"Atalanta and the Clockwork of Daedalus", a 2D Precision-Platformer; need feedback on current Proto

Hi all!

A download of the current prototype for "Atalanta and the Clockwork of Daedalus" is available here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6cwcteedaccssdh/2dPrototJan10th.1.7z?dl=0


Controls are simply WASD, shift to run, space to jump; the character also has a wall slide and wall cling/ jump mechanic.

All of the content is original, save for the Super Castlevania placeholder music of course.

The project is at the 35 day mark, and I am in the process of transitioning it from the prototyping stage, into the demo production stage. I would like as much feedback as possible about every aspect of the design and mechanics, so I can solve any remaining core issues before it is harder to do so in production.

One major issue I am seeing is that the tile system places tiles as individual mesh objects, and when the monitor resolution is too low, you can occasionally see a sliver appear at the seams between them. it isn't so much the normal UV seams issue, but rather an issue with the individual objects betraying their seams. Any suggestions for how to tackle that and any other issues you perceive is sought here.

Thanks a lot guys, and I look forward to hearing from you!

 

Hello there

Firstly let me say, the artwork looks awesome. I love the intricacy of it, and how there's so much movement. It seems like a very fast paced and engaging game too (perhaps a little bit hard for me, I could only get up to the swinging axes )

The only downside of the artwork is that the scene was quite busy, and it was hard to see some of the important stuff (particularly the darts).

It was also hard to tell which parts were in the foreground and which were in the background. The grey stuff was the main culprit. Although it's greyed out, it is still the same size and same assets as the foreground, and doesn't have any movement paralax, so it looks like you should be able to interact with it.

I didn't see the seams thing you were talking about, and I'm not familiar with the 2D engine, so I'm not sure what to do about that. I did notice 2 visual bugs though. Firstly, if you play with a lower resolution, the UI section showing your health gets clipped off. Secondly, at higher resolutions, the swirly pattern on the floor tiles flickers when the camera moves. I think that would be fixed by turning on mip-mapping for those textures (at least that's what you'd do in the 3d engine).

Anyway, hope this was helpful

 

This is what I meant by the tile seam issue above. It happens at mid-to-low resolutions. Since each tile is a separate mesh to this script, the seams sometimes reveal. It isn't a mip-mapping issue on this one as far as I can tell.

You weren't the only one that commented about the foreground being hard to read from the midground... maybe it is an issue of just needing to play the full game long enough to get the conventions it uses, or maybe I need to make the foreground pop a bit more with stronger contrasts. And yeah, I noticed that the UI gets a bit jumbled at very low res, but figured no one would play the game at 640x480 (but who knows, there is always that one dude who wants to play it on a 1992 CRT).

Thanks for the feedback Ronald, and goodluck with "Defend the Highlands"!

 

I just had a quick play,

looks promising! For me, the main issue is contrast. I can't see what's in the foreground or background, and that makes spotting and dodging stuff really difficult.

Actually I may not be your target demographic. This game was too hard for me The contrast may alleviate this somewhat. Something else that may help is reducing the size of the main character to a multiple of the block. At the moment she seems to be about 1.5 blocks and this makes jumping to a single block really hard. I try to land her centre on a block centre but I often get injured by adjacent blocks doing this. Or you could keep her the same size and change the hitbox size to a block size.

Keep going, & good luck

R

 

I think the target demographic might be people with the reflexes of a 12 year old... I like the oldschool NES and SNES difficulty, hehe...

I think the big offenders contrast-wise might be the darts / arrows. I should do something to make them stand out more, or change them out for some particle that is more visible. The fireballs stand out nice and well, on account of their size and strong saturation. The arrows just might be below what is reasonable to resolve with some people's eyes.

At one point I had to widen her hitbox a little ( in order to get it to cleanly register with moving platform hitboxes she needs to get parented to)... I will have to find another way to solve that issue later so I can reduce her hitbox again.

Thanks for the comments Lindsay!

 

I would desaturate your background layer a little bit, or even better make it have a cold color scheme (blue sky)

 

Looks great so far, only complaint is that I think the platforms and background need to be more distinct from another. I was walking, and then found out that a column was a wall, not part of the background.

 

I'm on mac so can't play the .exe, which by all accounts is probably a good thing as I'd get my ass handed to me, but it looks great. Reminds me of Prince of Persia. The original one that came on floppies, you young whippersnappers.

Since the music is placeholder I'm bound to ask if you need a soundtrack. I'd rather PM than pimp myself in public, but I can't, so . . . links. I've done all sorts of different things, from chiptune to full orchestral.

https://soundcloud.com/davedextermusic/dont-leave-my-side-highly-wip-orchestral-demo (orchestral, production values now vastly superceded by work I don't have online yet)
https://soundcloud.com/davedextermusic/sets/power-heroes-ost-partial (orchestral/choral, also now pretty out of date)
http://th1swasatriumph.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-brothers-ost (chiptune)
http://th1swasatriumph.bandcamp.com/album/bang-bang-bang-ost (spaghetti western, because who knows)
http://th1swasatriumph.bandcamp.com/album/star-saver-ost (even more chiptune/electronica)

 

No funding yet, as this one is very early, and thus I will probably compose the demo soundtrack in a couple weeks, but if there is a budget for awesome later, I will definitely keep you in mind Dave

And yeah, oldschool Prince of Persia games (mostly the SNES one) are probably a pretty direct part of the formula here. There is probably another part Castlevania, another part Super Meat Boy, maybe some Dark Souls Sadism thrown in for good measure, lol (although people who remember NES as a kid remember how legitimate some of the platforming challenges were).