pain points need to iron out.

I hope this helps a little, because you got a great game concept, but for platformers the control mechanics are of the utmost importance (if those fail the game is killed right there).

BTW, why does it say (Valve Demo) in the title bar, you aren't working on a Valve release schedule are you?

That is great feedback on the controls, thanks.

@Valve - we're looking into publishing on Steam.

 

[theoverall]

My virus scanner (Norton 360) seems to treat it like a potential threat. I don't know if it is something with the file itself or a misconception from norton, but you might want to look into that.

I'm sorry I can't give any feedback on the game, but I have learned from experience that if my virus scan says thinks something fishy might be going on I should trust that more than anything from the web.

It just wants to scare you into constantly renewing your license. It's a fraid of all downloaded .exe's

Play the web version from http://tinyBuild.com