[Feedback Friday #62] - January 12, 2017

Can you believe it's 2018? Tick, tock, the clock never stops and the new games must keep on rolling! Feedback Friday is closed until February 9th.

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Want design feedback for your new game? Then you've found the right thread! Post here to get precious player feedback. Discuss until we lock the thread to start the two week break.

How To Ask For Feedback

• Show - Pics, videos, or best of all, a playable game!
• Be Concise - Who's got time for Wall 'O Text? Less is more

How To Give Feedback

• Be Positive - Finding redeeming qualities in the worst of games, is in itself a game
• Focus On The Design - Not the designer
• Be Specific - "Your game sucks!" is for nubs

What To Show

• Minimally Viable Product (MVP) - Core game play >>> everything else
• How To Scope Small (Unity tutorial)

Gigi

[PS - Feedback Friday #61 is here]

 

This empty page is a little sad. I guess I'll post something.

https://eternalambiguity.itch.io/cave-escape?secret=aoZDYxRxhQSk9ViS7YaJvL5ps

The basic idea is little terrains generated using something called cellular automata (CA), combined with a simple hangman game. I had a bit of a troublesome time with the mouse, so make sure that you click on the game so it's centered in the screen. Just to be clear, you're supposed to click on the moving objects (along with something else) to progress.

For anybody trying it, I'd love impressions before looking at any of my later questions (and if you skip the rest of this post to just post impressions, that's cool too).

I especially want to know how you feel about the player's first step after actually starting the game (I haven't stated what to do, though I've given a clue in the game). I want to know if my cue is obvious enough or if I should outright state what to do to progress.



Anyway: the central idea behind this is the cellular automata. I built it up by making the CA create the terrains and adding a hangman game, but ultimately it's all about the CA. If someone thinks there's a better way to utilize the CA than how I'm doing it here (through a completely different type of game, or through a completely different use for the CA), please say so.

If one accepts the rest of the premise (the whole hangman game), how do you feel about it? Are the letters too hard to come by? Should I change the way they get "used" up in some way? Any other suggestions?

I have not added sound, but if I were to move forward with this I definitely would do so. I'd add a sound for the wall moving, a sound for the orbiting objects, a sound for the letters (one for the player "getting" them, maybe one for them just being there too), and perhaps a general background track as well.

Spoiler

And I'd love to know if anyone figures out what the numbers on the hangman screen mean, and if the words pique their interest.

 

not sure if I'm just not "figuring out" how to play, but I keep spawning in a large, flat, square area with no obvious way out. No letters to speak of. The only thing that changes is the color of the sky. This is true across all combinations of starting input that I tried.

 

Yep. That was why I asked about how intuitive the very first step was. I guess not very.

Did you try going towards the green side? What happened when you approached the wall on that side? When you approach the wall, a "Press E to interact" prompt should appear.

Edit:

 

I did go to the green side. I ran all over the damn place, lol. I did not see a prompt, but I just clicked through again and noticed it. I think it is
1) too small
2) too white - if you are looking at the wall, it blends in with the light reflecting
3) too high up

 

Thanks. # 3 may be a problem with WebGL. The wall checks for the player's mouse pointer (which is meant to be centered in the middle of the screen) and if the player is hovering over the wall and within a certain distance, the prompt should appear. It should be anywhere on the wall, not just near the top. But I noticed when I was playing around with it on the site that it wasn't keeping my cursor in the appropriate place and so these prompts weren't showing up.

I could make it merely proximity based, but that risks situations where the player is not totally sure what causes the prompt or with multiple prompt-causers being near each other.

Edit: wait, are you saying the text itself is too high up? Okay, that I understand.

 

I adjusted the first two items mentioned, and added a hint at the beginning to make it clearer.

Unfortunately I'm having very weird issues with itch that involve the camera "snapping back" to a location when you try to move around. I don't have this problem when working in the Editor, or with my WebGL build itself on my PC.

However it doesn't seem to be constant so others might not get it at all.

Gigiwoo, is it okay to post updated versions of the same game?

 

https://games.mail.ru/r/?url=https://1l-go.mail.ru/r/adid/2558686_1_0/pid/102482/pof/1/f/1/
definitely the best game

 

Time flies! Time to bring this one to an end. May your winter shenanigans are free from kerfluffles!

Until next time,
Gigi

PS - @EternalAmbiguity - I did not figure out the first word, though I did run around trying to click something on the green side. Eventually, it hunt when I pressed E while looking up toward the ceiling.